Mucho Gusto on Chef Gusto's Pizza Pasta Plus!!!

Chef Panos Georgopoulos, owner of Chef Gusto's Pizza Pasta Plus Restaurant holding the Culinary Book with Celebrity Cruises titled, "Excite The Senses" where he was featured. 

Hello foodies! I'm back again with another "scrumdiddilyumphus" food and resto experience. The pretty and vibrant Ms. Hershey (muchas gracias!) invited us, the bloggers to a sublime dinner at Chef Gusto's Pizza Pasta Plus Restaurant located at G/F, Concorde Condominium, 200 Salcedo St. cor Benavidez St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. 

Familiar? It's Salcedo St. cor. Benavidez St. in Makati City :))

Once you've reached that corner, chances are, you'd be able to check out Chef Panos sitting and conversing with his guests inside the resto. Notice the very homey wooden door. BTW, this is a worry-free area for parking, there are pay parking lots around.

Speaking of "homey," I've recalled Chef Panos telling us that he doesn't treat the people coming in his resto as customers, he proudly conformed to us that, he treats them as guests of the house, instead. Chef Gusto's is like a house where he welcomes and treats his guests. And as evidently seen from the picture, Chef Panos chats and can even do table hopping for his guests to feel at ease and at home. Another good thing about Chef, is that, he has an open menu, meaning to say, you can request a dish which you'd like him to prepare for you and he'll see what he can do about that. He said, "The menu is only a guideline, but me I'm not your appetite, the appetite is yours. We have to be flexible." 

The neat, classy and exqusite yet homey interiors of Chef Gusto's; it has the main dining area, then Gastro Chef cooking materials, paraphernalia and wine selection which are also for sale and pastry shop which houses the delectable desserts specially made by Chef's wife, Ivy.

You may consider Chef Gusto's a Mediterranean, Italian or American resto, but one thing's for sure, everything here is authentic (from Australia, U.S.A. & Europe) and fresh according to Chef Panos, "We don't like commissary, we want to cook fresh, so we want the pasta fresh, we want the pizza fresh, the salads fresh, so we want the people to learn cooking and to produce the same way." 

Chef Panos is a Greek, he had been in a luxury celebrity cruise for about 16 years, and been married for 4 years now to her very charming and accommodating wife, Ivy; they have a 3 year old son. He had good offers in culinary training centers for seamen but he really felt he wanted to give this business a shot and he believed that the Greek community is very strong and is growing a lot here in the Philippines. Chef Gusto's has been operating for only six months and it was doing very well according to the very bubbly owner and chief cook, Chef Panos. They're planning on putting up another resto somewhere in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig, so watch out for it!

 

Chef Panos with his Filipina wife, Ivy

And now, I'm so thrilled to give you bits and details of what was served to us that special night...

Starters: Freshly made bread with a traditional eggplant dip but surprisingly, this tasted so good, you wouldn't even guess that it is an eggplant dip :))

Authentic Village Salad: Consists of mixed green lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, black olives, feta cheese, served with lemon or balsamic vinaigrette dressing

This 18" pizza is such a blockbuster! A Must-try for family, friends and colleagues... you'll be amazed! This is a combination of Extreme Meaty Pizza (burger meat, sausage, ham, bacon and mozzarella) and  Cheese Lovers (mozzarella cheese, Danish blue cheese, yellow cheddar cheese, Edam & Parmesan cheese)

See the cheese? Oh I really miss this, want some more! 

Traditional Gourmet Sausage with three kinds of dips, a tomato catsup, mustard and their own special mayo dip

For 2 persons- PhP 410.00; For 6 persons- PhP 630.00

Greek Moussaka: It consists of layers of eggplant, potatoes, zucchinis baked with beef sauce to perfection. This recipe is so filling that's why it doesn't need any side dishes. I consider this a healthy vegetable lasagna :))

Combination Fried Tempura Platter: Fried shrimp, Fried squid, Fried fish with potato chips, Garlic and spicy tomato dips

PhP 425 

Grilled Mediterranean Chicken with Fries or Pilaf Rice for PhP 290

Tartufo Pasta: My forever favorite pasta! It consists of several type of fresh mushroom (bottom, porcini, truffles) sauté with garlic and Parmesan cheese

Creamy Seafood Pasta - Shrimps, fish fillet, mussels, calamari sauté with garlic and mix with creamy delicious white sauce

By this time, we were so filled up to our bellies hihi, good thing Chef had offered us their wine which even made our dining experience super fine and excellent! 

Santa Luz White and Red Wine, perfect for fine dining 

So you think we had enough? Nah ah! Chef Panos and Ivy wouldn't let us leave without munching on their self-made milk and brown chocolate with nuts. Am pretty sure, you'd really go nuts on this, why? As a chocolate lover, I've a sweet tooth for this; it was so deliciously made, with the right sweetness and it was so creamy!

Another mouth-watering dessert, Blueberry Cheesecake

We even got to take home some of Ivy's homemade desserts, for me, I got Oreo Cheesecake which was a big blast in our home. Everyone loved your cheesecake, Ivy! 

Our over-all dining experience at Chef Gusto's Pizza Pasta Plus was so fulfilling, not only to our appetite but also to our own personal satisfaction and heart's content. Chef Panos, his wife Ivy and the whole staff were very accommodating and friendly, everyone's being treated as house guests. 

As Chef Panos say, "For me you are a guest. So, if I invite you in my house, I will make sure, I will wash and will clean my house, then I will cook what is favorite for you because you're my guest, then I will make sure I will have a nice ambiance and music. The same principle applies, we invite you, we advertise,   we invite you to come, so we need to be polite and willing to serve what you would like."

Dining at Chef Gusto's is also worth remembering and sharing. That's why, I'm sharing them all with you.  I'd really love to comeback to this awesome "homey" resto. 

It was a "Mucho Gusto" dining experience only at Chef Gusto's Pizza Pasta Plus Resto!!! 

They also accept reservations for private parties, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc. 

For more details and infos, feel-free to contact them at