Little getaway from Manila: Vieux Chalet, Antipolo

February 11, 2012 - Vieux Chalet, Antipolo

Looking for a romantic date place outside of Manila? This blog post is for you.

It was a weekend before Valentine's day when LJ and I decided to have an early V-day celebration instead of joining everyone on the 14th. Valentine's day fell on a Tuesday, so traffic was inevitable and all the restaurants would be fully booked as well. I suggested that LJ and I drive up to Antipolo to try out a restaurant that I've been hearing about for years. It's called Vieux Chalet, a swiss themed restaurant tucked in a small village in Antipolo, Rizal. LJ was hesitant at first because of the drive up, plus we weren't even sure where exactly this place was. After much research on the internet about this place, we decided to go on a mini adventure up Antipolo!

It wasn't all perfect going to the restaurant because of the heavy traffic. Marcos highway is the usual area where traffic builds up going up to Antipolo. It also didn't help that LJ and I just had the landmarks on where to turn. Our eyes were glued to the streets looking for the small gated subdivision where we will enter. After what seemed to be like a long drive from Pasig, we made it! Travel time from Shaw Blvd was an hour and a half.

We made it!

Vieux Chalet is a small restaurant with an open air dining area. It has a homey "shabby sheek" feel to it.

The ambiance was so perfect for a night quiet romantic dinner for two. The Manila skyline was a perfect backdrop!

Here's what we ordered:

To start off, we each had a glass of their house red wine. Too bad we didn't get to ask what kind of wine it was.

GARDEN SALAD WITH FETA CHEESE AND BALSAMIC VINIGARETTE - This is a simple and fresh salad. Only the freshest ingredients used.

POTATO PUMPKIN AND BASIL SOUP - I was expecting this soup to be thick since the usual pumpkin soups are this way. Though the soup may be thin, it was full of flavor and I liked the potatoes rather than croutons to add a little crunch.

BEEF TENDERLOIN WITH SAUCE CAFE DE PARIS - LJ had this main course and being the meat lover that he is, he enjoyed this so much. The cafe de paris sauce is made out of butter with different herbs which made the meat even more delicious. Soft, tender and cooked medium well!

LAMB SHOULDER WITH RED WINE SAUCE AND ROSTI - The lamb was tender but some parts were a bit tough. I ate all of it still because the red wine sauce was rich and sweet. Under the meat was a potato pancake called a rosti, perfect side dish and a nice change from the usual mashed potatoes.

QUARK CAKE WITH MANGO SAUCE - We didn't know what Quark was until this day. Quark is a type of swiss cheese that they made into cheesecake! It isn't as rich as a New York Cheesecake but equally good. It's a lighter version of the American favorite cake. Since it's not too sweet, the mango sauce and caramel sauce was a great combination to this cake. (Side note: I love the table cloth!! Vintage florals!)

Cool weather, good food and amazing view!

It was a very lovely evening! We took our time eating the food, talked and took in the wonderful view and fresh cool air. Definitely a place where you should bring your loved one for a special date. :)

For more information visit:

http://www.vieuxchaletswissrestaurant.com

RUB Ribs & BBQ

February 3, 2012 - RUB Ribs & BBQ - 88 East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo Pasig

The last Fridate we had was away from our village and now we're back once again. Haha! It seems like our Fridays are always so lazy that we just want to eat somewhere close to home so that we can relax right after. This new restaurant RUB is actually a 5 minute walk from my house. LJ and I decided to park at home and walk going to the place. That was a first! :)

RUB is located at the ground floor of a school called SHINE INTERVENTION CENTER. It's a small space with only 5-6 tables I think. Their specialty? PORK BBQ RIBS. I didn't want to expect so much because LJ and I are big RACKS fans.

Here's what we ordered:

Raki's Bbq Ribs (Super Duo - Good for 2 people) - For P370 you get this slab of ribs with two sides of your choice. We got garlic spinach & mushroom and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. First let me talk about the RIBS: Meat falls right off the bone, it's soft and tender, it was seasoned very well, smokey flavor and charred slightly. In short, PERFECT. We can actually say that Racks has met it's match. I can't completely say this is better maybe because I am still loyal to Racks' ribs.haha. RUB's barbecue sauce was a great compliment to the wonderful meat!

Here's a close up of the GARLIC SPINACH AND MUSHROOM side. Wilted spinach greens with garlic and mushroom sauteed in oil (or maybe there's butter too). It's such a simple side dish but it went well with the ribs.

The meat lover excited to dig in!

Effortless cleaning of the bones!

Onion Rings - Their version of onion rings is not the bready kind. This is a good thing since we hate it when there's more batter than onion. The onion rings here are lightly dipped in the batter and fried to make it crispy! Dip it in their aioli sauce (garlic sauce) or ketchup.

For dessert, we ordered their FRIED OREOS with Vanilla Ice Cream. It's obviously deadly since it's deep fried but hey, you only live once.

Looking at it makes me drool. yummm!

For those who want to try out RUB, they also have a branch in Quezon City. Check out their Facebook page to find out more: http://www.facebook.com/RUBRibsBBQ

Here's their menu:

Another great Fridate find! Spread the word and spread good vibes too! :) Cheers!

