Finally had a chance to eat here, since I have been hearing so much about it. The general opinion is that its a hit or miss place - so obviously had to verify this myself. Also, the fact that they have steak Tartare as a regular dish on the menu really attracted me. Another interesting fact: The Chef is Alain Raye, 2 star Michelin Chef of La Regalade in Vancouver.
The menu was not an extensive one but they have a blackboard by the kitchen that shows their specials of the day. The waiter, who was very attentive, recommended the Tuna Tartare for starters and a sort of filo pastry with apple and blue cheese. While waiting, they served us bread with a cheese flavored butter.
The Blue cheese dish was nothing great, in fact I could hardly taste the cheese. On the other hand the tuna Tartare was pretty good. It had a strong spicy bite to it which was very well compensated by the mango, which was a bit sweet.
For the main dish, I obviously had the steak tartare. The presentation was nothing great - just a plain dish with a patty of raw beef in the middle. It came with fries and salad. Taste wise - the dish was ok...but for my taste the beef was not minced/ground properly. It had a lot of fat - which I didn't expect as normally there is hardly any fat in a good steak tartare. Over all it was ok but noting really to rave about. I do like thou the fact that its in their menu as a regular dish (its quite hard to find tartare on the menus of most restaurants since many do not like it) and will probably eat there again to give this dish a second chance.
While we were having our espresso, the owner of the restaurant came to our table and introduced himself. He recommended we try the 7 hour marinated lamb dish with wine reduction, so thats definitely something I will have to try soon. Ambiance and service was great but I have to give the food a second chance.
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Nice pictures. I asked about the tartare the first time I was there but they said their frier was broken so they couldn't serve it with French fries. Thus, I went for the rib-eye which was pretty good - served with delicious roasted/caramelized shallots and garlic.
The apricot lamb stew's flavor is nice (good timpla), but seems to lack depth to me. Tastes like it was put together quickly with not enough simmering time. My wife likes it though.
Anyway, curious to know how you'll find it when you get to try it.
Nice to know they have good tuna tartare... I love that dish but haven't found one in Manila that's really good. I'll surely try it...
Tartare was so-so...nothing to rave about. I wouldnt go back for it. I was with Edwin and he had the same comment as you - lack of depth in the favlor of his chicken (he had Chicken Fricasse).
I'll probably go back again a few months from now and see if they have improved.
How was the gourmand lunch?
Chinkee - this one is pretty ok....although its a special so i dont know if they have it on their regular menu...
How was the gourmand lunch?
By now, you've read my blog and know how it went. Will bring the '07 Tempier Rosé for you and Rene to try at his dinner. It's incredible.
N
By the way, funny story connected with the lunch. We definitely know the French duck was wild because the Stockbroker encountered 2 buckshot pellets in his duck. Authentic! Hah ha! Needless to state, we all chewed very carefully after that discovery.
N
Wow looking forward to trying the Rose wine....and wow that wild duck with pellets means its really wild duck. Where on earth does Chef Marc get it?? :)
Where on earth does Chef Marc get it??
Marc has an importer he uses for his French ingredients, I don't know who it is. If I have a special request, I have to give him around 2-½ weeks prior notice to bring it in.
For this last lunch, I gave him only one week notice and requested roast French pigeon. Since there wasn't enough time, he said maybe his imported instead had wild French duck because it was autumn hunting season. Luckily, the importer had some on hand, so that's what we had.
Boel
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