The PHIL - The most beautiful meal I've ever had

Today is a beautiful day. We’re out with one of Christel’s batch mates from high school, Sam, to make a trip to the Pinto Art Museum which has beautiful exhibits built into a hill that’s open and has so much nature surrounding the buildings. There’s a lot of local art here which I love seeing when I got somewhere new and the Pinto was a photographic dream. I highly recommend it.

While we were out we decided we needed to go get some food and Christel hasn’t been in the Philippines very much for the last 8 years that she’s been doing school in America so we rely on Sam to take us somewhere cool. Our first pick is booked solid so she takes us somewhere else and it’s like a twist of fate because we were meant to see this restaurant and eat this food.

LOCATION: 22 Loresville Drive, Lores Farm Subdivision, Antipolo, 1870 Lalawigan ng Rizal, Philippines

Tahanan Bistro is beautiful. Tucked into a subdivision surrounded by houses we pull up thinking we have the wrong address. We open doors that lead to the garage wondering if we’re inadvertently breaking into someones house when a car drives by and gestures to us that we have the right place. We walk up to this really amazing wooden door and pull a string that rings a literal bell alerting a waiter that we’re out here.

There’s a porthole similar to a ship that opens out for people to look through but our waiter has been here long enough to just open the front door and welcome us in. As soon as the door opens we’re led into a beautiful garden and expansive koi pond with the largest fish I’ve seen in a setting like this. We walk into a wooden house with sliding doors and incredibly designed wooden tables and furniture.

Once we’ve had time to talk to our waiter he let’s us know that this house is owned and designed by famous Filipino woodworker Benji Reyes. He’s furniture is sold all over the world and is beautifully crafted and handmade. Having one of his pieces is having a piece of art in your home. Having a whole house designed by him is an experience in itself. Our waiter tells us of the years it took for Benji Reyes to source all of the wood he needed for this house before even had carving and designing it. It’s a masterpiece and makes you feel warm and comfortable though it’s all made of hard wood. Everything is so unique in design and we spend the meal discussing our favorite chairs, itching to explore the rest of the place.

We’re lucky today and there are only a few tables that are occupied so our waiter has time to answer our questions and we walk around after we eat to explore all the rooms and check out the local artwork including more benches and books showcasing Reyes’ skill.

Tahanan Bistro is operated by Reyes’ daughter Keesha and her partner Kevin Tuason after their time in Melbourne, Australia. The food is seasonal and changes from time to time to match the products available but this is a very upscale casual fine dining prix fix menu. There are three options to choose from, all at ₱1,350.00 which ends up being about $25 (a steal). Sam and I order a pitcher of the Lychee Iced Tea which is perfect. Their meun’s are after different plants/ and ingredients but the titles are based in Tagalog so I’m happy there are actual descriptions today.

Sam and Christel order the Kanloan set menu while I order the Arayat set menu. They’re both amazing and adventurous in different ways and I almost get the same but some courses throw me off and in the end I’m happy with my decision.

The Kanloan menu comes as Pusit - Squid ink pizza, squid adobo, house-made rigotta, mozzarella, crispy adobo isaw, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and lemon, Ubud - ubud, lettuce, peanuts, roasted garlic, smoked milkfish, and tuille, Pares - braised beef brisket, linguini, poached egg, pangrattato, green onion, and 70% dark chocolate, Prutas - a seasonal fresh fruit popsicle, and Ube - their famous purple yam and white chocolate lava cake, cheese ice cream, and edam crisp. We’ve heard good things about the Ube lava cake and the waiter says the Kanloan is their popular menu because of the dessert. Lucky for me I have Christel and Sam and they give me a taste so I don’t really miss out.

My Arayat menu comes out as Hipon - prawn and pumpkin ravioli, coconut cream, crispy prawn heads, smoked bacon, cured egg yolk, and cashew, Ubud - ubud, lettuce, peanuts, roasted garlic, smoked milkfish, and tuille,

Hipon

Ubud

Humba - Pork with pork crackling, polenta, pickled beetroot and jicama, squash flower tempura, arugula, and apple vinaigrette, Prutas - seasonal fruit popsicle, and Saging - dutch pancake, grilled banana, lemon whipped cream, and a pink peppercorn caramel.

