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Gaster Deli, a
restaurant that opened recently in Ayala’s 6750,
highlights the growing familiarity and love not
only for home comfort food but also for
international cuisine. “Gaster” is of Greek
origin, meaning stomach or belly. It vows to
fill our stomach or belly with good European
food and wines.
Their come-ons include some authentic Norwegian
salmon, Spanish paella with vino de tablo,
German bratwurst and cold cuts. For lunch or
dinner, you can have French cordon bleu and vin
rouge, or real, non-Filipinized (nor
Americanized) Italian pastas and vino bianco, or
Portuguese grill, or some Russian caviar, or a
Greek baklava.
In its menu, Gaster Deli boasts of being the
“first and only authentic European deli
restaurant” in Metro Manila. When we came to
check out the place, we were amazed at the guts
of the owner, because although its publicist,
Bernard Supetran, assured us that the owners
know what they’re doing, we couldn’t help but
wonder about their food’s pricetag. It is
“reasonable” considering the size of the
serving, authenticity and taste, not to mention
the extra care they put in, say, servings
chilled cutlery with their chilled and tasty
salmon gravlax salad. |
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These may be
small things, but since they don’t have to do
that, it makes you feel more cared for. Like
they really exert themselves to please you.
A gourmet meal at Gaster Deli will cost you, of
course. But compared to other restaurants with
slightly similar offerings around the vicinity,
then it’s not as much. CK (or Christian Kalaw),
the jovial young chef, assures us that you won’t
need a two-hour lunch break just to enjoy your
order in Gaster Deli. He says their service is
fast, and you can also take it out if you like.
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The
husband-and-wife owner tandem
Francisco and Alexandra Cacho
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While
everything already shines with polish and order
that screams finesse, the menue is still in the
works. Not the contents (and prices, we hope),
because according to CK, they will vary their
menu according to season, although the soups,
steaks, salmon and lamb chops we dug into and
admired will make it to the final menu. |
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The layout and
design, the staff and the seamless integration
of restaurant and store show that Gaster Deli is
ready for the big crowd of discerning diners US
beef tenderloin with porcini & truffle sauce
were passed around the long tables where
culinary luminaries like Annabel and Tom
Wisniewski, Cito Sen of Pazzo, Rolando and
Jackie Laudico of Bistro Filipino, Fernando
Aracama of Embassy, JL Cang, Chef Robert Bolanos
of Tagaytay Highlands, Chef Henry Cheung of Good
Earth, Sonja Ocampo of Cupcakes, Thomas Wenger
of Mandarin Oriental, Cyrile Soenen of Crowne
Plaza,
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The
interiors of Gaster Deli |
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They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they
also have a bakery and coffee shop section.
Their coffee smell and taste excellent. But if
you like to drink wine with your meal, Gaster
Deli distinguihes itself in having racks of
various, sometimes hard-to-find wines to
accompany your meal. Wines usually costs double
or triple its market price once offered in a
restaurant, but Gaster Deli offers it at its
market price. This, and the seemingly aggressive
pricing (I think their steaks cost only
two-thirds of the nearby steakhouse’s), will
surely tempt the discerning diner.
A corner of the restaurant has stacks of wines and liquor
that Gaster Deli says they’ve “carefully
selected from around the world.” They promise
special wine tasting sessions for clients with
planned events such as weddings, graduations
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