German Tasting of The Finest GErman Wines of the 2009 and 2008 Vintage with Mr. Joel Payne

Tags

germany, Philippines, Riesling, Silvaner, tasting, white wine, wine

Late last year, I had the privilege of attending this small German wine tasting c/o one of our suppliers. When I got the invite, I literally freaked and RSVP’ed. My eyes twinkled for the rest of the days until I got to the event, thinking about all the amazing German Rieslings (and other grapes) I would be tasting. 

I thought it would just be an informal tasting but it was actually a structured tasting which was a good thing. While my first love is German Rieslings, I don’t know a lot about it. I know the basics but not the nitty-gritty, especially what the words mean on the label other than the Erste Lager and Grosses Gewachs and the quality levels.

The tasting was called “The Finest German Wines of the 2009 and 2008 Vintage” and was presented by Joel Payne. He is a wine journalist, the author of Gault Millau and contributor to a bunch of wine magazines and (a definitive guide to German Wines), and has a long history in the wine industry. Read more about him here: Joel Payne

 We were joined by dignitaries from The German Embassy here in the Philippines. This was held  to create more awareness about German Wines and expand our knowledge about it. Here in the boondocks called the Philippines, we don’t get much selection as people are still starting to learn about wines.

I don’t need awareness. If you say German Riesling, that is the Pavlov bell for me to start salivating. 

When I walked into the room, I got crazy eyes. I saw all the bottles and my heart started racing. They gave us the pamphlet and I read through it with all the bottles we were tasting step-by-step. Of course, I took a bunch of notes before we got to tasting. 

I learned a lot of German that day from Mr. Payne as he went through one by one on what the German producer names mean in English. Don’t ask me to say it out loud though. I’ll stutter.

Some Vocabulary I learned:

Domdechaney – cathedral that has a bishop

Sonnenschein – in the sunshine

Hofer – courtyard

Marcobrunn – fountain source

Kirchenstuck – “kir” (church) and “stuck” (piece)

Kirschgarten – church garden

Feuerberg – fire mountain

After the in-depth lesson on German wines, its production, quality levels and vocabulary, we went through the tasting with the help of Mr. Payne.

1) 2009 Schlossberg Silvaner Grosses Gewachs

Fürstlich Castell’sches Domnänenamt Franken

Look! A Bocksbeutel bottle! Kind of looks like a cognac bottle. 

Silvaner ripens two weeks earlier than Riesling and has larger crops. Until 1964, silvaner was the widely planted grape.

I keep a few bottles of German Silvaner at home and they are pretty high in acidity. This one was pretty high in acidity as well. It had the same citrusy-limey, crisp pear qualities and lower on the alcohol range.

2) 2009 IM Sonnenschein

Weißer Burgunder Grosses Gewachs 

Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Pfalz

This Pfalz Riesling strangely had a local aroma (dalandan) and a kind of just about to ripen citrus and some old ripened apple. Weird combination, but it worked. On the palate, it was crisp apple and kind of had a soapy aftertaste and a long lasting persistence of finish. The petrol was there, definitely. 

3) 2009 Josephshöfer Riesling Grosses Gewachs

Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

On the nose, I could pick this out in a blind tasting as a German Riesling although it was a bit shyer than others I’ve had. I could pick it out (when I practiced a lot more in class then) even with a cold. It has that white peach, apricot, lime and tangerine notes but a dry finish with acidity. My note said “COOL” so I liked this one, obviously. 

The next two Rieslings, I liked even more. It both had giant checks on it. I have weird symbols on my tasting notes to remind me of which ones I really loved. 

4) 2009 Domdechaney Riesling Erstes Gewachs 

Domdechant Werner’sches Weingut Rheingau

This Riesling had a riper fruit quality on the nose, some scented oil and orange blossoms, and that trademark petrol smell. It was definitely richer and heavier in body than the previous. It had more fruit on palate and the acid was less visible (it sure it was there) but the riper fruit on the palate masked the acidity. 

