Flashback Friday: WILDFLOUR CAFE + BAKERY

On the rare occasions that I fly back home for a visit, I make sure to go to restaurants I haven't been.  It's so easy to go back to my favorites again and again but it's also fun to eat  at the new restaurants that have opened up in Manila recently.

Wildflour actually isn't new, they opened their first cafe and bakery in Bonifacio Global City in 2012.  It's new to me though since I had heard so much about it but had never been.    I finally got my chance when my cool designer friend TC took me there for lunch.  I was so pleasantly surprised and impressed that I went there twice more in the short week that I was home.

What's great about Wildflour is that aside from their massive selection of fresh-baked breads, pastries and cakes, they also have a full all-day dining menu serving breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, salads, pastas and a few main courses. (The menu might be different in each outlet, I have only bent the one in Legaspi Village) For lunch, I've had the moules frites and a chocolate tart.  The next time I went for breakfast and had the bagel and lox with a pot of filter coffee and another time, I stopped by for merienda (snack) of a sticky bun and a  latte.  I always think a place has made it when it becomes my go-to restaurant and Wildflour is just that - a cafe and bakery that is perfect for any time of the day.  You'll know what I mean when you go.

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Wildflour Cafe + Bakery

L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati
Phone:+63 2 808 7072
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM

Frabelle Business Center 111 Rada St, Legaspi Village, Makati
Phone:+63 2 833 9799
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM, Sunday 8AM–4PM

Ortigas The Podium, 12 ADB Avenue Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City
Phone:+63 2 571 8588
Hours: Daily 7AM–10PM

Ground floor, Net Lima building, 26th St, Taguig (Bonifacio Global City)
Phone:+63 2 856 7600
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM, Sunday 8AM-4PM

SARSA

I'm in the middle of a one day juice fast of six juices from The Syndicate Juice Co. and after several hours of just drinking my meals, all I can think about is food, delicious food.  Since I can't eat anything, the second best thing is to write about my favorite Filipino restaurant in Manila - Sarsa Kitchen. 

Sarsa, named after the Filipino word for sauce, is a mainstay in the Filipino table.  Most meals are accompanied by an assortment of sauces: calamansi soy, chili vinegar, fish sauce, liver sauce, bagoong (a local fermented fish or shrimp paste) - the combinations are endless and Sarsa Kitchen is a contemporary take on classic Filipino food with some specialties from the south as the chef JP Anglo is from Negros.

The menu is a melange of classic Filipino dishes and several Negrense specialties.  All are well-executed - the grilled dishes are seared with the meat slightly blackened and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside - from inihaw na liempo (pork belly) to inasal (Southern-style grill) chicken parts (including intestines, tails, gizzard and liver). Bulalo, a Filipino version of pot au feu with beef, bone marrow and vegetables is done traditionally with soup and sizzling Kansi, served on a sizzling plate with gravy.  Vegetable dishes were also very good with the gising gising coconut milk prawn and beans to the roasted squash topped with crispy dilis (tiny fish).  We also enjoyed the pancit molo, a dumpling and noodle soup similar to wanton mee and Batchoy, a southern soup filled with misua, thin noodles and pork liver.  My mouth is watering from the memory of that meal - I can almost taste the starter of crispy dilis in the chili pineapple glaze.  I better stop writing or I'll give up this juice fast right now.

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Sarsa BGC
Forum South Global
7th Ave cor 25th Street, Bonifacio Global City
Tel. +63 2 866 0912 or +63 927 706 0773


A second branch recently opened:
Sarsa MOA
2F South Veranda
Entertainment Mall
Tel +63 915 307 1426

APARTMENT 1B

 

Apartment 1B became my favorite breakfast place while I was back in Manila.  It was a short walk away from my mom's place and served a proper breakfast, good coffee and fresh orange juice.  I must have breakfasted there five times in the short week I was visiting.  I had heard about the original Apartment 1B in Salcedo village but never got the chance to try it and luckily, they had just opened a branch in One Rockwell.  The restaurant is a bright modern space furnished with wood tables and a charming collection of mismatched chairs.  Service is friendly yet efficient.  They even have a buzzer on every table to call the waitstaff with 2 buttons - call and bill - which worked quite well. 

