Taktika Berri, Barcelona

I just can't get enough of this type of food...it is such simple honest to goodness cooking, how can you get tired of it? After my meal at Lagunak, I was told that I HAD to try the 'best' Basque restaurant in Barcelona, called Taktika Berri. Of course, how can I pass on an opportunity like this, I just had to try it to find out for myself .

Taktika Berri is almost an institution in Barcelona. As you enter, there is a huge bar on the left side, with the typical Montaditos/Pintxos they serve in the bars in San Sebastian. All kinds of small plates and bread with yummy things on top. I had to resist the temptation to stop at the bar and go straight to my table, since someone was waiting for me.

As we sat down, the waiter came to take our order. They don't have a menu or wine list, so they just tell you what's the special of the day. For wine, obviously I had to have Txakoli, so we ordered a bottle of 2008 Txomin Etxaniz, I was told the best Txakoli available. I have tried this before a few times in our meals at La Tienda and I think this is the best wine to pair with this type of meal. Served in wide tall glasses, they pour at an arms length to 'activate' or 'air' the wine, for it to release its freshness and flavors.

On to the food..for starters, I asked them to give us a selection of their best montaditos from the bar. Very simple pieces of bread, where they 'mount' mixtures of Tuna, crab, egg, etc...anything and everything that's delicious. We had 4 of them to start, a perfect combination with the Txakoli.

We then had our second part of our appetizers: Revuelto de Setas (Eggs and local version of Porcini Mushrooms) and Txangurro (Spider Crab).

The Txangurro was spider Crab, minced with celery and a sort of mayonnaise..I think this is a very typical Basque dish. The revuelto, was a simple omelet with local mushrooms very typical of Spain. With this we continued to enjoy our bottle of Txakoli, which paired very well with the Txangurro.

For Main, of course I could not resist ordering the Chuleton. This is a classic together with others like Bacalao or Kokotxas that you should always have in places like this.

Perfectly cooked, it was charred on the outside and very rare and juicy on the inside. Served with nothing but some rock salt and a few pieces of pimientos, this is how a Chuleton should be. With this, we had a bottle of 2005 Contino Reserva. Contino is a classic Rioja wine, although they have adopted and now are labeled as 'modern Rioja'. Still very enjoyable, although again I should have ordered a more full bodied wine, maybe a Ribera at the minimum.

This is probably the best meal I had this trip...and one of the most authentic or closest you will get to basque cuisine in Barcelona without going to Basque region. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys this type of cuisine.

Restaurante Lagunak, Barcelona

I'm back in Barcelona and back to my usual culinary adventures. In this trip, I am more inclined to try traditional cuisine, rather than the usual modern, molecular cuisine that is so in demand nowadays. My first stop was a place called Lagunak, a traditional Basque Restaurant located very near my house.

They serve typical cuisine from the Basque region, including the traditional montaditos, where you just take the montadito from the bar, where they then charge you by the amount of toothpicks you have on your plate. But we decided to have a sit down dinner instead of the montaditos, since there were some dishes I was craving to have that are not available in the bar.

For starters though, we went to the bar to get some montaditos. There were so many available that I honestly did not know what to get. I ended up choosing 4 kinds of the most popular ones (Crab, Tuna, Bacalao and Empanada). Fantastic way to start our meal, together with a beer.

We also had a plate of Chistorra (traditional type of Chorizo from the Northern region of Spain)

and a Cazuelita de Cordero (Lamb Stew) which was to die for..

We then ordered our main dishes (mostly all traditional Basque dishes). Kokotxas de Merluza Rebozadas, Bacalao en Salsa Verde and Chuleton. All this washed down with some Rioja (2005 Muga Reserva). I would have wanted to order a bottle of Txakoli which I think would have paired perfectly with the Kokotxas and the Bacalao, but decided to just stick with the reds, since the others were not so keen on drinking Txakoli.

