Epicurean delights

Daang Hari, a winding strip from Ayala Town Center (four minutes away to be exact), is fast becoming a delightful stop for those who enjoy epicurean delights – international cuisine, paluto-style dishes, fresh fruits and vegetables. It is also a shorter drive to Tagaytay.

In the beginning, residents and motorists happily welcomed the emergence of the “Seaside (though there is no visible sea) Paluto” complex, an offshoot of the paluto restaurants on Macapagal Avenue in Manila. Aling Tonya’s and Sisters constantly impress diners with their Filipino specialties. There is, of course, a fresh seafood/vegetable market where customers pick their produce and then have them cooked to their specifications. Be warned, however, that some items, like dressed chicken, are more expensive here. This complex made the “Southerners” happy. The place is well lit at night, the best time to eat there. It has created a niche.

Farther up, a couple of minutes away, Italian restaurant Buona Vita has started satiating a constant craving for pasta. It is on the ground floor of Greenboro building where a British language and tutorial school, Brightwood, is located. The place is small, but on a cool night, diners can go alfresco. Most of the time, the owners are around to look after the guests. They do proper pasta, among them pizza rotola, super thin pasta with toppings then rolled; crostini tartuffo; and pizza capriciosa. They make a delicious crema zabaione. Call 384-1571.

Not too long ago, the same group opened another restaurant on the second floor of the same building called Casa Iberica. As the name suggests, it serves Iberian (Spanish) dishes. We have it on good authority that the chef has come from a very popular and reliable outfit which closed shop. Hence, the paella is what paella is all about – the rice is not soggy, the multi-flavors perfectly blended. Another favorite is callos, which goes very well with rice. Those wanting Filipino food can order laing, sisig and kare-kare. Call 429-1519.

Soon there is going to be King Bee offering Chinese cuisine. It is still in the final stages of construction, but we look forward to dining there as soon as it opens its doors because of a previous pleasant experience we had in its Sta. Rosa, Laguna outlet.

We received a few email messages reacting to our piece on stone-hard saba bananas. One kindly told us that in cases such as this we must return them to the store/supermarket where we purchased them. Actually we could have done that, as we have before, but time constraint did not allow us to do it then. A reader from Batangas informed us that, like mangoes getting the kalburo treatment, bananas have not been spared, because traders are now subjecting them to chemical immersion. Maybe the Food and Drug authorities should look into this.

There is going to be a food festival in Taal, Batangas called El Pasubat to be held on April 29. Among its features will be a culinary contest, during which the town’s famous tapa will be highlighted as a versatile dish, cooked in different ways.

We do remember their pork tapa well and we have concocted a dish using it. We stir fry the meat, then sauté either asparagus or broccoli in oil with garlic and soy sauce, then add to the tapa. Great!

We managed to squeeze into our schedule a visit to Short Crust, a bakeshop on Aguirre Street in BF Homes, Parañaque. Actually, while still living in the area, we would occasionally drop by and get a cake or cookies. Then we met the gracious owner, Peachy Juban, who is an excellent cake maker. While located in the same building, the shop has undergone some face-lift…it is smaller, but brighter and more contained. The temptingly luscious collection includes chocolate cake (P495), mango crème (P550), and smaller items like chocolate chips (P120 a dozen), russian walnut balls (P180) and red velvet muffins (P45 each).

Eat out this weekend and make it a sweet day!

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