the taste of okra

Can anybody really explain the taste of okra?

looking back now, my son came up with some sort of a description of the taste of okra. he's known for his complex analogies on food and their different tastes, and he had this to say about our soup one night:

“when you first taste it it’s just like water, but if you let it stay longer in your mouth you will begin to realize that it tastes wonderful. it came from one source but they have different tastes  inside your mouth. mommy, this soup is like parallel evolution.”

there isn’t a day when we don’t have okra on the dinner table. my kids love to eat vegetables and my daughter who's four years old now, would even trade cookies for white onions when she was one.

my then eleven year old’s review of okra?

“it’s the taste of emptiness.”

                                              

photo by koshersamurai

i love the smell of wasabi. if i’m not eating it, i’m sniffing it. so dipping okra in soy sauce with wasabi is like sitting between  conan o’brien and dexter -- a description of a great experience.

according to our food guru, “the taste of wasabi is complicated.”

no further explanation to that. no implosion or explosion of flavors. just that…wasabi tastes complicated. 

running in red stilettos is a top philippine lifestyle, home, living, advice, style, technology, mommy and women's blog, top manila blog on depression, anxiety, mid-life crisis, career, college advice, health tips, psychology, inspiration, love, spirituality, diet, slimming, weight loss tips, homebased work okra, wasabi, food review, soup, manila, philippines, parallel evolution, SAHM

sweet bella cafe at burgos circle, bgc

lunch was beautiful last weekend. we went to see “da vinci the genius” at the mind museum and headed off to forbes town, burgos circle after to have late lunch. sweet bella cafe is famous for its delectable cakes and all things sweet and nice, but which, ironically, we did not have the time to stay for. our 11-year-old was in a hurry to meet up with his best friend. they had not seen each other in three years or so, so it was really easy to give in to the plea (in exchange for a peaceful family lunch).

once in a while when you go out for lunch, it’s nice to have it in a quiet place where no one’s hurrying up to finish their food; or shaking their legs anxious to grab the bill and run; or talking with their mouths full—all because life’s like that. it’s a race and the one who can walk and talk with his food is always the winner.

we entered sweet bella and the waiter outside promptly communicated with another waiter through a two-way radio and the latter was enthusiastically waiting to seat us inside. impressive. you pay for that and it’s all good. i like being treated like an important customer sometimes because it is a good break from the queues that we have to experience in our very ordinary lives everyday. well, i don’t wait in line for my mother’s escabeche tilapia, and that’s a sweet fact of life, too. 

my boyfriend always takes his time when deciding what to eat. it is advisable to send the most patient waiter our way because i really mean that he takes his time. his lengthy deliberation with himself finally ended with a chateaubriand steak.

as of this minute i’m digging inside my purse for our receipt from bella cafe because no matter how wonderful and unforgettable a meal is, food names always manage to escape our heads. 

and now, the boyfriend officially declares throwing out the receipt that i was looking for seconds ago. we can always manage with photos, can’t we?

we have had other lovely gastronomic experiences. you can find them here.

A top Philippine women’s empowerment blog covering travel, style, fashion, opinion, latest trends, technology, events, manila, Luzon, visayas, mindanao, best asia blog, bipolar, anxiety, depression, enlightenment blog sweet bella cafe, da vinci the genius, mind museum, forbestown, burgos circle, the fort, fort bonifacio, bgc, chateaubriand steak, lunch, escabeche tilapia

latte cafe in kalibo

we stepped inside latte cafe,  famished and drained from the one-and-a-half hour trip from caticlan. the kids tossed their cookies in the van (thank goodness, my instinct always tells me to carry a barf bag for each kid), and the husband and i became nauseous from the winding roads. i’d take the plane or the boat or an eagle or a pterodactyl to kalibo any day, but you and i know no sane company would ever fly or float you with only a 49-kilometer stretch in between.  

the family that gets car sick together feasts together. 

latte, being one of the very few a la carte restaurants in kalibo, has garnered the best reviews and recommendations from frequenters and passing-by guests heading to and from boracay island. nothing could be more pleasant than discovering a nicely laid out restaurant in a small, sleepy town like kalibo. latte has a modern-classic feel to it especially with the polished, heavy, dark wood tables and the right accent lighting.  dining al fresco style looked tempting  that day, especially after being stuck inside the van for a while, but it was drizzling out so we stayed inside.

if there was a piece of the puzzle that did not fit the entire tony latte piece, i would say it was the display wall for havianas that was right next to the cake display. it was a bit odd, but i wouldn’t really let it rock my boat.

new love for the palate

i wanted to try something that i’ve never tried before but as soon as i looked at the menu i knew it wasn’t the place for it. latte is famous for their breakfast and we had originally planned on leaving boracay early to get to kalibo on time for breakfast. but yeah, right. “early” is not an operative word for this family.

