Wagyu Corned Beef

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Originally uploaded by margauxlicious.

I attended a private dinner recently that offered this wagyu corned beef. Unfortunately, as it was an unexpected invitation, I had just come from pigging out on Ilonggo food in Freska, so I wasn't even able to consume the entire of this very expensive corned beef. As expected, it was very soft, very melt in your mouth. But maybe because I grew up an ordinary citizen of the world, I have always preferred my corned beef a la floss (there I am the non-cook inventing words again) - you know what I mean, in shredded form. In spite of the wonderful inventions of Old Swiss Inn and Sentro, my peasant tastes gravitate still towards the canned good, preferrably cooked with diced potatoes and onions. To be enjoyed with rice or toasted pan de sal. ;) But hey, posh corned beef once in a while is always welcome. Moo pare.

Freska

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Originally uploaded by margauxlicious.

Craving for Ilonggo food after our trip to Iloilo and curious to see the creations of a young chef I met, Pauline Gorriceta-Balusing, I convinced our party director to hold our meeting in Freska in Greenhills instead of our pathetic little office.

We feasted on batchoy and pancit molo ... then tried the managat (Philippine red snapper - I just call it a giant bangus hehe) and a Visayan bulalo called Bacolod Beef Kansi.

I really loved this beef kansi. First, its broth is manamis-namis na maasim-asim na ma-umami because of the flavor of the beef mixed with the flavor of a tamarind-like seed called batuan. Apparently this batuan grows only in the Visayas - or at least that's what Pauline says. We should build this baby up; it's like a refined sampaloc. Love!

I also found it lovely how the Chef took pains to give continental dishes an Ilonggo character. Like her pizzetas used what you use to make molo wrappers (like in the picture). This wasn't my favorite appetizer but the concept's worth a nod.

We also tried a banana dessert that was like...hmmm hubad na turon is how i'd describe it. It was like turon taken apart and placed pretty on a plate. The banana was glazed with sugar but the wrapper was made crunchy and placed in the middle instead ... and used molo wrapper again! Another dessert was a mango-buko delight that was made extra tangy and sweet because it used Guimaras mangoes.

Best about this place is it's uber cheap. Well, okay, not uber cheap but uber reasonable. We had a bowl of batchoy (good for two), a bowl of molo (good for two), the Visayan bulalo (good for three), three hundred grams of managat, and two desserts ... all for only P1,500.

I still wasn't able to replicate my Iloilo experience that I was longing for but it was a pretty satisfying meal nonetheless. Manamit!

Ka Lui's

Ka Luis
Originally uploaded by margauxlicious.

Another restaurant in Puerto Princesa that I was able to visit was Ka Lui's, recommended to me by Chef Ed. This restaurant is interesting because they make you take off your shoes and walk just with your socks or bare feet around the restaurant. At first I jokingly wondered if the smell of feet would get in the way of the aroma of the food. But I guess when you've got fresh air, there's nothing to worry about, haha. Thank God walang butas mejas ko the day we ate there.

They have a petite menu. All seafoods. Since we were lobster'ed out the day before at Seaside, we passed on this one. But they have specials that include a blue marlin steak, steamed lapu-lapu and prawns that is good enough for three (menu says two). Its a very, very reasonably priced set. I wanted to explore other fishies though so I ordered the crispy fishtail, which was too bony for our taste but very tasty nonethess; and the sinigang na ulo ng maya maya, which was a real winner. They also had giant shrimp in garlic which I would recommend if you are not allergic.

Their buko juice is served by the glass but if you ask, they can serve you the big buko itself and you can have all the fun of scraping out the buko meat yourself!

Panalo!