bizu patisserie, pt.2: conspicuous consumption .

i need to take you here. yes, you. even though i hate your politics, your distaste for dry cleaning, and your weird thing about latex paint. i need to take you here, even though the waiters wear purple jeans with green stitching, and yellow oxford shirts that match the decor. i need to take you here because it reminds me of los angeles in the eighties. hong kong in the nineties. paris. the casino, not the city. yeah, okay. the city. un peu.



take your time, let me explain: mango chiboust, that's a light french cheesecake; strawberry chiboust with strawberries from baguio, a mountain city--they also have ones with u.s. strawberries; blueberry chiboust; minuet: valrhona milk chocolate mousse infused with peppermint, in between chocolate cake layers on a hazelnut base; limone: calamansi lemon mousse with a strawberry-raspberry coulis center; and uh...i think the thing with the white ball is the baba: chocolate, hazelnut mousse, caramel cream.



you pick pink. pink. the babylon: raspberry mousse layered with almond-infused sponge cake, and a crème brûlée surprise. the surprise being i can't figure out what crème brûlée has to do with this.



i pick the limone. its violent green clashing with the neon cherry appeals to me. it's strong. the calamansi mousse is almost overbearing, but surprisingly the strawberry-raspberry coulis in its bloody, bloody heart tempers it, despite its own boldness. brash.



we're not done yet. i see you eyeing the chocolate case, bon-bons with names like the cast of "brideshead revisited meets the house of flying daggers"--sebastian (milk chocolate ganache with orange cointreau), isabeau (dark chocolate ganache with cocoa and coffee powder), charlotte (champagne truffles). ai ling, and her sister mei ling, the dark/white chocolate twins infused with green tea. we'll take ching ling, their sugarless dark chocolate infused with ginger, cardmom, vanilla pods and cinnamon. that's right, they're sugarless, and they're spectacular.

we'll discuss the dryer lint thing later.





bizu patisserie
greenbelt 2, makati
757.BIZU(2498)

the promenade, greenhills
724.BIZU(2498)

(and various other locations)

bizu patisserie, pt.1: oh, those macarons.

which shall you choose? (from left to right) chocolate, pistachio, vanilla, rose, mango, raspberry, coffee, lemon or blueberry?



perhaps one of the seasonal specials: the red dark chocolate chili (fire), the white dark chocolate rosemary (earth), or blue mint chocolate (wind)?



or maybe one of each? :)

manila: dinner at my little kitchen.

update january 2007-restaurant closed as of 12/2006 (?)

[note: in the middle of an island-wide power outage, in a rainstorm. if i seem a little...punchy, i'm hot, being bitten by bugs and can't sleep....]



ah, i'll bet you didn't know the blog had a restaurant, did you? well, that's because it really doesn't, but i couldn't help but stop in, as a sort of homage to ms. cathy's kitchen.

i'd never been in before, but it's a very inviting space--mostly white, with apple green walls, blackboards with the day's specials, and (some) slipcovered chairs with either the initials M, Y, L, or K (My Little Kitchen, geddit?) around clean white tables. gave me a bit of a country living vibe, ya dig? edgy martha.



or a really hip see's candies store.

the kitchen really is tiny, but that doesn't stop the menu from being extensive. in fact, we were handed a spiral-bound notebook sized menu, which was really sort of daunting. i honestly don't remember if there was an emphasis on any particular type of dish, which is probably a bad thing. i do recall that a lot of people were ordering pasta and salads, but the menu was all over the map. also, a server sort of hovered over us impatiently, waiting to take our order, so i felt obliged to hurry it along. hovering, in anyone's books, is usually a bad thing, but i had heard that the service sucks here, so actually i was a little relieved to see her there.



we started our meal with ostrich salpicao--strips of lean ostrich meat pan-fried in generous amounts of garlic and olive oil. i've only ever had ostrich once, and it was tender, pale and tasted like chicken livers. this was not nearly as tender, (but in no way tough), dark, and tasted like beef. ? "ostrich--the incredible morphing meat"? i was assured it was ostrich, from a farm in the philippines, so make your own conclusions.



