Earlier this year, I had the privilege of dining in Tosca, located in DoubleTree by Hilton (courtesy of The Peak magazine) and it was one of the most relaxing dining experience I had at an Italian restaurant. My usual experiences in Italian restaurants are vibrant and energetic, with lots of sudden loud applauses. Tosca was a lot more casual, vibrant and yet slow-paced. I took my time to enjoy my meal and it felt like the meal went on for hours to no end, which isn't such a bad thing seeing how the place was so beautifully set.

Tosca is located on the 10th floor of DoubleTree where it is located at an al fresco area right where the hotel's salt-water swimming pool is located. It was pleasurable seeing how beautifully lit up the pool area is at night, which adds a relaxing ambience to my dining experience.

Chef Eric Siew has provided us a degustation menu where he would be serving us some of Tosca's signature dishes.


We started off with our appetiser, the Antipasti Miste, which consists of 5 miniature appetisers that makes it perfect for sharing between two. It is made up of a Caesar salad, tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella, beef carpaccio, mushroom bruschetta and pan-seared duck liver. All in all, they complimented each other very well. I love the beef carpaccio (being an avid beef lover) and the mushroom bruschetta which was very flavorful. The buffalo mozzarella was a little too much for me to handle, but I countered that by having it with the Caesar salad. There was no way I was gonna let it go to waste.




Next up was the Diavolo pizza. This is the traditional Italian pizza which has a thin-crust which was very light & crunchy, beef pepperoni, onions, tomatoes and chilli. My favorite type of pizza that is simple and absolutely delicious. To top it off, Tosca bakes their pizzas in a wood-fire oven which immediately gave it an absolutely scrumptious wood aroma and flavor.




Then we had another one of my favorite fishes, the salmon. This is a charbroiled Norwegian salmon which was cooked to perfection. Crispy on the outside and soft at the bottom retaining its salmon-pinkishness. Served atop a bed of capers, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and braised fennel. Truly delightful. I had literally scraped the entire plate clean with my fork & knife.




This is what they call the brasato di stico diAgnello, which is simply put - braised lamb shank. I'm not what you'd call a lamb eater (though I do enjoy it occasionally) but this was so well done, I had to put all my inhibitions aside and just dig in to the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the lamb which goes really well with the soft polenta (a paste made of boiled cornmeal) and spinach. I would totally recommend this dish to everyone.




I was so full at this point having finished 4 delectably delightful dishes (the appetiser consisted of 5 small dishes, so that makes it 8 dishes already?) but I trudged on as they served us the crowd's favorite - Siew's duck ravioli. I usually have mushroom raviolis when I dine in Italian restaurants but this was my first ever duck ravioli. Need I say it that this was also delicious to boot, done al dente and a perfect fusion of East & West.




My delicious journey has finally come to it's inevitable end when dessert is finally served. A lovely serving of fragole marinate in a glass which are strawberries marinated in mint with a scoop of ice-cream and pistaschio crumble. It is a fresh and minty tasting dessert that really set me well for the night. On the side was a serving of homemade chocolate cream soufflé which was rich but light and absolutely delicious. I have a weakness for chocolate and this was a hands-on winner for all chocolate desserts.


I scooped the last of the chocolate cream, licked my spoon clean and settled down comfortably to slowly sip my wine as I enjoyed a light conversation and had my hair lightly tousled by the gentle breeze. The turquoise pool set a calming atmosphere to compliment the dim lights that illuminates the restaurant. At that point, I never wanted to leave. But of course, at some point, I had to.



Here, Chef Siew has sportingly posed for our photographer, as he readies a pizza to be baked in the wood-fire oven.

Tosca
Doubletree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur,
The Intermark, 182 Jalan Tun Razak,
50400 Kuala Lumpur.
Operating Hours: Daily, 11.30am - 10.30pm
Tel: 03-2172 7272

Photo credits to Jabir. :)

xxx