According to Mr. Payne, 2009 was a great vintage and it’s difficult to distinguish the lower wines from the top wines because it seemed like everything made in this vintage was good. 

5) 2009 Baiken Riesling Erstes Gewachs

Hessiche Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach Rheingau

This Riesling’s style is the one I’m most familiar with though richer than the Mosel Rieslings. The ripe stone fruits hit you all the way to the end with the acidity fighting through it. Amazing balance. LOVE LOVE LOVE. This winery is one of the largest wineries in the region. The region was notoriously underperforming previously until the state decided to invest.

6) 2009 Wisselbrunnen Riesling Erstes Gewächs

Weingut Josef Sprietzer Rheingau 

Here in Rheingau, the warmth of the river and sunlight is reflected off the river. The vineyards at the bottom of the slope are of a better position in this year because it was a cooler year. The grapes are grown on a chalky marl soil and it showed as the wine had more minerality and acidity than the previous wines and kind of similar to the first wine I tasted.

This grapes for this wine is harvested by hand and tastes better as you age.

7) 2009 Marcobrunn Riesling Erstes  Gewächs

Weingut Scloss Schönborn Rheingau

Here in Rheingau, one can find the largest collection of grand cru sites. And in Rheingau, you can find the Schönborn family which is one of the old noble families in Germany. I really liked this wine. It had the stone fruit aroma but also stale beer and kind of a greeny, leafy quality. It was a little bit closed on the nose but on the palate, it was gripping. This one was more approachable for me. 

8) 2009 Aulerde Riesling Grosses  Gewächs

Weingut Wagner-Stempel Rheinhessen

This Riesling was very minerally and kind of had that old beer scent combined with sweet lime and yellow peach. (To my Filipino friends, I bet you think I’m a douche for saying all these things but I eat a lot and can remember the scents and aromas of everything I eat, and I can tell you that you can really smell these things in the wine HAHA). This wine was about acidity over the fruit. 

9) 2009 Höllberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs

Weingut Wagner-Stempel Rheinhessen

This wine was very aromatic with a lot of fruit on the nose. On the palate, The acidity carried through all the way to the end. 

Lots of checks and stars on the upcoming wines. Not a lot of legible notes anymore. I must have lost concentration on writing and truly gave up because I was mesmerized by the wines.

10) 2009 Sonnenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs 

Weingut Siegrist Pfalz

11) 2009 Kirchenstück Riesling Grosses Gewächs 

WEingut Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Pfalz

This winery practices biodynamic viticulture which I’ve heard about from our field trip to Randall Graham’s new project. In layman terms, it’s using the sun and the moon and its movements to farm the land. This wine was stone fruit dominant with a richer body. The fruit was more persistent on the palate with a seemingly lower acidity. 

12) 2009 Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Spatlese 

Weingut Karthäuserhof

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

And yes, we finally get to Spatlese! That rich aroma of which I have to come to know and love in Spatlese. It had a lot of local aromas that my fellow citizens can pinpoint, durian, langka (jackfruit) and yellow peach, basically, a lot of really ripe fruit. This wine was not as rich as other spatleses I had which is probably why I loved it and had a giant star next to it. I’m sure I would have a hard time tracking this down if I didn’t travel anywhere else to buy it. 

The last two wines were reds, spatburgunders, or pinot noirs to us, non-Germans. 

13) 2008 Kirschgarten Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs

Weingut Knipser Pfalz

This wine had an amazing aroma and reminded me of a lighter Burgundy. It had that damp earth and gamy notes of raw pork and uncooked bacon while giving off an old rhubarb scent. This wine also had smoke and tobacco notes so kind of like a Bordeaux as well?!

And finally we get to the end, I didn’t want it to end, but it had to.

We closed the night with…

14) 2008 Feuerberg  Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs

Weingut Bercher Baden

This one still had that rhubarb scent but was more linear and focused. It had an ashy quality and more tannic than the previous one. It also kind of had a wet band aid scent. That would put people off but it’s really not a bad quality. It’s just one of the few things you smell in the wine. This wine had vanilla notes so was aged in wood. 