Breakfast is served all day (from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) and the menu has all the classics - Eggs Benedict, with ham or spinach, buttermilk pancakes, French toast, bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, assorted egg dishes, oatmeal and even a croque madame. (What they don't have is Filipino breakfasts which is a treat since every other breakfast joint already serves that).  They have Vittoria coffee from Australia, freshly-squeezed fruit juices and lots of breakfast sides.  Their lunch and dinner menu look good too but I didn't get to try it this time.  If only I lived in Manila, I would be at Apartment 1B every weekend for brunch not just for the good food and great service, but because this is exactly the kind of place that I look for every time we move and rarely find.

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Apartment 1B
Ground Floor, One Rockwell East
Rockwell Center, Makati

FILIPINO FOOD FIESTA

In early April I left for the Philippines to visit my ailing 94-year old grandmother (who has since sadly, passed away) and spent several days in Manila with my sisters having a taste of home.  As we were all jet lagged and awake at dawn, we were all dressed and ready to go for breakfast very early in the morning.  Most days we just crossed the street to One Rockwell where we usually ate either at UCC Cafe Terrace, Apartment 1B (more on that later) or our old favorite Pancake House. 

UCC is a Japanese coffee franchise that uses the siphon method to make their specialty coffees.  The place isn't fancy but the coffee is very good and the Filipino breakfasts are fine.  We tried most of the "si-log" combinations (meaning SInangag, Filipino for garlic fried rice and itLOG, Filipino for egg) with tapa (marinated beef), longanisa (local pork sausage), bangus (milk fish) and tocino (marinated pork).  I liked the longanisang hubad (naked longanisa) best - when they split open the pork sausage skin and take out all the sausage meat, fry it till it's nice and crisp like corned beef hash, then place it on top of the garlic fried rice and serve it with a sunny side up egg - a Filipino breakfast of champions.

On another evening, after a log day spent at the hospital, we decided to have some Filipino food to go from my friend Malu's Milky Way Cafe on Pasay Road.  We ordered the usual classics: kare-kare (oxtail stew made with peanut-flavored sauce), inihaw na liempo (char-grilled pork belly), adobong sugpo (prawns cooked adobo-style in crab roe) and a crispy pata lechon de leche (deep-fried suckling pig knuckle) with a home-made vegetable dish of pinakbet (long beans, bitter melon, okra and eggplant cooked in shrimp paste).  The food came with rice, appropriate sauces (spicy vinegar, bagoong - shrimp paste and chili soy sauce) plus banana leaves that we used to line the serving plates.  Fantastic Filipino food that we enjoyed at home.

When my Lola (grandmother) was brought back home for her last days, we all gathered around the table once more for our traditional lunch which we spent at my Lola's house every weekend when we were growing up.  On this occasion, we had two versions of crab - sauteed in garlic and deep-fried in butter - both of which I hadn't eaten in a long time and probably last enjoyed at one of my lola's weekend lunches.

We also had the traditional summer heat quencher - halo-halo (literally meaning mix-mix of sweetened fruit and beans topped with leche flan, and ube ice cream with milk and lots and lots of finely shaved ice).  We did the classic Via Mare version and the superior Milky Way version which was better because it was filled with more goodies and the ice was so finely shaved that it never made our halo-halo watery.

Last but not least was my dinner with J and N who very nicely picked me up at home and drove me to get my Filipino food craving and took me to Greenbelt's Mesa Filipino Moderne where we had a delicious dinner of deep-fried inside out tilapia where the crispy fish was prepared in bite-sized chunks ready for dipping into the four sauces - spicy, sweet, salty or sour, a prawn and pomelo salad with crispy shredded coconut, grilled pork belly, mixed vegetables in garlic sauce and something I had never tried before: sauteed sigarilyas (wing beans) in coconut milk with chili and shrimp.  For dessert, we shared the leche flan turron (a flan-stuffed spring roll) and the refreshing pandan and coconut jelly.  As you can imagine, it was a Filipino food fiesta.