Food just can't get any better than this. Honest simple traditional cooking using the best ingredients possible. The Kokotxas de Merluza (Hake throat) were fried with flour, simply served with lemon. The buttery oily texture of the Kokotxas perfectly deep fried, which gave it a little crisp. The Bacalao (Salt cod) was another great dish, with the traditional Salsa Verde (green sauce - Garlic-oil-parsley).

The Chuleton (Steak) was a 700 grams of perfectly cooked steak. At first I thought it may have been over cooked, since they have a tendency to do this in many restaurants in Spain, but once slice proved me wrong. It was medium rare as I like it, although I would have preferred if they had put real fries on the plate, and not chips. Still a very enjoyable dish.

Over all a great dinner which I really enjoyed. I do plan to come back again and try the other traditional dishes they have, or to just have some montaditos and a few beers. For whatever it's worth, I recommend this place to anyone who enjoys this type of cuisine.

Bistro Vue, Melbourne

I was in Australia 2 weeks ago for a short business trip. I was quite excited since it was my first time to go to the "land down under". I immediately did my research on what were the good restaurants to go to. After surfing the net and asking some friends, I had a short list of places to go. I even tried booking at Tetsuyas, supposedly the best restaurant in Sydney - to no avail since it was fully booked for the next months. We did not have much time for meals since we were quite busy, so we ended up eating out in good places just once in Melbourne and once in Sydney.

Melbourne is a city I loved, so cosmopolitan and with a nice European feel to it. For our meal there, we decided on a French Bistro, BISTRO VUE. It was a typical French bistro design restaurant, with lots of wine on the walls as decor. For starters, we had some Sparkling wine from North East Tasmania: CLOVER HILL SPARKLING 2004. Made from Chardonnay 60%, Pinot Noir 40%, this was very fresh despite the fact that it was a 2004 vintage.

We then had our orders of appetizers: We each had one order of: Garlic Snails with Parsley Crust and of course, I could not resist not ordering my Steak Tartare.

The Snails were quite dry ( I was expecting the typical Escargot Bourguignone) but they were surprisingly tasty. After seeing that they were Garlic crusted, I figured out why they would be so dry. The Tartare, one of the better ones I've tasted. It was very creamy and had the right spice to it. It was topped by a poached quail egg, which when pierced, oozed with the liquid gold egg yolk, which even made the dish richer and tastier. Definitely the dish of the night.

Since we were in Melbourne, we decided to go with a Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Coldstream Hills, which we thought would pair well with our main course.

For main course, we had: Darling Downs- 120 days grain fed fillet, with fries and Truffle Mustard. The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The steak was very soft and perfectly cooked, although I found the fries under cooked.

Over all a good experience. We did not have time to eat in any other Melbourne Restaurants (although I had a long list: Movida, Flower Drum, Rockpool, etc..) which I hope to hit when I return some day. We then moved to Sydney, where we had some great meals which I will post soon.

The Miele 2009/2010 Asia Awards

Yesterday, the 2nd awards for the Miele Top Restaurants in Asia were hosted in Singapore. Below is the list of top 20 best Restaurants in Asia according to the Miele guide. Its funny how many of the restaurants mentioned don't even serve Asian cuisine (top 5 restaurants are French Cuisine).

As far as the Philippines is concerned, my favorite Restaurant (Antonios) fell from 10th place last year to 17th place this year. There is also a new Philippine restaurant on the top 20: Aubergine.

I have only been there once and after this award, maybe I should try them again soon..


1. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong, China. (2)
2. Iggy’s, Singapore. (1)
3. Robuchon a Galera, Macau, China. (6)
4. Jaan par Andre, Singapore. (-)
5. Les Amis, Singapore. (3)
6. Mozaic, Bali, Indonesia. (5)
7. Gunther’s Modern French Cuisine, Singapore. (4)
8. Laris, Shanghai, China. (-)
9. Ku De Ta, Bali, Indonesia. (-)
10. Yung Kee, Hong Kong, China. (8)
11. Bukhara, New Delhi, India. (14)
12. Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck, Beijing, China. (-)
13. Zanotti II Ristorante Italiano, Bangkok, Thailand. (19)
14. M on the Bund, Shanghai, China. (17)
15. Nobu, Hong Kong, China. (16)
16. Caprice, Hong Kong, China. (11)
17. Antonio’s, Cavite, Philippines. (10)
18. Aubergine, Manila, Philippines. (-)
19. Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong, China. (18)
20. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Tokyo, Japan. (13)

