Almost a month ago ( I have so much backlogs! ), a mixed martial arts contest entitled One Fighting Champion, Pride of A Nation happened here in the Philippines for the very first time. The event was held at Araneta Coliseum. Since Tito Mark R. was one of the producers, he offered us some FREE good seat tickets to the show. I've always been curious about these live human brutality fights ever since Pacquiao became famous. I have never seen anyone do hardcore fistfight in person so I immediately said yes when the companion asked me if I wanted to go ( There's always a violent characteristic in everyone! ).
We got to the Araneta Center two hours before the show and decided to dine at Cafe Adriatico.
But, we passed by another restaurant and changed our minds.
Va Pensiero straight off caught our attention because it was packed! There were a lot of foreigner dinners which made us think this must be a good restaurant for them to have dinner at. We waited for about 10 minutes before getting seated.
A real brick oven use to baked pizzas!
Our orders:
SERVICE BREAD WITH BALSAMIC AND OLIVE OIL
BRODETTO DI PESCE P210
Red soup with shellfish and shrimp. I definitely tasted the fresh seafoods and herbs put in the soup. Because of the deep dark red color of the broth, I was expecting to taste an intense sour flavor of the tomato but it was surprising mild but not to the point of being diluted.
AL QUATTRO FORMAGGI P390
Tomato, Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Gorgonzola, Pecorino. A very tasty pizza. They didn't scrimp on the cheeses.
SPAGHETTI VONGOLE E GAMBERETTI P330
Spaghetti red sauce with clams, shrimps,and anchovies. Again, a superb Italian pasta dish.
PARMIGIANA P375
Tomato, Mozzarella Cheese, Parma Ham, Parmesan Cheese, and Olive Oil. The thing is, we rarely go to Araneta. It's 2 hours away from our places. Since we thought we would not go back to this far far away place anytime soon, the companion insisted we order this pizza which he determinedly wanted to try as well even though we could hardly finish the pasta and other pizza we ordered first. This one tasted the same as the four cheese pizza but with additional yummy slices of Parma Ham.
If you are wondering how authentic this place is just simply look at the owner. He served our food while his young looking Italian wife manned the cashier.
After our carb loaded dinner, off to the fight event! ONE FC is a Singapore-based mixed martial arts promotion which was officially launched on 14 July 2011. They are considered the biggest mixed martial arts promotion is Asia. Source.
I was extremely full from our dinner but I still had room for dessert!
They invited fighters from all over the world to represent different types of fighting skills. Whenever a Filipino fighter was in the ring, the entire stadium was cheering loudly for them. If my memory serves me right, 3 out of the 4 Filipinos won their combats.
There were blood, knockouts, boo-ing of the Japanese referee, and ring girls in skimpy outfits. WHAT AN AWESOME AWESOME EVENT I will definitely remember forever! My adrenaline absolutely rose to an all time high!
Have A Lovely Day!
Va Pensiero
Unit 14 Araneta Coliseum, Gen Araneta Cubao
Quezon City
Tel. # 912 8270
I'd have to say, Va Pensiero is one of the little gems in Gateway (I currently live in an apartment in QC so Gateway's pretty near my place). I have yet to try their soups but so far, their pizza's good! And their serving's pretty huge. :)
ReplyDeleteYEAH! This resto is kinda unknown pa so sayang! :D
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