name that fruit!: surinam cherry 500.

spring has sprung on the isle, the flowers are in bloom, and the fruit is ripe on the trees--even on those that were previously thought to be barren. my parents have had this surinam cherry tree in their yard for years, i suppose a nod to their days in new jersey (in the heart of soprano-land, whee), and the giant cherry tree we had out back. however, i don't think this one ever fruited until now.

the surinam cherry--eugenia flora L. to her friends--was one of those many plants brought over to the islands by the portuguese explorers, most likely from goa, maybe by way of south america, as it is sometimes known as brazilian cherry. i believe the chamoru/local name for this is pitanga (although it's usually just called "cherry" pffft), but i can't seem to find the tagalog/filipino name for it, as it does not seem to be common in the philippines. certainly, it's not so common here that everyone knows what it is, but if someone had one in their backyard they remember the fruit, which is bright orangey red when young and a deep sanguine red when ripe, thin-skinned, and juicy, with a core of tiny resinous yellowish-white seeds in the middle when immature, which rather miraculously becomes a recognizable pit upon ripening. a very attractive fruit; surely if this was in the garden of eden, we might be in less trouble today. the flesh is similar to that of the more commonly known cherry, but the flavour is not; frankly, even after eating more than a handful of these, i'm not sure exactly what the flavour is. it it vaguely reminiscent of cherry, but only because its skin is a bit tart but the rest is mellow sweet. it almost tastes like a bell pepper to me, but with a different finish--not so much bitter and spicy, but tart and slightly tomatoey. the fruit is best left to ripen on the tree, when a mere touch will bring them down. supposedly a sprinkle of sugar will intensify the flavour, and make a good substitute for strawberries. my friend bill makes these into a brilliant jam, i'm told. i'll have to ask him for the recipe, once this tree comes to full fruition.

lobster banh mi.

i haven't graduated to baguettes yet in my breadmaking endeavours, but i have been making longer shaped rolls. these are perfect for little sandwiches, especially vietnamese-style banh mi, which use french-style bread. i love the flavours and textures in banh mi--the crusty, airy white bread, filled with sweetened vinegar-marinated julienned carrots and daikon radish, crunchy cucumbers, cellulosey cilantro sprigs, the tiniest bit of creamy butter or mayonnaise, and whatever filling you like. typically a strong paté or other pork product is used, but almost anything is permissable--tofu, pork skin, cold cuts, meatballs, fried eggs....

this particular one was inspired by one of chef mario batali's entrees in "iron chef america" mango battle: a homemade french roll was split in half, spread with a tiny bit of mayonnaise, and filled with sweet lobster meat, marinated julienned carrots and daikon, cucumber slices, cilantro, and a slice of grilled mango. chef batali also added thin slices of char siu pork, but i am currently abstaining from most meats, so i omitted it. the sweet, warm mango made a fine addition on its own. i don't really keep a house where leftover lobster might be found, but blow me down, there it is. shrimp or prawn meat are tasty and similar substitutes, but grilled chicken would work just as well.




marinated veggies for banh mi

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar of choice
1/4 cup sugar of choice
1 cup julienned carrots
1 cup julienned daikon radish
salt, to taste

combine the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. leave to cool, then add the julienned vegetables and salt to taste. refrigerate for at least half an hour, but ideally overnight.



banh mi recipe seafood vietnamese iron chef batali sandwich

roll with it: from baguette to pandesal and back (eventually).

it was maki who introduced me to that popular no-knead bread recipe; i enjoy a bit of mild pummeling, so it's not for me. it did get me thinking about bread making again, which i used to do on a fairly regular, fairly obsessive basis. i do bake bread occasionally, but have avoided the simplest, yet trickiest one for me: french-style baguettes. i could make very good ones, but the decade i spent away from regular bread baking has made me lose my touch. practice is all it really takes, but it really does take a lot of practice.

imho, the best dough for baguettes is the simplest: hard wheat flour, salt, yeast, water. obvs technique is the key. i still haven't perfected the richard bertinet kneading technique which calls for a wetter dough and a lighter touch, but i'm working on it. one of the things that bertinet recommends if you are a beginning bread baker is that one should try making little rolls or shapes instead of a whole loaf the first time. i was sceptical of this--i thought why not have one big failure instead of a dozen little ones?--but having done it, i concur with mr.b. the dough is easier to work and shape properly, the moisture in the bread dough is wicked away quicker in the smaller masses (which makes for a better crust and overall texture), and it takes less time to cook, for the anxious and excited amongst us.