Aged Rioja Wine Dinner at Terrys

Finally..after a month or so of preparation (and a lot of coordination), we finally had our Aged Rioja Wine Dinner. Thank you Aaron for having the idea of a Rioja dinner and Noel for organizing all the food with JC de Terry. We were 9 in total (Noel, Catha, Aaron, Jo, Jojo, Jay, Keichi, Johnny and myself) and each one was to bring a old/aged Rioja wine (some had acces to their deep collections, some had to scramble and buy -like me) and some brought not so aged wines but very good as well.

The ff was the line up of our wines:

• 1985 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva (Miguel)
• 1985 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (Jojo)
• 1989 Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 890 (Noel)
• 1995 CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva (Jay)
• 1995 Campillo Gran Reserva (Aaron)
• 1997 Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 (Aaron)
• 1998 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (Jay)
• 1999 Cerro Añon Gran Reserva (Johnny)
• 2001 Marqués de Riscal Barón de Chirel (Keiichi)

• 2001 Ondarre Reserva (Care of JC de Terry)

The food was carefully prepared (to pair perfectly with the wine) by JC in coordination with Noel, so we were assured that the food would be top notch and woud pair perfectly with the wines we had.

For starters, we had: Pavia de Ventresca en Remoulade de Anchoas (Deep Fried Tuna Belly with Anchovy Remoulade), paired with a Marques de Caceres Blanco 07. The Tuna belly was soaked overnight with the same wine that it was paired with. A light tempura batter coated the Tuna...delicious. Also a very good touch, the Anchovy Remoulade, which gave it that zingy taste.

Next, and still with the white wine, Gratin de Ostras en Crema de Manchego y Espinacas (Oysters Baked in Manchego Cheese and Spinach Cream). Again, perfectly paired with the wine, the cheese was not just manchego but a bit of Parmesan. Another Beautiful creation...

After a quick break, the third of our appetizers arrived. And for me, one of the best of the night: Suprema de Piquillo Relleno a la Vinagreta de Chistorra (Stuffed Piquillo Peppers topped with Chistorra Vinagrette). This was one of my favourites..stuffed Piquillo with a Pate de Cabrales, tiny bits of Chistorra Chorizo and vinagrette. With lots of flavors and contrasts, I just loved this dish. At this point we still had the white wine for the pairing of this.

They then poured the 2nd wine, a Protos 2007 Rosado. This was a more full bodied, potent slightly aged Rosado which JC recommended as pairing for the ff: Salmis de Caracoles a la Andaluza (Escargots Bathed in a rich Andalusian Sauce) and for me, another one the highlights of the night: Sinfonia de Crustaceos al Rosado de Penafiel (The Quintessential Mediterranean Seafood Soup).

The wine with the dishes were a perfect match..the Escargots, neatly tucked into small clay pots, with some mashed potatoes and a pice of crispy bacon, simply fantastic. The soup, was a semi-clear broth (If I am not mistaken, he used some rosado wine for to make the broth), with a mix of Scallops, Mantis Shrimp, fish and Squid. On the side, a mixture of Extra virgin Olive Oil, Parsley, Garlic to give the dish some kick and spice. I am really not a soup person, but this kinda of soup, I can have everyday.

We then took a breather and while waiting, we had the red wines opened. The staff at Terrys were not keen on opening it themselves for fear of damaging the cork, since many of the bottles were old. We then decided to have the "Masters" in opening old bottles Jojo and Johnny do the job, which did did very well and willingly. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.

The first flight of red wines were served, together with our 'first' Main Course: Bien-Me-Sabe de Caballa (The famous Seared Adobo Mackarel from Cadiz). Very lightly seared mackarel, with a salad and slightly drizzled with Olive Oil and 12 year old Balsamic Vinegar. At this point I wish I had saved some of my white wine for this, but since I had no more, so I decided to have this without any wine.

