KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Approaching its 30th birthday next year, La Risata is much-loved by many for its hearty Italian fare.
In a world of uncertainty for the F&B industry with rising costs and fickle diners who prefer fads, the restaurant has remained steadfast with its values, as driven by owners Lissa Yeoh and Yuen Sze.
Their story starts in November 1996, at a time when the Italian restaurant scene here was very much in its infancy.
You had Ciao Ristorante near the Royal Selangor Golf Club and L’Osteria in Ampang Point, while Ristorante Bologna in Istana Hotel and Scalini’s along Jalan Sultan Ismail focused on the fine dining scene.
Till today, Ciao Ristorante is still in business, albeit in a different location but in the same vicinity.
Yeoh recalled, “Back in those days, the Italian restaurants were run by Italians with red table cloths and Chianti bottles”.
That was busted at La Risata which sported blue coloured walls and jars of pickles as decorations. Yeoh added, “We were the first Italian restaurant that didn’t look like an Italian restaurant”.
Yeoh had partnered with two expatriates to open the restaurant but an overseas posting saw them leaving the business.
Left to handle La Risata on her own, Yeoh pulled in her childhood friend Yuen to help her, “cradle the baby”.
The duo, both in their 30s then and novices to the F&B industry, enthusiastically pushed on with their Italian chef, Claudio Cucchiarelli.
The menu includes various salads like this Insalata Di Zucca E Ruccola (left) best paired with the Petto Di Manzo Con Vino Rosso (right) with its melt in the mouth wood fire roasted beef rib. — Pictures by Choo Choy May
Located at the row of shophouses along Persiaran Ampang, they were neighbours with Ma Maison, one of the bastions of French food.
At that time, Ampang was a haven for expatriates who became La Risata’s fervent customers.
“There was no marketing and it was all by word of mouth from the day we opened and we were packed probably because there was no competition.
“We had regulars who came 2 to 3 times a week, treating the place like it’s their second kitchen,” Yuen explained.
What touched them was their customers’ faithfulness even after they were repatriated home, arriving the moment they got off the plane with a suitcase in tow, eager to tuck into a meal at La Risata, even before checking into their hotel.
Three years later after opening in Ampang, a second outlet opened in Damansara Heights.
In the beginning, Yeoh admits, it wasn’t smooth sailing as they juggled the business as novices.
The menu, she recalled, was handmade using a Manila card, decorated with a tomato, stamped using a carved potato dyed red and hand drawn with leaves.
“That was how inexperienced we were basically as it was a bunch of friends without any F&B experience and all from different backgrounds who just decided to give it a go.”
Their pizza oven that took prime location right in front of the restaurant was an epic journey for the two of them.
“The construction of the pizza oven was a whole adventure on its own as we didn’t know how to do it,” said Yeoh.
Back in those days, no one bought pizza ovens from Italy nor could they rely on the internet for knowledge on how to build a pizza oven from scratch. It was all trial and error.
With their drawings, the contractor constructed a “chicken cage” with cement and bricks, raising doubts if that structure was solid enough.
True enough, despite the contractor’s gung-ho attitude professing its sturdiness, the moment he tested it by sitting on the contraption, it collapsed.
Bewildered over how to proceed, they even ordered a pizza oven but it didn’t work either, leaving them to go through three ovens in one year.
Eventually, they found an engineer to help them; he recommended the use of fire bricks which finally worked.
Tweaks have been made to their present firewood ovens by adding gas piping, allowing them to rely less on firewood as the cost has escalated tremendously.
In the beginning, the menu was kept simple, punctuated by classics like spaghetti vongole, grilled mushrooms, antipasti misti, lasagna and creme caramel with orange peel for dessert.
Cucchiarelli, who hailed from a seaside town near Rome, preferred simple dishes, insisting on adherence to a string of endless rules like white wine sauce cannot be combined with black pepper or cheese.
He stayed true to his fundamentals as he worked with local produce, swapping out chilli peppers with bird-eye chillies or cili padi, with one rule, which is never to use it with black pepper.
A signature dish was his Zuppa Di Pesce, a soup brimming with fresh seafood, where he once added cockles and bali tong, keeping to his style of cooking with the freshest seafood.
Zuppa Di Pesce has been a mainstay of the menu from almost 30 years ago, as introduced by their first Italian chef Claudio Cucchiarelli. — Picture by Choo Choy May
Those add-ons were vetoed by Yeoh who felt locals wouldn’t be able to accept those ingredients in an Italian setting.
The soup stands together with the Ravioli Pesce, also a dish from day one, where stuffed fresh pasta is filled with salmon mousse and served with a creamy salmon sauce.
