8.288
20 (Fri) October 2017
Anticucho de Corazon
2.0
at Samba
(Shangri-La at the Fort)
-BGC, Taguig, Manila, Philippines-
with colleagues
Anticucho is a Peruvian dish. Originating in the Andes (“anti”), the dish comprises any type of meat – one of the most popular cuts is beef heart (“corazon”) – which is cut into small pieces (“cucho”), marinated in spices, skewered, then grilled over coals, often sold as a street food.
Not too horrible. I was pleasantly surprised that the heart, as prepared by this restaurant in this manner, neither exuded the awful/offal funkiness in flavor nor the exhibited the unbearable squishiness/sponginess/pastiness in texture that I’ve found in other organ meats (see for example 6.009 Awful).
Dinner wasn’t the primary objective – rather, we had gathered at the hotel to attend a whisky festival. Over 30 distilleries, producers, brands – single malt Scotch accounting for about half. PHP 3,000 for a one-day ticket. Upon entry, every guest was given 10 tokens, each redeemable for a tasting, but most booths didn’t seem to care, and the tokens were refillable upon quiet request.
I took a masterclass convened by Kavalan, the Taiwanese distillery that I had discovered for myself while wandering around Taipei (see generally 5.112 Half Calf Tendon & Half Beef Noodles with Soybean Sauce and Spicy) and have since grown to adore.
The class itself, run by a brand ambassador, wasn’t very informative, but it provided a rare opportunity to sample 5 expressions side-by-side. My favorite was the cask strength ex-bourbon cask finish – explosively rich on the uptake with a long dry finish.
Prior visits:
- 8.106 Prawns Quinoa (3.5)
- 8.120 Chuletón de Res (4.0)