Tuesday, January 3, 2017

First Bite: Piccolo Padre Restaurant

Piccolo Padre is one of our Pampanga food crawl stops and A sure knows how to keep one excited with this stop. She mentioned a couple of times how much she loves this place and its oysters. As a big fan of oysters, I drooled at the thought of feasting on some fresh ones. And after visiting the Instagram heaven Teaspoon Café, I counted the minutes till we reached this Pampanga gem.

Hello, Piccolo Padre!
It was like entering a theatre when you step inside Piccolo Padre. Various masks adorn the walls of the Italian restaurant. 
According to Chef Dan Giampaolo, owner of Piccolo Padre, the restaurant’s elegant atmosphere is influenced by three architectures of Venice—apartments above the Venice Canal, the famous Venetian Mask and replica of the famous clock tower in Piazza san Marco with the winged lion protector of Venice and Apostle Saint Mark. 
Make sure to look up the ceiling too as there are five ceiling frescos and chandeliers in the restaurant that depict the Venetian ancient times. And yes, those artworks are hand painted. 
Mouthwatering dishes were served one after another and I struggled to take a good photo as I was fighting the urge to get a piece or two of the inviting baked oysters. 
After 10 minutes or so, we finally started to sample the food.
The Piccolo Padre Seafood Platter is composed of Baked Crystal Bay Oysters Inferno, Baked Scallops, Ahi Katsu and Black Chilean Mussels. I loved the baked oysters best which was topped with Guanciale and Spinach Cheese Sauce. The oysters’ freshness was undeniable and it being cheesy made it so heavenly! 

The Baked Scallops topped with salami and bell peppers cheese sauce was pretty good too. Just like the oysters, these shellfish were fresh and oh so cheesy. 

I wasn’t too crazy with the seared tuna sashimi wrapped in nori and the mussels were just okay for me. 
The Gnocchi Gorgonzola or homemade potato pasta with walnuts and gorgonzola cream sauce was pretty good. Though the pasta was more on the chewy side, I liked that it was swimming in cheesy cream sauce. 
I liked the Crab Risotto with Talanka and Prawns too as it was flavorful yet not cloying. Others who have sensitive noses might not like this dish though as its seafood smell is pretty strong. 
The Risotto Nero with Scallops was pretty good as well. I might be a bit biased here though as I love scallops especially if garlicky. 
Since the Piccolo Padre Cheese Platter was placed at the other end of the table, I got my serving of French Brie, Taleggio, Sardinian Pecorino topped with black truffles and Creamy Gorgonzola last. 
The platter comes with two types of salami, grapes, olives and Grissini from Torino. 
We capped our meal with Pandan Crème Brûlée and it wasn’t your usual creamy crème brûlée. Topped with pandan leaves, the base of this well loved dessert had crushed macadamia nuts. I love macadamia nuts but it didn’t seem to work well with the crème brûlée. It also tasted a bit off with the pandan. Then again, I might be being a conservative crème brûlée lover here. 
Overall, it was a nice meal and I loved the seafood dishes. Oysters and scallops are must orders here but I’ll skip desserts.  

Piccolo Padre Restaurant is located at 23 Narciso Street, Angeles City. Contact them at +639 19 887 2195 for inquiries and reservations.

1 comment:

  1. I am really imaged to see your blog on First Bite: Piccolo Padre Restaurant. This is really well decorated and food looking much delicious to. Actually food related post are always impressed me. I wish that I would be able to go there right now. Thanks for this nice sharing. But one think please be careful that is Restaurant overtime pay as well. Thanks again...

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