OCEANO ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Shangri-la’s Rasa Ria Resort & Spa,

Pantai Dalit, Kota Kinabalu

TEL: 088 797 888 shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/rasariaresort

An all-day dining restaurant by day but Italian restaurant by night, Oceano is aptly located in the Ocean Wing of one of Kota Kinabalu’s oldest resorts. Pop art posters featuring different Italian spirits (Campari, Aperol, Cynar) are the only consistent motif in the restaurant, which is made up of three dining areas, two indoor and one outdoor. The Melanzane Parmigiana, an eggplant dish layered with herbaceous pesto, is likely the best dish here and worthy of the price. Sad to say, the gnocchi with blue cheese and beetroot is nothing but a bowl of inedible mush. You’d be better off ordering the al dente lobster pasta, but even this needs a few visits from the salt shaker. Dessert offerings include a deconstructed tiramisu, which sees a nice balance of bitter coffee, sweet mascarpone and crunchy ladyfingers. All in all, we’d suggest skipping the mains and pairing a slew of appetisers with a bottle of well-priced wine. Also, the service team would greatly benefit from sampling the restaurant’s dishes; how else are they to know their product?