Eleven Tables

March 23, 2012 - Eleven Tables - Ace Plaza Building, Kapitolyo Pasig

A new restaurant just opened up again in our neighborhood. It's a unique restaurant that serves all types of fondue. Their appetizer, main course, and dessert are all dipped in a communal pot that has either hot melted chocolate, oil or cheese. We were so excited to try it since the only type of fondue we have tried is the chocolate one.

It's a small restaurant with, yes you guessed it, eleven tables. hehehe

We love their menu black board

For our appetizer we ordered, the bacon, cheddar and tomato fondue. There was a good amount of bacon in the cheese which we liked. The cheese was gooey and thick. Yum!

Must eat with beer

For our main course, we got the thin slices of beef that's cooked in hot oil. 

The three sauces you can dip it in are mushroom, horseradish and mustard. The mushroom one is my favorite!

Comes with more veggies on the side! You don't have to cook this in the oil since it's already been pre cooked. 

For dessert, we got the chocolate fondue. I was a bit disappointed with this one since I was expecting a thicker pot of chocolate. This seemed like it was chocolate syrup and not melted chocolate. Since I am a big fan of dessert, this still passed because of all the other goodies we could dip.

LJ and I realized that this place is such a date spot since eating from a fondue pot can be time consuming. You're forced to just take it slow and enjoy each others company. It was a nice and enjoyable experience, you should try it too if you want to have a nice romantic date! :)

Cheers to food and love! <3 

Nolita Pizza

March 16, 2012 - Nolita - Bonifacio High Street Central

Yes, It's been a while since the last Fridate post and there's still a lot more restaurants lined up for sharing with you guys. Hopefully by the end of the week, we'll be back on track.

Anyway, Last March we heard that the same owners of Borough (Podium) opened a new restaurant that is also New York themed. When you think of New York, pizza always comes to mind. This is mainly because of many Italian immigrants who settled down in New York. Italian food became part of their culture and Pizza was obviously one of them. When you go to New York you'll see Pizza joints everywhere. Different names like Lombardi's, Ray's, Little Lusso's, Artichoke, La Familigia are all around the city and all serving good pizzas. Whatever brand the pizza may be, there's that one distinct feature that makes it  a New York pizza and that is the thin chewy crust. It's not like the Shakey's kind but more chewy and a little more thicker than that. New York to me is like my home away from home since my Mom lives there so I'd like to think that I've eaten a fairly good amount of authentic New York style pizzas. This being said, I was really excited to try out Nolita to really see if they managed to bring home one of my favorite types of food ever.

LJ was also very excited because whenever I was in New York I'd tell him about the Pizza and how good it was and all the different flavors I've tried. 

Nolita: Short for North of Little Italy. A neighborhood in downtown NY.

Interesting menu right? Where can you find pizza flavors like Broccoli and Cheese? 

What really got me all excited was the Wild Mushroom Walnut Blue. When I saw that they had a pizza with bleu cheese I knew I had to have it. It was delicious! I was impressed with the pizza dough, it was soft and chewy. The toppings were hefty and the cheese was stringy. The slice of pizza was the usual size of a pizza slice in New York which is huge. Another thing that made it feel authentic to me was the paper plate. For some reason, whenever I'd eat Pizza in New York, I would be standing and holding it on a paper plate. 

One thing that I noticed though or not notice were the walnuts. Where were they? haha. Probably covered by the gooey cheese.

This was LJ's pizza. It had sausage, onion and chili. Another great choice of pizza flavor. The meat lover LJ was very happy with the sausages and it's kick of flavor on top of the cheese. One minor set back about these pizzas were not the taste but the price. 250 Pesos for a slice? Expensive but I think it's worth it. You just can't have it everyday unless you want to be fat and bankrupt. 

Another thing that gave it that authentic feel was the self service in the restaurant. Lining up and choosing your pizza while looking at the chef make the dough and toppings looked so familiar to me. Another plus was that the Italian Chef behind the counter was cute. (Sorry LJ! :p)

You got to have beer with your pizza! 

We tried their angus beef burger which we didn't like. It was dry and tasted plain. Must stick to the pizzas next time.

We had a cannoli for dessert! It's a fried pastry bread shaped like a tube and filled with sweet creamy ricotta. This one had pistachios and dried fruit. It's a great way to end our meal. 

Almost forgot to mention that we bumped into our friends who were having date night as well. Hi Joey and Joanna! :)

Happy tummies!! :)

Nolita did it's best to bring New York style pizzas to Manila. You could really taste the quality ingredients used. We'll be back for sure! 

I hope you guys try this place! Cheers! 

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!