Cantinetta
One of the best things about coming to Manila for vacations is that all my friends want to treat me to all the new restaurants that have sprung up while I was gone. Cantinetta is by no means a new restaurant. If I recall correctly, they used to be located at the Pasong Tamo extension, and I'd always wanted to go but just never got the time to. Actually, for all I know, the Cantinetta I went to in Rockwell might be an additional branch instead of a replacement.
Angie and her husband wanted to have lunch at Cyma (again with Cyma! Must be the popular restaurant to go to these days!) but G made me promise I'd go with her, so we ended up having lunch at Cantinetta.
Cantinetta's exterior is minimalist without being stark. The red logo is nicely modern and doesn't scream "Look, I'm an Italian restaurant!"
The interior is also very welcoming. I wish Vancouver would have more restaurants like this. It seems all we have is either very fine dining, or casual cheap. This is a nice in-between restaurant that I'm sure would do amazingly well. The place is actually bigger than it looks in the picture. I couldn't very well ask those two guys to sit down so I could take a better picture, right? I think they add a bit of character to the picture, heh-heh.
I was a bit late so Angie and her husband were already there when I arrived. They'd already started on the bread and pate and I couldn't very well blame them for ruining my photo opportunity now, could I? :) The liver pate was sooooo good and addicting. I think I could eat just that and be content. See the half-eaten spread? I was assured it looked much prettier before they started eating. :)
ll
We decided to just share all our orders so we could try everything. I ordered the Penne Gamberetti because it was under the Cantinetta Specials part of the menu. The description read, "shrimp and lucchini in a mascarpore sauce". The only things I understood there were shrimp and sauce, haha, unless they misspelled mascarpone. Anyway, the whole dish was amazingly good. I expected the sauce to be heavy because it's white sauce, but it was very light. At first I thought it was a bit weird that there was one big shrimp in the middle and lots of iny ones scattered throughout, but it tasted so good I just didn't care at the end. This was my favorite dish of the entire meal.
The second dish was the Ravioli Verdi di Spinaci al Pomodoro. Again, the dish was very good. I liked the pomodoro sauce...it was tart and tomatoey. Perfect. I think the dish would have looked better presentation-wise if there had been some cheese on top.
Last was the Quattro Formaggi Pizza. The four cheese are: parmesan, gorgonzola, ricotta, and mozzarella. While still quite good, I didn't find this to be at the level of the other dishes. It tasted like ordinary pizza to me; in fact, it tasted a bit plain. Is it sacrilege to say I prefer the Four Cheese PIzza at Yellow Cab?
By this time we were so stuffed we didn't have room for dessert. We did have room for coffee, though, and Cantinetta serves a perfect cup of Illy coffee. Funny story, though. Angie asks the server for cream, and he comes back with milk and sugar. She tells him she doesn't like milk and would like some cream. Server looks at her strangely, goes away, and comes back with a cup of whipped cream! Angie and I look at each other and shrug. Even funnier, Angie actually empties the whipped cream into her coffee!
We leave Cantinetta happy and content. I will definitely go back for the pasta and some other things I want to try on their menu.
CANTINETTA
Rockwell
UCC and Starbucks area
Angie and her husband wanted to have lunch at Cyma (again with Cyma! Must be the popular restaurant to go to these days!) but G made me promise I'd go with her, so we ended up having lunch at Cantinetta.
Cantinetta's exterior is minimalist without being stark. The red logo is nicely modern and doesn't scream "Look, I'm an Italian restaurant!"
The interior is also very welcoming. I wish Vancouver would have more restaurants like this. It seems all we have is either very fine dining, or casual cheap. This is a nice in-between restaurant that I'm sure would do amazingly well. The place is actually bigger than it looks in the picture. I couldn't very well ask those two guys to sit down so I could take a better picture, right? I think they add a bit of character to the picture, heh-heh.
I was a bit late so Angie and her husband were already there when I arrived. They'd already started on the bread and pate and I couldn't very well blame them for ruining my photo opportunity now, could I? :) The liver pate was sooooo good and addicting. I think I could eat just that and be content. See the half-eaten spread? I was assured it looked much prettier before they started eating. :)
ll
We decided to just share all our orders so we could try everything. I ordered the Penne Gamberetti because it was under the Cantinetta Specials part of the menu. The description read, "shrimp and lucchini in a mascarpore sauce". The only things I understood there were shrimp and sauce, haha, unless they misspelled mascarpone. Anyway, the whole dish was amazingly good. I expected the sauce to be heavy because it's white sauce, but it was very light. At first I thought it was a bit weird that there was one big shrimp in the middle and lots of iny ones scattered throughout, but it tasted so good I just didn't care at the end. This was my favorite dish of the entire meal.
The second dish was the Ravioli Verdi di Spinaci al Pomodoro. Again, the dish was very good. I liked the pomodoro sauce...it was tart and tomatoey. Perfect. I think the dish would have looked better presentation-wise if there had been some cheese on top.
Last was the Quattro Formaggi Pizza. The four cheese are: parmesan, gorgonzola, ricotta, and mozzarella. While still quite good, I didn't find this to be at the level of the other dishes. It tasted like ordinary pizza to me; in fact, it tasted a bit plain. Is it sacrilege to say I prefer the Four Cheese PIzza at Yellow Cab?
By this time we were so stuffed we didn't have room for dessert. We did have room for coffee, though, and Cantinetta serves a perfect cup of Illy coffee. Funny story, though. Angie asks the server for cream, and he comes back with milk and sugar. She tells him she doesn't like milk and would like some cream. Server looks at her strangely, goes away, and comes back with a cup of whipped cream! Angie and I look at each other and shrug. Even funnier, Angie actually empties the whipped cream into her coffee!
We leave Cantinetta happy and content. I will definitely go back for the pasta and some other things I want to try on their menu.
CANTINETTA
Rockwell
UCC and Starbucks area