Va Bene Pasta Deli - Makati's Best-kept Italian secret ****

Who knew that one of Manila's best Italian restaurants can be found on top of a Petron gas station?

I discovered this thanks to the invitation of my ex-boss and "mother" years ago. My first time at Va Bene was as wonderful as the last. This place serves deliciously divine Italian pasta and more. The place was nominated on the Miele Guide for 2012 and 2013 and was one of the Tatler's best.

 

Va Bene which  means good in Italian is run by Chef Massimo Veronesi together with his wife Carolyn. He used to run Peninsula Manila’s Mi Piace Italian restaurant. This restaurant albeit small, has some of the most delicious freshly made pastas and antipastis. Some of the flavors may be too overwhelming, some find it a bit bold, but the beauty of it is ordering food to share so you can try some of the different pastas and Italian specialties. If you're into pasta, I'll guarantee you'll go nuts over the different pastas served here.

Polipo/ Doc Ock Salad P 450

You have to try the Polipo, thinly-sliced braised octopus and arugula in lemon dressing.
The arugula complements the fresh taste of the octopus, while tomatoes and the lemon dressing offsets some of the bitterness of the arugula.

Here are some of the pastas we ordered

ORGANIC EGGS TAGLIATELLE

ROLLED SPINACH CANNELLONI 

POTATO GNOCCHI A LA MICHELE sautéed prawns, bacon, pumpkin sauce, mozzarella cheese

RICOTTA EGGPLANT TORTELLINI light arrabiata sauce, basil pesto, pecorino cheese

CRAB TORTELLONI

Parking can be quite hard. And the food is not cheap. But you're paying good money for first class fine dining pasta. You can't get any more authentic than seeing an Italian chef and his team preparing your dishes from the see-thru kitchen window.

 Saw from their website that a second branch has recently opened in BGC.

MAKATI BRANCH:
2nd Floor Petron Gas Station EDSA Cor. Pasay Road
Dasmarinas, Makati City

BGC BRANCH:
Cinema Level, 3rd Floor Bonifacio High Street Central Cinemas,
Fort Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig

Numbers: 556-9442 / 2169879
MOBILE
09177225780

Authentic Italian in Sucat? It must be Daniele's!

There's foodie paradise along congested Sucat Road. In the middle on what seems to be a sea of endless traffic stoplights, crazy jeepneys, and rows of flower shops near Manila Memorial Park, there's a small house called Daniele's that serves authentic Italian food. Drive too fast and you might miss it, it  a small signage and a chair literally glued to its wall.

If you're familiar with Bellini's in Cubao, well...Daniele is operated by the owner's son.  (Movie trivia: Bellini's is the restaurant where they shot the movie One More Chance, yep that awkward scene where Popoy meets Basha after they break up.

Anyway back to Daniele's, their exact name is Daniele's Casa Mia Italian Restaurant  the place is a hodgepodge of Italian kitsch. Papparazi photos everywhere. Paintings. Cheesy Leaning Power of Pisa murals. But the food is amazingly good and with Mr. Daniele around, he will personally assist and offer you a lot of goodies not on the menu.

bread and home-made liver pate

We started off with their bread and pate. And a parmesan with arugula (not in pic)
This was ok. The arugula made the sliced parmesan hard to swallow because its quite bitter.
We first ordered the 4 cheese pizza. Mr. Daniele suggested we try their Zuppa, a special dish off the menu, its actually a seafood tomato soup for sharing. This was good. We also had two pastas, a variation of their Frutti di mare with Fettucine and Truffle oil pasta with mushroom and prosciutto.
They were kinda generous with their servings and we were overwhelmed we ordered too much.

Quattro Formaggi (4- Cheese Pizza)

Frutti di mare fettucine

 

Seafood Tomato Soup (off the menu) suggested by Mr. Daniele

Truffle Mushroom Pasta with Prosciutto

Check out the paparazzi pics on the wall

Buon Giorno.

Going there, turn right from SLEX Sucat Exit
this is just across Manila Memorial.
You'll pass thru Grami Hotel and veer to your right.
Parking is a problem.
You'll have to risk parking at Sucat Road or the building
beside their resto.

Daniele's Casa Mia Italian Restaurant
8351 Dr A Santos Ave San Antonio, Parañaque  
(02) 826-5163

C' Italian Dining

Going here was a long drive from Manila.
This was after all, one of the must-try places when you visit Clark because this is where the famous Panizza started. 
They now have a branch in Ortigas, but the one in Angeles City
definitely is worth a visit.

Despite a pricey menu, the place is packing them in, tourist or not,
there's so much stuff in the menu besides the panizza that's meant to savored by your tummy. And after minutes of waiting, we had a table near this dungeon/ wine cellar, which was a bit creepy.

So we transferred to outside, where its alfresco dining.

Panizza Angelico

Aglio Olio?

Risotto Kristina

Spoon Rating 4

Rating
Zero Spoons - Not coming back
One Spoon - Something's wrong here
Two Spoons - Average Joe
Three Spoons - Good but can do better
Four Spoons - Yummy, la
Five Spoons - Where have you been all my life?