Rekados Lunch

[js]
We decided to try Rekados for lunch the other day. Prior to that, lunch is probably the most problematic meal of all for us.

Breakfast, for me, is not a question. It usually is coffee and a cup of yogurt. Or, coffee and banana. It seems that I have no problems repeating the same meal over and over for breakfast. I lived on oatmeal for more than 6 months at one stretch of time, with no complaints.

With dinner, it has to be, without question, varied and interesting. Embarrassing to admit but I do get grumpy and cranky if I do not get a good dinner every few days. I can stretch out to four or five days, sometimes even two weeks, but people don't want to be near me when I'm in one of these moods. I like variety and I cannot endure the same type of food for more than 3 days at a time. And I like my food to have honest-to-goodness proper flavour, something soul-satisfying as well.

As the midday meal, lunch stands in-between these in terms of wishing and expectations. There are days when we don't even have time for lunch (hence the demand and/or wish for a good dinner). There are days when we just have to endure a day-old sandwich and/or soup with crackers. But fortunately, there are also days when we have the luxury of choosing a proper lunch.

I think the Rekados lunch qualifies as a proper lunch, don't you think?

[ts]
Growing up, we were just used to our lunches being just like dinner. Same types of food: rice and hot dishes to go with it. Sandwiches or anything of the sort qualified merely as "snacks." Here's to Rekados and the "old days"!

As part of their lunch menu, Rekados has "combo" meals which include a meat dish, a vegetable dish, soup and of course, rice. I don't usually look at the prices, but these meals are $6.95 and $7.95. Quite a steal!



[ts]
Soup that day was corn soup. On other occasions, we've had sotanghon soup (a vermicelli soup flavored with achiote) and a tomato-based broth.

The veg was bean sprouts. Other times, we've had bok choy, green beans, and so on.


Chicken adobo with fried egg (JS's dish).


I had the "beef tapsi". That's short for tapsilog, one of the beloved "silog" type dishes, so called because it's beef tapa + sinangag (garlic fried rice) + itlog (fried egg).


I promptly put my egg on top of the sinangag and broke the yolk. Oooooh.

As you can see below, we also ordered fried calamare and their mangga ensalada. (More info about the two dishes here.)


And yes, that meal's just for two people. Granted, we were kind of, sort of full afterwards. I don't think we even had room for the warm toffee cake!

Oh, they've brought it back! The warm toffee cake is back!!!

I guess our laments and our ode to the warm toffee cake (here and here) were heard!

Rekados is such a (relatively) undiscovered gem. We always shake our heads at why people aren't clamoring to dine there. People, go!

"Warm Toffee Cake" a la Rekados

"Warm Toffee Cake"... {sigh}

[ts]
Even before the earth-shattering catastrophe of Rekados removing its "warm toffee cake" from their menu, JS and I had been wondering how to make it. (I told you we would just spontaneously think of it!)

Oh, I believe the Rekados site still has a picture of the "warm toffee cake" (to mock us!). It's the final picture in their Gallery section. They serve theirs warm inside a coffee cup (or ramekin) with the sauce and ice cream on top.

There are basically two components: the cake and the sauce. (Well, the ice cream too, but hey, I don't need to worry about that. Hah.)

The cake

We were thinking of the type of cake it is, and JS settled on it being like "ma lai kuh" (Malay Cake). The ma lai kuh we're used to seeing are the ones in dimsum. They're really high and fluffy, and could be anywhere from pale yellow to a taupe-ish color. Rekados' "warm toffee cake" leaned towards the taupe end, I believe.

There were lots of recipes for ma lai kuh online. After looking through a number of them and judging by the pictures of the finished product, most ma lai kuh were too pale and seemed to have a more "cake-y" crumb (for lack of a better word) than what we were looking for. I finally settled on basing ours on this recipe by Big Boys Oven. Unlike other recipes, this had a darker hue. As for the crumb, I could only hope for the best.

The sauce

I don't remember if the Rekados menu specified a "toffee" sauce or a "butterscotch" sauce. I looked up the difference between the two in my trusty Food Lover's Companion.

Butterscotch = butter and brown sugar
Toffee = a candy made with sugar, water/cream, and maybe butter

So, butterscotch it must be! For the recipe, I looked through our America's Test Kitchen and How To Cook Everything cookbooks. I finally decided on Bittman's since it basically was a dump-into-a-pot thing (whereas the America's Test Kitchen recipe called for making the caramel first).

