“Summer in Provence”

March 5, 2009Noelle De Guzman

I’m not a wine person, but I do love pizza. So when I got the offer to sample Cafe Provençal’s pizza (plus wine) from my friend Paul Pajo, I jumped at the chance.

Cafe Provençal is one of those places that have been around forever in Shangri-La Mall. It’s also, unfortunately, one of the places I’d never tried. So, armed with my empty stomach, I and around 25 other bloggers descended on Cafe Provençal last Tuesday for pizza and wine — and then some.

“Bonjour!”

“Pizza?” you say. “At a French restaurant?” But Cafe Provençal is French Mediterranean cuisine, which means they can pretty much serve any food from that area. The twist on this: the Napoletana-style thin crust pizza can be served with rosé wine. Tres French, oui?

PIZZA!

They served four varieties of pizza: Roasted Garlic, Asparagus, Spicy Chorizo, and Tarragon Chicken. We were able to try two wines: the Alexis Syrah Grenache, and then the Corail from Provence.

I found that the Corail fit the food better because it was lighter. The pizzas had a delicate flavor that could be overwhelmed by the Syrah Grenache, which had a bitter aftertaste.

And then there were these:

Beef Burgundy and Pasta Provençal

Beef Burgundy is local beef stewed for hours in reduced red wine. It was paired with mashed potatoes that helped our tongues cope with the richness of the stew (although I would have wanted some rice instead — mmm!). Pasta Provençal is, simply put, puttanesca; I initially didn’t think anything special of it until I tried it with the Corail. Then its full flavor came alive. It was a good thing I’d gotten full on the pizza, or I might have had another plate of pasta and a full glass of wine. If you must know, I don’t hold my liquor too well.

We capped the meal with beignet; it’s the French version of a doughnut, and is served with chocolate sauce. At that point in the evening, the good food and liberal flow of wine had us all in a jovial mood, and I left for home feeling sated and just a little bit tingly. I’m not a wine person but that combination just might have made me fall in love with the idea.

Next time I want to experience “Summer in Provence” maybe with my family or friends. I’ve only got until the end of March to do so, because next month there’ll be a different featured item.

with Cafe Provençal’s chef Jacq Tan, Kathleen and Bryan Chua, and Marvin Chua

Tags: French Mediterranean Cuisine, Cafe Provencal, Review

Fiending for Sushi!

September 4, 2008Noelle De Guzman

I stopped eating sushi around five years ago when I committed to low-carb dieting to bring my weight down. Sure I’d wolf down grams upon grams of tuna and salmon sashimi, but I stayed away from the rice rolls.

Since my weight’s now in the more manageable range, there’s no reason for me to enjoy these little nuggets of heaven. Three weeks ago was the first time the sushi craving struck really badly. I ended up in a Kitaro near our house and ordered their Crunchy Tuna Roll. It hit the spot momentarily, but that evening my parents and I found ourselves at Tempura Japanese Grill on Club Filipino Ave. in Greenhills, and we ordered the Caterpillar Roll (eel, mango, and cream cheese) — twice!

Today I was in Trinoma and came across Smairu (a Katakanization of “smile”, perhaps?) in the food choices area. On display at the sushi bar were packages of eight maki pieces each, priced at P88 per package. I bought the Hiroshima (salmon) and Bomb (spicy tuna) plates, and while they weren’t rolled as tightly as I prefer, it was still solid bang for the buck (pun intended).

Every time I look at restaurants’ sushi menus I’m surprised by the variety they offer. Back in the day I’d usually see only tuna (boring!) and california (I can’t eat crabstick) maki on menus. Now, with all of the choices available, I will definitely have more reason to eat sushi.

Itadakimasu!

Tags: Food Craving, Sushi

Cuisine of the Cautious

June 25, 2008Noelle De Guzman

You can walk in a dark alley and you still have your hands, fists, pepper spray and what-have-you to defend yourself from marauders. But once you put food into your mouth, you have no defenses against what it can do to your body.

Read my post about why traveling and local food sometimes do not go well together on Trippin’ with Noelle De Guzman.

Non-Adventures in Cuisine

June 25, 2008Noelle De Guzman

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in my trips. It’s really a shame, but I am so not adventurous when it comes to the palate. If left to my own devices, I will seek out the nearest McDonald’s or other chain fastfood outlet instead of trying something new.

