Antonio’s is all it’s made out to be

a few weeks ago, my family went out on our first vacation together in about 25 years. we were heading to taal town (for the wonderful heritage houses) and then tagaytay. my sister helen offered to treat us to lunch in antonio’s. my first thought was – at those prices, it better live up to all its hype. and so it has.

each main course (with prices ranging from P1250 to P2500 per head) comes with salad, soup, dessert, and coffee or tea. so in essence, dining in antonio’s is always a 4-course affair (5 if you count the coffee).

the salad is a hefty one

this is half a serving. it consists of a couple of kinds of lettuce, spinach, arugula, alugbati (a nice surprise), blue cheese, candied walnuts, and candied fruit. it perhaps wasn’t the most awesome of salads, but it was very good. certainly a very nice palate primer to start the meal. the contrast of the bitter of the arugula and the alugbati went along perfectly with the pungent saltiness of the cheese. the candied walnuts sent the flavor combination over the top.

soup was cream of upland rice and vegetables, which was well done albeit not terribly exciting.

we all shared a few main courses. the one i ordered was the duck breast with braised red cabbage and mashed potato topped with foie

one bite and i instantly felt the whole experience was special. the duck was perfectly done. and that foie – now i understand all the dying-from-deliciousness that comes from seared foie.

a few others shared a couple of steaks

this is what camille and i will come back for as soon as we save up. in a word – fantastic. the steak comes with 3 condiments: gravy, chimichurri, and lemon and sea salt. the lemon and sea salt was our favorite, bringing out the flavor of that beef. wow.

there were also a few desserts such as a dark chocolate souffle with creme anglaise

a very well-done souffle, but our favorite dessert was the chocolate mandarin which was an orange sorbet coated with chocolate. 

all in all the food in antonio’s showed great execution and spot on flavors. it’s not wildly imaginative or playful or anything like that – which is fine. the food is classical, so is its ambience, and so is the whole experience of dining. we hope to be able to return

 

a quick note on batchoy

we did a major batchoy tasting during this trip to negros. we were there for 5 days and had a batchoy everyday. the full article of that will come out in sidetrip magazine, but we can’t help but still say something about this utterly delicious soup.

it’s easy to imagine the origins of batchoy as coming from the pig parts nobody really wanted. the scraps made into broth and the meat in the soup usually composed of intestines, liver, and some pork. batchoy is garlicky, having its fair share of toasted garlic. it is sweetish, coming mostly (ideally) from caramelized onion. it has crunch from chicharon and heft from the meat and noodles.

some restaurants fancify batchoy – like 21 in bacolod now puts marrow instead of liver. we didn’t try that version because the parameters of our article were to go with traditional preparations.

usually priced at P60-90 a bowl, this is truly a must-try for anybody visiting iloilo and bacolod.

la puerta al paraiso in guimaras: good potential

we did a little overnight trip in guimaras before doing work in iloilo. finding a place to stay online was a challenge – we didn’t want anything too rugged nor too crowded. la puerta al paraiso looked fine. everybody’s word of warning though was it was far from the docks.

the docks themselves are easy to get to. guimaras is a short, 15-minute boat ride from iloilo and costs only P14. boats leave as soon as they’re full (40 to a boat), or around every 15-20 minutes.  when we got to the jordan wharf and tried to find our way to the resort, we realized everybody was right. it was far. about an hour or so by tricycle – the last 10-15 minutes on pure rough road. this cost P500 going and P700 coming back. our first word of advice: take the multicab for only P200 more.

the biggest plus of la puerta is the location of their cottages

each of them face the beach or the open sea. thoughtfulness in giving everybody a view – plus points. the cottages themselves though were quite small and the verandas could have used a bit more furniture. in fact, the whole resort would totally be better off with more lounging chairs around the beach, near the rooms, etc. the beaches were nice and there should be more ways to relax by them. 

facing the restaurant, one beach to the left is where the boats dock

and on the other side was a more people beach

the beaches were quite pretty and the sand very white and very fine. but the shore was also very short. the isolation serves la puerta well – because if they ever had more than 20 people, it would be uncomfortable on the beach.

the restaurant was big and airy and the staff very accommodating

the food was ok – as resort food generally goes. the servings were big enough, but still overpriced. we attributed this to the isolation and therefore the high cost of getting things there. in the future though, these costs need to be revisited. and little things like – they run out of mangoes (in guimaras!)… makes no sense.

we got to speak with the owner and he said they never really actually formally opened and their operations kind of “just happened” – we agree. it does feel that way. a lot of little details need to be attended to for this to become a really good resort. right now we’re totally open to staying in other places in guimaras – but once la puerta gets the other things done, then it will be worth a visit again.

 

eating in bohol – off the menu

the best dishes we’ve had in cebu were actually those not found on regular menus. like this seaweed salad

we asked the resort kitchen to buy some lato (seaweed) in the market and they were happy to oblige. they just charged us for the seaweed and a P50 prep charge. not bad at all!

the other find happened one day when we were lounging by the beach and we saw these people walking by carrying buckets.

looked like a fresh catch of something so we ran down and peered into the buckets and saw these

aninikad, or a small sea snail a relative of the popular bahamian conch. freshly harvested from the seagrass. looked perfect – and at P15 for a 1-liter container, a no-brainer buy. so we took our haul to the kitchen and asked them to make a soup

it was warm and gingery and tasted of the sea. perfect. that P15 buy plus the P50 cooking charge lasted us two meals. memorable.

so now we’ve determined to try this at every island place we go – ask where we can find fresh local catch and have it prepared. we have a sneaking suspicion that whatever it is, it will surely be good.

really yummy sansrival by rosanna

last week, some family friends came over for lunch and they were kind enough to bring dessert – sansrival, one of my and my family’s favorites.

i finished my meal quickly and happily cut a slice of desert. once the knife went in, i knew i was onto something good. the sansrival was perfectly crisp and the knife went through easily. forgetting my fork (and my manners) i picked up a layer of the sansrival and popped it into my mouth. fantastic! just the right amount of crisp and thinness – and also just the right amount of butter. not too much, but enough to give a rich, creamy flavor.

and the best part is, this little chunk of heaven is available about a kilometer from where i live. the baker is somewhere in la vista, qc. i don’t know the price though – felt it was impolite to ask the people who brought it. but you can call rosanna and ask – the numbers are 929-3873; 09209521874

green papaya with gata (coconut milk)

i had a really great lunch – just one dish. green papaya with gata

very very simple. just sautee ginger and a bit of garlic, then add the “unang piga”  – the milk you get from the initial squeezing of the coconut meat. then add the green papaya and some daing (fish cured in salt). and when the papaya is almost tender add the “kakang gata” or the second squeeze from the coconut meat. season with salt and pepper of course and you’re good to go.

this dish is soooo good. and sensationally healthy and inexpensive. my advice though is you don’t need to eat the actual daing – it may not really match with the rest of the stuff, but put it in there for the flavor and aroma – makes a world of difference