Casual dining and booze at the 'Cue Modern Barbecue in BGC

Earlier this month, we had been to the ‘Cue Modern Barbecue branch in Bonifacio High Street Centrale in BGC in the ground floor of Building C3, right beside the fountain plaza and tiers of concrete staircases that serves as mini-amphitheater for some open-space entertainment.  

Campfire-style Skillet of Queso Fundido

It's white cheddar, chorizo, cilantro, and red tomatoes...

... that you have to scoop out and place as filling on a lightly toasted flour tortillas.

The restaurant has an elegant façade with fancy interiors.  Some tables and two sets of tables with two canvass tents are placed on the porch just right in front of the store for a casual outdoor dining where you can take fresh air, listen and take a glimpse of some live musical entertainment or hear the natural nuisances of children gleefully running around the pulsating jets of fountains in the nearby plaza.

Hot Pork Belly Tips

It is a thick sticks of fried breaded pork...

...served with 3 kinds of dips that includes Dijon-honey and bourbon char siu barbecue dips.

Inside, you can be seated near the mini-bar of the main bar for you to easily choose and pick your drinks. There are few more tables inside the resto for small groups of diners and for those who prefer to dine in air-conditioned place. 

Cheesy popcorn is served while waiting for the main dish.

The decorations inside accented with framed images of pork, poultry, and beef meat parts certainly reminded me of 8 Cuts Burger Blends, which we learned is related to the ‘Cue Modern Barbecue. 

The framed meat parts of  familiar food animals reminded me of 8 Cuts Burger Blends.

Dining here may require advance reservation if you prefer to be seated in preferred side of the resto of if you are with a group of diners. So make that call now to reserve your space.

The ‘Cue Modern Barbecue branch in Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

The ‘Cue Modern Barbecue is an American steakhouse that opened a branch in BGC last May 2012. Though the name of the resto expressly mentioned “barbecue” the stuffs it serves are not just limited to grilled or barbecued dishes. There are a lot of choices to select from. They have a variety of dishes made with seafood poultry, pork, and beef prepared and cooked the American way.  The staff occasionally mark  particular dishes as their picks, and put warning sign on the menu that some are spicy-flavored. 

For the booze, they would serve cocktails and other spirits, beers, and wines.  For your pulutan, you can order their pica-pica, finger foods, and spicy appetizers

Two glasses of lovely but kicking cocktails:  (Left) Bonifacio Sour, a concoction of Buffalo Trace Bourbon with lemon, Calamansi, egg white, and red wine float and served in short glass. (Right) Sweet Soul Picnic, a concoction of Sauza Tequila Gold with fresh watermelon agave and fernet branca, also served on short glass and on the rocks. 

All the prizes in the menu are inclusive of VAT. Only a service charge of 10% will apply, but for the nice dishes and superb cocktail concoctions they served, you will not mind giving tips to the serving staffs.

'Cue Modern Barbecue

Space NELG 105 (Building C3), Lower Ground Floor

Bonifacio High Street Centrale

Bonifacio Global City (BGC)

Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City

P h i l i p p i n e s

landline:    (02) 621-4052

cellphone: (+63) 917-899-2283

Email         cuemodernbbq@momentgroup.ph

Website     http://momentgroup.ph/

+Mercato Centrale

Tampopo's Deluxe Black Pig Shabu Ramen and Perfect Katsudon

The TAMPOPO, a Japanese restaurant based in Singapore has another branch in Metro Manila, a casual fine dining  resto in Bonifacio High Street, BGC. It is joining the heating competition of serving the best ramen, tonkatsu, katsudon, and other  authentic Japanese foods in the Metro.

Mr. George Huang, co-owner of Tampopo's Philippine Franchise and the Marketing Director of Tampopo's Philippine franchise, briefed us the history of Tampopo and the features of their best ramen and katsudon dishes.  He recalled that Tampopo store was  founded by A Japanese fellow named Takaaki Takagi san who went to Singapore to work in a drinks company, the Pokka, for several years. When Takagi resigned from Pokka, he decided to stay in Singapore and started the Tonkichi, one of the best Tonkatsu Restaurants in Singapore and eventually in HongKong. Later on, he founded another Japanese restaurant in Singapore and called it the Tampopo, deriving from Japanese tanpopo (タンポポ) which literally means "dandelion", a kind flower that could withstand hard weather conditions. Opening the first Tampopo restaurant was inspired by the 1985 Japanese comedy film of the same name, Tampopo, that was popularly publicized as the first "Ramen Western" written and directed by Juzo Itami. 

Tampopo at the upper level of C2 Building of the Bonifacio High Street in BGC, Taguig City

Takagi is very particular in the ingredients that he wanted to maintain his patronage and of being nationalistic that he has  to import from Japan all the ingredients needed for his dishes in Singapore. 

