Philippines Day 8: NIU by Vikings, an eating day

Day 8: December 29, 2014 - buffet lunch at NIU by Vikings with the Sons at Aura Mall

This is going to be the biggest food porn post of my entire trip. I’m sure I did more on Day 8 than just eat but frankly, I can’t remember what those other activities were. Keep scrolling down and you'll understand why.

Part of our itinerary that was set before we even landed was that we would have lunch with a couple that my parents have known forever, the Sons. Actually, my dad has known Tito Dave, the husband, since they were young engineers together early in their 20s. We like getting together with the Sons not only because they're nice but also because they know good food. And you know how we like good food. The restaurant where we met them was located in Aura Mall, which we had gone to before and was billed as a “Chinese buffet”. It was called Niu by Vikings and let me tell you, calling it a Chinese buffet was as understated as calling Warren Buffett a little financially secure.

First of all, Niu was on the 6^th floor (call it the penthouse floor as that’s the highest you can go) of Aura Mall. By the time you get up that high, the masses have thinned out considerably. Because if you weren’t on the 6^th floor to shell out a thousand pesos per person to dine at Niu, you didn’t have any business on the 6^th floor since that seemed to be the only establishment up there. The restaurant was huge. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, it was large enough to hold all of the cuisine you see below in addition to the kitchen, the dozens of tables in the main part of the restaurant and the private dining rooms. 

Thanks to the Sons booking ahead, we had our own private dining room with a view of Metro Manila.

You can safely imagine how much I went into sensory overload. I couldn't click my camera fast enough and my head probably was swiveling like an owl trying to take everything in. The buffet ran alongside one side of the restaurant. It felt like a near quarter-mile stretch. Okay, now I may be exaggerating but not by much.

The desserts were at the end closest to our private dining room but I managed to restrain myself to just taking pictures on my first pass so I could check out all of the other offerings. Hot chafing dishes of different kinds of cuisines were liberally spaced on all of the counters. There was no such thing as one buffet table, more like 20 or 30, each a different section offering various cuisines.

You could go Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Filipino, American, Italian, and different kinds of fusion cuisine. My nieces enjoyed the fresh sushi considerably, evidenced by the multiple trips back to that section of the buffet. The important thing was, it was all delicious. Not to mention beautifully presented.

The Sushi Station

And I'm not going to lie, I can personally attest to my assertions. I did restrict myself to only 2 plates of savory food but I'm not going to pretend those plates weren't full because they were. And that's not even counting when Tito Dave requested certain dishes from the buffet that the multiple servers were only too happy to go get for us and bring to the dining room. You can't beat the service here.

One section of the buffet - and it goes all the way to the back of the picture

And if you wanted a break from solid food to insert a refreshing beverage, you can have that too. My nieces went for the mango juice when they saw the guys behind the juice bar slicing fresh mangoes for the juice.

The satay was so good....

My dining companions thought this tofu was amazing. I don't eat tofu so I'll take their word for it.

If the prime rib is too rare for you (many Filipinos don't like anything more pink than medium or medium well), the staff will slice the prime rib and fry it briefly to get rid of most of the pink. I know, I know, prime rib aficionados might face-palm at that but hey, NIU knows its audience. I only heard one lady requesting they not fry her prime rib; everyone else wanted theirs fried to barely pink.

The carving and frying station for the prime rib

Oh, did I mention the chocolate fountains? One white chocolate and one dark chocolate. The only thing that kept me from indulging is they didn't have anything to dip that I wanted to eat. Sadly, no bananas, strawberries or rice krispie treats, just marshmallows, melon and pineapple chunks and watermelon, none of which tempted me to add to my already full stomach by the time I was ready for dessert.

Ramekins of creme brulee are in refrigerated display cases and if you want one, you simply pull it out, hand it to the attentive chef behind the dessert counter and he'll brulee the top for you right there. If you don't want to wait, you just let him know what table or room you're in and he'll bring it over with its freshly bruleed, crackly sugar topping. I'm not that spoiled so I waited for mine rather than having them deliver it to our private room.

