BY JEREMY C. MALCAMPO
The day I visited Verbena Restaurant Inn in Tagaytay City was the day I found myself and what I was destined to do for the rest of my life. Though I was really there to critique Verbena’s cuisine under Chef David Pardo de Ayala, deep inside, my thoughts grappled with the idea that I would get to munch a truly healthy Tagaytay salad, with real Tagaytay-harvested greens, within Tagaytay’s natural wonders.
Tagaytay Sub-Ridge, 14 Degrees Southwest of Laguna, 1 p.m. Sunday.
Though the sun was high up in the clear afternoon sky, it was cold, and by the time I reached Verbena’s wood-accented restaurant façade, my lips were all chapped, thanks to the wind burn caused by riding a tricycle from the Tagaytay Rotunda, and the 8 cigarettes in a row that I chain-smoked. As I entered the restaurant lobby, it was warm with dim lights and featured welcoming red-maple tones, log walls, fine dining tables and chairs, a country fireplace in one corner, a picturesque view of the Taal Lake beyond glass windows, and the pervading, smoky aroma from the kitchen. The staff warmly welcomed me and led me to my table which, besides having a good view, was easily accessed from the kitchen.
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Verbena Salad Patch | | Verbena F&B manager Sherwin Lucas served me a pop-glass of Chilean Chardonnay 2003, from Chateau Los Boldos, which was nutty with familiar notes of Cabernet, and a good tomato chowder, perfectly reduced with "Nantuan-Haughtiness," refreshed and emphasized with reduced heavy cream on top. The soup had some puree of Garlic-Pesto infused with olive oil, and though the wine was a "tage" of vin-d-table, the combination was extravagantly good: humble wine with humble soup was a combination made in heaven.
A few minutes later, the pastry chef (whose name I can’t remember very well) joined us and served plates of pre-entrée specials: pan-seared foie gras with relishes; Verbena Salad Patch; and Cajun Pasta. The foie gras was combined with a fig confit over a "Puree d’Pommes d’Terre" which had silky starching and some peppercorn sauce with dark-truffle oil and some light whisks of Cognac-Demiglace. The Los Boldos Chardonnay weakened on the Foie Gras just a bit, and because of the cognac-reduction, the vin-blanc had its highlight with the Cajun Pasta and the Verbena Salad Patch.
The chef, with her beautiful, sexy eyes, and well-schooled knowledge on cold-station and "hot" kitchen cookeries, warmed my afternoon with some spicy greens. The Verbena Salad Patch was good with organically grown Tagaytay vegetables, firm, and rich with anti-aflatoxins. Only good Pinoy chefs know this secret quality of Tagaytay agriculture. It improves the quality of the vegetables’ quarter-annual harvests and rivals the best of Baguio vegetables.
The Salad Patch of Tagaytay lettuce with some raw Spinach-Chifonade (fresh in their oxalic acidity, whether good or bad for health) was herbed and spiced with cayenne, five-spice, and pepper, was good. It had some chili-infused white truffle oil-seared tiger prawns on top, and was doused with some reduced vinaigrette and olive-oiled crustacean-essence reduction.
For my entrée, I went with the current fad, U.S. Angus Rib Eye Steak (as I always do) and had it in medium doneness. Sherwin served a Chateau Los Boldos, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, but oddly, the wine failed on the steak. The steak, though, was well-seared and perfectly crusted with just olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and light thyme. The marbling was also preserved quite well. But honestly, I pondered the question of whether Chile had something like the DDP and DOCG standards of Italy. Chile is most of the time better with vin-blancs than reds.
But it’s also possible that US beef has more fat. High fat production (HFP) in beef reduces excess nitrogen, which is responsible for the savory characteristics of taste that are prevalent in local beef. Maybe If I had had a "Batangus" or Tagaytay beefsteak, the Chilean red wine’s apposite-lactic fermentation (ALF) might have gone well with the lactic overload in the stiffened meat of our local beef.
I regretted that the steak didn’t go well with the wine because my Angus steak was too fat, and local beef is too tough to serve as a haute entrée for any good cuisine except for pochero, tapa, or bulalo. I think the Department of Agriculture has to look deep into this matter in order to boost Tagaytay’s culinary tourism to bring it level with the current "organic drive" in bettering the location’s vegetable production, and so that Chilean red wines will go well with our local beef.
I had two types of dessert: a Trio Pana Cotta (saffron-glazed, strawberry-topped black peppercorn, and pistachio-sprinkled lemon-balmed) and a Moist Chocolate Orange Cake with Strawberry Coullis. The desserts were very good; they completely warmed my cold day.
But my visit was worth it. I came to a realization about beef, and met a very beautiful dessert chef… of course, above all things, I figured out that I will eat, and continue to enjoy eating for the rest of my life. (Laughing.)
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