Dolce Vita – Ermita

I spotted the restaurant a couple of days earlier in the middle of Manila street life – during the day, I need to say – with its inviting red lips logo on the façade of the building, representing the Sweet Life of the Philippines. You guess it right; the Italian restaurant is called Dolce Vita, after the classic movie of Fellini and last Saturday night we decided to check it out.

Once inside you leave Manila wild life and suddenly you are in the tranquil surrounding of an Italian restaurant with an awesome interior. The enormous Venetian masks on the walls are magnificent and the dark wooden statues give the ambient light a great atmosphere. The Dolce Vita is already a pleasure to sit and look around.

The menu has plenty to choose from, but not before you read at the opening page the credentials of master chef Tiziano Cavalinni. What a great name! And even better, the chef himself was wandering around the tables and the bar at several occasions, in his kitchen wear, only the big spoon was missing.

Tiziano, at age with a grey ponytail and a worn face of decades in the kitchen, cooked in his heydays for Queen Elisabeth and Luciano Pavarotti, and we all know the latter did like a second dish. The chef even learned his art in a 4 star rated Michelin restaurant! Oops, how many stars? Double M googled it to be for sure and indeed, Michelin ratings are not higher than 3 stars. Suspicious… or just a printing error? We were now warned and ordered in silence.

I do not eat half a day before dining out – in contrast with Double M - who tucked away a chicken leg just before entering the restaurant. So I had some classic Italian starters: a minestrone soup and an Insalata de Cesari. The soup was very rich in vegetables and came in a large portion, enough to end up with two cups and share. The Cesar salad was crispy although a bit too much swimming in the dressing, which I personally do not like.

The mains were coming and demanded quit some space at the table since they were served at big wooden boards. MM choose a chef’s specialty; the Fiorentina, a Florence porterhouse beef marinated and grilled in virgin olive oil. I took the Coteletta alla Marcello, a fried breaded beef tenderloin with a Parma ham topping, truffle cream and parmesan cheese. I can only judge my beef, honestly, I was not convinced. I like the pure ingredients and prefer moderation with sauces and cheese. I once read a book about the fast food industry where CEO’s were talking ablout succes snacks; in case of doubt, top it with molten cheese and bacon… and this was a bit the effect with the breaded beef; I only tasted the topping…

It was pretty mighty – so no complains about the size of the portions. I am not sure how Double M experienced his chef’s specialty, but it seems to be okay since he completed it literally to the bone… The choice for a dessert was limited, only the Tiramisu cake was available from four options. I expected this Italian biscuit cake drowned in coffee and liquor as heavy as the meat dishes and so we shared this as well. A good choice and indeed, no need for coffee, it was soaked in well.

Wrapping up – Dolce Vita is a great place to sit and escape the hassle of Manila for some hours. I don’t want to be too tough and will be back and stick to the homemade pasta or pizza and check out again if we will give out an additional Michelin star or not. Master Tiziano will have his second chance to prove the real Sweet Life of manila…

MakanMakan - the Asian food village

It took a while, but we are back into the food tasting and restaurant testing business! Double M and me were busy settling down in a significant Tower in the Ermita quarter of manila. We must have a good outlook of our surroundings since we plan to visit all restaurants, foodstalls and bistro's within our view, so there is no time to lose!

Now you can make a cross bearing and plot where our headquarters are, so if you are around, let us know and maybe we can share a good meal somewhere in the neighborhood. Our first dining out depended fully on the weather. It is rain season and with the grey skies always ready to shower you, we took the risk and moved out far (without umbrellas!), crossed Roxas Blv. and hit for the H20 hotel, an unknown location for us.

We found out that it is still partly under construction and in between the welding, cutting and building sites, something pretty interesting is arising. The hotel is build on former sea and so the themes of some shows and events are centered around  marine life and aquariums. But we save that for another time, as hungry we were, we headed straight of to Maknmakan - the Asian food village.

We started with a dimsum platter, to silence our grunting stomachs; the dimsums were crispy, nicely textured and tasteful even without the chili and soy sauses. A good start asking for more. About the ambience; the kitchens are open and in the middle of the hall, with the tables scattered around, indeed giving the impression you are in a village. Every station has its speciality and the menu reads Chinese, Filipino, Thai, Malay and Singapore kitchen. Time to flush a local San Miguel beer and get ready for the main.

Good, I have the biggest space available and was most hungry, so decided to go for a Noodle Soup Asado and a green Thai curry, while MM ordered a humble Singapore beef noodles. Then, impatient as I was, I attacked right away after the waiter served the soup, a strong and salty broth with something floating around in it which I took for asado (whatever that was supposed to be; sometimes I surprise myself...).Superb! Though not mine at all. I was quickly sipping away Double M's part of his noodles dish. I realized that once a rather big bowl of soup with sweet pork meat was served out, together with my green curry and rice. All together too much (the soup), too hot (the curry), but very good.

It was Double M who was a bit dissapointed with his Singapore noodles. Being a true carnivore; the meat was hard to find (not in the broth and too less under the noodles), so luckily I got some help in emptying the dishes at my side of the table.

So that was where it ended - no need for a dessert this time and when leaving the food village we decided to come back later and try some more of the extended and divers menu. It need to be said that the food village delivers a great quality for a very affordable price and the portions are generous.

Epilogue:
On our way back we bought some luxury sweets for Double B, the little nephew of Double M, and since we missed our dessert, we decided back in the Tower to try some of them with a coffee. Unfortunately little Double B will never see his sweets... and in the meantime we bought some ordinairy buttercookies as replacement. Luckily, Little Double B is still too young to read this: and the sweets were absolutely great!