Manila Observations

Pushing the culinary envelope with what little time I have here.

• Kai: chef is ex-Nobu who opened this restaurant a few years ago. Buta Kakuni or braised pork belly has been my long-held favorite. The tofu & mint shake also delicious. I managed to pull a recipe for both. In the case of the former it's been like pulling teeth over the last few years, but finally perservered this time around.
• Apt 1B: a foodie haunt in the middle of Makati, specializing in easy comfort food with heavy American influences. Had the best buffalo wings ever, and my caesar salad (with the interesting added ingredient of sun-dried tomatoes) and crab cakes were good too. Shoe-string potatoes is something to try at home. Beef Salpicao is supposed to be one of the chef's specials, something I need to make soon.
• Lorenzo's Way: part of the same group as Abe; had fried cuttlefish for which they use the more tender belly, dipped in a nice little sweet chili chinesey sauce; this was followed by sugpo sa aligue, or sauteed prawns with a creamy red sauce using crab fat; this was accompanied by adobong puso ng saging at gambas, or banana meat (Marilu maybe you can help me with the translation) prepared in the same way you would any adobo.
• Sentro: the corn beef sinangang enticed me to enter, complemented by sauteed catfish in ponzu; love the tamarind slush, for which I got a recipe.