Feast at Gourdo's

Gourdo's Cafe is at the Fort Strip, decked beautifully in quirky graphic artworks such as medieval paintings of its chief character Gordo and hand-drawn comic book style collages. We had a feast fit for kings during a private event reservation, buffet-style. It was super good! Everyone left happy, sated and dwelling in warm fuzzy feelings left over by the quaint, homey ambiance (wood-fired ovens, delectable gelato displays and desserts anyone?).

Baby Back Ribs with Barbecue Sauce - soft and flavorful, with the sauce coated sweetly and perfectly 

Beer battered chicken fingers with honey mustard - average fare, but good for pica pica   

Fish pot pie - I loved this one. Creamy, cheesy top crust, and generously filled with what tasted like white fish chunks, teeny sliced baby carrots and mashed potatoes. It was quite addicting, and I had myself spooning one serving after another.

Rib-eye steak - Boy, don't be deceived by the picture because it is amazingly succulent and flavorful, with a rich gravy sauce that topped it off perfectly (the secret ingredient being a hint of Worcestershire inside, maybe?) Very, very good.

These are the toppings of the Asian Salad, which was given an extra kick paired with a sort of soy vinaigrette that tasted surprisingly sweet. I like.

Spaghetti Bolognese - average fare, but tasted authentic and tomato-ey. 

Another winner in this hungarian, mushroom and gorgonzola white cream sauce pasta. The texture of the sauce was smooth and silky, and the hungarian sausage really stood out. That alone was good enough to eat on its own. My table-mates kept wondering if it was truffle infused, because of its delicious, earthy and herb-like taste, which is always a good point of comparison as truffle is very expensive and highly regarded.

Cream of roasted pumpkin soup. Hearty and warmly familiar. My table-mates also loved this. 

Gourdo's Pizza - Grilled chicken, barbecue sauce, cheese and GRAPES. Yes, you heard me right. I love this glorious and unique take on pizza, because the grapes add something really special to the dish. Never would have thought grapes on pizza could become so appealing, but now I have been enlightened. ;)

Peach, bacon and cheese pizza. Another fruit-infused pizza to brighten up the palate. I particularly adored the blue cheese bits on the pizza. Not your average pizza slice, because it's way better! 

I love their textured food props on top of the gelato - like real strawberries, an entire Crunch bar or chocolate blocks. Certainly was a factor in having everyone buzz busily over the counter like bees. If I'm not mistaken, a serving only costs P 70 which is unbelievable value for the premium flavors and rich quality of the creamy gelato.

Capped it off with these brownies - rich, sweet and densely packed with chocolate paired with the Irish Cream gelato which had the perfect sweetness and kick but without the alcoholic aftertaste. It tasted like French vanilla and caramel, or an even better combination of it. 

Sure to come back. I'm eyeing other pieces on the menu -  particularly many of the other gelato flavors, seconds of some of the food we ate, and the salmon panini. It was something we loved in the original menu back in the earlier days, and were dismayed to have it taken out. But it looks like it's back, with a vengeance! ;) 

Elbert's Cheesesteak

This was my lunch yesterday.

Elbert's American Cheesesteak.

If I'm not mistaken, it costs around P 320, which is pretty expensive for a sandwich. However, considering that this is the same Elbert of Elbert's Steak Room in Salcedo Village (known for its steaks and the exorbitant price tag attached, as well as the mysterious door that we mistook for just a plain wall the last time I ate there with my family), I guess this falls within reasonable range.

Eight inches of bread, shredded steak, cheese and onions. I sliced my sandwich in halves, which was fruitless as I ended up eating the whole thing anyway. Oops.

Italianni's Almost Midnight Snack

Fully Booked has a major warehouse sale at their Bonifacio High Street branch, ending tomorrow April 8, 2011. Prices are unbelievable. How low do they go? As low as P 20! Yes, 20 pesos, you read it right. There were tables filled with stacks and stacks of books at price points P 20, P 50, P 70 and P 100. To give you an example of the relative quality of the selection, P 100 included lots of hardbound books (with a pretty diverse selection of business non-fiction, self-help how to's, fiction novels, and more) while P 50 included lots of branded travel books like Fodor's and Frommer's as recent as 2009 and with popular cities. I even saw several books that I had bought full price in the past. 


