Le"Relais de l'Entrecote"

The Relais de l’Entrecôte owes its reputation to its single course menu: a walnut salad followed by an extra tender sirloin steak with its famous secret sauce, and delicious home-made french fries.

For Trina's birthday dinner celebration, we decided to have dinner here, the famous French steakhouse where there is one dish on the menu.

The long line outside their restaurants somehow create this buzz that this place serves the best steak in Paris. In my opinion, the distinct difference or the marketing strategy used by this restaurant is: 1) their steak is served with this special secret sauce and 2) you can have seconds if you need to eat more. The reason why they will give you more is that, you will be servcd only 3 slices for your first serving with lots of thinly cut fries to fill you up. For some reason, the second serving does not taste as good as the first plate served. I noticed that servers would usually bring trays for your table with enough steak slices to accommodate your request for second servings.  In the meantime, that big tray sits on the side until you get your refill. The steaks are no longer as hot and sauce has somehow thickened. You will be served more fries, so you are guaranteed to get your fill that you expected.  I guess serving small portions just means that there is not much waste.  As in other steakhouse, if the steak cut is humongous, their is leftover meat on the plate, if the customer is on diet.

Again in my opinion, there are better steakhouse in Paris. But that is not to say that I did not enjoy my steaks. The place also serve delicious desserts.  The last picture shows their array of desserts to serve with your coffee.

Les Fernandes, Paris

Our first dinner in Paris, August 2018 
Trina was celebrating her milestone birthday and she wants to celebrate big. So her husband, her best friend, her brother and me, of course flew to Paris for a week.  We even traveled "business class".  As mentioned, she wants to celebrate big.

Trina usually research where the best and cheapest places to eat when we travel.  We chose to stay at the 7th arrondissement, referred to be the quintessential Parisian neighborhood. as it puts you a stone's throw away from the famous landmarks of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. However, the recommended place to eat close to our airbnd by her friends was closed that night.  FYI, some Europeans take their summer vacation and close their establishments so they too could enjoy the summer days.

Fortunately, there is this bistro in the Saint Germains de Pres area or 6th arrondissement, which was almost full, had a table for us 5 people. It looks like homecooked meals will be served.  Their menu written on a small blackboard, seems reasonably priced.  We started with some cold cuts and pate made with sardines, which we all shared. It was delicious.  Then we ordered individually based on our individual preferences. Our choices include skewered sirloin steak with fries (2 wanted that), leg of a duck braised in  red wine with boiled potatoes, tuna tartare with green salad and pan fried sea bream with some veggies.  All the dishes were flavorful and well-prepared. One good thing is the warm and friendly service.

Gising gising

When I plan the next dish to cook, I take into consideration what I have in my ref, my freezer or my pantry. Green beans are so cheap these days that I did not realize that I have two bags of it in my veggie crisper. In my freezer, I can always find ground pork and then I saw the leftover coconut milk that I froze.  Viola!! I will make "gising gising". For Filipinos, this dish is supposed to be served for breakfast with steaming white rice.  Gising or to wake up, was used to name this dish as the red bird eye chilis is supposed to wake you up to get going in the morning.

Chicken Pandan

Chicken Pandan

Everyday foods

Everyday food
Sometimes, you just need comfort food when you're not feeling well or bored doing nothing.

Kimchi fried rice with luncheon meat

It has been a while since I made kimchi or had cooked any Korean dish. Last weekend, I decided to make kimchi. And today, I had kimchi fried rice for breakfast.

Few would probably know, that fresh kimchi is the best.  If you are not Korean who prefers the fermented kimchi which in my opinion needs an acquired taste. To me the fully ripe kimchi is sour. That is why the bottled kimchi sold in Korean stores is not the best banchan for me. If you have access to stores that sell homemade kimchi, packed either in plastic bags or in disposable containers, that is better.  You know that "that" kimchi was probably made few days ago. And that is what I like, because it is fresh and vegetables are still crispy.