The Philippine franchise of Tampopo is co-owned by George Huang, Ty Tang, and the celebrity Chris Tiu. It is the Tampopo's first branch outside of Singapore. The branches (another one is at the new Promenade in Greenhills) become the first 2-in-1 ramen & tonkatsu specialty resto concept in the Philippines.

The ramen and tonkatsu are fantastic Japanese foods. Part of the challenge faced by the Tampopo in running the resto is the assurance of serving fine authentic Japanese dishes as it requires expensive and bigger kitchen. They sacrificed some space for the installation of the needed kitchen and even extended more space for the ceiling.

They also have to put more space for storing supplies and other inventories as they are bringing in almost all the items and supplies from Japan to keep their dishes authentic.

Tampopo is proud of what  they called as the perfect tonkatsu. They used great pork they imported directly from the US. Cooking underwent through the proper technique of handling and storing the meat, the proper tenderization, and the use of proper seasonings. Tampopo uses special bread crumbs that come all the way from Japan. Diners are assured that whatever ingredients  the Tampopo is using in Singapore, they also used it here in the Philippines. The frying is done using pure vegetable oil with no additives or fillers in it. The dish is fried under a  regulated proper temperature setting to produce a juicy tonkatsu.

Tampopo also take pride of using kurobuta (black pig meat) to go along with their ramen and katsudon. The meat  is juicy and there is a lot of marbling in it.

De Luxe Tampopo Black Pig Ramen - in a  milky cream-colored pork bones soup. The soup actually has no dairy product added in it. The milky texture of the soup is the result of boiling the pork bones up to 48 hours straight or at least two days.

The ramen has Kyushu noodles, strips of kurobuta (black pig meat), and boiled egg with yolk that is still runny in it using chicken egg previously marinated in their secretely-formulated tea marinade. The serving is topped with sweet yellowcorn and chopped spring onion.

Pork Loin Yanagawa - has perfect tonkatsu of premium pork imported directly from the US, coated in bread crumbs from Japan.   

It is served on the side with rice and Tojiru soup, a special miso soup with slices of meat and vegetables in it.

You can even have these popular Japanese drinks at Tampopo's casual fine dining in Bonifacio High Street, BGC.

The classic Japanese dishes are just all over the walls that double as the Tampopo's menu

Village Tavern's first branch outside United States is at Bonifacio High Street Central in BGC

Margette stays forever young at 47 and tries Flank Steak and roasted Bulalo with much gusto.

The Village Tavern, which you can find in the upper floor of Building C3 in the heart of Bonifacio High Street Central in Bonifacio Global Center (BGC), Taguig City is not a local version of dining classic American or western foods.  It is actually the first branch of North Carolina's Tavern Village outside the United States.

The Bonifacio High Street BGC Branch of The Village Tavern is at the second floor of Building C3 in Bonifacio High Street Central, Bonifacio Global Center (BGC), Taguig City

Village Tavern, a North Carolina-based restaurant has 10 branches in the United States mostly on the east coast side. A branch has been put up recently in the Bonifacio High Street BGC Branch with the recommendation and collaboration of a talented Filipina chef, Mary Grace Viado. She is another reason we should be proud of being Pinoys. She went to the United States to study culinary, and she was trained in the Culinary Institute of America, then became a scholar of a Michelin-starred restaurant  in New York before she became the Corporate Chef for the Village Tavern International.

The Village Tavern presented to us its featured dishes for this near-Yuletide season with the help of Chef Josh Boutwood, the Corporate Chef in the Philippines for the Bistro Group.

The first set of dish presented to us by Mr. Ronniell Abruham Dumlao, the General Manager of Tavern Village BGC Branch is the roasted bone marrow served with their own sourdough beer bread and parsley with capers seasoned with herb salt and pepper. 

An actual serving of roasted bone marrow on flatbed with sourdough beer bread, parsley, capers, and coarse herb salt with pepper blend.

The roasted marrow is garnished with confit garlic. It has to be eaten like a paté. The marrow is scraped with a spatula or spoon then spread on sliced sourdough beer bread and topped with a leafy twig of parsley and capers

Mr. Dumlao with Ms. Roda Grace Patricio-Adriano, the Marketing Manager of The Bistro Group featuring the roasted bone marrow dish and provide us instruction on how to dine with it.

The Villlage Tavern gave us also the chance to sample its own Flank Steak of certified Angus beef. A dish that would make a good pair for your TexMex cocktails or in the Sangria Weekend Party of  this Tavern Village branch or any of those wines in the wine bar inside the restaurant. 

The Village Tavern's Flank Steak of certified Angus beef paired with garlic-mashed potato and tossed with stir-fried green French beans. It's tender and tasty juicy.

Mr. Ronniell Abruham Dumlao, the General Manager of Tavern Village in BGC, checks a plated Flank Steak before serving.