The big surprise is the origins of Spaghetti Alla Risata, a firm favourite of many.
Wrapped in foil, there’s a theatric feel to it as you open the packet to find spaghetti tossed in a hearty tomato sauce with a mix of seafood.
Yeoh is the one who brought this dish on board, thanks to watching an episode of the cooking show Biba’s Italian Kitchen, hosted by Italian chef Biba Caggiano based out of America.
Spaghetti Alla Risata is a long standing favourite for its hearty tomato sauce studded with fresh seafood. — Picture by Choo Choy May
Throughout the years, the menu has expanded to include more salads, carpaccio and their pizza Bianca that uses white sauce rather than the conventional red sauce.
“Every time we come back from a trip, we will add something and at that time there wasn’t much influence of the internet on what’s trending. It was just from our own observations and what we enjoyed eating.”
Yeoh’s preference is fresh pasta that led to the Tortellini D’Anatra E Porcini using a smoked duck and porcini filling, served with a sage butter and truffle oil.
On their menu, it’s a mix of dried pasta and a few handcrafted items like their pappardelle and the Lasagna Di Carne, which uses fresh pasta sheets.
Keeping their menu fresh are their specials, usually running for one or two months, where Yeoh insists there must be a fresh pasta element.
It could be anything from a Tuscan style gnocchi using sweet potato paired with duck ragu or fregola paired with fresh seafood.
In 2011, the restaurant moved from its premises further down the road to a bigger space that sports an open courtyard and a refreshed look. It also came with a massive rebranding of their menu with the use of whimsical logos.
La Risata in Ampang brings Italian home vibes with its magnificent courtyard in the middle of the restaurant. — Picture by Choo Choy May
One of the toughest challenges has been keeping the food consistent as sometimes even the same ingredient like chillies or their mainstay brand of canned tomatoes will have a different flavour profile, requiring them to adjust the recipe.
With longstanding chefs in the kitchen like Chef Ho Chee Ming before he retired to pass the reins to Chef Kumar Karu, the cooking in La Risata is innovative and mindful of getting the basics right, like slowly cooking the tomato sauce until it is caramelised.
La Risata owner Lissa Yeoh (middle) with her faithful chefs Kumar Karu (left) who is the present ‘chef de cuisine’ and Ho Chee Ming (right) who steered the restaurant for many years until his recent retirement. — Picture by Choo Choy May
Regulars can pick up differences as they regularly taste the same dish.
“Over the years, we have been fortunate to have customers that care so much that they will tell and give feedback about the food,” Yuen said.
Without a central kitchen, the two outlets have their own kitchens and even for the owners, they recognise slight differences, as they eat at those outlets all the time.
In order to cope with changing habits, their gnocchi is now gluten free. Even the regular spaghetti can be swapped for a gluten free version upon request.
Mindful of the trends, Yeoh also experiments with new items like their recent add-on of Italian sandwiches, designed as a grab-and-go item for lunch time.
Yeoh is strict about keeping to their standards rather than pandering to customers’ preferences like adding more sauce or overcooking the pasta.
“We also vetoed Tabasco sauce for pizza because it changes the taste so we give them chilli peppers or chilli oil,” Yeoh explained.
As veterans who have thrived and survived the tumultuous F&B scene, Yeoh’s advice to those who want to enter this world of uncertainty is knowing this hard truth:
“Good luck! Don’t follow trends and do something you like and are passionate about.”
She admits it may not sit well with the younger generation as those who chase trends are doing well.
What she observed is nowadays the perspective has shifted as “people don’t necessarily mind if the food is not very good as long as the environment is nice for them to take photos.”
Yuen added, “There’s also a lot of competition out there.You’re not only fighting over food but also how good the food looks and how the place looks”.
For those who like to feed their social media constantly, you don’t even have to eat at the same restaurant again, as one has so many choices to select for their next meal.
Yeoh added, “I think if I had to start a restaurant now, I wouldn’t know how to play this game. It’s so different as the patterns like consumer habits and spending power have all changed.
“What we have enjoyed when we opened La Risata was the community, the family atmosphere and every time we come, you see the same regulars and we build relationships with them”.
However, the pandemic shook things up and now many have moved away, making things different.
Yeoh elaborated too, “If I do a new La Risata, the look will be brighter with a scaled down menu with more fresh pasta options.”.
Here’s to another 30 years further of good, honest Italian food that has fed multi-generations of diners.
La Risata Bar Pizzeria Ristorante
16 Persiaran Ampang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-42526269
128 Jalan Kasah
Medan Damansara
Kuala Lumpur
Tel:03-20959572
Facebook: @laristarestaurant Instagram:@laristakl