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UCC Cafe 
Ground Floor, One Rockwell West Tower, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 896 3951

Milky Way Cafe
2nd Floor, 900 A. Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road), Makati
Telephone: +63 2 843 4124

Cafe Via Mare
Ground floor, Rockwell Center, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 898 1305

Mesa Filipino Moderne  
Greenbelt 5, Makati
Telephone: +63 2 728 0886

THE BEST OF 2011

My Best of the Year post takes time to complete.  I go through all the meals of the past year and make a short list of the places that really impressed me with an unforgettable meal.  It doesn't have to be a fancy restaurant, it's all about the food and the experience.

Since 2011 was a year of travel for me, there were many restaurants to choose from.  New places were discovered - Bangkok and Beijing, some revisited - Sydney and San Francisco, along with the usuals - Singapore, Las Vegas and Manila and of course I explored my island home - Bali - as well.  After much deliberation and elimination, and in no particular order, here are my best gourmet experiences of 2011.

BEST BREAKFAST

No questions about it, my best breakfast this year was at bills in Sydney's Darlinghurst.  From the fantastic flat whites to the amazing ricotta hot-cakes, the delicious sweet corn cake to the homemade oatmeal, the breakfast was amazing and the service friendly.  How I wish there was a bills near me!

BEST IN THE PHILIPPINES

Since I'm from Manila, I had to include two restaurants that really impressed me back home: Antonio's and Cafe Juanita.  Antonio's is a no-brainer and on most foodies best list.  It made the drive up to Tagaytay worth it and their fine dining and Colonial atmosphere is just the right mix of fancy and simple.  Cafe Juanita is a bit off the beaten track but also worth the drive to Pasig for home-cooked Filipino food.  This is the kind of food I crave while living abroad.  It felt like I was back at my lola's (grandmother's) house having one of those long leisurely Sunday lunches.

BEST IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Here in Bali, a restaurant that that's a favorite for local food is Cafe Degan for classic Javanese cuisine in a classic wooden joglo (wooden house).  Simple food and friendly service.  They also have half their menu dedicated to Thai dishes as the chef used to work in Thailand.  Whether you order from the Thai side of the menu or the Javanese side, you won't be disappointed.

In Singapore, where I was almost every six weeks, my cousin took me to Ippudo where we had a fantastic noodle lunch - flavorful broth, al dente ramen, chunky pork belly - everything was good.

Two new places we visited this year were Bangkok and Beijing.  In Bangkok, I had my first taste of the real flavors of Thai cuisine.  I tried many types of Thai food and enjoyed most of them but it was chef David Thompson's fine dining take on classic Thai street food at Nahm that left me with a clear idea of how sophisticated Thai food is.

In Beijing, we had the best Beijing duck (aka Peking duck) I've ever tasted at Made in China  - extra crispy non-fatty skin with either sugar for dipping (a novelty!) or the traditional Hoisin-pancake-scallion-cucumber roll.  And it wasn't just the duck, the other dishes were also outstanding and it was the best Chinese meal I'd had all year.

BEST IN THE AMERICAS

In the Americas, we start down South where we made our usual pilgrimage to Buenos Aires and where surprisingly, we didn't eat at our favorite El Mirasol as often as we usually do.  Instead, we rediscovered a Recoleta classic - Munich (or as the locals call it - "el munitch") where we had dinner almost every night and never got tired of their repertoire of classic dishes - a perfectly grilled matambre (pork steak), crispy papas paille (shoestring fries), a simple green salad, the retro Chicken Maryland and Chicken Kiev plus lots of other home-style dishes from the past and the impeccable service from the white-jacketed old-timers just added to the atmosphere.

Finally to North America, first at our usual stop in Las Vegas where we had a superb tapas meal at Jaleo where it felt like we were back in Spain.  It was great to see the quality of Spanish food so lovingly recreated at chef Jose Andres' hip and happening tapas restaurant.  We also revisited our favorite city - San Francisco - so many lovely memories from past visits and so long since our last encounter in 2004.  Dinner at RN74 was impressive - cool concept, fantastic Burgundy wines, packed with a mixed crowd and best of all, the food was really good - simple classic dishes made of incredible ingredients which is what San Francisco is all about.