It was definitely a steal, with people reportedly buying strollers' worth of books and even requiring boxes as they swept the outstanding-value-for-its-price book selection (rapidly trimmed from a large floor area at Fully Booked's Top Shelf when the event started late March, into a small retail space on the third floor by the time we came). Another example of the price versus quality ratio - My cousin bought some sci-fi books by a cult favorite author for a mere P 70 pesos each, when he'd easily have bought it full price for P 700. I hope they make a habit out of this major warehouse clearance sale. Throw in a pleasant, quiet, air-conditioned ambiance, carefully stacked books (all you need to do is circle the tables, reading the titles hands-free), a ready stroller and a special cashier situated for that purpose, and you're all set for some primo bargain-hunting. 


I bought a P70 book by novelist Amy Tan, which I have yet to read. I don't usually buy books anymore, as I have a long list of titles pending in my beloved first generation Kindle (a glorious hand-me-down from my dad). The only thing I miss is the random browsing afforded by paperback copies. I am a browse-a-holic, impatience and curiosity combining as I sometimes read the ending first or significant chunks in the middle before I properly start it from cover to cover. 


After some serious window-shopping (contemplating the height of wedges in Charles & Keith, flabbergasted at the latest Apple technology of 12-core processors, and drooling over pricey dresses in Topshop while mentally weighing it against bargain finds in places like Cotton On, Multiply and Greenhills) as well as a teensy bit of dog-watching (Bonifacio High Street is the place to be whether you're a chic dog owner or just your dog is), we trooped towards a faithful favorite for a late night snack - Italianni's. 


We ate my favorite way - communal dishes placed in the middle and sampled by everyone. I've gotten so attached to getting to try a string of dishes in one restaurant visit, that sometimes ordering a solo dish feels almost lonely. (Unless it's a tried and tested true favorite which I would happily gobble up on my own.) Plus, it also accommodates two of my favorite things - Italian food and appetizers.  

Spaghetti with giant meatballs - tangy tomato and satisfyingly meaty (there were two meatballs, but enough to slice up in small chunks and eat with the linguine)  

 Stuffed mushrooms - cheesy, creamy, mushroom-meaty 

 Italianni's Caesar Salad - classic and sweetly fun to munch on.  

Truffle fries! I haven't eaten in Italianni's for a long time, so this was a pleasant surprise. The sauce was honey-mustard-truffle, which was delightful and endlessly appealing. 

 Salmon carpaccio - tasting like its garnish of capers, olives, spices, and other unnamed ingredients.

Fried calamari - the ultimate pica pica snack food, the right kind of crispy. 

My personal favorite was truffle fries, which did not scrimp on the truffle flavor. The first time I tried truffle fries, it was at Bistecca, and since then I have surmised you can never go wrong with truffle oil and French fries on hand.  It's becoming an addiction. I don't even usually like honey mustard, but with truffle oil? Yum yum. (In the words of the heaviest four year old in the world, Lu Zhihao ;) 

Graduation Buffet Season

So it's graduation season once again. My younger brother graduated from high school, and I from the last ever educational institution I will attend - college. Graduation season is equal to eating time once again, and in this case it's kicked up by a notch for our hotel buffets scheduled right after another. Our food splurge this week does not disappoint.

Some highlights and lowlights:

Circles, Makati Shangri-La (my brother's graduation Friday night) 

We like it for its wide variety of food, good service, flourless chocolate cake, lamb chops with mint jelly (unfortunately, none today!) My mom and aunt also loved the noodle station, with hand-pulled noodles and seafood portions of large mussels, squid and shrimp (bigger than you can find it at the frozen area). My uncle also had some prawns cooked in butter, but he said it was just okay.

 Sushi platters. Don't worry, I didn't finish all of that by myself. My brothers and I started off with sushi appetizers while waiting for the rest of the family. Included here is the trademark salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, lapu-lapu sashimi and spicy tuna (quite good all in all).

 I got chocolate chip cookies, drizzled it with vanilla sauce and strawberries. Although, Spiral in Sofitel still has the honor of having the most delicious cookies.

