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| crispy tilapia |
Merlyn first sent me a private message via Facebook about a plan to surprise DJ Christi for her short visit to Manila from her hometown province in Pampanga where she's currently based at the moment. I was thrilled to say the least. I've been wanting to visit her when she's still with RX 93.1 but never had the chance to do so. Good thing the powers that be of the universe connived that allowed me to attend a get-together with DJ Christi and the Christinatix spearheaded by Merlyn.
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| table setting |
The venue for the get-together was at Recipes By Cafe Metro in Shang-rila Plaza Mall. I've been meaning to try this resto for quite sometime now and I'm glad it finally happened. The food here was really good. And a few of the dishes stand out on my palate which I will tell you later on.
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| Thai spring rolls |
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| chicharon bulaklak |
We started off with the appetizers. I did enjoyed the Thai Spring Rolls with a 'pucker-me-up' sweet and sour sauce on the side. The spring rolls was served fried, though I wonder if they would also serve this one fresh upon request. Another appetizer was the Chicharon Bulaklak (chitterlings) served with a vinegar that has diced red hot chilies on it. I'd love to spear a piece of these fried fat goodness but same goes with the people sharing the table with me. What inhibit me was my worry that it might shoot up my high blood pressure; and the chicharon were chopped in chunky, big sizes didn't help me any better. But if it were served in small, bite size portions I may have stole a piece. In addition to that, I can't even remember if I took my 'maintenance' medicine or not that morning. So, I let it pass. For now.
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| calamari |
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| lechon kawali |
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| crispy tilapia (1) |
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| canton noodles |
Dishes came in succession one after another. Another appetizer came in the form of Squid Calamari. This one was chopped to bite size pieces. The word 'spicy' was appended to its menu but I detect not even a hint of spiciness on this dish. When it arrive on our table, instantly spoons scoop up its contents. I barely made it to take a picture of the dish before it was demolished completely. I also thought my dining companions would be weirded out on me because I seem to be take pictures of all the food that landed our table but when I saw some of them doing the same deed, I felt relieved.
We also had the Lechon Kawali w/ Kangkong (pan-roasted pork with water spinach). Since I'm not really a big fan of lechon kawali, I didn't attempt to take a piece of it but I did tried the kangkong served adobo-style. I liked the mild flavor of the soy sauce with a slight tang from the vinegar.
The Crispy Tilapia was a sight to behold. Served with large slivers of its meat resting on it, this fish dish truly has wow factor written all over it. I just find the crispy coating on the fish a bit salty but it was easily remedied if you drizzle some of the soy sauce-vinegar-chopped onion mixture to it. We also had Canton Noodles that says on the menu could serve up to two people when in actual sight it seems to me it could serve up to four. The noodles were al dente and has all the necessary trimmings of any canton dish.
We also had the Bangus (milkfish) Belly w/ Mango Salsa, although I wasn't able to take a decent picture of the dish since it was placed far away from me. Wasn't able to try it as well. But that's okay since I'm already content with the crispy tilapia.
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| adobo-style kangkong w/ gising-gising on the foreground |
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| general chicken |
Now, here's the two dishes that stand out for me among the ones we ordered and would definitely be the reason for me to go back to Recipes. The first one is the Gising-Gising, a simple enough dish composed of ground pork, chopped baguio beans and coconut milk. It also has a hint of bagoong (shrimp paste) and chopped green chilies for added flavor and spice. I love anything with coconut milk and chilies so this one captivated me right away. I could imagine that I could be serve of just a bowl of gising-gising and a cup of rice and I would be totally happy about it.
The other dish that I'm so enamored about is the General Chicken which I believe is also one of the signature dishes at Recipes. It's a Hunan-style cooking with roots in North America (go figure), also referred to as General Tso Chicken. What makes this chicken dish so good is its sauce. The sweet-salty-spicy flavor of the sauce is really lip-smacking good. After I tried this dish, I easily forgot the other viands we had on the table. A must-order.
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| DJ Christi, DJ Danielle, Merlyn and the rest of the Christinatix & the Rushers. If you can't see me, I did the 'Japan-Japan' pose he-he! ;) (photo grabbed from the Christinatix Facebook Page) |
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| Recipes By Cafe Metro; Shang-rila Mall |
It was definitely an experience to finally meet DJ Christi. It was amazing how she remember the names each of her listeners and supporters. You could really feel the warmth and the love emanating from her and that she freely converse with each of us like old friends. Like Merlyn, it was also my first time to meet the rest of the Christinatix gang and some of the Rushers. I was really quite nervous but everyone was warm and in jolly spirit. Its great to finally see the faces of those people whose codenames and pseudonyms I usually hear on the radio when the DJs mentioned their names like Ron Mojacko and Paul Ignatius. Among the attendees, I bonded more with Dyce. RX DJ Danielle also came in attendance and was greeted warmly by the whole gang.
It was indeed a fun-filled bonding with DJ Christi coupled with non-stop laughter and chitchat. Hope I get to join you, guys, next time.
5/F Shang-rila Plaza Mall
Mandaluyong City
637-4050
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