I'm supposed to be writing a graphic design proposal but I can't seem to get my head straight. I'll do a short spiel on one of the restaurants in Manila I have been meaning to write about.

When J visited Manila last September we decided to take the mothers out for a nice dinner. We were thinking of Lolo Dad's, Je Suis Gourmand, or Parallel 45 -- in that order. Lolo Dad's was just a tad too far from Katipunan (where we were coming from) and the week was extra rainy so we decided to scrap that because we didn't relish getting stuck in about 2 hours of heavy traffic on grumbling tummies. Je Suis was, sadly, fully booked.

So Parallel 45 it was. P45 is located at Samat Street in Mandaluyong. Just a short walk away from that hellhole place our office used to rent (a shoddy basement in an old house with a dwarf arrogant landlord from hell....but that's another story). I never noticed the place before so I assume it is a newly built structure, and it's quite pretty really. Good parking space, well lit, and not hard to find.

We spent some time looking through the menu which had enough choices to make picking your dinner difficult, although some items just jumped out at you and said "order me! order me!"

Side comment lang - I was browsing through their wine list and they had a bottle of something (champagne?) that was priced at PHP 280,000. Grabe imagine ordering (or dropping eeek) that bottle. Holy fuck the families of kurakots have something to order heehe.

We had 2 appetizers, 4 entrees, and 1 dessert. Sorry no photos it was a formal dining setup and we were right in the middle of things so it was too awkward to take photos.

Four Dances of Foie Gras
Seared with caramelized Maui onions, poached with truffled creamed potato, torchon with Concord grape jelly and praline with glazed apple.
The food of the gods cooked 4 ways and served on a long plate. I wish I could have had this all to myself. IMO the seared version was the best.

Escargot
With herb butter and fennel confit with pastis.
Yummygarlickybutterychewy goodness. Served with toast so you can sop up all that butter.

Crispy Fried Shiraz Braised Pig Trotters
Set on mushroom ragout, served with seared foie gras and watercress-walnut relish.
This was quite different. The trotters were shredded and formed into patties which were then coated with a crumb mixture and fried. Once you took a bite you could feel the crispness of the breading and then your teeth would sink into the resilience (some tendon maybe?) of the trotter filling. I would maybe share this with 3 or 4 people but it was a bit too much taste and texture for me.

Vanilla Bean Glazed Roasted Rack of Spring Lamb
And lamb hash, ratatouille tart with goat cheese.
Well, it was about 3 lamb chops really. Quite good and not overdone at all. I liked the hash, which was tasty crisper strips of lamb.

Fruitwood Grilled Chilean Sea Bass
On cassoulet of chick pea, mushrooms, wild tomato, and sweet corn.
The mothers didn't like this too much, they said it lacked taste. Could have been to subtle for our prole tastebuds.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi
on some greens with pasta on the side
I didn't get to taste this but the mothers said this was way better than the Sea Bass

Just Chocolate and Hmmm....
Dark Felchlin chocolate pudding with molten peanut butter and tropical fruit.
Pretty good, but not may diyos.

With 2 glasses of Crane Lake Cabernet, and a glass of Trivento Shiraz, the bill came to PHP 7,300 and change. Quite pricy, no? IMO at those prices we should have gotten excellent everything...so you could say I am not that impressed (although J paid really). I still long to try Lolo Dad's.

This entry was posted on 11/15/2005 at 11/15/2005 11:27:00 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.