Crepe de Chine

Another Saturday of eating good food came my way when I went to Binondo and visited Crepe de Chine. Situated along Juan Luna St., it stands out in the clutter of typical Chinese restaurants. When I entered the place, I immediately noticed the French country design theme. The huge mural painted by Alfred Galvez was very eye-catching. A few minutes after, I met David Sy–owner of the restaurant. He told me that it’s been two years since they opened. As he told me how they started the business and how they took the risk of putting up the restaurant, the different pastas and crepes were served.

They served most of the dishes I saw on their menu. They actually have a wide variety of choices. I know it’s a fusion of Chinese and other cuisines like Filipino. Diana Sy, who is also the owner and the manager, concocted all the recipes. For me, the CDC Crepe salad is my favorite among all the dishes they served. The crunchiness and the freshness of the veggies inside the crepe made the CDC a champion! No wonder it’s their best seller. I also like their unique pizza crepe, so I think the people should not miss that when they visit Crepe de Chine. The owner’s creativity with the Adobo crepe is very fascinating! Though I told the owner that my suggestion for this crepe is to change the pork to chicken. I think it will complement the crepe better. I also suggested that since the restaurant is more like a fusion of different cuisines, they may want to try kebabs or Mediterranean gyros on their crepe. The Mexican crepe is also a winner! The distinct dressing made it so Mexican. So if you are a lover of Mexican dishes, better not miss that. And lastly, they also have different pastas and the one I tried was their Pesto which was served with bread on the side. Again I couldn’t help but make another suggestion. Since their restaurant idea is crepe, why not serve their pastas with crepe on the side instead of bread? You know, like pita bread. Anyway, I think I gave David too many suggestions already. And he got it from me for free! Hehe! But David was very nice and accommodating so I want to thank him for inviting me there. It was thru Apple, his PR person, that made all the arrangements possible.



It was indeed a good afternoon of savoring sumptuous crepe dishes and meeting new people. The location of Crepe de Chine is in the Binondo area so whenever you visit 168, Tutuban or Divisoria–don’t forget to visit this restaurant. The Artist Chef only suggests places she has already tried herself. This is one restaurant that I hope you will also try for yourself soon.  :-)

Crepe de Chine is located at Lower Ground 2 World Trade Exchange
215 Juan Luna St. ( near State Center and Binondo Church ), Binondo, Manila

Open Monday to Friday from 10:30 am to 9:30 pm
Tel no: (02) 244-2270

Joana Milanes

Armando Alarilla

Met Ms. Dina Bonnevie

The Artist Chef met Ms. D! She's real. I got an impression of who she is. And it doesn't matter. The likes of Dina Bonnevie are only human. She's a good actress anyway.

BIG MAMA's PLACE

After several weeks of a roller coaster ride, I finally made my Saturday alive again. So I decided to visit Big Mama’s Place. Owned by the family of Bede Ongtengsiem. Bede is a good friend of mine.

The place is fabulous. It has a positive ambiance. Its interior is very neat and very stylish. People will have a feeling of being at your home when you are inside the Big Mama’s. I met Beau, Bede’s brother. Like Bede, Beau is also nice and cool person. They were both very accommodating when I was there. I also met Tita Bonnie, the mother of Bede and Beau. I was really mesmerized by the warm welcome they showed me. They prepared for me one of the best sellers in their resto, the Peppered Chicken with Tomato Rice, Thai Bagoong Rice and Orange Tuna Pasta plus Dimsum. I can say without exaggeration that the dishes were all fantastic and superb. I wanted to ask for more and eat more.

MENU

Orange Tuna Pasta

Thai Bagoong Rice

Peppered Chicken with Tomato Fried Rice

Perfect Homemade Dimsum

Interior of the resto designed by Bede's sister

Kitchen Confidential

Tita Bonnie shared with me her cooking styles. She doesn’t want to bake food because she hates exact measurement of ingredients. She prefers the “tanchahan” way of cooking. She makes sure that the ingredients they use in cooking are all fresh and are in good quality. She also allowed me to take a closer look at their kitchen where the food are prepared and cooked. It is very neat and clean. The utensils are all placed accordingly. The staff are all well groomed.

