Bistro Ravioli

Crossing over from the 2nd floor deparment store to the mall area of SM Mall of Asia, I was surprised to see a new resto by the name of Bistro Ravioli in place of Stars and Stripes. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. I approached the resto staff standing outside the door holding a menu and asked if they just opened recently. I was told that December 6 was their opening date. I asked further if it's the same as the one at Robinsons Galleria. She smiled and said yes. I returned the menu to her, already thinking when I would be able to try it.

I've always wanted to try Ravioli at Robinsons Galleria ever since I read Anton's post at OAP. Galleria, or Galle as we call it, is actually so much nearer my home than MoA, but somehow Ravioli's location at the food court turns me off. Thanks to a couple of bad experiences at the food court dating back a decade.

My chance to try Bistro Ravioli came last Saturday when my brother suddenly wanted to go to MoA. The place looked clean and the interior design was simple and neat. Framed pictures of their food and quotes from famous people adorned the walls. We liked the interior but it did not seem very "bistro-like", or maybe just to our untrained eyes.

For our antipasti, we ordered Foccacia with Spinach Dip (P125). There were 5 big slices of foccacia. The photo shows only 3 because my sister and I were already hungry and forgot to take a photo before getting our share. The dip serving wasn't stingy either. The foccacia was nothing out of the ordinary but the dip was creamy and slightly chewy. For lack of description in their menu, we guessed that the cheese mixed in was mozzarella. It was really, really good. When my brother arrived, he tasted it and then put a large dollop of the dip on his bread. The dip bowl was scraped clean. We forgot to leave some for the bread that came with the ravioli and pasta dishes.

For drinks, my sister had the Lemon Iced Tea while my brother and I had the Red Iced Tea. Each only cost P30. Cheaper than we expected.

After much deliberation, we settled on the Italian Sausage Ravioli (P190). The Spinach Ravioli seemed redundant with our dip. I was hesitant to try the Chicken and Pesto as pesto is not one of my favorite flavors. There wasn't much to choose from so italian sausage it was.

We couldn't believe it when our server said each ravioli dish has about 2 dozen pieces. We were imagining the size of ravioli we've had at different restos. But Bistro Ravioli's version was much smaller after all. We didn't bother counting the pieces, but it seemed to be more or less that number. I popped a bite-sized raviolo into my mouth and savored the taste of the salty sausage combined with the pasta. Then a few more in quick succession. I would prefer to taste more tomato sauce in the mix but it was good nevertheless. We finished the ravioli in no time.

My brother's choice for pizza was Quattro Formaggio (P325), as I had predicted. I wanted the Margherita but I was overruled by the 2. I thought I would just try a slice because I find 4-cheese pizzas too "cheesy", for lack of a better adjective. I was actually pleasantly surprised. The crust, though thin, was flavorful and the 4 cheeses not nakakaumay as I expected. I ended up having two slices.

Our pasta selection was the Molto Meatball (P180) despite our server's recommendation of the Seafood Pasta. The photo just did not seem appetizing. The Puttanesca with Sun-dried Tomatoes on the other hand seemed a bit boring according to my sister. We ended up being disappointed with our order. The dish did not just look like it came from a can of ready-to-eat spaghetti but the pasta tasted like it too. The meatball was so-so. Its only saving grace was the tomato sauce. Even the Pancetta Carbonara of the couple beside us seemed a wiser choice.

Enough of the shoulda, woulda, coulda. I can try other dishes next time, and I think there will definitely be a next time. The food was good and reasonably-priced. The service was not bad, even bordering on paranoid, when we observed one of the waiters go from table to table asking the patrons if all orders had been served :-P Well, they did charge 5% for service.

However, we were sort of hoping to have some soup, which they didn't have. And I feel that the selection was quite limited. Going back to Anton's blog, I noticed a few items not available at the MoA branch such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Shrimp Diablo pasta, Chorizo & Tomato Ravioli, and Ham & Garlic Ravioli. (I probably should have taken a photo of the menu.) I hope they do add to their menu.


Photos courtesy of my sister.

Dezato Mochi Ice Cream

In my post about Dezato Mochi, I mentioned Dezato's offering of mochi ice cream. Before the Christmas break, I headed over to Dezato Cafe to purchase some. There were 6 ice cream flavors to choose from - chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, coffee, mango, and green tea. An order of mochi ice cream, priced at P175, has 6 pieces. It can also be purchased individually at P35. The pricelist at Dezato's multiply site shows P150 for an order of 6, obviously not updated.

I bought 4 orders of mochi ice cream. 2 for the family, and 2 to be given away. Half had 2 pcs. of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry each and the other half had 2 pcs. of vanilla, strawberry, and green tea each, because they had already ran out of chocolate. I hurried home, excited to try one and possibly relive a Dreyer's mochi moment. I tried a piece of chocolate mochi ice cream first upon getting home. It was still frozen, too frozen in fact to be eaten. But my excitement got the better of me and I ended up disappointed. It was like eating chocolate ice cream covered in ice.

My sister chose the strawberry variant, and said it was good. I tried hers, still no moment. She had the chocolate one next and enjoyed it immensely. What had just happened? Did I build up the taste of mochi ice cream in my mind that the actual taste fell short of my expectations? My dad tried it and liked it as well. I'm convinced that I had sabotaged my own enjoyment. I'm suddenly reminded of an episode of How I Met Your Mother entitled Rebound Bro, where Ted was worried that something Stella hadn't had for 5 years would disappoint her because she probably built it up in her mind.

I decided to give it another chance, I bought a dozen after all. This time, I waited patiently for the mochi to thaw a bit. It was better but still not as good as I had hoped. I resolved to forget the Dreyer's moment and just enjoy Dezato's, enjoy the sensation of the cold sticky outer mochi and the flavor of the ice cream inside. The ice cream was typical, probably store bought. But I know better to stay away from green tea next time. It just isn't for everybody.

2 microwaveable containers were emptied after just a day. 1 container supposed to be given away was opened and promptly finished off a few days later. Not so bad for something I didn't think was that good ;-)