I am truly privileged to experience this kind of tasting in my country. We don’t get a lot of tastings like these. Thank you to Mr. Joel Payne for giving the structured tasting and for all the information you gave us that night. Thanks to my supplier for inviting me! MUCH MUCH APPRECIATED.

I am currently looking for wine tours to Germany and Austria and I found a cruise that would take me there but that won’t be until for Summer 2013.

I’m hoping for a more in-depth tour or an enrichment tour though so I hope someone holds a contest about wine or writing so I can try and win it. I would really love to visit the German wine regions. 

Until then, I’ll just dream about it. 

CAV Wine Shop, Bonifacio High Street

Tags

Bonifacio High Street, CAV, food, Fort Bonifacio, lunch, Makati, Philippines, restaurant, wine

This place is not new. It’s been around for a while. 

I’m usually here with my friends at night drinking wine or at a wine function but I’m posting about it because I ate here for the first time while there’s sun out and it was a novelty for me.

I kind of liked the lunch ambience more as it was peaceful and kind of calm in the middle of Sunday Manila craziness. Being in this place for lunch on Sunday is kind of like coming in for late lunch at 3 pm in NYC, after nursing a severe hangover from the night before.

Nobody was there. Just three tables. I liked it but for a restaurant, that’s not good, although they were probably full the night before and that’s okay. Sunday is chill day for restaurant staff when it’s known for their nightlife. 

I love the whole chalkboard decor and I’m going to have one in my surf shack someday. 

They had the Weingut Meyer-Nakel Spatburgunder on the enomatic machine so I attacked that one as well as a Mito Soave Garganaga which I drank with my poached egg salad.

Mmmm, I love poached eggs.  

This dish was Seared Diver Scallops with Squid Ink pasta. Honestly, I didn’t like this dish so much but it wasn’t their fault. It was due to the squid ink pasta and I’m always expecting it to taste like Conrad Calalang’s Squid Ink pasta (THE BEST EVER) so it fell short for me. 

It was only a slight disappointment though.

I always have ice cream/gelato for dessert unless the restaurant has interesting choices and in Cav’s case, I was pulled towards their Nougat Semifreddo. I was supposed to “Share” this with my dad and my uncle but when I tasted it, I didn’t get to share anymore. They had one bite each and I hogged the rest. 

TWO WORDS: CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT. COLD. CREAMY. 

NOM NOM!!!

It only had two triangles on the plate, but seriously? I needed five. 

Next time I go back, I will ask for FIVE. 

CAV has pretty much consistent food so I’ll keep coming back. 

La Girolle

Tags

food, French, Philippines

So I finally found an alternative to Tivoli….and one that my father is willingly dragged to.

My father is not a very adventurous eater. He is what I call a minimalist and traditionalist. He doesn’t like fusion food. He doesn’t like foam, weird powder stuff on the plate or sous vide food. He also doesn’t like bad service. This limits the restaurants we can try in Manila. We usually go to tried and tested places but the problem is, I’ve been going to those places since I was a kid. I need a change of scenery.

When someone suggested to me to try La Girolle, I went…but I was nervous going in because I was bringing my dad and I don’t know how he’s going to react.

I finally secured a reservation and we ordered a la carte. Again, not much selection by the glass but their by the bottle list was pretty good. I can’t finish a bottle by sharing with my dad, otherwise I’d drink it all and he’d yell at me so I just order by the glass when I’m with him.

The good news is, they’ll let me bring wine without corkage although I probably won’t do that if there’s someone to share wine with me while dining there.

We started off with like a foie gras pate on toast. It was really creamy and tasty which we both liked. That set a good precedent.

They didn’t have the lamb shank anymore which my dad wanted to order so he got the sous vide salpicao as his main and I got the scallops. For starters, he got the soup (I forgot what kind) and I had the salmon assiette.