we arrived at the restaurant starved and could not wait for the 20 minutes that our waiter promised, so we went on to have the desserts first. i’ve lived my life crazy about sansrival so i knew exactly what i was going to have after a short glance at the cakes on display. i have tried more than 10 versions of sansrival but latte’s is by far the best that i’ve ever had. not one of those that i’ve tried in manila could top the sansrival at latte where the butter had no after-taste and the meringue was light, right and crisp just as it should be. it was not crazy sweet so the butter and the meringue were a perfect couple that i’ll always fondly think about.

our choices for lunch also turned out divine. we had sizzling bulalo steak (beef shank), lechon kawali (pan-roasted pork) and stir-fried mixed vegetables. each serving was good for two people, as promised by our very courteous waiter. you see, it’s worth mentioning that you had a professional and kind person waiting on you because you don’t always get that in all restaurants, especially not in the very busy ones.

the bulalo steak was very tender and the gravy was smooth and flavorful. i’ve had steaks with gravy and sauces that were either too thick or bland and sometimes too watered down. if i sense strong flavors in an unfriendly competition against each other, that right away sets me off to unhappylandia.

the lechon kawali reminded me so much of my paternal grandmother’s version that was crispy on the outside and was delightfully tender on the inside. i sank my teeth into the most tasteful lechon kawali ever and it couldn’t get any better than that. condiments are usually offered with pork dishes, but latte’s was perfect without anything else added to it. the entire process—from biting it to chewing it to savoring the juices that came out of the meat—was a heavenly experience, no less.

the vegetables came in a huge platter and you could tell that they were fresh when they reached the kitchen and were definitely far from being overcooked when they reached our table. that left us with wide smiles as well.

our total investment (most people call it "damage") for the latte experience? php 1,055.00 for bulalo steak, lechon kawali, a platter of stir-fried vegetables, sansrival, a plate of puto, mango shake, orange juice and a gigantic glass of iced tea. can you believe how reasonably priced our lunch was? so yes, you should really go if you’re anywhere nearby.

latte cafe at marzon hotel
national highway
kalibo, aklan
(036) 268 6000

latte cafe, kalibo restaurant, marzon hotel, caticlan lunch resto, sansrival boracay, sansrival cake, sizzling bulalo steak beef shank, lechon kawali pan-roasted pork, stir-fried mixed vegetables

hitting icebergs –- along timog

what business did my son and i have traveling 17 kilometers to get to quezon city on a humid thursday?

we wanted to hit icebergs.

i was scheduled to do an interview with a revered feng shui practioner for an article that i was developing for the magazine. my son also wanted to try the famous frozen offering of icebergs so off we went on a horribly humid day. on our way to timog, dr. ang called to say he'd be an hour late. his prior appointment kept him and he couldn’t take another step without having lunch first, unless i was okay with him passing out on me during the interview.

that’s what i call a fortunate unfortunate event because that gave us an hour to discover icebergs. the restaurant has been around since 1986 and started out as a small shop with only five tables offering cold delights. business picked up quickly and the rest was history.

we voted to have a second lunch (a sure win, with the first one taken three hours before the trip) and icebergs’ menu had a lot to offer for weighty lunches. to help us decide quickly, we narrowed down our list to the “bestsellers”.

my son ordered sisig (broiled and chopped pig ears and cheeks) and i went for the tacos. sisig might sound like something that you wouldn’t want to put on your plate but it’s as popular as the president here and could be quite unforgettable -- if you find the right chef to cook it for you, that is.

icebergs' sisig

the sisig lived up to its bestseller reputation. the meat was tender and was not dry, certainly a pleasure to the bite. sisig could be a pretty versatile dish so there are several versions of it. i’ve tried the sweet, dry and spicy versions. icebergs’ wasn’t sweet and what a delight that was. i’m generally not a big fan of sweet dishes. i know how cole’s sisig tasted because i reached out across the table and dug in.

my tacos were a different story. i wasn’t too thrilled with the soft shell, and the absence of cumin, paprika and jalapeno pepper didn’t hit the spot for me. it was not bad, it just was too different a version of tacos and more like good spaghetti sauce with veggies stuffed in taco shells. i like my tacos sinful with spices and the whiff of mexican chilies.

tacos sans the chilies

the oreo banana split will speak for itself. the server forgot to top our delectable oreo banana split with oreo of all things, and yes, we really had to get them. so he came back with a smile and this time with the lovely duo on top of our dessert.

oreo banana split

budget for two: php 400-500

branches

tutuban center mall, santana grove, harbour square (near picc)

quezon city

banawe, timog avenue, metrowalk complex, trinoma

sm branches

sm city north edsa, sm fairview, sm moa, sm by the bay

robinsons branches

robinson's galleria, robinson's place ermita, robinson's midtown

contact number: 415-6778

icebergs, food review, sisig, timog, banana split, tacos, manila, dessert, lunch, philippines, quezon city, fast food