The House of Queens: Dining in Luxury (Lusso)

Lusso is the fine dining restaurant of Margarita Forres. Her other restaurants include Cibo, Pepato, and Cafe Bola. Cibo and Cafe Bola are favorite dining destinations for The House of Queens which is why we’ve planned for so long to dine in Lusso ever since it opened. We waited because we have thought of dressing for the occasion. Lusso – which is Italian for Luxury has the ambiance of full luxury. It is located at one corner of Greenbelt five and from outside – you can see opulent decor and that ambiance is accentuated by waiters in white coats. I wasn’t comfortable going there in my usual Malling outfit.

Fancy Schmanzy Decor and White Coats for the Waiter

However, since it is located in the mall, I could not think of any reason why I should suit up going to the mall. Today, I just said – I’ll try the restaurant even if I was in Jeans.

Entering the restaurant – you will definitely find the decor impressive. The large Chandelier that lights up the place is beautiful. It actually reminds me of the Champagne Room in the Manila Hotel.

I love The Chairs and the Tables

Like any other restaurant – the ambience may be great but we go there to dine. We ordered our dishes and expected a lot from the restaurant. So how did it go?

I am not quite sure what my overall assessment of the restaurant is. On the one hand – the dishes were delicious – and definitely has the touch of Gaita Forres’ magic. However – I can’t seem think of it as luxurious even if you see Foie Gras, Truffles and other prime ingredients in the dishes. For me, the menu is a French version of the menu of Cibo and Cafe Bola.

For starters we ordered, the Foie Gras Brulee. That dish is heavenly – and I strongly recommend it. We also ordered the Lobster Bisque – which is good but it was a bit salty.

The Foie Gras Brulee

For main dishes, we ordered sandwiches. The Croque Monsieur Foie Gras was a safe choice – and it is as flavorful as any Croque Monsieur you may have tried before. However, I can’t help but think it’s liver pate sandwich. The other main dish we ordered was the Lobster sandwich. This was served with “texturized” pan de sal. Again – the flavors were magnificent but apart from the ingredients – the preparation and presentation didn’t really approach the definition of luxurious dining. Of course – one may argue – that if you serve the everyday man’s pan de sal with lobster or foie gras – then you are being indulgent.

Foie Gras Croque Monsieur

Lobster Sandwich

To end the meal, we tried the Mocha Sans Rival and the Lusso Gelato. Both desserts were interesting. Sans Rival was cooked to a crisp – which is how I like my Sans Rival. As for the Gelato – it had olive oil and sea salt – which I have heard of before but never really tried. It was a good way of cleaning the palate after the rich flavors of the sandwiches we had.