LIFESTYLE ASIA MAGAZINE
April 2004
By: Vicki A. de Leon
Tagaytay, AL FRESCO
You can always admire Tagaytay greenery, cool fresh air and convenient location-great foods is just another reason to keep coming back.
Find the true taste of Italy at Massimo’s
A mere five minutes away from the roundabout in the center of Tagaytay, the cheerful appearance of Massimo’s light green exteriors with yellow and white trim makes you wonder if you have pulled into the driveway of a private Tagaytay home.
When GG&A club shares marketer Chito Galvez and wife, chef Hazel Lu moved to Tagaytay more than two years ago, it was mainly because they wanted to get away from city living and offer a better lifestyle for their son, Massimo, who was then seven months old. The couple settle into a quaint home at the nearby Royal Fines Subdivision, where there was a clubhouse that wasn’t being fully utilized. “We had a great idea to turn the clubhouse into a Restaurant, but for the longest time, Royal pines wasn’t keen on the idea,” says Chito. With a stroke of luck-and change of management-Chito and Hazel were able to control the clubhouse and reopen it in December 2002 as an Italian café’, which they named in honor of their son.
“We wanted Massimo’s to be all about the slow food movement, “ says Hazel, a CPA/ investment banker who become the first Filipino th attend the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Costigliole d’Asti, Italy. Her short but intensive training taught her how to not only create culinary delights, but to appreciate Italian culture of enjoying long, drawn—out meals paired with locally produced wine.
Massimo’s interiors are refreshingly uncontrived, which Chito designed himself. It is an eclectic mix of molave and narra furniture not only from the previous Tavola but also with accents that Chito acquired along the way
Although there are two sets menu available, there are wonderful dishes to be ordered a la carte. Massimo’s cuisine is completely authentic Italian with its freshly baked foccacia, fresh pastas, and homemade gelatos and chocolates. “The menu is chosen based on availability of ingredients and on the chef’s mood,” smiles Hazel.
Relying mostly on word of mouth marketing since their opening, Massimo’s has grained a following with Chito and Hazel’s friends, neighbors and visitors who have homes in the area and beyond. Regular clientele often pass by Massimo’s to pick up delicious pates or its lemony artichoke dip, and bring it with them to enjoy while at their vacation home. Some of their a la carte prices may seem a little on the high side, the servings are plentiful and flavors are worth it. The foie gras, apples and greens salad come with four slices of heavenly duck liver that is crispy on the outside and tender moist on the inside. A perennial favorite is the Bistecca ala Fiorentina, whose serving fills most of its plate. The steak is tender, cooked a perfect medium-rare, and its peppery citrus flavor burst in your mouth-better than some you can get in Florence. If you like thin crust pizza, you can find it here, and Massimo’s will add a little fresh arugula. Last but not least, Massimo’s can boast of having the best dessert around Tagaytay. Hazel makes a variety of gelato such a s Belgian chocolates, fresh strawberry, vanilla, coffee, and pistachio-all equally delicious. The strawberry shortcake is creamy and light, and the molten chocolate cake truly melts in your mouth especially with the sides of vanilla gelato. Panna cotta lovers will drool over their version. With such fabulous food, who would want to leave the table at all?
If you are lucky enough, you will get to meet Massimo’s himself, a precocious toddlers who refers to himself in the plural form, as he enjoys eating his mom’s cooking and playing with the family dogs in the next door garden. When you do leave, you realize that though you were simply a guest enjoying a meal, you were treated like family in the cheerful Tagaytay home that is known as Massimo’s…
PEOPLE ASIA
JUNE 2004
BY JONAS GRUET
Up among the cool climes of Tagaytay in Batangas is a restaurant that features traditional country-style Italian cuisine. Massimo’s Café is a two –level café bedecked with flowers and plants; theirs even a garden of veggies ready for picking. Even the restaurant’s names speak of roman glory. Proprietors Chito Galves and wife Hazel Lu named the restaurant after their son. “Massimo’s means ‘the greatest’ in Italian,” explain Chito. I guest I got it from the move Gladiator.” When he’s not busy puttering around the garden, Chito says he attends to the daily needs of the restaurant. He also designed the interiors, and sells duplicates of massimo’s furnishings in a store downstairs. “They’re all over the place, some of the things I’ve collected,” he explains. “Some I see when driving by they attract me.”
