Italiannies @ The Gardens

We were in The Gardens to purchase some furniture for our house. Italiannies happened to be next to Gudang Studio, so we decided to try this place for lunch.

They do a set lunch menu here, prices start from RM13.90. The set lunch includes a main meal, a cup of soup (mushroom/minestrone), and a drink (Pepsi/Lipton Iced Lemon Tea). Since they had such a good deal on, we both ordered from the set menu.

Nice soft bread with a olive oil/balsamic vinegar dip

I had the mushroom soup, which was really nice. It had lots and lots of mushroom bits in it! Yum.

Hubby had the minestrone soup and he said it was really delicious. It definitely had the Italian influence. Tomatoey with chunks of vegetables.

For the main, we ordered the margherita pizza and calamari caesar salad. Good size for sharing.

8" margherita pizza - tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. Authentic tasting!

The calamari caesar salad - roasted button mushroom caps, artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers and topped with a generous amount of fried calamari.


Comfort: Nice decor.

Service: Good and prompt, so the waiter got a tip!

Price: Very reasonable for their set lunch menus. Magherita pizza set (RM13.90++) and calamari salad (RM18.90++). Other items on the menu include pasta (prices from RM16.90-RM19.90), salmon & shrimp pizza (RM24.90), sandwich (RM18.90) and house specialties (RM24.90).

Food: 9/10. Good. No complains.

Location: Italiannies, The Gardens, 2nd Floor (Robinson's side)

I cooked : Bibimbap

Bibimbap is a great dish to have, especially when you have plenty of leftover vegetables in the fridge. Bibimbap is a popular Korean dish which means mixed(bibim) rice(bap). Its easy to cook and most importantly its healthy! Click here for more info on bibimbap.

Bibimbap consist of various seasoned vegetables from cucumber, zucchini, carrot, radish, mushrooms, bellflower root, bracken fern, spinach to soy bean sprouts. For my version I used carrots, zucchini, soy bean sprouts and sliced beef. For those who can't eat beef, the beef can be substituted with another type of meat or omitted altogether.

Bibimbap
Preparation time : approx 20-30 mins
Serves : 1-2 persons

Ingredients
3/4 - 1 cup of rice (depending on appetite)
1 zucchini
1 small sized carrot
2-3 shiitake mushrooms
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
approx. 200g of sliced/ground beef
eggs
soy sauce, salt, sesame oil, ground black pepper, sesame seeds, garlic, vegetable oil, sugar, red pepper paste (gochujang)

1. Cook the rice using a rice cooker or non-stick pot.
2. Wash the bean sprouts and blanch in water for about 1 minute. Remove from water and mix with sesame oil, garlic and a pinch of salt. Put it on a platter.
3. Cut the zucchini, carrots and mushrooms into thin strips.


4. On a heated pan, put some oil and stir fry the zucchinni, carrots and mushrooms. Add in salt, sugar and sesame oil to taste. Stir fry for about 1 minute and put them on a platter. For decorational purposes, the vegetables should be cooked separately. But in this case I decided to cook all 3 together.
5. Put some oil on the pan and stir fry the beef and the remaining garlic. Put in soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to taste. Place on platter.
6. Prepare egg sunny side up.
7. Put rice in a bowl and place vegetables and meat accordingly. The egg can be placed right on top.
8. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and add a dash of sesame oil. Add red pepper paste to taste.


9. Mix well and dig in!