Italian, casual, homey, and comfortable. These are the words that would come to mind whenever I hear the word Cantinetta.

Cantinetta is the only Italian place I frequent. When I want a guarantee to have a great tasting dinner, I come here. In reality, the restaurant has become a place I go to when I want comfort food. Its laid back casual ambiance and quality food is probably what enticed me and retained me as a customer.

We often skip ordering appetizers because the restaurant serves a basket of warm and soft bread with tomato salsa and liver pâté. The breads with the salsa and pâté were just so good we sometimes even ask for more.

If you really want an appetizer, I suggest getting the Carpaccio di Marizo alla Cantinetta. Doesn’t the sound already make you salivate? Certainly, you can’t go wrong with thin slices of good Carpaccio plus excellent salty parmesan cheese drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Yum. (I didn’t realize I don’t have a photo of this, I eat here so often I do not do food shots anymore).

Crema de Funghi, also known as cream of mushroom soup (Php 270) is what I get during the rainy days. The contrast of cool weather and hot soup is always very comforting.

If you prefer to order salad, I like the one that has pure Arugula (Php 330). If you like bitter leaves (like I do, weird), then this is for you. The shaved parmesan cheese and the spiced vinaigrette dressing tasted incredibly well with the leaves.

Oftentimes, I end up eating just two items. The first one would be a pizza. It is always a toss between Quattro Formaggi or Cantinetta Classica (both Php 480 each). I would end up eating Quattro Formaggi most of the time until recently when I discovered that I can request for 2 flavours in one pizza (why didn’t I think of that before?!). Though I lean towards the Quattro Formaggi flavour because I prefer my pizza to have just a few toppings and Cantinetta’s version is really good. In general, their pizza are set on a thin crust. The cheeses on top of this particular one were amazing. It composed of mozzarella, parmesan, gorgonzola and ricotta cheeses. Overall the pizza was creamy with a hint of that moldy taste, brought about by gorgonzola I’m guessing which is said to be an Italian blue cheese. I usually take mine as is or with a hint of chili flakes. I tell you, so good!

Cantinetta’s Classica is composed of Italian sausages, pepperoni and minced beef set on tomato sauce and mozzarella. For the meat lovers, I believe this is your best bet. It’s warm and salty as well as addicting. The mix of the meat worked perfectly.

If you ask me, so that I can sometimes deviate from the usual four-cheese pizza, I would like to try out Romana. It is composed of anchovies, olives and capers plus the tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. I’m sure my foodie partner will cringe upon reading this as some people, like him, do not like olives and capers. Just by reading the description, the pizza is guaranteed to have a strong flavourful taste.

As for the pasta, I always end-up with Cantinetta’s Aglio Olio (Php 320) which is spaghetti cooked in extra virgin olive oil and garlic. In any of the pasta dishes, you are actually allowed to choose your pasta of preference (linguine, spaghetti, penne or fettuccine). As plain as this dish sounds, Cantinetta has the best pasta I have tasted in the Philippines. This particular dish has been consistently ordered and the pasta has always been al dente! No miss! The aglio olio always plays with my palate as it would taste mild and encountering a strong garlic taste as I consumed the dish. It’s really good.

I have tried Bolognese and Pescatora. Although I remember liking both as Cantinetta seriously cook their pasta to perfection, my preference is still towards the Aglio Olio. But if you want variety, then I would recommend these two.

I have never ordered dessert here ever, probably because I always end up really full even if I just usually eat two dishes, a pasta and a pizza. Once, I ended up ordering a cup of cappuccino, which was when I appreciated the taste of Illy Coffee (but that’s another post altogether).

So, see you around some time?

Cantinetta
Retail 1 Blk 9 Hidalgo St. Rockwell Center Makati City
632 4030145

Tags: pizza