*

around the same time i read maki's post, i read my cousin's post on a pandesal bakery in the manila 'burbs of marikina. supposedly they make "authentic" pandesal, which, as sassy says, could be the national bread of the philippines if the philippines had such a thing. the name literally translates to "bread of salt" (pan + de + sal), but almost every version i've had has been sweetish, not particularly salty, and frankly a little meh. neither here nor there--either too soft or too hard, too sweet or just bland. marketman lamented that true pandesal is difficult to find these days; the product of the 'fifties and 'sixties, according to marketman's sister, had a "hard crust, tender airy crumb and...It must have that distinctive crack down the middle." (i imagine that it probably tasted better too.) i found a photo of the pan de amerikana version, but it looks much like what can be found elsewhere. not as soft and spongy as commercial varieties have become, but my gut feeling is that it's not what the spanish or portuguese brought over back in the day. wiki saved the day with an excellent pandesal entry on the probable history complete with ingredients, which funnily enough are the basis for a good french baguette: hard wheat flour, water, yeast, salt. hm.

so, out came the pans and bowl. 500g of flour, 350g of water, 10ml of yeast, 10ml of salt. first, the yeast was dissolved in 100ml of water and left to bloom for 10 minutes. all ingredients then combined and kneaded to make a soft, elastic dough which should be allowed to double in a warm place. like guam, because it doesn't take an hour to do that. dough punched down, divided in half and formed into logs, which are cut with a sharp knife into equal pieces; each piece is placed cut side up on a baking sheet, and again, left to double.

a crispy crust that shatters is easy enough to get with a little steam during baking. the bread bakes in a 475˚F preheated oven--just slide the pans into the hot oven and use a spray gun filled with water to mist the sides of the oven and the tops of the bread with at least 10 squirts. close the oven door, leave for 5 minutes, then mist again. baked for another 15 minutes, the rolls should be golden brown, with a crunchy crust and tender, airy crumb.



hey it works :)

i don't actually know if this is really like the pandesal of the past so here are some questions for you, if you don't mind. has anyone out there tried traditional pandesal? does this look similar? and is it actually, um, salty in taste?

and for the french bread eaters out there, what is it that you look for in a good baguette?

3 good reasons why one should consider bentou

bentou/bento/o-bento: boxed meals, usually lunch, as envisioned by the japanese, but not necessarily japanese in itself. let this great o-bento essay and the bento bloggers explain. i've totally hopped on the bentou bandwagon and here are three reasons why.

1. relatively economical: it's a good way to use up leftovers, and by bringing lunch to work, you save from not eating out.

2. theoretically healthier: because there's a certain amount of aesthetics involved and they are manually assembled, one would hope you'd think about what goes in the box and into your stomach.

3. PORTION CONTROL!

*

ah, resources: cooking cute, lunch in a box, 毎日のお弁当.

**

yesterday's bentou was ebi-don, breaded prawns in egg, with sautéed onions, green onions, and seaweed, and seasoned with dashi, mirin, soy sauce and a little sugar. this used leftover panko-crusted fried prawns, but make free to use leftover tenpura or beer-battered prawns, or heck, any leftover seafood or plainly cooked meat available. cooked on relatively low heat, the egg takes on a savoury custard quality that is a soothing blanket for the bed of rice it covers.




