LA REGALADE

4.5 out of 5 stars


I may be a bit rusty with my descriptions, but I'll give it my best with this restaurant that I've visited again quite recently after the Bar. La Regalade is located in Pasay Road, home of several well-established restaurants such as Milky Way or Nihonbashitei. But it also has relatively new restaurants like Azuthai and fellow French eateries La Cabane or Cicou. Certainly, this strip of road will never die out of places to eat when restaurant ideas fizzle out of your head. And gratefully, La Regalade is also open on Sundays, where most other fine dining restaurants remain closed for weekly cleanings or days-off. It gives families with busy work schedules options for other places apart from mall or chain restaurants.

There is nothing too striking with the ambience of the place, compared to the cozier feel of Cuillere or cool modern spaces of La Cabane. But it has made its mark by gracing us with a menu created by Chef Raye, a two-star Michelin chef. The food is rich and hearty, far from the frilly and overtly fancy French dishes that one expects. Yet, in as much as people have reviewed their portions to be hearty, my friends and family say otherwise. But hey, maybe French food in general have small servings...and this may probably be why "French women don't get fat" as quoted from M. Guiliano's title.

La Regalade has finally given out its own menus, apart from the last time I visited where its offerings were posted solely on chalkboards and chalkboard pillars. Yet, the chalboard remains for daily offerings that change with seasonal ingredients as well as transitory dishes.

warm, crusty bread

One of the dishes I ordered on my first visit was the Salad Foie Gras (490 PhP), which was actually a simple but clean-tasting salad of mangoes, nuts and mixed lettuce on vinaigrette. Unfortunately, they don't serve it now, but for that pan-seared foie gras craving fix, you can actually order it on its own by request, since the one on the menu is terrine accompanied by country bread and house salad (that does not serve people like us who aren't fond of terrine well). Their pan-seared version is accompanied by cooked mangoes with a balsamic reduction. Even with the fruit, it was so rich that I asked for lettuce to munch it with. They were quite agreeable about it and gave us some salad lettuce with a mild dressing that made the starter all the more delicious.

Salad Foie Gras (490 PhP)

Along with the salad, I remember ordering the Duck Leg Confit (980 PhP) and Lamb Navarin (865 PhP) as main of our first visit. It's been so long ago, but I do remember enjoying the duck, and a tad less for its Lyonnaise potato siding since its lard-y taste was overpowering. However, I can't help but compare it to the confit of Aubergine, which has consistently had a crispier skin and juicer meat the three times I've ordered it.

Duck Leg Confit (980 PhP)

Indeed, the star of that meal was the Lamb Navarin, where the sauce was light and flavorful, and the meat firm enough to hold its shape, but practically melted in your mouth. Even the vegetables absorbed the rich flavor the sauce, and was a treat to eat. This traditional lamb stew tasted almost like caldereta, but a richer one, with hints of wine and rosemary.

Lamb Navarin (865 PhP)

At another instance, we got three orders as starters: the Escargots en crouton (290 PhP), Assiete de fromage (400 PhP), and Pan seared foie gras (by request). My parents loved the escargot on tomato confit, with herbed butter sauce and served with sourdough crouton. They said it was tasted better than the order that they got in Lemuria. The cheese platter was also simply presented with a side salad with radish sticks and some walnuts. The cheeses were goat cheese (the white balls), bleu cheese (the triangular spotted ones) and brie (the clear and rectangular cheese). We liked the goat cheese the most, since it was so fresh and creamy without any sour aftertaste.

Assiete de fromage (400 PhP)

Foie Gras de Canard Poelé (Pan Seared Duck Foie Gras)

For main, we got four pieces of Piece de Boeuf, sauce a vin rouge (steak, 6 oz. at 1050 PhP), Grosses Crevettes aux Poires et Oignons (Roasted Prawns with Pears and Onions, 870 PhP) and Boeuf Bourguignon (solo at 400 PhP) with a side of couscous (100 PhP). I find it amusing how my family always gets steak in whatever restaurant we go to, even if it’s not a steakhouse, and this is no exception. The rib-eye was served with a bed of roasted garlic and onions and a small tower of French fries. The steak was succulent, and though it had big chunks of fat, the family says it tasted a lot like Elbert’s. High praise indeed, for steak amounting to less than a third of Elbert’s price. The steak was very meaty but could be sliced easily with a butter knife, the flavor also coming from its high marbling of yummy fat. It still tasted good even without the sauce, and the family actually preferred it without, choosing the peppercorn sauce from time to time when it arrived.