The restaurant allows diners to savor authentic Italian cooking infused with a Mediterranean flavor. “We have the different market. It’s not for everybody. It’s more for well traveled people who know Italian or Mediterranean food,” notes Chito. Only authentic Italian ingredients are used; no local seasonings are substituted. “
PEOPLE ASIA
July 2007
Tagaytay is the study in contracts. Ordinary to the insipid, and refreshing to the ingenious. No longer has a secrets, Tagaytay in recent years transformed itself into a dining mecca where foodies flock and find a good meal.
One of its “not so secrets anymore” culinary destination is Massimo’s, a small fine dining restaurant where one can savor Chef-Hazel Galvez’s creation of intricate Italian flavors amidst a simple rustic setting. Named after the owners Chito and Hazel Galvez little boy, Massimo’s is an epicurean delight with its famous Bistecca alla Florentina, a simple dish of U.S. Angus Rib Eye drizzled with aged Balsamic Vinegar, and their current star the Wagyu Beef – served as a steak or as a Burger in a aioli sauce. Though it may seem a carnivore’s delight, the menu has an earthy and personal feel.
PHILIPPINE STAR
April 04, 2004
By: Christine S. Dayrit
Majestically perched on a ridge and overlooking the most picturesque volcano within a lake is a magnificent structure of Tudor design. If one had never stepped into the old Taal VistaLogde in his childhood, he would think the new Taal Vista Hotel was a totally brand new edifice. Beneath this newly acquired opulence lies 70 years of history.
Massimo’s Café in Royal Pines Subdivision (near the Petron Gas Station, just before the Mahogany Market) it was delightful to discovered the excellent cuisine of Chef-Hazel Lu-Galvez who sharpened the culinary prowess in Italy. Hazel and business man hubby Chito Galvez will sweep you of your feet with their hospitality, exquisite food wine, and entertaining stories.
We had the artichoke cheese dip with foccacia bread, chicken liver pate’, mushroom, tomato and pumpkin soup (using pumpkin newly harvested from the garden), flavorful pizza Bistecca alla Florentina (marinated with aged Balsamic Vinegar), Osso Buco, made-gelato, warm chocolate cake, where the chocolate bursts in the center, truly salivating Panna Cotta and wines from all vineyards of the world.
M ZONE MAGAZINE
September 2003
By: Marie Antonette Cruz-Reyes
Living La Dolce Vita
A couple’s dream come true is also one of Tagaytay best-kept secretes…
The slow life has always beckoned to harassed souls. Many yearn for assemblance of the unhurried life, even for just a weekend or two and to many locked in the urban jungle that is Metro Manila, Tagaytay is the closet to evoke images of country living.
Over the past two years Tagaytay has quickness the quite entry of commerce into its boundaries. Where ones there was only the ridge of the magnificent view of the lake to draw in people, to they, there are also the food outlet that served more than just Bulalo and the much abused mushroom burger. In fact, Tagaytay has become a destination in itself for foodies and for all who know that the best part of a relaxing weekend is one good meal.
For those willing to travel farm and wide is search of a good meal, Massimo’s is always a good option. Less than a year since it opened, Massimo’s has become an important stop over for those coming Tagaytay.
Is not difficult to find Massimo’s. One nearing the circle, one turns right at where the road forks and follows a series of sign that tells you exactly where you’re going.
Massimo’s stands near the entrance of the subdivision- visitors often mistake it to be a weekend home except that it is a little to big to be one. One is a immediately drawn by the large veranda and the colorful assortment of lovers that circle the two-storey affair. A vegetable patch with a largest lettuce heads one can ever imagine sits behind the house, signaling to all that only the freshest ingredients are used in what ever the cooks creates in the restaurant upstairs.
For all intents and purposes, Massimo’s is more a home than the restaurant. Diners who come for the food can not help but linger.
Massimo’s is where you’d love to spend the afternoon or the evening. It just feels so much like home.
Although it does not offer a view of Taal Lake, Massimo’s never the less show cases the best of Tagaytay has to offer from the fresh air to the lush foliage to the tranquility country side, a combination that goes very well with the culinary delights that comes from its kitchens. From the veranda, where most customers prefer to luxuriate, one can savor all these underneath starry skies.