ebi-don

2 previously cooked breaded or battered prawns (roughly 1/4 lb)
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
butter and/or oil
1 stalk of green onion, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup of reconstituted wakame seaweed (or cooked, well-drained spinach)
1 cup dashi or any soup stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp (not helen) mirin
1 scant tbsp brown sugar
2 large eggs (or 3 small ones), very lightly scrambled

sautée the sliced onion in a small amount of butter and/or cooking oil until just translucent. adjust the temperature of the stove to medium low. combine half the green onion, all the seaweed, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar with the eggs in a bowl. add the egg mixture to the onions in the pan. as the eggs cook around the edges, push the cooked portion towards the center of the pan. place the prawns in the center of the pan and push into the egg mix gently; continue to move the eggs inward or on top of the prawns. when the eggs have mostly cooked, turn off the heat, and cover the pan with a lid; leave for five minutes. the residual heat will cook the rest of the egg. garnish with the remaining green onion. serve on top of a bed of rice, with pickled daikon radish.

*

more of my bentous here....

reason #4: whimsy allowed in homemade lunches, apparently

of bread and breakfast.

there's nothing i can tell you about breakfast that an animated, all-singing, all-dancing, jaundiced loogy can't tell you better:





as mr. loogy says, you may not have the time for a well-balanced meal in the morning, but a little something is better than nothing. lately i've been craving breads and starches (i blame breadbar), so although these aren't the healthiest breakfasts, they are substantial, relatively economical in time and money to prepare, and oh-so-very tasty.



fat tuesday meant pancakes, so i had to have them. my favourite ones are more like the crepe variety than the flapjack/hotcake one; these were delia smith's basic pancakes with lemon and sugar. i substituted powdered sugar for the caster sugar as a topping, but otherwise a straightforward, simple recreation. the light sugar and fresh lemon liven up the tender 'cakes, which don't sit heavy in your tummy all day.



although this granola breakfast bread (eighth recipe/message) from marion cunningham's "the breakfast book" is a yeast bread, it surprisingly quick to prepare (although i did bake it the night before). the bread is like muesli in a loaf, made with whole wheat flour, corn meal, and granola. although the granola mostly blends into the dough, the nutty and fruity bits add texture and flavour, alongside the corn meal and whole wheat flour. (note: i did substitute graham flour for the whole wheat flour as that was all i hand on hand)



marion cunningham wrote that she had a slice of this toasted almost every day for breakfast, and i can see why. the crust is crunchy and crispy when made into toast; the innards are soft crumbed--almost like a muffin--cereal-scented, and eager to soak in lashings of butter and jam. i will definitely make these again, if only so i can fulfill a crazy desire to bake 52 loaves of bread this year, following mary jane's example...hopefully....



i don't keep the best stocked fridge (unless you count bath and beauty products), so sometimes creating a meal can be challenging. i had a few odds and ends of various cheeses, including some leftover queso de bola from the holidays, edam, gouda, cheddar and fontina; i took a page out of market manila and grated them all down, added a tiny bit of minced garlic, freshly ground pepper, diced pimientos, and a smidge of mayo to create a zesty cheese pimiento spread. a dollop of this was spread on rye crispbread and run under the broiler until browned and bubbly. sharp yet creamy, spicy yet mellow. crispy, tart apple wedges were the perfect foil for this.



another meal that was borne from economy (and actually, "nancy silverton's sandwich book") has turned out to be a favourite--paper thin slices of white mushrooms arranged carefully on top of thin slices of sourdough wheat bread, drizzled with olive oil, and grilled in a panini press. sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, this very simple open-faced sandwich is light in texture, but heavy in fungal flavour (snort). but you know, in a good way.



easy peasy, and a nice way to start your day. also, a good way to keep the creepy timer (yes, that's the "real" name of mr. loogy) from coming back to chide you o'er your food habits (although he has some other, helpful suggestions of which you might want to take note).

happy valentine's

a little mod love for some mod love led to this. thank you matt from abstract gourmet for finding the video for this obscure but lovely little ditty--and happy valentine's day to you all.