Here we go!

Look, a recipe using weight (not volume)! I had to whip out the seldom-used ghetto kitchen scale of ours.



In the scale above was 150 grams of all-purpose flour and 10 grams of cornstarch. The recipe called for 160 grams of cake flour, but I didn't have that. I believe AP flour + cornstarch is a substitution I learned from our America's Test Kitchen cookbook. I'm not sure if it's the exact subsitution, but I figured it should be OK. In with the flour was 1 tablespoon of baking soda. I read it twice to make sure it's soda, not baking powder.

I whipped a 2 large eggs until frothy...



...then added 100 grams of sugar (I took castor sugar to mean regular white sugar). I whipped until thick and white.



I added the flour + baking soda to the eggs, then 70 mL of brown sugar (I didn't use palm sugar as per the recipe) and 200 mL coconut milk.



I then let the mixture rest for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have a shot of the rested batter. Its texture was only apparent as I poured it out of the bowl. It was foamy and had quite an "elastic" consistency... perhaps a texture like a bread starter?

Here they are in cups, ready for steaming.



Our steamer is huge!



While the cakes were steaming, I went to work on the butterscotch sauce.

I believe Bitman's recipe called for 6 tablespoons of butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, and... I forget how much cream. I guess about one cup. I didn't actually have cream on hand, so I used canned Nestlé cream instead (gasp!). It was one small can. I don't think it made much of a difference. For the brown sugar, I used 2 parts light brown sugar and 1 part demerara sugar. Bitman called for a "pinch" of salt, but since what I liked about Rekados' "warm toffee cake" was the play between sweet and salty, I added a whole teaspoon of salt.



Then it was a matter of heating, stirring and waiting. It was actually the PERFECT consistency at one point, but I let it sit on the heat longer than that, so our sauce turned out a tad separated. (Still good and buttery and sweet and salty, though!)



After a bit, the cakes were ready! Those holes are from my gratuitous pokings to test for doneness. They're big because I used a wooden chopstick instead of a toothpick. But, I was also thinking ahead, see. I wanted the cakes be even more porous so the butterscotch sauce can soak right on through.



The finished product, half-eaten, as the mouth was faster than the camera.



[js]
This is actually the second time we attempted a "ma lai kuh," in the hopes of replicating that precious, precious warm toffee cake of Rekados.

The first time was ages ago (six to eight months ago). If I remember correctly, it had a tighter crumb and it was not as soft and moist as this second time.

For me, this second attempt is closer to our goal: crumb is just right. The only thing was that it was SO BITTER when eaten by itself.

Regarding the butterscotch sauce, I would like it to be thinner and smoother than the one we had this time.

This is a good second try -- and I suspect our third time is going to be the charm. We might finally invest in those ramekins for this toffee cake.

We served this with a crème brulée flavor gelato that was, of course, superdelicious.

[ts]
Yes, the bitterness!!!

I believe the bitterness was from the baking soda. I wonder if using baking powder instead would eliminate that bitterness, since I usually see baking powder in larger quantities (than baking soda) in recipes. I just hope it doesn't mess with the crumb!

The cake was BEYOND bitter, so one really had to eat it with the butterscotch sauce. I confess, the sauce may have been a tad too salty, because I added a second teaspoon of salt to the mix while it was heating. I won't do that next time. It wasn't unbearably salty, but I think cutting back a little would be better. And I guess more cream will make it thinner?

Of course, how can there be anything wrong with that gelato! Impossible! Teehee.

This dessert really had to be eaten all together. The sweetness and saltiness of the butterscotch sauce hid the bitterness of the cake while the gelato mellowed out the whole affair with its coldness and melty-ness.



Look at that perfect crumb!

I say again, "Warm Toffee Cake"... {sigh}

Tilapia wrapped in Banana Leaves

[ts]
This is inspired by the grilled tilapia we often had at Rekados. (Although, not the last time we went, as it wasn't on the menu anymore.)

I don't know what kind of tilapia they use, but in our case, we bought some "pink/white tilapia". But first, making the "relish" or salsa.

Somebody returned from the Philippines and gave us some pickled mangoes.





I drained them (keeping some of the liquid) and diced them. Also diced were tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers. I added a touch of salt and the whole lot drained away in a colander for a little while.



I added calamansi juice (that's the deep yellow liquid in the background; see below), soy sauce, some of the pickled mango liquid and I think a touch of vinegar.

