E’Cucina Italian Restaurant on the second floor of five-star hotel Pullman Yangon Centrepoint introduced its quality Italian fare to Yangon on March 19.
The hotel overlooks Maha Bandoola Park near landmark Sule Pagoda in downtown and has four dining places in total: The Merchant All Day Dining Restaurant, The Junction, Gustave Lobby bar and the E’Cucina Italian Restaurant on 2nd, and an outdoor pool on 5th floor.
Inside the bistroMyanmore visited the new restaurant recently, greeted by two staff waiting next to the impressive wine cellar, and met the hotel’s general manager Pieter De Weerd. The bar has a classy, attractive design with pendant lights and a high window near the tables offers a good street view.
The menu is packed with sumptuous Italian cuisine—antipasti (appetizers), le insalate (salads), zuppe (soups), primi (lots of pastas), secondi (generally meats), la cucina (pizzas), mozzarella (cheese courses), and dolci (desserts). Experienced Italian chef Nicolino Lalla runs the kitchen and cheers the customers with his food and smile.
From the range of starters we ordered frittura di calamari e gamberi—deep fried squids and prawns with balsamic reduction and tonno can salsa di capperi e insalatina di stagione—yellow-fin tuna fillet pan-seared and served with salad and capers dressing.
Then the chef recommended spaghetti allo scoglio piccanti—spaghetti in white wine sauce with squid, prawn, clam, black mussel, chili and cherry tomatoes—and ravioli ripieni di foie gras in salsa di tartufo—homemade stuffed ravioli with foie gras and ricotta cheese in truffle cream sauce for main. As you can probably tell by the names of these dishes, the food is something to relish. I would say, “it looks luxury but the food tells the story”. Plus, it would be a shame to end this without mentioning the fresh juice—particularly the orange juice, which would make everyone crave more.
Opening hours: 5.30pm – 10pm everyday
Address: 65 Corner of Sule Pagoda Road and Merchant Road, Kyauktada Township, 11182 Yangon