Chef Josh Boutwood made some elevated twists on some of what supposed to be classic western  dishes, like what he did to the black pizza wherein he used squid ink to darken the dough, a method already used in Cavite when they cook their black noodle dish called pancit choko en su tinta or simply known as the pancit pusit in Tagalog. 

The Black Pizza by Chef Josh Boutwood, the Corporate Chef in the Philippines for the Bistro Group. He was inspired to make one after the charcoal pizza of Europe where he was raised.  So as to simulate the black color in the pizza dough, Chef  Boutwood infused squid ink in the dough. The pizza is then garnished with different cheeses, Angus beef, pepperoni and topped with red and green bell-pepper and then baked.

These glasses of lemon iced tea capped our sumptuous meal

Our group of selected few food bloggers are very much excited to savor the sinfully cholesterol-laden bone marrow dish, exactly the contrast to the healthy foods we just had few minutes earlier in our first stop of the BHS food crawl.  I love the black pizza and the flank steak. I want to have more of these.  

The bar inside the Village Tavern where you can take a shot of your choice of imported wines to match with the three dishes I featured in this post.

Eat and Live Consciously at the Wholesome Table

The Wholesome Table is owned and operated by the couple Juan Elizalde and Bianca Araneta. Here, Juan shared to us why they prefer to serve organic foods and how they sourced their ingredients to meet the expectations of health-conscious diners.

We have been recently in this cozy Wholesome Table, a restaurant in Bonifacio High Street Central of BGC, Taguig City and were glad to have their serving of good food in that cozy ambiance. 

The place is quite enough for groups of diners. Tables are more often occupied that dining here at peak hours will have you to wait a time for your turn to be served. Reservation may take you also for a while if the time you picked is at peak hours.  Anyway, The Wholesome Table told us that it is also happy to serve you "to go" foods if you prefer to bring and eat them somewhere else at your comfort.

The food were not just good and tasty but healthy as well. It's an organic restaurant  that serves food which are gluten free, low carb, vegetarian, no fructose, and sugar free.  

The Wholesome Table is a full-menu organic restaurant. It does not serve only organic veggies and salads, but you can have also the pastas, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, appetizers, soups, juices, beverages, smoothies, other drinks and meals all made and flavored with organic ingredients.  

All drinks are made without sugar in it. They are either sweetened with dates or honey, except for one particular coffee concoction that calls for sugar in it.

We savored and enjoyed a sample serving of  Enlightened Bowl (right), Barcelona Pizza (middle), and the organic mushroom fritter (right), in bite-sizes (big-bite sizes, I suppose)

There are more about for those who are health-conscious and picky when it comes to their food at the price the same from other nice restaurants in the Metro or even less. The Wholesome Table is a great place for the health conscious diners.

The Barcelona Pizza with all-organic toppings of tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, mushroom, sausage, etc.

The Enlightened Bowl is the original creation of Bianca. It has lots of veggies, tufo, seeds of green beans, and organic brown rice.  A complete vegan meal.

The foods are made of fresh ingredients, nothing is from canned or boxed food products. 

Everything is fresh. 

To have a healthier choice is the reason why the Wholesome Table is always making it sure that the food it serves is fit for your health, best described as diner's "comfort food" according to Juan Elizalde, husband of Bianca Araneta, the couple who owns and operates the Wholesome Table. 

Glasses of green Mojito made with spirulina, morela and garnished with a piece of mintherb leaf. It's a superfood with refreshing menthol aftertaste effect that soothes down in your throat. Superfood, because it is detoxifying with the morela pulling out heavy metals in you body.

The recipes for meals and drinks in this organic restaurant are the creations of Bianca. The couple designed the concept of their restaurant, a lifestyle they would like to introduce to other people. It is also their passion to help educate diners to be conscious about what they eat and that Wholesome Table can offer foods that are fit for one's health.   

Bottled organic drinks and some ready-to-take superfoods are sold on-display on the shelves in the restaurant. Superfoods are also integrated in some of the drinks.

It feels greater to realize that dining at the Wholesome Table is sort of supporting our local farmers as the Wholesome Table is sourcing their food ingredients from our local farmers. The food are wholesome and you eat like a hero.

The Wholesome Table is best for a group of diners who want fine dining of healthy foods. Your love ones or barkadas will surely enjoy to degustate  foods with assurance of staying fit. You can feel that satisfying fullness in your tummy without the heaviness of the food.

Food at the price the same from other nice restaurants in the Metro or even less. Bianca put so much personal touch in the setting from creating the recipes to the menu written in her own handwriting.

 

Drinks, beverages, and refreshments that nourish your body and would even help you protect from health radicals.

The menu is coded with symbol and acronyms for vegan or vegetarian foods, gluten-free (GF), and not-free (NF) for people with specific food diet or food restrictions.

Some manifestations of the Wholesome Table are highlight about how they procure the ingredients, their way of cooking,  and the assurance that the food they served are safe and healthy. Dining here is like you are eating for a cause to support our local farmers.