Anyway, kimchi making may take few hours as the prep work takes some time.  You need to soak napa cabbage in salt water for at least an hour and then rinse in cold water and drain the excess water. You need to cut the carrots, the daikon radish, and green onions.  You need to peel and dice the garlic, ginger and onions. You also need to boil some glutinuous rice powder with water and sugar which will the base for your red pepper flakes.  If you need the actual recipe, go to maangchi.com.  I have made my quick kimchi from her recipe and everyone who tasted my kimchi had only praises for the my kimchi.

I had dinner and a show for my 2017 birthday

We watched Broadways musical show "Beautiful"

Newly opened Japanese Steak house in downtown Manhattan is not your typical steak house.  Like the Japanese restaurants in Japan, there is no required tipping. And that is one reason why your table set up is a bit different.

Cutleries and condiments are available on your table.  However, there is someone who will bring your order, your water or any additional stuff you may need.  All you need is to request for it.

Sides available to eat with your steaks. As expected, they serve rice, since rice is life to Asians.  Steaks are priced according to weight and cut of the meat. The meat is usually served rare as the steaks are served on a sizzling plate.

Trina chose the "rare" assorted steak with corn and rice on the side

I chose the rare sirloin cut steak which has less meat, compared to the assorted cut, but none the less as delicious.

The place is called Inari Steak and is located near Union Square

Suman or steamed rice cake in banana leaves

Suman is usually prepared during the Christmas season. One of the You Tube bloggers prepared 12 popular desserts for Christmas. This is my first time to make the suman. I am glad that I can prepare only a small batch to start with. After all, the typical Filipino Moms and Grandmas usually prepare suman to feed the whole village and I may not figure the proportions to make a small batch. It came out good the first time. I used the frozen pandan leaves to cook the glutinous rice and it gave a nice flavor to my suman (first picture), which I served with coco sugar and grated coconut. For the second batch, I used pandan extract (last picture) that is why the green color. This could be my go to dessert come Christmas time.

Japanese rice dish using Instant Pot

Takikomi Gohan

One of my favorite food blogger is a Japanese Mom. She's promoting the Instant Pot. I bought the ingredients and used my new Instant Pot. It was really delicious and easy to cook. Since I am not familiar in using the Instant Pot, I need to try again to avoid burning the bottom. Maybe I will try using the rice cooker next time, as this dish could also be prepared using the old,dependable rice cooker every Asian home has in their kitchen.

Chinese Soup on a Cold Day

Chinese soup usually needs Chinese ingredients that are considered good for the body. For this soup, I included dried jujubees and lotus roots. The pork bones needs to be cooked for at least one and half hours to two hours on stove top or 15 minutes using a pressure cooker. This soup is really tasty with the additional sweet corn. I enjoy having soup for my meals as I do not have to eat a lot of rice.

Chinese home cooking

STUFFED TOFU

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

STUFFED AMPALAYA

I came upon this You Tube blogger who cooks Chinese dishes usually served at home, not the dishes you usually eat at Chinese restaurants. Most of her dishes require few simple steps and the amount of ingredients she uses are meant to feed a small family, which is ideal for me since I cook for two only. These three dishes (stuffed tofu, stuffed green peppers and stuffed bitter gourd), used ground pork and since I buy a lot when I go shopping in our Chinatown in Queens, New York, I just need to buy the vegetables and tofu. These three dishes used mostly the same Chinese sauces and condiments but somehow, there a little bit difference how each one taste. My favorite is the steamed bitter gourd, also known as ampalaya in Filipino.

Pasteis de Belem

The real Mc Coy

Pastel de Nata, also known as Portugese custard tart, is one of the popular dessert in Portugal. These are available throughout Lisbon, in your neighborhood groceries, popular coffee shop and any decent restaurant. But anyone who has been to Portugal knows that nothing compares to the "original pasteis de nata" from Belem. Actually, I read the monks of Jeronimo Monatery were the first to create this pastry. At that time, convents and monasteries used the egg whites  in starching clothes, such as the nuns' habits. Leftover egg yolks were used to make cakes and pastries, resulting in numerous sweet pastry recipes.