"i don't know why, i went missing."

hello kids! just back from a very whirlwind visit to los angeles. unfortunately, it wasn't a culinary inclined sojourn, but there were moments (believe me, there were moments). they will be chronicled, as ever, on my la blog, so sit tight, relax, and the blog will begin again shortly.

icy treats.

it is no wonder that ice-based treats are popular in the philippines--the average yearly temperature is 26.5°C (79.7°F), and 85% humidity is not uncommon. whether you are in the city or in the provinces, for the most part (unless you're lucky to live high in the mountains), you take a shower in the morning and step out immediately feeling like you need to take another shower. you are pretty well aware that you live in the tropics.

the most popular of the ice-based treats is probably halo-halo (literally "mix-mix"), a non-specific but fairly colourful mix of preserved fruits and beans, milk , and ice served in a tall glass. the name comes not only from the array of ingredients, but also from the idea that you mix everything together so you get a milky, sludgy, icy drink. (a note about the milk in halo-halo: evaporated milk is typically used because it is rich without being too creamy, and can be used sparingly; also, when it is mixed with the ice it dilutes to a regular milk consistency and flavour.) it is often served as merienda, but equally as popular as a dessert. or, a dessert at merienda :)

i've just come to learn about guinomis, another icy confection, which i'm told is a popular lenten repast, probably because it has less ingredients than halo-halo, and is also dairy-free. why, why, whyyyyy hadn't i known this before?! the creamy white expanse you see is from coconut milk, which covers a combination of nata de coco (a fermented but non-alcoholic coconut water gel), sago or tapioca pearls, pinipig (toasted rice flakes--the older sibling of duman), and a palm sugar syrup. the whole thing is served in a tall glass as well, covered by a tiny mountain of shaved ice. i absolutely love the non-dairyness of this; the coconut milk is creamy, but not über-thick with actual cream. it is not overloaded with too many flavours so you can really taste the caramel of the palm sugar syrup and the toasty rice flavour of the pinipig, which permeates the liquid. the nata de coco and sago/tapioca provide a nice, chewy texture against the flurry of quick melting ice flakes.

in fact, the ice that is used in these desserts is quite important--the finer the better. it is much finer than crushed ice, or even snow cone ice; japanese kakigori, malaysian/singaporean ice kachang, the southeast asian cendol and hawaiian shave ice have the same consistency. there are machines that can produce this fine ice, but for my money, i usually turn to a hand-held ice shaver. it works like a wood plane--the bottom has a long blade that is run across the surface of a block of ice; the resulting ice shavings are collected within, like a tiny bank of snow.

it usually takes about two of these little caches for one serving of halo-halo or guinomis, which really takes no time at all, once you get a rhythm going. it also seems to be more satisfying than just pressing a button or swirling around a handle on a machine; perhaps it's that little extra effort that makes it all the more sweeter. this particular type of shaver is still quite popular in the philippines, and is still made there; we've had ours for thirty years now, and it hasn't failed yet. if you are stateside and looking for one, this mainland company sells a similar one.

also quite fashionable these days is a specialty of our family province of pampanga: white halo-halo. it is basically the same as regular halo-halo , only it contains monochromatic ingredients. the most famous example of this is from a restaurant in the town of guagua called razón's; they use only leche flan (a baked milky custard), and saba bananas boiled in a palm sugar syrup. another popular variation has little milky candies in it--pastillas de leche or yemas--and not much else. i prefer the razón's version, which i make at home, with the addition of (colour-free) nata de coco or kaong (sugared date palm nuts) for a little texture.

winter wonderland in a glass.



technorati tagged! philippines filipino dessert merienda

it's saturday so it must be salcedo.

i am nothing if not predictable about my routine in manila. i usually take the friday flight right after work in guam, and arrive in makati just before most of the restaurant kitchens close. saturdays start early with a couple errands, and then off to the market at salcedo village.

predictable, but considering the variety of food and produce available, not exactly boring. and not particularly expensive either--the current rate of exchange is about 49 pesos to the US$1, so i can usually get a great meal and enough fruit for the weekend for about US$5. la-la-love a (relative) bargain, baby.

i was looking at photos from produce markets at tableau vivante and she who eats, and thinking that i'll never get such gorgeous artichokes nor delicate tulips here, but then again, i don't think frost damage is ever really a concern for the local crops, either.

