Natalina Italian Kitchen serves authentic Italian delights and treasures
At Natalina Italian Kitchen, the space is warm and inviting, with sunny yellow lemons perched on the ceiling and interspersed throughout the space.
Beaming warmly as he strides purposefully throughout the eatery is Stefano La Penna, the strikingly handsome Italian chef who helms the kitchen here.
La Penna hails from the southern Italian city of Abruzzo. When he was just 18, he was anointed into the world of fine-dining when he was selected to work at the three Michelin-starred Reale in Abruzzo's Castel di Sangro.
'There were 84 applicants and only 11 were selected. I was the only one with no kitchen background – everyone else had a lot of experience,' says La Penna, grinning.
The eatery is warm and inviting and has an instant, easy charm.
Still, there was probably something about La Penna that got him a foot in the door. He ended up staying there for three years, honing his culinary chops.
Since those foundling years, he has worked all over the world, from Fukuoka, Japan to the Bahamas. When he was offered a job in Malaysia, he was actually in the midst of pursuing his masters in food and beverage management in Italy, so he was in two minds about trekking halfway across the world.
'When I came to visit KL, I was shocked. I was like 'Wow, this looks like New York!' And I love how connected the city is to food, so I just fell in love with Malaysia – the people, the place, the lifestyle,' he says.
La Penna is the talented chef behind Natalina's soulful Italian fare.
In September 2022, La Penna took over Natalina and since then, he has made it a point to impart his particular brand of Italian cuisine to local diners.
As he is very passionate about the food of his homeland, he doesn't modify recipes to suit local tastebuds. Instead, his goal is to slowly educate Malaysian diners about the natural beauty of Italian cuisine.
'The primary focus is to provide the authentic flavours of Italy, even though we are in the opposite part of the world. And then I want to try to educate guests about the meaning behind these food traditions, so it is understandable for them,' he says.
The menu rotates based on the seasons in Europe, so the current iteration offers a slew of summer hits.
Beef tenderloin wrapped around tomato bread may sound like a questionable pairing, but it's actually a surprisingly good one. — ART CHEN/The Star
To begin a meal here, look at indulging in the rather unusual Carpaccio Di Manzo (RM58) which features thinly sliced tenderloin wrapped around cherry tomato bread and rounded out with extra virgin oil, tuna mayo and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
While bread and meat typically feel like heavier fare, this is a surprisingly light offering whose perkiness is accentuated by the tomatoes in the configuration.
The meat here is silken and supine and adds contrast to what feels like a meal you're not likely to have tried anywhere else before.
Breaded and deep-fried, the calamari stuffed rolls are delicious from start to finish. — ART CHEN/The Star
Then there is the Crocchette Di Calamari (RM42) which is essentially breaded, deep-fried rotund balls filled with calamari and served with a garlic tomato mayonnaise.
The balls are excellent – perfectly crispy on the outside and laced with sea-faring notes on the inside, buoyed by the chopped calamari in the mixture.
The garlic tomato mayonnaise adds a touch of acidity to the meal and gives it a sunny disposition.
Italian burrata cheese is the binding force in this light, refreshing salad.
Up next, try the house-favourite Burrata (RM52). Here, imported burrata from the south of Italy is served with tomato confit (enhanced with the famed datterino Italian tomato) and wild rocket salad in what proves to be a tangy, Mediterranean hit anchored by the burrata, which is silken smooth, stretchy and incredibly fresh.
From the pasta selections, opt for the Gricia Al Tartufo (RM78) or handmade fettucine in a cheese sauce, with duck bacon pasta and freshly shaved black truffles rounding out this assemblage. The highlight of the sauce is the fact that it is strung together using only cheese (parmesan) and water – no cream is utilised at all.
The handmade fettucine is enhanced with a cheese sauce and freshly shaved black Italian truffles.
The result is sensational – the pasta itself is cooked to al dente perfection and retains a strong, firm bite.
The sauce meanwhile is thick and incredibly hedonistic and this is elevated even further by the opulence of the truffles.
Then there is the Chitarrina Al Frutti Di Mare (RM88).
Chitarra is hand-made pasta that is cut using a pasta cutter (also called chitarra) with wires stretched across a wooden frame, one that resembles a guitar. (Chitarra means guitar in Italian.)
