This is another awesome Tasting Collective dining club event we attended. (You can read about the previous posts about Tasting Collective events here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/fish-cheeks/ http://www.foodlovergirl.com/win-son/ http://www.foodlovergirl.com/f-o-b/ http://www.foodlovergirl.com/xixa/ http://www.foodlovergirl.com/huertas/ and http://www.foodlovergirl.com/bessou/). Tasting Collective is a dining club for food lovers, and they offer brunch and dinner at great NYC restaurants. They close off the restaurants for the club, so we get to have the entire restaurant and chef(s) all to ourselves. So, this is more than just eating food at a restaurant, but you get to have the background story and its passion from the chef(s), eating 8- to 12-course brunch/dinner created specifically for Tasting Collectives.
This event was held at a Filipino restaurant, 9-Course Filipino Test Kitchen Feast. This is a restaurant that was built with dream, hard work, and love. The owner, Nicole Ponseca, and chef, Miguel Trinidad, who are a loving couple have created this 9-course menu after spending 3 months in Manila. They came back with new recipes and ideas, and eager to test them on some food lovers!
The inside is a bit small, but with the way they had the furniture arranged, it didn’t feel crowded. I liked the round table at the front of the restaurant with wood block chairs. They have the old and modern mixed together, and they worked really well in the space.
The tables and chairs were set up for the event, so I am not sure if this is the way they always have it done… There are some 2-persons tables to the right, against exposed brick, painted in white. On the left side, there is a long bench, and table and chairs to complete the seating. Very cozy and warm atmosphere.
There is a bar behind those seating area, pretty good size and yes, it comes with bar stools. After passing the bar is another room, with more table seating and a small kitchen. And I mean, SMALL! I am impressed how they were able to whip out all the dishes for so many of us at once!
At the back, they have a large chalk board with a “Word of the Day” in their Filipino language, which was fun! I am not sure if I ever come across some situation where I would need to know or use the word “grasshopper” but hey, it is one of my favorite cocktail… Other than that, very simple decor, with real live plants which is always nice.
The owner/chef came out to greet us at the beginning of the event (sorry for the bad photos!), they were sweet and fun. The best part about them other than their stories on the restaurant and food was that you could really see how they love, respect, and support each other, both as married couple, and also as business partner. They own and manage Maharlika and Jeepney together, which are both widely recognized as two of the best, and most authentic, Filipino restaurants in the city. However, Jeepney is more on authentic side, while Maharlika gets to be a bit inventive with modern twist. And if you are wondering, the chef is not Filipino, but you can tell he has put his heart and soul into Filipino cooking ever since they started this adventure together.
After that, we were ready to begin out feast! All of us were willing participants as guinea pigs, when it comes to eating new, interesting, and creative food. The first course was Itlog, which was deviled egg with smoked milkfish and tobiko. We each got two of them, but we would have been happier if we have gotten about dozen of them…it was that good!!! This little devil was packed with flavor, and the smoke-ness of the milkfish was amazing. The crunchy little bits against the velvety egg, party in my mouth!
Second course was Ensaladang Buko, which is their version of coconut salad. It is made with romaine lettuce, bagoong, Coconut 3 ways – coconut milk, coconut toasted, coconut meat – and candied baby shrimp. I liked the baby shrimp, great flavor and nice crunchy-ness to it. The coconut was present, strong but not overwhelming. It worked really well with the rest of the salad. The hint of sweetness from the coconut milk, and shaved coconut was a nice touch.
The third course was Sabaw Gamet, which they also called Nori Soup. It is made with seaweed, egg, krill, chili oil, and broth. The red spots you see in the center is the chili oil, and boy was that powerful!!! The chili flavor was a bit too strong for me, I could not have had this soup without lots of water. I didn’t really get much of other taste, as the spicy-ness of the chili took over in its entirety for me.
Next one up was Kinilaw Na Baka, which was beef tartare. It was made with beef, palm vinegar, quail egg, mustard, and coconut milk. Their presentation of this dish reminded me of a sailing boat, floating in the ocean of taro chips.
