As featured in 10 Best NEW Homegrown Restaurants in Manila of 2019!
Located at Rockwell’s Power Plant Mall in Makati, a mano is a modern Italian restaurant by Amado Fores—son of Asia’s Best Female Chef, Margarita Fores—that promises faithful and fresh Italian food. a mano means “by hand,” pertaining to the handcrafted quality of the ingredients, the food and the service.
2019 witnessed the osteria battle of new Modern Italian concepts in Manila and, for us, a mano is the winner in that battle in terms of high quality of pizza, pasta, steaks and overall vibe. Ang galing!
You have to reserve a table in advance. Best to know what to order before going, too. Here are our favorites at a mano:
a mano by amado fores
R1 Level (Stall 144), Lopez Drive, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell
Operating Hours: Open Daily 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Mobile: +63 917 552 6266
Email: admin@amano.ph
Facebook: a mano
Instagram: @amano.ph
Osteria Battle in Manila (2019):
• a mano: Best New Italian Restaurant in Manila!
• Wild Flour Italian: Best of Italian Flavors in BGC!
• Osteria Daniele BGC: Kicking Off the Osteria Game in Manila
• Single Origin Osteria: Your Friendly Neighborhood Italian Resto in Salcedo
Primo (First)
We are witnessing the passing of the baton to the next generation of restaurateurs to take the dining scene to a whole new level.
I loved the casual but tasteful ambiance plus the friendly attitude of the service team, giving it an overall good, inspiring vibe.
A Mano Menu: Antipasti, Insalate | Pizze | Paste | Secondi (Mains) | Dolci (Desserts)
The menu was well-curated, with ingredients and food inspired by travels to different regions in Italy.
Pizze (Pizza)
The Napoletana pizza is faithfully cooked in a Valoriani, the only commercial gas-fired oven certified by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana.
The highest quality Caputo TIPO 00 flour is used for hand-made dough and stretched every morning.
Start with the most raved about thin focaccia pizza, filled with cheese and cooked in the Valoriani oven.
Request for the pizza to be cut into squares or into triangles like an Italian quesadilla for sharing as appetizers.
One of the best pizzas in Manila, with stretchy stracciatella cheese and perfectly cooked dough.
You fold the pizza to make a soft middle topped with cheese and tomato. Add honey or chili. Ang sarap!
Paste (Pasta)
They serve both fresh and artisanal dry pasta from Italy depending on the region the pasta comes from.
Fresh garganelli pasta with creamy truffle butter sauce with prosciutto and peas to cut through the creaminess.
(Trivia: It’s named as such as a tribute to Michael White’s Fiamma in New York City where Amado first tasted his first best fresh pasta)
It’s white truffle season in Alba, Piedmont, so check out the Tartufo Bianco menu. (Fresh truffles are limited and seasonal)
Taglierini, thinner than tagliatelle but fatter (like flattened soba), was just topped with truffle thinly sliced in front of you. Yum, Yum!
I would recommend ordering a meat- and tomato-based sauce, with fresh flat ribbon noodles, to contrast with the umay from all the creaminess.
Pasta was cooked ‘al dente’ or ‘firm to the tooth and served with the simplest ingredients like clams and white wine sauce.
Ask for their select white wines to pair nicely with the white sauce pasta.
Order this off-menu Egg Yolk in Big Ravioli—bathed in egg yolk and brown butter sage sauce when you open it. Umamamiya. 🙂
SECONDI (Mains)
Chef Morris Manalo happily served the main dishes or the specialty of the house to provide an added special touch.
Juicy chicken with crisp skin, rosemary flavor and a buttery chicken jus that you can’t resist but lick off the pan.
From Mamou to Made Nice and now a mano, the Fores family is known for good steak, which is dry Florentine style with rosemary.
Greek Stone Farms USDA Prime Ribeye perfectly seared and cooked medium. All you need is their house-made salt to taste.
The steaks were best paired with their curated red wines from Italy.
Loved that they served cold towels before dessert so we could refresh and clean our hands. The attention to detail is what really counts.
DOLCI (Desserts)
Order this classic tiramisu goodness with overflowing mascarpone cream immediately because it’s so good they run out of it.
A good Italian cigar-like dessert with a crunchy fried pastry shell and ricotta filling with bits of pistachio or chocolate flavor.
Sometimes we like to end on a citrusy sweet note to refresh the palate from all the creamy goodness.
Finale
Overall, we love a mano because of the hand-crafted quality of the pizza, pasta, steaks and overall service. You can come back here every day and order different items, so you get to enjoy every dish on the menu.
Order our favorites: Taglierini O Tajarin, Bianco for the pasta, Stracciatella for the Pizza, the Bistecca or Pollo al Burro for the main, and don’t miss the Tiramisu for dessert. Budget about: ₱1,500/head for a full 4-course meal.
I think Amado is the next Larry Cruz, who was a great restaurateur (before my blogging days)—with well-executed restaurant concepts based on his well-traveled background and taste for good food even though he does not know how to cook.
The Rockwell community is lucky to have Amado’s inaugural awesome concept. Don’t miss it, and make sure to reserve.
a mano by amado fores
R1 Level (Stall 144), Lopez Drive, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell
Operating Hours: Open Daily 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Mobile: +63 917 552 6266
Email: admin@amano.ph
Facebook: a mano
Instagram: @amano.ph
Osteria Battle in Manila (2019):
• a mano: Best New Italian Restaurant in Manila!
• Wild Flour Italian: Best of Italian Flavors in BGC!
• Osteria Daniele BGC: Kicking Off the Osteria Game in Manila
• Single Origin Osteria: Your Friendly Neighborhood Italian Resto in Salcedo
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, Our Awesome Planet
Disclosure: Our meal was courtesy of our friend Amado. I wrote this article with my biases, opinions and insights.
P.S. The kids were given complimentary chocolate milk with steel straws to get their instant loyalty and set their mood.
