One Saturdate at Century Tsukiji

My annual meet up with a former work colleague from my days at CMG of Australia finally pushed through after two reschedulings.  Judith and I (plus another one) would meet every October during her vacation here in the Philippines from Dubai, where she works.  And everytime, the meet-up would be at Luk Yuen for some Chinese food.

This time around, I asked Judith if she'd like some Japanese cuisine and told her to meet me for lunch at Century Park Hotel on a Saturday, where we dined at Century Tsukiji.  This is my second time to eat at the hotel's Japanese restaurant but the first time was about five years ago during a client meeting.

L-R: Judith and I

Going inside the restaurant was like a breath of fresh air, like being transported to Japan.  The minimalist interiors were perfectly decorated with accent pieces that were easy on the eyes.  I did not notice this the first time I was here for a business meeting as I was ushered hurriedly into a private dining room.  I love the central painting of the four season in the common dining area, it's bright colors giving the otherwise neutral palette of the room warmth and life.  I nice touch to the Japanese theme is the Samurai armor on display at the entrance of the dining area and the large Japanese lanterns lined up on the high ceiling.

Love the four seasons painting in the background.

Their menu has plenty of good choices from sushi to sashimi to maki sushi, donburimono to teppanyaki, grilled to fried dishes and makunouchi bento, and more. We opted for the set menu which would be easier to choose and enjoy.

I ordered the Yakiniku Teishoku or pan-fried beef in ginger sauce, served with two kinds of appetizer, sashimi or salad, steamed rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles and fresh fruits for dessert.  The beef strips are tender, juicy and flavorful and the perfect pair to the sauteed vegetables.  Everything was delicious and filling.  The fresh fruits were a sweet ending to the meal.

Yakiniku Teishoku

Judith tried the Wakadori Teriyaki or pan-fried boneless chicken with teriyaki sauce.  Of course, the set comes with with two kinds of appetizer, sashimi or salad, steamed rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles and fresh fruits for dessert.  Delicious meal but the serving can be good for two.  She just finished half because she easily became full and took home the rest.

Wakadori Teriyaki

Service from the staff was excellent as they were attentive to the customer's need from refilling water down to taking photos of guests.

Delicious food plus good ambiance plus excellent service will make me come back again and again.

Century Tsukiji is located inside Century Park Hotel at 599 P. Ocampo St., Malate, Manila, Philippines.  For reservations or inquiry, call (02) 8528-8888 or email at reservations@centurypark.com.ph.  Visit their website www.centurypark.com for more details.

Gastronomic Adventure, Day 2

For day 2 of our Venice Piazza Food Adventure, we continued the game plan and started with appetizers, had our fill of the main courses, and ended with dessert. From the original 14 restaurants/establishments, we were down to half or 7 yummy treats to complete the challenge.

KBOP, a Korean fast food, offered a choice of either ChapChae (Glass Noodles) or Seafood & Vegetable Pancake. Both were delicious but I preferred the glass noodles.

ChapChae

Seafood & Vegetable Pancake

Little Asia Symphony of Flavors served a choice of either battered Shrimp Curls with Mango Dip or Vietnamese Spring Rolls with ground pork and sotanghon noodles which are both winners.

Shrimp Curls with Mango Dip

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Old Vine Grille (which I wrote about here previously) had as front runners for the Food Adventure their Grilled Fish Fillet with Lemon Butter Sauce, served with garlic rice and a side salad, and Chicken Barbecue with Fries and Red Beans.

Grilled Fish Fillet with Lemon Butter Sauce

Chicken Barbecue with Fries and Red Beans

As a breather, we claimed from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf our 8 oz. Hot Chai Tea Latte. Other flavors to choose from are English Breakfast, Tropical Passion, Moroccan Mint, Matcha Green Tea and Apple Pie.

Ramen Bar offered an uber-filling dish composed of Karaage and Kakuni Buns. The Karaage is fried chicken cuts while the Kakuni Buns is Japanese braised pork belly in white buns similar to pork asado siopao.

Karaage and Kakuni Buns

Figaro Coffee Company gave a choice of either a 12 oz. Iced Coffee or 8 oz. Brewed Coffee, available in decaf.

To end the night, we savored sweet but healthy treats from YoSwirls by BTC -- Original Mango Yogurt and Vanilla Chocolate Yogurt.

Vanilla Chocolate and Original Mango Yogurt

What an adventure...a real Food Adventure! From now on, we'll keep our eyes peeled for the next run of Venice Piazza Food Adventure.

The Venice Piazza Food Adventure is until March 31. Try this heavenly promo now or wait for next Food Adventure run.

