Louise's

This is a more formal Italian restaurant I was able to eat in at Pasadena. They have an extensive menu and it took me some time in deciding what I wanted because everything sounded so good. They served really really good foccacia that made Italliani's foccacia seem like pandesal to me!


I got so full from the foccacia I wanted to order something light and decided on
GRILLED CHICKEN SKEWER $8.95

Fresh Chicken marinated with Sesame & Ginger, skewered and fired grilled. Served with a Peanut Dipping Sauce and Mango Cilantro Slaw. This was huge! I didn't even bother eating the slaw it came with. The chicken was very tender and the peanut sauce was very 'Americanized' but was still good. I also discovered that Chicken Satay eaten with mango can make the peanut sauce much more yum!

Visit their site at http://www.louises.com/menu.html

Olive Garden

This place is in the middle of being an Italian eatery and a fine dining Italian restau. They serve unlimited garden salad and bread servings. I was able to try this in Orange County and this is what I ordered:

Shrimp and Lobster Fettucini $18

This was so good! I couldn't get enough of it. I finished it all by myself. Only problem was that it was so rich, I was sure I was gaining weight while eating it.


White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake $4.50

Raspberry-swirled white chocolate cheesecake topped with slivers of white chocolate and a flourish of whipped cream. This was good. I could really enjoy the white chocolate and raspverry combo. My kind of cheesecake.


Sorry for the bad photos my dear readers.

OMG!!

Oh my gosh! Did you hear? Amici di Don Bosco will be closing soon! Oh my!! My gelato!!!..... I'm not sure if this is the real reason but I was told that it was closing because some people higher up in their order felt that the priests who were cooking were losing perspective of what it is they really should be doing. They've been so busines oriented that they lost track of their other (charitable) projects. Such sad news really. So, let's all head to Amici and grab our last few moments with the restau...

Italliani's 3

Ate here because my sister was craving for the pizza. I'm not really a big fan of the place though. Here are what we got.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Oven roasted mushroom caps stuffed with sausage, spinach, herbs and 3 Italian cheeses. This was good though I found it to be way expensive for its serving size.

Sicilian Chicken Salad

Diced chicken breast, mangoes, ripe red grapes with pine nut tossed in creamy lemon dijon dressing in Romain lettuce. This was good as always. For some reason, when I try to recreate this at home, it always turns up not as good.

Salmon Pizza with Dill Cream Sauce

Salmon pizza with gorgonzola dill cream
sauce and Philadelphia cream cheese baked topped with sliced of
 smoked salmon and thinly sliced onions.

Grape Shake

Yummy. Steep price though.

Casa Rialto Ristorante Italiano

Relatively new Italian restuarant in Casa Susana, Alabang. Good ambience, good food, reasonably priced. My one and only con would be that I thinked they are overstaffed and yet are not that attentive to the customers. They served a very freshly baked bread basket which we were not able to finish, with liver pate and butter. Here are what we ordered:

Salumi Misti Picanti
- A sample of their house cured meats. I think there were 3 types in all. Good for 3-4 people I think. It came with some artichokes, green and black olives and some leafs. Good enough for a salad actually.

Capresce Pizza- Good generous toppings. I'm not a big fan of the crust though.

Ravioli Di Anatra Php 340- Duck ravioli. When first served, the serving looks small with only about 8pcs of ravioli in the dish, but boy are they filling! The duck is very tasty, a burst of flavors.

Seafood Pasta with Asparagus in Olive Oil- Generous portions of seafood. I didn't try this one though.
Seafood Marinara- Great tomato based sauce!

Fusilli Gambero e Zucchini- This was very good. I loved the creaminess of the sauce, the freshness of the shrimps
and it was such a huge serving!  I'm not exactly sure what the zucchini does for the dish though.
 
Too bad I wasn't able to take any pictures.

Balducci Italian Restaurant

We went to Serendra on a Saturday night without a reservation. Big mistake. All restaurants were full! We tried to go to several other places before settling for this one and were told we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table for two. Was I in New York? haha...I felt like I was.. Learned my lesson though. Next time I'll be getting a reservation or better yet will be going on a weekday. These are what we had:

Bread Basket

This of course was free and had matching butter, liver pate and salsa on the side. Was not that impressed by their bread selection. In my honest opinion, the bread in Italliani's was better.


Greca-Pomodoro, lattuga, feta, oregano,patate, olive Php220

Described as "Our version of the classic greek salad made with fresh red tomatoes, lettuce, feta cheese, olives, oregano and potatoes. Serving size was small. Obviously it wasn't meant to be shared. I found the dressing to have to much vinegar on it. Or maybe there really wasn't enought lettuce in the salad to soak up all that vinegar? haha... Wasn't that impressed with it. Probably would not get it again.

Fettucine all'uovo alla marinara con porcini (Seafood fettucine with porcini mushrooms) Php310

This was good. Serving was quite limited though. I liked the sauce (I really coulndn't figure out what it was, something cream-like though). There was a good share of seafood and mushrooms in the pasta. I was expecting a bigger serving (good for one pesron) for the price though.

Cool ambience. They have a mini deli inside as well. Musicians play throughout the night. Maybe it was really because of the rush hour of Saturday night, but I felt like they were rushing us to finish our meal. I was not yet done with my pasta but one of the other servers (not ours) was already standing by my table eager to pick up the plate already. That's just plain rude.

