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Gardening Love
Dec
29
7100 tastes at Bistro Filipino
Filed Under Food trips | 1 Comment
This season’s a great time to experiment with different kinds of cuisine, but a recent experience in Bistro Filipino taught me that if you have 7100 islands to get different flavors to get from, wouldn’t it be best to experiment with our local cuisine?
At Bistro Filipino, chefs Rolando Laudico, Myrna Segismundo, and Jill Sandique showed us the 7100 different flavors that we can taste.
See the 7100 flavors the chefs have prepared for us!
Dec
11
Pesto experiments!
Filed Under Recipes, home cooking, noodle thoughts, tale of agriculture | 7 Comments
My experiments with pesto started when an aunt from Italy came home and started to make her pesto. The first thing she asked my mom was to buy some fresh basil, which 15 years ago was completely unheard of in our islands apart from its dried counterpart. So she decided to create a different kind of pesto, pounding a large bunch of Italian parsley (kinchay) along with some garlic. There were no pine nuts easily available nor did we have Parmesan cheese back then. With piping hot pasta, she tossed her green mashed concoction and called it pesto. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
For years, I really didn’t give myself a shot in making a batch of pesto like my aunt did. But a really expensive bottle of pesto compelled me to find a cheaper and probably better alternative to the ones bought from the groceries.
Oct
26
A Hip Cordillera Evening at Mario’s
Filed Under Feature, Food trips | 4 Comments
Last Saturday, I was invited by Mr. Fil Benitez and Kaoko to a dinner at Mario’s Tomas Morato. I’d be honest that I know little about Mario’s. I think we’ve eaten once or twice at their Makati branch and when that was gone, so was our Mario’s experience. So last weekend’s expedition (for us southerners, going up north is an expedition), was the perfect time to reconnect not only with the food but the institution that is Mario’s.
Oct
19
Meeting the Beef Noodle King
Filed Under Feature, Food trips | 3 Comments
There was a time when my late afternoon entertainment meant this cartoon called Cooking Master Boy. This Japanese anime showcased the story of Mao as he goes on a quest around China finding different methods and secrets to perfect his cuisine. In his journey, he met amazing people, some of which bore titles such as Dumpling King or the Prince of Mapo Tofu. Back then, I used to poke fun at the idea of meeting people like these, ‘Iron Chefs’ who are kings and masters of their chosen recipe. Until recently, an amazing experience by Chowking’s doors has shown me that it can happen, there are indeed cooks who become kings of their recipes.
A few weeks back,1 I had my Cooking Master Boy experience when I crossed the Beef Noodle King of Taiwan, Chef Liu Zheng Hsiung of the Lao Dong restaurants. One thing interesting about this guy is he won first prize in the Traditional Beef Noodle Competition for his clear soup beef noodle. What is more interesting is Chowking is planning to bring in his epic beef noodles to the Philippines.
Read more
- Yes, I have a terrible backlog [↩]
Jun
27
A box of treasures from the sea
Filed Under Food trips | 3 Comments
A few months back, my good Japanese friend and her family brought me again to another great restaurant for lunch. The almost unwelcoming facade of Seryna makes you wonder if that shop is ever open at all. Sans the signs, the wood panels make the place look dark and you can only wonder which panel slides open to enter the restaurant. Apparently, Seryna is like this because like any great treasure, it takes a bit of curiosity and wanderlust for you to enter the door. What lies behind their strange door is a lunch packed with treasures from the sea. And here I am, back again in front of Seryna’s, hoping to taste the sea, with only two tiers.
I’ve never seen chirashizushi like this. Usually, I get a bowl of rice with sushi morsels on top. But on this end, I’m served a tiered bento, with the top tier just for the sushi and the bottom tier for the rice and other side dishes. The sushi tier is packed with slivers of tuna, hamachi, octopus, squid, uni, shrimp, and my favorite inari. Naturally, the fish was fresh. So fresh that at some points, I don’t dip it in the shouyu anymore and just eat it straight with the wasabi. The fish was sweet and still had some salt from the sea. During the first time I visited, it even has some cuts of fishes that I wasn’t so sure of but I ended up eating anyway. It’s not like it’s poisoned or anything. But I guess the fact that I’m still alive after my second chirashizushi means eating random fish meat from this place is definitely worth the treat. The sushi tier in is on a bed of grated daikon which you can probably eat if you felt like eating daikon. I really thought at first they were sotanghon, but my friend corrected me and told me it was daikon. I guess daikon truly is a versatile vegetable.
The bottom tier is just as exciting as the top. The rice is topped with kampyo, sakuradenbu, some daikon pickles, and tamagoyaki. But even without these, the rice alone is amazing. Seryna’s sushi rice has a slightly brown mixture, probably due to the vinegar. The vinegar is not too tart which makes the rice strangely taste sweeter. Or maybe it was brown because the vinegar had sugar in it. Either way, despite its unusual shade, the rice completely complemented the freshness and sweetness of the fish. In this chirashizushi, you’d want to eat the rice. Somehow, it doesn’t feel complete if you missed the rice in this chirashizushi.
It also has a side dish of potato salad and soup. For the price of Php320, extravagant sushi like that is probably one of the best sushi bargains you can find. One thing interesting about the chirashizushi in Seryna is that around 25 or 30 sets are only sold in a day. So yes, despite the reasonable price, it is still a rare treat. You have to go to Seryna’s by lunch time and make sure you beat the crowd in ordering this prized box.
Restaurant Tip!!
Seryna
Tel. Nos. 02-894-3855, 02-894-3741
Address: Little Tokyo,2277 Chino Roces Ave., makati City
Notes: The restaurant faces the Plaza Fair entrance of Makati Cinema Square. It’s also right beside the entrance to Little Tokyo (the giant red Tori that says Little Tokyo)
