Orient Express Part 1

Forkplay gets lost in Binondo

Lech-Get It-On!

Jon goes toe to toe with Uncle Cheffy's garlic studded pork belly lechon

This Diet Ain't Proletariat

Raise your forks to the revolution! Discover Hunan and Sichuan cooking at Komrad

Apple of My Eye

Bianca trades the Big Apple for real apple-picking in upstate New York

Pork Barrel

Roast with the most or hyped up ham? We put the Anthony Bourdain-acclaimed Zubuchon lechon to the test

Sunday, July 22, 2012

7107 Eats at Eastwood

Head to Quezon City this weekend if you're looking for your fair share of food fairs. (Hey, that rhymed! Sort of.) As if the debut of Mercato Centrale's new expansion in Ayala Techno Hub - the aptly named Mezza Norte night market - isn't enough, Eastwood Mall will be holding its own food festival in their outdoor plaza on Sunday.

7107 EATS by Asian Food Channel promises to be an afternoon of gastronomic galore with specialties from the country's colorful culinary heritage. Plus expect top chefs to demo cooking ideas with clever twists on Filipino favorites. Sous vide adobo with truffle oil anyone?

We're loosening our belts already.       


PS. What's more Sky Cable subscribers get in for free. Huzzah!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Steamy Stories at the Mind Museum

Science geeks rejoice! There's much to be giddy about with the newly opened Mind Museum. While we imagine a dimly lit gallery of brains floating in glass jars, The Fort's brand new science center is somewhat more cheerful. Spanning two vast floors and containing a plethora of exhibits, the Mind Museum brings concepts in biology, geology, physics, and chemistry to life. (The dinosaurs however stay disappointingly dead.) But even for the rest of us who shy away from the joys of memorizing the periodic table of elements, there's still reason to have a blast: miniature tornadoes, faux fossil digs, and a 20-minute 3-D romp through the history of life on planet Earth. 
There's more than a grain of truth to the history of rice
Mind Burst weekends provide quirky, hands-on activities including t-shirt dyeing and sandwich-making. Coming up is Extra Rice Please!: an exploration of rice's grainy history from ancient Banawe Rice Terraces to today's infatuation with Unli-Rice. During the event, the culinary experts from The Cookery Place will also provide creative rice meals. Guess we all have a good reason to go carbo loading...

...except this kid. 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Tuscan Raiders

Oven and Earth: Tuscano's pizza is cooked the traditional way - quickly and fiercely in a wood-fire brick oven
Looking back, we solidly put the blame on Giadda for making us take a second, longer look at the heaving, bouncing - er - bounty that is Italian cuisine. Few things give us fevered dreams like the image of oven-cooked pizza, thin with a crackly crust and smothered in cheese. Hell, Ryan even went so far as to delve into pie research, resurfacing with a top 10 gourmet pizza list last year. Alas, Tuscano hadn't opened yet when he was stuffing his face with mozzarella and pepperoni. Because really, it would be a shame to overlook this darling of a ristorante just a shy block away from Burgos Circle.

A high ceiling and spacious floor plan makes Tuscano the ideal dining place for after office hours meet-ups with friends, or family gatherings on the weekends

Fresh is big on the menu here - handmade noodles, sauces made daily, and gourmet ingredients picked ripe. Thanks to a wood-fire brick oven, the transformation from raw dough to crisp pizza happens in five minutes. There are other things to be had too like wild mushroom and mozzarella risotto balls - crisp golden brown spheres of flavorful arborio rice. Each lump is stuffed with a gooey mozzarella core. 

No need to be shy with your veggies either: the Tuscano signature salad mixes assorted greens with toasted pine nuts, grilled asparagus, stewed cinnamon apples, grapes, artichokes,and black olives. Everything's tossed in a light vinaigrette that helps enhance, not distract you, from the individual flavors. It's light, refreshing, and a good contrast to Italian cooking's richer dishes.

Tuscano will teach you to eat your greens with offerings like asparagus and egg pizza (right), and a lush signature salad with mixed greens, stewed cinnamon apples, and grapes.
Left: Baked Norweigan salmon on a bed of risotto. Right: The massive house pork chop is fork-tender.
Left: Sweet pear and gorgonzola pizza - one of the restaurant's unique offerings. Right: Watch the staff make fresh pizzas  by the brick oven. 
As for richer: Tuscano's Sweet pear and gorgonzola pizza brings together the natural sweetness of pears baked with sharp and salty gorgonzola cheese (also known as blue cheese) makes for a unexpected, but winning combination. Imagine the texture of cooked apples here. A bite invites you to playground of flavor - sweet, salty, smokey. You'll be surprised by how well the marriage of peaches and gorgonzola work on this pizza.


If you're like us, you'll be floored by their 14 kinds of gourmet pizzas including:

  • Sweet Pear and Gorgonzola
  • Asparagus and Egg
  • Gamberetto
  • Margherita and Goat Cheese
  • Braised Lamb and Mushroom
  • Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese
Left: Pizza Gamberetto with baby shrimps, pesto, and white sauce. Right: Tuscano's high ceiling and spacious interiors draw in families and barkadas

Carnivore's won't be disappointed either with mainstays like lamb chops in balsamic jus, Milanese osso bucco, and balsamic-glazed pork chop (above). Perfectly seasoned and cooked, we love the taste of a perfect pork chop that practically melts in our mouths. The mushroom risotto it comes with provides a mildly sweet and mushy.

Our attention was easily won over by one of Tuscano's more peculiar specialties: beef stew casserole with chocolate. The meat practically falls apart as you slice it, and the sauce -- it's that perfect blend of bitter and sweet. If you've never thought of chocolate as a savory ingredient, this is the dish that will change your mind.


Left: Fisherman's Seafood and Black Ink Pasta. Right: Tuscano's beef stew casserole with chocolate.We're wondering if it's Hershey's or Cadbury.
And how could this be an Italian restaurant without cannoli? These spring roll-looking darlings stuffed with cream are an Italian staple. In this case it's drizzled with chocolate and mango bits. Stuffed beyond belief, you'll still be eyeing that last slice of pizza or final bite of cannoli. "Is it worth it?" you ask yourself. You bet it is.


Tuscano Italian Wood Oven Pizza and Restaurant
Unit 3 Ground Floor, Fort Residences Building, 30th Street corner 2nd Avenue
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Contact 4787503 or visit www.tuscanowoodovenpizza.com