Spirale Ristorante: "Vale ogni centesimo!"

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Italian
Location:	Davao City, Philippines

You can confidently bet your last piece of penne pasta when it comes to my visiting Italian restaurants which come highly recommended!
Italian and Japanese are two international cuisines I try my darndest to savor when I visit another place.


On 24th September 2011, after the extremely adventurous trip and butt-whomping rides through every imaginable vehicle to Camp Sabros and experiencing its soaring ziplines, my companions and I finally came back to Davao City.
I had promised Rina, my closest (and therefore favorite cousin) that she and I would have dinner together, have a talka-thon and that I'd hand over for her sweet tooth Manila baked sweets which were probably not good for her system...hahaha!

Chiara, (who was not able to be with us in Camp Sabros) was in Spirale Ristorante already with her family.
She had earlier recommended this eating place upon picking us up at the airport at an ungodly hour - with Cafe Firenzo beside it but of course they were still closed at that time.
It just whet my appetite.

We made a snap decision to go to Damosa Gateway (I keep blundering and calling it Damaso, probably from the fat friar in Jose Rizal's novels) to see how good their Italian offerings were.

Rina and I arrived just in time to greet and meet Chiara and her hubby before they left and thank them for the fun we had at their Camp Sabros.
Then it was time to get into the serious business of ordering and inhaling the delicious aroma of food which came our way, even if we were seated outside.

I was tasked to do the choosing and it was difficult because I loved all the descriptions in their menu selections.

I finally settled on Pizza Prosciutto (no surprise there) and Vongole al Chorizo for the pasta side. (I was sure my stomach pets wouldn't mind the carbo load late that night).



Cousins who like to eat together...


As for the flavor - I give them two thumbs up.
While it had only been recently that I had indulged in similar pizza (though oval-shaped) at Cibo in Manila, I think the arugula and prosciutto formula that Spirale slathers on their thin, crunchy-liciously crispy pizza were points ahead in being "home-made"-tasting.

The pasta was a tongue-pleaser too.
The baby clams were tender (they ought to be) and the stewed tomatoes coupled with the white wine sauce was just rightly thrown in together.
I usually avoid seafood-related pasta because my all-time favorite is the simple but divine arrabbiata, but this ristorante's version of the vongole was enough to make me more open-minded.

With just these two dishes, my cousin and I were stuffed to the gills, though I did manage to set aside a slice or two for Che (who was already at the Ponce Suites, photos of which are posted somewhere on this site).

I wish I had more time to stay, eat and talk with my cousin because its certainly one ristorante I would like to do a little more menu-exploration.

For the penny-pinching worker though, this might be one restaurant, which although you might like to eat at everyday - may not be that conducive to your wallet's continued health.
In comparison to Manila, where popular restaurants are more expensive, Davao still is relatively cheaper in terms of eating places which do give a broad variety of very fresh seafood - though I am not completely sure about the international cuisine side.

I can't label Spirale as a very expensive place, it is also not what I would call as very affordable.

My recommendation is that you try it at least once...and then you can save up your money to eat more frequently here as time goes by *grin*



Spirale Ristorante
Damosa Complex, Angliongto Road, Lanang, Davao City
Phone +63 82 234-6298

Penne Rigate alla Boscaiola

Description:
Penne Rigate is a thin tube pasta with sharp diagonally cut ends, which resemble the end of a quill pen. Penne pasta is approximately 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches in length. The rigate in the pasta name indicates that the pasta has a ridged surface.

Ingredients:
350 g Penne Rigate
50 g butter
50 g dried porcini mushrooms
1 medium onion
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 tablespoons of EVOO
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt
freshly ground pepper


Directions:
Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 2 hours, drain and finely chop and keep back in 3 ladles of water.

Brown the onion in the oil and add the mushrooms.

Add the mushroom, water, salt, tomato paste, bay leaf and cook over low heat.

Cook the penne rigate pasta. Pour into the sauce and add butter, pepper and parsley.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Mozzarella and Tomatoes

Description:
I love mushrooms, never mind that sometimes I think I overdo it and have a pain in my joints after eating bushels of 'em *grin*

Because I usually can access portobello mushrooms, I grabbed the recipe from the internet.



Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for greasing grill pan
4 large portobello mushrooms (about 5 inches in diameter), stemmed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 small to medium sized vine ripened tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 ounces fresh water-packed mozzarella, drained, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Prepare the barbecue (medium-high heat) or griller.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over both sides of the mushrooms.
Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt and pepper.
Drizzle olive oil on grill pan to prevent mushrooms from sticking.
Grill until the mushrooms are heated through and tender, about 5 minutes per side.

Whisk the extra-virgin olive oil and garlic in a medium bowl to blend.
Add the tomatoes, cheese, and basil and toss to coat.
Season the tomato salad, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Place 1 hot grilled mushroom gill side up on each of 4 plates.
Sprinkle with more salt and pepper.
Spoon the tomato salad atop the mushrooms, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to finish, about 1 tablespoon and serve.

Pasta Spirals with Creamy Parsley Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tbsps butter (or margarine)
1 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
9 oz pasta spirals
1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice or tsp vinegar



Directions:
1. Melt butter in pan, then stir in flour. After 1 minute, remove from heat and gradually stir in milk. Return to heat and stir continuously. Boil for 2 minutes

2. Meanwhile cook the pasta spirals in salted, boiling water for 10 minutes (or until tender but still firm). Rinse in cold water and drain.

3. Before serving add parsley and lemon juice to sauce and then pour over pasta. Serve immediately.

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.