Here’s my salmon assiette. I chose a Chablis Brocard Aligote which was good on its own but too heavy for the salmon assiette. Really pretty colors on the plate.

My dad’s soup:

For my main, I got the scallops. It was absolutely amazing. The scallops with buttery, velvety, tender with the accompaniment which was like a mushroom tart of some sort. Explosion of umami in the mouth. I didn’t leave a single drop on the plate.

Check out my dad’s sous vide salpicao. I didn’t yell when I saw the salpicao. I yelled at the perfectly poached egg. I hadn’t seen those in years. I myself can barely cook it that way. Guess who punched the egg yolk and bled it?! It was so perfect. It was solid but not too solid. Like it was held by gelatin or something. But when you poked it, it oozed slowly on the plate…but not like a mess.

For dessert, we shared a creme caramel. I’m not a big fan of custard desserts but I can’t really finish a pot de creme which was the other alternative. I always kind of test a chef’s capability with a custard based dessert and this one rocked. I didn’t eat most of it however, my dad got to it before I did. The sauce was made of caramel, rum and orange juice. For a while I thought it had Gran Marnier or Drambuie or something but it was too nutty to be an orange liquer so I had to ask.

Menus change every three months so we’ll definitely be back.

La Girolle
30 st cor 2nd Ave
2/F Blue Sapphire Building
The Fort
Tel: (02) 478-4119

Don’t worry Tivoli! I’ll just alternate between you two for French food. HAHA. Chef Rene is too awesome to abandon.

Chuck Hughes in Manila

Tags

Canada, Canadian, chef, Chuck Hughes, cooking, food

It’s the end of 2012 and I have nothing interesting to post as of lately so I have gone back to my photo archive to find something worth posting.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted about Chuck Hughes and his visit in Manila early this year. 

I decided to post about this because I saw him on the Asian Food Channel and he was cooking Christmas Dinner with his girlfriend (who was VERY PRETTY). 

The Embassy of Canada together with the Asian Food Channel invited a bunch of local chefs to participate in a cooking demonstration with Chuck Hughes. My boss handed me the invitation and instructed me to go there (in her place), a few hours before the event. 

I schlepped over there, by doing a quick Google on Chuck Hughes, because at that time, I didn’t know who he was. My excuse: I don’t get to watch much TV. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I got there to see who he was. He was first of all, kinda cute. Had I known he was going to be cute, I would have dressed up a little bit. But I wasn’t there to look cute. I was there for “Serious business”, by serious business, I mean trying all the food he cooked and networking. 

He was really charming and down-to-earth. I remember speaking to him and teased him about Canadians and their hockey fascination. And how I would visit his restaurant and he would teach me to play hockey after. I don’t know about the hockey thing because it’s a scary sport but I’m definitely going to his restaurant, if I ever find myself in Canada.

 

Anyway, I was thrilled to find Canadian wine from Niagara Peninsula, as it’s difficult to find here in Manila. The last Canadian wine I had during that time was Inniskilllin ice wine which was given to me at the Culinary Institute of America in wine class by Professor Michael Weiss…in 2007.

No ice wine this time, but I still drank it anyway.

Below are photos from the event because I can’t remember much of what happened. This event happened in Feb 2012…that was a a LONG TIME AGO.

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By the way, I still ate the crab, even if I’m ALLERGIC. 

 

 

 

 

A Crash Course to Seoul/Soul Food

Tags

food, Korea, margarita, restaurants, Seoul, tacos

I didn’t grow up eating Korean food. I grew up eating Cantonese food from Hong Kong and Western food (in the form of steaks from Peter Luger and Italian and French food).

I barely knew anything about Korea before living with my cousin and his Korean-American wife. I stayed with them one summer and she introduced me to the magic of Korean food, in the form of Gim (roasted seawed) and Rice (the magic instant snack), kimchi and beef kalbi. 

From that moment on, I was hooked. 

I finally made it to Korea this November after years and years of plotting my trip through the streets of Seoul, scarfing down everything in sight. November was perfect. The weather was fantastic as I love cold weather. I got to wear my leather jackets and wool coats that had been hiding in my closet since I left for home after living in the U.S. for three years. 

