Fulfilling the Pizza Craving

There are not that many places in Kuching for authentic Italian food. However, there is one that is right in the heart of the city called Ristorante Beccari. It is one of the restaurants of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites.

The reason we were there was to ease my friend's craving for pizza. As a result, we had an all-pizza lunch. Ristorante Beccari emphasises that all the pizzas are baked in the wood-fired oven, thus adding the authenticity.

The first that came out was the Quattro Formaggi (RM34.00++, regular). It has four types of cheese but the cheesiness was just fine. It didn't taste greasy at all. We loved this one so much!

Our second pizza was Siciliana (RM27.00++, regular). The topping contains anchovies, capsicum and eggplants. We liked this one too.

The crust of the pizzas here is the thin type which is very crispy and crunchy. I prefer this type to those with thick crust that tastes more like bread.

To cap it all off, we ordered our coffee from Seattle Coffee just outside the restaurant, for the sack of satisfying our gastronomic journey further. I had a cappuccino (RM9.50++) whereas my lunch partner preferred a latte (RM9.50++).

Back to Tarot Salmon

I was very impressed by the food quality at Tarot Salmon during my first visit, so my friend and I decided to dine in this new Japanese restaurant down town again recently.

The menu

We wanted to try some new dishes, so we ordered a Chukka Idako (baby octopus) as our appetiser.

Chukka Idako (RM6.90)

We also had temaki hand rolls instead of the nigiri sushi for a change. My friend had the Ebiko Temaki (shrimp roe hand roll) and I had the Tobiko Temaki (flying-fish roe hand roll).

Left: Ebiko Temaki (RM6.90). Right: Tobiko Temaki (RM7.90)

Close up of the Tobiko Temaki

Being at Tarot Salmon, there is no excuse for not ordering salmon. Therefore, we had the Sashimi Mori Toro, a mixture of salmon, red tuna and octopus. There was no white tuna being served, so it was replaced with salmon. That explains the extra salmon slices on the plate.

Sashimi Mori Toro (RM29.90)

The Agedashi Dofu (deep-fried beancurd in dashi sauce) looked nice on the menu, so we ordered one. It was indeed as good as it looks.

Agedashi Dofu (RM6.90)

We loved the Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) during our first visit, so we didn't miss it out during our second time. The taste was still the same - excellent!

Okonomiyaki (RM11.90)

Close up of the Okonomiyaki

Vanessa. Series 4: Babe Up Close

Location: Sunny Hill & Stutong Park, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Date taken: 13^th March 2011
Camera equipment: Nikon D300 + Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D