next we had the baked apple salad, which consisted of half an apple filled with cashews and gorgonzola mousse, then baked until golden, and served with a vinaigrette dressed salad. i thought that the gorgonzola would be overwhelming, but in fact it was quite light. the sweetness of the apple blended well with the rich, nutty cashews, and the creamy mousse. overall, though, i was surprised that this salad didn't hit me over the head with flavour. all the flavours were definitely present, but with the volume turned way down. neat trick. no stinky cheese breath for the ladies who lunch.



chicken chimichurri was my cousin's entree, an argentinian-inspired dish of lean grilled chicken breast and an herby, spicy, garlicy olive oil dip. the chicken was grilled perfectly--juicy, tender, and unlike a lot of this sort of thing in the united states, the chicken actually tasted like chicken. the olive oil dip had a lovely balance of flavours, but again, that weird volume level bringing everything down to a 6 (driving level radio, you know? enough so you can still hear the sirens).
the chicken had a very atkins/south beach diet-friendly feel. the chicken isn't served with any sides, so he ordered a side of garlic rice, because in the philippines, they really know how to fry something with garlic. trust me on that one.



i had the braised lamb shank with a mushroom risotto, which was lovely. i order a lot of lamb when i eat out in manila, because the locally-raised lamb is tender, flavourful, and does not taste like old sweaters. this was braised in wine, orange zest, shallots, and just a hint of anise, packing more flavour in there than most of what we ordered; it was also quite a generous portion, compared to the size of the other dishes.

come to think of it, with the 'dainty' but adequate portions, the safely spiced but well-prepared food, the setting, this place is probably quite popular with the ladies-who-lunch crowd. not necessarily a bad thing, but the presentation and service need some work--besides the helicopter hostess, the starters staggered to us, then our entrees were rushed on us as we were still working on the salad. server lady was nice, and kept our water glasses filled, but then disappeared for the rest of our meal. not a bad thing as i was in good company, and the ambiance was relaxed and comfortable, but probably not something i'd want to happen often.


MyLK
L2, greenbelt 3
makati
757.4802.

pampanga: mangan keni!

driving to pampanga, we used to pass this big billboard advertising a local restaurant, with the giant caption "mangan keni!", which is kapampangan for "eat here!" pretty apropos, considering all we ever seem to do when we go back to the province is eat, eat, eat.

farming and fishing are still economic mainstays of the pampangan economy. while the region is almost completely landlocked, there is an extensive river system providing the area. although kapampangans are known for their culinary knowledge and skills, everyday dishes are simply prepared, with humble ingredients that often quite literally nature's bounty: while the crops provide vegetables, fruits, and rice, they also provide a variety of insects, reptiles, and other creatures. depending on how you look at things, these could be pests or pulutan (small snack). back in the day, people ate what was available to them, in times of feast or famine; what you might consider deep-end dining (sorry, eddie!) passed for abundant, nutritious fare.



of course, we're not in the 'olden' times, but in the modern world of krispy kremes (or the local equivalent) and beard papas, so even in the province, everyone's on a diet. i never used to see steamed vegetables or (gasp) a green salad, although i suspect that had partially to do with a cultural belief that a table laden with meat was a sign of prosperity. no one was thinking of clogged arteries at the time.



the square, green packets pictured above are rice-filled banana leaves, which are steamed in a big pot. the banana leaf imparts a lovely aroma to the rice, which is a perfect accompaniment to fried, fat, yellow-fleshed river caught hito (catfish) and hipon (freshwater prawns), simply steamed with local bay leaves.



the beginning of rainy season is the best time for frog catching around the riverbanks and rice paddies. i'm told it's a fairly simple thing: tie a piece of black cloth to a fish rod and string, then wave it around like a mosquito buzzing overhead. the frog catches it, you catch the frog, and dinner is just around the corner.



in this case the tugac was cooked in a tinola-style soup, with chunks of green papaya, loads of chili pepper leaves, and ginger. tastes like chicken, really. a really amphibious sort of chicken.