Last but not least, we go back to breakfast where I just have to mention the best coffee I've had all year (lots of close seconds - Sambalatte in Las Vegas, bills in Sydney and Liberica in Jakarta) but this one topped my list and made my mornings better - Blue Bottle Coffee.  The coffee was prepared with so much love and they took their time getting it right which just goes to show that after all these years, San Francisco's foodie ways haven't changed, it's only gotten better.  And with that I look forward to another year of eating and traveling.  I hope that 2012 will be as food-filled as 2011 was.  Happy Gourmet Travels!

CAFE JUANITA

On my second to the last evening in Manila, my good friend N and her mom invited my mom and myself to dinner at Cafe Juanita.  They came to pick us up at home then we all went to the newer Cafe Juanita in Barrio Kapitolyo in Pasig where we met up with another good friend, T.

My first impression upon entering the restaurant was being led into someone's boudoir.  The main dining area at Cafe Juanita is eclectic with decorations from all over mixed all together: ikat used as curtains, different multi-colored crystal chandeliers,  parasols used as lampshades, lace and silk draped over chairs, a cupboard filled with old mismatched china, antique tiles on the floor and on and on and on.  The interiors are one-of-a-kind and full of the owner's character.

As we were all quite hungry, we flipped through their extensive menu of Filipino specialties and ordered several dishes to share.  To start, we had calamares fritos (fried squid rings) and chicharon bulaklak (a certain part of the pig's intestines made deep-fried to a crisp) dipped in chili-spiked white vinegar.

For our main courses, we shared several Filipino classic dishes: kare kare (an oxtail and vegetable stew in a peanut-based sauce), ginataang sugpo sa gata (prawns cooked in coconut milk), bagnet (crispy pork belly with cilantro and tomatoes in a calamansi (tiny native lime) and fish sauce dressing and laing (taro leaves in coconut milk and chili).  The food was delicious.  It was a delight to eat in a restaurant that felt like a dinner party in someone's very colorful home.  It would take a couple of days just to cook the variety of Filipino food on the menu at Cafe Juanita and the quality is so much better than home-cooked Filipino food that I would rather eat there any day than spend several hours making all that food at home.  For dessert, we shared a tiny dessert sampler of ube (sweetened purple yam), leche flan (caramel milk custard), macapuno (coconut in syrup) and sweetened beans along with their superb cassava cake.

Cafe Juanita is the best Filipino food I've tasted in a long time.  Their reputation is well-deserved and the praises I had heard about the restaurant are all true.  The mother-daughter meal went really well and Filipino food was delicious.  If you ever visit Manila and want a real taste of Filipino home-cooking, Cafe Juanita is where you should go.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

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Cafe Juanita

19 West Capitol Drive, Baranggay Kapitolyo

Pasig City, Manila 1603

Telephone: +63 2 6320357

*Open everyday for lunch and dinner

 

Cafe Juanita

Another branch at:

2 United Street (corner West Capitol drive)

Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig, Manila

*Open everyday for lunch and dinner. 

ANTONIO'S

I had heard about Antonio's from many friends and read about the many foodies and blogger's memorable meals here plus my mom hasn't stopped raving about Antonio's ever since they opened in Tagaytay several years ago.  Last year when I was home for a week, she really wanted to take me there for lunch but it just didn't work out with my schedule.  This time, it was easier as I was home alone without the children so we planned a Saturday post-breakfast drive up to Tagaytay and a lunch at the famous Antonio's (#11 on this year's Miele guide Asia's Top 20).

Early Saturday morning, I met up with my good friend, T, for a quick coffee and cinnamon roll at the nearby Starbuck's before my mom joined us and the three of us left for Tagaytay, which is over an hour's drive south from Makati using the speedy Skyway.  On the drive up, we chatted non-stop about life and everything else and before we knew it, we were up in Tagaytay overlooking the picturesque lake and Taal volcano.  We drove a bit further up the main road until we saw a white sign to turn right into a small side road that led us to the wooden gates of Antonio's garden restaurant.  We were left at the driveway where we were greeted by lovely wooden doors that opened up into an open-air foyer  where the walls were filled with black and white photos and the floor covered in antique black and white patterned tiles.

