Restaurant Love: Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

A few weeks back, my college friends and I pushed to meet for dinner on a week night since our schedules are all packed with meet ups and travels in the next weeks to come. And since most of them are working in Ortigas, L and I had to brave the traffic going north. And we survived to have dinner at…

Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza.

It has been quite a while since I last visited Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza. I think it was over 3 years and it was with my favorite Takaw Trio (T3) friends. Anyway, this time around, we tried Mushroom Pizza (PHP375), Prosciutto Pizza (PHP445), Carbonara (PHP220), Pesto Pasta (PHP225), Nutella Soup (PHP195) and Crack Pie (PHP55, slice). 

We also ordered a pitcher of Calamansi juice (PHP150) to help us digest the food we were about to consume. (And it was a bit too sweet.)

M was amused with how the Pesto Pasta was served as it was all bundled up. It reminded us of semi cooked instant noodles. The texture itself was also a bit hard and it had a slight sweet taste which could have been from the cream. 

The pesto itself wasn’t very oily which was great but I wish that it had a stronger pesto flavor over cream.

Carbonara on the other hand was delightful. It was a creamy piece of heaven. The bacon bits added saltiness which balanced off the cream and the garlic added flavor to the dish.

Now for the pizzas…

Luis, the server who waited our table, suggested Mushroom Pizza and we were glad that we actually listened as it was one of the best pizzas I have tasted! The cream, mozzarella, garlic, mushroom and bleu cheese flavors went well together and the flavor wasn’t overpowering making me want to eat more than one slice. And since it was sort of “vegetarian”, it made me feel less guilty eating it.

The Prosciutto Pizza was served next and it was pretty good too though not as good as the mushroom pizza. It was saltier because of the prosciutto, kesong puti and parmesan. Make sure to eat it with arugula to offset the saltiness of the other toppings.

And when we were down to our last few bites of pizza, we asked for our desserts to be served.

The crack pie slice sure was small and it tasted weird. Its texture reminded me of coconut macaron because of the coconut shavings. It was slightly sweet. But make sure to have a glass of water ready as the rough texture could make your throat itch.

The Nutella Soup though was divine! Imagine, warm nutella on a bread bowl! It was the best way to cap our meal! It was so good that we thought of ordering another bowl even when we were already stuffed. (But we didn’t as our pants were getting too tight.)

 

Overall, it was a great dinner and a fun night with friends. I will definitely visit again for a bowl of Nutella Soup!

Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza is located at 3^rd Floor, Podium Mall, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.