Ristorante Italiano Capricciosa

Capricciosa 

Most people think that the food here is expensive, when in truth it's not. It seems to be expensive but that's because they have HUGE servings. Their regular servings of pasta which they say is good for 2 people, can actually feed 3-4, provided they order several more dishes! They're serving sizes remind me most of that in New York. Though this is an Italian restaurant, it is owned by Japanese and so don't be surprised to see a lot of Japanese diners here. :) Really yummy and would visit them sometime real soon... :)

Seafood Pasta (tuna,calamari,mussels in tomato sauce) Php 310

This is not what I ordered and yet I enjoyed it much more than I did what I got. The sauce is a tad spicy but I love it since it masks the off (lansa) taste of seafood.

Mushroom Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce Php 310

This was yummy too. Lots of different kinds of fresh mushrooms in the dish. What I love about this, was that the pasta was well coated with the sauce.

We ordered both in their regular sizes.

Cibo

I just want to share my all time fave dish in Cibo, Farfalle ala Genovese



It's actually your basic pesto but this one has loads of fresh basil and walnuts aside from the usual pine nuts. It's also based on a light cream sauce not oil.

Amici di Don Bosco

I've eaten here many many times. First picture post though. I think that by now, it is safe to say that all their food are yummy without a doubt. I bet you could randomnly pick anything forom their menu and still enjoy it. I highly revel the people behind this place. Kudos to you....I swear everything is yummy!!! It's so simple to order and they're quick to serve. If that weren't enough, their gelato is also to die for. Every flavor is good at only Php 35 per cup you have so much to choose from. My fave would have to be Toblerone, Pistachio and Crocantina.
Pizzas are all at Php 240 and pastas are from Php 150-170. Very affordable



Like I said, I have no favorites here since they're all sooooo good. But here are some of their dishes to give you an idea:

Margherita Mafiosa Php 150


Spinach Lasagna Php 150


Pizza with Artichokes and Mushrooms Php 240

Italliani's 2

Ate at Italliani's again

Had:

Seafood Cioppino Pasta
a classic seafood mix with mussels, clams, and scallops sauteed in some red wine.


Smoked Salmon Pizza in Dill Sauce

The salmon was fresh and very juicy. I'm so happy it was fresh. The dill sauce and other cheeses in the pizza were a great and refreshing combo too. Best pizza in Italliani's I think.

The Sicilian Express

This is a cheaply priced Italian eatery. If you're on a budget but looking for good food, this is the place for you to go. They specialize in take-out and deliveries although you can still eat in, they have minimal eating spaces and so sitting can be a problem during lunch hours.

This is what we ordered:

Sicilian Salad

Well, it would be really unfair to compare it to the Sicilian Salad in Italianni's but for it price, it tasted good and refreshing. Refreshing in the sense that there was a lot of sweetness and flavor added into the salad because of the fruits. There were generous amounts of grapes, mangoes and tomatoes in the salad. The most importan part of it all for me was that the fruits were big enough to be enjoyed, i.e. the grapes weren't sliced in half, the mangoes were not mushed or the tomatoes were not chopped finely. There was some chicken in the salad which broke its monotony. The dressing was very simple kind of like a thousand island meets caesar salad dressing but complimented the fruits very well.

Pasta Shrimp Milano

The sauce was a bit too watery and the pasta as far as I could tell was a bit overdone. I may be so bold to say that I think it could have been reboiled or reheated already. The only good thing about the pasta was that there was a generous amount of FRESH shrimps.

Sicilian Sausage Pizza

Bellini's

This has got to be the best Italian restaurant I have eaten in! The food makes me fall in love over and over and over again! The location is quite uneasy on the eye. It's surrounded by suspicious looking people and the like.. There are so many dogs in the area!!!!....the lengths i go through for a good meal.........If not for the place, I would take everyone I know to this place!

Toasted Crostini with Salmon

The salmon was not 'fishy' (malansa) at all. the small lemon slice was just enough to balance the bite. don't underestimate this appetizer.


Spinach Ham Ravioli with Truffle Cream

Just by reading the name, you know that the food has gotta be good! and of course it was! the cream was not too rich nor too subtle. there was a good balance between the amount of spinach and ham in the ravioli and so neither over powered the other..the ham used here was not your ordinary supermarket ham, it was one of those gourmet ham whose name escapes me at the moment.

Salamina Pizza

Nothing else to say but to look at the pic and it speaks for itself! the crust was really thin and so the different tastes and textures in the pizza were not overpowered... just look at that paper thin salamina! yum yum

Panna Cota

the best in town! after my very first bite, i thought i had tasted clouds... really! i know it sounds cheesy and all but the panna cota was soft and smooth and creamy and i've run out of adjectives to describe it


Strwaberry Shortcake

Sbarro's

I guess this would be my fave Italian fastfood. My all time tried and tested, never fail faves are:

1) White Cheese Pizza- yumyum...The white cheese is always perfect! Although I like mine, the tiniest bit burnt..... The chewy dough is just right for the generous amount of cheese.

White Cheese Pizza


2) Baked Ziti- For me, this tastes better with the white sauce on it after which I add some garlic salt just to give it a little kick. One can always see the cheese hanging on to each pasta noodle with every forkful. A mouthful of tastes with every bite.

Baked Ziti