Too Much Food at A-venetto (MOA)

Jen and I aren't really into eating in moderation (especially me). So it's no surprise that when we go resto-hopping, this is the usual scene: she hands me the menu, I order, the food arrives, we stare bug-eyed, we eat, we eat some more, our eyes bug out, we give up, we pay and have the leftovers wrapped up for midnight snacking.

Same scene unfolded over at A-venetto's Pizzeria located near the (huge) stage/auditorium-esque structure of Mall of Asia.

I have fond memories of A-venetto. Back in high school, I used to hang out at their Visayas Avenue branch with my chatmates from the dalnet,#up channel (yeah, mIRC is so yesterday but it was a great place to meet friends! Some of them are still my dearest friends, but I digress). In college, I hung out with my PT berks and with my M.A.-mates a few years later.

But now that I live nearer this behemoth of a mall, it is this branch that I frequent.

Enough chatter, let's eat!

The anchovy pizza. Lots and lots of pizza!

The anchovy pizza is everything I want in a pizza. It has enough cheese for that satisfying hint of creaminess but not enough to be cloying (I am not as fond of cheese as Jen is); the saltiness of the anchovies all but melted into the rich tomato base and the crispy-chewy crust. The garlic is not visible on this pizza (in the olden days, I used to see the teeny tiny pieces of garlic underneath all the toppings) but I get enough of the caramelized sweetness. With more than a few sprinkles of dried chilli flakes, two slices of this monster was no match for my gut! Bring it on!

While I was busy snarfing my second slice of pizza, the poultry arrived. Rather it was the basket of buffalo chicken wings.

Six pieces = four for Jeni and two for me. No leftovers with this one!

This was just ok. Nothing spectacular. While it lacked the salty-spicy-sour-sweet-party-in-my-mouth appeal of some of my favorite buffy wings (try the one from Brooklyn Pizza. Delish!), Jen devoured four pieces in a flash. Being the consummate chicken-lover (she'll grow wings soon, I swear!), she needed no encouragement! I, however, held out for the next dish...

Oil + garlic + seafood = one mighty good pasta dish!

Shrimp + squid + olive oil + a bit of cream + pesto + a kick of garlic = two plates of yum-o pasta. Though the noodles were not as al dente as I'd like them to be, the sauce was its saving grace. It was light enough not to overpower the delicate flavor of the seafood but heavy enough to coat the massive portion of noodles without getting lost in taste-ation. The cream gave each bite a pleasant mouthfeel while the basil and olive oil kept it from being too... cloying. Y-U-M.

We also had a blah tossed salad, but what the hey! The greens balanced out the not-so-imaginary fat in the other dishes. That aside, Jen and I waddled out of the resto with our midnight snack. Off we went for dessert.

Two weeks after this pig-out, we brought Jen's parents and two brothers to the same place. A week later, we brought my two sisters to the same place and ordered the same exact stuff but with two extra orders of chicken... I still got the tossed salad. Old habits die hard.