Aubergine

It was a not so normal day because I actually invited my boss to do a meeting on a Sunday to discuss some processes we want to implement in order to make things more...orderly :)

And along with us was his sister, our guru, who shall teach us the ways of Zen... or not.

Anyways, since she was gonna teach us, she had the liberty to choose where we will meet or eat or whichever comes first. So she chose this place which she claims to have very delicious food :)

(Oh believe me, when it's my boss' sister, she KNOWS what she's talking about... I'll find some time to showcase her dishes hehehe)

Aubergine

(Aubergine Website)

Fine dining it is!

Location: 32nd and 5th Building, Bonifacio Global City

How to get there: Go to the Ayala intersection and walk towards the Fort bus terminal. Take the Fort bus and go down somewhere near St. Luke's or S&R or 32nd Street. Go to the building where McDonald's is and Aubergine's at the 3rd floor.

I have to apologize for not taking a picture of the place outside nor the official logo. I wasn't really prepared to eat here... or more of I don't really eat at fine dining places (my budget ain't gonna fit) but since we went here, why pass up the opportunity? :)

Oh, I do have to apologize for another thing... I have to say, I am not good with these French stuff so please be forgiving of my slips and whatnot :)

Aubergine is "eggplant" in French. The waitress said it was named that way because the very first theme of their restaurant was also of eggplants. They opened on December 1, 2007 and 35% of their staff came fro ISCAHM (Int'l School for Arts and Hotel Management). Check out the website link for more info about them :)

Well the place is really nice. I mean, how can you expect less?

Ooohhhh... (drooling)

Yeah I may sound like some moron but again, I don't eat at these places unless it's a party or a friend's event or it's free. Really, I'm just being honest hehe.

Moving on, here's the ... menu :P

Definitely up there!

Yep this is what we got alright

Pardon the blow-up but I can hardly read the text because of my stupid lighting settings... hehehe.

So yes, Aubergine is fine dining (I've said that once too much). So I will lightly blog about this place as I will not dare tread the unexplored places of my budget hehehe.

We got that degustation menu (tasting menu or sampler) and we can choose one of the middle 3 dishes as the main course. In short, it's a full, 8-course meal packed with French and whatever dishes.

We also got a bottle of wine...

Name: Barolo Wine

Barolo DOCG (Beni di Batasiolo wine)

They use a nice, delicate, wineglass

 ...it's ruby-red wine with a very full-bodied taste of cherry and plum. It's very, very nice if you ask me. The ruby or garnet red color emanates from outside the glass like a delicate gem. Sorry, just had to appreciate that. And with that delicate wine glass, smelling the wine alone is very pleasing :) Anyways, all I'm saying is I love the red wine. You can check this one out (for the wine connoisseurs) here: Barolo DOCG Wine Specs.

The first one is the trio sampler on glass. Well I'm not really sure if it's really a sampler but it sure looks like it hehe. The mini-dishes were served on a moderately thick, decorated glass tray. It's a very interesting and cute setup...

Yes, I forgot that it was set on b&w and I only found out after we ate...

Name: Petit Salad Leaves with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Petite... (and yes, also in b&w)

Well it's simply that, a mini-salad with raspberry vinaigrette. It's a nice, tiny delight :)

Name: Pan-seared French Duck Foie Gras on warm Balsamic Lentils with Fried Quail Egg

Cute quail egg (still in b&w)

Foie Gras is a pate made of goose liver by the way. This one was one of my favorites. Very delicate and exciting taste in a very small package plus the very cute presentation of a sunny-side up quail egg haha. You can taste that duck with it's sweet-saltiness in one, good bite. :P

Name: Foie Gras Terrine with Calvados Jelly and Foie Gras ice cream on compressed port wine-soaked watermelon

That's the Foie Gras ice cream on watermelon...

This one's the terrine...

