Last Dinner in Manila

The Aristocrat Restaurant
432 San Andres Street,
Malate, Manila
+63 (02)524-7671 to 80
14 November 2010


It was our last night in Manila, so I asked K if we could eat at the Aristocrat Restaurant because I know it has been in the food business for so long, yet I still haven't tasted their food. With a rich history this restaurant has, K didn't see the reason why we wouldn't eat there, after all, it was just a few steps away from Sohotel Malate, where we stayed at.


It was dinnertime when we got in (around 7:30pm), and even if the place was big, it was still packed with diners. This is one of the things I love about "old-fashioned" Filipino restaurants - seeing families gather together to share and enjoy different sumptuous dishes!

They do have a lot of dishes to offer, but just like most Filipino-themed restaurants, most of their dishes were for sharing. There weren't much dishes for one person, so I let K decide which he wanted, before I make my choice.


Crab Foo Yeung. K chose this because of the crab meat. It's good enough to share, but I am not really into crabs, so I only gave it a taste. It's a bit sweet (just a little, though), but I love that this dish had real crab meat (not those crab sticks). K never had the need for bread for this one - he said this was enough for him. He found it really good, but because the serving was so big, he was only able to eat half of it.


Aristocrat Chicken Barbecue. This has been my third chicken meal for this holiday, and at this time I already realized that I have been eating chicken whenever we dine out. However, I just couldn't resist this because when I asked the wait staff what he can recommend me, he suggested this dish because it's one of their best sellers. Since this was the few dishes good for one person, I just went with it. Well, it tasted like any other chicken barbecue, but I did love how it tasted, especially after squeezing the sachet of Java Sauce on it.


Buco Pandan. At first I wanted to try any of Aristocrat's cakes, but I felt a little sad that the bakeshop had a different management and if I wanted to eat the cake, I should go to the bakeshop and take out a slice of cake that I wanted. I didn't want to go through that, so I decided to just go for their Buco Pandan. It may look simple, but this dessert was divine! Tasting it, it quickly became part of my top 10 desserts.


Aristocrat Iced Tea. Seeing the restaurant's name next to the iced tea, I knew this would be special. On the menu, they did printed a logo of Steuarts Tea - Finest Quality Pure Ceylon Tea, so I guess that's the brand of tea they used for this. It surely tasted different from the Iced Tea I have tasted - super delicious, but I felt a little sad that there were a lot of foam. :)

I may not be able to have my slice of cake, but dining here has been really special. It was nice to be a part of Aristocrat's very rich history, even if contribution was to dine there.

It rained just as soon as we stepped out of the restaurant, so we quickly went back to the hotel. We still needed to arrange our stuff because we traveled to Baguio City the next morning.

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Tuna Sashimi

I have tasted fish ceviche (which we call "kilawin" here, by the way), but even if I allow myself to taste it from time to time, I am never really a big fan of raw meat. I don't know, I just prefer my meats cooked (a medium-well steak is okay for me, though), because eating raw meat just makes me feel like a cannibal. Hahaha.

This serving of Tuna Sashimi was something brother had last Sunday, when we went to Chic-Boy to celebrate his birthday. The restaurant may be Filipino inspired, but they had this little Japanese menu, and since my brother is so much into raw fish, he gave it a taste. For about 2USD, he said it tasted okay.

Well, I'd rather have my tuna grilled, fried, or canned.

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Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls.....so good, you won't believe its not gluten!

This recipe mimics those rolls you find in the mall.  I don't need to name them do I? LOL...

Look at this long list of ingredients.  Intimidating right?  Its not really.  I used my microwave for many steps in this recipe.  While you are bothering, why not make a double batch and freeze half?

What inspired me to create such a masterpiece?  Well, just the other day my sweet daughter woke up and asked for something special.  She stuck her finger in the air and started to draw a swirl pattern.  She said, "Mommy, can I have a roll like this?"  How could I say no?!?!  So I re-invented the wheel and created a new recipe just for her.  I have a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls on my blog but that is not what I was after this time.  My goal was for it to resemble the rolls you purchase at Cinnabon.  My sister and brother were over at lunch and they tried some rolls too.  For some odd reason my brother kept asking if they were store bought and wanted to know what store sells these.  Umm, no you can not buy gluten free in this town.  Especially not baked goods.  "WHAT," he says, "THIS IS GLUTEN FREE".  I can't believe it's not Gluten!  Famous last words.

This is my pumpkin roll picture!
I forgot to snap a pic of this recipe, I will next time.

Bottom:
2 Tablespoons butter or Margarine
1 Tablespoon Table Syrup
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Pecans, finely chopped

Cinnamon Roll:
1 Tablespoon Yeast
3/4's Warm Buttermilk (Water or Yogurt can be used successfully)
1/4 cup White Sugar
4 Tablespoons butter or Margarine
1/4 cup Light Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Egg
2 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend
1/2 cup Millet Flour (or another heavier type flour like Sorghum)
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Xanthan Gum
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons of Jell-O Instant Pudding
    (because you know I have to put this in everything!!! ;-)

Filling:
4 Tablespoons butter or Margarine
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Icing (optional):
1 Stick (8 tablespoons) Butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Cream Cheese
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/8 teaspoon Salt

Combine bottom ingredients into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minutes.
Stir and pur into a 10 x 10 baking dish.  Set aside.
Preheat oven to 170 degrees and turn oven off.

