I’m not a big fan of Italian cuisine/food. The way the food is cooked, isn’t always my liking.

I can’t say that I’ve tried all the nice Italian cuisine available in KL, but I’ve tried enough. Every time I went I would try to keep an open mind, hoping that this would be different and nicer. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to say, “I love it”.

Il Lido Italian Dining, located just opposite my office block, has been around for quite some time. I’ve heard people singing its praises, but I’ve never got the chance to try it. Many times my colleagues and I had planned to go, and there would always be last minute changes that we couldn’t make it.

Il Lido has had a few promotional deals on Groupon, but I never bought it. Until last month, the deal came again.

It was the 3-course Italian fine dining weekday lunch and drinks for one person at RM35. Usually, during weekdays, they have set lunch which costs RM49.90++ I was thinking, perhaps I could go with Andrew. If at all Andrew couldn’t go with me, I’d go with my colleagues then. So, I bought 2. Then, I saw there was another deal, RM100 for RM200 value of cash voucher which you can use any time, any day! Damn! If I’ve had seen this earlier, I wouldn’t buy the set lunch. ARGH! After considering it for 5 minutes, I bought it.

I know, I know. For someone who doesn’t like Italian, it is crazy to buy 2 deals at one time. I thought if at all I don’t like it, I can give/sell the voucher to my colleagues. Also, we just got to be adventurous and challenge ourselves every now and then right? :)

I went with Andrew for the lunch last week. The restaurant is located on the 1st floor in The Mayang. The moment I reached, I was greeted by someone who could remember my name! I did make a reservation, but I didn’t expect them to be expecting and remembering me. When I stepped into the restaurant, I understand why he could remember me. There was only 2 tables occupied, the restaurant was pretty empty. Perhaps I was the only one who made reservation. Hahahahaha.

Decoration is nice, looks VERY classy! I thought I was in some 5-star hotel restaurant. :) The only problem is, in a restaurant with less than 10 patrons and with that kind of atmosphere, you have to literally whisper so that you won’t look like some “sakai” coming from the jungle. @__@ Imagine if you were to come with a group of friends, it would be pretty “uncomfortable” to even just talk or laugh louder. I didn’t even dare to stand up and walk around to take photos.

I am really sorry that I didn’t get the name of the man who served us. Andrew and I had problems choosing the food, because we weren’t given a menu. The man just told us, “for appetiser today we have…… for main we have……” Gosh…… I wonder why can’t they just give us the set lunch menu. I felt so embarrassed to have to keep asking him to repeat and “what is that”. -__- Lucky that he was pretty patient and polite with us, although I did see a tint of annoyance on his face.

Set lunch is actually a 3-course meal. We were so surprised when the waiter came and serve us this home smoked tuna with beetroot and horseradish. Heard the waiter mumbled something, I guessed he meant complimentary. It’s a small piece of tuna wrapped with beetroot and horseradish sauce. I took out my handphone, took a photo of it, admiring the tiny piece of tuna and talking to Andrew about how big the plate is for such a small piece of tuna…… And suddenly I realised something, the waiter was still standing beside our table waiting for us to EAT it! @__@ He was staring at us, with the stare that told us to “quickly eat it”! So, I popped the tuna into my mouth. Oh boy…… It tastes so fresh! The beetroot is crunchy and the horseradish adds another layer of flavour to the whole thing. My goodness, I wish I could have second one! Soon after I finished the tuna, the waiter was so quick to take (or I should say snatch) away the plate. @__@ What is this? I don’t appreciate this kind of “efficiency”.

Then we were served their homemade bread which also tastes heavenly. It is warm , the skin is so crunchy but it is so fluffy on the inside! None of the Italian restaurants that I’ve been to served warm bread! It is by far the tastiest bread I have ever had in an Italian restaurant. I so wanted to go for a second piece but I know I gotta keep some room in my stomach for the food later. The vinegar and virgin olive oil that comes with it taste better than those others that I’ve tried before. I am really impressed with their quality.

Here comes the appetiser! Andrew went for the salad, which I don’t know the name. Hahahaha. There is some red crunchy stuff in the salad, we can’t quite figure out what it is. Tastes like bacon, but also tastes like beef, or ham…… Nothing to shout about with this salad, only good is it is VERY fresh.

I am a soup person, so it is only natural that I chose soup. It is leek and potato soup. Sorry to say, I don’t really fancy the texture. It tastes more like runny mashed potato with leek. Unique combination of leek and potato, but it doesn’t have that “omph” chemistry.

As for the main course, we were given three choices, squid ink pasta, or sea-bass fillet, or meat platter (grilled lamb sausage, beef and chicken). I so wanted to try the squid ink pasta (I’ve been missing it since the first time I tried it last year) but I gotta stop taking so much of dairy products as my rashes is coming back. So, I got a bit more adventurous and chose the meat platter while Andrew went for the fish.

Andrew said the fish is just so-so. I had a bite, the fish has this strong “fishy” taste which I don’t like. No doubt it is fresh, but I don’t like fish that leaves the after-taste in my mouth that makes me feel like I’ve eaten the fish raw.

My meat platter on the other hand, is heavenly delicious! I only took a bite of the lamb sausage, I can now officially pronounce that I SERIOUSLY do not love lamb. I thought the lamb would “stink” lesser in the form of sausage, I was wrong. I could still taste the smell and I quickly chucked the remaining of the sausage to Andrew. To me, it is stinky lamb. To him, it is the aroma of the lamb. @__@ The beef is so delicious!!! It was nicely grilled, medium I would say. The meat was so tender. I enjoyed every bite of it and secretly wishing it to be of larger piece. Hahahaha. After I finished the beef, the 2 pieces chicken (perhaps I took a long time to finish the beef) were kind of cold. However, it still tastes nice. The skin is crunchy and the meat isn’t hard and dry. They used a lot of rosemary (which I find excessive) on the chicken. The strip of the gravy on the side of the plate is just not enough for me. Wish they could give more of that.

Ta-da! Here’s the dessert! I believe it is pannacotta. The waiter didn’t say anything and I was too shy to ask. :D Both Andrew and I got the same dessert, so there isn’t a need for him to say anything. First spoon, oh dear…… My eyes went wide and immediately I went for the second spoon. MMMMM…… I was urging Andrew to stop texting and quickly eat his dessert! It tastes so yummy!!! I can’t really describe it, you’ll have to taste it to feel it. However, I got kind of sick of it towards the end. Lucky that it is small. That’s the beauty of dessert, it is small. :) They know you’ll get sick of it at the end if you were to eat a lot of it and you’ll definitely leave a bad comment. :)

All in all, I would give Il Lido 4.5 stars out of 5. My favorite Italian at the moment. Now, I can say I like Italian cuisine. :)

Will be going for dinner again this Wednesday. Yippie! :D