La Bella Teodorico: An Italian Restaurant in the Heart of Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

After a tiring day of touring Las Casas beautiful and historic houses (Please follow this link to read about our Heritage Tour: Las Casas Heritage Tour) ~ our excitement taking photos and touring every inch of the resort was cut short by the grumbling of our stomach.
 

My brother offered to pay for our dinner and my husband and I willingly obliged (lol)

Rule #1:

Don't say no to free food, besides free food tastes so much better.

There are plenty of food options inside the resort:

Café Marivent ~ A Filipino -Spanish Restaurant

La Bella Teodora - Italian Dining

Café del Rio - with Tapas as specialty

We were in the mood for some pizza and pasta and so we headed to La Bella Teodora.

We were served a complimentary basket of breads with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip

~ one of the tastiest we have tasted.

Everything that we ordered tasted very good. Food were flavorful and freshly prepared (in layman's term takes a while to prepare) 

Calamari was cooked perfect ~ crispy outside, soft inside and deep in flavor.

Pasta Marina ~ they obviously did not skimped on shrimps. 

This is my favorite. I could have eaten the entire plate.

Carbonara was as delectable, but I am not into white sauces. 

Quattro Formaggi (4 Cheese) Pizza

It is a thin and crunchy while there was an ample amount of melted cheese as topping.

Me and my husband were too full for desert.

However, my brother loving Tiramisu just couldn't say no to it, when saw it listed on the menu.

My brother's Tiramisu (Yup ALL his :P)

My sister in law also had 2 orders of Sangria. 

Must have been good. 

VERDICT:

We all loved La Bella Teodorico. 

Food is wonderful though a bit pricey, but I cannot complain on that one as I had free dinner.

If you are visiting Las Casas de Acuzar and craving Italian cuisine, we highly recommend La Bella Teodorico. 

Molto delizioso!

Read more of our Las Casas trip by following below links:

Las Casas Heritage Tour

Staying at Casa Jaen ~ Las Casas de Acuzar

Olives at ThunderBird Resort

 I scored a very good staycation deal at Thunderbird Hotel  in Binangonan from a travel exposition  (Read more of our Thunderbird Resort Staycation here) for my father' birthday.  

 

The resort is wonderful ~ scenic and tranquil. As it is located on the mountain ridges, it is a bit of a drive back to the town center, if you want to grab something to eat.    

And as Olives is the only restaurant within sight, we decided to give the place a try. 

 

Olives is an Italian themed restaurant with Tuscan interiors and decors.  My boys love pizza and pasta so eating here was actually just became a good choice.

 

The restaurant exudes an old Europe appeal. The ambience was tranquil and expensive.  It was good I wasn't paying (lol!) 

 

 

 

We ordered Four Cheese Pizza (P680) and Pizza Margherita (P380+).  Their pizza are oven baked which we find tastier and more flavorful.

 

We also had Creamy Blue Cheese Mozzarella (P250) and Sea Food Alfredo (P250).  Both were good, but was a bit disappointed, since they taste the same.  I should have just ordered a tomato base pasta. 

VERDICT:

• An order can serve for about 2-3 persons. 
• The pizzas we have ordered are both spot on. They were perfectly baked. 
• Price is reasonable given the quality of food and the ambience of the place. 
• Staff were very attentive and accommodating. 

 

Olives is recommended for girlfriends/boyfriends night out or special occasions with your better half.    

 

Olives is located at the Thunderbird Resorts and Casino,

Eastridge Avenue in Binangonan Rizal. 

 

For inquiries check out Thunderbirds website: www.thunderbird-asia.com

Greeenwich Pizza's "Cool Barkada Feel" Upgrade and More

 

Thoughts of pasta and pizza brings to mind my all time favorite pizzeria, "Greenwich Pizza".  I remember my father's "pasalubong" GW pizza  ~ back when GW was just an over-the-counter pizza store.  Me and my brods would almost always fight for the last slice!

 

Year later, GW is now the largest All Filipino pizza chain in the county.

 

I was recently invited to GW's first Pizza Party in Rizal, in it's latest branch at SM Center Angono Rizal and I was impressed to see, that GW just got itself an upgrade.  

 

Check out GW's new cool, "barkada hang-out" vibe.

 

 

 I adore these real sleek couches ~ best seat in the house!

 

Open kitchen concept is so in!

You know for sure, their preparing your food right!

 

 

 

"Instagramable hugot lines" adorn the walls.

 

Food has greatly improved over the years too ~ pizza remains spot on to the Filipino taste buds, but is now cheesier than ever and with so many topping options to choose from. 

 

The Hawaiian Pizza remains to be my family's favorite!

 

The star of the Pizza Party is this GW's largest pizza yet, only for special occasions though (haizz...)

We were served garlic breadsticks, the cheesiest I have had ever, with 4 of the 6 slices per order ending on my plate

(oh yes I hoarded them all )!

 

 

The Ultimate Hawaiian Pizza (Barkada size P375) got me excited...