The only drawback was, I couldn’t buy anything clothes-wise, but I was there primarily for the food. 

One of my best friends from the C.I.A. JYK picked me up at the airport and introduced me to the very best that Seoul had to offer. I couldn’t have asked for a better tour guide and ambassador of Korea. 

Two experiences stood out the most.

VATOS TACOS and JUNGSIK.

Vatos Urban Tacos is this modern Korean food joint in the neighborhood of Itaewon. I was surprised when I got there because the vibe was so different. I didn’t feel like I was in Seoul. I felt like somebody had transported me back to the Lower East Village. 

The place was packed so thankfully, my friend made a reservation and we waited outside for a bit and checked out the menu. This place kind of reminded me of Belly Shack in Chicago. 

It was when I got inside the restaurant that I was taken back to Seoul. The receptionist, though Caucasian, spoke to us in Korean. I was so shocked, I was floored. I’m used to Caucasians speaking Mandarin from living in Beijing, but I had never heard a Caucasian speaking Korean before. VERY IMPRESSIVE! 

We got to our seats and immediately, I was drawn to their special margaritas. They had several margaritas with beer! What a novelty! Never had those before so I chose the Gold Digger which was an apple margarita with apple cider. It was so good, I wanted two! I wouldn’t have minded not eating and just getting trashed with three of those. 

This is my friend’s Margarita which was the classic Margarita with a Corona. I finished mine before I remembered to take a photo of it. 

Then we had kimchi fries and pork tacos. Honestly, I was truly enjoying my cocktail so the food took a backseat at this experience. 

The next day, my friend took me to Jungsik for lunch. This was also a non-traditional Korean joint, but was in fact, a modernized version. One of her friends from CIA also worked there so we definitely got hooked up. The owner of this restaurant received a Michelin-star for his restaurant in Korea and is the first Korean born and raised chef to receive a Michelin star. Impressive right? 

There were a lot of cancellations for lunch that day because it was quite cold so it was just my friend and I and another table for lunch. 

The menu felt like Eleven Madison Park’s. I appreciated this because my friend chose items that I did not choose so we got to try a lot. 

What follows is a bunch of amazing dishes I didn’t get to list down because I was too busy savoring the flavors. 

What I remember is that these dishes, though modernized in flavor and presentation, still retained a lot of Korean flavors. I can still remember the spices, especially in the Beef Tartare. The pork belly was amazing, really crispy on the outside and tender and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside.

Highly recommend visiting these two restaurants next time you’re in Seoul.

Check them out!

A) VATOS URBAN TACOS

Yongsan-gu, Itaewon-dong 181-8 2nd Floor, Seoul Korea

서울시 용산구 이태원동 181-8 2층

02-797-8226

B) JUNGSIK

649-7 SINSADONG
GANGNAMGU SEOUL
+82 2 517 4654

 

On a final note, the one non-food thing I really enjoyed was:

A) THE MOST DELICIOUS GREEN TEA LATTE! A far cry from the Starbucks Green latte! HAHA!

 

Austrian Cheese Night

Tags

Austria, cheese, culture, food, gruner veltliner, schnapps

Oh look, it’s already mid-October and my last entry was still in August!
I’ve been having a crazy September and October so my priority was sleep versus posting on my blog. I finally have some time to post another entry, this time about cheese, something close to my heart.

One of my close friends from grade school came home for 10 days on a “working vacation” to showcase Austrian cheese at the Austrian Cheese Night last October 3, 2012. Together with the Austrian cheese, Austrian wine, pastry and culture were also highlighted with my friend and her companions wearing traditional Austrian costumes.

I have never seen so much cheese and people in one setting prior to this. I was a little overwhelmed as I arrived late (coming from work) and the place was packed by the time I got there. I tried to get photos of all the cheeses but it’s difficult to keep a steady hand on my camera when I’m trying cheese in one hand while downing Austrian schnapps.

