Fire Lake Grill

As all of metropolitan Manila bakes under the heat of the summer sun, the fennel bulbs decided to go up the town of Tagaytay, some 50 kilometres away, located on a volcanic ridge that overlooks the very scenic Taal Lake. It has become very famous as a tourist destination for both locals and foreigners alike. In addition, its cooler weather allows one to grow herbs and organic vegetable farming is common in the area. As such, there are countless good restaurants that have set up shop in the area.

The Cliffhouse, located along General Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, is not far from the Tagaytay Rotunda. It is a rather compact complex of quaint restaurants with a commanding view of Taal Lake. One restaurant that has established quite a reputation is the Fire Lake Grill, known in little circles in Manila for its good steaks, amongst other equally competitive offerings.

Two refreshing salads were ordered: blackened beef salad with Asian greens, sesame Thai chilli dressing and blue cheese crumble (Php370), and rare tuna tataki slices with a Nicoise-style salad in lime cilantro dressing (Php330). The blackened beef had a smokey and robust taste to it, and it went well with the sweetness of the dressing. The pungency of the blue cheese added a different dimension. It was an excellent salad. Beef as a major ingredient in a dish could actually be cool and refreshing, as it has been pulled off by this salad.

The tuna salad was also formidable. The tuna was fresh and delicious; it also have often been paired with Nicoise salad as the flavours and textures of both produce a hearty yet refreshing dish. The lime cilantro dressing tasted mildly, which went well with the Nicoise greens (which was dominated by string beans).

Fettuccine pasta in black truffle cream sauce with smoked garlic sausage and shiitake mushrooms (Php360) was ordered afterwards. One had to commend that this was a very good dish. The fettuccine was cooked al dente, and the bulkiness of the pasta was adequately dressed with very delicious sauce. The truffle cream's pungency blended well with the strong flavors of the garlic sausage. The blend of broad and linear flavors from the truffle cream and the vertical accentuation of the sausage was simply delightful.

Lastly, porterhouse steak (1900Php, 700g) was ordered. It was served with red wine shallot sauce, whose dark flavours complement the meat well. The steak was done medium, although there were some parts that were rather cooked unevenly. Despite the absence of collagen in a T-bone steak, some portions were unexpectedly a bit uncomfortably tough. We were just not quite sure as to whether porterhouse steaks were just meant to be tougher on the outer edges and softer as it approaches the bone, or some particular cooking methods could be adopted to ensure an even consistency throughout.

The Fire Lake Grill offers excellent cuisine at reasonable prices. With a breathtaking location, it is indeed one restaurant worth coming back to.

Uno

One Friday night, the fennel bulbs decided to head north for dinner. One restaurant that has built quite a reputation is Uno near the corner of lively Tomas Morato and Scout Fuentebella. This is a restaurant that serves European food, and the menu changes periodically, so whatever the fennel bulbs would be tasting on this night might not be the same a month or two afterwards.

The restaurant has a nice, subtle facade, invoking a stone-coloured Italian house. The entire building seems to have been a house and was just converted into a restaurant. We were seated comfortably on the ground floor. The acoustics of the place were a bit unpleasant, as conversations of diners resonated from the second floor.

Upon ordering, bread and butter were served. The bread was freshly-baked and tasted well. For appetizers, a carpaccio of smoked beef was ordered. The flavours were redolent with the taste of garlic and the combination of herbs as one would find in a bundle of bouquet garni. Carpaccio is the term used for thin slices of raw meat, but using smoked meat could be a safer alternative, more so with the tendency of it to be infected quickly given our tropical weather.

Bacalao and creme spaghetti were ordered next. The saltiness of the bacalao imparted a lot of flavour to the creme. However, the fennel bulbs thought that the spaghetti was a bit too soft to the bite, nor did it have the nuttiness of semolina pasta.

Lastly, sea bream in choron sauce was ordered. To veer off a bit, we did not know what choron sauce was, and we were also quite surprised that our waitress did not know what it was. She ended up asking the kitchen what the sauce consisted of. Considering that it was in the menu, we expected that the staff be familiar with the items.

Choron sauce is a variant of Bearnaise sauce, with the addition of tomatoes. Bearnaise is robustly flavoured with shallots and herbs and goes well with steaks. However, the robustness of the carnivorous sea bream also stands up against a sauce of moderate strength as Choron. The fish was cooked excellently, and both the fish and the sauce blend harmoniously.