 

Wacky Wing (12pcs P289) and Pizza Fries (Barkada size P89) were perfect complements to our pizza.

 

 

The Hawaiian Lemon Slush (P25). It was a tad sweeter to my liking, but another blogger seemed to have enjoyed it much.

 

For dessert, we got Choco Banana Crisp (P99), which unfortunately I was unable to try ~ (blame it on the 4 garlic breadsticks and 2 Hawaiian pizza slices I earlier devoured on).

 

 

The party got rowdy with a pizza game.

 

 

The member of the first team to finish their pizza, wins a gift card each for a pizza a month from GW.

 

 

(A.k.a. Man vs. Food... I thought GW pizza was winning, but it was obviously no match for these cruel, cruel men :P )

 

 

 

L-R: (1) Blogger friends Shane of Bloom, Blossom and Grow and Joriben of Jori's Entertainment; (2) The Mayor Gerry Calderon of Angono Rizal, enjoying his turn on GW giant pizza and (2) Me with blooger friend May Ann of Momsventure.

 

GW Pizza Party Rock!

 

 Visit the nearest Greenwich Pizza store nearest you and have your fill of GW delicious pizza. 

 

For information on latest GW promo check out GW's official website: www.greenwich.com

 

 

Project Pie: Review

 Traffic out of the Makati Business District was hellish and considering it was almost dinner time, we were left with very little choice but to fuel up (almost hungry tummies) before braving the C5 traffic.

 

 My husband has been wanting to try out Project Pie Pizza, a build your own (BYO) pizza restaurant, which was just a short distance from where I work. 

 

The place has ample seating, with additional tables located in a mezzanine floor.  Decoration is minimalist and clean.    

 

Project Pie only serves salad and PIZZA,  but when I said their menu is limited to pizza... their list of  pizza toppings is quite overwhelming.  

 

Making your only pizza was supposed to be easy, as advertised in three simple steps:

 

 

We had a hard time deciding what to get and ended ordering Signature Master Pizzas (SMP). These are Project Pie's tried and tested flavors.  You can never go wrong with an SMP. 

 

We ordered Richie and Woody.

 

Richie is an all meat pizza. Richie Pizza uses red sauce and is topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage with crumbled meatballs, mozzarella, garlic.  

 

Woody meanwhile is topped with chicken, cilantro, gorgonzola, mozzarella, sliced red onions and barbeque sauce.  Really flavorful and slightly spicy. 

 

 

 

My date for the night :P

 

VERDICT

• Project Pie is a cool concept.  I love that you get to choose what toppings go to your pizza. 
• I find prices somewhat expensive at P300 for a personal pizza. But the pizzas we had were nicely done ~ the artisan way and ingredients used were fresh.     
• There were not much choices in the menu. Though my husband and my kiddos are head over heels pizza lovers, I am not.  I would love to see at least one to two pasta on the menu.
• Service was fast and efficient. 

 

The Project Pie branch we visited is located at the

Upper Ground Floor, Frasers Place, Valero Street, Makati

Contact # 551-3274

 

Amoroma Ristorante Tagaytay ~ Authentic Italian!

 

The place is a bit unassuming from the outside and I would not have dared venture inside, if not for the beautiful reviews I have read from the other bloggers!
 
The inside of the restaurant, however, tells a different story.
There were obvious efforts from the owners to transform the place into a bona fide little Italian restaurant: 

... upon entering using the back door access from the restaurant's parking,  you would we delighted with the sight of numerous Italian Renaissance paintings that adorned the halls, a real working wood fired brick oven is also something you would not normally see elsewhere,  red checkered plaid pattern tablecloths and Italian music at the background would surely complete your dining experience.

 

 

 

 

There is a notice posted by the kitchen window: Orders are prepared fresh, simply put... "you shouldn't eat here if you are already hungry and famished, since it would be a while before they have your orders finished and served". 

 

When our food finally came, there were no frills and plating was almost nil,  honestly not very attractive.  Hohum...

 

 

Until we took a bite and unanimously agreed that this is by far one of the best pizza we have had... the waiting and the simple plating became forgivable... 

 

 

 

L-R/T-B: We ordered 5 Italian cheese pizza, carbonara, focaccia bread in pesto genovese dip, crab and shrimp stuffed pasta in tomato and cream sauce and creamy mushroom soup (not on photo)

 

 
VERDICT
 
We are happy we decided to stop over for lunch.  Amoroma Ristorante (literal translation "I Love Rome") succeeded in giving us a taste of Rome.
 
Pricing is a bit steep for most Juan, but I think the price was worth it.  We love everything that we ordered and would not hesitate to come back.

When in Tagaytay and if you are craving for authentic Italian cuisine, do not hesitate and seek out Amoroma Ristorante. Highly recommended.
 

Amoroma Ristorante Italiano is located in Tagaytay City.

Address: Calamba Road, Tolentino East, Tagaytay City

Contact Numbers: (046) 696-3582 / (0916) 3829883