Piece de Boeuf, sauce a vin rouge (steak, 6 oz. at 1050 PhP)

Dad said the prawns were just okay, and we all laughed when he said that manang could whip up something like that. Of course, he was just kidding. The Beef Bourguignon was also just okay, especially compared to the Lamb Navarin which was also a stew that tasted much better. Considering that they simmered the beef for several hours in wine, it was still kind of tough, and the sauce was lacking but overpowering. Good thing there was couscous, and it was very good to scoop up the sauce which also counterbalanced its strong flavor.

Grosses Crevettes aux Poires et Oignons (Roasted Prawns with Pears and Onions, 870 PhP)

Boeuf Bourguignon (solo at 400 PhP)

I forgot to take pictures of the desserts, but we did order the Puit d’Amour (Baked meringue, 220 PhP), Ile Flotante (soft poached meringue on crème anglaise, 180 PhP) and the La Tarte au Chocolat Tiede (warm chocolate tart, 250 PhP). They were all good, but we liked the tart the most, and the baked meringue the least. The latter was served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. We though this would be the best dessert, but when it came, there was just too much hard meringue for the chocolate syrup frozen on a small portion on the center of the plate. Could say the same for the ice cream stuffed inside the meringue. The Ile Flotante was good, the soft meringue being topped with crystallized caramel and almonds. It tasted like a fancy brazo de mercedes, and I liked it because it wasn’t too sweet unlike the previous dessert. Finally, the icing on the cake was the warm cocolate tart. It was actually molten chocolate cake served on a hard chocolate cookie crust. It was warm, gooey and perfect to top off our French food feast.

Ile Flotante (180 PhP)
picture care of allanko.net

All in all, the dining experience was great and fun; not mind-blowing, but very pleasant. The staff was very attentive, though may not know all of the menu; some of the food were just average, but the remarkable dishes of escargot, steak and chocolate tart more than made up for it; the portions were not as big as expected, but the food is truly warm and hearty comfort food. This is a place where one would be excited to take a date to, bring an intimate group to celebrate some event, or take the family to have those fancy Sunday dinners.

Menu. click below to magnify.










La Regalade French Bistro, Makati
820 Arnaiz Ave.
Makati City, Metro Manila
(02)750-2104
Su, M, T, W, Th, F, Sa: 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
Su, M, T, W, Th: 6:30 pm - 11:00 pm
Su, Sa: 12:00 mn - 1:00 am
F, Sa: 6:30 pm - 12:00 mn

APOLOGIES

I won't be adding any entries, from 2 months ago, adding another two from this note. Should keep priorities in check... much to my disappointment of updating this site.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

5 out of 5

** Didn't have time to write a complete article on this, so I just consolidated some articles (NY Times, NY Metro Dining, etc) that wrote good articles on it already, which also reflect how I felt when eating here.

David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle

Bar, the first of the Momofuku

restaurants, showcases comforting

yet sometimes overlooked favorites.

By featuring fresh market ingredients

and daily specials

its customers all of the quality of a

fine dining experience in a casual

ice cream, and pork buns all serve as

examples of how chef Chang brings

East Village diners a fresh complexity

in traditionally simple dishes

The biggest star to emerge from the casual-dining scene is David Chang, named 2007 chef of the year by GQ and Bon Appetit for running Manhattan's Momofuku empire, consisting of three tiny restaurants right near one another that often play Led Zeppelin loud and have posters of John McEnroe on the wall. "So much in the late '90s and this decade was about service and serving mediocre food. I would rather be in an uncomfortable environment serving delicious food," says Chang. "I remember working at a restaurant, and they told us these statistics that the thing diners care about most was service and second was décor and third was food. And that made me mad. I said, 'Screw it.' That was the motto. Screw everything else — just worry about the food."

