Chef Doy’s at Cereza
The Best Just Got Bigger
I met up at Chef Doy’s with a several colleagues in
preparation for the upcoming (TEPI) Thomasian
Endocrine Progress Inc., annual convention that would
be held in Naga City, which we would be hosting.
Chef Doy’s, to my delight had recently undergone
renovation and made the dining area a lot bigger,
…they had a new lovely chopping board menu book,
…and the homey Filipino Colonial motif remained.
We started our dinner with Batang- Batang Pusit
their bestseller appetizer. It is made of chewy yet
tender baby squid cooked in olive oil and spices.
We also had Crispy Boneless Dilis for a second appetizer.
The dried fish was perfectly crunchy, unlike ordinary dilis,
this one wasn’t salty at all and was deliciously addicting.
It went well with the sweetish tangy mango salsa sides.
Chef Doy’s virtuosity was once again proven
in his unique creation of Cream of Tinola.
It is a reinvented version of the native chicken
tinola, with the traditional green papaya, but this
version had malunggay leaves instead if the usual
sili leaves and the soup was thickened with cream.
This Chef Doy creative ingenuity of deliciously reinventing
a well loved Pinoy old time favorite to a modern fusion dish
is a work that only a gifted culinary genius like him can do.
I also had a chance to try the Tinolang Monok sa Melon with
my family in the past. Chef Doy brilliantly tinkered it by replacing
green papaya with ripe cantaloupes resulting to a deliciously
sweetish version of dish. It was undeniably- a work of a genius.
We also had a crunchy and tasty Crispy Pata.
This may not be Chef Doy’s specialty dish but
his version is still superior compared to the ones
available among some of the restaurants in Naga City.
We also had a delicious Ginataang Puso ng Saging where the
banana heart was shreded into thin strips, cooked with bits and
pieces of pork and shrimps then simmered in creamy coconut milk.
The killer dinner dish came as Laing Embutido,
where the traditional Pinoy meat loaf was served
lying on a bed of Laing, another iconic Bicolano dish.
That was not all, it was also stuffed with Laing
and unexpectedly, these two dissimilar dishes put
fused together as a single dish tasted very good.
Interestingly, it is worth mentioning that I was amused that the rice were
served in cones rather than the usual rounded cup- shaped mounds.
Once more, the genius of Chef Doy
was evident on this delicious dinner.
Read the links below for related posts:
The Best Just Got Bigger
I met up at Chef Doy’s with a several colleagues in
preparation for the upcoming (TEPI) Thomasian
Endocrine Progress Inc., annual convention that would
be held in Naga City, which we would be hosting.
Chef Doy’s, to my delight had recently undergone
renovation and made the dining area a lot bigger,
…they had a new lovely chopping board menu book,
…and the homey Filipino Colonial motif remained.
We started our dinner with Batang- Batang Pusit
their bestseller appetizer. It is made of chewy yet
tender baby squid cooked in olive oil and spices.
We also had Crispy Boneless Dilis for a second appetizer.
The dried fish was perfectly crunchy, unlike ordinary dilis,
this one wasn’t salty at all and was deliciously addicting.
It went well with the sweetish tangy mango salsa sides.
Chef Doy’s virtuosity was once again proven
in his unique creation of Cream of Tinola.
It is a reinvented version of the native chicken
tinola, with the traditional green papaya, but this
version had malunggay leaves instead if the usual
sili leaves and the soup was thickened with cream.
This Chef Doy creative ingenuity of deliciously reinventing
a well loved Pinoy old time favorite to a modern fusion dish
is a work that only a gifted culinary genius like him can do.
I also had a chance to try the Tinolang Monok sa Melon with
my family in the past. Chef Doy brilliantly tinkered it by replacing
green papaya with ripe cantaloupes resulting to a deliciously
sweetish version of dish. It was undeniably- a work of a genius.
We also had a crunchy and tasty Crispy Pata.
This may not be Chef Doy’s specialty dish but
his version is still superior compared to the ones
available among some of the restaurants in Naga City.
We also had a delicious Ginataang Puso ng Saging where the
banana heart was shreded into thin strips, cooked with bits and
pieces of pork and shrimps then simmered in creamy coconut milk.
The killer dinner dish came as Laing Embutido,
where the traditional Pinoy meat loaf was served
lying on a bed of Laing, another iconic Bicolano dish.
That was not all, it was also stuffed with Laing
and unexpectedly, these two dissimilar dishes put
fused together as a single dish tasted very good.
Interestingly, it is worth mentioning that I was amused that the rice were
served in cones rather than the usual rounded cup- shaped mounds.
Once more, the genius of Chef Doy
was evident on this delicious dinner.
Read the links below for related posts:
Hello doc, as a counterpoint, I agree Chef Doy brings out the best in Bicol dishes. Whether it be fusion or traditional, the dishes somehow always turn out great. Just a small rant: i once was the first customer who walked into their dning area and I was overcome by the strong and unpleasant odor that permeated the restaurant -- a smell of stale soy sauce and whatever other condiments emit a collective phew! Wish they'd air the dining area or Spray a good dose of Lysol.
ReplyDeleteWe have dined several times at Chef Doy's but did not smell anything unusual aside from the aroma of the delicious food on the table.
DeleteIt is interesting to note that my wife may have a very sensitive olfactory nerve. We both love Chef Doy's, but she doesn't like the "unidentifiable spicy' scent inside the restaurant that she always wanted to dine at the al- fresco section.
DeleteWhile I do not have any problem at all, as like Mr. Decena, I could not smell anything but the delicious aroma coming from the food served on the table.