The fennel bulbs looked forward to having dessert, which was not on the menu. The waitress directed our attention to the refrigerated display, which was not lit at all. Unfortunately, none of it particularly caught our attention, and consequently, we decided to forego of our dessert and head elsewhere.

In retrospect, Uno is a restaurant that serves good-quality cuisine. However, something is rather incomplete, in a way that we feel no compulsion that one ought to return. Smug halfway between mediocrity and innovation, the fennel bulbs think that Uno can do more.

ダメで。。。

The fennel bulbs were quite surprised to find out that there was a Ma Maison restaurant in Greenbelt. Ma Maison is a famous 洋食 (Western food) restaurant chain in Nagoya. This class of restaurants serves Western food interpreted in a Japanese way. These cafes began in the late Meiji era when Japan began interaction with the West, and these local cafes offered Western food the way it came to be perceived by the Japanese. A post-colonial blend of Eastern and Western elements was engendered, and some dishes like omurice (omelette rice), and various fried cutlets/seafood with curry are manifestations of the Western influence on Japanese cuisine.

As such these cafes have a fairly Western feel to it, but some subtleties like the availability of both fork and knife and the ubiquitous chopsticks, and moist towelettes do remind the conscientious diner that one is in a 洋食 cafe.

The service was fairly good and we were whisked to our seats and our orders were taken efficiently by the waiter. The fennel bulbs ordered for hamburg steak (Php 395), tonkatsu curry (Php 425), and cod-roe (mentaiko, 明太子）pasta (Php 325).

The pasta arrived first. The cod-roe resembled little fish-fry eggs and had a good salty taste to it. Some clams were also incorporated and a light cream sauce was used as the base. The clams seem to have been canned, and the spaghetti was a bit too fat and felt just a tad soggy from al dente.

The hamburg steak arrived. Despite the menu indicating that this was served with potato salad, a cup of steamed rice was served instead. This was quite disconcerting, as we think that the actual dish should be faithful to what the menu says, and any substitutions should be informed beforehand. Upon informing the staff of this incongruity, a cup of potato salad was added (and the steamed rice was not removed). Upon tasting the potato salad, we realised why it was not served - they did not have it readily available. The potato salad simply consisted of boiled potatoes and acrid mayonnaise.

The tonkatsu was likewise disappointing. The breading had a texture more akin to fried chicken, and the pork was too fatty for comfort. Pork belly was used, when chop cuts from sirloin should have been used. This dish comes with a bowl of miso soup and side salad.

The fennel bulbs could only hope that the management considers returning to the essence of what Ma Maison is. It seems that　立ち上がり (tachiagari, or "setting up [a business]") was not done properly, and a restaurant that serves slipshod food was the outcome of such an oversight. It was equally frustrating to note that Youshoku or 洋食　cuisine is a culturally impeccable and thoughtful Japanese interpretation of Western food, and that the quality of the food being offered in Ma Maison's Manila branch is by no means representative of it.

Selection Is Key

Encouraged by the good food at The Fireplace, the fennel bulbs decided to do the Hyatt Hotel's buffet offering in one of their restaurants, Market Cafe.

Even at 8:30 in the evening, the place was still busy, with hotel guests and locals seemingly enjoying the formidable offerings: from Japanese sushi, sashimi, and tempura, to fresh oysters and local lobsters, to roast meats, as well as Chinese and Mediterranean cuisines were all waiting to be sampled.

One can also assemble their own salads. The vegetables were fresh, and the choices of dressings and toppings were likewise good. 

Shrimp, fish, and vegetable tempura were all available. Sushi and sashimi, albeit quite limited, can also be had.

We moved on to the fresh seafood. One can request some fresh local lobsters to be cooked in the grill. Fresh oysters, which were a bit on the small side and which probably came from Capiz, were available. It tasted fresh of the sea, but not as good as other varieties.

We moved on to the Mediterranean spread. One can lament that there were no vegetable dishes like tabbouleh, or dips like tzatziki or hummus, which are available in other competitive hotel buffets and at Viking's. However, there was stuffed pizza, some spreads including tapenade and various cheeses, paella, and one can request for pasta to be cooked with the sauce of their liking. The tapenade was a bit too salty for one's taste, and black olives, instead of green olives, were used. The stuffed pizza was particularly good, though.

The fennel bulbs proceeded to the Chinese spread. Some delicious viands like stir-fried spare ribs and roast pork cha-siu and some noodle soup were available. Overall, the Chinese selection was disappointing, despite the fact that the highly-acclaimed Lili restaurant is in the Hyatt Hotel.

