May 2010
In the ongoing battle for ‘my restaurant is cooler than your restaurant’ supremacy, it seems that many restaurateurs have forgotten the fundamental truth about running a successful eatery, and it’s that the simplest things often work best. Forget the chrome, glass, slate and dancing unicorns; punters at the crux of it are basic creatures who are actually pretty easy to please. The irresistible aroma of freshly baked bread? Tick! Comfortable chairs and a cosy setting? Tick! Friendly staff and tasty, nourishing food in unstintingly generous portions? Tick! Tick! Tick!
If there was a cheat sheet for restaurateurs – call it Basic Restaurant Truths – then the team behind Favola must have gotten their hot little hands on it because all the right boxes were ticked when they opened this delightful Italian eatery.
It’s unpretentious, it’s inviting, but most of all, it serves food that evokes memories of the Italian childhood you never had, with flavours that assail your palate with tasty familiarity even as they beguile you. You get the distinct impression that Favola was designed for comfort, not speed. Oh, but the comfort! A complimentary bread platter is an auspicious sign of what’s to come: foccacia studded with sun-dried tomato and other breads are paired with a variety of dips. An ephemeral but strangely full-bodied zuppa pavese – beef consommé – is served with wobbly egg, parmigiana and crunchy croutons, while the wagyu lasagne is like a well-loved couch freshly reupholstered in kid leather: it’s familiarly comfortable but infinitely plush.
And although I’m generally a sprinter rather than a long distance runner, I reserved some culinary stamina for dessert, because the Illy coffee tiramisu replete with fizzy chocolate bits is as close to being a child as I’m ever going to get again.
Favola may have passed the food and ambience test with flying colours but it’s a fact that the only thing KL-ites love more than good food in a comfortable setting is a great price list. Guess what? They ticked that box too! Hurrah, it’s a jackpot! Fay Khoo