Wines were poured and we started the tasting of the first flight or reds.

The main dish was served: Rabo de Toro en Chilindron de Tempranillo (Ox Tail in Chilindron Sauce enhanced with tempranillo). Chilindron is a typical sauce from Aragon, where they use several kinds of peppers and paper thin slices of Jamon Serrano, which eventually melt away and become part of the Sauce. JC tweaked a bit the sauce by adding tempranillo (red wine made of tempranillo grapes) to match our theme dinner. The Ox Tail was very tender, and the sauce was just to die for. It was perfectly accompanied by a side of Arroz Bomba with some Garbanzos. This dish I really enjoyed with the latter wines of the first flight (La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 1989 and the CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva 1995). They had more body and weight and paired good with the heavy sauce of the Ox Tail.

The 2nd flight of red wines were poured (sorry I have not pictures fo them-I was having too much fun drinking and laughing that I forgot to take some pictures) and we continued our tasting. Of the second flight, I enjoyed the Baron de Chirel, very dark, masculine powerful wine, although I think it was still a bit tight/closed but with more time in the bottle, or some decanting, this wine can show its worth.

For dessert, another masterpiece from JC: Recuerdos de mi Infancia - Pera Confitada en Vino Dulce de Jumilla sobre Espuma de Anis Avainillado (Pear Confit on a fluffy foam of Anis Seed and Vanilla). The Pear was poached with the same dessert wine that was served, a Casa de la Ermita late Harvest Viogner 2006. The fact that the wine was not so sweet I liked, since it did not overpower the pears, which was really the star of the dish.

We then lingered around the tables (there were several other clients in the Restaurant that we knew) tasting and re-tasting the wines. JC gifted us with a short piece on the Piano, an Andalusian piece of his own creation, and a few minutes before 12, we called it a night.

Again, I would like to thank everybody who made this possible. Also a very special thanks to JC de Terry, who went out of his way to prepare us this special meal and all the passion he put into creating it. I hope some time very soon we can repeat and have another spectacular meal like this..a Riber del Duero dinner perhaps??....

Viva La Rioja !!!!!

Barcelona: Vell Sarria, Andreu, Bar Tomas, etc.....

I'm on a roll and decided to post this, from my trip to Spain 2 months ago. They are bits and pieces of different food I had, but not lengthy enough to post them separately, so I decided to put them all in one post.

My last Sunday in Barcelona, we decided to go to a place that we have been many times: VELL SARRIA. a classic place where they serve "arrossos" or "arrozes"..basically: Paella. They do not like to call it Paella because it's not really traditional Paella. It is more the Catalan way of cooking, more wet/soupy than usual. Usually the ingredients are the same. In our case, we had Paella de Verduras. Like I said it was not as dry as the paellas I am used to but the taste was just heaven. How in the world can they make vegetable Paella taste so good...no pork, fish, seafood, etc..just plain simple veggies.

This was a light lunch so we had the Arroz de Verduras, Calamares a la Andaluza (Andalusian Calamares - slight fried with flour) and Pescadito Frito (Fried baby fish), another typical dish from the South of Spain. The fish and squid were so fresh, refreshing, that we had second orders of both. With this we had a bottle of Martin Codax Albarino, which was a perfect match. What a good way to spend a lazy Sunday summer lunch.

The day before that, we decided to have the 'aperitivo' - a typical Spanish term, for having a drink-tapas before a meal, which is usually lunch. Our Aperitivo, which ended up being our lunch, was at a place called Andreu. Its basically a Charcuteria (Deli) which has a small bar. They specialize in Cheese, Jamon Iberico and other Spanish deli.

All of them are served in a Coca (typical Catalan bread) drizzled with Olive Oil. We had: Sobrassada with melted Manchego, Virutas de Jamon Iberico (Virutas are the small bits and pieces that fall off the leg of Jamon while they are slicing it - for me the most tasty part of the leg) and Queso de Cabra con Miel (Goat Cheese with Honey).. Needless to say, we had double orders of all of the dishes, washed down with house red (Ribera).