It was very fresh, with nice mustard flavor. My hubby really enjoyed this one, but to me, it was just a-ok. I felt like it needed something, I don’t know what, but “something”… But, others at our table also really liked this dish, so I think it was just a difference in preferred flavor.
Then there was the Pancit Bihon-Negra, or Crab Pancit Negra. It had squid ink pasta, and made with kalamansi, tarragon cream and manila clams. Kalamansi is their citrus fruits, and loved the sour citrus flavor in this dish. The crab was on top of the pasta, which quickly joined the darkness as we stirred them altogether. It was really, really good, my favorite dish of the night, and everyone at the table agreed. Soft crab meat, plump pasta, and packed with amazing flavor! I can have this every night…
The sixth course was Adobong Baboy, or Pork Adobo Ribs. It is made with pork ribs, soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, garlic, and bay leaf. There were three pieces in a dish to share, and we all got one piece each.
The one piece of rib was a pretty good size, and the dish also contained some potatoes. The meat was very juicy and fell off the bone! It was really comforting and the potatoes was a nice touch. One thing was that the broth was a bit too salty for me… Other than that, it was great.
Then they brought out another kind of Adobo, this time, it was Dilaw Manok, or Chicken Dilaw. It is made with chicken, tumeric infused oil, garlic, onions, and crispy leeks. The ones I tried had some really tough pieces of meat in it, which I was not a fan of… My husband said he didn’t get anything like that in his chicken, so maybe it was just bad luck on my part.
At this point, we learned that it is essential to have rice with Adobo dishes. So, naturally, fried rice came out. It was called Bagoong Sinangag, and is made with fermented shrimp paste. It had great shrimp flavor, a bit on the salty side, but not in a bad way.
However, eating the rice with Adobo made it even more salty, since the Adobos were kind of salty also. I think I prefer to have the meats with just regular white rice or jasmine rice. This fried rice was great on its own, but not as an accompaniment to the Adobos. I couldn’t really get a good shot of the fried rice close up, but it had some shrimps in there, which was a nice surprise.
The last but not least, dessert! It was Suman, steamed rice in banana leaves with guava and toasted coconut. The rice was cooked twice, and it had guava sauce on the bottom for extra flavor. The firmness of the rice gave a texture similar to mochi, which is made with sweet mochi rice. It was small but very, very filling. We each got two pieces, and that was enough portion to get full.
I have to mention their bathroom before I conclude. They have two bathrooms, and the sign on the door is something I have never seen before… They have a printed out photo of a girl and a guy, I assume Filipinos, in black and white color. It looks like the photos are from centuries ago, and strange design under the faces kind of made me laugh for some reason.
Inside was clean, nice size, and I liked the little flowers on the corner. It is always good to have a clean bathroom!
Overall, it was a great event, once again. Tasting Collective does great job, never disappoint. Few things to note… The restaurant had some candles lit on the tables, and it had super strong citrus scents, kind of like the bug repelling Citronella candles. Having such strong scented candle at dinner table is a big no-no, as it decrease your appetite. I blew off the candles at my table to it won’t distract me from enjoying their creative dishes. Another thing was the music – it was a bit too loud. As this was meant to be a “social” event, it is not so good to have really loud music…
Regardless, I was super happy to be able to try out some of their new dishes, make a guinea pig anytime when it comes to trying out new dishes! The restaurant name, Maharlika is named after an ancient Filipino warrior class, and they are indeed fierce and fiery when it comes to their passion for their food creation! A couple of ladies we sat with at this event told us that they dined at this restaurant before, and it was fantastic. So, the regular menu seems like a great one to try also. I just hope they will be adding the deviled egg and squid ink pasta dishes on there, as they were super fantastic! Thank you again to Tasting Collective, and the owner, chef, and all the staffs for hosting this great dinner!
For those of you who are interested in joining this great dining club, Tasting Collective, you can use this link to get a discounted annual rate of $115 (over 30% off the normal $165/year) for the first year: https://tastingcollective.com/?invite_code=JUN4346
Maharlika – 111 1st Avenue, New York, NY, 10003