Dining Guide
Italian Cuisine / Restaurants
A unique Italian noodle dish is lasagne. These are wide stripes of pasta baked with a sauce of tomato, cheese, and meat.
In Italian cuisine, noodles are normally not a meal by themselves. In the order of a fine dinner, they are served in between the hors d'oeuvre and the main course. Because hors d'oeuvres come before the pasta dishes, the Italian name for hors d'oeuvre is antipasta, literally meaning nothing but "what comes before the pasta".
There is a wide variety of antipasta; but there are also two types of standard mixed plates of antipasta, the ordinary one that includes cold cuts, salami and slightly marinated vegetables in olive oil and vinegar, and the antipasta di mare that mainly consists of cold seafood with a few vegetables added.
Beyond these appetizers Italian cuisine is rich in exclusive hors d'oeuvres. Among them are many kinds of thinly sliced meats, often served in a marinate containing olive oil. The most famous of these thinly sliced meat dishes are Parma ham and Carpaccio.
Parma ham is an air dried ham originating in the region around the Northern Italian city of Parma. It's much milder in taste than most kinds of ham, and therefore it's suited to be eaten without bread. Actually, Parma ham is most commonly served with fruit - in Europe with melon, in the Philippines also with mango. For those who want to become experts in matters of Parma ham: the best is said to come from the town of San Daniele.
Carpaccio are thin slices of rare beef ten-derloin marinated in olive oil, salt, pep-per, and Parmesan cheese. This dish is so popular in Philippine first class restaurants that it almost can be considered a fashion food here. In Italy, carpaccio is less prevalent as an hors d'oeuvre than one gets the impression from Philippine menus.
Soup and salad are served after the antipasta but before the main course. They may come before or after the noodle dish. The most typical Italian soup is minestrone. It's an unthickened soup with plenty of vegetables and noodles, mostly macaroni.
Salads are served with an Italian dressing, consisting of oil, vinegar, and herbs. Insalata cabrese is a tomato salad topped with Mozarella cheese.
Italian main courses are generally meats. Among the meats, veal (vitello) is the most popular, followed by beef (bue), pork (maiale), chicken (pollo), and lamb (agnello). Meats are often spiced with two herbs with a strong flavor, rosemary and basil. A number of meat dishes use wine.
TOURIST BELT
Capriccio (91)
Silahis Hotel, Roxas Blvd, Tel 57-38-11
Mon-Sat 11:30-14:30, 18:30-23:00
Sun, hol 18:30-23:00
the finest Italian restaurant in the tourist belt; Mon-Fri at lunch time good value Italian buffet 160 P ++; dinner a la carte; very elaborate menu, includes Carpaccio in two styles (with walnut oil or truffles and parmesan cheese); several pasta dishes also with truffles; shell dishes with saffron sauce; delicious Italian cheeses such as Gorgonzola; they also serve artichokes, a fine vegetable typical of Italian cuisine
La Taverna (52)
Adriatico St, Tel 521-36-42, 521-37-22
12:30-14:30, 18:30-24:30, Sun no lunch
La Taverna makes its own pasta (among them green spaghetti) and bakes its own very tasty bread; reservations for dinner recommended because the restaurant is very popular
Cafe Vienna (94)
Holiday Inn, Roxas Blvd, Tel 59-79-61
6:00-2:00; Italian dinner buffet Fr 18:00-22:00, 175 P ++; desserts and coffee or tea included
Alda's Pizza Kitchen
1313 Adriatico St; Mon-Thu 11:00-24:00
Fri, Sat 11:00-2:00; Sun, hol 15:00-24:00
great variety of sumptuous pizzas at very reasonable prices; among them unique crea-tions such as Peking Duck Pizza; but not only pizzas, for lunch and dinner complete line of meals; good selection of pasta and salads; bar with international drinks; cozy ambience; very clean place
Prego (72)
Rotary Circle, Malate, Tel 521-66-82
Mon-Thu 11:00-24:00; Fri, Sat 11:00-2:00
closed on Sun; kind of ice-cream parlor; fashionable disco (Limelight) and dance club (Tito's) upstairs
MAKATI
La Primavera (144)
Legazpi St; Tel 818-19-42, 818-19-45
11:30-22:30, closed on Sun
fresh bread and fresh pasta prepared twice a day (for lunch and dinner); this res-taurant even grows its own herbs from seeds imported from Europe; lunch salad buffet for 128 P ++; includes many Italian antipasti, 10 to 15 pasta dishes and even desserts; considering that one can eat as much as one wishes, this Italian buffet is excellent value; from 15:00-18:30 snacks, including sandwiches, pizzas, and pasta
Piccola Bar (144)
at La Primavera; 11:00-24:00; happy hour with free appetizers 17:30-
19:30; buffet of Italian appetizers, 65 P per serving
Season's (130)
Mile Long Bldg, Amorsolo St; Tel 85-95-96
11:00-15:00, 18:00-23:00; closed on Sun
modern Italian cuisine; they bake a spe-cial kind of Italian bread, so-called Crustini; among the appetizers is Moz-zarella grilled with mushrooms or even deep-fried and served with basil sauce; did you know that salad can be grilled; they do it at Season's; also unique is their black pasta - fettuccini prepared in squid ink; amazing variety of coffee - so many that they have a separate menu for them; the selection includes no less than 9 unblended imported coffee beans from South America, Africa and Asia; Sat lunch buffet 125 P
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/philippines/philippines_italian_cuisine2.htm
| 
