tagaytay: antonio's

the original antonio's is under renovation so they redirected their clients to breakfast at antonio's. after 4pm, the menu changes to antonio's so be forewarned in case you plan to go there on a whim.

antonio's offers set meals and you can only avail the other items in the menu when you have already chosen your entree in case you decide to still get side orders. the meal includes the house salad, soup, entree, dessert and coffee/tea.

got the chance to go with a bunch of friends so we got to try several entrees and desserts. here are the stuff we got.

bread with balsamic vinegar - toasted french bread with balsamic vinegar.

i actually don't have anything much to say about it. i didn't finish mine but i guess i was just not in the mood to eat any more carbs that time. my friends enjoyed it though.

house salad - mixed greens with walnuts, cranberries, raisins, blue cheese and a vinaigrette.

i liked the thin garlic bread which served as a crouton. the combination of the ingredients is a no miss but i find the vinaigrette a bit sour for my taste and i really don't like the peppery taste of arugula.

soup - creamy soup with peppers and ham

not sure on what the soup is but it's a creamy soup base with peppers and ham. a typical combination but perfectly works well together.

for entrees we had.

antonio's trio (1600 PHP) - beef fillet on plancha with black pepper sauce, prosciutto wrapped herbed chilean sea bass on creamed saffron and chateau potato, honey glazed lambloin gratinated with goat cheese

i deem that this is a straight forward dish as well. beef medallion with a pepper sauce. tender, as what is expected. the sea bass was good according to my friend, i wasn't able to capture the true flavor of the dish but it has a great texture which is expected of sea bass. i didn't try the lamb because lamb is lamb.

grilled lamb cutlets, goat cheese and blueberry compote on mashed potato with lamb jus (1450 PHP)

no complaints on this straight forward dish. the lamb was properly cooked even though my friend said well done they did not cook it through to ensure the tenderness of the meat and he still enjoyed it even if the meat was still pink. the mashed potato was delish.

duck leg confit on garlic gratin potato and pigeon peas with grand marnier beurre blanc (1300 PHP)

i liked this dish. the duck had a perfect crispy skin but the meat was still tender and not dried up, the beurre blanc complemented it well. however, the gratin was way salty. it seemed like the chef added mounds of salt on the potatoes. as for the peas, it was my least favorite.

kurobuta pork belly braised in milk and sage, gratin potato with marsala jus (1200 PHP).

kurobuta is the wagyu of pork so no doubts it will be good. not for people who don't like fat. the huge shiitake mushrooms were good but the gratin, same as the duck confit was utterly salty.

we got several desserts as well.

mint chocolate parfait - my favorite. mint and chocolate goes well together and it doesn't have that rich chocolate flavor which i like.

mango marscarpone ice cream - second favorite. liked eating this after having a bite of the parfait. the creaminess and coldness cuts through the chocolate flavor that lingers in my palate.

pannacotta - plain pannacotta with poppyseed or was it green tea? i wasn't able to figure out what was in it. not as creamy/smooth as i expected it to be.

fechlin chocolate terrine with double cream and roasted pistacchio - ultra rich chocolate. didn't like this one because i don't like chocolate. my friends said if i made sure i had pistacchio, and double cream in one bite it would just be perfect.

the whole dining experience was great but i wasn't impressed with the food. i have such high expectations of the place but it just didn't give me enough reasons to rave about it. it doesn't matter how unique the dish is but how the taste and feel lingers in your palate that you find yourself dreaming about it. unfortunately this experience did not give me that. the ambiance and the whole dining experience might still worth the try so it's really up to you.

antonio's/breakfast at antonios
tagaytay