Well, the names get more complicated huh? Tell me about it haha. I suddenly liked the Momo! dish names more :P. (Terrine is a French forcemeat similar to a pate. Forcemeat is a mix of ground and lean meat emulsified by fat) Anyways, this has to be the most interesting of all the dishes I've tried here at Aubergine. The foie gras ice cream is ... well, interesting (for lack of a more creative word). It's like eating a cold piece of foie gras. The terrine is like some meatloaf with 3 different layers of varying tastes (which I can't really describe haha).

Don't look at me. We're just getting started with some adventurous food here (actually just for me, these are just normal for people who loves fine dining hehe). And if ever you like to comment on the stuff I've been saying so far, please do because I am trying to learn these as I go. :)

Name: King Prawn bisque with Mango Cream Cheese Spring roll and champagne foam

King prawn bisque (or just soup is more simpler for me)

This one's another interesting dish. It is actually a puree of prawn (I think along with the shells?) so the taste will be very, sharply, prawn. It smells, feels, tastes and after-tastes like prawn. The foam adds a light texture to the soup and preserves the rather, "oxygenated" and strong flavored prawn side of it. Okay, that didn't sound right but believe me, I tried haha. I'd say, liking this dish is an acquired taste :)

Name: Port wine-braised Veal cheek on Truffle Risotto and Madeira glaze

Port wine-braised veal cheek on risotto

Hmm... Well, I don't recall the exact taste of this one but it was good :) Yep, that's it. It was good. :)

Name: Strawberry peach sherbet

 The sherbet genie lamp

AH! This one was interesting in terms of presentation. Like the caption says, it's a teacup with the sherbet on top and smoke coming out of it. Well the smoke comes out of dry ice inside the teacup. The sherbet was really refreshing and perfectly right on sweetness. :) I just don't get why this was served just before the main course... hmmm...

Name: Scallops and jumbo prawns on carrot-lychee compote and pappardelle pasta

Scallops and jumbo prawns on carrot-lychee compote and pappardelle pasta

After eating, I realized, I had the lightest main course of all three. My boss and his sister both got meat plates while I got the seafood one. Not that I regret it but I guess, I didn't get a full stomach after eating this :( 

Oh but that doesn't mean this dish was bad :) It just wasn't filling. Anyways, compote is actually fruit made into stew. And the pappardelle is a long, broad variety of fetuccine pasta. I really liked this dish because it had really big prawns in it and had a very unique blend of mildly thick, semi-sweet soup with "noodles" that absorbed the creaminess of the soup base itself. Yes that was described in desperate, diminishing English. But, all I wanted to say was it was a creamy, semi-sweet soup with tasty, marinated prawns and soft pasta noodles. There, I hope that was better. :)

This was one of the other main courses:

Australian Lamb loin

No, I didn't get to taste that, unfortunately :)

Ah, but we're not done yet...

Name: French Saint Albray with Marinated strawberries and gratinated Swiss gruyere cheese with Marbled potato

Strawberry with cheese and cheese

You'd probably think the one with the strawberry was the major of the 2 cheeses. You're right, but the Gruyere one (the one on the tiny bowl) tasted better. The one with the fruit is Saint Albray, cheese made from cow's milk made in Aquitaine, France. I say better because it was tastier (or saltier) compared to the latter. Oh also, if you're wondering where the marbled potato is, it's there :) Seriously, it's wrapped in the Gruyere cheese :)

Name: Banana mousse terrine, banana fritter and banana ice cream

Banana, banana and banana :)

Yup. All banana. That should pretty much say what it tastes like :) There is an interesting piece here... that long curly strip. I'm guessing it's something made out of the same stuff as barquillos are since it feels and tastes like it. It was shaved out to have that long strip shape and curl a bit for presentation.

Honestly, I liked the experience and the uniqueness of the dishes here but I really have to say, I'd rather eat somewhere else because of the sheer price of what we ate. This is a VERY NICE date place though but make sure you save a lot for such an occassion :) (hint hint)

So the business meeting ended with a LOT of stuff to do (yes, I skipped the bill part because... it's REALLY EXPENSIVE) and we drove home with food-filled instead of business minds haha.

~2GBTG!