Damaso - the entrees

Dinner last night was at Restaurante pia 'y Damaso (in Greenbelt 5). Of course, because it is in Greenbelt 5, you'd expect a little bit of swankiness in the food and the ambiance. I was not disappointed. The lighting was fit for a romantic dinner and the food sounded superb (though slightly on the expensive side,still they do have some affordable selections).

Opting to just share whatever we order, we just decided to get 2 appetizers and around 4 entrees. The two appetizers ended up as just one appetizer but two servings. For our appetizer we ordered the crisp cones with crab, corn and tomato relish.

                     The dish was served on a bowl of salt which quite fascinated one member of our group (I won't mention names, hehe... all i can say is that, that's her hand in the picture). I first thought that eating the appetizer would be messy but if you don't mind using your fingers, it's quite an easy dish to eat. The relish of tomatoes and corn was quite refreshing. Unfortunately, the refreshing break came too early since the relish was at the top of the cone. It would have been nicer if one gets to have some more relish towards the end of the cone after one has eaten some of the crab meat to give the taste buds a bit of a break. As it is, I was craving for some more of the tangy tomatoes after three bites of the crab meat section of the cone but I have already consumed all of the salsa. Not a bad appetizer and certainly prepares one for what is to come.

For our entree's we ordered:

1. Chicken pastel - This is a must try. The chicken and vegetables underneath the layer of puff pastry (?) is very flavorful. I would have wanted the dish to be creamier though.

2. Rellenong bangus - Not truly spectacular probably because I compare it to mom's rellenong bangus (which she seldom cooks nowadays) and nobody beats mom's cooking. You can be a close second but you can never beat mom's cooking. Oh! But kudos to the chef for making the bangus skin palatable. Often times, one discards the skin of the bangus but for in this case, you should try it because it tastes great.

3. Adobo pork and chicken - which is again, not spectacular. What I found troubling about the dish is that the pork is still a bit tough while the chicken has become a little bit rubbery. I can tell that the chicken was cooked for quite a long time because when I accidentally bit on a chicken bone, I was able to bite it and chew it just like any other piece of meat.

I also complained of a bitter aftertaste in one of the dishes and realized that it came from the liver in the adobo. I am not sure why or how the liver resulted to such a powerful bitter aftertaste but it surely affected my appreciation of the dish.



4. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture of our fourth entree which is the Binagoongan with okra which for me was the best dish of the night. The meat was so infused with the flavor of the bagoong that you'd actually taste the bagoong from the meat alone. Add to that the deliciously creamy and salty bagoong sauce making the dish a deadly combination for those going on a diet. I actually threw my weight-watching out of the window after getting a first bite.

All in all, the entrees didn't wow me that much but Damaso made up for the unimpressive entrees with a delicious combination of desserts that I will review in my next entry.