She also told me that their menu continuously evolves as she makes ways to find and experiment different recipes. She doesn’t want their food to be commercialized. She wants to make other people happy and satisfied especially the families who dine with them by serving them real tasty and quality food at its best.

We both believe in home-style cooking where everything goes around. We both love to experiment on different dishes. We never follow the recipes of others. We want to make our own. And we both believe cooking is not just cooking to let others eat and taste your food. We both believe that cooking is a special way of showing others that you care for them and love them. Cooking is not just an art for us. It is a passion.

With the BIG MAMA Bonnie and son Bede Ongtengsiem

Afterwards, I can’t help but express my gratitude to them (Bede, Beau and Tita Bonnie). I thank them from the bottom of my heart for having me taste their one-of-a-kind food. Sincerely, I was really glad and my stomach was really full that time. I am very happy for my friend, Bede for having this kind of business. I can see that it is doing very well. It was indeed a satisfing lunch and a learning experience as well. It wasn’t my usual lunch. It was extra ordinary. I wish to have my own restaurant. I know I can fulfill that dream one day.

Bede, Thanks for inspiring me to wear my big smile again. And for always telling me that life is beautiful and full of possibilities amidst pain and sufferings. ☺

My TAKE HOME!

BIG MAMA's PLACE
Along N. Paterno St. San Juan, Metro Manila
Opens Tuesday to Sunday –11am to 9pm

Rosalie de Guzman

Strawberry Sans Rival

Since it’s my sister’s birthday today, I decided to post my recipe for Strawberry Sans rival as my gift to her. Actually not everyone knows that strawberry is my favorite fruit! I only eat most of this fruit during Christmas. Surprisingly last summer I went to La Trinidad, Benguet and brought home lots of strawberries. When I came home, I gathered all the ingredients for my new concoction. The challenge on my part then was to come up with something that will not use oven. So what I am going to share here now is more like of a refrigerator cake but very sans rival when it comes to taste and surprisingly the result is very good. So fold your sleeves and wear your apron because we’re going to do a lot of whisking here.

Please prepare:
All purpose cream, Jelly powder, butter, vanilla syrup, egg yolk, sugar, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, graham cracker and strawberries.

Get a huge bowl and mix cream, vanilla syrup, egg yolk, and diluted jelly all together. Melt the butter and add it also to the mixture. Prepare a rectangular ceramic then arrange graham crackers. Fold the mixture per layer then add some sliced strawberries, minced cashew nuts and pistachios per layer. Not too much because on the last layer that will be the right time for you to place generous amount of strawberries, pistachios and cashew nuts. Place it in your freezer if you want it frozen or in your fridge when you want it normal. Then it's ready!

My passion for Chowking!

After being in the advertising industry for eight years, it is only now that I feel incredibly felicitous with one particular brand I am handling–– Chowking. I’ve been handling the brand for three and half years now and today it makes me look back to how my advertising career started.

When I had my first interview in J.Walter Thompson, they asked me what my dream account is. I gladly told them that Jollibee is my dream account. I also told them that I always wanted to do something that has to do with food that's young and fun. At that time, I saw that in Jollibee.

I graduated college and landed in different multinational agencies. I had numerous interviews and they always asked me “what is your dream account?” My answer didn’t change through the years. But after shuffling from one ad agency to another, I never had the chance to work on Jollibee. In 2005, I had Chowking instead.

Since the day I started handling Chowking, I've forgotten about Jollibee. I enjoy going to their test kitchen every time there’s a new product. It excites me to see the chef demonstrating how to cook the food while showing the ingredients he is using. It’s very admirable to see that Chowking is constantly innovating and improving their products for their consumers. In my heart I'm yearning for the chance to become an innovation chef. Since I’m in advertising and equipped with excellent culinary skills, I've always thought that these two important aspects would help me turn my dream into reality. As part of the agency that handles the brand, my delight about a certain product we are working on now is indescribable. It excites and surprises me because a lot of things will soon happen. I will gladly share to all of you once everything is already happening.