It started with my family’s trip to Hong Kong. We got around by commuting on the MTR, went to the night markets, and even got lost in dark side alleys, but we never ate Hong Kong cuisine. No noodles, duck feet, dimsum, nothing. We were too scared to set foot inside those innumerable restaurants that supposedly offered huge discounts during the offpeak hours, simply because we couldn’t understand the language the menus were in. Instead, we lived on McDonald’s salads and Fish McDippers (nuggets, only made of fish). The only other restaurants we ate at were the Marco Polo Prince coffee shop because we had free breakfasts there, and the Star Cafe at a mall because we were too tired to hunt down a McDonald’s. Oy.

The embarrassing thing is the same thing almost happened during our trip to Macau. Our first meal at the Venetian Hotel was at the McDonald’s there. Our first meal at Senado Square (which is peppered with food stalls and restaurants) was at a McDonald’s.

McDonald’s: cuisine of the cautious

I’m glad though that we summoned up the courage to try the local cuisine there. Egg tarts from Cafe e Nata, noodle soup from Wong Chi Kei at Senado Square… It helped that Macau presented a more fusion-oriented cuisine and the restaurants that served Macanese food in the tourist areas had English menus.

One thing to be careful of is unknown ingredients, if you have food allergies. I had a beef brisket noodle soup at Wong Chi Kei and noticed that the soup was ladled out onto the other ingredients. It turns out that the soup is made separately, and that it was broth from shrimp (which I am allergic to).

In my experience it’s always better trying new food with both eyes open (meaning having enough knowledge about the food about to be sampled). If you have a friend or guide who is familiar with the territory, allow them to take you food-tripping. But still, be cautious what you eat; always ask if it’s from something poisonous or if people are prone to allergic reactions to it. Then weigh your risks, and take your chances only if you think it’s really going to be worth it. You’re far from home, so it always pays to be careful.

I experienced both the good and bad side of taking my chances with local cuisine when I traveled to Laoag with LAC, I ate some really delicious crispy dinuguan when the owner of Cromwell’s Grill (one of our food sponsors) decided to take us to breakfast at a small carinderia which was one of Laoag City’s hidden food gems. (Oh, damn, now I’m salivating.) Later that day I tried some ant eggs at Balay da Blas without heeding the warning that some people are allergic to it. I wound up in a hospital emergency room getting corticosteroid shots to fend off my massive reaction.

Looking back on Macau and Laoag, it was fun, but it was dangerous. That’s probably it, why I’m so wary of food I’m not familiar with. I mean, you can walk in a dark alley and you still have your hands, fists, pepper spray and what-have-you to defend yourself from marauders. But once you put food into your mouth, you have no defenses against what it can do to your body.

That’s why, if I’m traveling just to see the sights, I might take a packed lunch.

The Love Affair is Over

October 25, 2007Noelle De Guzman

After nearly two years of consciously choosing to spend both time and money with them, I am bidding farewell to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Never mind that I once professed undying love for their Extreme Ice Blended Vanilla No Sugar Added drink, or that they’ve recently introduced a Splenda-sweetened poppyseed loaf slice to their menu (something irresistible to someone like me who avoids sugar). Conspicuous consumption issues aside, the reason I stuck with the Coffee Bean for such a long time is because their service was top-notch, and they really made you feel comfortable in their cafes. The loyalty program they set up with the use of pink cards (which enabled you to claim a free drink after buying 12 drinks) and later on Swirl Cards (which stores prepaid credit and rebates per P100 worth of purchases) kept me coming back.

Coinciding with their recent expansion (they’ve opened branches all over the metro, including Trinoma, SM North EDSA The Block, and Bonifacio High Street) came a deterioration in their value for money. No Sugar Added powders never came at extra cost before; now, asking for NSA powder instead of regular powder adds an additional P10 to the total cost of a drink — which is already pricey enough, with very few drinks priced below P100.

I might have tolerated the price increase if it weren’t for the drop in the quality of service as well. My sister found it increasingly difficult to make use of the prepaid credit she had paid for on her Swirl Card, but the last straw for her was the staff at CBTL Eastwood switching her card (loaded with P500, plus stored points from her previous purchases) with someone else’s card (loaded with nothing). She only found this out when she wanted to use her credit at CBTL Ortigas Park. And the crew even treated her like she was lying to them that it was not her card. She asked them to fix this problem three whole months ago, and it still hasn’t been resolved.