Selection of gelato

When I thought I was done eating, I noticed the sign for "Crepes" with an array of flavors. I thought if I ordered one, I'd be able to watch them make it because there was a crepe maker nestled in amongst the desserts. Alas, though, they just took my order, asked me where I was sitting and promised to deliver it. Since the guy taking my order for a banana and almond crepe disappeared into the kitchen, I figured the pristine crepe maker was just for show and I didn't want them to feel pressured to make the crepe whilst I stood there so I left and waited for my crepe to show up.

It didn't take long and although yes, by this time I was already past the point of prudent indulgence and was well into the sin of gluttony, that didn't stop me from enjoying the warm crepe with crisp edges and a soft middle stuffed with caramelized bananas, drizzled in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with sliced almonds. YUM.

To give you an idea of this level of overindulgence, we met the Sons for lunch at Niu at 11:30 am. We didn't leave until 1:30. Yep, we ate for 2 hours. Needless to say, I didn't eat for the rest of the day. I think all I had room for was water. In fact, I didn't eat again until I hit the pandesal at 7:30 am the next morning. Even then, it didn't feel like an 18-hour fast. But trust me, it was worth it. Next time I'm in the Philippines, this is going to be one of my stops. Move over, Vegas, this was the best buffet ever.

Pandesal (Filipino bread rolls)

Pandesal - made January 4, 2015 from Kawaling Pinoy

A bag of fresh, hot pandesal in Pateros

One of my favorite things to eat in the Philippines and an essential part of our morning ritual for each of the 10 days of our stay was the bag (or sometimes 2 bags) of hot, fresh pandesal that my uncle brought us every morning. He sent someone out to get it when he saw we were waking up and meandering downstairs for breakfast. I rarely wake up hungry and it usually takes an hour or two of being awake, plus my morning workout, before I get hungry enough to eat anything. Not so while I was on vacation and there was pandesal to be had. On the surface, pandesal are Filipino bread rolls. In reality, it's delicious goodness that I can't find anywhere outside of the Philippines. You can buy it at Asian grocery stores and Filipino bakeries but it's just not the same. Every morning, that flimsy brown paper bag filled with at least a dozen or more small pandesal rolls, still hot from the oven, is like no other. You don't even need to eat it with butter; it's just as delicious plain. The outside is a little bit crusty but not overly so and the inside is soft, chewy, bread-y goodness.

It was also cheap, by both American and Filipino standards. I'm not sure exactly how much it was since no one ever let us pay for any of it (cultural generosity at work once again) but I don't think it was more than 20-30 pesos - or 50 to 60 cents - for a full bag of warm pandesal. Depending on the size, one bag can hold a dozen, sometimes more. They don't have a long shelf life but that was never an issue since they didn't last much longer than a few minutes once we'd gathered around the table. Not all pandesal is created equal either. I've tried other pandesal in the Philippines but the ones in my hometown of Pateros were the best.

Once I got back home, the first thing I missed, of course, was the warm pandesal for breakfast. No joke, I downed at least 3 or 4 of those little bread rolls every.single.day. Back at home, I was pandesal-less.

Nothing to do but try and make my own. I didn't expect to be able to duplicate the ones in Pateros but surprisingly, I actually came close on the flavor if not the texture. This recipe is really simple to make. My mistake was I made the rolls a bit too big. They came out like American-sized dinner rolls, even though I didn't let them rise that long for the second rising because they were getting so big.

Still, the flavor was similar to the ones I had in Pateros. The biggest difference was the texture. Alas, I couldn't duplicate the crunchy outside and soft, mealy inside that's the hallmark of a good pandesal. I think it would've helped if I'd baked them on a bread baking stone but that was one of the things I got rid of when I purged my baking cupboards of "stuff".

Still, for a first attempt, this wasn't too bad. Make sure to roll the tops of the unbaked rolls in bread crumbs before putting them for the second rise. That will add to the authenticity of your pandesal. Serve hot, with or without butter, your choice.

