Freska

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Originally uploaded by margauxlicious.

Craving for Ilonggo food after our trip to Iloilo and curious to see the creations of a young chef I met, Pauline Gorriceta-Balusing, I convinced our party director to hold our meeting in Freska in Greenhills instead of our pathetic little office.

We feasted on batchoy and pancit molo ... then tried the managat (Philippine red snapper - I just call it a giant bangus hehe) and a Visayan bulalo called Bacolod Beef Kansi.

I really loved this beef kansi. First, its broth is manamis-namis na maasim-asim na ma-umami because of the flavor of the beef mixed with the flavor of a tamarind-like seed called batuan. Apparently this batuan grows only in the Visayas - or at least that's what Pauline says. We should build this baby up; it's like a refined sampaloc. Love!

I also found it lovely how the Chef took pains to give continental dishes an Ilonggo character. Like her pizzetas used what you use to make molo wrappers (like in the picture). This wasn't my favorite appetizer but the concept's worth a nod.

We also tried a banana dessert that was like...hmmm hubad na turon is how i'd describe it. It was like turon taken apart and placed pretty on a plate. The banana was glazed with sugar but the wrapper was made crunchy and placed in the middle instead ... and used molo wrapper again! Another dessert was a mango-buko delight that was made extra tangy and sweet because it used Guimaras mangoes.

Best about this place is it's uber cheap. Well, okay, not uber cheap but uber reasonable. We had a bowl of batchoy (good for two), a bowl of molo (good for two), the Visayan bulalo (good for three), three hundred grams of managat, and two desserts ... all for only P1,500.

I still wasn't able to replicate my Iloilo experience that I was longing for but it was a pretty satisfying meal nonetheless. Manamit!