Chef Laudico

     The ties that bind us to Greenbelt 2 are getting weaker while Fort Bonifacio is luring us. A new  addition to our list of favorite places is Chef Laudico, located at the ground floor of Net 2 Building.

    Milk fish souffle. Smoked milk fish in whole tomato served with salad greens in paksiw vinaigrette tossed with fried bangus belly. As a tomato lover this is a truly wonderful dish. Don’t think that you’ll have to do a mukhasim because of the paksiw vinaigrette. It is just of the right flavor which will make you ask for more. We have, however, more food waiting on the table.

   Like this stuffed fish balls. Crunchy smoked milk fish balls stuffed with fresh mozzarella. Who would imagine that fish balls could be heavenly? That brown liquid in the glasses is pinakurat - a concoction originally from Iligan City - vinegar made of fermented coconut sap, locally known as tuba, and siling labuyo. "Kurat" in vernacular means to be surprised. Even those who don’t like surprises will love the perfect combination of this hot vinegar and steaming hot balls with oozing mozzarella. 

   Calamari with crab roe.Linguini with crab roe and kesong puti topped with crispy calamari and basil. The best pasta aligue, it is worth the guilt of eating too much cholesterol.

   The better tamarind shake. I am tempted to say the best but the only other tamarind shake I’ve tried is by Abé.

   Now comes the most important part of the meal. Dessert. 

  Belgian molten chocolate cake with carabao vanilla ice cream center. The blend of strawberry and mango syrup not only adds to the visual appeal but puts the chocolate cake in its rightful place in the spotlight of my taste buds.  Our every bite was followed by "Mmmmm, sarap!". But don’t take my word for it. Try it and see for yourself. 

    The staff were so attentive we felt like we were the most important client. I’m sure the other diners felt the same. In my experience as a diner it was the first time I had my food not served but presented to me. Each one as special as the other.

   Chef Laudico more than satisfied hard to please diners named Liez, Lisette, and Dondee. From taste, presentation, service, cost-effectiveness, to ambience. There’s nothing more we can ask for. Except probably discounts. Or free chocolate cake. 

The art of letting go

   This is what Cena’s lava cake has become. No more oozing chocolate syrup from the center. The artistic presentation has become more of a graffiti. No more excuses this time. We asked for the oven’s condition before ordering. I was almost heartbroken to see lava cake in such a state. I will just let the pictures paint a thousand words. These are what our plates look like before leaving.

It’s really time to move on. The magic is definitely gone. People change. And so do cakes.

I guess I’m learning, only learning,
Learning the art of letting go.

A Serye of unfortunate desserts

   We met today just so we could talk some more before Raqs goes back to Fresno tomorrow morning. Because it’s a Black Saturday we were prepared to go to any restaurant in Eastwood that is open for business. It really was not a food trip anyway. So we had brunch at this restaurant that is not worth remembering (read - I can’t remember its name).

  Then comes dessert. The most important part of the meal. We chose Serye by virtue of its affinity to Aristocrat which cakes we like.

   This cheesecake is salty and firm and probably contains more flour than cheese.  Nothing special about this sans rival.

    This is Serye’s lava cake. Served cold so it does not really melt the ice cream on top. There is no oozing chocolate syrup from the center. It is sugary sweet rather than chocolatey. Unlike Cena’s lava cake which is freshly baked when served, Serye’s lava cake is just taken out of the refrigerator when ordered. And this is even more expensive than Cena’s. There is no artful presentation too. 

Galileo enoteca

   I give it to Lisette to bring her friends to a wonderful restaurant. She’s really the food expert. For her birthday treat she had a special menu made for us at Galileo enoteca at the ground floor of La Fuerza Plaza, 2240 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City.

   Enoteca ( noun. en-oh-teck-ah) is an Italian term used to reference to a place where the food menu is a garnish to the wine menu. (www.thesecondglass.com)                                                                                                        

   For starters we had Italian Cold cuts and Cheese platter with Mixed olives & Greens, Bruschettas with pomodori and Basilico. The bruschettas were long gone before I remembered to take pictures. There are actually four kinds of cheese on the plate but we could not remember their names. I just know that majority like the cheese chunks the most. The waiter spoke too fast I just heard Mortadella being one of the cold cuts. The soup was light enough so as not to compete for space in our GI system.

   These two pastas were both al dente but I would have preferred more sauce on them. I like the pasta on the left better because it is hollow in the center. Bucatini. Which means "little hole" in Italian. The pasta of the night award goes to…… (drum roll please)

    Pesto Genovese. We all agreed that it is the best pesto in town. Most probably because fresh basil leaves were used, served generously too. 

   Strawberry gelato for dessert. Forgive the dark picture. We did not use flash because the light made the gelato look white than pink. 

   Move over Amici. We have a new favorite Italian restaurant.  

Got to believe in magic

   Fresh from YM. I just had this very interesting conversation with a friend and I want to share it with you. For reasons unknown to me he requested that his name be withheld so let’s just call him Friend. Generic as it may seem.

friend: kaya nga… lipas na yung magic.. you saw something wrong with it.. there/s more new choices there… move on then..
friend: thats food…
friend: tama ako di ba
melissa sena: oo nga. i guess i have to move on na. sigh
friend: bwaahhahahahaha
friend: see you cant argue with logic
melissa sena: u said magic being gone. major sa kin ang magic. hehe
friend: eh wala na nga eh
friend: na burst na yung bubble.. lumipas na… you look back HOPING it still there when you saw for yourself it’s gone….
friend: you give it a second chance… CONVINCE yourself that its still there….
friend:
friend: the chef has moved on..
friend: so should we
friend: am referring to food still
friend: bwahahahhaha
melissa sena: i know.
friend: geez
friend: this conversation  should be with frey
friend: bwahahahahaha

   Looks like cake and past loves got tangled up.