personally, i prefer snails (susû if you are interested; don't forget that circumflex or you'd really be askin' for it whilst asking for it), cooked simply with lots of ginger and onion. the snails are so tiny that you need a toothpick to pick them out, or possess impressive dyson-like suction abilities.



desserts are as simple and as satisfying as the rest of the meal, usually whatever fruit is at the peak of ripeness; in this case, a bumpercrop of atis, and sweet, golden, succulent mangoes.

name that fruit!: atis

we have a lot of atis trees in pampanga. atis--latin name: annona squamosa, aka custard apple, sugar apple, or sweetsop--is the most widely grown of the annona varieties, which include the well-known cherimoya. its origins are unknown, but the spaniards most likely brought from south america and introduced it to southeast asia sometime before 1590.

the fruit is usually 2-4 inches (6-10 cm) long. it is covered in a dull greenish rind and is composed of knobby segments, which break apart easily when ripe. the pink-around-the-edges creamy white flesh surrounds dark, glossy inedible seeds. the soft, scoopable flesh is often compared to a sweet custard in texture and taste, and is best eaten fully ripe and fresh; however, freezing the fruit will yield an instant, portable, creamy, fruity 'sherbet' that is most welcome on hot summer days.

pampanga: freshly made bibingka

one of the most disconcerting things about arriving in pampanga is that after passing swiftly by idyllic farmland and sleepy towns, once you turn off the main highway, you run smack dab into a california-style mall. it's like a high speed cruise through bali, only to end up in burbank. luckily, our town is a bit further off, so you regain your bearings with each bump and puff-o-dust in the supposedly paved road; the road itself narrows, cars and commercial buildings become a little more scarce, and the trikes and mopeds take over the traffic.

soon, you are greeted by a little stand on the side of the road. that's cecile's, and she makes bibingka.



bibingka is a cake traditionally made from a batter of ground rice flour, eggs and coconut milk. while it is baking, salted duck eggs and quesong puti, a semi-soft white cheese made from carabao's milk (similar to bufala mozzarella) are added; once baked, it is topped with snowy drifts of freshly grated coconut.



baking the bibingka is no small matter. the batter is poured into a clay pot or coconut shell lined with banana leaf--the leaf is there to make it easier to lift the bibingka out, but it also imparts a wonderful aroma to the cake. the pot is placed on small clay coal-fired oven, and then a metal tray covered with more of the hot coal is placed on top of the pot, and the cake is carefully watched for a few minutes until it has gently risen, the cheese has melted, and the top has browned and blistered. once out, the leaf-lined cake is wrapped up in more banana leaves to keep it warm and toasty; then some newspaper, with a generous bag of grated coconut wrapped within, a final bind of twine and you are sent on your merry little way.



there have been a few discussions on message boards as to the origins of bibingka, along with my own musings on foreign influence in baked goods in the philippines, so i won't get too much into it. however, it is clearly a product of the many cultures that have passed through the country--the portuguese have a similar delicacy called bebinca, which is also found in indian region of goa and in the island of timor; the clay ovens were brought to the philippines centuries before by the chinese.

it is one of the very few recipes that i think does not travel well. you can make various substitutions to the main components to some degree of success, but without the banana leaf and clay oven, the elusive alchemy is unachieved, and you are left with a pale imitation of the real thing. once you are lucky enough to taste the springy, mildly sweet cake, with its leafy fragrance, and eggy richness complemented by the crumbly, salty egg, sweet, warm cheese, and fresh, milky coconut all imitations fail. bibingka is not a native specialty to pampanga, but its true self can only be found in the philippines. seek it out if you find yourself here.

we interrupt the regularly scheduled blogness...

typhoon nabi is overhead, barreling over a neighbouring island, but still bringing some nasty, nasty weather. i still have to go to work, bleah.

of course, this is just a nuisance storm, nothing like what's going on in the mainland. if you know anyone who is looking for an (albeit rudimentary) emergency information database for katrina, the fine tsunami help folks have set one up at www.katrinahelp.info. take care y'all. your typhoon-battered (no not tempura-battered) brethren wish you the best.

