May birthday 2019 at Locavore

by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 26, 2019 | Yummy Reviews

We love to eat. On my in-law’s side we find every occasion to meet up and just eat. When it comes to places to eat we like to try new places that are not too expensive and are reputed to serve delicious food.

For my mother-in-law’s birthday (May 25), Erika (my daughter) and I searched online and decided to try out Locavore. As half the family is from the south and half from the north we opted to try out the branch at BGC.

Appetizers

While waiting for the others to arrive we ordered the Street Food Platter, the Singkamas, Mangga, at Bagoong, and the Pulutang Lamang Dagat. Unfortunately, no pictures of these as we were so hungry we just dived into them. 😀 Taste-wise there was no surprises here but the presentation was beautiful.

The street food platter had squid balls, fish balls, kikiam, and kwek kwek and there were 3 dipping sauces to choose from – manong’s sauce (which is the standard sauce made by tusok tusok vendors), sweet chili sauce, and honey vinaigrette sauce.

The singkamas, mangga’t bagoong had three slices of green mango, 5 slices of singkamas and three dipping sauces to choose from – bagoong alamang, and two others I can’t recall.

Main dishes

There were so many things we wanted to try and with 12 people in the group it was easy to order anything we wanted and just pass the dish down the table. But we did exercise some restraint and ordered the following with a couple of platters of rice:

Gising gising

I knew that everyone was going to order a meat dish so the first order I placed was gising gising (sigadillas, french beans, shallots, and garlic) cooked in gata. The flavor just exploded in my mouth! The vegetables were crunchy and the sauce was just delicious! I am sure to order this again.

Oyster sisig and sizzling sinigang

While technically an appetizer we ordered the oyster sisig as a viand along with one of their best sellers, sizzling sinigang. The sizzling sinigang is Locavore’s reinvention of the Filipino staple sinigang. Instead of a tamarind based soup, they made a tamarind gravy instead.

The oyster sisig may take some getting used to for some as oysters (as you know) are slimy, but it was really good!

The sizzling sinigang, however, deserves all the praise it has been getting online. Muy delicioso to the last drop of sauce and to the last bite!

Beef Pares Stew (sorry for the blurry pic)

We know what beef pares tastes like but we wanted to taste what their take on this Filipino breakfast dish was going to be like.

We also ordered the Mac’s Boneless Fried Chicken but again, like before, we were too hungry to take a photo of it. 😀 Personally, I didn’t like it. I found it too salty but they seemed ok with it so maybe it was just me.

Dessert

Turon con Leche

At first, Erika was iffy about trying this because she isn’t a fan of banana but when I read the ingredients out to her and she discovered there was no banana she decided to go ahead and order this. Have you ever tasted a Portuguese Egg Tart? That’s basically what it tastes like. It is flaky and filled with custard and flan. Yum!

Torta Mangga

So many restaurants have their own version of this delicious dessert. Think of it as a sans rival with sliced mangoes on top. It is difficult to go wrong with ripe mangoes 😀

Other food orders

Champorado ni Speedy

We ordered Champorado ni Speedy because we were curious about how champorado would taste with cream cheese in it. Champorado is comfort food so we were curious how they could make it different and their own.

I personally loved this one. Chocolate rice pudding topped with powdered milk with a dollop of cream cheese and both evaporated and condensed milk served on the side. After mixing it up we all got a serving of this and I opted to take it without the additional milk. Perfect! I prefer the slightly bitter taste of dark chocolate so this suited me to a tee. I admit I went back for seconds. 😀

We also ordered Duck Lugaw (also no picture) which was lugaw with foie gras. As this arrived late I didn’t even get to taste it anymore but I am assuming that it tasted good.

All in all, we loved Locavore! While the price of the food items is a bit on the high side, it makes up for it in taste. Twelve people ate, all that food less senior and PWD discount and our total bill were a little over 6k. That isn’t too bad for a birthday dinner.

Locavore has more than just the BGC branch. If I am correct there is also one in Makati and another in Kapitolyo, Pasig. Find the one nearest you and try it out for yourself.

