Seeking the Unusual: Restaurante Pia y Damaso
30 January, 2009
onThis is my simple philosophy when it comes to ordering from a menu. Let me explain. Depending upon the restaurant, chefs will always have the usuals or as I like calling them, their safe bets. These are the crowd-pleasers that are uncomplicated and perfectly satisfying for those looking to silence that grumble in their tummies.
But when I go out to eat, I always seek out the unusuals on menu. A chef would never risk putting something ‘weird’ on the menu unless he or she really believed in the dish. And besides, there are always those oddballs like me who are looking to try something new or out of the ordinary.
Which brings us to the topic of Restaurante Pia y Damaso.
The following weekend, we park ourselves at the stylized tables of Pia y Damaso order a little snack.
“Salty sweet chewy beef flakes, pickled green mangoes, red onions, haw flakes, cilantro, arugula and lettuce—pile them on leaves and roll it up like a betel nut chew.”
On the plate, this dish reminds me of a little garden—little rows of differing hues of green running parallel to perfect lines of red. Lovely. So pretty, in fact, that it almost seems a shame to eat it…almost.
“Turkey, pork, liver, orange, spices, dried cranberries, sultanas, pistachios and butter served with garlic croustades.”
Sadly, once the dish land on our table, it was a visual downer. Expecting the colors of a Thanksgiving meal, what we received was a plate of drab quenelles of brown, punctuated by a sad leaf of parsley. Not a very delicious image, to say the least.
Putting aside our misgivings, we forge on and give the dish a taste. Unlike the “party” Beef Salad, this pate is a lonely one note. And that single taste is liver. Where is the turkey? Where are the cranberries? Where are those bright, earthy flavors of nuts, citrus and spices? Where is my Thankgiving pate?! Accross the table, A smiles as she happily speads her pate on the much-too-crispy toast, one after another. I shrug. To each his own, I guess.
Sometimes, getting out of your culinary comfort zone can yield amazing discoveries. Sometimes, it can become a gastronomic train wreck. But the benefits will always outweigh the costs. In the end, you just never know what new avenues of flavors you may end up savoring.
Restaurante Pia Y Damaso
Unit 2-053
Greenbelt 5
Ayala Center, Makati
Telephone: (02) 729-5511
Email: kafeedamaso@yahoo.com
LABELS: Franco, Manila, Restaurante Pia Y Damaso, Restaurants
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comments
Post a commentFEBRUARY 13, 2009 1:38 AM
Rein said...
Me and my friend used to have this philosophy that if a restaurant has a "plain" item on its menu (e.g. fried chicken), that restaurant must've done something unusual or at least special to that dish. I guess one example of which is Pancake House's fried chicken. :p