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Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Purple Feet: Chef Marco, I want my food to be exotic...
Purple Feet is a restaurant that uses freestyle cooking. which is inside the Wine Depot in Makati. There are no visible signs that the Purple Feet restaurant is inside. Freestyle cooking is an interesting and unconventional concept. There is no menu except for a Food and Wine Pairing recommendation which changes every week. If you bring a date, you need to be confident enough to order. I like the concept but you should know how to get the best of freestyle cooking. I'll share with you some of my tips (please do share your own tips when ordering in Purple Feet).
Tips when ordering Freestyle:
1. Freestyle cooking works best if all the ingredients are fresh. Begin by asking what are the fresh catch of the day or what are the freshest ingredients available. If needed, please specify that you don't like frozen ingredients to be part of your meal.
2. Decide if you like seafood, meat or chicken. You can also specify your food restrictions like, if you want to be healthy, on a particular diet, or a vegetarian. Ostrich and rabbit meat are also available in the menu should you prefer it.
3. Freestyle cooking is an art. Artists work best if you give them an end result rather than specify the nitty gritty details. Here are some of the words you can use to describe how you want your food to be prepared, cooked, and served:
Feed me, I'm hungry.
Chef Marco, Surprise me!
I want my food to be exotic.
Romantic. I want to fall in love with the food.
The trick is to challenge Chef Marco! Be creative with your descriptions of what you want your food to be. Expect to pay about P1,000 to have a very good meal.
4. Pair it with Wine. I would like to experiment with wine and food pairing one of these days. I'm not an expert on wine (not yet at least) so you can ask them for recommendations. They pride themselves of their motto: " Our Wine List is Our Wine Shop"! Remember, rules on wine like meat should go with red and fish should go with white wine are already old. These days, just go with what you like.
5. Pat the Chef on the back for a job well done. If you like your food, give a generous tip or simply give a compliment to the chef. If not, please give a constructive feedback so that they can improve.
It may be awkward to stand in front of the chalkboard menu. Check out Purple Feet before you go with your date so you'll know what to get. The cost of the meal is based on the ingredients that you choose.
Purple Feet Menu
Wine by the Glass Reds and Whites
Food and Wine Pairing Menu (Changes Weekly)
Vittorio Expresso and Beverages
Prepare a budget of P1,000 / head when you eat in Purple Feet. I prefer to eat inside.
Outside is actually more romantic during the cold season...
Stuffed Mushroom (P300+) in Red Sauce. Expensive and it was overcooked.
1 L Santa Vittoria Water. P80. They only serve this kind of water.
Rache ordered Lengua in Red Sauce and so she got this boring meal of Lengua in tomato sauce and vegetables. We did not like this dish because the lengua needs to be cooked longer to absorb the taste of the sauce.
Pam ordered Stuffed chicken with white sauce (I think). She got a disappointing meal of Chicken Stuff with Prawns & Scallop and Seafood Sauce. The sauce was very good but the prawns and scallops were frozen.
I ordered Cobbler with Prawns and described to Chef Marco that I wanted my food to be exotic. What I got is Cobbler stuff with prawns, creamy havarty, cheddar and foie gras sauce on the side. It was served in a chopping board decorated with spices.
Aidan tasted it first and he totally loved the Foie Gras sauce. We had to agree and I love Chef Marco for my food that night :)
Aidan kept on running around Wine Depot because he thought it was a supermarket. We were very nervous that he might hit those boxes of wine.
Chef Marco Legasto at Purple Feet
#217 Nicanor Garcia (formerly Reposo St.)
Bel-Air, Makati City
Telephone: +632 897-3220, +632 897 8167
Email: winedepot@winedirect.com.ph
May 6, 2008 in 03. Romantic Restaurants For Special Occasions, 04. Restaurants that are worth to try once | Permalink
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Expecting fresh chilled meats from a restaurant meal costing 1k per head would certainly be a stretch. I am sure it was not just the prawns and scallops that were frozen. It would be safe to assume that all the meats served to you were frozen at one point. Importing chilled meat is very expensive because of handling costs so it is reserved for ultra premium meats. I've never encountered fresh chilled lamb, chicken, or ostrich from manila suppliers. not even Santi's. Even the chilled local chicken you buy in supermarkets are actually 'freshly defrosted', not fresh chilled.
