Month: March 2016

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Mom’s B-day Celebration with Spanish Tapas at Las Flores

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Pandie Rating: 👍👍

Odd how as a former Spanish colony, we hardly get any good tapas restaurants around here. Casa armas has been one of the more reliable and delicious restaurants that offer tapas but when a friend recommended Las Flores to us, my mom immediately quipped that she wanted to go here for her birthday since you know, French is too mainstream already for special occasions. Spanish cuisine is one of my most favorite cuisine because of its diverse and rich flavors and its tapas seem to be a lost art in our country where everything is judged by serving size.

Las Flores is tucked away in a little corner of BGC near Burgos Circle (you may almost miss it if you go out at night!) and its exclusivity (and probably beautiful people) is what draws the “crowd”. The restaurant tries to rev up its “authenticty” by having customers served by a mix of beautiful and handsome Spanish people. The Spanish manager was also very hospitable and approachable to all the diners. We were quickly seated as we have already made a reservation 2 days before for my mom’s birthday.

By this time, I had a HUGE expectation for the food because I was famished and was drawn by the menu which boasts of exotic dishes with fancy Spanish titles. We were warned of the small servings (these are tapas after all) so my parents decided to order the following:

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1. Patatas Bravas – PHP195
– Potato wedges in spicy sauce. These were probably the best potato wedges I had in a while and the serving was generous. But i kind of regret ordering this dish because… They weren’t the Spanish tapas I imagined that I had in Barcelona. I didn’t need to spend 195php for potatoes, right?

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Degustation at The Goose Station

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I wrote this way back December 8, 2012 and I may have rated it a little too high because of my novice palate but I’ll be reflecting my new rating in this post.

Pandie Rating: 👍👍👍

So now let me introduce you to the award-winning restaurant, The Goose Station (owned by Celebrity Chef Couple Rob and Sunshine Pengson)!

Awards:
1. 3rd Best Restaurant and Top 100 in Asia in the 2011-2012 Miele Guide
2. Best Newcomer at Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets 2010

I have always been jealous of the judges in Top Chef or Iron Chef America or other cooking shows because… it feels like they have the easiest jobs in the world. All they have to do is eat and criticize food! But haven’t you noticed that the portions are… quite small? Being raised in the Philippines, I have always known HUUGEE portions to be placed on the table as we always love holding large gatherings and sharing food with everyone. No wonder buffets are so popular in the Philippines. It’s always more the merrier. But with Degustation at The Goose Station? It’s a totally different ball game. Prepare to shell out buffet-like prices for meager/small but MARVELOUS, FANTASTIC, DELICIOUS, GASTRONOMIC courses. It’s really out of this world I tell you.

It’s actually a little physically out of this world since it’s located at an isolated part in The Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. I have read reviews before going there but not one mentioned the obscure location of the place. You can’t even see the sign of The Goose Station clearly. It’s quite daunting and scary when going there alone… especially getting lost… (oh of course I didn’t get lost, just maybe a little) especially when you’re not familiar with the place… But now I will warn you. Please plan ahead and print out or save a google map of the area. Here’s the address.

Ground Floor, W Tower
39th St., Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines

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I’ve mapped out 2 ways for you to get there since some roads are actually blocked. One is coming from Kalayaan avenue and the other one is coming from Market Market. If you arrive at a deserted area with only 2 buildings in sight, then you’re at the right location! Don’t worry about parking since it’s free and the restaurant only accommodates selected number of guests so parking is quite accessible. It’s just right on the street.

Prices are quite steep as they offer 1700php (includes service charge) for 3-course meals, 1990++ for 4-course meals and if you’re willing to really shell out, 2600php for the 10-course meal. I was lucky enough to get a 5-course meal for only PHP1250 instead of the usual PHP2100 because of DealGrocer! Now to the review that you have been waiting for!

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That Golden Spanish Bread at Balai

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Pandie Rating:  👍👍👍

I’ve always been an avid fan of pastries. Heck when I thought about cooking, all I did was think of how to bake bread and my young self couldn’t distinguish baking and cooking at all so I just let it slide. My first “cooking” dreams were really all about whipping some good batch of bread. My first breakfasts were also not about fantasizing a hot rice meal with tender juicy hotdogs but it was all about eggs and white bread spread with sugar + butter that my maternal grandmother always made for me. That was my childhood in a nutshell: bread.

Okay maybe not the representation of the entirety of my childhood but you get the picture. That white bread became the root/precursor of my love for Spanish bread. I discovered this special type of bread one day when my dad told my 7-year old self “hey let’s walk to that local bakery 3 blocks away from here”. I remember that it was an untiring walk because I knew that we were going to a bakery. I then saw these almost croissant-shaped rolls and it was unlike any other breads that they have. The first time I bit into that bread was akin to falling in love. I knew that I would always hunger or pang for Spanish bread. The combination of soft bread and gritty sugar with melted butter left me astounded. I couldn’t get enough of it! But unfortunately the local bakery suddenly started baking bad batches and I grew up starting to want more.

The next focal point in my search for the perfect golden Spanish bread was during college. My organization somehow managed to always deliver a solid good batch during meetings and talks and I eventually found the source somewhere in Marikina, just right behind the university! I remember dragging my best friends (also avid bread fanatics) and looking for the Mecca of Spanish bread and only to find… THEY HAVE SOLD OUT THEIR SPANISH BREAD! It was a long and arduous trek down the hill and unfortunately I couldn’t travel down this trail every morning so… okay maybe I gave up that quest too easily. I just managed to wait for meetings to get a piece.

Another few years passed and I kind of grew out of my Spanish bread phase. After all, there were a lot of different ensaymadas going around with a similar but more puffier-no-spread version and Cookie butters mushroomed and jumped right in between my pan de sals so I settled for these. But to my surprise, a competitor opened just right BESIDE good ‘ol Pan de Manila. What was this guy doing? He’s practically begging for a punch in the face because you can’t beat Pan de Manila.

Or can he?

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Balai Pandesal opened its doors to the citizens of Quezon City along 104 D. Tuazon St. sometime in 2013 but first opened in Mindanao Avenue by a band of pan de sal crusaders: Angelo Yaneza, Dwight Cham and Jonathan Go. This trio of friends decided to search the whole Philippines for that special characteristic of their perfect pan de sal (salt bread I found out when I went to Colombia is also famous in Latin America – side thought) that can be eaten even with no palaman (filling)! They made it happen when my dad was so curious to check out our usual bakery’s competition and… we were absolutely mind blown! They were the biggest and puffiest pan de sals I’ve ever seen and the best ones I’ve tasted hands down. I now admire their gall and confidence in choosing their location. They wanted to spark interest and of course curiosity of the residents in the area and it worked! Now everyone’s got a choice and a favorite.

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