Gianni’s Trattoria @ Johor Bahru

3.11.2011

Posted in Blog , Featured , Food Reviews

Sometimes when I think JB can’t surprise me anymore, I happily find myself being proven wrong! Good italian food (omfg) in a city dominated by a plethora of uninspiring asian eating outlets.

My adventurous parents (with lashings of help from the internet) discovered this place. First off, as you walk into the restaurant, one wall is papered with newspaper clippings of the famous chef & owner (Hans Durst). I saw Hyatt on Collins in Melbourne being one of the places he’s worked at and that was when I started paying attention. Melbourne has a prominent italian community and I used to live a stone’s throw away from Lygon St (italian foodie heaven). Loved all that pizza and pasta I had stuffed my face with there *omfg*. My thoughts were, if he has such experience, then the food ought to be more than passable (so jaded, I know!)

We went there for an early lunch (11.30am), way before the Sunday afternoon crowd appeared. Hans himself was sitting at a table drinking coffee and enjoying his newspaper. The atmosphere inside was pretty cozy, with throw cushions to lounge against as you tuck in to their fabulous offerings. Since we had the little one with us, I had no chance to scrutinise the menu and just ate whatever was placed in front of me, so the dishes may not be correctly named.

Bread + Olive Oil & Vinegar dip

Nice soft bread with a crunchy crust. DH had the time of his life pigging out on this one!

Mushroom Soup

The unappetising look of this is absolutely deceiving. It had a generous serving of mushrooms with a nice chunky texture to it. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but it’s pretty close.

Calamari and Prawn fritters

The addition of prawns to the usual calamari fritters provided that extra crunch that made this an interesting dish. *Yum*

Fettucine with ham

Very very creamy (oddly similar to those I’ve tasted before in Perth), but there wasn’t anything else going for it. I suppose I am awfully choosy about my pasta. BTW, the serving is pretty large. The dish is shaped like a bowl so there’s more pasta hidden away from view.

Grilled fish

This was a respectable, juicy fillet.

Pizza

If you like your crusts thin and crispy, order this. It had a nice thick layer of cheese and that won me over

Lamb (it is not the lamb shank... just look for the most expensive lamb dish on the menu)

This was the highlight of my meal. They messed up the order (serving us the lambshank instead of this one) so we had to wait quite a bit before this was served. But was the wait worthwhile? Hell, yeah.

tiramisu that is to-die-for

I have no idea what a “real” tiramisu ought to taste like but this as a dessert is to-die-for. Good balance of sweetness and bitterness, my husband kept raving about it days after our meal.

macchiato

Ordered a coffee but it came even before the soup and starters so by the time I got around to ending the meal with it, it was horribly cold. *sigh*

The food was good, the prices were high (around RM300++ for all this), and the waiters needed to relax more and learn to crack a smile sometimes. But I will go back again if I’m stuck in JB and craving Italian food.

Address:No. 110, Jalan Serampang, Taman Pelangi, 80400, Johor Bahru
Tel: 07 – 3312 230