Saturday, August 16, 2008 Tropical palate By Karl A.E.F. Cabilao
TAKING a gastronomic shift from gracing these pages with the usual visual feast and enlightening takes on design and architecture, this architect gets a taste of a different form of “tropical Asian” (aside from just being an architectural style) as he makes a sojourn to a new dining destination in the metro.
Embodying the cuisine that they dish up and Cebu’s tropical location (and not the cat or bird of the same name), Asian Palm is among the few restaurants that are kicking off the urban lifeblood of The Gallery. The budding, geometrically designed commercial landmark is along Juan Luna Ave. (formerly San Jose dela Montaña) in Mabolo.
Asian Palm,which had a soft opening three months ago, serves “contemporary Asian cuisine” according to its owners Wilfred (who whips up the menu) and Therese Co.
“We try to lean more toward the type of ‘Asian fusion’ which combines different regional spices that create new flavors and experiences to the palate,” shares Therese.
Their flavors have a wide variety of influences from the neighboring Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian and Japanese to the faraway Mediterranean and French.
The Thai bouillabaisse provides a nice “warm-up” for the tummy. It is a boiling pot of cooked fish, shellfish and vegetables. Spicy and a bit sour, being tomato-based, the richly flavored soup could make converts out of carnivores. Or one can opt for the shrimp cocktail dipped in spicy Asian tartar sauce.
Specialty of the house is the Palm steak. This lean and mean meal (beef is thicker but really tender, especially when cooked medium-well) is served with shiitake mushroom gravy and mashed potato.
Chinese and Italian influences merge in the chicken chow mien pasta, one of the head cook Wildred’s concoctions. It is pasta mixed with stir-fried chicken and oyster sauce topped with a dash of Parmesan cheese.
On the other hand, the savory tilapia (served with black bean sauce and wilted bokchoy or more familiarly known as pechay) satisfies more than just fish-lovers. What’s great about these dishes and most others on the menu is that they’re less in saltiness.
There are also rice meals available for those who tend not to deviate much from the usual local staple-based diet.
With all the Asian names, is there something Filipino on the menu?
Although Chinese-sounding, the Szechuan pata slices with Chinese pickled vegetable and sesame vinegar dip is actually “jazzed up” local dish, the crispy pata, that everyone can easily appreciate.
Of course, it’s always nice to cap a hearty meal with a great dessert like the balanced ice-cream-confection combination of the yin yang brownie. The brownie is not as sinful (read: “uber” sweet) as its counterparts from elsewhere. It almost melts in your mouth with the vanilla ice cream. For fruit-lovers, there is the mango fruit dip or the Palm Sunday (banana) split.
The Asian Palm opens for lunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and for dinner at 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays. On weekends, they’re serving up to 10:30 p.m. Small gatherings may also be held at the resto’s upper level with a choice of buffet meals.
With the desire to stay true to their mantra, Asian Palm offers the Cebuanos’ discriminating taste with an “alternative dining destination.”