Down the stairs we went through the outdoor garden area where there are a few tables and into the small indoor dining area which was almost full.  We were seated at one of the tables overlooking the large terrace below where larger communal-style tables (for 8-12) were already filled with families and groups having their lunch.

As soon as we sat down, we were given an appetizer menu of several items and we were all set to choose our meal from this smaller menu when they presented us with the another larger menu where a four-course menu of house salad, soup, main course and dessert is offered with the price determined by your choice of main course.  I had already chosen steak tartar from the appetizer list and I was all set to have it even if I was going to end up having four courses instead of three. They also chose the set lunch menu and each ordered a different salad to start along with a bottle of Chilean Caliterra Reserva Carmenere 2010.  While we waited for our appetizers, we were served warm bread rolls and iced water flavored with lemon, cucumber and mint - a nice touch especially on a warm day.

My steak tartar came first and I was surprised at the portion since it was listed as an appetizer but I guess most order this to share.  There was a mound of hand-chopped steak with the usual stuff mixed in (capers, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, onions, raw egg), topped with some baby watercress and served with lots of toasted baguette slices.  It was as delicious as I had heard, perfectly seasoned and slightly spicy, just the way I like it.  My mom and T don't usually eat steak tartar but this version was so good that I managed to convince them both to have a tiny mouthful just to try it.  The cold steak, crunch toast and the velvety Carmenere were perfect together and despite the large portion, I ate it all.

Next came our salads (most of their greens come from their farm located on the property):  my mom's foie gras tempura was an interesting version of alternating slices of apple and foie gras covered in a tempura batter and deep-fried - crunchy on the outside, meltingly rich hot foie gras and crisp sweet apples on the inside.  T's salad was the classic pan-seared foie gras with pear and arugula and mine was the arugula salad with Gorgonzola, glazed walnuts and sweet sun-dried tomatoes.  We were slowing down our meal at this point to enjoy the wine and the slowly emptying dining room.  By the time our soup was served - tomato bisque with a creme fraiche foam - there was just another table lingering over desserts and us still with our main courses and desserts to come.

For our main courses, we each had something different from the many choices on the menu.  My mom chose the rack of lamb, T chose the sea bass and I chose the seafood risotto.  The rack of lamb was a good portion of three chops with jus, thin green beans and tomato risotto.  T's sea bass was on top of crushed potatoes and came with thin green beans and cherry tomatoes.  My seafood risotto was a tomato-based rice with seared scallops, mussels, prawns and salmon - the rice was a bit too soupy to be called a risotto but it was delicious nonetheless.

We had cleared all our main courses so instead of having three desserts, we decided to share two instead: the dark chocolate souffle and the chocolate orange.  As we finished the last of the wine and waited for the souffle, we realized we it was already almost 4:00 p.m.  The dark chocolate souffle was served with a cardamom-flavored creme anglaise which for me was too strong in flavor to complement the warm chocolate.  The mandarin orange which I wrongly assumed would be the traditional orange peels covered in dark chocolate were actually two scoops of mandarin sorbet covered in chocolate.  They were okay but fiddly to eat even if we used our hands as suggested since the chocolate ice cream balls were too big to pop in our mouths in one go.  Espressos ended our gourmet meal.  As we finished our long, leisurely lunch, the staff had started to set up for dinner and we reluctantly gave up our table for the drive back home. Now I know why everyone who's been raves about Antonio's.  I will certainly be back to try their grill and their breakfast on my next Manila visit.

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Antonio's

Barangay Neogan Tagaytay City, Cavite, Philippines
Telephone: +63 46 413 0975 or +63 46 413 1054
Mobile: +63 917 899 2866
Email: antoniosfarm@yahoo.com


Breakfast at Antonio's
*Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.  No reservations taken except for private events.
Also at the same location below the main restaurant in a casual family setting at more reasonable prices.
Here, an all-day breakfast menu is served along with a simple menu of salads, house specials, grazing plates, pastas, pizzas, crepes and even a kid's menu.


