Nestled in the heart of Shah Alam, this Italian cuisine restaurant is about to take dining to a whole new level.
Tosca is an Italian trattoria that offers seating inside and outside that overlooks the vibrant and beautiful i-City Shah Alam. The hospitable atmosphere of the eatery serving traditional Italian cuisine always makes one feel at home. Tosca elevates the informal Italian dining experience to a whole new level with its open kitchen design, custom-built pizza oven, and bar. Warm wood and stone components used in the restaurant’s decor creates a pleasant atmosphere for anyone who dines here.
Of course, a place like this must have something unique that would lure diners from Klang Valley and beyond to dine here. Besides serving authentic Italian food, Tosca is also mindful about their food presentation. They have a creative way of serving certain food that’ll keep you entertained throughout your dine-in session.
Read on to know our experience here at Tosca Trattoria.
Appetizers
To began our meal, we were served with three types of appetizers: Focaccia bread, Bruschetta Romana and Bisque Di Mare Con Tortellini Di Astice. The bread was warm and baked perfectly. We could tell from how it looked, smelled and tasted. It has this slight crunch in every bite. Our forever sauce would definitely be the tomato puree. It’s like this comfort meal you could have any time of the day. Although tomatoes can be sour, the puree served had a very balanced flavour and pair well with the warm bread.
Next up is the Bruschetta Romana, another favourite item of ours. Bruschetta Romana is a toasted sour bread topped with a basil base, buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and balsamic. In one bite, you could feel a burst of flavour in your mouth.
What’s special about this dish is that the balsamic vinegar used is 6 years old! No wonder it tasted super good. The bread was crunchy and they were generous with the toppings that you’ll have to open your mouth wide to take a bite.
The last appetizers was Bisque Di Mare Con Tortellini Di Astice. We wonder why the long name but basically it’s a soup. This smooth and creamy seafood bisque is served with two pieces of citrus lobster tail tortellini. It almost looks like wanton but instead, they use tortellini to wrap the lobster.
This soup was slightly challenging to eat because of how strong and ‘different’ it tasted. To us, it tasted similar to the normal wantan mee soup but the broth has a strong essence of seafood. The tortellini on the other hand seems to be thick and dry (probably that’s how it’s meant to be). Overall, the soup was okay but it’s flavour may be hard for Malaysias to decipher.
Main Course
Tosca serves a wide array of mains. From secondi to pizza, you’d be spoilt for choices. Speaking to the staff, they suggested the catch of the day as it’s one of the signature dishes and of course, we had to test that out. The Pescato Del Girono En Papillote, as the name suggests, was presented in a seaweed wrap with a full sea bass fillet on top of a bed of extra virgin olive oil, pesto, potato, lemon, and garlic. This meal is a clear “must try” and seems to be a favourite here. The flavours and textures of the seabass were wonderful, and it was cooked to perfection, just like the rest of the meal.
Sea bass can be a hassle to eat because of the amount of bones it has, but lucky for us, the waitress at Tosca deboned the fish and cut it into small pieces so that we could enjoy your meal trouble-free. We love how gentle they were with the fish, making sure we got to savour bits and pieces from the entire fish. As for the taste, the fish was really fresh and tender. To compliment the fish, they gave use two types of sauce which were lemon butter and pesto. We preferred the lemon butter despite the slightly sour taste as compared to the bitter pesto.
Aside from the fish, we also tried their Scaloppine Di Pollo, grilled chicken breast braised in capers, lemons and generous amount of mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce was the highlight. It had a strong taste but when paired with the grilled chicken, it’s was *chef’s kiss*. The chicken itself was flavourful, tender and juicy. You could have it as it is or pair it with rice or bread.
Dessert
Now, for our favourite part….DESSERT! It would be silly to dine in at an Italian restaurant but leave without trying an Italian dessert. So, we chose the Tiramisu to end our meal. This was our favourite part of the entire meal because not only did the dessert taste good but we got to learn the origin of Tiramisu and how it was made.
Fun fact: Tiramisu initially isn’t a dessert but a breakfast item. Shocking isn’t it! Tiramisu, when translated to English means ‘pick me up’. So, before it became a world wide famous dessert, it was something Italians would have for breakfast.
The Tiramisu at Tosca is to die for and they come in two version, alcohol and non-alcohol. And we had both! The ingredients used for the tiramisu are freshly pressed espresso, whipping cream, mascarpone, ladyfingers and chocolate ganache and shredded chocolate. They start by dipping two ladyfingers into the espresso and layering it with whipped creams, followed by two more ladyfingers and topping it with mascarpone.
The final touch is adding a scoop of chocolate ganache and shredding some chocolate and it’s ready to serve. The alcohol version is pretty much the same except the alcohol is already infused into the espresso beforehand.
Trust when we say this, one bite is all it take to keep you wide awake. Because the espresso is freshly-pressed and not like those 3-in-1s’; it’s very, very strong . It tasted bitter at the start but with the whipped cream and mascarpone, you get the sweetness later on. It was definitely a ‘pick me up’ dessert to end a long, tiring day.
We had a genuinely wonderful time, not only because of the exquisite and authentically Italian flavours produced by premium products and deft cooking, but also because we were able to gorge ourselves on all the best ingredients available. The ambience was great and cozy.
Since it’s the festive season, they decorated the restaurant with Christmas stuff. We also loved the hospitality by Tosca’s staff. They made sure to explain each and every meal, gave they recommendation and made sure we had the best dining experience. You can opt for indoor sitting as well as outdoor but we were recommended to dine indoors as at night, there might be insects at the balcony.
For more information, or to make a reservation, visit www.doubletreeshahalamicity.com or call +603 5521 8808.
