Amoroma

This is one small unknown restaurant in Alabang, which serves authentic Italian cuisine, great service—but believe it or not, there were only six tables! The place is always packed, and so you will ask yourselves why no one knew about this place, because of its location of course. It is tucked away in the back of one of the buildings along Salcedo Street in Makati. It’s on the ground floor, but only the sign can be seen from the street. As for the parking situation, it’s hit or miss, at best. If you are lucky, one of the pay parking spaces along the street will be vacant. I don’t think this bothers many of its patrons though, because they probably just walk over from one of the surrounding office buildings. The menu is simple and straightforward. A popular appetizer is the Bomboloni, piping hot mini pita-like bread with a veriety of filling -- eggplants, pepperoni, zucchini, mushrooms, all pickled in vinegar and preserved in oil. The bread, which melts in the mouth, is baked at the premises. Amoromoa also makes its own pasta, the quality of which is so excellent, it hardly matters what sauce one orders it with. The 2 best pasta are fettucini with porcini mushrooms and salsiccia, a type of fresh Italian sausage. A chunky tomato sauce, rather than a cream sauce, was the base. The flavors were hearty and earthy. The sort of pasta I would eat when I am hungry and tired. The second pasta dish was another house specialty—Ravioli al Tartufo. Like the fetuccine, the ravioli was handmade, nice and large, with a nice chewy bite. They are stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, and served literally smothered with porcini mushrooms, some black truffles, and Parmesan cheese. While still hearty and “down home,” the flavors are little more sophisticated than the first pasta. It was just a little too salty for my taste. Pizza Amoroma is the house specialty, so we tried that, although I’m actually more of the tomato and basil, or pepperoni pizza type of person. The house specialty is topped with Italian black truffles, shiitake mushrooms, and oregano. The combination of truffles and shiitake mushrooms gives the pizza an earthy taste. The crust was thin and puffy around the edges, just the way I like it. And there was a nice little sheen of oil glistening over the entire pizza, from the generous amount of cheese. I will definitely go back to try one of the plainer pizzas next time. So now that you know the Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets for Italian foods, why don't you head out and taste it for yourself. Amoroma, Alabang Lower Lvl. Sycamore Arcade, Alabang-Zapote Road Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila Phone number : (02) 807-2959 Amoroma Makati Ground floor, Valuepoint Executive Apartments. 227 Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, 1229 Makati City. (behind ACCRA law offices). Tel no. : 818-0209 Rating : 3 Star Value for Money : 2 Star