Massimo’s interiors are naturally laid-back but friendly. The main dinning room, decorated with old brick-a-bracks, seats just about 30, with ample room in between tables to allow for stimulating conversations on slow afternoons.
Run by the husband and wife team of Chito and Hazel Galvez, Massimo’s serves the tastiest Italian Food this side of town. Hazel, whose passion for Mediterranean cooking sent her on a six-month stay in Italy, presides over the large kitchen at the second floor of the restaurant.
On the day of our visit, Hazel had just prepared conchinillo, know in Italy as Porchetta, a whole sucking pig marinated for one whole day and oven baked until the fats drips-out – so tender it melts in your mouth. It is one dish you would remember for the rest of your life.
Bon Appetit
February 16, 2004
Massimo’s - The Great One
Massimo’s Ristorante Italiano instantly embrace me with its country charm. The cold nifty air was know match to Massimo’s visual warmth and sunny hospitality that couple Chito and Hazel Galvez exuded. Named after their son (Italian Named, Which mean the Great one), the place was epitome of magic at work. It was Shangri-La, where time stands stills and allows you to soak in its cross cultural ambiance. Italian menu with electric provincial setting, combined with Filipino passion for beauty. Perfect! If you are looking for food experience that will tickle your soul, Massimo’s fits the bill. The chic temple of top notch Italian cuisine is a gift for food lovers who are always in search for food that is creatively prepared with love and attention to details. In my wonderings of places to dine-in, it is the little details that make the biggest impression.
This month of hearts who your love one in the covered balcony of Massimo’s or inside its cozy dining hall where a very romantic experience awakes you.
The interior reeks with country sophistication with flowers in vibrant in colors in every corner, with crystal wood, and brass accessory and touches of billowy curtains and over head canopy, all blending in unison to come up with the perfect setting.
Dining at the balcony was a rejuvenating experience. I drowned my lungs with fresh air that my body direly needs that they and wonder aloud, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just pack a tank load of it back home?”.
Massimo’s not only attracted the discriminating taste of the elite of the Manilenos, but a sizable number of expatriates as well, who journey the highlands for a bite at Massimo’s.
The day we were there a big group of Italian came by to feast. It was pretty obvious that day, to, we’re enjoying the moment while savoring Chef-Hazel (a graduate of a culinary school in Piamonte, Italy – the Italian Institute for Foreigners) has whipped up for them.
With her simplistic but natural but creative style food for pleasure becomes food for the spirits as well. Her garden fresh master pieces seem to be base on a culinary philosophy that embraces simple, yet elegant principle of what great dining is all about.
Here are some reasons why many travel the distance. For starters, Chef-Hazel’s artichokes dip with foccacia bread incredulous. Pureed artichoke with secret herbs and light cream worked up my taste buds. This is follows by a warm by green herbs, the tomato soup is fresh, with that unmistakable zesty flavor inherent to the vegetable.
Adding contrast to the crimson color are chopped onion leeks that also bring robustness to the flavor. The creamy celadon green, broccoli, and spinach soup is perfect combination of delicate taste. To refreshen the taste buds is bounty of crisp romain lettuce, the warm mushroom salad. It is a work of art. Greens topped with edible flower – nustutium and pansy-petals enhance the freshness of the salad.
Two generous platters of pizzas, the Quattro Stagioni and Quattro Formaggi are not you ordinary pizza chain fare. The Quattro Stagioni is tomato base with the four slices topped with fresh tomatoes, ham, and mushroom, black olives and mozzarella. At the center, bunch of arugula vegetable that is eaten fresh. The Quattro Formaggi (four cheeses) is one of the most wonderful combinations of bread and cheese imaginable, feta, blue cheese, mozerella and parmesan. The pizza is cream-base which explain the absence of color but that does mean absence in taste. Combine with herbs to make your palates.
The shitake on fresh fettucine (one of two main pasta courses) is swathed with truffle cream. The fettucine is al dente with the unique truffle cream with that of unexplainable flavor.
The secondi or main courses are lesson in luxuries extravaganza.
Be sure to include in your agenda, the Bistecca all Florentina….
