Cycle 5 – Item 241

3 (Wed) September 2014

Mechado

2.5

at The Aristocrat

(Robinsons Place)

-Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

with BJH, EK, AW

Try Every Restaurant in Robinsons Place (82) (see also TERRP)

Living above Robinsons Place, I’ve been eating my way through the mall.  As far as I know, nobody has ever done anything like this, my unique contribution to the city’s food/blog scene.

Mechado is a Filipino dish.  Traditionally, the stew is made by taking a large, cheap, tough cut of beef, larding it with pork fat ribbons, then braising it for hours in a broth of soy sauce and/or fish sauce, calamansi and/or vinegar, along with onions, garlic, etc, until the meat is tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick gravy.  Modern short-cut variations start with thinly sliced beef, which tenderize quickly, and include tomato paste, which thickens the gravy and adds depth.

The mechado was good.  Tasted pretty much like caldereta.

This was my second experience at this restaurant, the first at the flagship location on Roxas (see 4.264 3-Piece Chicken Barbecue).  Both times, the food was competent, nothing to rant, nothing to rave.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)