Deal Dozen's 5 Course Degustation at Robot

Thanks to Deal Dozen, we were able to try an exclusive 5-Course Degustation by Robot’s newest Head Chef, French Laundry (The restaurant of Thomas Keller, which was voted the best restaurant in the world!!!) trained Chef Bruce Ricketts. Mind you, he's just 21 years old, and he is just starting to rock Manila (or Makati) with his passion of making simple yet flavorful and wonderfully plated dishes. I am sure he'll go places. Proudly Pinoy!



The course priced at P1,150, instead of its original value of P1,800, was made just for this deal by Deal Dozen, the newest lifestyle online deal site which stands out form the rest because of its passion and excellence in partnering not just with prospective clients, but with its audience (buyers) and other media, such as blogs and personalities. They aim to build an interactive community in search for only the best deals for us from the best suppliers.

First up was an Amuse Bouche of Salmon Tar Tar mixed with diced Apples, Celery and Curry Aioli. The mix of the cucumber and the salmon tar tar with apples, celery and curry looked like sushi, but without the rice. I guess it's a healthier alternative. Everything is fresh and tasty.

1st Course for the night was the Crispy Duck Roulade with Mixed Greens, Apples and Truffle Emulsion. The play of the crispy yet tender duck with the mixed greens, apples and truffle emulsion was really tasty. It blended simple greens with the duck nugget, which went well together.


2nd Course was the Aligue or Crab Fat Risotto with Edamame topped with Grilled Prawn and Cilantro Aioli. I love how Chef Bruce combined all the ingredients. I wish we were given more servings of this dish, but it was just the 2nd course, and we had a lot more to try. You will see later that he likes to present simple ingredients, but presented really well and works really great as well.


3rd Course was the Pan Roasted Dory with Mexican Romesco sauce served with Potatoes Fondant, Olives, Calamari and Nori Salt. Deep fried squid on top of the dory fillet, with potatoes. What more can you ask for? Every bite tasted great for me, as play of ingredients and its flavors burst in your mouth.


For our Intermezzo, we had the Watermelon Gazpacho, Robot Salsa and Cilantro Foam. At first, when Chef Bruce explained the concoction, I was honestly found the combination weird. I guess the thing I learned here is to trust the chef who trained with the best restaurant in the world. The taste was really good. The sweetness of the watermelon went well with the taste of the garlic, salsa and cilantro. Props to the Chef! :)


The 4th Course was a Grilled Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin, Eggplant Miso Puree and Creamy Polenta. The pork, eggplant and the polenta was definitely a hit! I can safely say that you can't go wrong with this Chef!


Last, but definitely not the least, was our 5th Course, the Mango Cheesecake with Green Tea Dacquoise Powder and Basil Puree. A piece of sweet ripe mango on top of the textured cheesecake and a slice of orange on the side. I just popped the whole thing in my mouth. :))

Robot is located at 7912 Makati Avenue, Makati City and operates Monday through Saturdays from 5:00 pm onwards. For bookings, special events, and reservations you may reach Robot through landline +632.812.88.00; Mobile Nos. +63917.55.ROBOT (76268) or +63917.51.ROBOT (76268)



Food photos courtesy of Deal Dozen. Thank you!

Paris Délice: Food Made in France!

Paris Délice, an alternative fast food restaurant situated along Juno St. corner Makati Avenue, carries authentic French food, which include breads, pastries, sandwiches, quiches and salads, at reasonable prices. I was invited to try out the newly opened restaurant a week ago, so I went with my friend. After tasting what they had to offer, we were impressed with the gastronomic experience we had!



Florian and Thibault, French co-owners of Paris Délice greeted us to their simple yet cozy restaurant. They explained to us the story of how the restaurant came to be, and how they prepare and present their food to the public - made with ingredients imported from Paris, and made fresh out of the oven daily. With very high regard for quality and authenticity, Paris Délice offers French food as if they were made in France.



One of their best sellers, and my personal favorite, is the Le Lillois. It is one of their yummy sandwiches, made of chicken, bacon, mayonnaise, tomatoes, lettuce. A perfect healthy combination I can eat everyday for lunch. The bread is just so perfectly made, with the right ingredients complementing the taste of the whole sandwich. Not to mention, the baguette was to die for (I've never tasted anything of this quality in the Philippines, until now).



After the sandwich, we tried their Croissant and their Le petit pain au chocolat, and their popular Choquettes. Both the croissant and the le petit pain au chocolat were really fresh, soft, and tasty. The dark chocolate and the bread go well together, while the les choquettes, French cream puffs covered with crunchy nuggets of sugar, then baked until golden-brown perfect, were great with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, which they owners said to be both sourced locally.