and it never fails, i always find something new. spices 'n flavours run a stall there, with a small but fairly intensive selection of their merchandise. i picked up a small tumbleweed of dried oregano, and a packet of kasubha (Carthamus dentatus Blanco), which is similar to saffron but not (used much the same way, though); it was there i noticed a steel bowl filled with these almost coal-like fruit fossils labelled "black lemons."

preserved lemon, certainly, and a little interrogation of the shopgirl revealed it is from india, but no recipes were offered. has anyone ever used black lemon? does anyone out there know how? anyone? anyone?

bueller?


tagged! manila makati philippines salcedo produce market

techie toys for cooks

one of my new favourite things is delicious library, a database for your books, music, dvds, and games brought to you by the fine swiss cheese plants at delicious monster. each item of your library is easily added by typing in the title or barcode, or even better, by pointing a handheld scanner or firewire digital video camera to the item's barcode; information from all of amazon's international databases (us, uk, germany, france, canada and japan) is accessed and downloaded. you can display your library as a database or as these nifty shelves, which can be browsed, searched, or sorted. i've just started, but i've already got a better grasp of my cookbook collection, which in the real world is strewn across various rooms, flats, even continents. and huzzah! book covers are also downloaded, so i have my entire fiction collection at my fingertips (which as many of you know, is organized in a most unorthodox manner).

unfortunately for many people, delicious library is optimized for macs; for the mac user, it is christmas in a (window)box: you can use your built in iSite for scanning, there is a lending library synchronized with your address book and iCal, there's a widget for easy access to your database, which can also be stored on your iPod. iImpressed. it's a solid US$40 investment.

**

appetites.us is one of the first food blogs i'd ever read, and continues to be a favourite; for a food blog it has remarkably few photos, but remains evocative and appealing--chalk that up to robert peyton's excellent writing skills. it was also a prime source of information about new orleans during the katrina crisis, and continues to enlighten me on what life is like for a typical citizen in the aftermath. a recent post mentioned a new (beta) website, rouxbe, which features detailed instructional videos by real chefs cooking real recipes. it, alas, does not provide this as a free service, but from the free preview you can see the videos are attractive, thorough, and most importantly, all about the food. if all that dreck on the food network bugs you as much as it bugs me, this could be for you. no mucking about.

however, if the US$49/year ($99 lifetime) membership is too steep--yet you still managed to blow $299 on a video iPod--epicurious.com offers free video podcasts of various cooking and entertaining techniques (no, not how to not spill a drink on someone--think napkin folding). these one to two minute segments look not unlike rouxbe's videos, but deal with the basics: how to sharpen a knife, how to julienne, how to poach an egg, la la. there are currently 36 free episodes (search "epicurious food and drink" in the iTunes directory), 14 of which i've seen and digested. i honestly was always vexed by how to dice celery in a uniform manner until recently. now i can rest easy at night, knowing The Truth About Mirepoix. you can, too.

**

and finally, not a techie toy, not even a toy. just toyed: a gummy bear rug. you know you want it.


tagged! software podcasts videos library fun with gelatinous substances

3 for '007: pt. 3, los angeles: yai.

part three, we're west coasting it in la-la land. after all that talk about authentic and non-authetic thai food over at people's palace, i'm pretty sure that my favourite los angeles' joint is authentic. yai thai cuisine is a no-nonsense, no-frills spot in an odd little strip mall, just off the 101 freeway, but it has garnered high praise from chef jet tila, who recently named it as los angeles' top thai restaurant on kcrw's good food program (excellent show, btw, available as a free podcast); more importantly, simon, kirk, yoony, and dylan all like it, and judging from their blogs we've got similar tastes.

bamboo shoot salad, gai sapp nok


duck noodles


black egg pow

my original review of yai can be found here on my la blog, but of course, it helps to have mo' photos, mo' descriptions.




