An Italian Job

dinner alone is not unusual for me. dinner alone, in italianni's is a bit unusual for anyone though. specially when everyone else is with a date, family or group and i'm seated by myself, camera in hand playing with my food before wolfing down the meal.

saturday night and coming from a long run in legazpi park, i went back to my unit in perla mansion to freshen up before deciding to head off to greenbelt in ayala for dinner. i was thinking of teriyaki boy (nah, had enough japanese for a while), tokyo tokyo (another japanese option), cafe mediterranean (was not really keen on pita and humus) and on and on and on. there are a number of boutique restaurants in greenbelt but i was underdressed to even get a table. whereas in cebu you only worry about the food, in manila, you worry about the food, your outfit, your budget and your date.

italianni's eventually became my final stop and i settled on a table on the second level of the restaurant. at least if i get bored i can do some people watching.



while waiting for my order i picked on freshly baked bread that tasted like parmesan and dipped in an olive oil - back vinegar mix. after a while they served the artichokes in cream sauce topped with sun dried tomatoes. perfect on top of garlic bread that served as my appetizer before i finished off my herb roasted chicken. good thing i asked them to replace the mashed potato with a side order of ceasar's salad.

which reminded me, i had the same exact lunch with my best friend cat earlier for lunch. except that the chicken was served as a sandwich.

i enjoyed the time spent by myself, no one was giving me weird looks while i posed my chicken leg like a seasoned model and i arranged the bread to get some nice looking pics. i guess the waiters thought i was a food critic or something as they frequently checked up on me and asked me if i liked my food. that or i was too under-dressed for the joint that they thought i'd take the cutlery with me when i leave. hmmm.