Chang compares the trend toward smaller, casual-dining restaurants to what happened to retail clothing 10 years ago, when department stores got destroyed by boutiques. "You're going to find funkier little restaurants that aren't for everyone, just like clothing stores aren't for everyone," he says. "Look at the jeans stores. There are 25 different stores that just sell jeans." His menu reflects his background as a Korean-American chef who came up through the seasonally obsessed kitchen at Craft doing his take on Japanese noodles plus, it seems, whatever else he feels like cooking. Thus, the “Momo" ($16) or Momofuku ramen was born—a large bowl of ramen noodles laden with impossibly tender Berkshire pork belly and shredded pork shoulder, showered with market vegetables, topped with a lightly poached egg. Its broth was very rich and dark, as it was simmered with roasted pork bones, shiitake mushrooms and bacon. By a mile, this is the specialty of the house. Cecile, my NY banker friend, was quick to order this for us, telling me how much she loved this restaurant that she would order this when she needed some comfort food.

But before we gobbled the ramen, we started it with Hanger Steak ($22), which has nugget potatoes, kimchi and butter. It was perfectly cooked, very moist and pink on the inside, the marinade of kimchi giving it a unique flavor. Unfortunately, the serving was also small for sharing alone, so we also grabbed another appetizer before our ramens.

Since Cecile chose, it had to be the equally famous pork buns ($9): A sock-puppet of steamed bread filled with thick-sliced pork belly dressed with hoisin sauce, cucumber, and scallion. Hot sauce optional. It is phenomenal.

Anything that gives more people easier access to David Chang’s steamed pork buns is a humanitarian advance. So if that were all that had been accomplished by Momofuku Noodle Bar’s recent move into a larger space — there are 65 seats, up from 27 — it would be enough. But that isn’t all. With squat stools at communal tables in addition to tall stools at counters, the new Noodle offers a little more comfort. It’s set up like its more lauded sister, Momofuku Ssam Bar, though it has a paler hue and a perkier spirit, playing the blonde to Ssam’s brunette.

The menu has expanded, especially in a section titled “Cold,” where you find dishes including hamachi with blood orange ($16) and smoked duck with cinnamon ($14). Kitchen equipment has also been upgraded.

And there’s now soft-serve ice cream ($4), from a machine at center stage. It stands as an emblem of the polymorphous, mischievous Momofuku spirit, whereby East, West, high and low matter less than what strikes Mr. Chang’s fancy, like a cold braid of pistachio and cannoli flavors in a cone.

If the florid praise that has flowed Mr. Chang’s way is starting to grate on you, here’s your palliative: there are numerous miscues at the expanded Noodle, which competes with Ssam and now Momofuku Ko for Mr. Chang’s attention. Kevin Pemoulie, a partner in Noodle, runs the kitchen day to day.

The grilled octopus ($13) was rubbery. Duck confit rested on eggs that were billed as “soft scrambled” ($24) but that registered as an unappealing porridge. Although the noodles in the ramen dishes ($9 to $15) had a terrific mouth feel, the broth on occasion lacked spirit. And none of this struck me as any bargain in the context of a first-come-first-served operation that remains cramped.

But service was expert, and so, in the end, was most of the kitchen’s output: hefty, succulent prawns ($18) on buttery grits enriched by a poached egg and pork stock; a new dish of deep-fried chicken ($21 for a half, $40 for a whole) that’s not encased in batter, so it has an un-oily crunch; those famously plump smoked chicken wings with garlic and pickled chili ($11).
Steamed chicken buns ($9 for two) were better than ever, the pulled dark meat crisped on a new high-heat griddle. Will they challenge the hegemony of the pork buns? I think not. But that’s only because there’s nary a sandwich in this city that could.

menu. click to magnify.









Momofuku
171 First Avenue
in between 10th and 11th street
New York, NYC

noodle bar hours of operation

sun - thurs:
12pm - 11pm

fri - sat:
12pm - 12am