At Sweet Bella Café

 

December started with everything just “sweet”. A sweet start when I learned about my spiritual birthday. Then, I met my wedding stylist who happens to be a chef. We just finished the final detailing with the caterer, too. Everything just fell on its right place.

I remember working all days catching up writing assignments and continuously planning for the upcoming wedding. I never felt my body started to complain until there’s cough and colds and  severe headache. I’m sick, fatigued and needs some rest! I was ready to go back to my bed and get surrounded with huggable pillows but caught a few minutes to check my inbox and Facebook messages. And oh, there’s an invitation I just can’t decline, a dinner at Sweet Bella Cafe.

Everybody knows my love for dessert and even if I haven’t dine at Sweet Bella, I knew it will be an awesome experience. The next day fiancé and I were walking holding hands heading Greenbelt 5 until we arrived at Sweet Bella Café.

Not too long, they were serving us the appetizer. The Gambas Ajillo served with warm focaccia bread, an appealing appetizer cooked in olive oil, garlic and chili I suppose. It has a mild spicy flavor just enough to tickle your taste buds. It was my favorite appetizer that evening.

Next are three kinds of oyster appetizer; Fresh oyster, Baked Oyster with Champagne sauce and Oyster Rockefeller.

Fresh oysters in ice to maintain freshness and dipping sauce on the side. The lemon zest lightens the flavor providing a more oysterrific experience.

I’m not really a fan of oyster. To be honest, I’m afraid to eat more than a piece when I heard about GI discomforts with too much intake of oyster especially at night. What are your thoughts about it?  Anyway, the Baked Oyster was good. I like it just the way I like the  Gambas Ajillo!

A mouth-watering appetizer topped with creamy sauce with a blend of flavor is the Baked Oyster and comes with Champagne sauce.

I was wrong when I though I will stop with the 4th piece of oyster (2 pieces from Baked and Fresh). The third one was the darling from the three appetizers, the Oyster Rockefeller. Flavorful with its various ingredients and spices.

Then, the main entrée arrived, Sweet Bella’s Wagyu Rib Eye Steak. They say there’s nothing like a rib eye and it’s the most flavorful steak you can have. I guess with proper seasoning it creates an outstanding flavor. Theirs’ is moist and tender.

Wagyu Rib Eye Steak served with mashed potatoes and  vegetables.

Capellini Pomodore also known as Angel hair pasta dish came next after they served us the steak. It’s tasty, I ate about 4 pieces of eggplant and was reaching for it several times. It has the combination of pesto sauce, pomodoro sauce and truffle oil. I’m a huge fan of pasta so when I tried it.. Wow, was all I could say!

The photo below is called Gamberetto Pasta, it’s creamy and the shrimp flavor was overpowering.

Last but definitely not the least is Chilean Sea Bass with asparagus and potatoes. We seldom have Sea Bass in ordinary meals and tasting this dish was just fabulous.

For sweet ending, a tempting line of cakes served on our table. Everybody was overwhelmed that we don’t even want to slice into it. They looked sooo pretty and so with the taste.

Starting with, Chocolata (left), a moist cake layered with rich ganache topped with chocolate glass. P220 Personal/ 9’’ P1,200

Mi Camille (right), a Belgian chocolate mousse on an almond praline crust. It’s very soft, scoopable and creamy.

This pink cake is so tempting! PEARL, a light and refreshing PINK GUAVA mousse filled with flambéed Guimaras mango. I have to emphasize that it’s a pink guava mousse. There’s one fruit I really don’t like and it’s guava! I was surprised I had a few spoonful of this pink guava mousse and it taste good!  

If you love cake and fruits such as strawberries, this one will make any celebration festive. I’m a cake-a-holic and I just love Sweet Bella’s Strawberry Charlotte.

I think there’s nothing else to say… it’s a cake, a dessert, with loads of fresh strawberries, crunchy cashew crust layered with Chantilly cream. To die for and I promised myself to have it on our table on Christmas eve!

Thank you Sweet Bella for that wonderful dinner!

By the way Sweet Bella offers French Macarons in 8 delightful flavors: White Chocolate, Lemon Citrus, Passion Fruit, Salted Caramel, Rose, Strawberry and Coffee.

Sweet Bella is owned by Cristina Santiago-Rivera, an accomplished pastry chef and loving mother. She graduated from California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, U.S.A. She came back to Manila to follow the footsteps of her father, Melo Santiago, the renowned restaurateur behind Melo’s Steakhouse. Her sweet creations led to the inception of Sweet Bella Desserts – named after her one and only daughter, Isabella.

Visit Sweet Bella Café at the Ground Floor, Greenbelt 5 and Burgos Circle at the Fort.

Check out their website, http://sweetbelladesserts.com and on Facebook, facebook.com/sweetbelladesserts.