 Tonight they had a chicken shawarma station. It was really good! I put lots of garlic sauce in mine. Yum. The fried siomai was also quite good. I'll pass on the peppered beef, Indian naan bread (I had to put butter on mine), steamed siomai, and this weird bread and meat pudding that I don't know what convinced me to get.

A slab of prime rib. Personally, I enjoyed it with mint jelly rather than the gravy sauce. Also, I can never resist the wood oven-baked pizzas of Circles and Spiral. Four cheese, give it to me!

 Almond jelly with nata de coco and all the good stuff. Light, sweet and refreshing.

 I got some smoked salmon with garlic cream sauce from the salad station which was hidden behind the noodle soup area. I almost didn't see it if not for my aunt pointing it out. I also shared this heavenly cheese platter with my aunt and brothers, paired with raisins, walnuts, grapes and crackers. It was so good. Grapes with cheese is always a superb combination.

Trademark flourless chocolate cake goodness, and this horrible raspberry cheesecake burger that looked great, but didn't taste it.


Paseo Uno, Mandarin Oriental (my graduation Saturday night)


We were supposed to eat in Heat, Edsa Shangri-La but it was already fully booked. Graduation night, it is. So we decided to eat at Paseo Uno at Mandarin, a place where we haven't gone for quite some time due to establishments like Spiral being more competitive (in terms of variety and promo pricing). But it was a very good decision because Paseo Uno offers a variety of food that is uniquely available only to them. While the other hotel buffets have the usual spread of Japanese sushi, prime rib, and other marginal add-ons like Indian Stations and Chinese stations to relay the impression of variety, Paseo Uno has a carefully selected, quality buffet spread. For one, it has a foie gras station and various high-end seafood offerings that actually look appetizing (sea bass, sea mantis, lobster, etc). The only complaint I have is service! I feel that they are drastically undermanned. All the attendants look harried and are hard to flag down. This creates bottlenecks in the buffet line at times. My dad ordered a temaki from the Japanese station, and it took three follow-ups for it to finally be delivered to our table. My brother ordered sea mantis and it arrived during dessert already. Very poor service, but good selection. It's a wise choice not to compete with other typical hotel offerings, and instead carve out one's own niche.

This time, I decided to focus on seafood, dessert and cheeses. I'm not a very big beef person, and the prime rib from the previous Circles night really filled me up and didn't bring me as much satisfaction as the cheese platter did (tee hee). I did however take a bite of my brother's prime rib and tempura just for sampling purposes. He went back for a second serving of the prime rib so I guess he liked it! There was also roast chicken and lechon, but again those dishes aren't very big on me as they're readily available else where so I didn't attempt to get portions.    

 The salmon confit (middle left) was quite good, and the sea bass (topmost) was so soft and flavorful that I had to come back for seconds and considering thirds. The scallops were very hard (upper right). But if there's one thing that they're famous for, and something they truly deliver on, it's the foie gras (bottom). It melts in your mouth in a unique, rich taste.

 Garlic and lemon prawns (top left) and the slipper lobster (middle top) were quite good. The deviled prawns (top middle), siomai and seafood dumpling, truffle crusted fish (middle bottom) were just okay. I also got smoked salmon and seafood salad which were also nice.

 I forgot to take a picture of this plate, so you can see it's now quite demolished. But it was basically an array of cheeses, grapes (that we had to request for as their refilling was quite slow), smoked salmon again, salmon sashimi, and kani salad. This was a good plate. My mom and I loved the blue cheese.

 I'm not usually a dessert person, but for this dish I would make an exception. The milk tea ice cream and the chocolate crumbly cookie dipped in the chocolate fountain were so good I went back for more. Not visibly seen also are the chunks of nata de coco that I got. I also had a bite of my mom's marble cheesecake, top grade too.

 My brother's sea mantis. Quite good, but each piece didn't have much seafood meat.

 My dad's halo halo bonanza.

Pictures of some stations.


All in all, Paseo Uno seems to have a smaller yet better quality selection. If you're tired of the usual Japanese spreads and looking beyond just the usual meat offerings, Paseo Uno has its foie gras, sea bass, sea mantis, slipper lobster and milk tea ice cream to offer. Calories well-spent!

In the mean time, it's time to get back on that treadmill.