The chitarra spaghetti dish harnesses the richness of the sea and serves it up on a plate.
In this dish, the pasta is served with clams, prawns and Boston lobster tail and finished with tuna bottarga and lemon zest. Scattered atop is dehydrated black olives.
The entire dish is intense in that it that has been stitched together in order to hold a rich tapestry of oceanic flavours.
As a result, the in-your-face aquatic notes may come off a little bolder and brinier than you might be used to, but it's also unapologetically underwater-themed down to the tiniest detail.
The wagyu striploin has been cooked in a Josper oven and retains tender, juicy meat. — Photos: ART CHEN/The Star
For something from the main meal family, go down a carnivorous path with the Tagliata Di Manzo (RM85 per 100g), which showcases wagyu striploin, served with charred broccolini and truffle sauce.
The beef has been cooked in a Josper oven and retains a slight crust on the skin that yields to meat that still has a pink, tender heart and succulence coursing through its veins.
The truffle sauce is a rich, nirvanic addition that adds a palatial touch to this caveman course.
Luscious, creamy and coffee-tinged, the tiramisu is a sure-fire hit.
End your meal on a high note with the all-star charms of the Tiramisu (RM45) – a rich, creamy, coffee-laden treat with a sponge centre and an irreverent, unpretentious charm.
Guided by La Penna's able hand, a meal at Natalina takes diners on a vicarious journey through far-flung cities in Italy without losing the soul and essence of the country's culinary comforts.
This is a feat that is by no means easy to accomplish when you're halfway across the world, and yet La Penna seems to have nailed it down to a science.
Natalina Italian Kitchen
Address: Level 3, Avenue K Shopping Mall, 156 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-673 3860
Open daily: Noon to 10pm
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
38 minutes ago
- The Star
Chopin spree: Pianist Melody Quah returns to KL for homecoming performance
Malaysian classical pianist and academic Melody Quah, based in the United States, makes her long-awaited return to Dewan Filharmonik Petronas this weekend for the Chopin Festival, performing with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The two-part festival opens on Aug 16 under MPO music director Junichi Hirokami. The orchestra will partner with Quah to present the Polish composer's iconic Piano Concerto No. 1 In E minor . Premiered to great acclaim in Warsaw in 1830 as part of Chopin's 'farewell' concerts before leaving Poland at 20, the piece is often described as romantic and calm, yet tinged with melancholy – like recalling a beloved landscape in memory. Chopin composed 'Piano Concerto No. 1' at the age of 20. 'For a composer who wrote mainly for solo piano, Chopin prioritises cosiness and intimacy,' says Hirokami. 'So when conducting the piano concerto, I think of it as 'large chamber music.'' Being home 'It's always special to perform in Malaysia, not only because my VIP guests are able to attend (my parents!), but because of how it feels to collaborate with fellow Malaysians and those who have made Malaysia their home. There is a sense of unspoken kinship that is palpable,' says Quah, 37, in a recent interview in Kuala Lumpur. She is also no stranger to the DFP big stage and is set to enchant the audience with Chopin's emotional range and lyrical melodies. In 2018, she made her solo debut with the MPO under German-Japanese conductor Jun Markl. A Kuala Lumpur native, Quah currently resides in University Park, Pennsylvania, and teaches piano as an Assistant Professor at Penn State University. It's a delight for her to be back in Malaysia performing again with the MPO, reconnecting with musician friends here. 'My first performance with the MPO was in 2018, playing Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 in C major , so I'm glad to be back playing Chopin this time,' says Quah. 'Chopin is a special composer for pianists because he wrote primarily for the piano. When you think about romantic classical music, oftentimes the first composer that comes to people's minds is Chopin. He wrote very idiomatically for the instrument, meaning that all of the arpeggios, all of the virtuosic material, they fit very nicely in a pianist's hands,' she adds. 'When playing one of Chopin's works, the job of the pianist is often to try to make the piano sing as expressively as possible,' says Quah. Quah notes that much of Chopin's beauty comes from his love of opera, especially the singing style of Italian opera. 'When playing one of Chopin's works, the job of the pianist is often to try to make the piano sing as expressively as possible, like a singer. 'So even though there is this sort of drama of the soloist in front of the orchestra, it's really quite an intimate experience listening to Chopin live because of the way it's written. There are lots of 'singing' lines and plenty of nuance to appreciate – if we're doing our job right, at least,' she adds with a chuckle. Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 also happens to hold a special place in Quah's heart. 