The Grill by Antonio's
*Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reservations only on weekdays or private events
Favorite Filipino dishes and grilled items are served here in a casual setting.

SERYNA

On a rainy Friday evening, my first weekend back, I met good friend (and my wedding dress designer), K, for dinner with her husband C.  I asked her to pick the restaurant and she had narrowed down the choices to two places:  Masseto, a fine dining restaurant which I had heard about, and Seryna, a popular restaurant in the burgeoning area of specialty Japanese restaurants in Makati called "Little Tokyo".  We finally opted for Seryna as it was a more casual place and better for catching up on each other's news without all the fuss of fancy food.

We arrived in Makati Cinema Square where Seryna is located right by the archway labeled Little Tokyo.  There were already several people waiting for tables gathered right outside the entrance and the place was packed, as it usually is.  We settled into our reserved table at the front and watched the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant where most of the diners were Japanese (a good sign).

I left the ordering up to them and was surprised first at the quantity of food that was set on the table and later at the fact that we did a pretty good job of polishing off most of it.  There was a super fresh sashimi platter with at least four types of fish and squid, an excellent salmon skin roll plus never-before-tasted-dishes like monkfish roe made into a foie-gras like pate and the thinly-sliced octopus over a rice vinegar cucumber salad made sinus-clearingly spicy with a dab of wasabi.  We also shared a spinach, bacon and hard-boiled egg salad, some vegetable tempura and a delicious sukiyaki cooked table side and served with the traditional raw egg.  Slowly but surely, we ate our way through all the food aided by the green tea and ended our meal with some hot sake.  It was great to discover that Manila finally had some quaint and authentic Japanese restaurants bundled up together in one area and especially good to be able to share a delicious meal with friends  I hardly see.  (Next on my list if and when I get back home is the oft-mentioned cult noodle place Ukokkei Ramen Ron.)

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Seryna

Little Tokyo

2277 Chino Roces Avenue

Makati, Manila

Telephone: +63 2 894 3855

*Open daily for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,  Up to 1:30 p.m. only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

*Open daily for dinner from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

*Reservations essential.  Arrive on time or they give your table away to the many waiting outside.

BENNY'S

My first evening back home and as usual, I was craving for Filipino food but just wanted to have a quick and simple meal.  After asking around, we were told to go to the main Rustan's supermarket, where the old Le Gourmet restaurant right by the entrance used to be, and try their one-year old renovated restaurant Benny's.  Named after Rustan's founder Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., Benny's is a simple place serving Filipino classic dishes and all-time favorites.  

We were not disappointed with the choices in the menu and had a hard time deciding which to order as there were only two of us for dinner.  Finally, we settled on sharing the crispy tadyang (beef short ribs), sugpo sa gata (prawns in coconut milk) and their Pinakbet rice.   We also ordered some fresh fruit shakes - pure fruit juice and ice blended into a cold, refreshing drink.  My dalandan (native green-skinned orange) and my mom's watermelon were sweet enough without the addition of sugar syrup.  The deep-fried short ribs were both tender and crispy at the same time, the prawns in coconut milk, creamy and full of flavor and the modern version of the classic Ilocano (northern Philippines) vegetable dish, akin to a tropical ratatouille and flavored with bagoong (fermented fish paste),  was outstanding. The rice was fried in the Pinakbet sauce and topped with the usual vegetable mix of long beans, squash, okra, bitter melon and eggplant, crispy pork belly and pork rinds.

Benny's is all about comfort food and remembering the tastes of home.  It was a delicious meal to mark my short visit to Manila and have a true taste of the Philippines that I miss so much and never seem to be able to duplicate while abroad.

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Benny's

Ground floor, Rustan's Supermarket

(right by the entrance to the supermarket)

Glorietta

Makati, Manila

Telephone: +632 666 6682

Travel 2011

2011 has been my year of travel.  I have never been on a plane this much ever.  There were trips to new places - Bangkok and Beijing, a trip to my favorite city - Paris, trips to visit family - Buenos Aires and Las Vegas, several trips to see the doctor - Singapore, trips to do renew our passports - Jakarta and quick trips on a stopover - Sydney.

