Tenth year Anniversary Dinner at TOYO Eatery

Oyen graduated from college on May 19, 2007 which makes tomorrow her 10th year anniversary. She has decided not to fly to New York to attend the grand alumni celebration at her alma mater Fordham University because her college friends are not going.

In celebration of her 10th year anniversary, she treated us to a nice dining experience tonight at the modern Filipino restaurant TOYO Eatery at the G/F of Karrivin Place Building C in Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City. Toyo is owned by Chef Jordy Navarra formerly of Black Sheep.

Oyen had been to this restaurant last year. Me, I’ve been to their neighbor Lanai a couple of times before but I never noticed that there’s a restaurant right after it. According to Oyen, Toyo only opens at night, maybe that’s the reason I didn’t see them.

Their open kitchen could be seen from our table I’ve been observing the tall guy with long hair. I was thinking if having a long hair with no pony tail is suitable in the kitchen. Hindi kaya nagse-shred ang buhok nya? Baka lumipad sa mga ulam. According to the waiter, that guy is Sous chef JP Cruz who used to work for the defunct Black Sheep restaurant in Bonifacio Global City.

Yen and I chose the set menu priced at 1,000 pesos per person which includes an appetizer, main course and a dessert.

Within minutes, we were served with three tiny tomato meringue with guinataang lanka topped with burnt coconut. (Excellent)

(Ay the lining of my dress and camisole could be seen).

Next came the tocino and onion bread. (Very Good)

Then the buttermilk bread and sourdough with two tiny mounds of cow’s milk butter. (Excellent)

Oysters with pickled cucumbers, lime and basil dressing — good but could be better by reducing the pipino which drowns the natural flavor of oysters

Php 380

Garden vegetable salad and talakitok

Kilaw of Wild Talakitok, with lime and sesame (Excellent)
The fish fillet was fresh and the lime and sesame vinaigrette were a perfect blend.

This tiny bowl of garden salad contains all or most of the vegetables in the song Bahay Kubo. (Excellent)

Both father and daughter ordered the Lightly Grilled Mackerel in grass-fed butter with dried tuna roe rice (add P150 for the rice).

The mackerel was actually raw, not grilled. It’s more like a sashimi. It was okay according to Edmund but he wasn’t sure if this dish should be eaten with rice. Parang hindi sila terno. (Good)

I ordered pork bbq for my main course.
According to the waiter, this is a 3 cut pork bbq which means it has three parts namely the pig’s shoulder, leg and belly. The sawsawan is coconut cider vinegar.

Fried Rice, —-It’s not bad but an unflavored hot steaming rice would taste better. The raw egg yolk didn’t add any flavor to the rice. On the contrary it made the rice taste even bland and sticky for nothing. The chicharon didn’t compliment the rice. It tasted like a cheap quality chicharon. It didn’t have any taste at all. There are better tasting chicharon out there that they could crush and sprinkle on top of the rice if their goal is to put some texture or crunch.

I give this rice a failing mark. The pork bbq though was very good.

Desserts:

Cassava cake—It’s soft and not too sweet. (Very good)

Salted chocolate using patis instead of salt. (Very good)

I truly enjoyed our dinner. The food and service were very good. The taste and presentation (plating) were comparable to Michelin starred restaurants abroad.

It didn’t occur to me that it’s been ten years since my daughter graduated from the university. All Edmund and I wanted was for her to finish college kahit pasang awa basta pasado and yet she took it to the next level by being in the dean’s list and bringing home a medal. Sulit ang gastos.

Thank you anak. 谢谢