Ozeki Italian Cuisine @ Cosway

Some spin-offs soar, while others suck; Ozeki Italian Cuisine at Wisma Cosway has sky-high expectations to fulfill, being the pasta-loving offshoot of the long-running, largely respected Ozeki Tokyo Japanese restaurant at Menara TA.

Ozeki Italian's repertoire is impressively inventive, though less staggeringly extensive than its Japanese big brother's; at least one-third of the menu remains unavailable during this restaurant's first week of business.

Expect a mishmash of Italian and Japanese sensibilities, epitomized by the best-of-both-worlds pasta preparation of house-made tagliolini (RM30++) topped with grilled salmon head (!) and tossed with succulent sliced salmon, seaweed and citron pepper in a light cream sauce.

Wagyu beef carpaccio with half-boiled egg, pomelo, grapes, rocket leaves and parmesan (RM45++). Greatly gorgeous in terms of both looks and taste.

Possibly the softest, creamiest and most sumptuously flavorful chicken liver pate (RM18++) commercially available in KL.

Not for the faint-hearted: a hearty hot-pot stew of pork knuckle (insanely tender!) with pork liver, stomach, intestines, heart and tail, braised with beans, spicy sausage and rosemary in a tomato-based broth (RM68++).