As for me, the turning point was at CBTL Promenade. I had already computed that my drink would have 10 pesos on top of the listed price on the board because I had asked for NSA powder in my Regular Extreme Ice Blended Mocha. So I just handed my 500 pesos to them and waited for my change. As they punched my order in, I realized that they were charging me an additional 10 pesos on top of my computed price. I said, “I ordered a REGULAR,” remembering that the barista had even repeated my order back at me. “It’s not a LARGE?” the barista asked, confused, closing the register and printing my receipt.

The manager had to come and fix what had been punched in, then asked me, “You don’t want to make it a LARGE?” I stood my ground. But it wasn’t over yet. When they finally handed me the correct receipt, I still hadn’t received the proper change for my P500 and it took another few minutes to get my money.

With issues like this, I can’t help feeling like I’m being robbed at point-blank range every time I step into a Coffee Bean these days. Gimme a Starbucks any time. Sure they might be the McDonald’s of overpriced coffee shops, but even McDonald’s has superb quality control.

UPDATE 11/09/2007: I received a nice comment on my Livejournal post concerning this issue from Paulo Perez of CBTL Promenade. Here it is:

Hi Noelle! Good day to you. Just want to apologize in CBTL Promenade’s behalf about the incident. Rest assured steps have been taken to avoid this incident from happening again. Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Hope you can visit us again at the Promenade. Please feel free to send me your contact number at [email address redacted] so we can contact you and personally assist you in your next visit here.

All the best,

Paulo

Tags: Bad Service, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Sugar-free Sweetness

June 21, 2006Noelle De Guzman

Being my bum self, I spent quite a few hours at the gym earlier today. There is some point to going to the gym (aside from helping me kill time): it helps me fit into my pants every day without them bursting a button or a zipper. Given my family’s predilection for food, every little bit of calorie-shaving counts.

Some of you may know that my family has practically sworn off sugar as part of our everyday lifestyle. No, we’re not diabetic, but we’re simply trying to lighten the caloric load our bodies have to process. Also, sugar = carbohydrates. There’s scientific evidence that shows cutting down on carbs results in faster short-term weight loss because you eat less.

With last Sunday being Father’s Day, my family felt it our duty to treat our dad to all his favorite foods. After lunch at Italianni’s, we were looking for a sweet dessert. Of course, it had to be sugar-free.

For that, we went to Sugarnot! Cafe at Podium Mall in Ortigas. My mom had spotted the small store with the intriguing name when she had dinner with some colleagues at Pagliacci, and she’d brought home some creampuffs, walnut rolls, and ensaymada for us to sample. We liked them so much that we couldn’t wait to try the other choices they offered.

Sugarnot’s selling point is simple: everything is sugar-free, low-fat, and low-carb. According to the helpful and informative staff behind the counter, the owner suffers from diabetes. He set up the cafe so that people who couldn’t have sugar could still indulge in sweets.

In place of sugar, the cafe uses Isomalt in its products. Isomalt is a sweetener made from sugar beet processed by an enzyme. This renders it only partially digestible and thus reduces its caloric content and glycemic impact — a boon for dieters and diabetics alike. Some local bakers, most notably Uncle George (you can find their products in Greenhills Tiangge) have already been using it as a sugar substitute with great success.

As we entered Sugarnot to place our orders, we gravitated toward the pastries on display. There was tiramisu, a chocolate cake called the Last Temptation, and a New York cheesecake. We ended up ordering a piece of each of these choices along with a fist-sized chocolate chip cookie. My parents also ordered cappuccino, while Marielle ordered an iced guilt-free caramel blended drink.

The coffee drinks complimented the cheesecake, the tiramisu, and the chocolate chip cookie. The Last Temptation cake was especially good; I can say with conviction that it was the best chocolate cake I’d ever tasted. It was moist and had just the right amount of sweetness.

Need I say we found the entire experience extremely satisfying? We’ll definitely be back for more. Of course, food of any kind should be taken in moderation. It’s just comforting to know that trying to lose weight doesn’t necessarily mean depriving oneself of the joys of sweets.

UPDATE: DessertFirst and ShopCrazy review Sugarnot! Ü

Tags: Sugarnot, Isomalt, Sugar Free, Restaurant Reviews