After weeks of postponing, my friends and I finally made it to Bella Italia (Bellisa Row's outlet, Penang). I had mixed feelings when I entered the ristorante after hearing about it for so so long.
It didn't quite have the 'Italian' feel (unlike Italianies at One Utama). Upon entering, I felt the place was rather dark and I think lighting up a candle for each table would have helped. I forgot about using flash light, hence all these blurry and dark pictures. Oh well :P
We started off by having Crema Al Funghi (Cream Mushroom Soup) According to my friends, Mizi Bistro's was better. I think the soup was less intense compared to Mizi's. Less mushroom smell and creaminess compared to the latter. RM13.50 per tiny bowl.
Then comes the Fettucine Carbonara. Flat pasta with mushrooms, turkey ham and cheese sauce. The pasta was al dente and sauce was pretty good with the right amount of creamy-cheesy-ness to it. Sadly the portion was a let down :( RM27.50 per tiny plate.
Next hot plate coming in...Lasagna Di Carne. The taste was nice. Mild tomato flavours with herbs and cheese. BUT, I just couldn't understand why is there something inside the lasagna that resembles mash potato texture? Anyway, this dish did not wipe Italianies' huge and meaty lasagna away from my mind. RM26.50 per tiny slab.
The final main dish, Chef's Pizza comprises of anchovies, sliced chillies, loads of sliced garlic, mushrooms and the usual tomato base topped with mozzarella cheese.
The tomato base was tasteless and it would help to have a sweet tomato base balance when most of the ingredients are salty :S Anchovies were not spread out evenly which ended up some extremely salty slices of pizza.
We downed quite a lot of water and wasn't enough although we finished the pizza long ago :P RM21.80 per decent pie of pizza.
Of course, the not to be missed Tiramisu, a dessert that one would never miss when having a meal in an Italian restaurant. The taste was similar to the Tiramisu I had back at an Italian restaurant in Rumah Molek, Langkawi. However, I do not think both were the best tiramisu I ever had. Hehe that would be another story to tell. RM13.80 per slightly less than decent slice.RM10.31 for a constant serving of ice water from the full house (though its 9.46pm) The total bill was RM113.41 which then separated to 4 person XD
Visit BM Kia and Tummy Treats for their share of reviews of the restaurant as well as the restaurant's not-updated website.
Buon mangiare~
stil rmbr how packed this place was on a Xmas eve some time ago.
the portions may not be much, but I felt the place was real comfy.
tastewise, not bad I felt. or maybe i was a student back then, so any pizzas were better than Pizza Hut, which we;ve eaten to death at Sg Dua. =P
j2kfm:
oooo but I still love Italianies to bits wor...
the prices arent cheap for penang hor?
joe:
Well if they wanna call themselves a fine dining restaurant they need to be better than that lo...
The pictures turned out okay what. But yeah, I think they could do better with the pizza e.g. more ingredients.
jason:
Agreed ;) the photos ok ar? very grainy wor... so jealous of PP and LL's cameras...aih