Not so Regal in La Regalade

Heard and read so much about it. So excited to try it out and see what this 2 Star Michelin Chef of La Regalade in Vancouver is all about.

But firstly, what the heck is this star anyway?

Basically, it is a guide book where stars are given to restaurants based on the quality of food and service.

The guide awards one to three stars to a small number of restaurants of outstanding quality.

Stars are awarded sparingly; for instance: one star is given to a very good restaurant in its category, two stars are given to excellent cooking, worth a detour kind of restaurant, and three stars to exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey establishments.

Back to La Regalade, Makati. According to another blog this is what this restaurant is all about....

The Philippine version of the Vancouver based La Régalade, no relation to Yves Camdeborde’s former restaurant La Régalade in Paris, is owned by Alain Rayé who opened the original in Vancouver, Canada in 2001 after moving there with his family from France. He earned a Michelin star at two restaurants he previously owned in France, his first star in a restaurant in Albertville and a second at La Belle Epoque in Chateaufort, where his cuisine earned him another Michelin star. The Philippine site in Makati opened this month August 2008. Among those who frequented his bistro in the suburbs of Western Vancouver and braved the creaky old Lion’s Gate Bridge was Perfecto “Bubot” Quicho, a former hotelier who made history in 1984 when he was named General Manager of Hyatt Regency Manila, the first Filipino to attain such a position in a five-star worldwide chain.
Perfecto “Bubut” Quicho (pictured) is the manager and one of the partners along with Alain Rayé and Tonyboy Cojuangco. They have put together an “A List” group of customers that are filling the 70 odd seats nightly.

But what is it REALLY about?

The food aint all that....that's what I say. Nothing great and after 2 visits, I don't see myself going back. The 7 hour marinated lamb that they are so proud of tasted so sour that it sent chills up my spine. It was drenched in white wine. Had it wrapped and gave it to the driver. The other dishes were not bad but definitely not great. When you say MIchelin Stars, you think Wolfgang Puck. Food for The Oscars kinda dishes but our version of Martha Stewart, Minena Garcia, I believe cooks much better than the chefs in La Regalade.

Another thing I noticed is that this place doesn't really know what market it wants to target (hey, that rhymes!) My friends and I dressed and put on the bling blings because we thought it was a posh place that would turn clients away if they were wearing jeans. The kind of restaurant that would scoff if they see a child running around the dining area. As we sat down, we noticed that there were high school students (still in their uniform), employees of hotels (also in their uniform) and toddlers running and shouting as we eat out sour lamb!

I suddenly miss Sala.

Here are some photos.






The desserts did not make me happy. And because I can brag about my expanding knowledge about the sweets, I can honestly say that the bite I had of the Valrhona Tart was not worth the calories. Cheffie even told me that it wasn't really Valrhona but chocolate pudding. At least it tasted like it.


So what did we do to get our sugar fill? We went to Minena's house and had chocolate biscuits from Kirkland. YUMMY!


Thanks to Kit Marshal for the info about La Regalade.