Millie: Karla and I spent a very memorable Sunday together, enjoying a well-deserved Champagne brunch at Finestra in Solaire after being cooped up at home for two years. The Italian-inspired brunch prepared by chef Alan Marchetti was superb like no other!
Karla: This was the welcoming-back-into-society brunch that I needed. After two years of cooking almost every meal this was the perfect way to for us to celebrate. For us, Finestra has always been an “evening restaurant,” where we go to on special occasions like my birthday, or when we are entertaining guests. Coming for brunch was a totally different experience. The restaurant was well lit with natural light, and we were greeted with live music upon entering. There was a laidback yet elegant feel during the brunch, where you know you can take your time enjoying the food and company a perfect excuse to get together and catch up with some friends. This is a sit-down brunch with everything on the menu unlimited, including limitless pours of cocktails, wines, sodas, teas and more. Our beverage of choice was the Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Reserve for a Champagne brunch experience.
Millie: The meal commenced with a glass of bubbly, giving us both an opportunity to toast to the good life! We were served a gorgeous seafood tower with fresh, chilled shucked oysters, clams and mussels, poached shrimp, steamed lobsters, blue swimmer crabs and Curacha on ice served with an Amalfi lemon and a trio of classic cocktail sauce, whipped horseradish and raspberry mignonette.
For appetizers, we were served a classic Italian dish, beef carpaccio with fresh, nutty arugula, which I enjoyed with a bit of aged aceto balsamico di Modena. We also had a bit of foie gras terrine, so smooth and served with quince jam and dehydrated pear. Next came golden fried squid and zucchini with tartar sauce served in a mini fry basket.
Karla: Aside from the cold seafood tower on ice, you may also order the hot seafood tower with Rockefeller oysters, razor clams, grilled prawns, baked Boston lobster, whelks in spicy tomato, Curachas, blue swimmer crabs and herbed baked mussels, all served with tartar sauce, whipped horseradish and lemon butter sauce. In addition to the seafood towers, you may also add on Oscietra caviar for an additional fee. Oscietra caviar is from Russian sturgeon, also called the Ossetra sturgeon.
Brunch is also equivalent to breakfast and eggs are considered mainstays. Finestra surely has quite a selection, offering eggs benedict with grilled mortadella on a toasted focaccia and Hollandaise sauce; eggs Florentine with spinach, parmesan and a poached egg; scrambled eggs and truffles on grilled sourdough bread, Eggs Royal with smoked salmon and the Finestra breakfast with eggs of your choice, Italian sausage, crispy pancetta and tomatoes.
The brunch selection is quite extensive that they even have main courses available. We ordered the whole Josper-cooked USDA Rib-eye, the USDA Filet Mignon with duck fat fries, and the lobster Thermidor with herbed bechamel sauce. Mom and I also shared the lobster roll on brioche to try and for the extra duck fat fries, of course. Haha!
Millie: I truly enjoyed the braised beef cheek, slow-cooked and tender, served with polenta and braising jus. It was excellent and I paired it with creamy pappardelle tartufate with truffle paste and Parmesan cheese! I had a bite or two of Karla’s four-cheese gnocchi just to try and the asparagus risotto made from Carnaroli rice with wild mushroom.
Because we were quite stuffed, we missed trying some items like the Pinsa Romana, a cloud-like pizza with several flavors because we couldn’t possibly order everything on the menu. We vowed to return to try other interesting dishes like the Duck Ravioli, Pacific Seabass and the Baked Lobster with Cheese.
As usual, we made sure to leave room for dessert, which was served family-style. I made up my mind early on to just satisfy myself with a lemon meringue cheesecake but when our server brought in the entire dessert collection, how could I say no! There was this quite inviting popsicle-looking mango and passion fruit semifreddo, strawberry Pavlova, vanilla panna cotta, chocolate zuccotto cake and the fabulous Finestra tiramisu!
Don’t forget to drop by the chocolate cart with assorted sweets, macarons and cookies, as well as the live affogato station. You can customize your own affogato with various toppings like fresh fruits, cookies, and syrups. You can also add a splash of liquor to booze it up with their selection of whiskey, amaretto, Bailey’s, Kahlua and more. They mix the ice cream right in front of your eyes using liquid nitrogen. And for my meal ender, it just had to be a perfect cup of espresso macchiato!
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Finestra is located at Solaire Resort & Casino, 1 Aseana Ave, Entertainment, Parañaque. For inquiries and reservations, call 8888-8888.
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Send email to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and quichethecook.ph@gmail.com. Find us on Facebook: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes and Instagram: @quichethecookph.