November, though, is going to be the busiest travel month for me, with a week in Manila from today (to finish unpacking boxes that have been in storage for several years) then a week in Osaka and Tokyo (my first trip to Japan) and finally, two weeks during Thanksgiving in Laguna Beach, Las Vegas and San Francisco, before I head back home to Bali just in time for the children's holidays and Christmas.  And there are still so many places I haven't been to and hope to visit in 2012.  So bear with me and my erratic posting.  I promise there will be lots to read very soon with my Buenos Aires posts coming out, slowly but surely, and with more gourmet travel write-ups soon.

The Best of 2010

Another year zoomed by and now it's the start of a new decade.  2010 was a year of travel for us, not just for holidays (Las Vegas, Singapore, Manila, Miami, Buenos Aires, Jogjakarta) but a big move too from Marbella to Bali.  Since there were so many places visited, choosing the best of 2010 wasn't easy but after several edits, here they in no particular order. Happy New Year and here's to more gourmet travel in 2011!

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK - Menega Cafe (Bali)

Sand, sea and al fresco dining are what make Jimbaran beach special.  From the many open-air restaurants that offer much of the same, Menega Cafe stands out from the rest.  The fish is fresh, the service pretty good and the place is always packed.  Head here for a sunset drink and a simple meal of grilled fish and seafood.  Don't forget to have a few freshly-grilled corn on the cob from the vendors on the beach - here is street, or rather beach, food at its' best.

BEST ICE CREAM - Gaya Gelato (Ubud)

I just had to add this.  A tiny place in Ubud that serves (in my opinion) the best gelato on the island.  Fresh flavors that vary depending on the season.  My favorites are espresso and mango, when they have it.  A loves the chocolate orange and J, the dark chocolate.  Say hello to Massimo, the friendly owner, have a scoop and sit outside at one of their cool ceramic tables. 

BEST WARUNG - Ibu Oka (Ubud)

This tiny, bare warung (roadside eatery) near Ubud's main temple bring the crowds in for their very limited menu.  Only one thing is on it, babi guling (Balinese-style roast pig) served in all ways possible.  A single meal portion will set you back a few dollars and comes with steamed white rice, spicy jack fruit and green beans, a few chunks of blood sausage, slices of roast pork in spices topped with a piece of pork crackling.  Grab a space on the floor, sit down and eat.

BEST BISTRO - SIP (Seminyak)

Bali's most authentic french bistro.  Unfussy dishes, a fantastic wine list and the presence of deux Francais running the show.  Add to that red leather banquettes, large mirrors for people watching and faultless, friendly service. Go for the steak au poivre or the warm goat's cheese salad or the duck in green peppercorn sauce - whatever you have will be good and keep you coming back for more of the same.

BEST COFFEE - The Tuck Shop at the Cornerstore (Seminyak)

I don't know what it is about Australians and coffee but it seems that they have mastered the subtle art of coffee and can give the Italians a run for their money.  The Tuck Shop is Australian-owned, tiny and found inside a boutique but don't let that fool you, the coffees at this place are addicting - espresso, macchiato, flat white, cappuccino - they are all very, very good.  I sometimes go on the twenty-minute drive to get there just to have a coffee. There is also a small menu of sandwiches and salads along with some cool clothes and surfer wear.

BEST WINE - 1996 Romanee Saint-Vivant Grand Cru (Joseph Drouhin)

The best thing about having a mom who's a wine importer is being able to ask for special wines for special occasions.  On Thanksgiving, we celebrated with a babi guling from Ibu Oka (see above for best warung) and some grand cru wines from my mom's collection.  This grand cru pinot noir from Burgundy's famed Vosne-Romanee was perfection.  A few weeks after Thanksgiving we had our first dinner party and shared our last two bottles of Romanee Saint-Vivant with some appreciative friends.

