What's waiting for you at Fresh?

I recently tried at Fresh, one of the few casual dining restaurants at Solaire Resort & Casino in Entertainment City.  The overall experience was great! It is perhaps one of the very few restos that cook and serve the only freshest ingredients. As a matter of fact, the ingredients are imported daily from different parts of the world.

It's quite pricey though compared to buffet of other hotels in the metro. But it's worth it.  I wasn't able to try all the food actually.  Many of the dishes were so good that I had to try them twice. *burp* Excuse me.

I have here a few photos, which I hope would entice your appetite.  I was so giddy that night I forgot to take close-up shots of each dish.  Apologies.

Here are the operating hours and price list at  Fresh.  It's open 24 / 7!

Cold cuts and cheese. 

The cold appetizer station. These are ALL fresh! The shrimps and crabs were tender and sweet.  The oysters were imported straight from France. Surprisingly, the razor clams were delicious. 

Salad station

This is the only dishes the Japanese station serves.  Few but, yes, fresh. The salmon sashimi was as good as the one I tried in Le Meridien in Hong Kong.

It's a huge piece of roast beef! This can be found in the Western Cuisine station.

 

Pizza station. They are thin and flavorful. I don't remember seeing pastas though.

 

Western station with some baked potatoes, baked salmon and baked foie gras.

Colorful short cakes at the dessert station.  There were also gelato and fresh fruits served.

Yummy cakes!

Those are fondant cakes at the back.

One of the highlights of my night:  medium rare baked foie gras with rock salt!

Frankly, I did not like the buko pandan.  I thought it was bland.  But the french macaroons, especially the chocolate, were perfect to cap the 5-hour dinner. The chocolate truffles were as equally good, only sinful.

I failed to include them here.  But there's also Filipino, Korean, Chinese and grilling stations.  At the grilling station you'll find beef, salmon steak and chicken. Beside it are newly cooked veal, lamb, mushroom and chicken dishes. I did not try the other three stations, except for the dimsums.

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Preparing Chicken Stock

Most of the recent dishes I made utilized stock. And I intend to use more of it with the dishes I'm about to create. So I thought I'd share with you the step-by-step procedures in preparing a stock. Unless you want your dish to be dull, you cannot just boil meat and use the liquid to flavor your dish. There is a way of creating an aromatic stock that will definitely bring out the flavors of a dish.

Okay. I know you're wondering what's the difference between stocks and broths. Stocks are referred to as the foundations of cooking. They are prepared using bones from poultry or meat or seafood and / or vegetables, and are used to prepare soups and sauces. Broths, on the other hand, are prepared from meats or seafood and /or vegetables simmered in stock. While broths can be served as is, stocks are used in the production of other dishes.If that still sounds complicated, just remember that broths are products of stocks.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 500 grams of chicken neck (or bones, but chicken neck makes the stock richer) or more
• 4 liters of cold water
• 1.5 cup chopped white onions
• 1.5 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup celery stalk
• onion spring
• salt
• olive oil
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp whole pepper and bay leaf

Simmer the chicken in cold water over very low fire. Do this for two hours. Skim the foams once in a while. It's not supposed to boil, just let tiny bubbles appear.

When you're about to hit two hours, start working on your veggies. Heat a minimal amount of olive oil in a pan, just enough to coat the veggies. Sauté the onions for about two minutes then add the carrots. Cook these until the onion turns translucent.

Add the celery stalks and onion spring. Cook some more until the veggies are a little soft. Then put all the veggies into the simmering chicken. Let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Cooking all the veggies

Add thyme, pepper, bay leaf and salt. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Thyme

Pepper and bay leaves

After a total of 3 hours, turn off the heat and let cool before straining the ingredients from the stock. Transfer in clean containers.

After three hours

Tip: You can remove the oil from the stock by placing it inside the fridge. After some time, the oil will solidify. It's easier to remove now than during its liquid form.