Merienda Bliss: Belgian Stroopwafels

My cousin came back from Europe the other week and brought Belgian "stroopwafels," a family fan favorite. It's a soft baked biscuit interlaced with a sweet caramel filling, sometimes called as a syrup waffle or a treacle waffle. This particular brand I've found to be the best. Gouda's Gilde, I love you.

Best eaten on top of a cup of coffee, with the savory steam softening the stroopwafel. In this picture, I pretended I only wanted half a waffle. Of course, this quickly failed as I ate the other half promptly after.

Delicious.

Graduating From an Era

It's the end of an era. 

When I was younger, school seemed like a never-ending series of graduation and admission. Pre-school, kinder/prep, grade school, high school.... It was one school year after another. And now, I'm at the end of that line. After my short-lived summer, it's not going to be another school year that I go back to. It'll be the real world, a different beginning in store for me. I am about to enter the rat race, without the excuse of my naivete or student age to allow me to coast on by. You know how everyone's always kinder to students? With less expectations and more allowances for mistakes? No more of being spoiled like that, haha! 

I officially graduate this March, 2011 and leave my alma mater of four years, Ateneo De Manila University. It's been my home for the past few years, an institution that I can proudly say I am part of. I can only feel nostalgic about all my Ateneo experiences and tricks that I can now bestow on my younger brother who is entering the same. 

But as I move on and say farewell, I can't help but make a list of the things I'll miss - not just about Ateneo, but the life of a student in general.  

1)      Free cuts   

There are days you just don't feel like going to class. And still you do, forcing yourself to trudge slowly to the classroom and upon arrival, finding out you were being given a beatific gift - a free cut!  

2)      Suspended classes

A guilty pleasure. It's not that I want destruction to rain on our city - that's not the fun in it at all. I just want an excuse not to go to class. The feeling of waking up blearily, wanting desperately to go back to sleep, checking your cellphone and finding a bunch of messages saying "No classes today!"  

3)      Laugh-out-loud funny class moments

Inside jokes in the classroom, a teacher with a great sense of humor, roars of laughter at something unexpected that leaves your stomach hurting.

4)      Seeing your friends

Self-explanatory. You don't need permission to go to school like you do to places on weekends.

5)      Summer, sem-break and Christmas breaks

 Mid-way, I start getting bored anyway and lose things to do. But the anticipation and the countdown that leads to it, and the first few days where doing nothing still feels like bliss.

6)      UAAP basketball games

There's nothing like watching a game live, hearing the drum beats and the cheers drown out your voice, watching with bated breath as the last few seconds decide who wins the game - and screaming your heart out when you find it's your school. And the feeling of pure pride as the whole Araneta Coliseum (blue side) raises their arms and sings the school song, especially getting louder as everyone shouts the part "Win, or lose, it's the school, we choose!"

7)      Cutting class to watch a movie, eat out, or go to the game

You know what? I won't remember the days I spent dutifully in class, forcing myself to stay awake but looking at the time longingly every few minutes. I'll remember those days I threw care to the wind, said to my friends, "Tara, cut na!" and coasted on to do something fun, like catch a movie, eat out or watch a UAAP basketball game.

8)      Exceptional lectures

Sometimes, you're not expecting to learn something - but you get caught up in a lecture that was particularly mind-blowing. I.e. Theology class with Ray Aguas.

9)      Hanging back, chilling out in the caf, SOM Mall, or where else

Self-explanatory.

  

10)       Katipunan food trips

Many well-spent calories at the local KFC, McDonald's, Shakey's, etc. 

11)       The feeling of having printed the papers you’ve worked on or submitting a major project

The subject of hours of toil and sleepless nights.

   

12)       Getting an allowance for not doing anything.

Self explanatory.  

13)       Manang's Liempo and Lechon Kawali, with a special patis/soy sauce/vinegar concoction

Likewise. 

14)       The kind Xerox ladies who always have a smile and a greeting ready for you

As a corollary: being done with mountain high piles of Xeroxed readings and notes. I have years' worth of scratch papers ahead of me. I may turn 30 and still be using the other side of a wretched Accounting worksheet. 