like the previous review said, the place is nothing to look at, but it has always been clean and well-lit everytime i've visited. the staff is very helpful and quite friendly. prices range from dead cheap to reasonable. the menu is extensive, and there is also a noticeboard with other specials; the only thing they ever seem to run out of is certain canned drinks. the food can be absolutely fiery here, so when they ask you if you'd like it mild, medium, or spicy, truly question your tolerance before responding. some items may seem rather mundane in description, but once it arrives, it manages to transcend a plain name. the jungle curry, however, is as exotic as the name sounds--it is in fact the first jungle curry i've had that looks like it was literally made in a jungle--wild eggplant crowd with a handful of long beans, bamboo shoots and various leaves, as if someone had just foraged for the meal. it is equally as adventurous tasting--there are unfamiliar oils and a bitterness in the ingredients that aren't as pungent in cultivated vegetables.



many of the noodle dishes can be ordered wet or dry (with soup or dry-fried); i honestly don't remember which dish this is, but it had an assortment of fish cake and seafood in it, along with some very nice barbecued pork loin and pork meatballs. the broth is light and slightly salty, but not overwhelming, with an almost florally pork essence to it.



quite possibly my favourite thing on the menu (competing neck and neck with the black egg pow)--and chef jia's too--is the puffed catfish with green apple relish. a whole (farmed, alas) catfish is split, deboned, and fried in a batter that is completely ungreasy, light as a feather but as crunchy as your favourite potato chip. the tender catfish meat is incendiary heat hot straight from the oil, but sweet, mild, and meltingly soft. that combined with a relish of matchsticked granny smith green apples, sliced red onion, cilantro, chili pepper dressed in just a drop of lime juice and fish sauce is the absolute business, i tell you, the bomb. yes, so good i will use overplayed, outmoded (sub)urban slang.

**

so there you go. three for three. hope to see you here. or there. or there.


yai
5757 hollywood boulevard (x-street taft)
hollywood 90028.
323.466.0153.


tagged! los angeles restaurant dining thai

3 for '007: pt. 2, manila: people's palace.

part 2 of my favourites lands us in makati, manila, which is the central business and commercial district for the philippines. i don't know, i feel like i'm going to get a bit of flak for picking this particular thai restaurant as a favourite as makati has many good restaurants, some that probably deserve more attention; also, according to a recent texting conversation i had, people's palace was featured in several society magazines this month to glowing reviews. i know people have strong opinions about this place: it's pricy, it's trendy, the interiors and service staff seem cold, the food's not authentic. i agree that it is expensive, and it's probably trendy, but having spent my formative restaurant patronizing years in los angeles, i don't find the decor nor the staff to be glacial--perhaps a little cool. not a bad thing in my book at all; i prefer discreet service and they seem to know when to ignore me and more importantly when not. the decor may be all clean lines and white walls, but i find the space calming and the shade of white quite warm. i'm not a connoisseur of thai cuisine, so i don't know if it is authentic; it rather reminds me of the gentrified, westernized thai food one finds in the westside of los angeles--certainly pretty and most times well-cooked, but rather muted in flavour. however pretty the food is at people's palace, i feel that while the stronger flavours are muted, the food does not seem to be missing any key tastes. in fact, as some of the dishes lose heat and pungency, they gain subtlety so other ingredients can fully be appreciated. i find that the consistency, freshness and quality of the food and service overcome my desire to seek more "authentic" flavours.

the menu is one of the smallest i've seen for a thai restaurant, but there is a relatively extensive and interesting drinks list: there are several iced and hot teas and tisanes, herbal and fruit tonics, smoothies, alcoholic cocktails, and some non-alco, non-caffeinated options like the gorgeously bejewelled-toned morning glory flower drink, or the iced lemongrass and ginger drink. 'morning glory' is another name for kang kong, water convulvus or water spinach, but i'm not sure i really know what the flower of one looks like--i certainly don't know how it tastes. however, the morning glory flower drink looks and tastes much like hisbiscus tea, only with a deeper purpley amethyst shade and a milder, less acidic flavour. the lemongrass ginger drink is refreshing on a hot day, more herby than lemony, slightly floral and only tinged with ginger (for a bolder take on this, order it hot--it comes as a concentrated syrup of lemongrass and spicy ginger to stir into a cup of scalding hot water).

