Verona Trattoria Section 17

We are back at Verona!

This place now serves pork, and since our past experiences have always been good here, we were pretty sure that the latest grub offerings would be good too.(Read our past post here). Verona Trattoria has in its repertoire the casual home cooking style that might be called bistros or diners in other parts of the world. Here the menu remains stubbornly impervious to the trends that come and go in modern italian dining. There are no celebrity chefs, but the dishes are wholesome, tasty and generously garnished.. and oh.. the pretty lass of an owner is always around for an informal and friendly chat should you need her as well.

Nestled comfortably among Section 17’s housing area, between low rise apartments, established semi-attached houses and bungalows, Verona Trattoria is just past the deafening screeches of the Damansara Highway, and just in sight of the lights of a new office lot that is being built in the vicinity.

this week’s special – pork salami pizza RM34

At Verona, pizza crusts are admirably thin and crispy, and the mozzarella addictive, but the tomato sauce could be richer and more assertive on some of the pizza’s we had, we thought. Having said that, we loved all four pizzas we ordered that night. There are nearly a dozen toppings to pick from on the menu, with more interesting choices like capers, anchovies, quattro formaggio and this week’s special, the pork salami pizza.

Our host was lamenting how salami is yet another example of an Italian sausage tradition, that has been abused by mass production and over processing. This was not the case with the pork salami pizza served at Verona. Air flown form Italy, the pork salami had a terrific smoky aroma and the pizza was devoured in 30 seconds flat. A good choice to start with.

quattro formaggio – gorgonzola, grana padano, feta, mozzarella RM36

Never in this town have oozy blobs of melted buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, grana padano, feta, and brightly flavored San Marzano tomatoes frolicked in such ecstatic harmony. This cheesy special was my personal favourite of the night.Very good indeed!

pork bacon aglio olio RM28

This traditional all time favourite pasta was supposed to come with pork belly (I can hear you swooning) but they ran out. So we had it with pork bacon instead. It was still a great pasta dish and at under RM30, who can complain?

pork spare ribs – costine di maiale brasato RM42

The meat-centric non-pizza section of Verona’s menu now includes, a properly rustic example of pork spare ribs, with a garnish of salad on the side. Brasato is actually the technique of braising the pork – the slow cooking transforms even the toughest cuts of pork into tender chunks of flavor that only requires a fork to eat, so imagine what it can do for spare ribs! The cheesy, tomato based sauce it comes drenched in is to die for. Totally fab.

fettucini marinara RM27

At Verona, they are generous with their seafood indeed. This small plate of marinara pasta had approximately 6- 8 prawns in it!

sicileana – anchovies (spain), capers, tomato , olives RM26

Another great pizza. The capers and anchovies do wonders for this pizza. Being a fan of black olives, I could have eaten this pizza on my own!

Marinara pizza – selection of seafood, prawn, squid mussels RM28

Of all the pizza’s this one was the least interesting to me. Though it tasted good, how could it have held a torch to the capers-anchovies-olives combo, the pork salami or the quattro cheese pizza? No way!

One of nice points of dining at Verona’s is that they also have a small but well selected dessert menu, which includes a smooth, wobbly panna cotta (the vanilla is better than the orange), and a signature tiramisu. Should you desire even more pizza, the kitchen offers a sweet version, called the fruity dessert pizza – with orange, peaches and granny smith apples (depending on the season), but I think that’s enough pizza for us, for one day:)

[Olympus logo]