The Italian ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช originates from Puglia, in southern Italy. Golden, deep-fried little pouches of deliciousness, with various types of filling, the ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช somewhat resembles a giant Mexican empanada or Malaysian curry puff. Previously, itโs impossible to find ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช in Malaysia, as Italian cuisine is very regional, and Malaysians usually identify Italian cuisine with only pizza and pasta.
But thanks to Penangโs rich, cosmopolitan make-up, we now have Gianluca De Biasi, a native son of Puglia, who now makes genuine, 100% authentic ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช right here in the heart of George Town.
De Biasiโs one-month-old shop, ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฎโ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ถ, is located at 1F, Carnarvon Street โ a few steps away from the crazy-busy ๐ง๐ฒ๐ธ๐๐ฒ๐ป restaurant.
We were there for lunch yesterday, as I had a couple of friends visiting from Singapore, and they wanted to try something new for a change. We had three types of ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ช:
๐พ๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ค - ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ป๐ป๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข, ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐.
๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ค - ๐ป๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช, ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ-๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ, ๐๐ฐ๐ป๐ป๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข, ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ข, ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏ๐ด.
๐๐ช๐๐ - ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ป๐ป๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข, ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ-๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช-๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด.
We also had a couple of desserts:
๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ข๐ช๐จ๐จ (โ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉโ) - ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ง๐ง ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐ฝ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ค ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ง๐ (โ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ขโ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ตโ) - ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ.
Itโs a small mom-and-pop outfit, like those we always see in Italy. Here, Gianluca is assisted by his very amiable Penang-born wife, Phoebe. Love the place.
Address
Lucaโs Panzerotti
1F, Lebuh Carnarvon, 10100 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6012-481 7075
Opening hours: 12 noon to 10pm daily
