Italian dinner with Gusto

CEBU, Philippines - It’s the fifth dining outlet of the Anzani International Corporation, owned and operated by the restaurateur couple Marco and Kate Anzani. Yes, it’s Gusto Mare, which had its soft opening party on September 19 at Il Curso, Cittia di Mare – or “City of the Sea” – of Filinvest Land Inc., at the South Road Properties.

The new restaurant specializes in Italian cuisine.  It has the ambiance of a seaside lifestyle restaurant, designed to offer luxurious dining experience for families at a relatively affordable price. It also caters to singles, couples or barkadas with its wide array of dishes and drinks, bringing to Cebu the European dining experience so diners don’t have to spend for plane tickets and other travel related expenses.

Nearly everyone probably has the desire to travel to Europe. These days substantial discounts are offered on air fares if the trip is booked months ahead. But still you’d need a considerable budget to travel, say, to Italy and dine in true Italian fashion.  The dinner may start with a bottle of wine and some Antipasti (appetizers), ordering the affettati misti (select cold cuts) or the piatti freddi (cold dishes). The main dishes often follow: the Primi piatti with pasta and soups and then the Secondi piatti with meat, seafood or veggies. Contorni, or side dishes, may be ordered, followed by formaggio or cheese. The dinner ends with the Dolci or desserts.

Such dinner would cost around a hundred euro per person, tips excluded. Since one euro is equivalent to 52.23 pesos, the experience to a Filipino would amount to… Ouch!

During the soft opening of Gusto Mare we had cocktails, Mount Gay Rum from the Barbados and Cointreau, followed by the appetizers: Corn Chips with Salsa, Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Ravioli (ricotta cheese, spinach and basil tomato sauce) and Pizza Margherita with tomato, mozzarella and basil.

Kate Anzani later, joined our table and gave me a tour of the kitchen facilities including the newly installed oven. She ordered some of Gusto Mare’s main dishes: Risotto Verde Seafood (Arborio rice, squid, and shellfish with herbs), Branzino or Mustard-Crusted Sea Bass and the Manzo (Beef) Ossobuco, Braised Beef Shank with Tomato Vegetable Sauce with rice and potato sides.

Rice cooked in traditional Italian fashion is risotto – but many Cebu customers insist on eating Asian style, steamed or fried rice. The Anzani couple accedes, and so these are included in the menu.

Dessert was Lemon Tart and Home Made Strawberry Gelato, the latter reminding me of a small shop in the side streets of Rome where they were making lemon gelato or sorbetto alla limone from two types of fresh limoni, the sfusato sorrentino and the sfusato amalfitano. Once I had tasted the latter, which had knobby points at both ends, I concluded that it must be, excuse me, the real thing. I had it encoded in memory cells and am forever grateful to an anonymous, most generous travel sponsor.

I have my own bucket list of other countries in Europe to visit. Spain is definitely on the list. I have to visit it before the influx of refugees and economic migrants alter its cuisine.