back to the old house.

my family is from pampanga, about an hour away from manila, under the volcano. it has been a couple of years since i'd last been there, and since then, my mom's family has restored their parents' home. the house dates back to the twenties, a modest example of the bahay na bato-style provincial home that was prevalent at the time, but is rapidly disappearing. (for a more grand example, one only needs to look next door.) i spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandmother, and i was glad to see it (and the rest of the house) is almost exactly as i remember it, only with the distinct difference of it actually looking less run down now than then. i particularly remember this aparador, or food "safe", where cooked foods were stored, pre-refrigeration days--the screened-in doors and the back-slatted box hanging off the windowsill allowed for proper air-circulation to keep foods from spoiling. if it wasn't a complete impracticality in today's world (how do you keep someone from breaking in? what if there's a typhoon?), i would definitely add one of these to my "dream kitchen".

more photos of the old house.

manila: dinner at museum café.

(in case you are interested, here's a very short overview of the neighbourhood.)

our first night there we decided to walk across the street to greenbelt, which houses over a hundred restaurants and food outlets. we were looking for something good (obviously) and possibly not too crowded on an early weekend night, so mariel suggested we try museum café--or m café as it is informally known--attached to the ayala museum.

oh hippy hippy shake, this place reeks of hipness, with concrete floors and tables, white walls and glass, and giant spun thread globe lights overhead. the staff members are jordi labanda illustrations come to life, and the crowd all johnny cashed-out dressed in black. it is slightly intimidating, but in the breezeway between the museum and café there is a lovely outdoor seating area--all candle- and fairylights- lit, with gentle bossanova and chillout music wafting through the trees; along with the relative lack of attitude on the staff's part (just a "we're not snobby, we're really just not here" space-out that passes for discreet), and the row of obscenely luscious desserts on the counter that greets you when you first walk in, m is more inviting that your standard artsy white box.



like many restaurants in manila, there is usually some sort of fruit shake (made by blending fresh fruit and ice together) on the menu, quite refreshing in the tropical heat. m has the typical ones--green mango, melon, and calamansi--but a couple of unusual ones as well. i had one made from duhat and lychee, which was sweet and delicate.



we started with codfish balls skewered on lemongrass, and duck rolls with hoisin sauce. i don't remember what kind of sauce was served with the fried cod, but they were flavourful and almost uncomfortably meaty for fishballs. unlike other processed fish products there were noticeable chunks of cod throughout, and the frying sealed in its juiciness. the duck rolls were flour tortillas filled with skinless dark duck meat, julienned carrots, radish, cucumbers, and lettuce, and were quite light and fresh. there was definitely more vegetables than duck meat (i thought it could've stood to have a little more duck), but the meat was tender and not stringy. they were served with a side of tasty, ungreasy kropek, a type of airy, crispy prawn chip.



i shared an order of the pumpkin curry soup, which was a coconut milk-based soup with puréed pumpkin and a light indian-style curry spice. it was served with a poppadom (a chickpea flour crispbread) on the side. i found the soup to be nicely spiced, not overwhelming the pumpkin. it was perfectly pleasant, but truthfully, i didn't find it especially exciting--maybe a little more kick would've knocked my fussy boots off. i was also slightly underwhelmed by my green mango salad with fried catfish. i was expecting the catfish to come in larger pieces, but it turned out to be catfish flakes that were fried in a batter, like fish-flavoured bacon bits. they were crunchy but not hot, and while the rest of the salad was the same slightly-above-roomish-temperature (as expected), i think if the catfish bits were a little warmer then the flavour of the fish would have improved. however, there was a generous amount of catfish, not-too-sour julienned green mango, and the whole dish was balanced out by the chopped cashews, tomatoes, and green onions with a sweet and sour vinaigrette. the dish turned out to be an excellent palate cleanser for the rich pumpkin curry soup.



i was definitely having a case of food envy, as my companions' dishes looked more interesting and seemed to satisfy them more than mine did. i tried the seared scallop and pomelo salad, which had a nice amount of sweet scallops, pomelo segments, cashews, and mint amidst the lettuce and the patis (fermented fish sauce)-spiked dressing.



