La Taverna Restaurant,
C-G-45 Block Camelia,
10 Boulevard, Lebuhraya Sprint,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Business hours: 8.00am-12.00am (Mondays to Saturdays)
Tel: 03-7733 1151
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lataverna.10boulevard
AFTER a revamp last December, La Taverna restaurant now offers not only new interior settings but a variety of local, western, Spanish and Italian dishes.
Formerly known as Work & Chill Cafe, the outlet, which is located on the ground floor of 10 Boulevard, went through a revamp last December and reopened in mid-January.
Owned and managed by Noormala Othman and partners, the restaurant was designed to serve as a place to chill-out.
“It now has a more relaxed ambience, a place where you can kick back and relax after a tiring work day,”Noormala said.
The restaurant is also designed for informal work meetings or business discussions and the warm colours provide a nice ambience for a romantic dinner.
The owners have their own day jobs but decided to venture into the F&B business when they spotted an opportunity.
“As the only Western dining option here at 10 Boulevard, we offer dishes such as grilled lamb, roast chicken and steak,” she said.
During a recent tasting session, we started with Wild Mushroom Aioli and it was easy to see why this was one of the favourites among diners in La Taverna.
For a casual gathering with friends, diners can opt for bread and dips as a starter. These include items such as tomato salsa, sour cream, red bell pepper and flavoured butter.
Delicious: The Beef Steak comes with homemade black peppersauce and served with the restaurant’s recipe of mash potatoes.
The Wild Mushroom Soup is served with croutons, virgin olive oil and a slice of garlic bread.
For the main course, we were served Grilled Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce, La Taverna Roasted Chicken, Beef Steak and Kerala Fish Curry.
The team behind the restaurant pride themselves on making their own sauces.
The salmon is served with homemade lemon-butter sauce and I was pleased to find that the vegetables on the side still had a crunch to it as I do not fancy overcooked veggies.
The chicken is marinated overnight and the sauce is made from herbs and vegetables.
The steak comes with homemade black pepper sauce and is served with La Taverna’s own variety of mash potatoes.
For someone whose tolerance for spiciness is limited to curry-flavoured instant noodles, the fish curry was one fiery dish.
According to Noormala, this is a favourite with diners.
“It all began when one of our regulars, who had tried almost everything on the menu, asked for fish curry.
“I whipped up this dish and it became a hit,”she said, adding that some of the spices used were from India.
For desserts, we were served Bread & Butter Pudding, which was baked and presented in a cupcake form, best enjoyed hot. You can choose to have chocolate syrup or strawberry sauce with the pudding.
Juicy meat: The La Taverna Roasted Chicken is marinatedovernight and the sauce is made from herbs and vegetables.
For drinks, I opted for the Body Cleanser, a refreshing mix of apples, carrots and ginger slices with lemon. There are also smoothies, shakes, ice-blended drinks and juices.
The lunch crowd is mainly office workers from around the area.
Among the favourite local dishes are nasi lemak with chicken or beef rendang, butter chicken, sweet and sour briyani rice with mutton veruval or chicken perattal.
La Taverna also offers a “Bespoke Dining” experience where diners can request for a customised arrangement.
“We provide a personalised dining setting, from the lighting to table linens to music performances. We work directly with guests to create menus.
“We also collaborate with artists or event organisers on every aspect of the dining experience,” Noormala said.
So if you are planning a dinner for that special someone or want to enjoy a themed dinner, this may be the place for you.
Additional charges apply for bespoke dining, depending on the request.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
