Yummy Date Night

Date # 80: Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

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One of my favorite restaurants in the Katipunan area is Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza. I know that Katipunan is home to so many pizza chains like Yellow Cab, Shakey’s, Pizza Hut, Greenwich and Calda Pizza, but there’s really a huge part of me that craves for more than just the commercialized pies sold elsewhere. That’s why I choose to visit Gino’s, where they prepare pizza Neapolitan-style, with a brick oven and high quality ingredients.

I’ve written about Gino’s before, and I’m writing about them again now because they have a new specialty: pasta!

We ordered a Salted Egg and Bacon Pasta (P280), which is something like a carbonara, except they use salted egg as the main ingredient instead of regular eggs. Surprisingly, I liked this version more than the carbonara I’ve had elsewhere, because the salted egg gave it a mild and subtle saltiness that works with the whole dish so naturally. Perhaps the only downside was that the texture wasn’t as silky as what regular eggs would produce.

The noodles weren’t as al dente as I’d prefer, (I think dining in Va Bene ruined every other kind of fresh pasta for me) but they did have sufficient bite.

We also ordered a Calabrese Pizza (P450), which is a pizza topped with tomato, cream, salami calabrese, kesong puti, parmesan and basil. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this as much as I liked the Prosciutto pizza we had on our past visit because the Calabrese Pizza was a bit too salty for my taste. It was probably due to the choice of ingredients. Salami calabrese, parmesan and kesong puti are salty ingredients, and I’d hoped that there was something in the pizza that counteracted that flavor, because the fresh basil wasn’t strong enough to.

Nevertheless, the pizza was still excellently prepared. The crust was nicely thin and chewy, and the sauce was flavorful. This may not be the best pizza in the house, but still a great pizza.

Overall Verdict: Again, Gino’s is the kind of place that truly makes food blogging worth it. It’s when you get to tell people about magical places tucked in the most unassuming venues that you feel what you’re doing is great for people. Gino’s should be on everyone’s list of go-to places in the Katipunan area, for every good reason.