Restaurant of italian cuisine «MACARONI» Shymkent, Kazakhstan

In premises where there was Saltanat store before in Vostok microdistrict now for about two months you will be able to see three new working restaurants of Meyram Group company. Out of those three I chose the one in the middle – Macaroni.

So, lets start from external atmosphere. All three restaurants including Macaroni have their own parking along the road. The way from parking slots till the restaurant’s doors surprises with cleanness – there was no any single trash or cigarette stubs. The yard was washed by recent rain.

Two waiters warmly greet you in front of the doors. One of them, Samat, took the turn to serve the client from his colleague. His interesting look made the feel that I was served by real Italian waiter.

Having seated I immediately started to view the interior design. Honestly, I liked it. Design was not too much Mediterranean or Italian. It was a good mixture. Well selected color of wallpaper, few Venetian masks, small sized and unusual designed furniture like all Italian automobiles, a lime in a yellow pot and a lot of flowers. One minus was the size of the area and tables do not fit to standards of elite restaurant – it was about 50sq.sm per person, which is usually an indicator of fast food places.

I am fond of art and photo, so it was impossible not to notice small paintings above the bar area and photos of celebrities insatiably having the pasta.

 

The stomach became too hungry now and seeing the photo of Aldo Fabricio said inside of me: “Samat! Or how is it better to say in Italian? Samatello! I need the menu now!”

Well, the menu was done interestingly. I noticed that apart from the main and bar menu, there was menu for kids.
Salads. Selection was rather small – only about 5 types of salads. I chose Caprese, mixed salad with meat, and certainly Caesar salad.

- What kind of bread of you have?

- Focaccia and assorti bread!

- Lets have it – focaccia with garlic.

-What do you wish to have as a soup or do you wish having a pasta?

There were twice more types of pasta than of salads. I was also glad to see the price – it barely reached one thousand tenge. I chose the spicy arrabbiata with chicken and carbonara. Ok, what is next – the menu modestly proposed three kinds of soups and four kinds of hot meals. Well….not a lot. I choose chicken and cauliflower fricassee.  

- What would you like to drink?

- I will try the white wine.

-Which one?

(Wine menu was limited with Chile Sauvingnon Blanc, Frontera, and Alazan valley.)

- The one from Chile, of course!

I was wondering in what kind of wineglass this place is serving the wine at. Since there were stories when I saw how in a very expensive restaurants all kinds of wine were served in same very small glasses. It was really irritating me. Here, fortunately, everything was ok. The wine of the New World was brought in a fine glass.

It took 10 minutes while I was catching the aromatic notes of white wine under pelasant Italian music, the waiter brought all three salads and focaccia. Salads looked exactly as in menu, as they were copied from photos. Wait, why there was no Parmesan cheese there, it was a real loss for me! And the chicken was cut into a huge pieces. Though Caesar salad tasted good. I completely forgot that there was no Parmesan. Mixed salad with meat pieces was excellent too, the taste was a little spicy, meat was fresh and melting in the mouth. Caprese did not have any minuses, even though it was again without my favourite Parmesan cheese. So, the final mark to the salads – Perfecto with a tiny minus!  

Lets taste the pasta. I did not have any comments to pasta. Well, maybe I would just ask for more of such a delicious thing! Carbonara pasta was al dente, and beef fried in cream and garlic was absolutely tender and appetizing. Arrabbiata was delicious. I was a little embarrassed, but I ate everything to the end. I was anxiously waiting for the hot meal now. It took much more than 10 minutes, but it took a while to get my fricassee. Hot meals selection also included beef pieces in wine sauce, and baked char. It is a pity that there was no risotto, but instead there were 10 kinds of pizza to choose from.

Well..Please bring one more wineglass. Red wine please. I had a small choice. Same Alazan valley and Chile Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon. So, this time I chose the Georgian semisweet wine. It was in a large fine glass which I was very glad to see.
Finally, my fricassee came. The chicken fillet fried with mushrooms and cauliflower with cream. Mamma mia! It was worth waiting! Excellent. Now I just need to finish degustation and start trying the desert.

What do we have here? A scoop of ice cream, cottage cheese pancake, Tiramisu, Apple pie, Cream-almond desert, Chak chak. Excuse me? Chak chak? How did it get here? I think it is a little unfit with Italian cuisine. I order Tiramisu and apple pie.

- What kind of tea do you have?

- Black, green, Tashkent, Babushka tea!

-Babushka tea? Interesting. What is there?

-Raspberry syrup and jam.

-Let me have Babushka tea!

I suspect that Chak Chak and Tashkent tea were brought here from neighboring Tandyr, uzbek cuisine restaurant.
Apple pie. It would be very dry if it is without raspberry syrup and cream. Tiramisu served in a coffee cup decorated by mint lacked Savoiardi, but it didn’t make it worse. So, desert was good. Babushka tea was good too and is recommended for sweet fans.

Overall, the atmosphere was good, air extraction system worked well, there were tables for kids, and enough sockets in the hall and bar to charge the cell phones, which is important for me. Marketing was developed well here. At the entrance there were left the business cards of Meyramgroup restauranrs, in the yard there was a huge poster advertising the food delivery service, there was the company logo on tissues and even toothpicks.

Conclusion. It is a restaurant of Italian cuisine. Mostly focused on pizza and pasta. I find it as best in top 10 restaurants of Shymkent. It is pleasant to be here, without being too cool. It is not allowed to smoke here, there is no any unpleasant smell. A place is not for large celebrations, there is no dancing hall, which guarantees you a quiet atmosphere. A good place for family visit and romantic dates.
I am not sure about the bar, but kitchen prices are moderate. Everything, including 15% service fee (though we got used to 10%), had a cost of 14323 tenge. I would definitely come back here!