Saturday, October 20, 2012

Celebrity Chef Special in Bellissimo

I finally met up with Jette, Chari, and Anna (her Manila trip was timed perfectly) for my joint birthday celebration with Chari. We normally celebrate with Bett but she is currently out of the country until mid-November (Chari leaves the country for a few months in a few weeks so since she and Bett wouldn't be in Manila at the same time, we decided to meet up once now while Chari is still here then we'd meet up again once Bett is back). Ric was also supposed to join us but he unfortunately got stuck at work until the very late at night.

I picked Bellissimo as our dinner venue because Jette requested that we get together in the QC area. I had eaten in this Italian restaurant a couple of times before and I enjoyed the food and ambience. However, I didn't realize until I got there that location had changed! I last ate there about two years and it was still on Scout Castor street at the time. When I arrived at their previous location, I couldn't see it anymore. I had to ask a security guard where Bellissimo was and thankfully he knew that the resto moved to Scout Rallos extension. I quickly call and text everyone else to inform them of the location change and give them directions.

When we were all finally gathered together, it was a lot of good and fun conversation. The last time I saw Jette was a year ago during my birthday celebration while Chari I last saw in December. We ordered two pastas and two pizzas, including one that was called 'Sunshine Pizza', which is most likely named after Sunshine Cruz (Bellissimo is owned by Cesar Montano). I decided to order one more pasta - Aglio Olio - and it was Sunshine Cruz herself who served it to us. As she placed our order on the table, she told us all that she cooked it herself. Cool! I can't believe I have now eaten a dish cooked by a celebrity. And it tasted really good too!

The main drawback of this place now is that their menu is quite limited. They don't have antipasti (although they have sausages and a few appetizers) and the only dessert they carry is panna cotta. However, they do have an extensive pizza and pasta selection, some of which are quite interesting and unique, and the food is really good. If you are comfortable just eating pasta and pizza, Bellissimo is definitely worth a visit.

Sunshine talked to us a bit as we were all getting ready to leave and we told her that we really enjoyed our night there. Chari even said that she would return with her husband. Anna and Jette asked if we could have our picture taken with her and she very nicely obliged us. It was a unique experience being served by a celebrity who even cooked our food. :)

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