In this lockdown, I have done most of the cooking, and my kids have loved it. But a restaurant asked us recently if it could be invited to our home where its staff could serve dinner. We accepted the rather unique request. We were apprehensive and excited. I didn’t know what would be laid out before us.
The well-plated dishes came: callos Madrileno, gambas al ajillo and paella marinera. The first one I tried was the sauce of the callos. Very, very good. The sauce was mildly thick, a bit sticky, rich and so delicious. It had very tender cuts of beef tripe, tasty chorizo Pamplona, pimenton, red wine, carrots and potatoes, wobbly and tender cuts of boiled tender beef face and fat. All this was cooked over charcoal, the traditional way, sitting on delicious red sauce with garbanzos, bell peppers and olives.
Then came the peeled plump garlic shrimp. This was swimming in garlic-butter sauce tinged with lemon. The shrimps were perfectly cooked—a perfect match to the seafood paella. It even had the partially burned part at the bottom of the pan called socarrat, which I loved.
The paella was authentic, with the mild aroma of saffron and rich seafood broth. It had shrimps, chorizo, clams, tomatoes, olives and was topped with French beans. Also delicious! With a squeeze of lemon, it became even better. It was a very well done home-cooked authentic Spanish meal. Outstanding.
Mesa Vuestra dishes are from the owner, Joaquin de Jesus’ Lola Ester’s recipes, which were handed down to his mom and passed on to him.
I see more and more restaurants offering to come to your home to feed you. That’s what the kitchen of Mesa Vuestra did. We all loved not only the surprise, but each and every dish. They have other dishes on the menu that look interesting, such as Lengua Estofado, Fabada and Pollo Iberico.
Let them prepare your next dinner! (Tel. 0917-4690717 or 0905-47880910; @mesavuestra on Instagram)Pistachio sans rival
For dessert, we had pistachio sans rival. It was an extremely delicious version of one of our best Philippine desserts. This was a hit dessert in our Philippine restaurant in Paris. The French loved it.
Chef Jill Sandique has made her version and it became her best seller; this was the version served in the Mesa Vuestra dinner.
Sandique is a walking encyclopedia on bread or anything dessert-related. Her frozen specialty is crispy but it can also be chewy. (If you prefer the latter, keep it in the fridge.) It is creamy, not too sweet, rich and simply a sweet tooth’s dream.
Sandique also has macadamia, almond and cashew versions. (Tel. 0919-0664032 or 0917-8236868)What a wonderful and memorable dinner! Like I say, the simplest things are the best!