WHY GO

Take a 45-minute drive away from Kota Kinabalu’s central business district and you’ll land in this excellent Italian eatery in beautiful Shangri-la's Rasa Ria Resort, overlooking magnificent beach vistas.

A delightful starter, harking to a ‘Different idea of a seafood salad’, is the aptly named insalata di pesce. Another excellent appetite-whetting dish is the cipolla – stuffed piedmont onion with ameretti biscuits and fontina cheese fondue.

Try the aragosta as a main dish. The delectable linguine comes with large chunks of fresh local lobster in tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic and a slight hint of chilli. A worthy meat dish is the sensationally presented l’agnello brasato alla birra. On this visit, Chef Luca is personally on hand to pour in his specially concocted sauce that’s a subtle mix of sweet, sour and bitter flavours. No one flavour overpowers the other, and it jives very well with the fall-off-the-bone tender lamb meat flanked with mashed potato and sautéed cabbage leaves.

There’s no better way to end the sumptuous meal than with the signature Expresso-o tiramisu. Bitter notes from the separately added coffee complements the light sweet cream, biscuits and sprinkling of miniature meringue droplets.