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!

Old clothes

We are in Manila, in a quarter called Malate, and don’t ask me where that exactly is, cause after two days in this mega city it could have been anywhere. I can’t really get a picture of how to define this metropole.

We go dining out and it’s only a stone throw from our hotel pensionne Malate to the nearest restaurant Cafe Havanna, a Cuban bar-restaurant. It turns out to be a historic night as it is here where we come at the idea to start this blog with main topic food, beverages, entertainment and everything you can consume in a lifetime.

The menu is a mystery to me as I don’t speak Spanish, but luckily Jay is a bit better skilled in this language. The hot starters are called Tapas Calientes, and with my travelers experience I recognize Gambas Fritos as fried shrimps. When it’s in front of me I find out that the shrimps are crispy fried on a bed of green chillies and yes, hot they are. I love it!

Jay is more adventurous and let himself serve Almejias al Ajillo, fresh clams still in the shells baked in garlic butter, which he slurps out of the shells. Although we just decided to share our culinary experiences with the rest of the world, we forgot to take pictures of the dishes, probably because we are temporarily in food heaven. Both starters are wonderful. It’s unexpected, and the best ones we have eaten so far this trip through the Philippines.

While we flush away the last clams and gambas with the national San Miguel beer, the mains are being served. Let me tell something here about the ambience. We are sitting in a Cuban restaurant, red colors dominate and Caribean music arrives through the archways and fills the establishment. At the wall many pictures of Cuba, the unavoidable old timers and a drawing of a man looking like Louis Prima, which says nothing to Jay. Actually also not much to me, I remember his face from an old elpee record decades ago. Jay thinks the man looks more like Salvador Dali, based on the thin lined mustache and I guess he might be closer to the truth...

We are sitting at the window with a view on a busy street. Two bimbo’s are drawing our attention at not more then a couple of meters away from us. They move their tongues in a sensual way over their lips, with their heads slightly turned over the shoulders. “They are tranvestites”, says Jay convinced, while turning the green Fettucine with salmon around his fork. “Excellent” he says. I guess he mentions his dish. I have my doubts about the girls, they look too real to me.

I have ordered old clothes, Ropa Vieja in Spanish, a traditional dish consisting out of shredded beef stew in tomato, onions and spices. It’s absolutely great and goes along very well with Moros y Christianos, a Cuban style rice with black beans and fried platanos, which I can identify as green pees. I nearly eat my fingers along with it. Both mains are of great taste and well balanced in spices and vegetables.

The girls have left the scene due to a lack of attention, but suddenly a street kid looks at table height through the window at our food. It feels a bit embarrassing. Maybe he looks every evening to what people eat here. Food he can only dream of. He is not asking for money or anything else, but for a minute he only stares at the plates and how we consume it. That minute takes longer then any minute before.

“Still some space for a dessert?” I ask. Jay is negative. “We can share one”, he suggests, and so it will be. I decide to go for the Banana Republic, cause that's where I am (Cuba!). I like the name more than the description, which reads 'a crusty pastry with Cuban style platanos and vanilla ice'. Better that we have shared it, as it is a pizza size dessert though tasteful without the usual overdose of sugar. Now we can taste the banana flakes on warm pastry, where a couple of vanila ice coups are slowly melting away.

We conclude that this three course meal has a high standard. We have not agreed on a scoring system, but this wonderful satisfying meal will be the measure of all other stuff we eat, together or separated. I would say that all dishes were higher than an eight out of ten. And I am pretty sure that this will not be easy met, especially when realizing that this was not high dining, though rather a simple restaurant. At least we had the feeling of high dining. The line on the back site of the menu gives the best explanation:

Cafe Havana in Manila: Cuban style of cooking is simple in concept but complex in flavor.

Epilogue:

We pay the bill and are heading for the hotel, but suddenly a tropical rain shower hits the streets of Manila. People hide away nervously. “Stop”, says Jay, “It’s the first rain of the year, it is acid rain!” There is no other way than going back in Cafe Havana and hit the bar. I take the last one of six different cocktails, the Yellow Ribbon. The bartender marks a dot at the poster at the bar. It’s the most popular cocktail; all the six cocktails represent a presidents candidate for the upcoming elections in the Philippines. It’s based on pineapple, rum and vodka. It’s good to know that I was able to have my vote in this fantastic 7000+ island archipelago. And Cuba is now favorite for visiting and one day we will to explore its culinary wonders as well. Cheers!