Last, one of my all time favorites bars to go to in Barcelona. Growing up, we used to go practically weekly, for some beers, and what they are most known for: Patatas Bravas. The place is called BAR TOMAS. Even if located in the residential part of town (Sarria), people go out of their way to pass by, order a couple of beers and a small plate of Tapas. The Bravas of Bar Tomas, probably the best I've tried. They don't serve anything else (aside from Olives, Anchovies and Croquetas), so they basically survice on selling mainly Patatas Bravas and Beer.

Patatas Bravas, for those who don't know, consists of potatoes that have been cut into irregular shapes and then boiled in brine first then fried in oil and served covered in a sauce made of olive oil, red pepper, paprika, and vinegar with a side of alioli. I could easily describe this a little piece of heaven on a plate (if properly done of course) and together with draft beer, it can't get any better. I know the dish looks very simple and you are probably asking why I am raving about this so much, so you will have to try it to understand..

This ends my post on various meals I had in my last trip to Spain. Watch out for my next post: A dinner at Terrys with Aged Rioja wine as the main attraction...Hasta Pronto!!

Restaurante Hofmann, Barcelona

Ok ok... I admit, I've not been posting for a while, since I got caught between work and travelling, so now that I have time, I decided to continue. Hofmann is a Restaurant In Barcelona I've always wanted to try. Heard so much about it that I told myself that on my next trip to Barcelona I had to try it, so I did.

My aunt, who is my eating partner in while I am in Spain was treating for this meal, so what more could I ask for? My mom also joined us for this dinner. Hofmann is a very elegant, refined, classic restaurant with some modern dishes. They have had one Michelin star for a quite some time now and they also run a culinary school, one of the most recognized in Barcelona.

For starters, the Amuse Bouche: a platter of several dishes: Sweet olives, Bunuelos de Bacalao, Cinnamon sticks, Gazpacho in a shot glass and Cheese Ice Cream topped with grated Reggiano. They were all correct, but quite simple and noting really stood out of the ordinary.

For our first plate, I had Calamar de Potera Asado con Guisantes, Crema de Cebolla y Tempura de Cebolla Negra (Squid caught the traditional way (line or Jig Caught)Peas, Onion Cream and Tempura of Black Onions. As you can see, the dish looks quite complicated but I enjoyed the freshness of the Squid and the sweetness of the Onion cream. I've noticed that the seafood caught in the Mediterranean waters are much tastier than any others I've tried, and this was not an exception. I paired this dish with a fresh Albarino, which went very well.

Another Starter I'd like to highlight, was the Farcellets de Acelgas rellenas de Mascarpone, Pinones y pasas con crujiente de Panceta (Slightly fried Swiss Chard filled with Mascarpone with Pine nuts, raisins and crunchy Pancetta Iberico)..whew that was long...this was actually one of the best dishes. The chard, which is a type of beet, slightly fried with melted mascarpone cheese was delicious. The crunch of the Iberian Pancetta gave the dish good contrast.

For mains, we had: Pichon Crujiente en Dos Texturas, con Chutney de Cebolla Especiada (Crunchy young Pigeon 2 ways with Spiced Onion Chutney), another great dish. The crispy part was very tasty while the 'other way' was gamey, perfect for the Ribera del Duero glass of wine I had. The Onion Chutney had the exact spice and sweetness to give the pigeon.

I did not have a chance to try the other 2 dishes my Mom and Aunt had, but I will post the pictures. My Aunt had a Foie dish (probably the biggest cut of Foie I've seen served on a single plate) which had chocolate, a balsamic reduction and cherries. Quite simple straight forward Foie, correct but just way over-sized...

Over all, another great dining experience. You can never really get enough of the dining/food scene in Barcelona, although many tend to be on the modern/molecular type, which quite frankly I am getting a bit tired of already. Hofmann was different, a combination of classic, traditional, modern cooking but not to over the top. On my next trip, I plan to search for more traditional Spanish cooking restaurants, basically like a back to basics, not so fancy cooking.