Related Posts:

Gastronomic Adventure, Day 1

My First Time at Old Vine Grille

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Gastronomic Adventure, Day 1

My family and I are always looking for good food and exciting adventure that's the Venice Piazza Food Adventure was the perfect deal for us. Friends from Megaworld introduced me to the gastronomic adventure and I, on the other hand, shared it to my family the following weekend. The Food Adventure will let you sample yummy dishes from 14 restaurants/establishments in Venice Piazza, all of which can be availed within two consecutive weekend days from 4 pm - 9 pm, at a super reasonable price of P600 per person. Mechanics are fairly simple -- just wear the Food Adventure band, present the passport to the establishment upon ordering the designated dish/es, and enjoy!

Food Adventure wrist bands and passport

Since this is an adventure, we first studied the featured establishments and devised a game plan that will have the four of us finish everything within two consecutive weekend days, with each day allowing us to try equal number of appetizers, main courses, drinks and desserts. For those restaurants that offered two choices, we agreed that two will order dish #1 and the other two will order dish #2. We started on a Saturday so we continued the following Sunday.

Happy bunch on a food adventure

PHO HOA VIETNAMESE NOODLE HOUSE had their best seller Pomelo Salad -- fresh greens, julienne-cut cucumber, red bell pepper and carrots, pomelo chunks, shrimp and nuts with a generous serving of their sweet-sour vinaigrette -- as front runner for the Food Adventure.

Pomelo Salad

EMPIRE DELI & RESTAURANT offered healthy and delectable salads. The Empire Signature Salad is a simple one made of fresh green, cherry tomato, black olives, boiled egg and slices of grilled chicken. On the other hand, the Grilled Tuna Salad is a refreshing mix of greens, julienne-cut green mango, grilled tuna slices and sesame seeds.

Signature Salad

Grilled Tuna Salad

PINCHOS RESTAURANT & BAR, a fairly new establishment from the same owner as Blackwood Bistro, served a Duo of Buffalo Chicken Fillet with (Nacho) Chips and Salsa, a perfect combination.

Duo of Buffalo Chicken Fillet with Chips and Salsa

BLACKWOOD BISTRO offered their Penne Puttanesca made with tomato sauce, black olives and grated parmesan cheese, a rather heavy dish for an appetizer.

Penne Puttanesca

RED CRAB served specially created dishes for the Food Adventure -- buttery soft Dory Fillet with Honey Mustard Sauce and Fried Stuffed Bean Curd with Crab Relleno served with Garlic Chili Sauce. So yummy! Unfortunately, they're not part of the regular menu.

Dory Fillet with Honey Mustard Sauce

Fried Stuffed Bean Curd with Crab Relleno with Garlic Chili Sauce

KUSE TRADITIONAL FILIPINO CUISINE provided a choice between Lechong Kawali (with plain rice and atchara) and Chicken Relleno (with garlic rice and atchara), two dishes that were so filling that we had to rest for a few minutes before going to our next stop.

Lechon Kawali

Chicken Relleno

SOL GELATO was our sweet ending for day 1 of the Food Adventure and each of us savored a serving of any two Gelato flavors of our choice. Mine was a Ferrero-Coffee Crunch tandem and it left me with a smile on my lips.

Two Gelato Flavors -- Ferrero and Coffee Crunch for me!

Being full from our first day of yummy treats, we spent the rest of the evening strolling around Venice Piazza, burning the calories while relaxing under the stars.

The Venice Piazza Food Adventure is until March 31. Try this heavenly promo now or wait for next Food Adventure run.

Related post: Gastronomic Adventure, Day 2

Filed under FLAVORS

Wine Depot Restaurant Week at M Cafe

Even a rainy evening could not stop me from going out to enjoy good food and wine with people I am close with. So on one such Saturday night, me, my mom and a high school friend trooped to M Cafe at Greenbelt 4 to wine and dine for Wine Depot's Restaurant Week. They offered a very good deal of just P650 for a three-course set menu plus dessert and your choice of wine. This is my 3rd time to dine in M Cafe but this time and their food creations are absolutely delish, but it will be more interesting to be sampling the special wine and food pairings specially prepared for the occasion.

For starters, an interesting looking salad was served -- Sweet Crispy Beef Shreds and Fresh Herbs. It had tomatoes, cucumber, mint, lemongrass, basil, cilantro and leeks, drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, and topped with sweet crispy beef shreds. What can I say? This is one unique salad that gave me a medley of flavors -- sweet, citrusy, salty and minty. The cucumber strips are juicy and crunchy. The basil gave the salad its sweet flavor, providing good contrast with the citrusy flavor of the lemongrass and vinaigrette. The crispy beef on top adds a touch of saltiness and gives added texture and point of interest. This salad is so tasty you would forget that it is healthy.