BEST BREAKFAST - Jones the Grocer (Singapore)

This was a tough one as a really good breakfast is often hard to find.  In Singapore's hip and happening Dempsey Hill is Jones the Grocer (another Aussie import) where the coffees are good, the cuisine simple and the ingredients top-notch.  I've been several times for breakfast, once for lunch and a few times for a quick afternoon snack.  It's expensive but worth it.   The deli and cheese selection are topnotch and their pains au chocolat, the best ones I've had in a long time.  (They've also opened another branch on Orchard road at the Mandarin Gallery.)

BEST COMFORT FOOD - Michael's Genuine Food and Drink (Miami)

Tucked in Miami's up and coming Design District, Michael's serves large portions of American comfort food that seem deceptively simple but are actually a wonderful mix of well-sourced ingredients.  For example, a steak salad is not just a salad but one that includes Harris Ranch skirt steak and heirloom tomatoes.  Desserts from their in-house pastry chef are the best I've had this year.  My favorite was the pucker-your-mouth lemon meringue tart with buttermilk sherbet.  It's comfort food in a casual setting.

BEST DIM SUM - Din Tai Fung (Singapore)

Always packed with both locals and expats queueing for their consistently good dim sum.  Check-in with the hostess, grab a tiny clipboard, place your order then wait for your number to be called.  As soon as you're seated, the food starts coming out - lots of steam baskets filled with one-of-a-kind dumplings, sweet and savory buns and a few other stir-fried dishes come out of their open kitchen.  It's a bit chaotic but it works and the food is always the same.

BEST FRENCH - L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Las Vegas)

My best French meal (and most expensive) in 2009 was Joel Robuchon.  No surprises in 2010 as my best meal was at his much more reasonably-priced and more hip, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. (This was our second meal in his Vegas outpost and we had been to the one in Paris when it first opened years ago.)  The food is traditional with a twist and come served in small portions, tapas-style.  Each mouthful was a revelation.  This is one of those meals that you wish you could have at least once a year (which is why we might be back when we're in Vegas next week).  French but not stuffy, classic but fun and above all really, really good.

BEST JAPANESE - Akanoya Robatayaki (Singapore)

Noisy, informal counter restaurant that is almost like having a meal in a market.  This is as close as you'll get to what's on your plate.  Ingredients (vegetables, fish, seafood and meat) are displayed on crushed ice right in front of you.  No menu is offered.  Just ask, point and order.  All the food is cooked on a robata (Japanese-style charcoal grill) and is served directly from the grill onto a long wooden paddle that the grill man places in front of you.  Interactive dining at it's best but with amazing flavors.  Great for a family dinner with kids or for a quick meal.  Ignore the loud shouts in Japanese which happen for all sorts of reasons and just enjoy the food.

BEST MARKET MEAL - Salcedo Saturday Market (Manila)

Weekly market right in the middle of Makati, Manila's chi-chi business district.  Food of all kinds - organic fruits and vegetables, Philippine delicacies, roast pig, homemade jams, barbecue - sold in open stalls.  Some of these food items are only available here every week and since they come from all over, it's a good way to get to know Filipino cuisine and take home a few goodies or enjoy a takeaway lunch on one of the benches nearby.  Prepare for the heat, get there early, bring a basket and make sure you're hungry.

BEST THAI - People's Palace (Manila)

Fantastic Thai food in Greenbelt, Makati's swishest boutique row.  The food is always good,  the flower arrangements are always large, the place is always packed and the service is always friendly.  It's the best Thai restaurant in Manila.

BEST GOURMET TRAVEL - Borobudur (Jogjakarta)

The most impressive ancient temple I've ever seen, our short break to Jogjakarta was my 40th birthday present.  Not only was our room at the Amanjiwo amazing but the temple was visible from our large terrace.  After a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call and a trek up Borobudur to watch the sunrise, we had a private gourmet picnic on nearby Dagi hill with the temple looming in the distance.  My birthday dinner was a romantic diner a deux in a dirt-floored Javanese joglo (wooden home) with just candles to light the meal, live gamelan music in the background and simple grilled Indonesian specialties.  And who said that turning 40 was going to be difficult?