i also had a bite of the succulent asian five spice marinated duck (which was described as duck breast on the menu, but actually was a duck leg). it was served on a bed of sautéed kangkong (water spinach), with a side of rice.



i didn't actually try this next dish, but it was very intriguing: chicken adobo with pan-seared foie gras and topped with a fried quail's egg, and served with a side of kangkong tempura and mashed potatoes. it looked a little crazy, but it smelled divine--i won't question it until i get to try it sometime.



we ended the night sharing two desserts, a caramelized banana tart with pastillas de leche ice cream, and a sampler of chocolate crème brûlées. the banana tart had a generous amount of perfectly caramelized (saba? might've been a different variety) bananas, on an okay puff pastry base. i couldn't tell if the ice cream was just vanilla ice cream with bits of pastillas de leche, a rich, milky sugary candy, or if it ice cream made with pastillas de leche ingredients. either way, it somehow managed to be rich, yet not cloying, and accompanied the bananas nicely. [ps--banana tart comes with spicey song--scroll through comments]



there were three chocolate crème brûlées: dark chocolate with ginger, white chocolate with thai basil, and dark chocolate with chili pepper. they were exquisitely done, with a thin but firm burnt sugar layer, a nicely done chocolate base, and the infused flavours subtle, yet with a kick that intensified with every bite. the majority of the table preferred the chocolate with chili, but i gave a slight edge to the almost anise-like thai basil one. heavenly.

i like m café, despite my disappointment in a couple of dishes. service was decent, but some of the dishes arrived much later than others, and towards the end of the evening our server disappeared almost completely. however, the room and atmosphere could have been cold and haughty, but it seemed like the staff and customers were a relatively genial bunch, and the warm scent of caramel wafting from the dessert bar helped immensely. it can be a little pricey for the philippines (entrees range from P250 to P595-US4.60 to US$10.80), for what could be a "nouvelle" amount of food. however, the lunch menu should be reasonable, and i'm rather excited by the fact that they open up at 6.30 am for breakfast. anybody care to join me for a chicken curry omelette or banana peanut butter waffles next time i'm in town?


museum (m) café
ayala museum, greenbelt
makati ave (cor. dela rosa street)
757.3000/757.6000

manila: shopping at DEC.

one of the reasons we usually went to greenhills is because of the chinese drugstore and the chinese deli/supermarket within the complex. unfortunately, the drugstore moved out, and the chinese deli burned down. sheeeeee--p. luckily, we found the new location for the deli, named DEC (pronounced as a word, but an acronym for "diao eng chay"), which is not too far away from greenhills.



DEC is a family run commercial bakery that specializes in chinese and filipino steamed and baked pastries, and is fairly well known for their hopia and moon cakes (both are essentially flaky pastries with a mashed bean filling). however, the family also has a couple small but popular deli/markets that have fresh and frozen dumplings, siopao and baos (filled buns), barbecued meats, a vast variety of cooked chinese dishes, and a vast array of pastries and sweets, from gulaman-based treats and sago-based ones (gelatin and tapioca), to flans and cheesecakes. and of course, their own bakery goods.



there are several things that set DEC apart from other delis for me, the main thing being that they have a large variety of fresh juices bottled daily, including fresh buko juice--the water from young coconuts--which has an incredibly short shelf life (2 days max). most commercial produced buko juices are stabilized with...something...somehow, and taste nothing like the real thing. the DEC kind (bottled by a company called lipa), is as close to a freshly cracked coconut as you are going to get in a bottle.



i buy this stuff by the dozens, as not only is it quite tasty, but it is a natural form of gatorade, or any sports-type drink; since manila is so humid and warm, and i am constantly on the move, i find that sometimes water cannot quite quench my thirst, nor hydrate me the same way that buko juice can. it's also a very good way of cleansing out toxins from your body, and helps in digestion. very handy. DEC also bottles fresh watermelon, avocado, citrus, and kiwi juice, their latest offering being a lovely citron "tea", which is made from the rind and pulp of fresh citron, and local honey. they also manufacture their own soy milk and have a very popular boba tapioca pearl shake counter.