Sweet Crispy Beef Shreds and Fresh Herbs

Next came the soup -- M's Signature Spicy Curried Pumpkin Soup -- which at first glance looks like any other pumpkin soup. Just a spoonful delighted me with the smooth and creamy texture and the full zesty curried pumpkin flavor. The spice is just right and the peppered crunchy papadum jived with the soup.

M's Signature Spicy Curried Pumpkin Soup

Since we are three at the table, we decided to order different dishes for the main course so we can try them all. Mom ordered the Oven Roasted Labahita Fillet with Aligue Cilantro Butter Sauce and red wine, my friend Gesel choose the Spicy Adobo U.S. Rib Fingers and white wine while I decided on the Crispy "Binagoongan" Liempo and white wine. Old practice was that red wine is paired with meat dishes while white wine goes with fish and seafood but nowadays, anything goes with what your heart (and tastebuds) desires.

Oven Roasted Labahita Fillet with Aligue Cilantro Butter Sauce

The Oven Roasted Labahita Fillet with Aligue Cilantro Butter Sauce was a very good choice -- the fillet is soft and buttery-smooth, and seasoned just right. The generously served aligue butter sauce was delicious and gives the fillet a distinctive seafood flavor, especially enhanced by calamansi. No need for rice because the fillet rested on a bed of bok choi, a healthier option.

Spicy Adobo U.S. Rib Fingers with Langka Chutney

Gesel's Spicy Adobo U.S. Rib Fingers is a refreshing adobo dish for me as I've only eaten pork or chicken adobo and adobong kangkong. My first time to taste beef adobo and the U.S. rib fingers were really tender. The adobo sauce I found too salty for my taste but I love the garlic flavor brought by the garlic chips. When eaten with the langka chutney, the dish tasted like patatim and the sweet chutney balanced the saltiness of the sauce.

Crispy "Binagoongan" Liempo

The Crispy "Binagoongan" Liempo is a pretty sight on the plate as each ingredient was neatly layered on top of another, garnished by shreds of green mango. The liempo is well-cooked, crispy yet juicy; when eaten as is, the meat is devoid of any flavor from seasonings but it was just right because the bagoong gave it flavor I expected. The homemade bagoong gave a surprising texture as I felt the crispy alamang in every bite -- a new experience as opposed to the usual smooth and paste-like texture of bagoong. The dish has a good balance of sweetness and saltiness that when you eat one perfect bite (a fork full of each ingredient: a piece of liempo, eggplant, and green mango dipped in bagoong), you'll feel pure ecstasy!

Chocolate Stuffed Black and White Buchi with Gelato

For dessert, Chocolate Stuffed Black and White Buchi with Gelato was served. The combination of warm buchi and the cold gelato was a clever yummy creation. I felt like a child trying to dip a lollipoped buchi into a shot glass filled with creamy gelato. This east-meets-west dessert is sinfully divine -- imagine a chocolate stuffed buchi with sesame seeds becoming more chocolaty with the gelato.

Arzuaga wines (l-r): La Planta Red Tempranillo

and Fan D’Oro White Chardonnay

The red and wine wine featured for the night is from the Arzuaga winery of Spanish winemaker Ignacio Arzuaga. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Arzuaga in February 2010 at Wine Depot's Arzuaga Wine Dinner and it was where I first encountered Fan D’Oro White Chardonnay and La Planta RED Tempranillo. (See my post on the Arzuaga Wine Dinner here)

Fan D’Oro White Chardonnay was mildly aromatic and has a burst of flavors -- sour at first then salty before exploding with a bit of spice at the end. This wine was perfect with the labahita fillet and the crispy liempo. La Planta Red Tempranillo, on the other hand, had strong fruity aroma and was salty at first sip then turned mildly fruity with a refreshing smoky aftertaste. This wine complemented the adobo rib fingers very well.

M Cafe's dinning area

The serving counter

When we finished dinner, it started to rain again but overall, it was a good night of bonding and M Cafe was the right place to spend time with loved ones while enjoying great food and wine, and sharing good laughs. The seats are comfortable and the service personnel are courteous and attentive. And I love how the round lights that loomed overhead gave a warm glow to the simple but classy interiors.

The amazing "light balloons"

M Cafe's exterior with al fresco dining area

M Cafe is located in Greenbelt 4, Makati Ave., Makati City right in front of the Ayala Museum. For your wines and spirits requirements, visit Wine Depot branches or their website for good buys and special offers.

Related post: Arzuaga Wine Dinner

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