• Dissolve yeast with 1/2 cup warm buttermilk or water. 
• Let stand for about 5 minutes until foamy. 
• With a whisk in a stand mixer, cream room temperature margarine and sugar.
• Add the oil, vanilla and egg. Mix to combine on low. 
• In a small bowl, combine Flour's, baking powder, baking soda, gum, salt and instant pudding.
• Add milk or water and yeast mixture to mixer along with dry ingredients.
• Lightly flour, sugar or spray oil a sheet of parchment paper. 
• Place dough on the parchment and flatten dough with your hand roughtly to a rectangle shape.
• Sprinkle dough lightly with flour, sugar or oil and cover with second sheet of parchment. 
• Roll dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch in a rectangle shape approximately 10 to 13 inches long and 8-inches wide. Remove top parchment paper. 
• To make the filling, add butter, sugar and cinnamon to a microwave safe dish.
• Heat for 1 minute.  Stir well and spread or distribute filling as evenly as possible with a pastry brush on rolled out dough, leaving no more than a 1/2-inch margin along one long edge. 
• Starting with the longest edge and using bottom parchment as your assistant, roll dough jelly roll style to form a log . 
• Use fingertips to pinch edge of dough closed to form a cylinder. 
• Use a sharp knife to slice log into individual pieces, each about 1-1/2 to 2-inches wide. A serrated knife works best. 
• Lay pieces on the rolled side inside the previously prepared 10 x 10 pan. (place with the swirls showing upward). 
• Allow dough to rest for 30 to 40 minutes inside preheated oven until rolls have risen to just about the top of the dish. 
• Bake in preheated 350° oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Let rest in pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate.
• Combine icing ingredients while rolls are resting and frost once rolls are cool.

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Menu Plan Monday: Week of November 28th, 2011

Just yesterday my sweet daughter woke up and asked for something special.  She stuck her finger in the air and started to draw a swirl pattern.  She said, "Mommy, can I have a roll like this?"  How could I say no?!?!  So I re-invented the wheel and created a new recipe just for her.  I have a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls on my blog but that is not what I was after this time.  My goal was for it to resemble the rolls you purchase at Cinnabon.  My sister and brother were over at lunch and they tried some rolls too.  For some odd reason my brother kept asking if they were store bought and wanted to know what store sells these.  Umm, no you can not buy gluten free in this town.  Especially not baked goods.  "WHAT," he says, "THIS IS GLUTEN FREE".  I can't believe it's not Gluten!  Famous last words.

I was a baking fool yesterday in fact, made the cinnamon rolls, some hamburger buns for a lunchtime crowd, home made turkey pot pies.  My son commented on the pot pies.  He said he just can not believe how I make gluten free taste better than the "real thing".  LOL!  The moral of my story?  Anything made home made is bound to taste better than store bought.  You can almost taste the love in it.  After a while you will get so good at it, it won't even be a big deal to get it all done.  And my sister can tell you, I was not cooking in the kitchen all day yesterday with the above dishes.  If I can do it, you can too!

Okay, on to the menu plan....

Monday:

Going to take that half of that big old ham work gave hubby and put it in the crock pot with a can of pineapple.  I am going to serve it with skillet Tinkyada Macaroni and Cheese.

Tuesday:

Oatmeal Parmesan Crusted Chicken Cutlets, 

Idahoan Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Harvest Apples

Wednesday:

Church Dinner for the kids

The men will have Sausage, Peppers and Onions 

Served with Udi's Hotdog Rolls.

Thursday:

Sauteed Pork Chops in a Brown Gravy Mushrooms Sauce

White Rice, Broccoli

Rice Pudding for Dessert

Friday:

Pizza and a Movie

Saturday: 

Dinner Out

Going on a trip to the Nature Center

with out Cub Scouts

Sunday:

Tinkyada Spaghetti, Meatballs,
Prego three cheese spaghetti sauce
and Garlic Bread using my Cheese Rolls Recipe

Looking for more inspiration? I can help in two different ways.

1. Head on over to Orgjunkie.com and visit Laura's Menu Plan Monday.
2. You can also view my past menu plans here.

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Weekend Eating | My Pizza Hut Date

Hello, foodies! How was your weekend?

Mine was awesome - I had two days of celebration... Saturday, I was with my fitness buddy, then Sunday we celebrated brother's birthday. Well, brother still hasn't blogged about his celebration, and since I want to give him the privilege to blog about it first, I will just go and talk about my lunch date with my fitness buddy.


Starting Monday (which is today), my fitness buddy will embark on a new journey and will be very busy most of the time, so on his last full weekend, we decided to meet up just so he could give me some rewards for being a very good girl, as well as give me some pointers of what to do because even if he's still there, I have to rely most on myself this coming week.

