I've always been a firm believer in food first, interiors second. A restaurant with crappy food but beautiful interiors will always be a beautiful, crappy restaurant. The only places that negate this are located in chic European cities that serve crap tourist food- you're not paying for the food, you're making memories.
When I heard that the ex-chef of Mi Piace had a little place of his own located at the mini-mall at the Petron station outside of Dasmarinas Village, I immediately wanted to eat there.
I didn't have to read other food blogs or reviews talking about the food or describing it as a "gasoline station cafe." (which does nothing for its image, by the way). When I mentioned to my sister that I was going to eat here, what mattered to me was when she said, "Do you have reservations? I heard it gets really packed."
So on that night last week when the rain was coming down horizontally, we made our way to the little restaurant that could, Va Bene Pasta Deli.
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| The tiny kitchen where the freshest pastas come from |
By the time we got there, the place with packed. With about 30 people.
Our table with bench-style seating was propped next to the table display of canned goods, wine, sauces and other Italian food things for sale and in front of a freezer. In fact, when the group asked for the wine list, I just reached behind me, pulled out two different bottles and asked, "Red or white?"
We were a United Nations dinner, eating at an Italian restaurant. In order: French, American, Filipino, Danish, Indian, Portuguese/Argentinean, Brazilian. That's what you call international relations!
I was excited to see the menu. I thought I had known what I had wanted to order, but they change their menu selection every so often and what I saw on the web was no longer available. Don't you hate that?
They placed some crusty bread with yummy tomato dip for us to nibble on while waiting for out food. Like the movie, it was Gone in 60 Seconds.
There were only a few choices for starters, but the majority of us wanted the foie gras. Others ordered the polipo, or octopus salad. Unfortunately, like how it is in many small dining establishments (think Som's with half its menu crossed out) the foie gras was out of stock. Wishful thinking on my part! A small restaurant in a gasoline station; foie gras! Pffft.
The salami and cheese platter came out first, good for two persons.
Demolished.
My new order was the chicken Milanese with caramelized apple and arugula. What a tease! Don't the apples look like they are pretending to be foie gras?
I must admit that, though I find breaded chicken breast more suitable for 6 year old children, the breading was light and crispy, not at all oily, and the breast quite tender. The perfect bite of caramelized apple, arugula and breaded chicken breast was quite tasty. Too bad the dish ran out of chicken.
The polipo salad looked tasty. I love how they sliced the octopus so you get a nice cross section of the tentacle. Its meat was tender, and not at all rubbery how some tend to get, but it lacked an oomph of flavor.
We all ordered pasta for our main dish because, well, good fresh pasta is hard to come by. They also had lamp chops and some other dishes on their menu.
I ordered the fresh crab tortellini. It was one of the last dishes to come out of the kitchen but it was
ah-mazing!
For me, the perfect accompaniment to the dish would be a couple of lamp chops (I was really hungry that day! Expectations running high!).
My second choice was the truffle cream and Portobello spaghetti.
This was so flavorful and light. Sometimes you order a cream-based sauce in an Italian resto and you can't even finish the thing. What would make this dish even more perfect would freshly shaved truffles. No? But then again, if they were serving truffles, might as well ask for free gas while you're eating. One can dream!
Another dish I do enjoy is gnocchi, but only if its done right. Otherwise it could come off too starchy or gummy, which nobody likes. The gnocchi here was light and flavorful as well. Made me remember that scene in
Godfather 3 when Andy Garcia was teaching Sofia Coppola the proper way to make gnocchi.
H-O-T! This dish? Not so much. Could've used some more meat that the one measly prawn.
This tomato-based tortellini looks absolutely delish! Heyyyy, do I detect one more piece that what I got? Not fair!
For me, this last pasta dish looks like it could've used a little bit of color in it. White on white looks like a polar bear in a snow storm.
To top off my (bitin) meal, I ordered the profiteroles for dessert. I love how they forgot to say on the menu that it was going to be topped off with walnuts, which I am allergic to! Sigh.
Despite the challenge, I was able to eat these babies sans walnuts, and it was very tasty, for a small restaurant. The chocolate custard filling could have been a bit creamier, but the choux pastry was fluffy.
We all agreed that the servings here didn't fill you up. At about P1,500 per person with wine, do you think it is cheap or expensive for a hole in the wall type restaurant with good food?
As for the service, you constantly had to call the waiter to follow up on extra bread, to see if the wine was chilled, etc etc. Seems like there are two servers for the entire restaurant. Plus they charge you if you ask for another of those tomato dip/ bread thingies. They have to make money, don't they!
All in all, I would come back here again. And you should too! Don't forget to make reservations :)
Va Bene Pasta Deli
EDSA corner Pasay Road, Makati
+632.622.7373
P.S. There is ample parking as well, for 60 pesos a pop.
