With TL at the table, we turned to the dessert menu for the first time.
The Chilled Mango Pudding was amazing. Tangy dice of fresh mango, sweet pudding, creamy coconut milk, savory sesame cracker : a perfect blend of flavors. To the extent that I enjoy dessert — which I don’t really — this falls within the top three favorites in recent memory (see also 6.045 Tortilla Española, 6.237 Coconut Panna Cotta) — all involving mango and/or coconut.
Deep-Fried Taro Dumplings Filled with Assorted Seafood (2.0) : while understanding why some people like this kind of thing (see for example 5.238 Char Kway Teow)……I’m not the biggest fan.Shredded Garoupa Soup, Ginger, Vegetables (3.0)Braised Bean Curd, Pacific Clams, Japanese Mushrooms, Oyster Sauce (3.5) : the clams were fresh, sweet, and chewy; delicately deep-fried tofu; pitch-perfectly balanced oyster sauce — subtle yet substantial, my kinda dish.Clockwise from left : turkey, swan, rabbit, ninja star.Wok-Fried Kale, Minced Salted Fish (2.0) : I’ve yet to acquire the taste for salted fish, which to me still just seems…overly salty…and uncomfortably fishy; the so-called kale — clearly not the same thing as American kale — looked like kailan (see for example 2.221 Gailan in Oyster Sauce), but more bitter in flavor and more firm/fibrous in texture. Wok-Fried Diced Beef, Black Pepper & Minced Taro Sauce in Casserole (3.25) : rather than Asian, the overall impression was more Western, like meat and mushrooms in pan gravy, which I quite enjoyed, though RK and TL weren’t as enthused.
Just realized that RK has achieved the dubious distinction of having shared the most dinners with me thus far, including tonight — not counting family members, not counting mass gatherings (where we may have been in the same building but not at the same table) — since the move to Manila.