Posted by: Chris | May 6, 2008 11:45:43 PM
hi anton, is this the same idea as omakase?
Posted by: chinachix | May 7, 2008 5:17:00 AM
i have read so many good reviews about this place, but so far i have yet to be wow-ed by their food. they have a tendency to overcook their meat... the first time i ate there the meat was well-done, the second time it was medium-well. both times i asked for medium. i also tried the foie gras sauce and i agree with you that it was delicious, and that's actually the most memorable part of my meals there.
i love their concept of free-style cooking, plus the mindblowing wine list, so i'm really rooting for this resto. i hope that third time's the charm and my next visit would rock my world:-)
Posted by: chinkee | May 7, 2008 12:48:45 PM
one fo the few times tat i got ahead of u Anton.
The foe gras sauce was indeed yummy, this resto reminded me of Henry Canoy's resto in Boni years before. I like the concept, but the quality of food has to be check carefully. Frozen scallops and prawns? i would have return that in an instant....Chef Maroc.. u still owe me a perfect risotto and medium cooked lamb chops:)
Posted by: Hiro | May 7, 2008 1:12:42 PM
Chef Marco, not Maroc.. sorry....
Posted by: Hiro | May 7, 2008 1:14:12 PM
I agree with Chris, the first commenter, (who's also a professional chef, by the way), that a diner must be willing to pay if he's expecting only chilled never frozen meat.
I agree with you, Anton, when you write that "Artists work best if you give them an end result rather than specify the nitty gritty details." But I find the terms
"Feed me, I'm hungry," and "I want my food to be exotic" a stretch. Only the most adventurous of eaters with the hardiest constitutions would even think of saying that.
Posted by: Lori | May 8, 2008 3:31:51 AM
Hey Anton! I ate again in Purple Feet the next evening (as originally scheduled). In spite of the hiccup with the girl who took the reservation, I enjoyed my meal more. This time, I told him: "I want seafood -preferably raw-, Japanese, spicy, but not a curry dish." Chef gave me seared tuna with a spicy and tasty Japanese sauce that had just the right umami flavor with mushrooms and leeks. I liked it as much as I liked the "straightforward Indian curry lamb chop" he served my friend. Yum.
Hi, Hiro! The scallops and prawns weren't frozen when it was served. It just wasn't thawed properly so the seafood, particularly the prawns crumbled in my mouth rather than being chewy and tasty. : )
Posted by: Pam | May 8, 2008 3:34:58 PM
"I want to 'fell' in love with the food" just makes me cringe. Should a self-ascribed food 'writer' make such atrocious, appalling errors in grammar?
Posted by: Delfine | May 9, 2008 12:36:33 PM
i agree with the grammar sometimes in anton's blogs...but it could also be typographical errors ....????but i love the experience of reading and imagining his love for food.kudos!
Posted by: teng gomez | May 9, 2008 2:44:18 PM
The food was OK. Nothing to go back for. The vegetables could have been fresher for the price.
What we found ridiculous was that they do NOT serve tap water or local bottled water. You HAVE to buy imported water for 250 pesos (not the 80 as posted). Our server also said they only served wine by the BOTTLE as well.
I guess they are pushing the wines but ... shouldn't customers be allowed to have access to reasonably priced water? I don't drink wine nor soda. I truly felt like the conned me. It's a flawed business decision to con customers into buying that ridiculous water.
Sodas in cans go for around 70 pesos - Coke, Coke Zero and Royal.
The limited beverage predicament will result in a bill that will run over 1,000 / head.
Posted by: Clarabelle | May 10, 2008 9:04:26 AM
Hello!
Anyone here who knows of hotels, restaurants, or supermarkets that serve or sells ostrich meat? (aside from the one featured here)
If you have any lead, kindly email me at dj_dalanao@yahoo.com.ph or post it here. We badly need the information for our feasibility study.
Thanks in advance
Posted by: Victor Dalanao Jr | Aug 10, 2008 2:37:56 PM
