We’re treating you to La Cuisine.
La Cuisine Francaise is my default setting for French food—the food is good, hearty country fare, the place is comfortable, the atmosphere is snootiness-free, and if the chef-patron Michele d’Orival is around, we get to try her culinary experiments.
The restaurant on the corner of Sedeno and San Agustin Streets in Salcedo Village, Makati opened in July last year; before that Michele and her husband Jean had a stall selling their excellent paté, tahini, tabbouleh, and other delicacies at the Salcedo weekend market (They’re still there on weekends). We started frequenting La Cuisine in October when our friend moved into the building. He’s moved out, but we never left the restaurant.
There’s always something new on the menu, along with the traditional favorites:
Grilled lamb kebabs
Roast chicken stuffed with 40 cloves of garlic
Snails drowned in butter
Paté
Tarte tatin. Sorry, I forgot to snap the photo before I started on dessert.
But why stop at photographs? You should eat there yourself.
Introducing our weekly La Cuisine contest for the month of June. Every week I will post a simple question about French cooking; the answer will be a French dish. Post your answer in Comments. At the end of the week, we will take all the correct answers and hold a raffle.
The reader who sends in the winning entry gets to eat the correct answer. Not the paper, the culinary reality. The prize is. . .the dish featured in the weekly question, served for two, with drinks. So you and a companion can try La Cuisine, whenever you wish (You set the date, I’ll make the reservation).
This week’s question is good for merienda or breakfast. What is the French term for the hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich? (If you add a fried or poached egg on top it becomes the female version.)
Post your answers in Comments. The raffle will be held on Sunday. Anybody hungry?
La Cuisine Francaise is on the ground floor of Paseo Parkview (near Makati Sports), Sedeno corner San Agustin St, Salcedo Village, Makati. Telephone 8932072. Reservations: 5015202 or 7520335.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
June 5th, 2010 at 05:52
like the others: croque-monsieur
June 5th, 2010 at 07:58
sali ako!. It is croque-monsieur
June 7th, 2010 at 21:13
Hi Jessica! :) We won! We won! :) Is La Cuisine open on Sundays? Ok if we enjoy the prize this Sunday, the 13th, say 10AM?
Alice
June 7th, 2010 at 21:28
Make it 11am. Please give me your full name and I’ll make the reservation.
June 14th, 2010 at 20:38
Hi Jessica!
Alex and I enjoyed the breakfast immensely— canapes, freshly-baked warm bread, the Croque Monsieur and coffee yesterday at La Cuisine. Met Michele, too, a lovely lady. Again, thanks so much! :)
Alice