Let’s face it; anybody can make a pizza. Throw in a couple of hams on a slice of white bread covered with ready-made tomato sauce on top and layer it with a cheap slice of cheese and there you have it… a pizza. Whether it tastes good or not, that’s another matter.
But, to make a good authentic pizza, there are more than just those simple steps. It requires unlimited amount of effort, time and most importantly, craftsmanship just to creating one. From the crust to the sauce and toppings, they all have to complement with one another to create a plate of goodness.
And that’s where California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) does best; serving good scrumptious pizzas. As they take pride of their fresh imported ingredients – even their pizza doughs are imported! – being used in their food, one have to agree that their menus are extensive and yet rather attractive to cater a huge section of foodies.
And occasionally, whilst maintaining their favourites in current menu, CPK introduce new exciting dishes to their new and existing (loyal) customers. Here are a few new dishes in line…
Moroccan Chicken Salad
A concoction of fresh produces such as Romaine lettuce, avocado, carrots, red bell peppers and beets with roasted butternut squash, dates, toasted almonds, fresh beets, and dried cranberries tossed with Honey-Dijon vinaigrette dressing. It was rather an interesting dish / salad due to the different textures of the nuts, fruits and vegetables. Apart from those, there are Moroccan-spiced chicken and chopped eggs in it too. A full serving will cost you RM32 while half portion costs RM26.
Sonora Egg Rolls
Apart from the salad as starters, one can opt for their Sonora Egg Rolls. In it, wrapped with wonton skin, there are grilled lime chicken, roasted corn & black bean salsa, Cheddar & Monterey Jack cheeses and herbs. Crisp on the outside, they were delicious and went pretty well with tomatillo salsa and ranchito sauce. They will set you back RM25 per plate.
Pesto Cream Penne
Coated with light basil pine nut pesto sauce, it wasn’t as rich and creamy as it looked to be. The penne pasta was cooked nicely while prawns were fresh. Bits of sliced chicken were in there to complete the dish.
It would be a good idea to share among 2~3 pax in order to leave some space for their pizza! One can opt for chicken only for RM33 or shrimp only for RM36 or even both at the price of RM39.
Pesto Chicken Pizza
Although we (or maybe it is just me) often associate pesto with pasta, this particular pizza (with grilled chicken breast) has pesto-based sauce on it instead of the usual ol’ tomato-based sauce. Price at RM31, it’s rather something unusual but yet something tasty as the herb (from the pesto sauce) was subtle yet blended well with the toppings (sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts). Always go for their thin crust, if you asked me.
Cheeseburger Pizza
No. It’s not a typo error. It is indeed called Cheeseburger Pizza… without the bun, of course. This was probably (and still is) my favourite as it tasted almost (if not exactly) like the big M’s Big Mac. It’s probably their tangy sauce that made it all appetizing. Or maybe it’s the existence of shredded lettuce (tossed in secret sauce) that made it looked and tasted like a ‘burger’. Either way, it’s something not to be missed, even if you are not a cheeseburger fan. A normal one will cost you RM38 but with addition of RM4 and RM6, you get turkey bacon and fresh avocado respectively.
The Meat Cravers
For RM38, you will get various types of meat such as sweet Italian sausage, pepperoni, turkey bacon, spicy salami, julienne salami. IMO, it is for those who have serious meat cravings. It was slight sweet with each bite filled with meat, meat and nothing but meat. Nevertheless, it was alright.
Ginger Salmon
By the looks (and sound) of it, there is some Asian influence in this dish.
For the given price (at RM43.50), I was rather surprised at the portion of the salmon (read : big / thick). The pan-sauteed Norwegian Atlantic salmon was fresh and cooked perfectly; not an easy task judging by the thickness of the salmon. At the side were stir-fried vegetables and sweet ginger sauce to go with the salmon.
Whilst they are not new, their desserts are definitely worth mentioning.
Tiramisu
Topped with cocoa powder, there are coffee and rum in it to give a slight kick in terms of flavour yet retaining the essence of the legendary Italian dessert. Oh… Did I mention that they import this dessert as well?
Chocolate Souffle Cake
Rich and delicious cake made out of Belgian chocolate. It went well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream although the ice cream was kinda bland (tasteless).
Key Lime Pie
With the distinctive flavour of Florida Key Limes that gives it an extra zing to the taste, the filling was smooth yet rich and surprisingly not overly sweet at all. A perfect dessert to end a hearty meal.
Overall, CPK’s new dishes looked promising. The refreshing taste of Moroccan Chicken Salad to the hearty Pesto Cream Penne, diners would probably love ‘em. The most notable one of all was the Cheeseburger Pizza. Apart from being the unusual one (of all new dishes), CPK did brilliantly as it was amazing. The sauce and toppings worked very together just as how a good pizza is supposed to be! Do give ’em a try and tell me what do you think about their new dishes…
A special thanks to the friendly folks from CPK Malaysia as well as Integrated Public Relations (IPR) for the wonderful food tasting session.
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In conjunction with bulan Ramadhan, CPK will be having special Buka Puasa promotion for their customers. With over 10 types of gourmet pizzas and pastas as well as salads to pick from, these are set menus…
Set Menu for 2 person @ RM45++ includes choice of 1 half size salad & 1 pizza / pasta
Set Menu for 4 person @ RM85++ includes choice of 1 full size salad & 2 pizzas / pastas
Set Menu for 6 person @ RM120++ includes choice of 1 full size salad & 3 pizzas / pastas
Address :
Lot No. 140,
Level 1,
Suria KLCC,
50088 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel. No. : (03) 2382 0512
Business Hours :
11:30AM – 11:00PM (last order at 10:30PM)