We moved on to the steaks. Roast beef was cut right on the spot, and it was amazingly tender and delicious. For those who can't wait, steaks were readily placed on heated pans. Sadly, they were not cooked well and were all too tough to the bite. Consequently, a pile of sad-looking steaks remained on the pan. The lamb cutlets were more tender and delicious though.

Prawns thermidor was also available, but a dish like this is served best straight from the oven. Buffets should probably properly consider which dishes are optimally served on a buffet spread and which dishes lose character on a buffet spread.

Finally we moved on to the dessert selection. Various tarts, pastries, and puddings tasted good. Succulent strawberries dipped in chocolate looked mouthwatering, but the chocolate used lacked the rich and decadent taste that would have accompanied the tartness well. Even macarons were available, but those were a farce! They were as hard as arrowroot biscuits. Lastly, the milk that came with their brewed coffee was disappointingly cold.

Looking back, the buffet was a bit of a disappointment. At 2,100PHP++, more competitive buffets can be had at a cheaper price. The staff, however, were excellent. The fennel bulbs can only hope that the Market Cafe consider improving their buffet.

The Clubhouse

Just nearby is a new restaurant located in Robinson's Magnolia called "The Clubhouse". Its cool mint green theme and cosy interiors are appealing, and so is the menu, which is comprised of comfort food items (from breakfast-style omelettes to pastas and soups) and rather basic dishes that have stood the test of time. Indeed, any "clubhouse" doesn't stray too far from the norm.

This evening, the fennel bulbs found the Filipino-inspired dishes rather appealing. In the menu were rice bowls mixed with local ingredients like dried fish flakes (tuyo) and local sausages (longganisa). Well, tuna puttanesca (Php185) and Vigan longganisa hash (Php225) were odered.

The tuna puttanesca rice bowl tasted well - the typical flavours of a puttanesca sauce (hinted by the use of mildly pungent capers and acidic black olives) go well with sauteed rice. It was served with what seems to be one of the restaurant's trademarks - the pineapple salsa, which was like a milder version of the Mexican salsa, with less spice, same level of that herby flavor, and the additional pineapple sweetness.

The Vigan longganisa hash tasted well - the mixture of potatoes and longganisa yielded a robust blend of textures and flavours. Together with the scrambled eggs and the rice, it was much like a good Filipino breakfast, upped with a bit of creativity.

Some crisps with three different dips (Php225) were ordered alongside. The crisps resembled Melba toasts and were light, airy, and crispy. The dips were crab and artichoke, garlic and cheese, and spinach. All dips were flavourful, but the crab and artichoke dip did not taste as suggestive as it should be.

On display is a seemingly delectable selection of sweets, which we found difficult to resist. The fennel bulbs tried the carrot cake (Php135) and the lemon square (Php35), both of which are their favourite classic desserts. The carrot cake was moist and tasted deliciously, the white icing done well enough so that it was smooth and there were no sugar crystals. The lemon squares were chewy, as it was probably the intention. However, the citrus component of the flavor was not delightfully citrus enough, and to date, the fennel bulbs would have to say that Mary Grace's lemon squares are still the best in town.

All this goodness was coupled with a lovely cup of coffee (Php85). The Nespresso coffee was brewed well, and the rather touching detail about it was the little cup of steamed milk that went along with it. Unless they're serious about their coffee, only a handful of restaurants would have the sensibility to serve milk, warmed.

Apart from the obnoxious family behind us, The Clubhouse, with its generally good food, impeccable service by a very efficient and friendly staff, and great ambience, is one good place to have breakfast, lunch, or dinner, at a very reasonable price.

Warm Summer Evenings

The warm February evening felt much like summer already. And similarly, it felt much like a warm August evening during the Obon holiday season in Japan; with Valentine's having just ended and a holiday-like atmosphere pervaded the air. The fennel bulbs decided to do an Obon (お盆）theme, and firstly landed in a tonkatsu restaurant (which is aptly called Tonkatsu-Ya, which means the same thing in Japanese, トンカツ屋).

Located in the basement of Palm Towers in San Antonio Village, Makati City, Tonkatsu-ya is more or less a little nook serving Japan's favourite pork cutlet, in various kinds. And the offerings are nonetheless veritable.

