On a corner lot at D'Pangkin.
Anybody living in Bukit Jelutong will know
Pizza San Francisco ... it's probably the only Italian restaurant in the immediate area, and if you're craving for pizzas that aren't Pizza Hut or Dominoes, this is a place to go. The restaurant is in a corner lot of the D'Pangkin shoplot area, overlooking the roundabout just before the local petrol station. The
Bukit Jelutong branch is one of eight locations, the others being Wangsa Maju, Bangi, Cyberjaya, Kota Damansara, The Mines, Kota Kemuning and KL Festival City. This is the second restaurant I ever visited in the area, and my first time here was about three and a half years ago. Since then, my family and I have been here a few times, and the food hasn't changed over the years.
Appetisers
Mushroom bruschetta.
I've tried quite a lot of the dishes here, and one of the tastier
appetisers has to be the mushroom bruschetta. The downside is that it's kind of pricy for what we get; RM7 for a single slice of toasted french loaf slathered in creamy mushroom sauce. The sauce is really good, though their excessive use of onions can be overpowering if you're not fond of the taste.
Nachos with minced beef.
If you're more into sharing your appetisers, the nachos are a good way to go. The price would be the same as a main dish, but if you're sharing it's not too bad. You can decide between minced beef or chicken for the toppings here - I've only ever tried the beef. Served with sour cream and guacamole, the nachos are nice enough but the meat a tiny bit dry.
Fish and Chicken
Fish and chips.
The fish and chips above was my brother's dinner during one of our visits - it's a pretty standard dish of fried, battered fish served with chips and coleslaw. Not bad for the price.
Fish fillet.
If you're not too keen on the fried battered fish side of things, do what I did and give the fish fillet a try. Served with vegetables and potatoes, the dory fillet is pan-fried and dripping in a mustard cream sauce. The sauce is the best part of the dish, tangy and creamy at the same time. However, I feel that the fish is a bit overcooked.
Mushroom chicken.
There are also a lot of
chicken options too, and I think the mushroom chicken is pretty tasty, and at the time I ordered this they were having a promotion and selling it for cheaper. The chicken is deep fried, baked with a layer of cheese and shitake mushrooms, then served with chips and coleslaw on the side. One improvement though would be using brown or white mushrooms instead - I think the taste works better with Western style food.
Pasta
Cioppino with fish.
This was my sister, Mira's choice - nobody actually knew what
cioppino is, but it was a chef's recommendation in the
menu so she decided to give it a try. Turns out, it's actually a type of fish stew that has its roots in San Francisco, an Italian-American fusion that came about on the boats of Italian fishermen off the coast of North Beach. It was actually a nice, soupy pasta dish but a bit bland. Mira ended up using quite a bit of salt to get a bit more flavour out of it.
Linguine salmon.
The linguine salmon is yet another fish option on the pasta menu, a creamy dish with small chunks of salmon throughout. The salmon flavour was very strong in this one, though the sauce helps to tone it down a bit. An alright pasta meal.
Pizza
The San special.
But of course, what's Pizza San Francisco without their
pizzas? My family have good things to say about their pizzas though at the time I ordered the dish above, I hadn't actually tried one yet. So when I came here to dine with a friend, we decided to try the San special, which is half calzone and half pizza. The size of the serving really surprised us - the calzone was fat and stuffed to bursting with turkey ham and cheese, and it was hot and toasty to boot. I think this is definitely the best I've had from this restaurant so far. The pizza and calzone are oh so cheesy, and the fact that it came with both gave a lot of variety to just one meal. This is a must-try here.
Dessert
Banana split.
Lastly,
dessert! There are a few desserts to choose from, but I've only ever tried the banana split. You can't go wrong with this. The ice-cream arrived halfway through our meal at my mum's request, so we took it turns to taste it in between eating our main meals. Not the usual way of going about things, but we enjoyed it nonetheless!
While it may not be our usual haunt for family meals, Pizza San Francisco satisfies the occasional craving for Italian food for us, and it's nice to know that it's nearby when we want it. It can get quite busy during dinner hours, but business otherwise is fairly relaxed. You can even dine el fresco, and as the restaurant is elevated from the main road below, there's a nice view of the neighbouring park and highway.
