December - January 2010

 

We asked seven of the city’s top chefs and food experts where they go for a comforting Filipino Christmas Eve dinner or a luxurious holiday take-away. Margie Francisco reports

For me, one of the restaurants that serve traditional Filipino food and is respectful to the recipe is Dencio’s (24 E. Lopez St. near Tomas Morato, Diliman, Quezon City, Tel: +632/ 376 4771). I don’t frequent a lot of restaurants because 90 percent of my time is here in our premises. But I really like Dencio’s; I think it has the ambience of the Filipinos. You get there and it’s very relaxed. And what they do, they do well. I really like the sisig (grilled or broiled liver and head parts of pig served on a sizzling plate). It’s very authentic, very traditional. It’s my favorite dish.

For meat and cheese, of course it’s Terry Selection. What we do is import at least 85 per cent of the products in the store. We bring in the cheeses and cold cuts, most of them, from Europe. I don’t have a favorite wine. For me, there are some situations that make me decide on what wine to drink.
- Juan Carlos de Terry
Oenologist and Terry Selection owner

The best restaurants to eat Christmas Eve dinner are El Cirkulo (900 Pasay Road, Makati City, Tel: +632/ 810 2763 or 810 8735) and Bistro Filipino (Net One Building, The Fort, Taguig City, Tel: +632/ 856 0634 or 856 0541). El Cirkulo’s Chef J Gamboa serves the best sisig in Manila. It’s crispy and nicely presented. Also on the menu are lechon kawali, sinigang, and paella. Bistro Filipino at the Fort has a modern Filipino cuisine. Chef Rolando Laudico does something with the traditional food and makes it different. I like the appetizer ubod spring rolls served in a shot glass. He also has nice prawn sinigang soup, and foie gras with adobo overload. Both restaurants have a classy ambience. If you want traditional, go to El Cirkulo. If you like to try new things and you’re open to new style of food, then Bistro Filipino’s very nice.
For good meat, I go to Santis (WIC Building, 7431 Yakal Street, Makati City, Tel: +632/ 844 1154). They have everything there.

For cheese, I go to Terry Selection (Bldg. B, Karivin Plaza, 2316 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City, Tel: +632/ 844 1816) or Santis.
I like the selection of wine in Terry Selection. The prices are very reasonable. If you want to try the wine, you can drink it in the restaurant. You can get the bottle from the shelf and bring it to the restaurant, and ask the waiter to chill the wine for you.  I like sauvignon blanc and chardonnay for dry white wine.
- Jeroen van Straten
Owner, Pepper Lunch

For Filipino cuisine, go to Chef Laudico’s Bistro Filipino. I’m sure he’ll whip up fantastic Filipino dishes for you at Christmas. I like his food in general. He has created Filipino dishes in a modern way. I like his creations, his boldness. I like how he attacks the Filipino recipes and presents them in a better way.

We produce everything here at Santis. I especially like the honey ham. It’s sweet; you decorate it with some cloves, some fruits. The Dutch edam cheese is definitely appreciated by most people. I prefer Swiss cheese because it’s tastier than Dutch cheese. It’s aged longer. For wine, definitely start with a nice prosecco. Then maybe some light pinot noir from Switzerland or Sweden to go with the ham.
- Werner Berger
Owner, Santis Delicatessen shops

The best restaurant to eat Christmas Eve dinner, hands down, is Via Mare (Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, Tel: +632/ 757 4020). It’s one of those restaurants that’s been tried and tested for two decades for their consistency in quality food and service. Via Mare offers a special Christmas dinner or can custom-make one. Must tries are the conchinillo (roast suckling pig) and seafood paella. But I’ll start it with a dozen fresh oysters and a glass of French chablis. I also love their hot pandesal (local bun), kesong puti (local white cheese made from carabao’s milk) and Chinese ham.

I like the Chinese ham from Excellente or Majestic. My mother bakes this ham from Mother Earth (Pampanga) with pineapple, cloves and sugar.

Marca Piña edam cheese from Holland is available at any supermarket.
I like Australian shiraz for its peppery quality. It goes well specially with Chinese ham and strong flavored sausages and cheeses.
- Claude Tayag
Chef and owner, Bale Dutung restaurant

The best place to eat Christmas Eve dinner is at home. I don’t really know too many people who go to our restaurants for noche buena. Most spend it at home and a lot of people actually pick up food from our restaurants. El Cirkulo for paellas, conchinillo, slow roasted beef belly with horseradish sauce; Milky Way Café for crispy hito (deep fried catfish), lechong kawali (three-week-old suckling pig), and Milky Way halo-halo (a local dessert of tropical fruits and beans served with crushed ice, milk and sweetener).

A family friend never fails to give us a Majestic ham for noche buena. Marca Piña queso de bola is a gift too.
- J Gamboa
Chef and owner, El Cirkulo and Milky Way
Director, Les Toques Blanches Philippines



The best restaurant to eat Christmas Eve dinner is  the Italian-Filipino fusion restaurant Cookbook Kitchen (8 Socorro Fernandez Street, Mandaluyong City, Tel: +632/ 724 3595 or 381 5935) and Chateau Verde (63 Apacible St., University of the Philipines Campus, Diliman, Quezon City, Tel: +632/ 928 8180 or 927 3035). Cookbook Kitchen has a good family ambience, is spacious, has great service and great food. At Chateau Verde, the ambience is intimate, charming, and it has good service and good food as well. I like the adobo inspired pasta of Cookbook Kitchen, and their parmesan-crusted fish and pork chops with honey mustard sauce. At Chateau Verde, try their paella, baked clams, deep fried dessert and pesto pasta.

We buy ham at the grocery then cook it differently to save time. No particular brand for ham and queso de bola. For wine, I’d go for any Chilean wine.
- Thomas Adviento
Owner, Cocina Juan

The best restaurant to eat Christmas Eve dinner would be JT’s Manukan by Joel Torre (4 Granada, Valencia, Quezon City, Tel: +632/ 721 9025) and Elar’s Lechon (151 Quezon Ave. cor. Speaker Perez St., Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Tel: +632/ 731 7551). Perfect food for the holidays! The food is very good. That’s the type of flavoring I’m looking for from a food. It can stand on its own even without sauce. I’d recommend chicken inasal (grilled) and kansi or beef in spicey soury broth, an Ilongo delicacy (JT’s Manukan) and the lechon (Elar’s).

I buy Majestic ham bone-in on Echague Street, Quiapo.

Buy your wines at Premium Wine Exchange (G/F Smith Bell Building, 2294 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City, Tel: +632/ 812 3823) and Happy Living Fine Wine (G/F JMS Bldg. 1375 P. Ocampo Sr. Avenue, Makati City, Tel: +632/ 895 6507-08). They have the best wines. It really depends on your budget or your personal preference in wine. For entry level, I would recommend Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon (Premium Wine Exchange) and Beringer Founder Estate (Happy Living).
- Jeremiah Go
Owner, 145° Fahrenheit