Here are the photos I took successfully without (or minimal blur).
I like the stinky blue cheese the best and the beer cheese.

My only frustration the whole night was I couldn’t pronounce anything. Someday I will learn German.
Someday.

My favorite condiment in the world

Tags

China, Chinese, condiment, food, spice

My favorite condiment when I was growing up was A-1 sauce. Yes, that a-1 sauce. My family fed me a lot of steaks from the grill and we always had it in our pantry. I also liked Worcestershire sauce which I also put on my steaks.
Everything changed when I lived in China. My two best friends were a Taiwanese (A) and a Hong Konger (F) and since I couldn’t read the menus back then, I ate what they ate. They ate a lot of things but they always put this.
It’s called 辣油 layou in pinyin. It’s a chili oil made from fried dried chiles and some other stuff. I tried to make it myself when I came home using dried chiles but I failed. It tasted different so there must be other things in this jar that I don’t know about.
I flipped when I saw it yesterday at a restaurant near my house.
I ate it today with my fried rice （炒饭）chao fan and it was HEAVEN!!!!

Cognac and White Chocolate Terrine

Tags

California, cognac, dessert, food, Palo Alto, terrine, white chocolate

I ordered this dessert in a tiny restaurant in Palo Alto because it had pistachio ice cream. Yes, I ordered it for the pistachio component (I’m a nuthead) and not for the cognac and white chocolate combo. Okay, so I considered the cognac in my decision. After all, I’m a known “alcoholic” in my country where girls are supposed to be prim and proper and not chugging down wine and hard liquor like there’s no tomorrow.

It didn’t come with the pistachio ice cream on top because it ran out. They had to use vanilla. I don’t like vanilla ice cream but I was pleasantly surprised to see this and even more surprised that I liked it.

It looks good on photos too!

Taken At:
Bon Vivant
535 Bryant Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Bale Dutung

Tags

Angeles, Bale Dutung, Claude Tayag, food, lechon, Pampanga, Philippines, pork, restaurants

When my friend L sent me a message about going to a restaurant called Bale Dutung, I didn’t even know what restaurant it was, what food they served or where it even was.

I asked L, “What’s that?”

She replied, “It’s Claude Tayag’s restaurant, in Pampanga. They serve lechon.”

As soon as she mentioned lechon, I was sold. “Count me In!”

For those of you that don’t know, lechon is a national dish in the Philippines. It may not be the official national dish (I think it’s adobo) but for me, it may as well be. In layman’s terms, lechon is whole spit-fire roasted pig. Yes, that’s right. A whole pig…with VERY CRISPY SKIN.

Anthony Bourdain wrote about it for The Travel Channel in an article called the Hierarchy of Pork. See article here: Anthony Bourdain put us on top of the Hierarchy of Pork because of this lechon. I fully agree with him on this one. I don’t really like Filipino food because I love the lechon.

So anyway, I was looking forward to going to Pampanga to eat at this famous chef’s restaurant and eat Lechon. I thought it was going to be an ordinary day, a road trip of sorts with high school classmates I have not seen for a while.

It was a 2 hour drive to the restaurant and met my friends near the start point, near my house. We were well on our way….and then we got into a car accident. A bus hit us from behind with a huge impact. It was so sudden, I didn’t even see it coming. I just heard a loud crash and then things flying at and over our heads. Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt. My friend got shards of glass in her head. We had to rush her to the hospital and we came along to have x-rays done.

We stayed in some tiny hospital in a province called Bulacan from 10:30am to 3:00pm. That was over 5 hours of waiting in the hospital. I was beginning to lose hope that I wouldn’t be able to eat at Bale Dutung because the rain was pounding down so hard, we were also afraid of floods.

My friend L took me with her to the restaurant while the others went home. I refused to go home. There was no way I was going to go home starving after waiting 5 hours in a hospital. My father said I was crazy, but I’ve done crazy stuff because of my hunger and this was no exception.