the thing i never miss out on on the menu is one of the thai pomelo salads, which are a mix of sweetish pomelo fruit, lots of greeny herbs, peanuts, garlic, and some sort of complementing savoury ingredient. my favourite is the prawn, pomelo, and coconut salad which features barely cooked through prawns (perhaps marinated in lime juice?), freshly shredded buko coconut meat (neither too young nor old), an abundance of pomelo and cilantro. the dressing seems to little more than citrus juice and fermented fish sauce used quite sparingly, so the sweet milkiness of the prawns and coconut strips is still evident amongst the medicinal greens, toasted peanuts, and mild sweet-tartiness of the grapefruit-like pomelo.

fried things are handled well here--everything from the prawn rolls with sweet chili sauce to the rice flour and sesame seed battered bananas are crispy and greaseless. there are also the lightly battered lapu-lapu (snapper) filets which are surprisingly tender and delicate, also lacking any greasiness, and served with basil leaves and a red curry sauce touched with a bit of coconut milk. if i do have a complaint, it's that there isn't any whole fish on the menu, but that would go against the genteel nature of the menu.

crispy catfish salad, pad thai


seafood in red curry, pineapple fried rice

a good gauge for me to decide if i like a thai restaurant is how it prepares its pad thai, a stir-fried rice noodle dish. people's palace's version passes the test. i despise the version that is commonplace in many restaurants, which seems to be coated in an oily, sweet chili sauce and colours the noodles a garish orange-red; their version is the kind i prefer, without the unnatural colour, and filled with egg, chicken, and prawns, then topped with a snowy mountain of bean sprout, with crushed peanuts and cilantro on the side. the noodles are stir-fried expertly, as they silky and al dente, and there only remains a trace of oil to keep the individual ingredients separate, and not make the whole thing a mushy, clumpy mess. the curries are good, too, with generous portions of meat and vegetable against a good not-too-soupy ratio of curry and splash of cooling coconut milk. i am a person who usually only orders fried rice if it's pretty much the entree, and not as an accompanying starch; the pineapple seafood fried rice is something you can definitely order without anything else as it is filled with a bounty of squid, prawns, pineapple, peas, onions and tomatoes--just a very nice, natural mix of sweet and sour flavours in a surprisingly light, fluffy rice base, served with fresh lime, and a soy sauce, fish sauce, and hot chili pepper sauce. easily addictive.

nowhere does people's palace showcase its fusion techniques more than in its desserts; although there are typical fried bananas available (with a coconut milk ice cream) and also a sticky rice dessert, the stars to me are the ones that use eastern ingredients in standard western desserts. the panna cotta with cardamom and apricots infused in a ginger syrup is a greedily gorgeous combo of almost cheese-like richness in the quivering cream with a hint of incense, complemented by the plumped, boldly flavoured fruit; it feels like it was a treasure brought back to the orient from italy in a velvet-lined, jewel-encrusted box.

for those too full to contemplate the panna cotta, the house-made lemongrass ice cream with coconut biscuits and fresh fruit is a marked contrast to its opulent yet compact sister; there are two generous scoops of a velvety smooth and lightly scented ice cream, with tuile-thin coconut biscuits and a porcupine half ripe manila mango. so much more in quantity, yet somehow a much lighter dessert.

i do love the space that people's palace occupies--it's all whites, beiges, and dark woods, with punctuations of orange from the servers' distinctive form-fitting t-shirts (certainly stylish in the space, but i wonder if they get odd looks on the bus), high, high ceilings, and warm accent lighting--if there's a compact fluorescent in the lot, they disguise it well. it's both calm and buzzy, if you can imagine that. it also has a distinct added bonus of having a fantastic outdoor space for dining and lounging in the cool of night, gardenside in its prime greenbelt location. an oasis within an oasis, maybe.


people's palace
gardenside greenbelt 3, ayala center, makati, manila.
632.729.4375.


part 1 of 3 for '007

part 3 of 3 for '007



tagged! manila makati philippines dining restaurants thai