Trying Out Chelsea's New Dishes

I was at Chelsea Market Cafe Podium last month as part of my week long birthday celebration but I forgot to take pictures of the food we ordered  because we went straight at it ! Anyway, last Saturday, we decided to have dinner at Serendra  and we picked Chelsea because they have new items on their menu but this time we made sure to take a snap shot of the dishes we ordered.

For our salad, we tried their version of the Greek Salad with Panko Crusted Feta. I love Cyma's Roka Salata so I'm curious if Chelsea's version will hold its ground. 

Greek Salad with Panko Crusted Feta P350+

Their Greek Salad was refreshingly awesome! I love the dressing , it was a cross between ranch and a Greek vinaigrette and didn't overpower the greens. The panko crusted feta , panko is just a fancy term for the Japanese breadcrumbs , blended well with the salad.  Imagine a warm, crispy soft cheese mixing with the plump, juicy tomatoes and the crispy greens, hmmm...gotta love the texture in this dish and the overall taste. 

For the main course, we ordered the Seafood in Tomato Cream Sauce with Linguini Pasta. This is one of their best selling dish . 

Seafood in Tomato Cream with Linguini P450+

I love this pasta, it's tomato based but not that acidic because the cream dilutes the sauce and bursting with flavor.  Topped with shrimps, calamari and mussels though the squid was a bit tough for me, it is satisfying and good for two. 

But the piece de resistance for that night was the newest addition to their menu , the Crisp Citrus Rosemary Roasted Pork Belly with Cranberry Chutney served with Mashed Potatoes . 

  Crisp Citrus Rosemary Roasted  Pork Belly with Apple Cranberry Chutney  P450+

What a long and fancy name for crispy liempo! Reading it sounds yummy already and it sure was , this sinfully good dish has huge chunks of crispy and tender pork belly or liempo with a crackling skin served with a killer sauce of apple and cranberry chutney. The sauce is a bit sweet and citrusy and perfect with the mashed potatoes and a few asparagus strips.  An interesting way of serving the liempo, just don't eat the layer of fat between the skin and the meat. 

It was a happy and really filling dinner , with the other tables ordering pretty much the same dishes we had. I've been dining at Chelsea way back in 2007 with Chef Sau Del Rosario still at the helm  and I'm impressed that four years later , the  place still gets packed with diners like us looking for a good and  heartwarming meal.

Orale!

As I've mentioned in my previous entries, I love Mexican food  so I was very pleased that there's a new one at the Fort called Orale! . Orale , based from what I saw online , is Mexican for  "hell yes!" or "right on!". They have the more or less the basic menu of tacos, burrittos , quesadillas, chips and rice plates.

We ordered the chips and salsa , I just can't recall their word for it, it sounds like a topopos but it's just your usual chips but theirs is home made and really good with the ranchero sauce!

For the main meal, we tried the grilled chicken soft tacos and vegetarian burritto. 

Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos

The grilled chicken tacos are a bit spicy but if you like a bit of heat in your dish , this is really good.

Vegetarian Burrito

The vegetarian burrito is ok but I'm not really raving about it.  Still, we're happy with the food and will be back to try their other offerings. Orale!