(Looking at the picture in the wikipedia entry, I must say that I've never seen those orange-colored calamansi before. The ones we see have dark green skins.)



We can leave that for now and tackle the fish. I took some banana leaves out of the package and thawed them.



I have since seen someone heat up banana leaves on top of the stove (over the flame) to soften them before using them to wrap items. That would've saved me the trouble of struggling with the leaves. (They weren't that bad to work with, but they just have this annoying tendency to tear.)

In each banana leaf parcel lay the fish with lemon and ginger slices in the cavity and some pickled mango salsa. Onto the grill they went. We had 2 fishy parcels.





I left the lid to the barbeque closed and went back inside. It was raining pretty hard! (They were grilled the same time as our chicken adobo.)


The parcels post-grill.

More pickled mango salsa went on top of the fish.



All in all, this was OK. I think I would've preferred the fish to have more of the grill flavor. As it was, it was more steamed than anything else. The grilled tilapia at Rekado's actually only had a tube top's worth of banana leaf wrapping (instead of a mummy wrap's worth). I don't think we could've pulled that off, though, since there would've probably been a sticking-to-the-grill problem.

(I believe there is a photo of the banana-leaf-tube-topped tilapia on the Rekados website. It's one of the images in the slideshow on the main page of the site.)

Also, I have issues with the fish! It was so weird! Cutting into the flesh, one hit the bones right away! Perhaps it was just a skinny fish? Or maybe this "pink/white" tilapia is different from the other tilapias I've had? That was pretty much the biggest hindrance to my enjoyment of the dish.

The pickled mango salsa was a keeper, though. Saving grace. I think next time, I may add just a teensy amount of bagoong (shrimp paste) in there, just like in Rekados' "pinoy ensalada". ;D

(Of course, if I had green mangoes instead of the pickled variety, I would use that. Actually, if I had green mangoes and bagoong, I wouldn't even go through the pretense of preparing a dish of any sort. Green mango + bagoong is all a girl needs.)


[eatingclub] vancouver Filipino food
Bibingka
Mama's Ampalaya (Bitter Melon)
Faux Kamote-Que
Philippine-Style Chicken "BBQ"
Fried Hasa Hasa (Mackerel)
"Savory" Chicken Wings
Sinamak (Chile-infused Vinegar)
Pan-roasted Halibut w/ Fava Beans, Potato-Onion Cakes & Bagoong Butter Sauce
Bulalo & Bangus: an even simpler Filipino meal
Baked Tahong (Mussels)
Adobo Kangkong (Adobo Water Spinach)
Oyster Torta (Oyster Omelette)
Chicken Tinola (Chicken Soup w/ Green Papaya & Pepper Leaves)
(Chinese) Roast Pork Belly / Lechon
Tilapia wrapped in Banana Leaves
Pork Belly, Two Ways
Chicken Adobo
Embutido
Salabat (Ginger Tea)
Lechon Manok (Philippine Roast Chicken) & Lechon Sauce
"Chinese Adobo" Clams and Oysters
Bistek (Citrus Beef with Caramelized Onions)
Beef Kaldereta (Beef Stew with Bell Peppers)
Atsara (Green Papaya Pickle)
Sardinas na Bangus (Milkfish in the style of Sardines) and Pressure Cooker Fear

Rekados (April 6, 2008)

http://www.rekados.com/

Two reviewers: ts and js


"bagoong rice"

[ts]
Rekados is part of our family's restaurant repertoire, but we haven't mentioned it nor reviewed it before. Now is the time.

I noticed that they've put up a website recently (with a new design and more information) and that they're revised their menu slightly. We decided we should go visit again.

(JS and I have been craving and thinking and dreaming about their "warm toffee cake" as well, but more on that later.)

[js]
It seems like we always mention Rekados in passing to others, especially when talking about restaurants. For my money, this is the only Filipino restaurant that I will visit on a regular basis.

I don't like to say this, but some of the Filipino restaurants I've been to always rely on "shortcuts," which really, really irks me. "Shortcuts," when it comes to food, offend me on a profound level.

We've been to Goldilocks and they have everything pre-made and pre-measured so they can just microwave the food when you order. Blech. We've been to Sandy Daza's, which leans towards more turo-turo (point-point), steam-table style of cuisine -- which I do not really go for. I always feel that the food has been sitting there for a long, long time, because it tasted like that. We've been to Pinpin's and I thought I tasted a noodle mix (like instant noodle) for their pancit canton.

