Fresh Pasta Rules!
There
are plenty of Italian restaurants on our shore serving pastas but there’s
hardly one who serves fresh pastas made from scratch. Most restaurants tend to
use the regular pasta for many reasons. Fresh pasta is extra work and doesn’t keep
as well as the dry ones too. Texture of fresh pasta is also very different and
takes extra effort to ensure that the al dente texture is well controlled
during cooking.
Merrow Pasta, located in USJ 10 in Subang, was
born because the owner enjoys fresh pasta. Hoping to introduce fresh pasta to
our shores, Merrow Pasta offers a solid list of house made fresh pasta daily
paired with various classic sauces.
The
restaurant has a really lovely décor. The moment one walks in, one feels at
ease and in comfort. Lots of wood are set in contrast with black. The whole
dining room is set around the open kitchen and so one actually catches live
action cooking as well as the aromas that waft through the air. A minor setback
here is that the open kitchen does set a smoky ventilation for the restaurant.
However, we were assured that the restaurant is now considering to seal up the
open kitchen with glass soon to provide a better comfort to diners.
Since
we were there during Christmas season, the whole restaurant had really lovely
festive décor. There is also a wall filled with many photos of the patrons that
dine in Merrow Pasta.
The
menu is indeed decent with quite a few pasta classics as well as some
appetizers, salad, soup, main course and desserts.
We
quenched our thirst with Refreshing
Green (RM9.90), Cappuccino
(RM9.80) and Macha Green Tea Latte
(RM10.30). All coffee and tea are from Caffe Richard.
To
kick off our meal, we decided to try their house signature Smoked Salmon Salad (RM19.60). It wasn’t what I expected but
nevertheless, this one is very good. It’s quite a sizeable portion with smoked
salmon rolled with crisp greens, warm beef bacon potato salad and egg. The
potato salad was delicious, reminding me of German potato salad. It was tangy
and quite tart with soft potatoes and beef bacon bits in mustard dill dressing.
The tartness of the dressing did overpower the salmon but since I like the potato
salad, I didn’t mind this pairing.
The
Fruitti Di Mare Fritto (RM17.80) had
crispy and lightly battered squids and prawns served with Tartar sauce. The
appetizer was also decent and well cooked. We enjoyed this despite having to
peel the large prawns with the sauce.
I
always love soup so when I saw that Merrow
Pasta had soup, I wanted to try the Fresh
Seafood Soup (RM19.80). At sight, the soup looked wonderful with its
gorgeous hue of orange and medley of seafood. At taste, the soup was even
better. Rich with a moreish and tangy seafood essence, the tomato based seafood
soup was delicious. There were also generous seafood of clams, mussels, squid,
crab and prawns in the soup.
Pasta
time and we were told that the Carbonara
(RM19.60) is one of their best seller. The pasta looked enticing at sight with
the poached egg. Well sauced, the spaghetti had generous turkey ham slices and
was finished with herbs and black pepper. It is very rich with the heavy cream
and poached egg with molten egg yolk. Overall this was decent but not my
favorite. The pasta was good as it had the al dente texture that I enjoy.
The
Marinara (RM20.80) tasted quite
similar to the seafood soup earlier except this was thicker. Lots of mussels,
squid, clam and prawn again in this pasta, making it really value-for-money.
The pasta was cooked well again here but I personally felt the sauce was a tad
weak here. It’s not bad but I prefer a heavier tomato flavour so it’s more of a
personal preference since my other friends enjoy this dish.
What
I enjoy a lot was the Con Salsa Al Nero
(RM27.60). The squid ink sauce had delicious garlicky and wine flavours with a
surprising hit of chili heat. The bonito flakes also gave the pasta a rich
umami flavour. The plump and tender squid was also yummy with the al dente
pasta.
The
Smoked Duck in Teriyaki Dry Chili Sauce
(RM19.60) was also scrumptious in my books. The spiced up teriyaki sauce had a
nice balance of sweet and savory with a bit of heat. The smoke duck added a
nice flavours and texture to the pasta.
The
dish that actually came out on top of my list that evening was the Lasagne Al Forno (RM24.80). Served in a
cast iron pan, the lasagna was piping hot and oozing with much cheesy lusciousness.
The pasta sheet was soft and provided a beautiful tender blanket for the beefy
tomato sauce and creamy cheesy béchamel sauce. Each bite is heavenly yum. An
excellent dish that I would order again…
As
it was the festive season month, we decided to enjoy desserts. Chocolate Pasta (RM19.60) had us
curious and so we went with an order of this. Basically inspired by mille
feuille, this one had a chocolate pasta baked till crispy and layered with
whipped cream, strawberries and berry coulis. Pretty unique way of eating
pasta!
The
Lave Cake with Ice Cream (RM18.80)
was sinful and sublime. Gorgeous molten chocolatey center with a crisp cakey
outer layer, the chocolate was dark and luscious. Paired with vanilla ice
cream, chocolate sauce and berries, this dessert was classic and so yum…
The
Orange Creme Brulee (RM13.80) was
not too bad. It had a really lovely cream that was nicely set but it lacked the
crusty crunch of the caramelized top. Nevertheless the crème brulee had a nice
subtle citrusy note that was refreshing and sweet.
Some
hits and some misses here but Merrow
Pasta still scores brownie points for making their own fresh pasta daily.
The highlight of the pasta for me was definitely that awesome Lasagna and Con
Salsa Al Nero. Merrow Pasta’s ambiance is also great for parties and gathering.
MERROW
PASTA
No.67, Jalan USJ 10/1A,
Taipan Business Centre,
47610 Subang Jaya
Tel: +603-8081 6767
Facebook: www.facebook.com/merrowpastacafe/
Business Hours: 11.00am
to 10.00pm daily
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