A Yuletide feast fit for a king at Guevarra’s

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Oct 15, 2016 | Food & Beverage, Yummy Reviews

‘Tis the season to be eating and Guevarra’s serves up a Yuletide feast fit for a king starting today! You read it right, TODAY, October 15!

A feast fit for a king! #guevarrasyuletidemenu thank you @chefjaclaudico and @cheflau

A photo posted by Penny Tan (@slvrdlphn) on Sep 29, 2016 at 1:25am PDT

Christmas comes early at Guevarra’s. For those who have sampled Chef Lau’s popular buffet you already know that a regular 3-hour reservation for lunch, merienda, or dinner is not enough to taste all 80 dishes they regularly serve. For the Yuletide season, they’ve added 11 new dishes.

This means we can enjoy 99. OMG, NINETY-NINE DISHES! How can we taste/eat them all?

When bloggers were asked what their favorite dish was most mentioned the Angus beef. Having tried it myself, I would have to agree but, personally, I found it difficult to single out one dish specifically. 😀

Appetizer, salad, rice, fish, fowl, red meat, vegetable, dessert, beverages — so much to choose from, how can I pick just one, right? My answer, don’t limit yourself. With so much to choose from (and all of them delicious) each one deserves a trip on your tongue and down to your belly. 😀

The Yuletide offerings at Guevarra’s

Chef Lau and Chef Jac sat down one day and thought about what dishes are traditionally served at Filipino get togethers like Christmas gatherings and reunions. In a previous post I featured the eleven Yuletide dishes they added to the menu.

For Starters

Guevarra’s Christmas Chicken Liver Parfait

I’m not a big fan of liver but I did try this pate and it was good. Smooth and creamy. The name, though, was a tad confusing. It’s a pate but it’s called a parfait? Like the ice cream?

Guevarra’s Christmas Macaroni Salad

Macaroni salad is so simple to make that we usually ask the kids to make it. 🙂 All we need are cooked macaroni, cream or mayonnaise, cheese, raisins, and gelatin. The kids like to cut the gelatin into different shapes but cubes will suffice. The red and green gelatin cubes makes this favorite holiday salad colorfully beautiful.

The Main Course

Guevarra’s Christmas Embotido Lasagna Roll

Two dishes in one! Lasagna noodles are just perfect for this dish as it acts as both the wrapper and the pasta dish. 😀 During the blogger event Chef Lau shows us how they made this dish. Lucky us! Watch the video as he demonstrates how to make it step by step.

And for those of us who like to cook this means I could try to make this myself for noche buena. Actually, I definitely will make this for noche buena. 🙂 I hope I can do it justice.

Guevarra’s Christmas Beef Morcon

Beef morcon is also a staple fiesta dish at home. Our Yuletide festivities is just not complete if there is no beef morcon on the table.

I’m glad they made it because this dish takes too long to cook and oftentimes I’m too tired after to even appreciate the dish. Since they serve it at Guevarra’s I now have another reason to bring my family here for a meal. 🙂

Guevarra’s Christmas Fish Mayonesa

I remember my mom making this when we were kids … but she called it fish en blanco. Not to diss my mom but I prefer this version because Guevarra’s uses fish fillet. No fishbones to deal with. Yey! It gave me an idea, though, on how to serve fish en blanco next time. 🙂

Guevarra’s Christmas Paella

It almost isn’t a good idea to eat paella at a buffet. Why? because paella is a mix of rice and viand all cooked at the same time — meaning, it is already a buffet in itself!

Having said that, you should still try it anyway. It is really, really good! I placed a spoonful or two on my plate just to taste it and ended up finishing it before the white rice. 😀

The stuffed turkey is so good! Moist and flavorful. Great with the cranberry sauce. #guevarrasyuletidemenu @chefjaclaudico @cheflau

A photo posted by Penny Tan (@slvrdlphn) on Sep 29, 2016 at 1:57am PDT

Guevarra’s Christmas Roasted Stuffed Turkey

Some people say that turkey is just a big chicken but one taste will prove otherwise. Paired with gravy or cranberry sauce, my favorite part is the thigh. Cooked improperly turkey could become dry and tasteless. But never at Guevarra’s. This stuffed turkey is just delicious!