   

15)       Automatically checking for your ID every time you see a security guard

It's not just me. Most Ateneans suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder of the ID sort - sometimes I'm in a shopping mall and the mere sight of a guard automatically has me checking for my non-existent ID lace.

16)       Enlistment woes

Everything about the process is nerve-wracking - finding out your random number (holy *?!#% last batch), waiting online for enlistment time (get ready to sign in a minute or two earlier than PC time), having fast fingers (and a fast connection) to click on the few remaining slots of a much coveted class (meaning: easy A teacher) and coasting along with a few tricks, like submitting enlistment even when you're not done and praying the site won't crash so you won't repeat all the steps over again. Many have not emerged in one happy piece from this stressful process. I'm often one of them.        

17)       The kindness and community in being "a man for others," exemplified in things like the Ondoy Volunteer Operation

18)       Ateneo jokes

Oh come on, who doesn't have their own repertoire of school pride jokes? It is said, after all, that it is in the process of other-ification that we reinforce our own identity. (At least, we’re honest) Haha.

These are just some of the great memories I've had. But I've had my time. As I leave Ateneo, I give the role of making memories to the incoming and current students, and wish them true-blue luck. Besides, I always tell myself, there's no need to be sad, because life's like that - as you leave things you've loved, and enter into the unknown, it remains that every moment has the capacity to be a great memory - if you let it. 

D'Talipapa, Boracay: Best Seafood Experience Ever

One of the best and most memorable meals of my life was in this no-frills, unassuming paluto service place beside a wet market in Station 2, Boracay. The wet market is called D'Talipapa, famous to Boracay tourists who have experienced it. The market is a small, makeshift tiled area filled with a number of vendors showing off their wares and fresh catches of the day (often still alive and kicking) in large, water-filled basins.


Don't expect three-star services or accommodations. In fact, as soon as we arrived, shuttled by our hotel service, my mother looked uneasily at the place, slightly taken aback by the sari-sari store ambiance and street-side quality which she had not been expecting. This is not a fine dining place, although later on, we would find out its food is actually better and fresher than many hotel-grade places we've tried. My older brother promised us that the place was good, telling us his best meal in his past Boracay trips were always held at this place, with a cuppa of beer and basking in that tropical summer glow. Troopers that we were, we forged on.  


I followed my dad and brother around, happily taking pictures as they peered at the wet market's offerings and started negotiations. Haggling is a must. They take one look at you, size you up as a tourist, and jack prices up high. It's better to have an idea of how much the seafood market value really is as a guide to haggling, although you can also just automatically start haggling at like 40% less. Soon enough, they'll give you a fair price.


My dad bought scallops, lapu-lapu fish, crabs, lobsters and a lesser-known seafood named diwal or angel wing clams. We turned these over to the paluto place, called Plato D'Boracay, a few steps away, and settled for lunch. 


A feast for kings, that is. Now, I'm not very fond of seafood. I like it as much as the next person, but eating seafood fresh from the market, fresh from the waters, was an experience that elevated my appreciation of how good seafood could really be if it was cooked and caught right. There's a quality to it that's earthier, more succulent than ones that have been aged a day or two or lost some of its freshness in transportation. I could imagine that they tasted like the seas, that we were practically beach-front and so close to the waters unlike a hotel restaurant where you are enclosed by decorated yet concrete walls. 


We raved about the food for days and days. Even up to day, during one of our famous food reminiscing episodes, this meal always comes up. 


You can consult with Plato D' Boracay how you want it cooked. Their ingredients are probably very simple; surprising yet familiar flavors that somehow complement and highlight the natural flavors of the seafood. I tasted a ketchuppy garlicky component in the crabs, which was a surprisingly tasty outcome, unique from the usual experience of buttered or chili crab. I particularly loved the diwal, which was soft, tender, flavorful and delicious. The closest description I can appropriate would probably be of mussels, but um, 100x times better. And oh my, the scallops! Cheesy, garlicky, sumptuous. 


It was a delight to see as all the dishes were coming out, looking very impressive in their cooked splendor as we oohed and ahhed. Then there was a deep, significant silence as we all dug in and filled our bellies to our heart's content, basking in the feeling of a really good, really unforgettable meal. I still dream about it to this very day. Lol. 


Pictures of the market and our fantastic meal.