The fennel bulbs ordered the regular tonkatsu set (Php200) and the miso hirekatsu set (Php245). "Hire (ひれ)" means fillet, and often pertains to more tender cuts of pork than what may be used for a regular "Rosu (ロス)" tonkatsu, although the difference in price is more or less negligible.

The quality of the pork was good and tender, and the breading was done very well in such a way that it did not peel off when one bites into it. The thickness of the pork was also optimal, and the size of the chunks were convenient enough to be held by a pair of chopsticks. A dollop of yellow wasabi was placed on the side.

A pile of shredded cabbage accompanied the dish, which one could dress liberally with the tonkatsu sauce. A bowl of miso soup and some cold vegetables were had, and the indispensable rice.

A lot of Japanese people frequent the place, even though it is located in a quiet residential area. The price is definitely more than worth it, and the fennel bulbs would gladly recommend this place to someone who would want a delicious pork cutlet meal, without the commotion of going to those popular Japanese joints found in the shopping malls.

Still not fully satiated, the fennel bulbs headed off to Hana (華）in nearby Little Tokyo. The lanterns were all lit and the place was filled with people, the humid air and the noise of people made it really feel quite similar to an Obon evening.

We tried the tako karaage (fried octopus, Php140), which was served with flavoured salt. It was a good accompaniment to a cold mug of draught beer. Afterwards, tuna rolled in seaweed with mayonnaise (Php200) was ordered. The tuna was of permissible quality, and the dollops of mayonnaise were a bit too excessive.

Lastly, ujikintoki (宇治金時、Php160) was ordered. This is a favourite of the fennelbulbs - green tea ice cream with red bean paste, and shaved ice. This encapsulates that feeling of a very humid Obon evening - a bowl of flavoured shaved ice (かき氷, called kakigoori) as a sweet refreshment.

A Second Visit

The Wildflour experience the first time around was a pleasant one that it seemed a write-up and three food selections were not enough to do the restaurant some justice. The fennel bulbs decided to come back and try more of what Wildflour Café + Bakery has to offer.

This time, some of their menu has changed; and this led us to think that they change some of the items in their menu regularly. For tonight, vegetable tartine (Php270) and escargot (Php445) were ordered firstly. The vegetable tartine proved to be a summer night's treat - it was cool, refreshing, light, and basically healthy. On what seemed to be a wheaten crunchy rusk were baba ganoush, and a cool salad of chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. The Middle Eastern taste was prominent, the tartness of the chickpeas blending in well with the slightly bitter and roasted overtones of the baba ganoush. The cucumbers and tomatoes provided a cool contrast.

Next was the escargot. They were served in individual cups which were initially hot. Covered in puff pastry like a pot pie, one has to use the small-pronged fork to get to the escargot. It was quite difficult to eat it, as the cups tapered towards the base and had little sense of balance. The puff pastry stuck onto the mouth of the cup that if one were to consume all that pastry the only option was to hold the cup and chew on the lid to eat the pastry.

In spite of the inconvenience, the flavours were the merit of the dish. The oil was just delicious, redolent with the herbs. The escargot had the right texture, and it was not tough to the teeth. The more typical way of serving escargot was on an escargot plate with several depressions. Even with the puff pastry on top, it would have been more practical to eat escargot that way. A fancier way of serving it would be creating little escargot pies, but with all the oil, a little bit of skill and innovation would be required.

For the main dish, Steak and Egg (Php495) were ordered. Oriental hues characterized the dish, as the steak and the egg were served over kimchi fried rice. The steak was done medium, and it was very good. The center was pink and the outer ring had the brownish-greyish color of cooked beef. The beef was definitely seared well, and it was tender to the bite. The dish would have worked better if thin chops of beef akin to Japanese-style teppanyaki were used. But then, we do not know whether the intention was to capitalise on the steak and egg, and the kimchi rice as a secondary means executed for delivering the dish. But then again, we feel organic unity should be deeply considered.

Lastly, Macaroni and Cheese (Php280) was had. A mixture of gruyere and cheddar was used. Not too salty, this must be the ode to the macaroni and cheese found in school cafeterias. The generous incorporation of cheese was just too comforting - the flavours pervade gently in the palate.

Wildflour Café + Bakery indeed does teach diners a lesson or two on what a good dining experience is. Good points abound, and so do points for improvement. And we also realise what it really feels like coming back after the initial try - a deepening of perspectives, as it were.

But definitely, this is one of the restaurants that we will always keep on coming back to. The fennel bulbs can only hope that Wildflour Café + Bakery will keep on doing their best!