they also make little pot pies daily, with everything from a delicious taro and mushroom filling, seafood thermidors, to a very popular chicken a la king topped with a flaky, delicate crust. i would eat one of these every day if i lived nearby. i'd be the buddha sitting at the front door. rub my belly at your own risk.

they stock a variety of packaged asian snacks, candies, and condiments, preserved fruit and vegetables (they have a really good sweet and spicy sampalok or tamarind, btw), frozen meats and seafoods, and fresh fruits. pretty much one stop shopping, as far as i'm concerned.


DEC
203 wilson street
greenhills, san juan

manila: lunch at little asia.

guam is not that far away from manila, so we hit the ground running and pretty much went shopping immediately at the greenhills shopping complex when we arrived. although we shopped at the cheap and chaotic bazaar, we decided to have lunch at the adjoining promenade arcade, at a restaurant i believe is called little asia a symphony of flavours but i'll just call it little asia.

i don't really know all that much about the restaurant itself, but it is the second outlet (the first is in quezon city) and it is partially owned by fabulously named siblings charlemagne, charlson and charlyn lim. the interior is contemporary, upscale, and comfortable but weirdly gave me an italian café vibe (i think it was the mural). the menu is ginormous, with dishes from all over southeast asia. unfortunately, i was with some non-adventurous cousins so i couldn't try the vietnamese crispy frogs' legs, sizzling balut (fertilized, incubated duck eggs) in a savoury onion sauce, and deep-fried fish bones, but what we did order was good overall, with a couple of outstanding dishes.


sorry for the blurry photos!

we ordered steamed lapu-lapu (grouper, garoupa) fish fillets with tofu in a black bean sauce, kangkong (water spinach) sautéed with garlic, fried gabi (taro root) cake (pictured above), and honey fried shrimp. the gabi dish was excellent, although the gabi was unlike any taro cake i'd previously had. usually taro cake is made with boiled and mashed taro root, then steamed and fried, but this was taro mixed with glutinous rice flour, so it was a bit stickier, and the thin slices were deep-fried. more like tikoy, but not sweet. the pieces were further sautéed with small shrimp, whole cloves of pan-roasted garlic, green onions, and spanish peanuts. this dish was understandably a little oily, but not unpleasantly so.



the shrimp was not what i imagined either. i had thought it would be something like that walnut shrimp dish with mayonnaise everyone seems to like but me, but these were whole prawns in a flour, egg white, and green onion batter served with a honey-chili-garlic sauce that was downright jammy, but very, very good. the puffs were exceptionally light and crispy, with a perfectly seasoned and cooked prawn within. the puffs were so well cooked that there wasn't a trace of grease on them when they arrived at the table piping hot, and they stayed perfectly crispy the next day when i ate the leftovers for breakfast. :) now *that's* a breakfast of champions i tell you.

portions are generous (each dish fed four of us adequately) and the prices ridiculously reasonable to just reasonable, depending on what country you live in (mostly from P165 to P325--as of today the exchange rate is P56=US$1, so that's about US$2.94 to US$5.80). service is excellent, the clientele mostly family groups, and the food seems uniformly good overall.


simply asia
1: 195-B tomas morato ave, quezon city
373.0609
2: promenade, greenhills shopping center, ortigas ave, san juan, metro manila
727.5265

back, jack, to do it again

a confession: i didn't really sit on the sofa all that much. and i didn't get a haircut.

away from those internets for a week or so

i'll be away from the internets. i have some books to read, that sofa to sit on, and a haircut to be had. should be done in a week or so. see ya!

lasang pinoy

an evocative food blogging event for all filipinos. read about it on the pilgrim's pots and pans.

just some sexy fungi photos

maitake



shiitake and honshimeji



hiratake

how to make a clump of mushrooms happy.

white buna-shimeji mushrooms, hypsizygus tessulatus, common name: beech mushrooms.



happy white buna-shimeji mushrooms.

(thanks jkoshi!:))