Christmas is all about peace, love and joy and the best way to celebrate this is to spend time with loved ones. Preferably over some great food too. This year the festive celebrations can be enjoyed over a long weekend so there’s plenty of time for feasting and festivities.
I’ve always enjoyed dining at La Risata for its cosy ambience and good comforting food. The fact that it has stood the test of time means many others share the same view as this neighbourhood restaurant is always busy. Its unpretentious traditional rustic Italian-styled offerings are big favourites and I’d dare say that any item on its menu is never unsatisfactory.
With the upcoming Yuletide season, the chefs have of course come up with some special celebratory dishes. We had a preview of some of these delectable selections recently.
To reflect the colours of Christmas, I loved how their Pizza Mozzarella was jived up more vibrantly with red and green peppers. The fresh-from-oven pizza had home-made smoked mozzarella all over it, spiked by aromatic anchovies and the gorgeous sweet marinated peppers.
We had a light appetizer next, in anticipation of the heavy meaty dishes later. The Grilled Bluefin Tuna with squid ink gnocchi in lemon butter sauce was just perfect to line our tummies. Still delightfully pink in the centres, the tuna slices were juicy and tender to the bite, complemented nicely by the fluffy slightly-bouncy gnocchi.
The two centrepieces of the dinner were the Roast Turkey and Roast Leg of Lamb. Both were executed excellently. The big bird and leg of lamb were roasted to just the right level of done-ness with the meats still pinkish, tender and sublimely juicy. Overdone and dry roasts are always a turn-off and the chefs at La Risata have really honed their skills and timing for these roasts.
The turkey and lamb were done so well that I actually enjoyed eating them sans sauce. That’s not to say the sauces were not good, in fact they were really tasty. There’s giblet gravy and cranberry sauce for the turkey and rosemary sauce for the lamb.
I’m not a fan of stuffings for roast turkeys but I was told the traditional chestnut stuffing here was authentic and fragrant. I totally enjoyed the beautifully roasted vegetables though, from crunchy Brussels sprouts to the sweet baby carrots.
If you love salads as much as I do, the Rocket and Pear Salad with a simple lemon dressing and shaved parmesan is another must-order item. This crisp salad was really refreshing, especially when paired with meaty dishes.
Desserts at La Risata should never be missed. Dreamy Italian favourites of Tiramisu and Zucotto were the orders of the day. I loved how they’re never too sweet and never stingy on quality ingredients that made up these desserts.
Tiramisu – layers of Savoiardi biscuits soaked in espresso and filled with Italian mascarpone cream cheese
Zucotto – liquer dome cake filled with chocolate and vanilla cream with almonds, hazelnuts and chocolate bits
Oh there’s a luscious Pumpkin Pie on the festive menu too – a concoction of buttery crumbly pastry and sweet fragrant pumpkin served with maple cream sauce.
So if you are in for some Italian-laced comforting food in a cosy and festive set-up, dial that number for La Risata to make your reservations.
La Risata Damansara
128 Medan Damansara
Jalan Kasah
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2095-9572
La Risata Ampang
16 Persiaran Ampang
55000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-4252-6269