'This concerto is very special to me, because it was the first concerto that I performed with an orchestra when I was around 14. It was with the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, soon after I had moved (from Kuala Lumpur) to Sydney, Australia to study piano at the Australian Institute of Music,' she says. 'I played it a few years ago in Pennsylvania, but now coming back to it after having hopefully improved, having much more experience and being able to interpret it in a more mature way, it's sure to be interesting. I'm pleased to have the chance to work on it again.' Emotional depth Chopin's works are known for exploring the full expressive range of the piano. Piano students often use his pieces to learn how to express emotional depth. For Quah, she can't quite recall what was the first Chopin piece she ever played – 'It was probably a short waltz?' – but one of the most important techniques she learned through Chopin very early on was the concept of 'rubato'. ''Rubato' describes this feeling of flexibility when playing a piece. Even though the beat is going very steadily in the background, as a soloist, you have this freedom to speed up the tempo or slow it down. The great thing about this is that every artist's interpretation is unique, so you'll never get the exact same performance. 'So when you're a young pianist, you get assigned these short Chopin pieces to learn how to practice that flexibility, that rubato, while staying on the beat,' says Quah. A life in music A musical virtuoso from a young age, Quah's love for the piano began when she was only two years old, when her family noticed that she had learned to play the piano by ear, improvising tunes she heard on the radio. In Kuala Lumpur, she attended SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail (2) for her first two primary years before moving to Sekolah Sri Cempaka in Damansara Heights from Standard Three to Form One. 'I had a lot of fun with music as a child and sought opportunities for it to be a part of most facets of my daily life – from accompanying Negaraku at school assemblies to playing violin at church and for Christmas carolling!' Quah's love for the piano began when she was only two years old. Quah completed high school at the Australian Institute of Music and earned a Bachelor of Music from the Vancouver Academy of Music, Canada. She later received a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, along with graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School. Through the years, she's been taught by respected pianists such as Boris Slutsky, Peter Frankl, Matti Raekallio, Lee Kum Sing, and Snezana Panovska. She joined a music appreciation class at four and began piano lessons with Panovska (founder of Chopin Society Malaysia) at six, soon composing and playing other instruments. At seven, she made her overseas debut in the Czech Republic and Hungary. 'I had many inspiring music teachers in KL, including Tan Siew Ghee, Clement Siow, Adeline Wong, Nora Kim, and Snezana Panovska, who all contributed to my musical education in their own, indispensable way,' she says. Quah has since performed on major stages – from playing the Electone at the 1998 Bukit Jalil Stadium opening to recitals at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall and solo appearances with symphonies and orchestras worldwide. An expressive piece While the piano remains her primary instrument, Quah's musicianship extends far beyond its keys. A true music lover, she occasionally performs the pipe organ professionally, relishing the grandeur and complexity of the instrument. In more intimate settings – be it special requests or family gatherings – she's just as comfortable tucking a violin under her chin or coaxing warm, intricate tones from a classical guitar, reminding those around her that her relationship with music is as versatile as it is profound. Quah at the Penn's Woods Music Festival in 2022, which was when she last presented Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. Photo courtesy Melody Quah. Even then, Quah still considers the Chopin concerto she will be playing 'a challenging one'. She last performed this Chopin piece at the Penn's Woods Music Festival in the US in 2022. 'I think one of the challenges lies in the fact that it is so expressive. The piano is inherently a percussive instrument, because you play it and then the sound dies right away. But in this concerto, through the piano, we have to create the illusion that we are a singer,' says Quah. 'Another challenge is in how the soloist is tasked to draw the audience in with all of this lyrical material and bring out the contrast between all of the drama that's in it. It's up to the soloist to decide what colour of sound they want to create, and this sort of nuance and subtlety can only be best appreciated when it's heard live in concert,' she concludes. Melody Quah will perform at the MPO's Chopin Festival at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 16, 8pm. The MPO will also present Russian composer Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor at this festival opener. More info:
