Lorenzo's Truffle Cream

By: The Moody Critic

Living in a house of pasta, I am seldom impressed of the pasta dishes cooked by various households and even by the most expensive of restaurants I've been to.

SIMPLE, yes, that's the word to describe it. Though it doesn't have any trace of that vibrant red of the everyday spaghetti nor the overflowing creamy sauce of the regular carbonara, it does have that unique richness and that perfect balance of flavors.

After indulging with this dish, it is expected that most people would try desperately to recreate it at home because the ingredients are seemingly simple and the dish itself looks easy to prepare. I, myself, was guilty of this act and believe me when I say that it is profoundly difficult to get that perfect balance of taste despite using the same ingredients. A simple discrepancy in the ratio of ingredients would result either to a totally different taste or a totally disastrous concept.

Though quite expensive for a pasta dish, I must say that its taste, quality, serving size, not to mention the warm customer service that Mamou provides would affirm its value.

Presentation: 7.5
Taste: 8.8
Texture and consistency: 8.4
Complexity: 8.2
Value for money: 7.9

Overall rating: 8.3/10
Mood: Euphoric

Resto: Mamou - A Home Kitchen
Address: G/F Serendra Piazza, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Full food name: Lorenzo's Truffle Cream
Price: P395.00
Serving: 1-2 person/s

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Spaghetti Bolognese

By: The Moody Critic

What a delicious-looking dish! The shape of the plate and the parsley really stirred up my appetite. As expected, the parsley gave the effective color contrast on the plate. However, the pasta was undercooked; it needed five more minutes. The bolognese sauce was lacking an effective flavor. All I could taste were the sourness and the metallic "canny" taste from the canned mushrooms.

How about the bread? In one look, you can say that it is inferior. The bread did not have an interesting personality (e.g. garlic bread). Though you can see minute amounts of an unknown herb, it was still very bland. I'm sure a little spread of butter will go a long way! This bread also seemed out of place on the plate due to its elephantine size, its paleness, and the way it was sliced. Lastly, it was moderately rubbery in consistency so a little precaution to those with brittle or loose teeth. Considering the price of this dish, is quality bread too much too ask?

Whenever I would see meat sauce in the food description, I find it exasperating to ask the fastfood chain or restaurant what their meat sauce was made of (I can't eat pork). There are two reasons behind this: (1) just the act of asking the person who cooked it takes a lot of time, and (2) some establishments don't actually know what it is made of. Consequently, I would usually shy away and would not order the dish that has "meat sauce" in it. But thank you Dolcelatte for specifying in the menu that this dish has an all-beef meat sauce.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 6.4
Texture and consistency: 6.2
Serving size: 8.5
Value for money: 6.5

Overall rating: 6.9/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Dolcelatte
Address: 1616 Quezon Ave., South Triangle, Quezon City
Full food name: Spaghetti Bolognese
Price: P295.00

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Mixed Ravioli

By: The Moody Critic

This dish features a duo of spinach and cheese ravioli and a mushroom ravioli. Though I'm not really a fan of vegetables, this dish surely proved me wrong even if meat was not involved at all.

The mushroom ravioli was a lot better because it's taste was complementary to the pomodoro sauce. On the other hand, the spinach and cheese ravioli was quite pungent and it didn't produce a synergistic effect with the sauce. The pasta was al dente and had a correct ratio with its filling.

The vibrant pomodoro sauce and the fresh basil chiffonade provided the effective contrast of colors making this dish very enticing to eat. However, I find the sauce very sour so I had to rely on the pasta to neutralize that acidity. If I had brought along a litmus paper, I'm sure the blue will turn red. The feta cheese should have been grated rather than placing them as large chunks.

What I most specifically didn't like about this dish was was the garlic bread foccacia. It was really hard and it lacked flavor.

Presentation: 8.3
Taste: 7.8
Texture and consistency: 8.8
Serving size: 7.4
Value for money: 6.9

Overall rating: 8.0/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Bizu Patisserie
Address: Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Mixed Ravioli
Price: P395.00

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