IT'S been some time since I've raved, but the pasta with mushrooms and truffles at Lara Mia is superb. Burp. The quattro formaggio pizza too. And... The place is Lara Maria and it's right across the parking lot of Philippine Women's College along University Avenue in Juna Subdivision.
It's a house mid-street, but you'd know you're there because of the rows of cars parked along the road. I managed to lasso in three friends, the usual suspects: Imee, Trisha, and Deng. With four mouths, we could have eaten a lot. Except that Deng was having a bad day at the salon, she failed to make it. Thus, we were down to three.
Imee and I first arrived to a full house. There was one last table for us that the waiters had to move in the outer dining area because it was assigned a space good for two. By moving it outside, there's enough space for four.
At a longer table beside us was Jason Magnaye's group and we immediately knew there was something in the cafe that has truffle oil because the aroma wafted toward us. "Anong masarap?" I asked Ann, the wife. She recommended the pasta with truffle oil and mushrooms and the quattro formaggio.
Had we been ordering by ourselves without a tip from the neighboring table, we would have chosen the same. I added another pasta, Bacon Amatriciana, because while I like truffle oil in pasta, I like pasta with tomato sauce better and the Amatriciana was the one described as with tomato.
We gobbled, to beat the hunger pangs, and then savored. They were all good. I topped mine with ginger and lemon tea, while Imee went for her all-time favorite, Coke Zero. Imee was going takaw-mata again and wanted more, she pointed to what was written as "Garlic Leaf", and asked, "leaf?" I looked at the price and said, "Maybe, because it's just P80." It's described as butter, parsley topped with mozzarella.
Trisha got the Chorizo and Gambas described as fresh tomatoes, shrimps, and chorizo, and also ordered the Bolognese for Deng (when it was not yet clear if she'll make it or not).
Surprise! Bolognese does not have tomato sauce. It's good. It's just that, it's not the Bolognese you might be familiar with. Trisha decided to top that with wine. We willingly helped her consume it. But consuming wine takes time, and so the place was already empty, and still we were sipping our wine. The chairs were being turned upside down, we knew we had to leave.
By the way, it's not a Garlic Leaf but a Garlic Loaf. There's a typo error in the menu. Lara Maria serves dinner only until 9 p.m. It also serves lunch. It's closed on Mondays but open on Sundays. It's one place you should try.