There are very few restaurants that are able to offer a menu made up mostly of “winners.” Typically, a restaurant specializes in one or two dishes that bring glory to its establishment, or even just one signature dish.
Examples of these are Max’s House of Fried Chicken (truly the house that chicken built), Barrio Fiesta (crispy pata and kare-kare), Hizon’s (ensaymada), Sandosenang Halo and Bahay Batchoy (for bestsellers their names trumpet).
I am excited to share a new discovery. Some people have told me not to share their food finds for fear the place would get full and they would have difficulty finding a table. But the pleasure I get from sharing my food finds is irresistible, so here goes.
New winner
I ate in a place that has been open for a few months now. It’s called Lulu, and I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled the food and discovered I liked a lot more than the usual two items.
Chef Tom has been a Philippine resident for years now. He is an Englishman who speaks in “Taglish.” Tom knows our market quite well, and I can see he can tell which dishes will appeal to his diners. With fiancée Icy, he has created this winner of a restaurant.
Tom acquired the old Lu restaurant owned by Cristine del Galliego and immediately put in his personal touch. Lu is now Lulu—still in the old location at Joya, Rockwell, but now with great décor and totally new menu. The resto has a promotion every Wednesday called “Wine All You Can at P675.”
What did I try? For soups, we had the onion soup, English pea soup with Jamon Grissini, roasted squash and Asian seafood chowder. The onion soup with its gooey cheese, and also the pumpkin soup, stood out.
For appetizer, we had the whole shebang—samplers of Lulu’s appetizers. Among these, what I truly enjoyed were the Queso Fundidos or a variety of melted cheeses with chorizo, and chef Tom’s homemade pita bread.
The crab cakes with a hint of tinapa and spice were very good, too. It is tricky to make delicious crab cakes because of the lack of flavor in crab meat, but I think it was brilliant of Tom to combine tinapa to help the flavor of the crab come out.
Smooth, flavorful
I also loved the chicken pâté. It was smooth, rich, flavorful and, of course, fattening. With some melba toast, we soon forgot all our diets.
The gambas with roasted garlic was an obvious winner. And the salade Niçoise was also very masarap and different. It had the usual ingredients along with thin strips of lemon zest and topped with seared, crusted tuna.
Another must-try is the wild mushroom and spinach salad.
For the main course, we had the Green Tea Salmon, Tuna arugula and Rosoni, Herb crusted lamb cutlets, homemade Chorizo and Prawn Orchiette, lamb Bolognese and spinach artichoke Risotto.
I enjoyed best the Steak Rossini topped with foie gras, the lamb cutlet with Couscous, and the Risoni with cream and fresh lemon, which had a clean and refreshing taste.
The artichoke risotto was also exceptional. It was topped with grilled artichoke and flavored with mildly spicy arugula. Here, risotto is well-made with just the right “doneness” of Italian alborio rice.
Beautifully plated
I also sampled a beautifully plated trio of Seabass, Tenderloin and lobster. It was so wonderfully made, I almost didn’t want to touch it.
The homemade Chorizo and prawn orecchiette, meanwhile, was mildly spicy, with a deep-red rich tomato sauce. And from the old menu of Lu, chef Tom retained the best-selling thick pork chops.
For dessert, we had Lemon-glazed Yogurt Cheesecake, Dark Chocolate cake, Butterscotch apple pie, Lulu Chocolate Indulgence sugar-free and Mango madness. Without exception, all are worth ordering. Extremely fattening but very good!
Lulu just jumped right into my “Best Restaurant in Manila” list. Comes highly recommended!
Happy Eating!
Lulu is at Joya South Tower, Joya Drive, Rockwell, Makati. Tel. 4033991