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Hap Hap and A Dog

In my search for a light but satisying meal tonight, I decided to try this innovative sandwich store in ATC. I've seen Hapadog for months now but never tried it till this evening. For one, I thought it was weird. I'm loyal to the classic sausage on bread with ketchup, mayo and mustard. Just like the Jollyhotdog. But tonight, my tastebuds tried something new.


The brand came from hapa, meaning "of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in asian and/or pacific islander ancestry", and, well, hotdog.

What I liked about this fastfood is that you have an option to get a sandwich in half, which is about four inches. So I tried two of its bestsellers - hapadog (yes, the name itself) and californippon.

The hapadog sandwich was made of caramelized onion, nori flakes, hapa sauce, spring onions and your choice of japanese or wasabi mayo. I like it because all the ingredients blended well. It wasn't too sweet nor too salty. Neither does it leave a bad taste in your mouth. But I gotta say that the californippon was better and delicious (california maki fan here). Just like the famous sushi, there's kani, cucumber, mango, nori flakes, tamago and ebiko. Again, you are free to choose the dressing.

Aside from hotdog sandwiches, Hapadog also serves appetizers like nachos and fried potatoes, pasta and cocktails (Thirsty Thursday is from 5-7pm where all drinks are at 55 pesos only). Well, I can't help loading some more carbs so I had a bowl of pasta. Shifudo is its version of seafood carbonara - creamy spaghetti served with salmon, prawn and scallop bits. I gotta say that this store knows how to cook al dente.

As for the price, I'd say it's understandably expensive considering the store's location. Sandwich price ranges from 165-185 (just cut it in half for the smaller, four-inch serving). The pasta I ate was 215 pesos.

The staffs were accommodating and attentive. They even allowed bringing in of drinks from other store. Too bad I missed getting their names.

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The photo that shows two sandwiches are the hapadog (left) and californippon I ordered. The other dish topped with bonito flakes is the shifudo pasta.

One Day in the Witch's House

We were on our way to Laguna this morning when the four of us started to feel terrible. My boss, two of my colleagues and I had undeniably felt the agonizing sensation of hunger. So we stopped at this small "pad" in Magallanes. It's called Park Avenue Desserts.


It's a tiny pastry shop that can barely sit ten people. Yet the mouthwatering sweets displayed on the counter are enough to stop and entice passing by customers looking for a light snack before taking a long travel time.

Some of the tempting cakes ready to be served.

And so we ordered. The thing is, I don't have sweet tooth so I settled for something savory. I originally ordered Truffled Egg Sandwich but the main ingredient was out of stock. Thanks to an old lady waiting behind me at the queue, I got this Italian Club. Her suggestion really satisfied my  appetite.

PAD's Italian Club served with salted kamote chips

It was served fresh and hot. the bread was rightfully toasted that it was crisp yet soft in the inside. The combination of tomato, crushed basil in olive oil, mozzarella cheese and ham worked really well together. With the right amount of saltiness and tinge of sweetness, I could have finished all four servings.


But I didn't; I traded one slice from my pal for this Fig and Prosciutto. Unlike the Italian Club, I think there was a bit of imbalance in this sandwich. It was my first to try fig and I find it too sweet. Maybe it was the amount of spread but it kind of did overpower the flavor of the meat. I know the cured ham is there when I took a bite but I couldn't taste it.

A portion of Fig and Prosciutto sandwich

Caramel Macchiato

And what's the best way to perk up a work-loaded morning but  to take a cup of hot coffee. I've always preferred lattes but today I opted for caramel macchiato. It wasn't as sweet as Starbucks', which actually worked well for me. There was right amount of creamy, bitter, sweet taste all blended nicely together. No need to add those little meringues at the side.


My friend wasn't crazy about this Rocca. But I didn't try it so I cannot vouch for it. It looks delicious though.

Overall I had a wonderful experience at PAD. I'll definitely go back to try the desserts.

For more info, search PAD's contact details here.


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