As someone who’s very familiar with Chef Patricia Mesina’s cuisine (particularly the dishes of Culinaria in Rockwell Mall), I am still amazed by her gastronomic creations served at Cascada at the second level of Greenbelt 2 in Makati City.
With dishes that are more affordable than those at Culinaria, Cascada is one restaurant to reckon with. Despite this, Cascada’s menu is no compromise, and is probably among the few gourmet places within the Makati area that serve extravagant yet affordable fare.
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| Cascada: Pork Tenderloin Saltimbocca | | Modern and classic French dishes generally promise good servings and fresh ingredients. Based on taste and texture, Cascada’s sauces are prepared by hand the traditional way, especially those for salads and demi-broths that lift dishes’ base ingredients and side-relishes as vegetables and starch.
Critically acclaimed chefs consider this food hub to be Chef Pat Mesina’s most accessible side in matters of cookery. Mesina reveals more of herself here—her taste preferences, management style, kitchen operations, and favorite dishes—and establishes herself as a kitchen craftsman. The way I look at it, her dishes balance quality cuisine (pedagogical gastronomy, or schooled cooking) and affordability with a sense of being "pang-masa." Or perhaps it’s simply popularizing "restoratif" food for all to enjoy.
An order of Asian Buffalo Wings for P195 is suited for a middle-class budget. This platter of big chunks of chicken wings is strong with the quality basting of different Asian spices such as pepper, cayenne, light curry, garlic powder, and light ginger served with buttered vegetable battonettes like frozen singkamas, pipino sticks, and cold carrots with seared Feta cheese dip.
For a more popular Mesina-style antipasti that goes well with almost any cocktail drink available (even when choosing between tannin and white wines), I strongly recommend the Seared Tuna Sashimi, for P180. You probably know this dish by now, as many restaurants offer this as an appetizer to go with beer, but Chef Pat Mesina was one of the first chefs to popularize this dynamic Japanese fish dish in the Philippines, following the Pinoy’s affinity for fusion Japanese cooking in the early 90s.
This Tuna Sashimi is a combination of thin slices (tile-cut) of seared sashimi-grade tuna from General Santos City, doused with wasabi-cured vinaigrette. The tuna’s texture is a combination of cooked and raw: external searing is evident with the browned color of the meat outside, showing through the cracked pepper, but the inside of the tuna is kept raw to preserve its natural sweetness. This dish is totally amazing, especially when one distinguishes the Dalandan-Soy and Curry oil reduction as a counter-sauce to the wild-spice of the Wasabi Vinaigrette.
It seems that there are only a few choices for soup at Cascada, but there’s no better way to enjoy them than to order a soup-shots sampler with three kinds of soups in different base-stock consistencies. The sampler includes three different savory soups for P100: Trio of mushroom in superior stock strongly hinted with shitake, and Golden Mushroom cuts; Creamed water Spinach puree soup in gumbo consistency; and a supreme Lobster Bisque with light cayenne and Paprika.
Because I really find it difficult how to precisely distinguish Lobster Bisque from Crab Bisque for better enjoyment, I ordered a glass of house Chardonnay to fill some good acid to tame the brininess of the bisque in the mouth.
A glass of Two Oceans Semillon Chardonnay 2004 is quite good with the soup shots because of South American grape fermentation style—very acidic yet very good, especially with the mushroom shot and the bisque.
To get your appetite ready for the entrée, which is always the highlight of good eating, Cascada’s Caesar’s Salad and Tinapa Salad are always available (and I recommend both) to refresh the palate.
The Tinapa Salad—P175, mixed salad greens, especially iceberg lettuce and nutty spinach with pieces of peeled Mandarin Orange tossed in Pommery Mustard Vinaigrette and topped with crispy Tinapa bits—is a fairly good dish that highlights the flavors of the Pinoy-style concoction combined with English sauce techniques with smoky afternotes contributed by the Tinapa.
Though the Caesar Salad’s dressing is quite weak when it comes to the taste of the mustard and olive oil, this dish (P 120) passes for the American version and has grilled white chicken meat cubes, and abalone mushrooms.
For an entrée, one can always gamble on the Mediterranean qualities of the Lamb Chops and Paella Mariscada Risotto for a whopping P 480, quite affordable for its quality. This generous dish has two pieces of prime lamb chop over a heap of risotto and is sided with curry and red wine sauce. It’s full of exoticism because of the risotto’s perfect blend with the red wine sauce.
For an extravagantly affordable main course, the house special—a generous serving of US Ribeye steak in pepper marinade, served with creamed mashed potato and buttered veggies—is always the best choice.
However, as a personal assessment, Cascada still needs to work on its desserts and pastries. Though the Pistachio San Rival is a fairly passable dessert, a sampler will always get the feeling that almost all the desserts available here are also available in different restaurants.
RECOMMENDED DESSERT:
Chef Pat’s Mixed Fruits and Fudge Fondue (note: request fresh fruits and newly baked fudge)
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