Rekados is the only Filipino restaurant that I know of where one can go, sit down, and actually get food to order. Unlike other Filipino restaurants, the cooking is also more refined, the flavours cleaner and brighter, the presentation more polished. I commend Chef Charlie Dizon for his vision, pushing Filipino food forward into the future, and I really am excited to see where it might go from here.

[ts]
We ordered some "starters" first while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive. Although, there is no such thing. Everything is eaten together.

(I must say, I really like how the pictures turned out. It must be the NATURAL LIGHT(!). Although, it was already getting dark. The desserts suffered under nighttime and dim lighting.)

sweet kamote fries: $ 5.25
sweet potato fries, spiced annatto-calamansi mayo



[js]
I love sweet kamote fries. These were fried just right. Not greasy at all.

[ts]
I didn't used to like kamote (sweet potato) that much. But, I remember starting to eat these here a while back, and they really started to grow on me. So, I guess the credit goes to Rekados for converting me to a kamote-eater?

calamares: $ 7.95
flash fried squid, sweet red onions, cilantro-garlic mayo



[js]
Love their calamares. Again, perfectly fried, not greasy. The batter is just right. I like the cilantro-garlic mayo, but it used to come with a slightly tarter mayo condiment (calamansi?) which I loved.

lumpia shanghai springroll: $ 5.25
pork, shitake, celery, carrots, sweet chili-plum dip
[not pictured]

[js]
I don't think I had this. Did we order this?

[ts]
I believe JJS ordered this for himself. I didn't have any of this as well, nor did I get to take a picture. From what I remember from before, their lumpia shanghai is not bad.

baked tahong: $ 7.95
baked greenshell mussels with tomatoes, red onions, scallions, garlic butter



[js]
This is the taste of the baked tahong that I remember. I can't believe I'm tasting it again right now. When we used to make this, it was with a cheesy baked-on top. But the cheese is not really necessary and I like this as is.

[ts]
And finally, green shells! I remember first seeing mussels in Canada... I thought they were quite ugly being all black like that. In the Philippines, the mussels are green-shelled like these, and their color is multi-faceted. They look like those holograms. So pretty. Oh yes, the taste. These were great. Garlic!!!

sigang na baka: $ 11.95
beef slowly simmered in tomato-tamarind broth, with bokchoy, okra and eggplant
[not pictured]

[js]
I had this before but not this time. I remember it being quite good. I've come to realize that I love sinigang with beef.

[ts]
Yes! Sinigang with beef is the way to go! We will have to make it with beef next time, now that we make it with real tamarind and everything. ;)

steamed gulay: $ 5.95
bamboo steamed asian vegetables, topped with lola’s tomato pesto



[js]
I'm not sure about this vegetable dish. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it really, but it just seems so plain. Also, I have the feeling it might not be "Filipino" enough. Which makes me realize that I really have a limited vision of Filipino vegetable cooking, because after pinakbet and laing, I can't really think of any Filipino vegetable applications.

[ts]
I don't remember the "tomato pesto" too much. This was nice enough. We need some vegetables. =)

mangga ensalada: $ 6.95
green mango, hard boiled egg, scallions, tomatoes, shrimp paste



[js]
Pretty, pretty, pretty.

[ts]
Our mother loves this. This is a good combination of flavors. There were also shallots in there. The dressing: perhaps soy sauce and calamansi? Not too sure. This dish used to have fried dilis (really small fish) instead of the bagoong, but I think I prefer the flavor of the bagoong. This is with mango, after all. Although, the fried dilis had its crunchy texture going for it.

maknoks rekados fried chicken, half: $10.95
marinated in house spices, slow roasted then flash fried



[js]
This chicken is really yummy. It didn't get quite as eaten as the other dishes because for some reason it wasn't chopped up into pieces. It's always a debate for us whether to get this or the lechon manok. We have never gotten the lechon manok to try because we always pick the maknoks version.

crab and shrimp torta: $ 11.95
baked rock crab, shrimp and eggplant omelette with tomatoes, green peas, carrots, cheese, sweet soya and spiced catsup



[js]
This is probably the only thing I don't like in this array of food. I had one bite and I tasted the cheese and I couldn't go any further.