Humba

Saging

This meal was perfect, it’s easily the most beautiful meal I’ve ever had with each plate coming out to look perfect. Because this place is so open and natural the light was incredible during the day and it was just so peaceful to be eating this amazing food while looking at nature and enjoying great company. All the dishes were perfectly portioned and we each finished every last bite of our dishes - I was the only exception being unable to completely finish the pork in the Humba course but we know how I get meat full so it wasn’t a surprised with three large cuts of meat to a plate. I can see why they set the portion that way though because I’m sure most people would be able to eat it all. The whole experience was incredible and if I get the chance to go back to the Philippines, this place is on my list to re-visit. I have a hard time when I’m traveling because I want to see everything so most places get one visit in a lifetime to be able to see more but this is worth the repeat. They menu changes three times a year as well so revisiting would yield a whole new meal but the setting is what makes this place so special.

THE PHIL - Lobster King

I’m living in vacation inception with a vacation in a vacation. We’re getting out of the city and heading to the beach. Coron is part of Palawan, a set of destination islands in the Philippines with beautiful beaches that make it a popular tourist attraction. We’re spending our days island hopping on tour boats and waiting up for firefly kayak tours at night. It’s a trek but it’s a beautiful place. Of course Islands and beaches mean seafood and Christel’s mom is set on some lobster from a restaurant she remembers from their previous travels here.

LOCATION: 5 Coron - Busuanga Rd, Coron Town Proper, Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

We drive up and down the main streets of Coron and lucky for us its a small town set up for tourists so things are relatively easy to find. We circle around to this open air restaurant, all these places remind me of Vietnam. It’s too hot for closed off buildings so big open spaces with fans to circulate air are how things work in this part of the world. We walk in and make a beeline for the tanks of lobsters. It turns out lobsters look different here and of course that makes sense because we’re not in America so why would there be a Maine Lobster but for some reason this didn’t dawn on me until this very moment. A lobster is a lobster, right? Apparently not.

Tiger lobsters are the type that live in the Philippines so this guys is who we’re having for dinner. Well, maybe not THIS guy because he’s huge and that means he’s pricey. This guy is just the show stopper that brings people in and weighing in around 15kg he’s a sight to see. We calculate it an he’s gonna cost a few hundred dollars so we opt for one of his smaller brothers. Tiger lobsters are so cool to look at with their coloring like this and patterns on their legs and bodies but what struck me was that these guys don’t have pinchers. Instead they have long point-y front legs. I guess they just stab their prey. In any case, I think I’ll stick to the Maine Lobster for that extra claw meat.

We pick out a more modestly sized lobster and order a few more dishes like calamari but also some pork sisig to round out our dinner for four. Our lobster comes out with a garlic butter sauce and it tastes so good we’re excited. This food overall isn’t exceptional compared to everything we’ve been eating but it’s a good time and I’m pretty content with it all. We’re stuffed by the end because Christel’s mom tends to order one dish too many for us but these are not terrible problems to have. Tiger lobsters don’t taste too different from Maine Lobsters so don’t go all the way to Asia just to have one of these but if you’er in the area, there’s no better place for seafood than right by the sea.

THE PHIL - K BingSu Cafe

Today is a Mall day. After lunch at the SM Megamall we’ve landed in another mall closer to Christel’s house to walk around and check out some shops. Christel is still re-familiarizing herself with Manilla and I’m a great guest to just wander around with so we roam until we find some BingSu and decide it’s time for dessert.

LOCATION: Missouri St. San Juan, 1502 Metro Manila Philippines

The first time I had BingSu was when I went to LA with Christel about a year ago. Her little brother took us to Sul & Beans for dessert and I had my first BingSu experience although I didn’t realize it was called BingSu at that time. To me it’s just shaved ice but BingSu is a Korean style shaved ice that’s much more dense than American shaved ice.

K BingSu Cafe is right in the middle of (one of?) this mall’s food courts and it’s tucked away near a darker corner. It’s bright lights draw you in right away and it’s a super cute little cafe that’s one room and an open entrance. Christel says it’s a place where a lot of high schoolers hang out and as if to confirm this is still the place to meet up, the table next to us had a group of three girls that came in a little later than we did followed by three boys that showed up to meet them for a group date. Awkward budding romance right in front of our very eyes.

K BingSu has about 15 different flavors of BingSu give or take and it was very very difficult to chose. They have a key of some of their popular flavors and since I’m not a chocolate fan that helped narrow our choices down a little bit. Christel let me pick and it was a rough decision that I narrowed down to their popular very berry or their mango cheese. Other contenders were the Buko, Injeolmi, or Strawberry but while we were in LA we had an Injeolmi (which is a nutty flavor) and Strawberry Cheese so those were knocked out. We like coconut but we weren’t sure we wanted a whole desert that was ONLY buko flavored so also knocked that one out. The choice was between the berry or mango and neither of us could decide but when we went up to the counter they said their Very Berry was sold out so the BingSu gods looked down on us and told us our dessert fate.

