PORTFOLIO

What’s On & Expat Newspaper Oct 16-Oct.22,2005 issue
Dining

For a Taste of Authentic Italian Cuisine
By Loraine Balita

With the mushrooming of Italian restaurants and fast food outlets here and there, Café Caruso co-owner Dario Gardini couldn't help but be disturbed. So many restaurants, not all purveying the purest or best quality cusina Italiana, might cast a poor reflection even on those concerns whose standards were impeccable.

H. E. Ruben Fidele, the new Italian Ambassador to the Philippines, however, assured this trattoria (restaurant) owner that the Italian embassy would establish a sign or a mark to be placed outside only truly authentic Italian restaurants, so people can recognize the real restaurants offering authentic Italian food.

Needless to say, your quest for authentic Italian cuisine ends here. Entering Café Caruso, will be a step into another world. The restaurant not only offers authentic Italian food for the taste buds but the complete Italian dining experience for your other senses as well, with wine bottles and photos of superb Italian tenor Enrico Caruso adorning the walls.

The newly renovated restaurant occupies an impeccable Mediterranean setting; its slightly dim ambience gives the diners an interlude of what is to expect. Owners Dario Gardini and Franco Martellotti, who both have been living in the Philippines for more than ten years, eagerly welcomed guests as they were invited to prove this restaurant's reputation.

The taste as well as the generous servings will give nearby establishments a run for their money. After a sumptuous seafood feast-seafood pizza and pasta-I was caught in the middle of a battle between my tummy and my tongue: my stomach wanted to give up after all the gastronomic plenty, but my taste buds kept asking for more. "Masarap?" Gardini asked in fluent Tagalog, I couldn't agree more, as I vowed to come back here to try more of what this place has to offer.

The restaurant is located along Reposo street in Makati city, and promises authentic Italian cuisine right up to the last bite.