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Kulinarya

Had dinner this evening in Kulinarya Kitchen at Rockwell. I guess until I find myself a job, I am going to be doing my “frustrated restaurant critic” undercover work. I have been to Kulinarya years ago and back then I thought it was good. Having tried it again, I must say I am quite amazed that it is even better. The food seemed a lot better and even more impressive is that, unlike most restaurants in Manila, it has managed to keep it’s quality as good or even better than when they started. I feel that almost all restaurants in Manila have a shelf life. After six months, quality goes down, the vibe of the place changes, service dips as well. Hence why I was really pleased with Kulinarya.

And now for the fun part… the food.

For starters, we ordered 2 Crab and Mango Salads to share amongst us four. In which, they nicely plated for us already in our shared portions. The salad is a bed of lettuce with crab sticks and mango slices, dressed with balsamic vingar and some special mayo. For the main course, I had the Pork Tenderloin Scallopine. It was better than I expected it to be. Together with the Pork Tenderloin was a small portion of mushroom risotto and a hint of what I assume was pesto dressing on the side. The whole dish was so moorish! Over all, good dinning experience and very reasonable too.

Tortang Talong

While everyone was out (or so I assume) celebrating Valentines last week. I was attempting to make one of my favorite comfort foods. I have never celebrated Valentines, so to me I am quite used to it. So the Torang Talong wasn’t something I was having to wash away my misery of single-hood. It was just time to make some Filipino soul food.

I present to you less than 8 simple steps to make this. I’d like to call it “The Idiot’s Guide to Tortang Talong”.

As most stoves in Europe are electric, perhaps you can put this under the grill in the oven. However, I don’t know if it will give it the smokey taste that makes Tortang Talong so good. Oh, perhaps a bbq grill would work too.

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España en Manila

Instituto Cervantes in Manila, Luneta Park and a Spanish Building in Intramuros

This has been a busy week for me. My brother arrived on Monday from Zagreb, which has filled our home with much happiness and joy. Although, we are missing the remaining pieces of our family puzzle. There has been quite a few meeting with friends and family during the week. In between everything, I have been sneaking some time to revise my Spanish. I had to arrange to take a level test in order to proceed to the next level which starts tomorrow.

So finally today, in between what seemed like a manic day. Thanks to my mom, I was able to squeeze in a few hours to get this sorted. I realised that Instituto Cervantes here in Manila, was not near my old university but even further! It is located in Kalaw which is near the real core of Manila, Intramuros. The drive there was hell! Jeepney’s were all over the place, stopping in the middle of no where to pick up passangers. People dashing into the streets like its nobody’s business. Crazy people walking about, and I don’t mean ha-ha crazy, I mean real mentally ill people! This made me think twice whether to push through with the course, since it was such a hell journey to get there. So different from my usual Jubilee line to Green Park to get to Victoria Station and a few minutes walk to the very plush Sloan Square area! Anyway, finally get there and the building is really nice and modern. I enter and found the building fantastic. The people working there were so nice and friendly. Spanish people walking past me kept greeting me “Hola!”. I was sold, this was the reason why I loved going to my Spanish classes. I am just going to have to bare that horrid journey once a week, and perhaps find a simpler and better route.

I finally speak to someone there, telling them I would like to take the level test. They then inform me that I had to wait as there were no teachers available to test me. I then asked if it was a written test. She said no, it was an oral test like an interview! Que Madre! Que horror! So I sat there trying to remember as much as I could. Having being at her end, I knew what she would ask me and so I tried to have my answers ready in my head. But even then, I know I stuttered like a fool! Speaking is my weak points as I have no one to converse with. Anyway, she was extremely nice and thought I was good enough for the next level. Phew! So I start level three tomorrow.

After that quick visit we headed towards intramuros as we had to pick up my brother from an errand he had to do. On the way there, we passed landmarks such as Luneta and Intramuros itself. On the way there, I saw one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Manila. It had such a European style to it and looking at it now in the photos, you could easily mistake it for a photo in Europe. I think it looks fantastic! I wish more buildings in that are were restored to this state and keep up to the beauty it once was. I think next week, my brother and I shall attempt to visit this area more and explore Intramuros to it’s fullest. I think this is the closest I am going to get to Spain at the moment. It is hard to not take advantage of it, since it is right on my finger tips!

