Va Bene

The gasoline station today is pretty much no longer the gasoline station of years past.  The Petron gasoline station at the corner of EDSA and Pasay Road is a case in point--shops, restaurants, dental clinics and laundromats have made the gasoline station a mini-mall.  Not a bad place for Chef Massimo of Manila Pen's Old Manila to put up his own pasta restaurant--Va Bene, meaning Quite Good!  Vicky and I had the opportunity to eat there with a couple of old office mates on a weeknight, and we were happy to get a table immediately--I heard that on Friday and Saturday nights, the waiting line is quite long.

I liked the interiors of the restaurant immediately.  Quite informal, cozy yet elegant, the use of bright colors and cookbooks made me feel that the restaurant was a statement of Chef Massimo's personality (it probably is).  I was told that uncooked pasta was available for sale, and I was already trying to figure out how to make my own version of their pasta sauces.

The tomato dip was a welcome treat--I sat down a hungry man and started to munch on the toasted bread even before the rest came in (I arrived first).  As our orders came in, I was delighted with the aromas that came to greet me--the tagliolini was made with portobello mushrooms and had a white wine cream sauce, and the light hint of truffle oil made my mouth want more.  The potato gnocchi had a gorgonzola based sauce, it was not bad at all (as a rule though, I prefer long pasta over gnocchi and ravioli).  The tomato-based seafood linguini was another exquisite surprise (I understand that they make their own pasta, which accounts for the sensational bite).  Last on our order list was some pizza slices; these however were ordinary and I would much rather take the pasta, which is the specialty of the restaurant.  As the dinner was the treat of our friend, I didn't get to see the total bill, but my guess would be an average spend of P600 for a pasta meal, and maybe P1,200 for a full course event.