Anyway, for lunch we ate at Pizza Hut (Ali Mall). He has given me his rewards - a copy of Shaun T's "Insanity" and Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred" as well as some magnetic bookmarks I can use for my books and/or putting notes on the white board or fridge, so this lunch was on me - thanks to the GC I got from Pizza Hut the last time I attended their event (the one with Ms. Shamcey Supsup).

We shared the food - a regular sized Super Supreme pan pizza and a serving of pesto pasta. It was my cheat day, yes... but as much as I wanted to enjoy dining out and eating great food, I didn't sabotage my diet by pigging out, I just ate enough - a small slice of the pizza minus the cold cuts (the pizza was sliced unevenly - two were too big, the other four were too small), about 40% of the pasta, and a glass of lemonade. My buddy ate two small slices of pizza and the 60% of the pasta... the other breads on the table we didn't eat and I took home the remaining three pizza slices, which I gave to brother when I got home.

My buddy will still text and call me everyday, but I will definitely miss our longer talk time. I am now looking forward to our next photowalk - we plan to visit a different park and maybe walk / jog around UP Diliman.

- * - * - * -

So... what did you have last weekend? If you're new to the Weekend Eating meme, you can read the rules and get the badge codes HERE. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined last week.

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Lunch with a Catholic Feel

Ristorante Delle Mitre
CBCP Bldg, 470 Gen. Luna St.,
Intramuros, Manila
+63 (02)559-5220
14 November 2010

K and I opened Day 2 of our holiday by visiting Malate Church, which was a few steps away from the hotel. It was a Sunday, so there were a lot of church goers; we actually had to stand near the front door of the church. K is agnostic, but he respect my Catholic faith and allowed me to say my prayers before we left. From there, we went to Manila Cathedral just so he could see it. He may be agnostic, but he actually has no problems entering religious buildings. We then walked to Fort Santiago and roamed around to wind off time. It was Pacquiao day, so there weren't much people at Fort Santiago, but we appreciated the quiet moment. :)

From here, next itinerary on my list was the San Agustin Church, but because it was already lunch time, I took K at Ristorante Delle Mitre, just in front of San Agustin Church. It was a new food place for me, but I already knew the place even before K arrived because my sister and I planned to do a Manila church hop a few weeks before and I remembered sending Carlos Celdran a message via Twitter asking his recommendation. He told about this place, and since sister and I weren't able to check the restaurant then, I figured I'd just take K there instead.


I wasn't able to take that much pictures for reasons I can't remember now. It was a fairly new restaurant, which opened a few months before. Ristorante Delle Mitre means "Restaurant of the Mitre." Each table has this very unique placemat, which the customers have to read to know more about the concept of the restaurant. It says, "La Mitra (plural in Italian is "le mitre") is the bishop's hat or miter which he wears at liturgical celebrations." The restaurant may be put up so the bishops have a place to dine at - with CBCP located in the same block, but as what was written at the placemat, "Bishops, too, must feed their flock, so is everyone invited to partake of Lord's bounty."

The restaurant features different decorations - images, mitre, paintings. I did love the overall ambiance of the restaurant, but what made admire this restaurant the most was that they provide equal employment opportunity to everyone, and that they actually have deaf people as part of their staff. One of the deaf staff actually took our orders, and since it would be difficult to communicate by speaking, our main way of communication was through pen and paper.

Our lunch for that day:


Bishop Cabantan's Grilled Sole Fillet. K's choice. This was served primarily with rice, but K asked if they do have dinner roll. They asked if mashed potato would be okay for K, which he gladly accepted. I got to taste this dish a little, and I did love the buttery taste and how the fish was light and delicious. I still love the cream dory more, but this tasted good as well.


Archbishop Lagdameo's Chicken Adobo simmered in Olive Oil and Lemon. Quite a long name for a dish, yes, but this was a revelation! I love the fruity flavor from the lemon and how the herbs and olive oil came together. I so loved this dish that at times, I do cook my chicken adobo in olive oil, herbs, and lemon juice.


Pandan Juice. K went for canned soda as his drink, while I went for this, because it was unique. It tasted similar to the typical gulaman samalamig, but the pandan flavor made it more delicious.


Blueberry Cheesecake. It tasted like the usual cheesecakes, but I did love the crust. K and I shared this dessert, which was a great ending for a very sumptuous lunch.

Most of the restaurant's dishes were named after the bishops, and even if doing so made the names of the dishes longer, it sure made the dish unique. Actually, they do have a lot of dishes on the menu, but I trimmed down my choices to those with the bishop's name next to it, simply because of its uniqueness.

Ristorante Delle Mitre, like I said in the opening paragraphs, is located just in front of San Agustin Church. The restaurant do have a lot of tables and chairs and can accommodate big groups, but I do recommend for you to take that table near the window. Seeing San Agustin Church outside as well as the people and kalesas passing by will make your dining experience more enjoyable.

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