Me and my family visited this new restaurant in south wing of the a newly built Bonifacio High Street, a new section of BHS and sometimes I call it BHS 3, I received an invitation to check its soft opening last January 28 and I’m so glad that we went to BHS that day and did our food adventure with my baby boy and my wife. I just learned that Aria Cucina Italiana is not a new restaurant here in the Philippines, it’s a restaurant that was first seen in the island of Boracay in 2003 and it is one of the popular dining places and must visit if you are in Boracay.
I have visited their Boracay branch last year, at first I took me a while to remember the look of the place and I’m so lazy to check my Boracay photos on my external HD and decided to check the photos online from their official website and then I saw that it is the same resto that we visit every year to eat with PR people and media friends whenever we have out of town trip and events to cover in Boracay. I always remember that we place a long table inside that narrow floorings of their Boracay branch. But It’s a surprise that Aria Cucina Italiana is here in Manila and didn’t expected they have lots of followers and mostly customers who regularly visits Aria Cucina Italiana in Boracay, the word of mouth about their Manila branch spreads fast and there we encounter the soft opening that night with lots of walk in customers and then the week just become an Aria Cunina Italiana mania and heard that long waiting lines occur infront of the resto and their Manila customers are so excited to try it here and feel the taste of Italian style cuisine and dream of sipping cold fruit shake by the beach.
When we entered the resto we received an advice from the resto manager that on their soft opening day is not yet in full blast so we should expect that some food on the menu are not available, we say that its okay and I’m just curious on what they will offer to us and I want to introduce them to my family so that they can try Aria and not require them to travel to Boracay.
so here are the food we ordered that night
Margherita Pizza, Aria is famous for creating yummy pizza and baked them on woodfire and brick oven, having brick oven pizza is the best, this pizza is priced at Php 390 and it can be served to 3 people
Caesar Salad, my wife always order this and since other salads are not available and we decided to order the ones that are a regular name on the menu. Priced at P355
Watermelon shake, best watermelon shake that night, I can feel the Boracay breeze after one sip aahaaha, priced at P120
Costincine de agnello, the grilled lamb arrives late on our table, I understand that but its okay because I know that grilling this meat should be not on burned level, it is the grand prize of our waiting time and happy that I took home some left over, the best lamb meat with perfect taste and mix of spice, I suggest you order this. Priced at P980.
behind the scenes....
my wife mrs. Styleandrelax.net is so busy with her pizza
Baby Ash joins our food monster adventure.... so sad that they don't have yet any high chair for toddlers
busog! and enjoying the view here in south wing of BHS
entrance view of Aria
our view from Aria, you'll see the dancing fountains with lights below
read this before you order and eat!
Anito statue infront of the restaurant
table set up
dining view, as you can see that the set up is not entirely the same from their Boracay branch
close look on the menu
try their weekly special
menu on our table
and here are some food that I should try next time
Spinaci e Funghi
Flan al Cioccolato
Fettucine Nere in Crema di Mare
Branzino all griglia
my review:
If you plan to dine in alone and you have P1000 budget in your pocket, then you can visit Aria and try their pasta or pizza, the pizza is heavy on your tummy and I'm sure you won't finish all of the slices if you a pasta on the side or a salad, I'm a low budget guy and I always see if I can survive ordering food for one or even two, the meal can cover your hunger and you will just say that you can live for a month without eating any pizza, I haven't tried their pasta that night since they are on beta test, but I'll visit them next time and try their cakes too. My only suggestion is that they include high chair for toddlers because I noticed that there customers dining in with their kids and you know its hard to feed them if they just sit on your lap or in their stroller. From our end we chased my son in the corner just to feed him with pizza hahahah. I know that they learned a lot from their beta test after the soft opening, I'll visit them again this month of March 2012 and see how fast they are in serving our food and also try to observe the Aria mania.
Best to dine in here is at night, because the view from their location is beautiful.
ARIA CUCINA ITALIANA
(2/F Bonifacio High Street Central (new wing), Bonifacio Global City, Taguig).
visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AriaCucinaItaliana