How to make creme brulee

March 4, 2012 - Homemade Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee sounds like such a difficult dessert to make but really it's not. With only 5 ingredients, you can make this dessert at home if you have the right materials. LJ loves creme brulee so I decided to learn how to make it just in case he craves for some. :)

Some special things you need besides your oven are:

1. Ramekins - These are small ceramic containers that can be baked inside the oven without breaking. You can use these for lava cakes too! I bought mine in the Salcedo Market for 30 Pesos each. They have these in department stores as well. You need 6-7 ramekins for this recipe.

2. Browning torch - Creme brulee means "burnt cream", so having the burnt caramelized top is one of the characteristics of the Creme Brulee. My torch was a gift from my sister and she bought it in ACE Hardware for around 500 Pesos. It's also good for toasting marshmallows and meringue on top of pies or cakes too!

3. A deep roasting pan or a big cake pan that can hold your ramekins - I used my 9 inch cake pan to hold 6 ramekins with water that goes up until the middle part of the ramekins. This is called a water bath. I think this is to prevent the creme brulee from getting burned. (Not so sure what will happen if a water bath isn't used when baking these)

Once you have all of these things and of course the ingredients, you're all set! Here's what you need to get in the grocery:

2 Cartons of All Purpose Cream (250ml each)

1 Small Carton of Full Cream Milk (But you will only use 100ml)

1/4 cup White Sugar and some more for the top

5 Large Egg Yolks

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Procedure:

1. Turn on the oven and pre-heat to 300 degrees. Put the cream, milk and vanilla in a sauce pan and set aside.

2. Set up your roasting pan or cake pan with your ramekins inside.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk your egg yolks and sugar until it's light, pale and fluffy. Set aside.

4. Place your saucepan with cream,milk and vanilla on a stove and simmer until bubbles start to form on the side. Turn the fire off immediately and slowly pour the cream to the egg and sugar mixture. Maybe you can ask someone to pour while you mix with a whisk.

5. Your egg and cream mixture should look like this. As you can see, there's a layer of bubbles. You have to scrape this off with a spoon and discard.

6. Now it's time to pour the egg and cream mixture inside the ramekins. Fill it up until the top. You can also use a spoon to make sure it doesn't spill.

7. Add hot water in the pan. Not too high though or it might go inside your egg and cream mixture.Bake inside the 300 degree oven for 35 mins. It should be a bit firm and jiggle when you shake the pan gently just like jello.

8. Take it out of the water bath and cool on a tray for 10 mintues. After you can chill it in the refrigerator. Chilling overnight can be done too.

9. When you're ready to serve, put 1 teaspoon of white sugar on top of the creme brulee and spread it using the back of the spoon. Torch the top evenly by making circles with the flame and until the sugar is dark brown and bubbling.

THE FINAL PRODUCT!

Now that was easy right? :) Try it at home and for sure everyone will love you for making these!

Yabu: The House of Katsu

January 6, 2012 - Yabu: The House of Katsu - SM Megamall, Atrium Level 2

Finally we found the urge to get out of Kapitolyo for our Fridate! Good thing some friends of ours suggested we go try out YABU, a Japanese restaurant that specializes in Katsu. Katsu is a deep fried breaded piece of meat like chicken, pork or beef and dipped in a Japanese barbecue sauce. If the restaurant says they specialize on one type of dish then it's got to be good right?

A full restaurant seems to be a good sign that they have delicious food. We had to wait a bit to get seated but we didn't mind.

This sign outside looks so good!

In each table there's this condiment tray with salt, soy sesame dressing, roasted sesame dressing, katsu sauce and also chili powder (behind the bottles). I'll tell you later what the salad dressing is for.

There was this instructional guide on how to make your Katsu sauce by grinding the sesame seeds and adding the sauce.

This smells so good by the way.

The food hasn't even arrived yet I started licking the chopsticks because of the sauce. Yum! If you're familiar with the BULLDOG Japanese sauce, it's the same one. You can buy it in most supermarkets.

My food arrived! I ordered the TONKATSU SET (120g) with Japanese Rice, Miso soup, Japanese Pickles and UNLIMITED CABBAGE and fruit. Now you know what the dressing is for. By just looking at it, I know already that for P320, it's worth it! When I tried it, I knew already that It will be my new favorite Katsu! The pork was so soft and the outside was cripsy. Melts in your mouth goodness.

There's this thin layer of fat that is perfect! That's what makes it juicy.

LJ's food looks exactly like mine but it's actually the Premium Tonkatsu Set. We wanted to try if there would be a big difference on the taste and quality of meat. The meat used here is called KUROBUTA, the pork version of the premium and expensive Kobe Beef. This is P515 for 120g. You could really taste the difference between my order and this one. This is juicer and more tender than the one I ordered but both were EXCELLENT!

After the meal I was so full. I didn't even get to finish my miso soup!

This was really such a great Fridate for us so we came back a few weeks after this. We even saw a family friend Paolo and Penny Yambao who treated us to dinner at Yabu. Thank you Paolo and Penny! :)

Everyone try YABU! It's a must!!

'Til the next Fridate! Cheers! :)