I really love the place! In fact, the next day, I brought with me Pauline, our French trainee at the office to try if it will pass the "French taste." I know she was being home-sick and this might cheer her up, so we pushed through. Guess what, she was all smiles and really happy the moment she saw what was behind the glassed shelves. She wanted to order EVERYTHING :)



I ordered the Tomato Cream Soup with baguette (you just can't get enough of this wonderfully made bread), spinach quiche, and fresh lemon juice. She ordered a sandwich, and Coke. We had desserts after - Chausson aux Pommes (Apple turnover) for her, and Triangle aux Amandes (Almond triangle) for me. We were both happy and satisfied with our food!




She was extremely happy, really, she wanted to write a letter to the owners. We asked for a paper, she brought out a pen, and she wrote them...in French, of course. She expressed how happy she was eating authentic French food in Manila, after more than a month without it.



Paris Délice is open every day from 7am to 10pm. :) You may visit and add their Facebook page here. Check out Un soir à Paris Délice: Authentic French food at the heart of Manila for more information.

XO Kitchen's Special Chinese Comfort Food

XO Kitchen "a chinese delicacy" is a simplistic, almost hole-in-the-wall type, yet artistic and eye-catching Chinese restaurant that serves delicious home-cooked comfort Chinese favorites, passed on in the Tan family, along Jupiter street in Bel-air, Makati. Last week, my former adviser and fellow alumni Florencio Sebastian III (Mr. Sebs or Sebs, as we fondly call him) invited us to try out this restaurant he made and helped designed. As I was intrigued both by the looks of the restaurant and the food, of course, I accepted the invite :)

XO Kitchen's Menu: Ala Carte (Pork, Seafood, Beef/Mutton, Chicken/Pigeon), and Noodles/Soup Menu | Rice Meal (Pork, Seafood, Chicken, Beef), Dimsum, and Others Menu | Vegetables, Rice, Egg, Desserts, and Drinks Menu | New Dishes
From Buendia, we turned right at Makati Avenue, and took the left to Jupiter St. From there, it's to your right; it's easy to spot. At first look, you can see the well designed outside structure, that sure makes passersby curious about the restaurant. Since I don't really like to do the ordering for a bunch of people, and we were just invited, we asked Mr. Sebs to order for everyone. He got us these food, which he likes and are his personal favorites.


Fried Noodle with Seafood (Php 130) - You can still taste the crunchy to soft noodles, with really tasty sauce and generous serving of different kinds of seafood. | Seafood Fried Rice with Salted Fish (Php 120) - I'm not really fond of fried rice with fish, but this tasted well. The fish blended well with the rice and other ingredients put into the dish. I just hope that the serving size was bigger. In any case, two servings of the rice were enough for 5 adult men who had not had their breakfast at 11:30am. :))


Their dimsums are a must try! I haven't had the chance to try their Hakaw, which, in my personal opinion, should be the benchmark on how good the dimsum set of restaurants are (if you had to measure or compare). We had the Fried Shrimp Wonton (Php 85) and the Shrimp Kutchay Puff (Php 75). I would suggest you stick with the Fried Shrimp Wonton; or better yet, get the steamed Hakaw (Php 95), which I would say will taste great, based on the taste of the Fried Shrimp Wonton. Yummy. I crave. I crave!


The star of the show, well one of (because they're all good, I tell you!), is the Steamed Three (3) Kinds Egg (Php 100) - This dish is made up of chicken egg, duck egg and century egg. Can you imagine? It's soft, smooth, and melts in your mouth. The sauce can use some more kick for my taste, but it tasted great as it is.


If you're craving for some beef, I recommend that you try the XO Kitchen Beef Special (Php 230), which is made of premium soft beef with really tasty sauce and herbs in the dish. I also recommend that you get the Breaded Fish with Seaweed (Php 230). Although you can't really taste the seaweed in the fish (or that was just me?) this breaded fish dish is a winner. It comes with a tartar sauce to enhance the flavors.


For dessert, you can try the Black Gulaman (Php 50) or the Mantou or fried bread (Php 60) which comes with condensed milk dip. But I heard their Sesame Ball with Almond Milk is also a winner! :) The photos below are a) Mr. Sebs ordering our food b and c) interiors of the restaurant. I enjoyed my lunch, and I was very satisfied with the food. I will surely go back, maybe with friends or with my family! Nomnomnom! :)))