New Straits Times
38 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Lee Jong-suk and Moon Ga-young show love for Malaysian fans
KUALA LUMPUR: After gracing the red carpet at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur on Sunday for the series finale screening of Law and the City, the two lead superstars Lee Jong-suk and Moon Ga-young expressed their appreciation for Malaysian fans. Moon said she was surprised to see many Malaysian fans in attendance during the event. "For the first time in a long time, I felt kind of nervous. "It's also a rare opportunity to be able to spend the final episode with fans nearby, and I'm very grateful for this memory that I have created," she said during a press conference yesterday, according to a Malay Mail report. Lee said the warmth from everyone was amazing. "It's my first time in this city, and I feel so grateful for having this moment. "I feel like I also enjoyed myself with the fans, and I'm going to leave with a great memory," he said. Law and the City has been trending in Malaysia since it premiered back in July. Moon said that Lee played a big role in her decision to join. "The script was also really great, and the fellow actors who were part of this programme made me feel like I wanted to act here," she said. Lee added: "I never had the chance to portray my character in a daily life setting, and I wanted to show the fans what it's like." Law and the City marked the first time the two actors shared the screen, with Lee saying that working with Moon was a great experience. Moon said that Lee took care of her, guided the other actors, and contributed to creating a stable environment on set. Lee will be working on another project titled Leonardo, while Moon has an upcoming movie set to be released soon.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
'Living the Tanjong Life' exhibition celebrates the late artist Azmi Hussin
WITH his signature buck-toothed smile on full display, Joe G cheekily dangles from an old awning outside a high window at 37, Jalan Kampung Jawa Lama, Penang. Feet spread apart like a frog, the card-carrying Penang boy looks set to burst through the glass for the start of his next adventure. Joe G, of course, is a comic character drawn by the late Malaysian artist Azmi Hussin, who passed away suddenly on March 5. After entering the local art scene in 2013, the 40-year-old was enjoying a heyday in his career, with five books published, popular murals scattered around the state, and three Malaysia Book of Records accomplishments under his belt. Tragically, however, the Butterworth native experienced chest pains on his way back from a Ramadan bazaar in Paya Terubong during the holy month and passed away en route to the hospital. At the time, he was gearing up for a number a projects, including a possible collaboration with the George Town Festival (GTF) – an annual showcase celebrating Penang's capital being recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site. After his untimely passing, three of Azmi's friends and colleagues – Goh Choon Ean, head of creative studio LUMA, art curator Ivan Gabriel and GTF festival director Jack Wong – came together with the hope of celebrating his life and work. With assistance from a few other friends, the "Living the Tanjong Life: A Tribute to the Late Cartoonist Azmi Hussin" exhibition was put together and is currently on display in and around the Hin Bus Depot arts hub in George Town. A total of four main stops make up the exhibition that starts at the entrance of Hin Bus Depot, where visitors can see a large print of Azmi's Crossing Tanjong Street artwork. Around the corner, the graffiti-styled The Great Escape adorns a wall where, nestled inside the arts centre, a hidden treasure called Run Joe Run can be picked out only by those with discerning eyes. The main part of the exhibition is housed in LUMA (a pre-war house located within the Hin Bus Depot area where the earlier mentioned cut-out of Joe G hangs outside a window) and visitors here can take a closer look at many of Azmi's creations, including original hand-drawn pieces that made up his last book, Tanjong Life: Back to the 90s. Two of his iconic works – Kampung Nasi Lemak (2023) and a signed print of Ferry From Hollywood (2024) – have also been loaned by collectors for the exhibition. On Sunday (Aug 10), Azmi's family, including his wife Marjanah Shammoon Rali and their three children, visited the exhibition for a special guided tour. Admiring the 15 large cut-outs of Azmi's cartoon characters and samples from his collection of drawings, the group toggled between smiles and tears as they celebrated the beloved artist's accomplishments over the years. 'It was so good to remember his work and efforts. "This makes me feel like he is still here and lives on through his art,' Marjanah, 39, said. Living the Tanjong Life: A Tribute to the Late Cartoonist Azmi Hussin is a joint collaboration of LUMA, Hin Bus Depot and GTF. It will run until Sunday (Aug 17) and is open to the public, free of charge.
