Buenisimo

Went for lunch today with Anita, Kong & Gwammy to Eastwood at the Buenisimo, the Spanish-Italian restaurant operated by the children of Chef Gene Gonzalez of Cafe Ysabel fame.  Our special guest this lunch was Uncle Emong and his family--this the regular quarterly gathering of the two friends from UP Engineering Class of '49.  Imagine that, 62 years of friendship, and still going strong!

The word "buenisimo" is the superlative of "bueno" or "good!"  Yes, the restaurant has been graded by Chaine des Rotisseurs, one of the few in Manila that claim the distinction.  We started off with salad greens, and had several Spanish dishes to share--callos, paella, lamb stew, Angus hanger steak, lengua, salmon steak and grilled lapu-lapu.  The paella was tasty and served piping hot, although I would have preferred an extra 5 minutes on-heat to get more tutung (crispy burnt rice at the bottom of the pan).  I liked their callos, tasty, with a thick sauce and my only comment is that it would probably take 2 servings to satisfy my  cravings!  As we concentrated on the Spanish entries in the menu, we were not able to try the Italian pastas, and we probably will do that next trip.  All in all, the restaurant is very reasonable for an average spend of P600-P700 per head.