It sounds odd when you have dessert flavors as Mango Cheese but I’ve figured out that Asians don’t really mean cheese they mean cheesecake so it’s actually a very good addition. We’re not terribly hungry right now after lunch so we decide to share a regular at P260 which comes out to be about $5. Not a bad price for a shared dessert this big.

The mango is a great choice and Christel lets me have the whipped cream because she’s not a huge fan. The cheesecake with mango is delicious and I’m so surprised I haven’t had this combination before. I suppose mangos aren’t in such a high supply in America but this rivals strawberry cheesecake for me easily. I’m just a fan of cheesecake and fruit.

Between the two of us we finish just about all of it and are stuffed after. Good thing we’re in a mall and can walk it off. I enjoy BingSu. It melts in your mouth very quickly but since its so dense and packed it sits well and it actually ends up filling you up nicely. It’s also not overly creamy which I appreciate. It’s a nice cooling dessert that’s not too sweet and not too heavy, though I can’t say I’d kick American Ice Cream out of the game.

THE PHIL - Ippudo

Today is a casual shopping day in Manila after church and for lunch we’ve gone to the SM Megamall. This place is truly huge with a grocery store connected and too many floors and wings for me to keep track. SM is a huge family corporation in the Philippines and every time we’re driving around Christel points out all the stores they own and also the fact that she went to school with kids from that family. Manila is a small place with very very rich asians.

Once in SM Megamall we tried to go to Din Tai Fung, a very famous global soup dumpling restaurant that I’ve had the opportunity to try in Hong Kong (it’s delicious and the best soup dumplings I’ve never had) but the line was so long we put our name down on the waiting list for fun and walked around. During out lap we landed in front of Ippudo and the wait was much much shorter for the four of us (Me, Christel, and her parents) so we ended up eating there instead.

LOCATION: 3F Mega Fashion Hall, SM Megamall, Ortigas, Pasig City

As you may remember from a trip to NYC, I’ve been to Ippudo before and after a long ramen battle decided that I preferred Totto Ramen but we’re here and I like noodles so I’m not complaining.

Ippudo here in the Philippines is pretty similar to the one in NYC. Obviously the layout is different but it’s got the same feeling to it. This location is more open and brighter but NYC is NYC so that’s not surprising since there’s more space here in this giant Megamall.

While in NYC I tried the Shiromaru Hakata Classic Ramen but I thought this time around I’d try something new and a little different.

Ippudo Tantanmen Ramen is something that ippudo brought back within the last year and it’s their tonkotsu broth with tantanmen oil added to it that makes it a medium spiciness. The noddles are their chewy wavy version and its topped with ground pork, chashu, cilantro, onions, parmesan cheese, and onsen tamago.

It was such a surprise to me to have parmesan cheese in an asian ramen so I had to try it. This dish was pretty special and I did enjoy it more than the Shiromaru Classic from my previous visit. The egg was so perfectly par cooked and when split open and stirred into the broth it helped mellow out the spice but give it a really rich creamy flavor. What also surprised me was the ground pork. It’s prepared in a way that makes it fall apart in the broth when mixed, very rare in texture as in not cooked long. It was an odd thing to have this ground pork that didn’t really want to be eaten and instead much of it sunk to the bottom or swam in the broth. I wish it stuck to my noddles more so that it would be easier to get some of that flavor while I was chewing instead of in the broth while I drank that. Of course the chashu was very good and the broth was very flavorful. It’s a medium spice but I can say it cleared out my sinuses and pores well enough in a very great way. I couldn’t drink all of the broth but that’s something I rarely do anyways.

Though it was a fun experience, I’m not sure that I would go back for this again. I think it was exciting to try something so different and it tasted delicious but at the end of the day I may have been happier with an order of soup dumplings.

The PHIL - 'American' Breakfast

Traveling is hard and sometimes you miss home. I’ve been in the Philippines for a few days now and I’m loving the experience and getting to hang out with Christel again but once in awhile I need breakfast from home. Our hotel here in Baler is really nice with a beautiful pool and free surf lessons in the ocean provided by the hotel. There’s a breakfast buffet each morning and a breakfast menu to order from that’s included in our rate and I actually love having rice and barbecue pork for breakfast filipino style but today I really really want potatoes. I take a shot and order and ‘American’ Breakfast and I’m finding that when I do this, it just makes me laugh. I just wanted some hash browns but this version didn’t quite hit the spot for me. Breakfast sausage is also apparently very American because this is not what a breakfast sausage is to me. While different, it was still a good breakfast, just a little miss from breakfast at home.