[ts]
I guess I like our traditional(?) home torta better (with ground pork, green onions, soy sauce & sesame oil). I think perhaps it was the cheese that didn't jive with me, but I'm not sure.

palabok “malabon style”: $ 8.95
rice noodle, shrimp, pork, tofu, hard boiled egg, topped with crackling chicharon



[ts]
The palabok was all right. It seems to lack a bit of oomph, though.

I don't know how palabok is made, actually. Again, like sinigang, people seem to rely on those packets of palabok mix. Hmm, do I detect a future post?

lechon kawali: $ 8.95
pan-roasted pork belly, mang tomas gravy



[js]
Boss #2 (almost 3 years old) grabbed one of the pieces, took a bite from the skin end (with the fat portion), and said, "Yummy!" I can imagine it being yummy because it's lechon kawali! I like the Rekados version of lechon kawali because it seems to be somewhat lighter. I've had numerous experiences with lechon kawali that have been already been double-fried.

grilled eggplant: $ 7.95
with tomatoes, onions, scallions, shrimp paste (bagoong)



[js]
I'm not a big fan of eggplant. I don't know: I used not to mind it but lately I find the texture of eggplant somewhat off-putting. As CSC said though, eat anything with that "relish" and it's already delicious. ("Kahit anong lagyan mo nung relish, masarap na e!")

grilled bangus belly milkfish: $ 11.95
from bolinao pangasinan, boneless prime milkfish belly, with pan roasted garlic and lemon, pinoy ensalada



[js]
This was good. I love grilled bangus. I was afraid that it's going to be too much belly, but we got a good helping of the firmer upper-half flesh of the bangus.

[ts]
Yes, this was more flesh than belly. Good, good, good. And again, that "relish" (or "pinoy ensalada" with bagoong, in this case) is DELICIOUS!

bagoong rice (good for 2-3): $ 8.95
jasmine rice, grilled pork belly, green mango, hard boiled egg, scallions, tomatoes, shrimp paste



[ts]
This was my most favorite thing on the menu E.V.E.R.!!! We didn't read the menu too closely, and so were quite pleasantly surprised that it had a big piece of grilled liempo (pork belly) with it. Next time, I would order this as my meal. OK, maybe share it with another person, since it was quite big. Set the pork belly aside, mix everything else up, and eat belly & mixed up rice all together!

[js]
The pork belly smelled SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. When I looked for it, it was all gone. Next time, we're going to order this grilled liempo thing on its own.

[ts]
And here it is on the menu!
grilled liempo pork belly: marinated pork belly in sweet soy, garlic and spices

[ts]
Quite, quite full. But wait, there's more! The desserts, that is.

honey-calamansi: filipino citrus, honey slushie
[not pictured]
The kids had this drink. We asked for the drink to be split into 2 small glasses.

halo-halo supreme: $ 6.95
medley of sweet beans, ube, leche flan, langka, coconut gelee topped with milk and vanilla ice cream



chocolate and mango crème brulée: $ 5.95
with barquillos, made with callebaut chocolate and sweet mango, served with ice cappuccino yogurt



[ts]
I was afraid that there would be a "mango sauce" or "mango pudding" taste to this, but good thing the mango were diced mango pieces inside the chocolate crème brulée. I have no complaints. The chocolate was nice and dark, the sugar nicely bruléed, the barquillos good and the ice cappuccino yogurt refreshing (and it had coffee flakes inside, I believe).

But, nothing can replace Rekados' "warm toffee cake"... which was NOT ON THE MENU ANYMORE!

“dulce“: $ 5.95
warm banana cake with mini turon, tapioca pearls, vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche sauce



[js]
Ah, the dulce! Where's my warm toffee cake??? I was a little bit apprehensive when I saw that they changed the warm toffee cake dessert to this new "dulce." But I thought they still had the components of the turon, the ice cream, and the dulce de leche sauce. The only change is the warm banana cake.

This was very good, but my heart already belongs to the warm toffee cake. The warm toffee cake had a much softer and looser crumb, which, to my mind, goes perfectly with all of the other components. The warm banana cake was a little bit denser and doesn't play as well.

Oh, please bring back the warm toffee cake!

[ts]
We really would, in the middle of doing anything, just suddenly think of the warm toffee cake and imagine how good it tasted, how the touch of salt in the dessert went so well with the loose crumb of the cake and the sweet buterscotch sauce and cold ice cream. Imagine the repressed panic when we discovered the warm toffee cake was replaced by this "dulce"!

Warm toffee cake, we miss you. We still stare off into space and think of you.

(And I don't even like dessert!)