Posts tagged Restaurant Rave

Last night was my dear friend Pam’s birthday dinner. I was feeling the flu coming and was going to beg off from attending, but decided to go last minute because I hadn’t seen some of my good friends in a long while.

La Cocina de Tita Moning is located in San Miguel, Manila. It is an ancestral home that has been converted into a museum/ restaurant. Don’t let them hear you call it that though, because according to the website, they are not a restaurant, but a dining experience. And indeed it was. While waiting, we were brought to wait in the outdoor veranda, and served drinks and appetizers. There is a museum tour before you are seated for your meal, so they prefer that the whole group is complete before going in.

When everyone was there, one of the girls on the staff brought us to the entrance of the house and gave us a brief history of the place and the family that once lived there. Since there are so few places in this city that are actually preserved and looked after, I am always happy to visit such places and take in a bit of the past.

It was almost 8:30 when we sat down to start dinner and we were all starving. While waiting for our soup, they served bread and Salsa Monja, a mix of pickled shallots and olives used as a condiment for main dishes like fish, chicken and steak.The word monja means “nun”, and this sauce is named after them because traditionally, it’s what nuns used to prepare for priests as an accompaniment to their meals.

We started with Sopa de Ajo (Garlic Soup) I loved the mild but distinct garlic taste of this clear soup. To add a different twist, a whole egg was added into the soup under a slice of home made bread. Before eating, you mix the egg to incorporate it into the soup. On second thought, this might actually be the more traditional way of making Sopa de Ajo because La Cocina de Tita Moning prides itself in serving dishes using heirloom recipes passed on through generations. Be careful not to lose your appetite , it is quite filling! I only ate half of it.

The next course was a salad. Our hostess with the mostest pre-picked the Fresh Arugula with mangoes and grapes, caramelized walnuts, and home made walnut vinaigrette, topped with cubes of gorgonzola cheese. I love the peppery taste of arugula so this was a definite thumbs up for me. They were generous with the walnuts, fruits and cheese and the dressing wasn’t overpowering. All in all, the perfect salad.

Sorry I kind of ate it before I remembered to take a photo!

We had two choices for our main- La Cocina Seafood Zarzuela with fresh parsley and almond paste or Lengua cooked in White Wine. Although I would usually pick meat over seafood any day, I’m not a big fan of lengua. I’ve tried it and the taste is actually very good, but I can’t get over the fact that it’s tongue, especially after seeing it raw at the butcher shop.

We were also served organic brown rice, Paella Valencia and Sauteed Fresh ubod (love!) to go with our meal. I loved everything, but was really looking forward to dessert, so I stopped myself from eating too much. I only got one portion of the paella and sauteed ubod, and ate half of my main.

For dessert, Pam ordered the Sample of three desserts, which consisted of Mango crumble topped with Macapuno ice cream, Caramelized Saba bananas with vermouth and Tita Moning’s Bread Pudding. I didn’t even stop myself, I ate every last bite of this! The mango crumble was nice and warm, with fresh mangoes and yummy macapuno ice cream melting into it. The bananas were a not as sweet version of banana-cue and the bread pudding…mmmmm. I think I will try and make that for my next Kitchen Chaos experiment!

The rest of the night was spent catching up over glasses of wine and doing what we do best-camwhoring!

Preview’s Vicky Montenegro, Make-up artist Robbie Pinera, Celebrity Photographer and Stylists Mark Nicdao, Pam Quinones and Bea Constantino, Miss Kitschen Gourmet and Make-up artist Jigs Mayuga

DJ Mars MIranda, Chalk Fashion Editor Bianca Santiago, NIke’s Raoul Reinoso with Vicky and Mark.

Birthday Girl Pam Quinones

Last night’s menu!

La Cocina de Tita Moning is located at 315 San Rafael Street, San Miguel District, Manila. For reservations, call 7342146 or 7342141. Check their menus and list of products at www.lacocinadetitamoning.com

Those who have been to Baguio have most likely eaten at Forest House. Along with Cafe by the Ruins, it is one of the most recommend places in Baguio when tourists ask for a good place to eat. I was up in the mountains over the weekend and had dinner with my parents at Forest House last Saturday.

The menu is best described as Filipino Contemporary, with stuff like Pizzadillas, Five flavor honey chicken wings and Sisig Dagat on their “Appeteasers” menu,  as well as Potato Cheese Chowder and Mixed Seafood Thai Angel Hair Soup, Crab and Mango and Chicken Caesar Salads and Sesame Crusted Fish Fillet and Charbroiled meats.

Ambiance wise, it is a nice, cozy space that is great for weekend dinners with the family, or dates with the boyfriend. Price wise, it won’t burn a hole in your pocket. There is nothing that is more than P650 on the menu.