I finally arrived at 4:30pm with L. Our companions had all already finished eating and all the other patrons were on their way out of the restaurant. It’s too bad that the sky was dark and rain was pouring down so hard because it was an outdoor restaurant and would have been a great ambience if the sun was out.

I’m sorry because most of the pictures are blurry. I had hurt my back and my arm from the impact so it affected how I held my camera. My hunger was also distracting me from taking decent pictures.

This is the restaurant. See how it’s so dark and empty!

This is the menu. We each had personalized menus but I didn’t get mine anymore because they thought we wouldn’t show up anymore because of our accident. =( I just grabbed one of the other girl’s menus and took a photo.

The owners, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, waited for us to arrive and let us eat after we told them about our accident. The wife of the owner, Mrs. Mary Ann Tayag, chatted with us while eating and asked about our accident. She also explained every dish that was coming to us which was great.

A lot of these dishes have local ingredients in them so I don’t know how to translate them in English. You will just have to come and visit and eat for yourself.

I brought two bottles of wine for this experience. I brought Taylor’s Promise Land Moscato from Australia, a light, low alcohol, with some sweetness and a Chianti Classico to enjoy with the pork. I chose a Moscato to start because I was under the impression that we would be enjoying the cold Moscato under the hot sun as it would refresh us but again, our plan didn’t work out so well. We were still able to enjoy the Moscato with the first few courses, however.

The first course was Ensaladang Pako. This is like a seaweed salad with citrus vinaigrette. The “pako” was like a chewy, seaweed fern like green. First time I’ve had it. I imagine they had to blanch it first as it may be tough to eat without par-cooking beforehand.

See how weird those things look! haha!

The next one is called Piniritong Lumpiang Ubod sa CLaude’s Oriental Sauce. This one I can translate. It is like a fried heart of palm spring rolls and oriental sauce made by Chef Claude Tayag. Heart of palm is kind of like eating lotus root, crunchy, and absorbs the flavors of everything else. I would say lotus root has a more distinct flavor though. I didn’t need the sauce anymore for this one because the spring roll itself was already good with the herb dressing on top.

The next one was Inasal na Manok at Claude’s Talangka Rice or can be translated as Chicken “Inasal” and Claude’s Crab Fat rice. “Inasal” is a regional grilled chicken dish, famous with the Ilonggos (also known as, “my peoples”). The marinade consists of annatto oil, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, among other things. It comes out orange cause of the annatto but it’s really juicy and flavorful when cooked.

It’s great even just on plain rice but of course, it was served with crab fat rice, which is another danger zone for me since I’m allergic to crab. After my accident though, I figured, I’m going to let lightning strike me twice, what the hell. HAHAHA! I didn’t get an allergy thankfully as I popped an antihistamine seconds before consuming it.

The next one was fresh sushi called Talangka Sushi, Hito at Balo Balo Sushi. I don’t know what Balo Balo is but Talangka is also crab fat and Hito is catfish.

This course is the best course for me because I had been anticipating this course ever since L told me we were going there. This is the “Balat ng Lechon at Liver Sauce”. In translation, it is LECHON SKIN AND LIVER SAUCE. It does not indicate in the description that it is CRISPY, which it is. It is crispy, crunchy, fatty and GLORIOUS!!!!!! The liver sauce (for reference: please buy Mang Tomas at your local Filipino store) is not like Foie gras in liquid form. It is something totally different and I would suggest that you do not ask how it is made and just eat it with the lechon because it is DELIGHTFUL.

The liver sauce adds a layer of umami and texture to the course because the lechon is crispy and fatty but the liver sauce is chunky with lots of earthy flavors. It’s kind of like wine. Well, the wine I brought which was a Chianti Classico that I had bought the day before, was sadly NOT a perfect match to the lechon. I didn’t have enough time to buy from my supplier the wine I wanted because I didn’t confirm my attendance to the restaurant until 2 days before. The Chianti Classico was too light for the lechon and for the liver sauce. Maybe a Barbera or a Nebbiolo based wine would have been a better match. Or actually, I think a Carmenere would have been a better match for this course, to jump the world to Chile. I just thought that since I drank a lot of Chianti while in Tuscany while eating porchetta, it would work but I was wrong. Lesson learned.

