Tuesday, April 10, 2018

East End Taverna: European Cuisine in our Doorstep

East End Taverna 
European Cuisine at our Doorstep 

Seeing a vacant parking space East End Taverna,
one of our favorite restaurants in Naga City was
was an answer to satisfy our long- standing craving,

 

…for the delicious  European- Mediterranean cuisine 
that we feasted along the way during an almost month
 long of European vacation that commenced in Paris


…followed by Lisbon,


…to Extremadura


…and concluded in Madrid.


When we scanned the menu, we decided to feast on
East End Taverna’s plain Mediterranean specialties.

 

The Mediterranean Salad was a perfect beginning to
what would be another awesome culinary adventure in this
restaurant. Everything was fresh, crisp and lightly perked
with just the right amount of acrid balsamic vinegar dressing.

 

The Stracetti di Manzo with butter lemon sauce
was so good. The thin slices of beef were tender,
and bathed with a delightfully tangy buttery sauce.

 

This dish reminded us of the Lomo Asado con Salsa de Manzana
served in the old town of Caceres in Extremadura, Spain. It was
just as delicious and looked very similar. The tanginess however
came from the apple sauce, instead of the lemon butter sauce.


 
 

East End Taverna’s Weekday Porchetta
is our favorite dish in this restaurant. It is
a tasty herbed ‘lechon’ that is tender in the
inside and yet with crunchy and crispy skin.

 

This sated our craving the iconic Spanish dish
where Pinoy lechon have evolved. The sinfully
delicious Conchinillo Asado, that we enjoyed
also at the Medieval town of Caceres in Spain.




We were expecting a little French twist on Le Shawarma,
 as the name implies and what we got was a toned down 
version of a usually spicy and very aromatic dish. This one
 was not the smelly kind of shawarma, but just as delicious
.
 

This reminded me of the tasty Shawarma that
I pigged out at the beautiful city of Prague,
but left me reeking with garlic for several days.




The Medaglioni di Manzo, made of thick
slabs of tender beef, generously bathed with
what seem to be a tasty mushroom sauce.


This dish reminded me not of Europe but of the divine
Mushroom Steak in Orlando, Florida, made from juicy
flatiron steak topped with sautéed wild mushrooms.




Of course, no dinner is complete without trying what East End Taverna 
does best- their varied pasta dishes. We ordered the Penne Sicilian
It had a deep mozzarella aftertaste and topped with grated Parmesan  
 cheese and some additional fresh basil. While most Italian pastas use 
eggplants in this dish, the chef added steamed okra and   interestingly it 
created a wonderful Pinoy twist on this otherwise Mediterranean favorite.
An awesome primer to our incoming spring Swiss and Italian vacations.


A new twist on how the chicken wings are cooked
is the new Crab Fat Wings.  It is sweet, tangy and
spicy and had a hint of  ginger as an aftertaste. The
addition of the ‘taba ng talangka’ or crab fat created
a delightful explosion of exotic flavors in every bite.


As a family who loves to travel and Europe as our favorite destination, 
East End Taverna's dishes take us back to the European countries 
that we visited in the past. It also made the cuisine that we have  been 
craving, available right at our doorstep, travel free and passport free.

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