If you search for Galileo Enoteca on the internet, you see a lot of very positive reviews. Of course I always take reviews with a grain of salt, because I don’t judge until I’ve tried things myself, but I remember thinking as I read the reviews that Galileo seems like a place that would have regulars. When I first entered the restaurant, that was my first impression as well. For one thing, it’s located along the quiet street. Also, the way the restaurant is designed makes you feel as though you’ve stepped through a magic door to Italy. It looks like a good place to unwind with some wine after a long day.
By the entrance is a refrigerated glass display case housing Italian cheeses and other deli items. (I now know another place to buy mascarpone for tiramisu!) Wines and Italian dry goods line the shelves, behind rows of wooden tables covered with iconic red-checkered tablecloths. It’s easy to see they really made a lot of effort to get the mood down, making it both fancy and homey at the same time.
As a part time blogger, you’ve probably noticed I’m not on top of the restaurant game. This place might be old news to some, but it’s a new place for me especially since I don’t really frequent this area. I really love the interiors, and the fact that they have these little nooks where families and group scan have a little privacy while eating. Frankly, I quite like the look and feel of this restaurant. It made my expectations for the food very high.
As we went through the menu, we were served with a customary free appetizer of crusty bread plus an olive oil-balsamic dip and pate. Though I enjoyed munching on the bread as I read the menu, I did wish it was a little warmer. It did a good job waking up my appetite though. On that note, let’s talk about the food here in Galileo Enoteca, shall we?
Pasta Al Sugo Con Salsiccia (Php 400)
Red sauced pasta with a generous amount of bell peppers and large balls of fresh Italian sausages.
As someone who loves red sauce pasta, this dish ticks a lot of boxes for me. It had a bit of tang and some great flavor from the bell peppers. However it was the homemade Italian meatballs everyone was raving about. Juicy, and flavorful on their own, the meatballs are the stars of the dish.
Pasta Con Funghi Porcini & Tartufo Bianco Cheese Wheel Pasta (Php 500)
This dish isn’t found on their regular menu but on their cheese wheel pasta list. The pastas here are basically prepared in front of your eyes and finished inside one of Galileo’s many cheese wheels. You can choose the kind of cheese you want to go with your dish, and in our case we picked Parmesan.
The chef proceeded to scrape a generous amount of cheese from the topmost part of the cheese wheel, and then she went ahead and cooked our pasta. I have to say I enjoyed watching this process quite a lot.
Once the pasta is cooked, the chef transfers the pasta to the cheese wheel. The heat melts all the Parmesan scrapings until it fuses into the sauce, thickening and flavoring it a little.
There is no limit to how long you continue to cook your pasta on the cheese wheel, or how much more cheese you scrape off the wheel as you cook, but do remember that too much cheese doesn’t necessarily make your pasta more delicious.
In the end, I think we were right in choosing Parmesan as the cheese base for this pasta dish, because it ended up being just the right amount of salty to complement the porcini and truffle flavors. I loved how the sauce clung to each and every piece of penne. This was so so good.
There are several pasta choices from this cheese wheel pasta menu, and each costs 500 pesos plus iced tea. There’s a sense of a novelty in “cooking” your pasta inside the cheese wheel, but thankfully it’s not just all novelty. Yum!
Risotto Pescatora (Php 450)
Seafood risotto topped with squid and shrimp.
I love risotto when it takes on that delightfully creamy form. The toppings are just added in for extra texture but it should be the rice that is the star. This risotto grabbed my attention indeed, not in the best way. The texture of this dish was akin to eating rice that has been soaking in soup for a while. Instead of a smooth creamy mouth-feel it almost seems like this risotto was undercooked. I don’t know if it was intentional, but personally I am not a fan of a risotto dish where you can still feel the whole grains of Arborio rice in your mouth. It’s a shame because the seafood flavors of this dish were good.
Chicken Piccata in Lemon Sauce (Php 380)
Pan seared chicken drenched in a lemon butter sauce, served with a salad and mashed potatoes on the side.
One of my favorites. I adore the rich zing of lemon butter so it wasn’t a surprise, but the fact that the chicken here was cooked nice and juicy definitely adds to the experience. It’s great with the mashed potatoes!
Pan Seared Salmon in Lemon Butter Sauce (Php 550)
Buttered spinach catches the drippings from the pan-seared salmon that’s been flavored with a lemon butter sauce.
I don’t know what possessed us to order yet another lemon butter-based dish but here it is. My brothers loved this one and we do highly highly recommend eating it together with the buttered spinach for optimal eating pleasure. I loved all the buttery tangy sensations this dish gave my tastebuds as well, but I felt that the salmon was a little dry. The portion is also a little small for the price.
Final Thoughts
Despite my not-so-bright comments about some of their dishes, I actually feel like coming back to Galileo Enoteca to try out more of their pastas, and their pizzas too. I highly enjoyed their Pasta Con Funghi Porcini and Chicken Piccata, so I already know that there’s more to explore for my tastebuds here. I also want to try out their dessert choices for the heck of it.
I also heard from a friend of mine that they have wine-tasting lessons here every so often. That’s something that actually interests me so maybe I’ll be back sooner rather than later.
I think a huge part of my motivation to return is also so that I can bask in the ambiance of this restaurant again. The interior design is just perfect! Everything from the choice of tables and chairs, tablecloths and décor, down to the murals on the walls, contribute to making you feel quite literally like you’ve been teleported to Italy. The only thing that’s lacking is some guy singing an Italian love song on the side haha! I also want to commend the crew of Galileo Enoteca– very attentive and fast. I can understand why people have a lot of love for this place.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
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Galileo Enoteca Deli
80 Malinao, Calbayog St, Mandaluyong City
Hours: Mondays to Sundays, 11AM to 10PM
Contact No.: (2) 532 0482 / 534 4633
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Full disclosure: This post is NOT sponsored in any way and I received no compensation for writing this review. All opinions stated above are my own.
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