Tagliere di Formaggi (Description on menu – Mixed Italian cheese): It’s my third time dining at Pepenero, and still I couldn’t brush aside the allure of simple Italian dishes. I’ve always loved the airy feel the place exudes which suits any setting you’re seeking, from the grand family dinner to the light romantic date. For our antipasti, we dreamed quite a bit of living in a little Italian nest made totally of cheese. It was a dovetail cucina course completed with Pecorino, Provolone, and Gorgonzola bites, accented with bittersweet, oversized walnuts and saturated in juicy Asian pear slices. It’s a magical nest for the cheese-lovers.

Ravioli di Carne in Salsa Rose (Description on menu – Homemade ravioli pasta stuffed with beef and spinach tossed with rose sauce): Though good, this dish fails to stimulate one (and the most important one) of the five senses – the smell. The fragrance of fresh, natural tomatoes disappear into the cream sauce (incorporated, they make up what’s referred to as the rose sauce). Otherwise, this dish is sizzling while it’s still warm. Each bite-sized ravioli veils a dollop of aromatic and great-quality beef slices. Just one piece provides a generous helping of well-cooked spinach too, which, when blended in the warm rose sauce, touched with the dash of spiciness to your liking, and sprinkled with dusts of black pepper, are all loaded with the nutrients essential for good vision. Quite sensitizing, eh?

Risotto alla Pescatora (Description on menu – Home-cooked Italian risotto served with fresh mixed seafood & tilapia filetto): Jumbo-sized seafoods are always a plus for my taste. Rare do we find restaurants in town that fill our bellies up with the good stuff. Risotto was boiling hot when just served, which is an advantage as food remained warm and palatable even as we sit through the night and taking slow bites. Consistency of risotto was just soft, as if the chef instinctively knew how exactly it must cushion the heart of the diner that desperately needed comfort. No wonder it’s a recommended menu by many.