Music is round, music is square

You will notice that this is not really a food post.

Instead this is a post on how good company and good friends, make a dinner outing meaningful and enjoyable. Good food and music helps too, of course:)



You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you,

but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach,

because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

~Frederick Buechner

Music is round

Music is square

Music is blue

Music is green

Music is am

Music is pm

Music is happiness

Music is sadness

Music is life

Music is death

Music is the world.

All I got to my name,

Is my music

It's all i ever am

and all i will be

you can't take it away

it's all i got to my name

My music is my life

my music is my love

my music is my fire on a cold day

my music is my castle where i stay all the day

my music is home

where i feel safe

It's all I got to my name

don't you dare take it away

it's what makes me me and not you

The two P's of eating...

We are back in that familiar place! ... My favourite Italian restaurant (I cannot say it enough).. on a weekend.. Read about my other visit here.

How goooood it is, when close friends meet together over Prosciutto and Prosecco!

Those have got to be my two favourite P's in the Italian vocab;P

Speaking of which, they do Prosecco by the glass at Nero Teca, so you can really pace yourself and get plastered nice and easy...

RM26.00 per glass


This is the Prosciutto Melon.

The story of Prosciutto is really the story of pigs, since it takes the best pigs eating the right foods to make a perfect ham!

(Ooo, which reminds me of a cartoon i read..)

How cute is that.. ?! :P

Ahem.. as i was saying...

Prosciutto is an Italian ham that has been seasoned, salt-cured, and air-dried, but not smoked. It has a gorgeous salty meaty taste, offset by the sweetness of the melon... heaven!

Prosciutto Melon - RM34.00

This is the Carbonara. I love this carbonara because, it's not too creamy, the pasta is rapturously al dente and the bacon is smoky, chunky and fatty. This is the soft chunky bacon sort as opposed to the streaky crispy thin bacon. I find the soft chunky sort absorbs the carbonara flavour so much more effectively. Pure art!

Eating is believing so... just come eat...

Spaghetti Carbonara - RM23.00

This is the Costina - fried pork ribs. Not for the faint hearted. Let me just warn you that this dish will not be of the 'soft, fall off the bone pork ribs' sort. Me, I order this when I am in a feisty mood, because the Costina will give you a good fight - meat is tougher and the smell of pork is strong. This does not make it any less good! Infact, I dare say, this is the way pork ribs should be eaten (bangs the table, spits and swears..) :P:P

Finally, no italian meal is complete without the Panna Cotta! An Italian invention - pure, simple, delightful cooked cream! Cool and soft and goes down easy... Do not leave without trying this!

Panna Cotta - RM14.00

Many flutes of Prosecco later, we stagger out the door and into the dark and starry night.. , happy to be alive and well...then we begin the long journey home:)

Add:

Nero Teca,

ground floor, somerset

8 lorong ceylon

50250 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2070 0530

Food:8/10

Service:8/10 (slower on friday nights as it's usually packed)

Salt levels: moderate

MSG levels: nil

Nero Teca

Introducing one of my ALL TIME favourite Italian restaurants. Nero Teca! Everytime I eat here , I forget to bring my camera (maybe it's because eating here is normally followed by a huge night out.. so I don't really want to lose my tres, tres precious 'point-n-shoot' or anything, you know :P). This time, I didn't forget.
Anyway, just look at this place.. isn't it NICE? Small and cozy, and has a deli-like feel to it...

We order the wine, and settle down to getting some food. (Incidentally, I love parma ham. This place does great parma ham. Really. It does.)

Hmmmm... everytime i look at the menu, I want to eat everything on it. My eyes go large, my stomach starts to grind... (Deep breaths... drink the wine.. order some food... that's right... :P)

The bread is fresh and airy and plump... it goes fantastic with the olive oil... I need to slow down or I will be stuffed before starters get here.

Where is it... i am starving....


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Ah Viola ! The PIADINA! ... Which is essentially parma ham (ooo yes.. THE parma ham!! bliss!), rocket salad, stracchino cheese and looks like a pizza. (The Piadina or Piada, is a thin italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna province.)

It's gorgeous! Sometimes, I feel like having JUST this for my main course.. it's THAT yummie. Serious.

Gawd! I LOVE parma ham... just look at it! All smoky and succulent and porky ! lol. Incidentally this place is totally non-halal. Yup.

Ahh... just getting warmed up for the mains...

This is the SALSICCIA! Homemade, italian sausages in peperonata and potatoes !

Magnificent!

The sausages are air-dried so they are chewy rather than juicy. As the Salsiccia is typically an italian pork sausage that is neither smoked nor cured, they tend to have this meaty, basic, unprocessed taste to it. If you like your sausages with some BITE , this is it :)



This is what I had... the BRACIOLA! (Don't you just love the way Italian's name their food.. it always sounds so g'damn sensational.. It kills me. )

Well, anyway, the Braciola is the pork chop milanese and is served with a mixed salad...
The pork is battered and dry, without sauce, but this is the way it is eaten. I normally drench mine in the olive oil.. and risk frowns from the chef... but.. don't care la..

Finally...

...No italian meal is complete without the PANNA COTTA:)

Panna Cotta literally translates to "COOKED CREAM" in italian. However, the chef assures me that here in Nero Teca, they use FULL CREAM MILK instead. So it is just as smooth but less heavy, though not any less "melt in your mouth" delicious ! This traditional italian custard is 2DIE FOR... go try it and say it ain't so :P




Ok.. time to get off the seat and go home.. I feel 5 pounds heavier and 5X times happier than when I arrived, a starving chick ;P

Will dream parma ham tonight.. i hope...

Venue:
ground floor, somerset
8 lorong ceylon
50250 Kuala Lumpur

Food:8/10
Wine:7/10
MSG levels : nil
Price : moderate (but the wine can substantially increase your bill, obviously)