Piadina

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Italian
Location:	Glorietta Food Court, Makati City, Philippines

Whenever I need a kicker to jumpstart my stalled day, I try to partake of my most favorite pasta dish - the Penne Arrabbiata.

Though there are Italian restaurants all around, Piadina was the best compromise I did with tasty arabbiata and my food allowance.

Their nearest branch is in Greenbelt 1. My favored outlet was in Glorietta Food Court. The former was more sit-down restaurant version, the latter was the fastfood one.

I noticed that the latter had closed their outlet in Glorietta Mall - but I was comforted in hearing they would again be opening soon - though it would be catering to the casual dining market.

Last month, after a couple of hours of attending to mundane but necessary errands, I took a short-cut through Glorietta. A lucky decision to stroll by a particular avenue in the mall had me face to face with La Piadina - their newest child.

I breezed in and made myself comfortable, and ordered - you guessed it - my comfort food - my penne arabbiata. Drizzling the little mound of my favorite dish with one of their best concoctions - spicy oil infused with pepper and other herbs, I took a dainty helping.

Having eaten in one purportedly authentic Italian restaurant in Cebu, which had served me penne which was halfway cooked and where a foolish server and even more foolish chef tried to convince me it was al dente, I'm now wary. Imagine biting into the heap of penne, masticating for a while and then spitting 'em all out! This time though....my wariness was unwarranted.

Hmmm.....let's see...

The penne was of a good consistency - a balanced al dente.

The simple spicy tomato sauce was a good middle ground - not brutally commercialized and one I'd expect of casual dining.

The only complaint I could grumble about was the quantity. But I guess casual dining doesn't make for generous family-size portions. On a side note, one of the bread slices was toasted a bit too much...but I will let that slide...

The interior was of a different vein than their other casual dining restaurant. This one was leaning towards a more "Italian" atmosphere.

The service quick and efficient. Here in the Philippines, people in this service industry usually smile - so coupling that with attentiveness and a fast response time of whipping out my order makes me give them a thumbs up.

All in all, I'm happy to say I will be visiting this outlet more often even if its more expensive and further away from my place.