8 years after…

 Wow it’s been 8 years since I’ve last posted on this blog…quite some time - many things have happened since then. Lots of ups and downs in my life but I’m a survivor and will continue to pull through no matter what.

I still love food and decided to start updating again here after a tasting dinner we had last night in one of the restaurants that is part of the group I’m currently connected with. I was seated beside Chef S, our current corporate Chef and we talked about memorable meals and I explained to him the story which got me to be obsessed with food: my meal at El Bulli. There’s and extensive 3 part post at the beginning of this blog site if you would care to read it.

Last night was a tasting dinner by Chef Manny, my former head chef in one of my restaurants. He left during pandemic for Spain and is based in Barcelona now. I’m happy to see how he has evolved as a chef and how his creativity has flourished. He cooked along side Chef Gerard Lorente who is also based in Barcelona- he is an equally creative and excellent Chef.

The theme of the dinner was Cocina-Kusina- a play on their Filipino and Spanish culinary roots. Here are women of the notable dishes we had:

Sinigang

Canelones de rabo de Toro with Kare kare sauce

Pluma Ibéricas with Diniguan sauce

                                               Arroz Meloso wit cutlefish

                    

                                                The Chefs at work  pre dinner 

Carbonara

Ahhhhh Carbonara…many of my friends know this was an obsession for me and still is. tI tried many restaurants in the Philippines and no one serves it the authentic way: no cream and just eggs. I was lucky enough to have travelled to Italy (Rome particularly) many times, and have been able to try the real thing.

5 simple ingredients - thats all you need: Pasta, Egg, Guanciale (or bacon), Pecorino (or parmesan) and pepper. Many of you will have your own ways of doing it. I have my own and I am quite pleased with the results. If anyone wants to know how I make it, just Pm or email me and I’ll be glad to send it to you. 

Basically. If you can get fresh organic or fee range eggs this is how your Carbonara should look like

There is a lot of pepper but this is really how it is traditionally served. The 'sauce' which is made of egg yolk should just be the exact consistency, creamy, silky wit the right amount of cheese. I add a little pasta water to achieve this and it seems to work. 

Like all good food, it starts by always the best and most fresh ingredients. 

Paella

Having grown up in Spain, I definitely love a good Paella. I remember Sunday lunches with the family, paella and a glass of rosé or a good Rioja wine. The paella was the star dish and everyone convened beside the paella for our Sunday lunch. 

The key to a great paella is the rice. I think a lot of people make the mistake of loading up the Paella with too much rice and meat, seafoods, eggs, peas, etc...for me, how the rice tastes is the most important aspect of a Paella(no offense meant this is just mr personal opinion)

Never ever overload your paella. Just put enough rice to go half way of the pan (rivets) once cooked. That will ensure all the flavor of the broth stays in the rice, and not evaporate into thin air. Remember all the broth has to be soaked by the rice and not by air. 

Make sure your broth is flavorful. Just add a few ingredients to complement the rice. Wether it's all meat, seafood or vegetables. Remember the key is the rice. All the rest is secondary. It's nice to have the 'socarrat' which is the Burt bottom part known as 'tutong', but again please don't overdo it. No one likes eating burnt rice. A little crust or browning will do. 

Speaking about rice, the best rice to use (for me) is arroz Bomba de Calasparra. This is short grain rice, which absorbs all the flavor of the broth. Be careful though, when using this, I add an extra cup of broth per cup of rice(from the usual recipes) since it absorbs much more than the usual Japanese or Calrose rice use locally to Make Paella. 

If you want to eat this the traditional way like In Spain, once cooked, put the pan in the middle of the table, give everyone a wooden spoon and eat directly from the pan. Just make your own imaginary divisions (think pizza slices but made if rice) and no crossing of the imaginary lines. 

My 2 favorites are the all meat paella (shown on top) and a Paella de Bogavante (Lobster Paella)

Enjoy!

It's been a while

Wow!! Last post on this blog was almost 3 years ago. Definitely I need to get back to blogging. Maybe more focused on food I cook. 

I've been cooking a lot and doing other things so I will try to revive this blog. Not so focused on restaurants since there are  tons of other people doing this already and really, I can't keep up with the way they eat out, almost daily. Must hurt their stomachs and also their pockets.  If I do find though something I really like in a restaurant I will definitely post it. 

Ok so this first one is dedicated to Fabada. I made one the other day and I must say, I was very pleased with the results. 

I don't really follow any recipes so if anyone wants to ask me how I did it, just leave a message and I can email you the procedures. You might be a bit frustrated though as I mentioned I don't follow recipes or exact measurements. 

This was done with all ingredients freshly flown in from Spain. From the beans to the meats to the pimentón. 

Cheers!!

La Girolle

Had a quick lunch today at La Girolle, the new restaurant of Chef Ian Padilla located at the Fort near Burgos circle. The menu changes weekly, so whatever was featured here may not be in the menu anymore by next week.

For starters, of course I had to order Beef Tartare. This was was very creamy texture more like mashed potatoes. Not sure if it was really meat to be like this. Taste was good very tangy although I would have wanted a bit more heat. I liked the bits of cucumber which gave it the crunchy texture.




For main, Sous vide pork belly. Not sure how long this was cooked but probably over 20 hours. Very tender pork with crackling crispy skin. This came with mashed potatoes a la Robuchon (very creamy and lots of butter).




Over all a good meal. Will have to go back to try other dishes since it changes weekly.

The restaurant is quite small (but very cozy) so if you plan to go, you need to reserve in advance.

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Antonios Tagaytay

Had lunch yesterday after a long time. I forgot how good the food is.

The best Steak Tartare I've had (and I've had many) is this one.

The Duck Leg Confit, the best I've had in the Philippines.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

I was lucky to have been able to reserve a table at this restaurant. It takes months to get one and you are at the mercy of the time they tell you and how many people can be with you (you book thru the open table website, so everything is automated)

For starters, we had 2 starters: Meat Fruit and Roast Scallops. The meat fruit was a tangerine covered chicken liver parfait. This was delicious. The tangy taste of tangerine was in perfect harmony with the liver. I could have had this all by myself. The scallops, perfectly cooked, had the cucumber ketchup which was quite unique.








For main course I had the black Foot Pork Chop, pointy cabbage and Robert sauce. It also has some sort of crunchy thing on top, pork cracklings maybe very tender and juicy chop. They must use a special kind of Blackfoot pig maybe similar to the pata negra of Spain, which gives it the deep rich flavour.





For dessert we shared a tipsy cake. Spit roasted Pineapple with a sponge cake drowned in liquor. This was interesting as the cake was very rich and the pineapple had the right acidity to it.





Overall a good experience ad service was excellent Don't expect the fancy dishes from the Fat Duck. This place is more a traditional/typical English food bistro. Over great value for money. It takes a whole to get a reservation but I believe it's worth it.

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