Indeed, it's Delicioso!

I can’t think of a better restaurant for our first Team Tikim review for 2012 than Delicioso, one of the newest addition to Bacolod City’s growing list of dining places , deli and cafe.

The team – Betsy Gazo, Bambi Borromeo, Maricar Dabao and myself,  were met by Delicioso’s Chef in Heels, Mari Stelle Estrella. Chef Mari Stelle was trained as Garde Manger at Kingston Plantation- Embassy Suites and got her education from the American Hospitality Academy.

Who says you can’t stay in the kitchen and be fashionable? Chef Mari Stelle may not be wearing high heels and couture clothes literally but she looks good enough to be in a magazine cover. She could be the next celebrity chef of Bacolod and it’s just as well that we have Channel 13 to cover our exploit.

Delicioso is located near Convergys in Mandalagan where Café Breizh used to be. The owners travel a lot and would want to eat the food they love to eat abroad so there’s really no single theme for Delicioso. Delicioso’s ambiance is very relaxed. It can seat around 40 people and also has a small board room for about 10 people for a meeting or a small function.

Delicioso also sells cold cuts and cheeses. They have around 17 kinds of cheeses with gouda and sage as their best sellers during the holidays. They also sell pasta, paella rice and other condiments.

To Bambi Borromeo’s delight, Delicioso has a good collection of wine and he treated us ladies with a bottle of Chilean cabernet sauvignon. After a few sip of wine, we’re now ready for business.

I love anything spicy so I was really delighted with the spicy Shrimp Arrabiata made of bavette pasta with Delicioso’s freshly cooked special tomato sauce. Arrabiata means angry in Italian and that’s where it derived it’s name. It has a few ingredients but tasted really good with just a hint of herbs.

Truffled Jamon Serrano Panizza which came with lettuce and spicy hot pico de gallo. Panizza is originally served with arugula and alfafa sprouts but alfafa is hard to source locally. Chef Mari Stelle advised that Panizza should be eaten while hot so you can still roll the ultra-thin dough.

Here’s how you eat panizza, get a slice, put some lettuce, top it with a little pico de gallo, and roll it. We had a fit laughing because it reminds us of old folks rolling their betel nuts. We loved the panizza, it’s novel (at least for me), spicy and the flavors blended well with herbs.  Just a little caution to those not accustomed to spicy dishes, you can advise the waiter to make the pico de gallo not too hot.

Chef Mari Stelle confessed she love herbs but she knows not a lot of Pinoys are accustomed to herbs so she has adjusted the taste to the local palate. This love for herbs was evident in her Baked Chicken Maryland which is chicken leg stuffed with sausage and wrapped in bacon. The stuffing has just enough herbs for the usual Filipino palate and it was sprinkled with herbs as well.

Of course we had to try the Paella which is already a complete meal with paella rice, clams, squid, pimento, jamon Serrano and chorizo.  We really loved it especially since the rice was cooked just right.

The serving of the Philly Cheesesteak with its thick meat and cheese was fit for an American appetite so it’s already a meal itself.

We had two choices for dessert – Lava Cake and Bailes Cheesecake.  But of course, we tried both. Lava Cake is a round moist chocolate with a molten chocolate inside that oozes out when you slice it. This one is best be eaten while hot so that the molten chocolate still retains its gooey consistency.

Don’t worry if you don’t drink Bailey’s, the Bailey’s Cheesecake will not get you drunk but will give you sugar high instead. It’s a unique offering of Delicioso.

Well, what can I say? Delicioso was aptly named since all we’ve tasted so far were muy delicioso!

If you’ve been to Delicioso, please share with us your experience at the comments section. Please help guide our visitors by giving your ratings with 5 stars as the highest.