The “Fried Lechon flakes binalot sa tortilla at Claude’s Oriental Sauce” was my next favorite course. It is translated into Fried Lechon Flakes wrapped in tortilla. The pig meat was shredded and then fried and this is wrapped into a flour tortilla with cilantro and onion and dressed with the Oriental sauce. It was quite tasty with the crunchy texture of the lechon flakes and the soft tortilla and the kick of the cilantro and onion. I ate three pieces of this. They brought out extra portions for this course…as well as the lechon skin. =D

I don’t know what the next course is because I don’t know what “Tadyang” means. It is called “Inihaw na Tadyang na Lechon at Ensaladang Talong”. Ensaladang talong means Eggplant salad.

Oh now I remember, I think it was Grilled Pork ribs with Eggplant Salad. Now I remember because I liked it so much, I ate it so fast. I remember the ribs being really tender and flavorful and if I’m not mistaken, also had the inasal marinade.

Sinigang na Lechon is a native dish and is like a sour soup with a viand and vegetables. It is traditionally made with tamarind so it’s kind of like the Tom Yum Soup in Thailand. This had lechon in it and taro root which is my favorite! I ate this one pretty fast too. This dish is not really presented aesthetically because it is a comfort food kind of thing and is a one pot dish of some sorts. I have been eating this in a single bowl with rice floating in it since I was little. It doesn’t look good but it sure is tasty! Plus, it was perfect since it was raining and it was kind of chilly and it warmed us up.

How do I explain Sisig Ulo ng Lechon? Sisig is pork ears and face! We Filipinos do not like to waste our pork and we will use all parts of it. I have always known it to be crispy and sizzling as I eat in the local beer chain but traditionally it is marinated in a sour liquid such as vinegar and served. It is not traditionally sizzling so I was a bit apprehensive because I DO NOT LIKE VINEGAR. I had to try it though for my memory food bank and I was not turned off as expected. I did taste the vinegar but it was mild enough for me to tolerate. The texture also took some getting used to. The sizzling sisig took away all the elements that I did not like a) vinegar b) weird texture. I can’t say I like the traditional sisig but at least I’ve tried it.

Dessert was aptly named “Paradiso”. I normally skip dessert but because of events, my stomach was still 1/4 empty. I scarfed down the dessert. It was desserts made from rice in carabao’s milk! The purple one is ube or purple yam and the others, I’m not sure but I’m sure they’re made of rice. The carabao’s milk was so rich and creamy and together with the others really made it a luscious dish. They flambeed the dessert so the crusted sugar on the bottom gave it some texture otherwise it would all be one mushy dessert.

This was the first Filipino dessert I’ve had where I wished they gave a bigger portion. HAHA! I looked over at my friends to see if I could grab theirs but alas, they also scarfed it down fast.

We finished with coffee called “Kapeng Sinaunang Panahon”. This means “Coffee Once Upon a Time”. I think this was made from local beans. Better than Starbucks for sure!

Drop by Bale Dutung when you’re in the Philippines.

It’s located at Villa Gloria Subdivision, Angeles City, Pampanga
Mobile: 09175359198
(02) 6684038, (02) 5024527
reserve@baledutung.com

I’m willing to go back but right now, I’m still a little bit traumatized from the accident so I won’t be going on any long distance trips on the road soon. Flights yes, but not cars.

Next post will be international again!

Cin Cin Italia! Italian Wine Pairing Dinner with Chef Jessie

Tags

Chef Jessie, Chef Jessie Rockwell club, food, Philippines, restaurants, wine, wine pairing

For my readers in the Philippines, please come and join us on September 7, 2012, Friday 6:00PM at Chef Jessie Rockwell Club for a wine pairing dinner featuring Italian Wines.

Tickets are at P2,250 NET.