Friday, January 12, 2007

JLC does Mezzeluna, but does it pass the test?

Mezzeluna was the target. Reservations were made and the JLC was almost complete that evening.




The food was not bad. Considering that the people that prepared them were the regular kitchen staff while the executive chef was outside the WHOLE time, chatting up a storm with Chef Colin Macay of People's Palace. The kitchen is open for viewing through a glass partition so diners can get a full view as to how the meals are being made. That would have worked nicely if the chef actually went in the kitchen to at least supervise his staff.

Most of us had the lamb with foie gras. According to Christine and Jasmin, their lamb was tender and moist. Sandy's was not as lucky with hers. I had roasted chicken which was not so bad. The boys had lamb as well and they seemed to be fine with it. We had also ordered 2 bottles of wine plus our strawberry fruit shakes. Overall, we were quite happy with the meal, ambiance and service.

As it was time for dessert, we noticed that chatty chef was still at it. So basically, the entire 3 hours that we were there, he did not even go inside the kitchen to see if our Mary Ann's little lamb was being prepared right. This was not good for us food lovers because I have to admit, the JLC has a lot to say when it comes to how food was prepared, presented, how it tastes. and if the price is right.

We had creme brulee and the person making them was buttering the small bowl using her bare hands. Now, I am not a baker, maybe that is the best way to do it but if you plan to make your kitchen see through and have your guests watch the preparation being done, I suggest you use surgical gloves to avoid people like me to bitch about it. But more than anything, I think that the chef should have been inside, instructing the dessert maker to use gloves when buttering our bowls. This was bothering us since we are OC (obsessive compulsive) about these things. We even asked our waiter about this and all he could do was lift his shoulders and give a meek smile.

When it was time to pay, our bill came out to P25,000! We were 10 so it came out to P2,500/head which is not so cheap considering the chef just chatted the whole time. But in totallity, it might be worth the visit. The food was very well presented and the warm bread was delicious.



By the way, this was also the same night of Rose's bday. But since she was having dinner with her family in a nearby restaurant, we were only able to borrow her for a very short time. This only means that there's another reason to meet up next week to celebrate her bday.

So if you want to know if you Mezzeluna is worth the calories, I say it is, if you are the following:

1. Rich
2. Impressing a date
3. Trying to score with your date
4. Avoiding the noisy crowd of Abe
5. Like your creme brulee done with a certain TOUCH.



Note: I have yet to dine again in Mezzeluna just to see if the chef
(I will get his name for you) really cooks or if he is just a mascot,
but I will only go if someone treats me (you know who you are).