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 ounces butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 1/4 cups flour and ¼ to ½ cup more for kneading
½ cup fine breadcrumbs

1. In a large bowl,, combine water and yeast. Allow to sit for 10 minutes until mixture becomes bubbly. Stir well.
2. In a small bowl, combine milk, butter, eggs, sugar and salt. Stir together until incorporated..
3. Add milk mixture and 2 cups flour to yeast mixture. Using an electrix mixer, beat to combine. Gradually add the remaining 2-1/4 cup flour in ½ cup increments and continue to combine all ingredients.
4. On a lightly-floured surface, turn over dough and knead, lightly adding flour as necessary, for about 10 minutes or until smooth, supple and elastic.
5. In a lightly-oiled large bowl, place dough. Cover with film and allow to rise for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until double in size.
6. On a lightly-floured surface, transfer dough and divide into 24 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and roll on breadcrumbs to coat. Arrange balls about 1-inch apart on a lightly-greased baking sheet. Cover with a cloth and allow to rise for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until double in size.
7. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot.

Philippines Day 7: Villa Escudero

Day 7: December 28, 2014 - Villa Escudero

One of our tourist excusions of the trip was to travel the 2+ hours (each way) to Villa Escudero south of San Pablo in the province of Laguna. Villa Escudero is a working coconut plantation but it's also a tourist spot, complete with a museum of artifacts collected by the Escudero family, beautiful grounds, waterfalls and a lake.

The views were beautiful and we lucked out on a gorgeous day, not too hot or too humid with brilliant blue skies. When we arrived, we checked in at the reception lounge, paid the entrance fee and began the day tour with the AERA Memorial Museum. Posted signs asked guests to refrain from taking pictures inside the museum so I have nothing to show but it was packed with a myriad of religious statues, clay and stone pots, vintage clothing, international currency throughout the decades, and even a shrunken head picked up by the family at some point in their travels. It's the first time I've been in a place that encapsulated a lot of Philippine history although it encompassed more cultures than that and it was interesting to experience.

After the self-guided, self-paced museum tour, we went on a carabao ride to the waterfalls where lunch was served. I have to say, carabaos are tremendously strong "workhorses". A number of us tourists (at least a dozen) boarded a wheeled trolley car, accompanied by the driver, a guitar player and a singer who serenaded us during the brief ride and the carabao pulled us all. I felt sorry for him but he didn't seem unduly burdened and wasn't even that slow for his size.

Fortunately it was a short ride along the path from the museum and reception area to the Labasin Waterfalls Restaurant was located. Lunch was a buffet and literally at the falls. The picnic tables were set in the water so guests removed their shoes and walked barefoot or with tsinelas to seat themselves. You do have to navigate carefully and watch your step but there were only a few slippery spots. And you couldn't beat the view or the ambiance.

Let me tell you the food was pretty good too. For people who enjoy eating outdoors with a beautiful view, this was a great place for lunch. It'll go down in my memory as the place that also served the best potatoes I've ever had. That honor had previously belonged to China for the best caramelized sweet potatoes I've ever had but Villa Escudero just broke that 16-year record. I don't know how they made it but it was covered in a crunchy brown sugar coating, almost like a sweet, crunchy breading but it wasn't a breading but more like a crunchy sweet glaze. It's hard to describe but it was freakin' delicious.

Best Potato Ever

So good I had to take another picture of it

After lunch, we had some time to kill before the show of native dances so we walked around a bit. My niece had fun clowning around with some of the decorative statues sprinkled through the grounds, depicting typical courtship poses in courting young couples back in the day. Ha, there's that Filipino humor again.

There was also a lake where guests/tourists can go paddle boating in old-school style with bamboo rafts.  One of my nieces used to be on the dragon boat team for UCLA so she dragged her twin onto the lake, promising she would "do all the work". Yep, her twin fell for it. But they still had a good time.

All in all, a fun excursion and it was really nice to experience such a beautiful resort in the Philippines. We don't usually venture too far out from our hometown so this made for a nice change and it was great to see another side of the Philippines.