Cucina Victoria

It was a rainy afternoon and I thought, this must be a difficult day to go home as it’s my carless day, and it sure will be flooded by the time that I will be going home. At around 2:30 pm, I rejoiced to see the sun.

Only me, Mimi and Chay were in the office today. Rene was on vacation to watch the Ateneo-LaSalle game in the UAAP Basketball, Maidette was on a personal leave but will be coming back to the office in the late afternoon to be sure she is around for Eric’s send-off party and Gentley, we don’t know where the hell the guy is. It was decided that Chay will drive us to Rockwell so we can dine at Cucina Victoria.

Cucina Victoria is known for their pasta dishes which are always delightful and has been on top of my favorite, reasonably priced pasta places. Other must have offerings include their clam chowder served in bread bowl, the angel hair pasta and salmon steak. Today, I ordered the Gambalini Pasta (shrimp pasta). When it was served, I thought it was soggy and dry, almost lifeless and pale. The serving plate has also been changed. It used to be in large and mid-shallow plates. Today, it was served in square, deeper and white china. The hints of parsley and sprinkles of parmegiano oregeano were also gone which made the food presentation quite plain and ordinary. I thought, it was not the same anymore.

After my first bite, I can tell the pasta has remained al dente. I needed to sprinkle more than the usual grated parmesan cheese to drown its ordinary look. Further toss of the pasta revealed the pasta sauce trapped underneath the heap of noodles with generous servings of cut to size shrimps. It tasted very good still, I can tell, the quality has not changed much. Digging deep into my pasta, the sauce had accumulated in the bottom of the plate and the taste went more than salty. I realized, this was the result of serving the pasta in deeper plates as against the shallow version. The pasta could not hold the sauce for much longer, as forces of nature like gravity tends to pull it down. Now I knew why I needed to add more than a dash or sprinkle of parmesan cheese. The change in the plates had more or less diluted the taste of the pasta. The top portion get dry and tasteless easily while the bottom part gets more than the required amount of the sauce and the stronger flavor. I thought, the plating never mattered, now I know better. Plating not only enhances the look of the food, it does impact the flavor and taste of the food served.

We contributed Php330.00 for our meal (about US$7.33).

We went our separate ways in the mall as I checked out baby furniture in the second floor. At Baby & Co., I found a crib and playpen in-one. You can keep the baby in the crib set-up up to about 4 to 5 months while use the playpen set-up when the baby ages 6 months to a year. That’s value for money and one less furniture in the cramped house. The crib costs Php7,000.00 which is a bit steep and made by Graco. I went to check-out strollers and baby car seats. These things come in different variations. What struck me the most was the 3-In-1 stroller, baby basket and car seat adaptor. It’s a neat innovation and is expensive at Php18,000.00. I hope to catch the next sale at Baby & Co. hoping I can purchase similar baby furniture at discounted prices.