New Products at Amici

I’m interrupting my US blog entries with this important announcement. To all my readers in Manila you have 3 more days to get a free pizza or pasta from Amici. Hurry!

Ever since I saw photos of Amici’s 13 new products on Facebook c/o my friends who were the photographer and stylist I started planning when to try them.

I finally went to lunch at Amici Megamall yesterday with my co-workers. We took advantage of their promotion called “Amici Celebrates Friendship” wherein every two orders of their new pizza or pasta gets you a FREE classic pizza or pasta. This promotion is until October 31, 2010 only so go to your nearest branch now! Good news! I just found out that the promo has been extended to Nov. 14, 2010.

My office mates just love Amici’s Caesar salad and they never fail to order it. I really appreciated that the fresh Parmesan cheese didn’t come from a green can. It really made a big difference on the salad.

insalata di Cesare P140

I ordered the new chorizo and spinach pizza hoping it would be similar to La Nuova Pastileria’s pizza topped with generous amounts of spinach.

Alas this pizza had very, very few spinach leaves that you could actually count. Nevertheless, the star of the pizza was the single, solitary thin slice of chorizo that burst with flavor enough for a whole slice. The chorizo was strategically placed in the middle of each slice to provide enough flavor and saltiness for the slice. I wish they can add more spinach though. More chorizo would be good too.

chorizo e spinaci pizza P385

Mascarpone is basically a mild flavored cheese. Together with the mushrooms it made a relatively bland pizza. I did enjoy the flavors of the fresh mushrooms but there wasn’t enough of it. If they added a bolder cheese then this pizza would have been even better.

Even though the new toppings didn’t make me swoon I still loved the super thin, crunchy crust of the pizzas. They have perfected the crust exactly the way I like it. Thumbs up!

mascarpone e funghi pizza P385

The mushroom pasta was our third new dish. The pasta was very fragrant and very tasty. The flavors of the different mushrooms were evident in the pasta. A great vegetarian dish!

fettucine al tartufo classico P240

For our classic freebie I chose the fettucine with clams, shrimp and olive oil sauce. My all time favorite pasta dish in Amici is the aglio olio or garlic and oil. Every time I go to Amici I have to order that. Yesterday I made the conscious effort to try something new. I’m glad I chose this because now I have a new favorite.

For only P260 the pasta came with fresh prawns, clams and scallops in the shell. The sauce was made with olive oil and a flavorful, concentrated seafood stock which made the pasta taste better than anything I’ve ordered in a hotel or maybe even abroad.

spaghetti white vongole e gamberetti P260

Since my diet was already thrown out of the door with all these delicious carbs what’s another slice of cake, right?

The first thing I tried was the frosting on top. Funny but it was salty. When I got over that I tasted coffee and chocolate. Good thing the actual frosting on the cake wasn’t salty. The cake was very rich, fudgy and had a strong hazlenut flavor. Think Nutella. It was just enough for 4 of us to share.

tentazione cake P65

cakes

We also shared a scoop of the new flavor of gelato, toffee almond roca. Major swoon here. Not too sweet toffee ice cream with chunks of almond roca. Yum, yum, yum!!!!

I’m ashamed to admit it but I’ve already tried all their flavors of gelato cakes. I often bring a gelato cake to a party and it’s always a big hit. My favorites are the mango sans rival and merry berries. One of these days I have to try the new flavors – mango symphony and peach walnut passion.

gelato cakes

gelati

Amici has a beautiful new printed menu. I hope this means that they will be moving to a conventional way of ordering through a waiter instead of having to look at the menu and ordering and paying at the counter.

With more items in their menu I need more time to look at the menu and decide. When I was in the counter looking at the menu I felt stressed and basically ordered whatever caught my eye first. I didn’t regret what I ordered but I wish they would change the system.

Amici’s new menu
salad & soup, antipasti & panini, pizza, more pizza
pasta tomato based, pasta cream & olive oil based, new items
house favorites, gelati, affogato & shakes, gelato cakes
cakes & pastries, wines, beverages

Amici
Atrium, 3rd Level SM Megamall
Edsa cor. Julia Vargas Ave.
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
telephone: 636-1341