Enjoying pizza with flair

What makes for a great dining experience?

A nice place with a cozy atmosphere, efficient waiters and service crew, a wide selection of food that includes vegetarian fares and of course the taste that should be incomparable elsewhere. For me, these are the vital factors that should be met, plus the price of the food which would rank high, especially among Cebuano diners.

Recently, we were invited to the new Pizza Hut Bistro in SM City Cebu’s Northwing. The 9th in a series of newly opened bistros and the first outside Metro Manila, the Pizza Hut Bistro is a new concept for the pizza chain. Nica Viñas, the restaurant’s general manager, revealed that Pizza Hut Philippines came up with this idea in order to meet the growing clamor of customers for a Pizza Hut with the ambience of a classy restaurant.

Though similarities with the regular Pizza Hut stores are discernible, a dramatic modification would be the expanded menu that reflects the restaurant’s desire to innovate and experiment with new flavors without sacrificing its Italian influence. Here you would find more choices of soups, pasta (which are pretty versatile as you can choose your own pasta for the sauce that you desire), more rice dishes, more salad choices, and, of course, wine that would complement your meal.

Viñas emphasized that despite the store’s shift from the usual Pizza Hut restaurant, the Bistro remains to be reasonably priced. “We don’t want them to think that we’re expensive. We are still very affordable,” she reiterated, adding that the servings at the Bistro are larger which could be the reason for the price difference.

An appetizer of Crab and Mushroom Dip served with special pita bread greeted our palate on arrival. This was then followed by the Tuscan Salad which is full of greens, olives, tomatoes and nuts.

The Pasta Putanesca was the first entrée and is a heavenly combination of linguine noodles with tomato sauce, anchovies, fresh basil and white cheese. This was followed by the main course of mango barbeque chicken (baked and glazed with a sweet yet tangy mango barbeque sauce and served with a mango salsa) with the most generous serving of rice.

For desert, banana split was served. And although I totally disagree with the brand of ice cream used, the pudding proved to be quite a temptation. Fortunately, I was too full to have some.

Viñas later informed us that we were served the restaurant’s special which would run for three months starting last May 6. “Every three months, we introduce something new to our menu and if the customers would like it then we might keep it on our menu,” she said.