Almost a year ago, I made reservations to have lunch at Natalina Italian Kitchen located in Avenue K, right opposite KLCC. It was on the same day the horrendous floods started in Sri Muda as well as in KL which made me cancel the lunch reservations. It was pouring rain throughout the day. Now, after many months of procastinating, on a whim we decided to try it out for a late lunch. Finding parking at Avenue K on a Sunday was easy, B4 was almost empty and there were plenty of spots available. Located at Level 3, we took the lifts up and was greeted by the team and was given a seat immediately (this was almost 2pm).
Just 2 hours before lunch, I was searching on Google for lunch recommendations and saw an article on Tatler which featured the restaurant. I remembered that there were 3 specialties which we promptly ordered over at Natalina Italian Kitchen.
Appetizer: Eggplant Parmigiana
The eggplant parmigiana is a combination of eggplant timbale with mozzarella in a tomato reduction oven baked to perfection. It was good. You could bite through the layers as you dig into the dish. Every bite had an explosion of flavour with a strong tomato base and it was cooked just right. This is something considering that I don’t normally eat eggplant and this dish was so good that I could eat this all day.
Pasta: Paccheri Amatriciana
The Paccheri Amatriciana is a pasta dish which was supposed to be tubes of pasta cooked al dente with slow-cooked smoked duck bacon in a lightly spiced tomato sauce and garnished with Roman pecorino cheese. The only thing that I was curious about was whether the dish I got had tubes of pasta as I had thick pasta instead. Didn’t look like the photo from Tatler. Still, that didn’t deter me as it tasted heavenly. Not many pasta dishes can make me wish I had more.
Secondi Piatti: Filetto D’Agnello
This was meant to be a Josper-grilled lamb loin served with truffled chickpea puree, smoked eggplant puree, grilled asparagus and goat cheese, topped with jus reduction. Why I said “meant” was because whilst it was supposed to be cooked in a josper grill charcoal oven, the taste didn’t seem like it. There wasn’t any smokiness nor was there any hint of it being in a Josper oven. The lamb was ok, and this was the dish that was the most disappointing dish of the lot. Out of all the previous dishes, I wished I didn’t order this. Yes, it sounds fancy, yes some bits was nice. Would I order it again? Heck no!
Dolce: Classic Traditional Tiramisu
Thankfully, the tiramisu did not disappoint. It was huge and meant to be shared (hence the pricier tag). We devoured the whole thing and yes, this dish I would order again. Still, my wife didn’t like that they didn’t use Ferrero cocoa powder for the Tiramisu, but I couldn’t really tell the difference. Dessert managed to redeem the meal and helped me end it all on a high note.
Overall thoughts and conclusion
After eating at Osteria Gamberoni recently as well, I would definitely return here. I think Natalina Italian Kitchen is nicer as both the ambience and the pasta was a big hit. If these dishes were good, I would like to return and try other dishes again. The only thing to note that the food wasn’t cheap and it costs about RM160+ per person to dine here. This is for the 4 dishes we ordered for more than RM300 and we only ordered filtered water. So if you are considering eating here, take note on the price range and not be shocked. Osteria Gamberoni was indeed cheaper compared to Natalina Italian Kitchen.
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