From left to right: H E Nicolai Ruge, David Ng & H E David Pine
When it comes to hospitality, Italians are among the most congenial people on the planet. When you visit an Italian home for a meal, the host welcome you with an inimitable warmth, showering you with Italian delicacies and wines, making you feel a part of the family.
This sense of warm Italian hospitality is faithfully observed at one of KL’s finest authentic Italian restaurants, Nerovivo. Along with Neroteca and Nerofico, they represent the holy trinity of Italian premium dining in the city, each delivering a different menu and ambience, but all of an exceptionally high standard.
Two pristinely laid out long tables ready to receive the evening's diners
Nerovivo is a modern, stylish and cozy restaurant, featuring a large al fresco deck, striking lilac walls and bold no-nonsense artwork on the wall. It is also one of a handful of Italian restaurants in Malaysia that has a wood-fire grill and pizza oven, producing some of KL’s most superior thin-crust pizzas.
As guests arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted with a reassuring "Buonasera!" by the amiable Nerovivo service team and were treated to a choice of white wine and juice prior to dinner.
From left to right: Saheran Suhendran Sockanathan, Sofiah Abdul Rahman, H E Nicolai Ruge & Astrid Agerholm Ruge
From left to right: David Ng, H E David Pine, Madam Arti & Irene Ng
Invited guests of the evening included the High Commissioner of New Zealand, H E David Pine and his wife, Madam Arti; Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy, H E Nicolai Ruge and his wife, Astrid Agerholm Ruge; Managing Director of DHL Worldwide Express Sdn Bhd, David Ng and his wife, Irene Ng; General Manager of Tradewinds Premium Goods Sdn Bhd, Sofiah Abdul Rahman and her husband, Saheran Suhendran Sockanathan; Head of Marketing & PR of the Melium Group, Ferhat Nazri-Aziz; CEO of Real Food Company Sdn Bhd, Izzana Salleh; Co-founder and Director of TENC (The Emperor’s New Clothes) Fashion Boutique, Casmad Sanuri and his wife Elyna Effendi; and television personatliy cum celebrity veejay, Marion Caunter.
Dato' Steve Day (left) welcoming the diners with Giancarlo Francioso & Chef Michele Cuozzo looking on
With the arrival of the final guests, MIGF Organizing Chairman, Dato’ Steve Day gathered everyone together and introduced Nerovivo’s co-owner, Giancarlo Francioso and Executive Chef Michele Cuozzo to the evening’s guests. Like a proud Italian host receiving guests to his house, Giancarlo warmly welcomed everyone and announced that dinner will be served shortly.
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| Nero Vivo Canapé | Pizza Tartufata |
As diners took their seats at the two pristinely laid out long tables, Chef Michele withdrew from his kitchen to introduce the evening’s courses. First to come out was the starter, the Nero Vivo Canapé; a salmon, a mozzarella, and a pear & grana padano canapé served as a trio. The starter was accompanied by the Pinot grigio-grillo mannara igt wine from Sicily, Italy.
Next came the main course, or rather four main courses. Instead of being asked to make a choice of two courses, Chef Michele decided to take diners on a pizza-pasta-rice-chicken trip: Pizza Tartufata, Pasta e Fagioli, Riso Venere al Nero di Seppia and Roasted Chicken Diavola & Roasted Potato.
The diners, sharing a light moment with each other
In between dishes, there was no shortage of chatter and jovial laughs from the diners, everyone was thoroughly enjoying each other’s company, the atmosphere akin to a big family get-together. The diners were so engaged in their conversations, so much so that Dato’ Steve had to put in a bit more effort than usual to get everyone’s attention each time he conducted his traditional guest introductions.
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| Pasta e Fagioli | Roasted Chicken Diavola |
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| Riso Venere al Nero di Seppia | Torta al Limoncello |
The dinner came to a bellissimo end with a delectable dessert, Torta al Limoncello.
From left to right: Izzana Salleh, Firhan Rezenan, Marion Caunter & Ferhat Nazri-Aziz
Owner Giancarlo, always making sure that his guests are well attended to
The familial atmosphere, along with Chef Michele’s simplistic, home-style cooked yet exquisite dishes garnered unanimous high praise from the diners. CEO of Real Food Company, Izzana Salleh, for one, enjoyed the dishes immensely. “Chef Michele has put out quite a diverse range of dishes tonight. I’ve been to Nerovivo and sampled their menu before, it was excellent. But for tonight’s Festival Menu, Chef Michele really showcased his strength on all the different Italian dishes,” she said. The General Manager of Tradewinds Premium Goods, Sofiah Abdul Rahman was also very impressed with the evening’s dishes. “It was wonderful. Every dish was slightly different; every dish has something special about it.”
When asked about how Malaysia, as a gourmet food destination, compares to more established countries, Sofiah Abdul Rahman commented, “I think for the past few years, we’ve actually moved forward in the gourmet world. We have a lot of excellent restaurants in Malaysia. In fact, compared to the few world-famous chefs’ restaurants in Europe that I’ve been to, I find that we have quite a few here that are pretty much on par with them. So, we should market these restaurants that serve this fabulous food. And over the years, I think MIGF has gradually brought more and more of these great restaurants to the forefront, and we should continue to generate awareness for them.”
H E David Pine giving a speech at the end of the dinner
The High Commissioner of New Zealand, H E David Pine thoroughly enjoyed his evening, he went on to praise MIGF for being a brilliant platform that promotes great food. “Most of what New Zealand sells to Malaysia is food, and festivals such as MIGF are a great thing for us. We love the way Dato’ Steve and his team are really trying to bring everybody’s attention to issues around food and hospitality, encouraging everyone, in a fun way, to lift the standards. And I think it’s a very good event,” he said.
The Nerovivo team say a few words of thanks
The evening came to an end with Dato’ Steve Day calling out Giancarlo, Chef Michele and the rest of the Nerovivo team. Giancarlo gave his heartfelt thanks to everyone, and introduced each of his team who received a round of applause from the diners for a fantastic job, but not before being served the signature, smooth-as-ice Limoncello as a nightcap.
Let's give one big smile for the camera, everyone!
If you would like to experience Italian hospitality matched with superb, authentic Italian cuisine, don’t wait any longer, call Nerovivo now and make a reservation. With the fantastic value-for-money Festival Menu price starting from RM98++ to RM270++ per person, we assure you that you will have a dining experience as wonderful as the diners had at this MIGF Preview Dinner. Moreover, you’ll receive a complimentary cocktail before dinner, discounts on the a la carte menu should you return, christmas and year-end privilege booking offers and surprises for birthday celebrants!
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