Saturday, October 18, 2014

Country Grandma’s Home Cooking by Clementine: Big Servings, Big Taste

Country Grandma’s Home Cooking 
by Clementine: Big Servings, Big Taste
Magsaysay Avenue, Naga City 


Clementine, one of the city’s well loved culinary
pioneers has been re- invented to become a homey
café called Country Grandma’s Home Cooking. 



From being the old elegant Clemen’s in DMG Building
in the ‘90’s, it moved to the Magsaysay Avenue and was
renamed Clementine’s,  a rustic European inspired  café.



This is the restaurant’s third re- invention, this time- as a
charming country restaurant, with a warm bucolic ambiance,
that rekindles our craving for good old country cooking,


…the way our grandmas prepare our food in the past,
back to the days when food are cooked without shortcuts
and the main ingredients were patience and dedication.





We wondered who’s the Grandma is in the restaurant,
luckily, Clemen, the kindly owner was around, and readily
answered that she was the home cooking Grandma.





Indeed, Clemen, though she may not look like one, 
may already be a grandma this time- after almost three
decades of being the city’s well loved culinary icon.


And my family was lucky, as we had
Grandma Clemen as our chef for the night.


Although, there were a lot of new entrees in the menu,
we chose our favorite Fish and Chips for the appetizer.
It had the same good old taste that we loved way back
on this restaurant’s Clementine days. The potato chips
and the breaded fish were perfectly fried and delicious.


We noted though that the fish and chips serving was a lot
bigger this time and was served in a huge elongated platter.


We ordered Wisconsin Cheese Soup and this was something  
new in the menu.  It was so creamy and very delicious and
provided enough warmth and comfort that the kids needed
as they were just recovering almost a week- long bout of flu.




My daughter’s was surprised when her favorite baked
Macaroni and Cheese was served in a really humongous
but lovely porcelain bowl that could feed the entire family.
Although it was very delicious, she wasn’t able to consume
everything by her lonesome so had to share it with everyone.


The Fish Fillet was also served as a perfectly fried large
piece of breaded Pangasius set in a gigantic square platter.
It was so delicious and it was meant for one person but the
serving was sooooo BIG- enough to feed my whole family.


The Grilled Pork Chops also came as two huge slabs
perfectly grilled tender and juicy meat flavored with
the goodness of savory marinade and aromatic herbs.


Grandma’s Roast Chicken was plump, tender and succulent.
It was excellently roasted to juicy perfection and oozing with
the delightful aroma of fragrant herbs and flavorful spices.
This is so far one of the best tasting roast chicken in the city.


I ordered Fisherman’s Pie for myself and just like
the other  dishes it was served in a huge porcelain
bowl, big enough the feed everyone in my family.


This is a tremendously delicious dish, and the pie was
topped with creamy cheesy and perfectly baked crust.
You get to eat various kind of seafood, either a chunk
of tuna or a tasty shrimp every time you dig into the pie.




All of a sudden our table was filled with so many delicious food
laid before our hungry eyes in huge servings meant as ala carte
dining for one person but could feed up to five people per serving.


We were overwhelmed by ordering so much food,
more that we would eat as it appears that they doubled
the serving size compared to the old Clementine menu.


Clemen explained that the serving size was made bigger
to adapt the concept of country cooking  and Grandma’s
overbearing motherly and loving attitude of pampering 
everyone with generous servings of home cooked meals.


We were so full, that no one wanted to have a dessert anymore.
We took home whatever leftovers we had, that would become
our (microwaved) meals at home for the next two days.





Country Grandma’s Home Cooking by Clementine comes
not only in generously big servings, but also comes big in taste.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-


Country Grandma’s Home Cooking by Clementine
is also a very good source of European Home Decors, 


…and my wife never fails to take home
one or two items whenever we dine here.


This time she fell for the dainty porcelain jar,


…a lovely porcelain bucket, where she could
both utilize to keep jewelries and trinkets,



…and matching candelabra which she put
in her porcelain themed bodoiur at home.



She also bought a dark- colored
antique- looking jar for our bedroom.

No comments:

Post a Comment