Restaurant Review: C’ Italia, Clark

Posted by clarissa623 on July 20, 2010 · 10 Comments 

C' Italian

It’s very rare that one restaurant completely satisfies me with my favorite foods, which include steak, salmon and lamb, though I partially had this satisfaction eating at Tagaytay Highlands with mom eating the steak, and I, the salmon. The Spiral buffet in Sofitel gave me good grilled lamb chops and steak, and salmon in my favorite form, smoked, but they were not superb, they were just great. And the fact that they came in buffet form was a plus. But this new restaurant we tried, it hit all the spots.

On a road trip to Clark with some of my friends, we have scheduled a lunch of sorts revolving around the apparently renowned restaurant called C’ Italian. Looking at this blog, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time for the meals that we are supposed to be having. Excited because this supposedly promises real Italian food from Chef Chris Locher, and apprehensive because for a restaurant to try, I have the feeling it was going to expensive.

Parking and the different looking building

I basically forgot all the names of our meals but I have a comprehensive photofile for the food. In order of service, we had the following: pesto dip for the bread, panizza, tahong (mussels), salad, lamb ribs, salmon, steak, rice, fruits, tiramisu and coffee. Another drink we ordered were their own personal line of C’ Diet Soft drinks which were carbonated water, flavored with fruit syrups. They were good. I shouldn’t have ordered the lemon since it was boring. The kiwi was interesting

Strawberry, lemon, kiwi

The Appetizers

Pesto and bread

The Pesto Dip
Right as we sat down, we had on our table bowls of bread and some pesto. A bit reminiscent of the popular balsamic vinegar, olive oil and parmesan cheese mix you have at Italianni’s, it was served as an appetizer while you wait for the real food. Of course, the big difference is this is pesto. It had basil, olive oil and parmesan. I tried a bit just to taste it, and it was a good dip. I just took around two bites because I was preparing myself for the big thing.

Alfalfa sprouts on rockets on pizza

The Panizza
Rumored to be the original Dear Darla Pizza, it was one of the greatest inventions of their kitchen. The usually unhealthy pizza when rolled like a spring roll with stuffings of rocket and alfalfa sprouts gives any eater a supposedly healthier meal. And it’s like playing with food! And who doesn’t like that? The leaves were just right in accompanying the cheesy pizza. It gave the pizza a whole new dimension, and an added crunch inside, though the pizza was already crunchy enough on the outside!

Mussels in red sauce

The Mussels
The mussels were big, giant shellfish cooked in a somewhat familiar, almost marinara sauce-like base of tomatoes, but with less of the herbs. It was simple to eat and pleasant on the palette. I will still be biased for cheesy tahong with it’s garlic and cheese toppings, but I think that they are not really supposed to be compared side by side. :)  But no matter how uncheesy this is, it still warms my palette.

Leafy

The Salad
I have repeatedly mentioned in this blog that I have no liking to raw vinegar whatsoever. Making it the more expensive and a darker balsamic vinegar doesn’t change my opinion of it at all. It is still the sour sharp taste that I don’t like. Now, putting it in a dressing, I can tolerate it only if the taste is COMPLETELY COVERED by the cheese. For this one, it didn’t. I almost didn’t swallow my first bite because the vinegar tasted so raw in my mouth. It had alfalfa, arugula, and giant tomatoes. Very little of the common lettuce. I’m sure others would have found it exceptional. I didn’t, but of course, I hate vinegar.

The Entrees

Lamb ribs

The Lamb
Even before it was place on our table, I already had the scent of the lamb in the air. I wasn’t expecting this on the menu but I was happy to have it on my plate. The meat of lamb is a bit musky for some, but for me, it had the earthy feel, much like when comparing beef to pork. It’s like beef’s older, stronger, and more sharp smelling cousin. It was cooked with lentils and potatoes as its starch. I really couldn’t identify the way it was cooked, I’m guessing braised, since it was so tender. I would love to experiment on this once I get my hands on some lamb.

Seared salmon

The Salmon
The salmon is one of my top favorite fish; I eat it raw, smoked, baked, or in any other way. This one is seared to a blackened degree, and served on top of potatoes and lentils too. I was expecting this to be more exciting, but it tasted just like any other salmon. It was good, but not brilliant. I was missing some of the usual paprika or chili I accompany it, or even some lemon to go with it. But on the off-hand, I liked it.

Almost completely rare steak

The Steak
Now this is cooked just the way I liked it. It was medium rare, bordering on rare, with just a seared skin on all sides. It was also only seasoned with salt and pepper, sliced into serving strips, before placing it again on the same carbs (fine, and proteins for the lentils) as before. This was heaven. The meat was soft tender, with the right hint of pepper for me. I got two slices of this (on top of everything I have eaten), forgive me for the gluttony. Haha.

The Desserts

Fresh fruits in a sweetened syrup

The Fruits
The initial website didn’t offer any good advise with regards to the dessert, citing most of the dessert was just like any other, not even good. The fruits were fruits. It was a perfect accompaniment to our heavy lunch. But on it’s own, it was blah. It had watermelon, grapes, green apple, some melon and other what have you’s in the mix. Not brilliant or original.

Creamy not too coffee-ish tiramisu

The Tiramisu
I wasn’t expecting anything from this either. But the first bite? Wow. It was heaven for me. It met the perfect combination of cheese and coffee and the sponge cake. I would love to make this at home the same way I remember this. I was full but damn, I wanted more.

Now, this is a long post but I can’t help it. No detail should be left. I’m looking forward to another road trip.

C’ Italian is located near SM Hypermarket.

Filed under Note, Travel · Tagged with beef, bread, Continental, review, seafood, vegetable