I realised today, I don’t hate Manila for it being Manila. I am seeing it now through tourist’s eyes for some reason and I am seeing it’s beauty. But the reason I perhaps hate it is because I can see its potential to be this amazing place and it will never be that way. And it’s downfall makes life living here so difficult at times or most of the time. I like the fast paced of life or fast -ish, and here, it is the complete opposite! Life, people pass by so slowly. But I guess the mañana mentality will always be there, sadly it what also makes it such a good place to be in.

Gourdo’s

Last Saturday I met a friend of mine and she took me to Market!Market! I had been hearing about this place since I was in London and I was quite curious to see what it is all about. It was not really my scene as it was another enormous mall that was extremely loud and reminded me of a more chaotic Glorietta Mall. Perhaps, I didn’t explore all the areas to be explored but I didn’t find anything of any interest. Oh except for one shop, which sold nice home accessories and (market) bags made out of rattan.

I was still in the hunt for my bleeding cheese slicer then and I decided we should head to Gourdo’s also to have some merienda. My sister had been before and said the food was pretty good. No available cheese slicer in sight, but my friend and I managed to find something on the Gourdo’s menu. Tiramisu and my first cup of Illy coffee. Though I doubt it was really Illy because I didn’t taste like it, but decent nevertheless. The Tiramisu was not bad either. I have read several reviews about Gourdo’s, not positive ones. I see this place as having a lot of potential and perhaps when it first opened it was probably absolutely fine. But I seem to notice that restaurants now in Manila have a “shelf life”. After that span of time, you can feel the place feel sad. Furniture was not well maintained. Air-condition was not in full power, like in most places, perhaps — cost cutting.

I did find a cheese slicer in the end, yesterday. It was at an extortionate price of £4!! Que madre! since you can get it at Ikea for probably a quid! But it was the only one I had seen so, I had to pay the price… literally.

Hard Cheese!

Ever since I have become an “expat”, I have been trying to find the stuff I used to indulge in (breads, cheeses, coffee, …food!) and try and carry on having it here in the Phils. It’s really hard to do so for the reason being, this country has a different food culture and certain things just does not grow or work in this environment. Either that, or it’s not available. Even local products are not easily available anymore.

So when I went to our local deli, Santi’s, and found one of my favorite cheeses I couldn’t help but say “Thank you God!!!”. The Appenzeller cheese is produced from the Appenzeller region in Switzerland and is a hard cheese made from cow’s milk. It is perfect to with some butter and nice crusty bread (which I haven’t found yet!). I am salivating at the thought of it all! I first tried this particular cheese with my family in Sweden when I was visiting.

Reading up a bit about the Appenzeller cheese, I found out that it has three types of maturity and are labeled as such. The one I got, which is labeled as Silver is known as the Classic. It is aged from between 3 - 4 months. The Surchoix, is the Gold lable and is aged for 4 - 6 months. And finally the Extra, is aged for 6 months or longer and is black labeled.

Happy as I was to find one of my favorite cheeses, I realised we didn’t have a proper cheese slicer that could cut this cheese! Imagine my frustration. I tried as much as I could and if you look closely at the photo, you will see how I nearly killed this beauty of a block of cheese! So that has been my challenge the past week. Must… find… one…!

Just a bit of trivia… the expression “hard cheese” which I chose as my title is also a brit expression meaning — tough luck. True that!

This Little Piggy went to the Market

Last Saturday, I turned another year older. I can’t say I feel any different except that the older you get, the more irrelevant your birthday feels. I never understood that concept when I would hear about it from the “elders” around me, and never thought I would ever feel that way one day. Nevertheless, I still tried to enjoy the day with things that matter to me: food, pampering and family.

I decided that the first thing I wanted to do was to check out the much talked about Salcedo Market in Makati. In London on a Saturday, that’s pretty much what I would do. Go with my sister to the London Borough Market. Creature of habit I suppose? Anyway, it is hard to compare both markets as they are quite different. It goes without saying which one I prefer. However, the Salcedo Market I thought was a very good attempt for Manila.

They have various plants and flowers that you can buy. I think in my next trip to the market, I will look into getting some greenery. They also had stalls that sold filipino delicacies such as puto, bibingka, leche flan and balot to name a few. They even sold some homemade breads. However, it is not to my liking as I have found out that the breads being sold here are steamed. Sourdough and rye breads which look identical to the ones you get in Europe, when you feel them are almost as soft as a soft roll. I really find this rather disappointing. I guess my best bet for bread would have to be the Peninsula. Like all markets, they sold veggies, fruits and meats. Fellow palengkeros (market goers) and myself found it amusing watching this man blow torch cooked chicken to give it that roasted feel.

