Trattoria Silver Spoon

As a kid, I used to dread the arrival of Mother’s Day. My family and I would work all day and night to bundle up different colours of carnations and wrap them with decorative plastics before selling them at the wet market on the day itself. It was exhausting and most of the time, I just couldn’t wait for the last stalk to be sold. We would then replenish with some good hawker food in the market. If I’d saved enough, we’d have the then infamous pandan layer cake from Australia Cake House as well. I believe that’s how we celebrated Mother’s Day throughout my primary school years. Back in the 80s, business was rather good. As time went by, demand decreased and my folks decided to just let go of this side income. I guess people are just being more pragmatic these days by bringing their parents out for a good meal on such occasions.

It was at Silver Spoon on the eve of this year’s Mother’s Day celebration that I think my momma got her first carnation. I must say that it was very thoughtful of the restaurant to present a stalk to every mother who dined there over the weekend. Momma inspected the quality of the carnation and said it was of a good grade. Gosh. Worth celebrating as well was Silver Spoon itself, for braving (greater) Kepong’s generally conservative foodscape by offering a contemporary Italian menu that is usually found at the posher neighbourhoods in town. And it’s just right across the road from one of my favourite pork noodles stalls!

What I thought would be an unacceptable starter for my folks turned out to be a hit with their tastebuds - the homemade chicken liver pate that was flavoured with brandy and thyme. The portion was well-calculated to have all the toasts equally layered with a thick spread of the rich and smooth pate. Of course, it was not as decadent as pate de foie gras but I guess to have it served relatively fresher than the canned ones and at a more affordable price, it’s quite a satisfying starter. I’m better off talking about rice congee than risotto for obvious reasons but I suppose a good stock is invariably important in both. For the signature pescatore, the menu stated a tomato and white wine sauce, which I thought was flavourful and soaked the well-cooked rice nicely. What amazed me was the selection and amount of seafood in the risotto that adding a delicate touch of brininess to the sauce. Besides the crowning semi-shelled slipper lobster, there were also mostly fresh squid rings, scallops, prawns and mussels. All at a more affordable price than the simplified, literally cheesier version I had at another more upscale restaurant. I liked the homemade potato gnocchi for 2 reasons – the aptly soft dumplings and a dense Napoli sauce that was aromatized with a few Italian herbs. One thing about my folks (dad especially) is that they tend to compare all pizzas and lamb shanks to Porto Romano’s, which they claim suit their tastes best. Mont Kiara’s branch, that is. They liked the lamb shank braised in white wine, vegetables and brown lamb stock here but commented that the sauce lacked depth and some smokiness. I disagree with my folks as both sauces are different. But all of us really enjoyed the creamy, savoury mash potatoes bedding underneath the shank. There was a point when we almost requested for an extra portion of it. There’s also a list of pizzas on the menu and our BBQ chicken pizza, with its crispy thin crust, tasty BBQ sauce, some sun-dried tomatoes and a generous portion, was good.

Novelty may not be clearly defined in the menu but what really worked, for me, were the bold flavours. Mention Kepong and most will relate it to D’Foodland and Ji De Zhi. Maybe they should note this silver spoon too.

Trattoria Silver Spoon
2, 1st Floor
Wisma Menjalara
Jalan 7A/62A, Bandar Manjalara
52200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: (+603) 6277 0445

Thanks to Sean for introducing this place in his informative blog.