Rosso, the fine dining Italian restaurant and lounge at Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, presents its new Italian Chef, Paolo Gionfriddo, in March 2014. Chef Paolo is no stranger to the world of fine dining because he has been a chef in various Michelin-star restaurants in his native Italy, and I was grateful that I could experience his passion in creating and presenting his best dishes for our lunch last Saturday, April 12, 2014. He was born and raised in Sicily, Italy. Taking nature’s beauty and cultural influences, Chef Paolo brings an intense passion, high-quality standard and individualistic flare to Rosso with his Italian cuisine. Guests can find the simple appreciation in Chef Paolo’s artistic and distinctive dishes representative of a true Italian with every creation.
Rosso is a restaurant which offers lots of authentic and sensational Italian Cuisine where most of the decorations are colored with Red because Rosso itself means “Red” in Italian. It represents passion, warmth and elegance. Besides the regular dining room and VIP room, there is also a cozy lounge in a smaller room where people can enjoy more over 200 premium wines imported from Italy and around the world.
Welcome Drinks
Virgin Mojito – My favorite!
Eggplant Parmigiana & Saffron Arancini
Besides welcome drinks, they also served us with two kinds of delicious canapes. There are Eggplant Parmigiana and Saffron Arancini. I’m actually not a fan of eggplant, but this one is unique. It contains Buffalo Ricotta Cheese, Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese and Basil Leaf. All the cheese mixtures made it tastier! Saffron Arancini is made of Rissoto Carnaroli (Italian rice), Saffron Powder, virgin oil, sea salt, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, onion, bread crumb, flour and organic egg. It’s like a rice ball with the hints of saffron, the Parmesan and the melted mozzarella cheese in the center of each bite. Love it!
So here is the main dining room! It has a high-painted ceiling, chic, modern and romantic ambience where mostly decorated in Red color.
… And this is a VIP room where we had lunch together with other food bloggers and some friends from the media. This VIP Room has a capacity up to 12 pax, suitable for a small lunch meeting for your corporate since they can facilitate it with LCD Projector too. What surprised me was that this event was quite different from many invitations I had received from Shangri-la Jakarta. They really prepared everything, starting from the table set, food photo session before lunch, until getting into the kitchen to see behind the scene when Chef Paolo prepared everything for us. For lunch, Chef Paolo prepared us with his best dish from his hometown Sicily, Italy. Oh, so special!!
To accompany our lunch, they also prepared some Planeta wines from Sicily, Italy.
White Wine: Planeta Chardonnay
Planeta Chardonnay has a lot of fruity aromas, very rich and well-balanced with some acidity. It’s a good pairing for light meals or appetizer.
Antipesti : Pastetti ri Baccala
This picture was taken when Chef Paolo was giving his personal touch and soul to the dish. I saw his passion and ambition in creating not only beautiful, but also a delicious dish for us at Rosso. Fried cod fish cooked to perfection until crisp and balanced by the fennel, blood orange segment and saffron Sabayon. My favorite!
Red Wine: Planeta La Segreta Sicilia
Then they served us with Planeta La Segreta Sicilia which is sweet and has clean after taste to accompany our main course.
Pasta : Spaghetti Che Cozze e Muddica
Here is the winning dish for me! Spaghetti with mussels, parsley cream and aromatic bread crumb. The green parsley cream underneath the pasta is slightly salty and the homemade bread crumbs complements it. The pasta cooked in ‘al dente’ texture and all the mixture tastes delicious!
Pesci : Agghiutta ri Tunnu
Yellow fin tuna with sweet and sour braised onion, and balsamic reduction. The tuna was covered with pistachio crumbs and cooked in medium rare (still pink in the middle) so it has a fine texture and a nice subtle taste. Somehow this tuna is quite unique, because the texture is like eating chicken.
Dolce : Cannolo ca Ricotta
Last but not least, here comes the dessert, which is also unique for me. This fried pastry dough is filled with a sweet and creamy Buffalo Ricotta Cheese blended with Vanilla to add more flavors and topped with pistachio. The shell is crisp and simply delicious!
Thank you so much Rosso and Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta for the delightful lunch. The cod fish and pasta were cooked to perfection, and the wine selection was perfect. I had a great time getting to know some people and having a chance to experience Chef Paolo’s best dishes.