Pizzeria @ Hard Rock Hotel Penang

If you think Hard Rock Hotel Penang offers more than just luxury rooms and great souvenirs that are rocking, you are definitely limiting your imagination. As a matter of fact, your palatal will be tantalized at Pizzeria, one of the house restaurant in the hotel. They serve scrumptious Italian inspired dishes in a comfortable environment while you can enjoy the sea breeze. Amazingly, open kitchen concept is being practiced at Pizzeria, whereby you can witness how your Pizzas and Calzones being baked and see the chefs here perform the dough tossing acts skillfully.

Thanks to Hard Rock Hotel Penang for hosting us that evening

Hard Rock Hotel Penang Pizzeria Italian dishes restaurant

Antipasto & Appetizers

As we followed the Italian social gathering's tradition, we started the wondrous evening with an Antipasto (RM 38) platter. The platter comes with an appealing colour combination with great plating, with the contrasting colour dish sitting alternate to each others, serving the true purposes of antipasto to awaken the palate for the meals that is to follow.

Other than vibrancy of colour, the dishes in the antipasto platter also whet our appetite. It comes with grilled octopus, rolled beef pepperoni, smoked turkey rolls, roasted mixed peppers, grilled zucchini, grilled eggplants, black olives, mushrooms, garlic bread with balsamic vinegar, then lightly garnished with feta cheese. Each dish is rightly proportioned, neither too big nor too filling.

While there are the conventional Wild Mushroom Soup on the menu, Minestrones Soup (RM 21) is the one that got us excited. The thick soup of Italian origin offers a pleasant zesty sensation, contributed by the tomatoes cooked with an assortment of vegetables.

Snacks

While the snacks menu are more Western centric instead of Italian focused, the Chicken Popcorn (RM 26) is a peculiar choice, when it was served with wasabi mayo dip. Considering the strategic location of Pizzeria to view the sunset, the chicken popcorn serves as an excellent choice for some nib bite in the evening.

Pasta

Aglio Olio

Spaghetti Meatball

Any restaurant would not proclaim themselves as Italian restaurant if pasta is missing from their menu. Pizzeria offers a range of pasta selections such as spaghetti, fettuccine, penne and ravioli. All of the pastas come with an option to top up with grilled chicken (RM 10.00), grilled prawn (RM 12.00), salmon cubes (RM 10.00), and mixed seafood - squid, prawns, salmons and mussels (RM 16.00).

We started the evening with the conventional spaghetti noodles. It is commendable on the spaghetti noodles as they were cooked to al-dente. Meat lovers could go for Meatball Spaghetti (RM 33.00), while the conventional Aglio Olio (RM 35.00) is amazing. The aglio olio is well seasoned with adequate amount of olive oil to give it the aromatic scent, yet the introduction of chili flakes to the spaghetti elevated the entire flavor profile of the noodles.

Four Cheese Ravioli

Ricotta Spinach Ravioli

Ravioli is a relatively new introduction to Pizzeria. To cut it short, ravioli is a type of dumpling with filling sealed between two layers of thin pasta dough, then served in either broth or pastas sauce. However the chefs in Pizzeria took a different approach by having the ravioli rest in a bed of cheese and the taste is awesome.

Ardent cheese fans should try the ravioli here definitely, particularly the Four Cheese Ravioli. As the name suggests, 4 different types of cheeses are being used to prepare the bedding that ravioli sit on, rendering a very cheesy sensation. For a milder cheesy version, go for the Ricotta Spinach Cheese.

As much as we loved the ravioli, both of us find it best to share the plate with minimum 2 person, unless you are a hardcore cheese fans and can tolerate a plate rich of carbohydrate.

Alternatively, pick Penne Napolitana (RM 36) for those whom prefer a tomato based dish but not in spaghetti noodles form. The penne is cooked to the right texture, with a nice sourness to break the sweetness contributed by the tomatoes.The tomato sauce is served with onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, basil and parmesan cheese.

Wood Fired Pizzas

Go to Naples in Italy and you would be hearing the vendors shouting "Calzone! Calzone!", and now you can have it in Pizzeria, Hard Rock Hotel Penang! As an introduction, Calzone is an Italian dumpling consisting of an oven-baked folded pizza. It is something like a curry puff in Malaysia setting, albeit with a different filling and thicker dough skin.

Currently, Pizzeria is offering Sambal Chicken Calzone, which has been localized to locals' taste buds. It is stuffed with tomato based, capsicum, onion, pineapple, sambal, chicken and mozzarella cheese. We can tell the details that chefs were factoring into preparing the Calzone from the nicely folded skin. Although our own preference tells us a thinner dough would be nicer but the original Calzone from Italy are meant to have a thicker skin.

Fruitti Di Mare

Pepperoni

All the Pizzas here are available in two sizes - 9 inches and 12 inches. It is doughed and baked on the spot, ensuring the patrons able to enjoy the most fresh wood fire pizzas on the spot upon ordering. As a matter of fact, it is an amazing experience seeing the chefs here skillfully rolling and flipping the pizza dough.

Taste wise, the pizzas have a nice balance of sweet, sourness and cheesy sensation, then well presented with the clever toppings to make it appetizing. We had a Pepperoni Pizza and Frutti Di Mare that caters to beef and seafood lovers respectively.

Desserts

Tiramisu

Lemon Cakes

There are a few selections of desserts in Pizzeria such as fruits, ice cream and cakes. We tried both Tiramisu (RM 26.00) & Lemon Cake (RM 22.00), and the thing that left us the most impression was the signature Hard Rock Hotel guitar that was placed on each of the cake as a piece of cookie.

We particularly like the Lemon Cake as the slight zesty sensation from the lemon breaks the sweetness of the cake, thus reducing the chances of getting cloyed by the cakes

Interestingly, we got to know that Hard Rock Hotel offers limited version of chocolate coated strawberries and it is only available for those celebrating special occasions in the hotel!

Drinks

There are way too many selection of drinks offered here, from cocktails, juices, beers and wine. Many of the drinks are very Instagramable, and here we are with an Arizona Sunset with a true sunset as scenery.