I started with the Potato Cheese Chowder (P90), which was served in a bread bowl. I miss eating soup out of bread bowls, because I love how the excess bread you scrape off the inside of it gets chewy when mixed with soup. This soup was full flavored but light at the same time. A good starter if you plan to have a bigger main and also works as the perfect pair to a salad and appetizer to share.

After a lot of debating in my head (I’m always the last to order when eating out. There are too many things I want and I need time to narrow down my choices) I picked one of the simpler dishes on the menu- Salpicado. Contrary to what people think, you CAN mess up Salpicao. In my opinion, this dish needs to be flavorful, satisfying, yet be straight to the point. I’ve had salpicao where they put bell peppers in the dish and, in reality, you don’t need all of that stuff. Good beef, lots of garlic, freshly ground pepper and soy sauce is all you really need.

The Forest House version of Salpicado (P475) uses Australian grain fed beef (already a good sign-perhaps I am biased because of my affiliation with Australia but I love Aussie beef!) They asked me how I wanted it done and I said Medium Rare. It came out Medium, which was still all good with me. This is my idea of comfort food, and Forest House did not disappoint. The beef was tender and garlicky and the rice fluffy. I honestly prefer sticky rice with everything but I wasn’t bothered that this wasn’t.

Although already full, I had to have dessert (Of course!) My original choice of Strawberry Panna Cotta was not available so I decided to go with the creme brulee instead. Big mIstake. It was already made and they just basically took it out of the fridge and torched some sugar on top. I was not very happy with this and should have skipped dessert completely. Perhaps they have better ones (I saw a lot of cheesecakes but I’m not a fan) but this was definitely not one of their strong suits.

Abdul ordered the Chicken Kebab (P225) which was more barbecued and didn’t really taste middle eastern. But it he said it was good and finished the whole plate anyway. We also ordered a bunch of starters including the Five Flavor Honey Chicken (P155) which i really liked. It tasted very Asian with it’s five spice rub and had a sweet honey based sauce.

All in all though, Forest House is a Baguio staple you shouldn’t miss. Even if new restaurants are opening, it is worth your time to swing by and have a meal here. The food is generally good, uncomplicated and reasonably priced. It is a cozy place to keep warm with a good meal before going back out into the cold Baguio air.

Forest House is located at 16 Loakan Road, Baguio City. For reservations, please call (074) 447 -04 - 59  or (074) 304 -45 - 53.

Warning: This post has no photos. I was too busy eating.

Very few things make me happier than a well-cooked steak. After so many “misses” in the last few months, I finally encountered a “hit”- and not even in a new place. L’Opera has been around for awhile, but I had not eaten there in awhile. I was initially reluctant to order steak because of the many below par ones I have been eating in restaurants lately. I usually save the steak for home consumption, where I can cook it exactly the way I like it-medium rare (medium at most) For some reason, so many people do not understand that by medium rare, I mean almost red, and bloody when cut. When I ask for medium rare, I get a barely pink steak, and when I ask for medium, I get well-done.

Anyway- I arrived at the restaurant starving so I decided to start with some soup to tide me over. I ordered the Zuppa de Cipolle-onion soup (P220), which, unlike French onion soup that is overloaded with cheese (w/c mind you, I like also) was encased in a pastry shell. This version was light, with tender pieces of onion and did not leave me too full to eat my main.

I ordered the Tagliata di Manzo con Fegato D’oca in Salsa Tartufata con Spinaci e Asparagus or Baked Prime U.S. beef tenderloin in L’Opera’s truffle sauce embedded with pan-fried Foie Gras and served with fresh spinach and asparagus (P1,100) I cut a slice of beef and was ecstatic to see nice red meat inside. The foie gras added another dimension to the beef, and if it wasn’t rich enough, the truffle sauce made it to die for. I ate every last bite of this meal. Why have I not been to L’Opera in a long time again?!

You would think that one would be stuffed after eating all of that, but I wanted something sweet. The panna cotta con frutti de bosco (P240) called out to me, so I ordered that despite knowing that it would probably be heavy. Screw it, It was a Sunday! Another thing I love is a well-made panna cotta. It is such a simple, clean tasting dessert and can be topped with almost anything. I had asked for raspberry topping on mine and when my order came, I was taken by surprise at how big the serving was. But no complaints, I ate (almost) the entire thing.

Although this restaurant is not new, it is definitely something you shouldn’t sleep on. Food has always been good for as long as I have been eating here. it may be a little pricey, so save it for special occasions if you must but definitely worth eating here at least once!

L’Opera is located at The Fort Entertainment Complex, 26th St. cor., 5th Ave. Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. Call 889-3963 for reservations