Salvatore Cuomo & Bar Lunch Buffet - Value for Money?

You can be forgiven for mistaking Salvatore Cuomo for Salvatore Ferragamo. After all they are both premium Italian brands. But while the latter is into expensive and luxurious leather products, the former is famous world wide for its authentic Italian food and a sprinkling of authentic Japanese food.

Salvatore Cuomo aka Salvatore Shigeta was born in Italy of an Italian father and Japanese mother. in 1972. His dad was also a chef in Naples and was largely influential in his foray in the culinary arts.

Salvatore started at the young age of 11. He frequently traveled with his dad to Italy and Japan. He gradually absorbed the philosophy behind the Japanese art of perfection and learned to apply it to the traditional art of Italian cooking

He studied culinary arts in Italy but returned to Japan when his father fell seriously ill. He has not left Japan ever since.

Today he is widely know in Japan as "the pizza man" because he was credited with making the authentic Neapolitan Pizza popular in this country and in all of Asia. Per wikipedia, Salvatore has 77 Pizza Salvatore restaurants and 5 Salvatore Cuomo restaurantts in Japan, Korea , Shanghai. In 2014 Salvatore Cuomo landed in Taiwan.

He has made several appearance in Iron Chef. He has also authored 3 books.

In June 2016 , he opened his first Philippine store in Uptown Parade in BGC. We are lucky to have Salvatore Cuomo in our shores. It is our opportunity to experience a restaurant serving authentic Italian cuisine with some sprinkling of authentic Japanese cuisine. Lest they be misconstrued, there is no fusion of Italian or Japanese cuisines in Salvatore Cuomo.

As part of their more than a month long anniversary celebration, their lunch buffet is still on going. On weekdays, one can enjoy their buffet for only P600 and P900 on weekends.

People tend to get confused about their buffet. I know I was. I had to confirm with the restaurant manager that I understood it correctly. Better safe than sorry. I do not want any surprises hehehe.

From M-F, the buffet is P600. The Italian appetizers, salad, pizzas and 3 jars of juice are all decked at the buffet table and these are all unlimited. However for the mains, you can choose only ONE from A-E under pasta. Yes juices that are on the buffet table are included. Coffee and other beverages are not.

Now if you prefer Meat OR Fish , just add P300. Again you can only choose one from the list above. So your bill will come out to a total of P900 each .Capisce?

To help you decide which among the list is good, Ill break down the choices for you and my thoughts re each dish.

PASTA

Spaghetti Carbonara (ala carte price P480)

Pancetta Bacon and Mushroom Risotto

Home-made Lasagna

Spaghetti with Clams and Zucchini (ala carte P550)

Gnocci in Tomato Sauce with Cheese and Basil

Tagliatelle with Italian Sausage And Broccoli cream sauce

Verdict : All the pastas are made from scratch in the premises. No wonder their pasta are all delicious. If I were to choose just one though, I will choose the Tagliatelle. So good ! Risotto was good as well but I'm not a risotto person, sorry.

Grilled Seafood Skewers (P900 ala carte)

Pan Fried Salmon with Mediterranean Sauce (P800 ala carte)

Verdict : Both are perfectly cooked and seasoned. The presentation for both dish was beautiful. But I'm a salmon girl, so would definitely choose salmon

MEAT P300

choose ONE only

Home-made Roasted Pork Porchetta (ala carte (P650)

Oven Roasted Chicken with Balsamic and Mustard Sauce (P650 ala carte)

Verdict : The Porchetta was crunchy on the outside, soft inside. The oven-roasted chicken was beautifully done too. In terms of portions though and for the sake of my piggery, I will choose the porcheta . Its size will definitely fill up the tummy of each piggery.

SO IS IT VALUE FOR MONEY?

The answer is a resounding YES.

I'm sure you have noticed that I have tried to caption each picture of the meals we enjoyed with its ala carte prices. As a mom of 4, the bottomline cost vis a vis the quality and quantity of food is a big factor in deciding whether to eat there or not. When you compare and compute the ala carte vs their Lunch Buffet offering , you will be able to appreciate how huge the savings is . Try it.

Salvatore Cuomo's Lunch Buffet is my definition of value for money. Kudos to the restaurant for coming up with this anniversary promo. It allows us potential patrons to experience what Salvatore has to offer without making too much of a dent in our pocket. After all their ala carte menu is really pricey.

So take advantage of their Anniversary Lunch Buffet presto !

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DESSERTS
For an additional cost , try their desserts too. They are scrumptious and worth every centavo

Chocolate Walnut Mousse P320
Silky smooth mousse. Perfect dessert 5/5

Cannoli P280
The Cannoli's were a bit thick and hard. I would have preferred gelato for filling . 4/5

Amaretto Pannacotta with Fresh Mango Sauce P320

Another favorite dessert. The pannacotta was melt in your mouth . A beautiful dessert! A bit pricey though 4/5

Torta de Frutta P320
This dessert was refreshing. The combination of the sweet and succulent mango, the crunchy dragon fruit, the jucy kiwi and the grapes are a joy to the palate. The raspberry (?) quenele perfectly complimented the fruits. Yum! 4.5/5