It was quite a nice experience going to this market as my mom had bumped into people she knew. And scarily enough so did I! While I was looking at some vegetables, I head someone say my name and I looked up and the lady asked me if I remembered her. I said “Mary?”, it happened to be my cousin’s nanny when she was a baby (20 odd years ago). I was more shocked that she recognized me after all those years, than actually seeing her. I guess that is why I like going to the markets rather than a supermercado. It is all about the vibe it has and you don’t have this sterile environment surrounding food.

A lot of the stalls in Salcedo Market sold ready-to-eat food. For instance they had a Paella stand, Kashmir, Barbecue, Cakes etc. It’s a good idea, but I wished they would have more variety of cheeses, and other goods. I was quite pleased to find however, a local paté made from Milkfish, locally known as Bangus. This has got to be one of my favorite kind of fish. I would have never thought of it in the form of paté, but it does work.

And finally… I couldn’t leave the market without having Manila Barbecue. Pork barbecue is soooo good. The smell of barbecue surrounds the market and you tend to feel like one of those cartoon characters being drawn in by the waft of bbq scents. I need not say more… the picture speaks for itself.

Calamansi (an ode)

I have finally have had my Calamansi fix! For me, nothing beats the juice of a calamansi. It isn’t as sour as a lemon or lime and it has a certain citrus sweetness that no other fruit can be compared to. In Mexico, they have something similar to a calamansi and it is known as Lemoncito. I have never tried it but my good friend Paula and I were discussing the two and we think it is pretty much the same thing.

Growing up, this was the Calamansi juice was the only thing we would have. I wanted to be like the kids you would see on TV, drinking orange juice. But in Manila, the only thing you would get close to orange juice would be Tang, Hi-C, Sunkist etc., which is barely resembles the real thing.

There is something about the smell of Calamansi juice and toast in the mornings that will always remind me of my father. I guess this is why I am fond of this fruit. When I was in London, I really missed drinking the juice, when I had an abundance of orange and grapefruit juice. Being back home now, I have been making the most out of drinking Calamansi juice — almost every morning.

Feliz Cumpleaños a mi y a mi amiga Paula!

Dulcinea

Churros con Chocolaté

I’m back in the game, only writing about food from the homeland. Dulcinea, was always known to have pretty good if not the best Churros in town. In fact, I don’t know if there is any other place here that actually sells the stuff. I’m sure there must be. We can’t have been colonized by the Spaniards for 300 years only to get only one place to serve us churros!

Unfortunately, the experience of having Churros yesterday wasn’t a good one. The Churros in Dulcinea was very oily and rather tasteless. It had a hint of burntness to it’s taste. Oh well, I thought maybe the Chocolaté will make up for it. But that wasn’t impressive either. The chocolate was very runny (note the chocolate in the side of the cup) and didn’t coat the Churros as well as it should have. It tasted quite stale as well. So, sorry Dulcinea, you need to step up your game.

Yesterday’s experience made me miss the Churros I had in London just last weekend. It was extremely good. I didn’t find the churros oily at all. It was just so moorish and the experience being there made it even better. I guess I really am going to have to learn to make Churros myself in order to satisfy my craving.

Other foodie report is my search for good bread. I wasn’t successful in that department as well. I went to check a bakery called Le Coeur de France, but still it was all white breads being sold. Not impressed, I went to check the supermarket two doors down and found something which I thought was vaguely better. It was by Village Baker, Sourdough. It didn’t look right, but decided to give it a go. Had some of it for dinner, and it was still your white bread on the inside. Que sera. I think I am going to have to check The Peninsula bakery for this one.

On other news, I had my first beauty sessions yesterday. Getting nails done for a mere £2.50 and eyebrows for £1.90!!! That is 100% less than what I used to pay in London! Plus the can do customer service attitude. So there were some highlights to my day.

The jet-lag doesn’t seem to be getting better. I am able to sleep early but I always wake up around midnight or just after — starving. I guess it’s my body thinking that it is almost dinner time in London, and it wants me to give it some food. So I guess it is time for a tiny Non-sourdough bread with some Paté.