My personal favorite when it comes to sauces is the cranberry sauce. Somehow gravy just seems so ordinary but the cranberry sauce screams Christmas. 😀

Happy Endings and Great Coffee Pairings

Guevarra’s Christmas Pudding

Pudding is HEAVY. I mean physically heavy, not just heavy in the stomach. It is a very English treat. If I am not mistaken this baked goodie is infused with rum and smothered in honey. Perfect to pair with black coffee. Also great to have as a late night snack.

Christmas Suman Fruitcake

Suman is a traditional Filipino rice cake usually wrapped in a leaf and then steamed until cooked. We then eat it by dunking it in sugar. I personally like it paired with mango and topped with tablea chocolate.

Guevarra’s combined the traditional suman with the a fruitcake by topping the suman with candied fruits. The end product is a sweet confection. Diabetics beware! As with the pudding this goes well with coffee.

Guevarra’s Bibingka

Bibingka is served in so many ways now — topped with cheese, egg, cheese and egg, filled with chocolate or any syrup. Seriously, the skies the limit! I personally like eating bibingka while drinking hot chocolate or coffee.

Guevarra’s Puto Bumbong

Simbang Gabi is not complete without buying puto bumbong after hearing mass. But at Guevarra’s we don’t have to wait until December. We can have it now! Puto bumbong is served in single serve (big bite size) soup spoons.

Not only is it delicious, it is also very beautifully presented it is almost a sin to eat!

Should you go to Guevarra’s and sample their buffet?

If I haven’t convinced you yet, I don’t know what will. Lol! But maybe you have a few more questions. Let me see if I can come up with some of the answers a they were given to us during the Q&A.

Are there desserts made that are safe for diabetics?

Chef Jac says they don’t have any at the moment but they’ve been discussing it and they intend to bring out dishes safe for diabetics soon. Those dishes will, of course, be specially labelled so that customers who suffer from it know that they could safely consume it.

Is it necessary to call ahead for reservations?

Yes, absolutely! Reservations are necessary. Guevarra’s does not like turning people away and the only way to ensure that is if reservations are made ahead of time.

Do they accept walk-ins?

Like I mentioned, they don’t like turning people away. However, in the event that a party with no reservation arrives, they will be informed that they will have to wait in case someone who made a reservation (for the same number of people) fails to arrive within 30 minutes of their booking, then the walk-in party will be accommodated.

What meals do they serve?

No ala carte. It’s all buffet, buffet, buffet — lunch, “maagang salu-salo”, and dinner.

Meals are prepared by world famous Chef Lau, it must be expensive.

Au contraire, mon ami! It is anything but! Check out this price list:

	LUNCH	MAAGANG SALU-SALO	DINNER
MON	P399+12%VAT	P499+12% VAT	P499+12% VAT
TUE	P399+12%VAT	P499+12% VAT	P499+12% VAT
WED	P399+12%VAT	P499+12% VAT	P499+12% VAT
THU	P399+12%VAT	P499+12% VAT	P499+12% VAT
FRI	P399+12%VAT	P549+12% VAT	P599+12% VAT
SAT	P599+12% VAT	P549+12% VAT	P599+12% VAT
SUN	P599+12% VAT	P549+12% VAT	P599+12% VAT
HOL	P599+12% VAT	P549+12% VAT	P599+12% VAT

What time should we be there?

Meals are served at the timeframes below. Make sure to come early.

Lunch is from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Maagang Salu-Salo 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Dinner is from 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM.

Can we make reservations for private functions like company parties?

Since they encourage reservations it is safe to say that customers will not be surprised to arrive to find the venue closed for private functions. Guevarra’s will just inform us whether or not the day and time we stated is available or not.

A photo posted by Penny Tan (@slvrdlphn) on Sep 29, 2016 at 3:19am PDT

For Inquiries and reservations you may contact: 705 1811; 705 1874; 0917 311 2222. Follow them on Facebook: Guevarra’s ; Instagram: @Guevarras_ ; Twitter: @Guevarras_ .

See you at Guevarra’s!