Alsace Degustation @ The White House Davao

	Whenever I think about “Fine Dining” I always come back to the Erap joke where our former president was shocked to see the their bill after dining at a swank place and demanded an explanation, after which one of his companions would answer with something along the lines of, “You’re not only paying for the food, but also the ambiance” in which our former president would reply, “Ahhh, yes, but who ordered the ambiance?” DVO 62 had its dine out last May 31st at The White House, and as the name suggests, the restaurant itself is a restored white house in the heart of the city.
The interior of the place was what one would expect of a fine dining restaurant, with warm lights and soft décor that’s pleasing to the eyes.                                The tables were at first glance, set with white tablecloths with black lining, but upon closer inspection, it was the other way around. The tablecloth was pure black and there was a white paper lining (as opposed to the standard cloth) which made sense, as to save on the laundry costs. The room temperature was nice, not too cold, not too warm and there were no odd smells, which meant that the cleaning staff was doing their job. Good start to a potentially great evening.

The service in the place was as one would expect from a fine dining restaurant. Immediately after being seated, water was poured and table napkins were placed on our laps and orders for drinks were immediately taken.

Before dinner, we had the privilege of going on a kitchen tour of the place. It’s not every day that we get to see the kitchen of a bona fide fine dining restaurant.

First impression of the kitchen? It was huge. It was probably around 60 square meters and larger than most single detached homes in the city. The second impression of the kitchen was that it was clean, there were no smudges and waste material on any of the stations. Everything was organized, and after a few minutes of looking at the stations, it made a sense on how everything was laid out for maximum efficiency.

As one can see, everything on the expediter’s table was organized. From order tickets to final sauce garnishes, everything was laid out for easy access and speed.

					And this vacuum sealing machine. My first guess is they use this for their sous vide preparations. (Either that, or they have very strict storage policies)
We saw different kinds of equipment that one doesn’t regularly see in a standard kitchen, like this ice cream machine.
	As their chef mentioned before, everything is prepared in-house. So they invested in things like this proofing oven (to proof their dough) and huge double deck ovens. They even have an industrial putobungbung cooker made out of stainless steel. (None of that galvanized iron stuff that one sees in public markets.
		Their storage units / chillers were huge. Each unit also had a temperature monitor which showed the actual internal temperature of the unit. And most of all, they observe FIFO, First In First Out, to keep the ingredients as fresh as possible.

After the kitchen tour, we were on to the reason we were there that night, the food!

Our menu for the night.

 Alsace Degustation.

Amuse Bouche of the day

Smoked Toro Tempura Roll

Pako and Prawn Salad

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Pan Seared Halibut in 3 Kinds of Mushroom

Buta Kakauni

Dessert of the day

Before the start of the Degustation menu, we were served some house baked bread with some whipped butter. While this may be standard for most high end restaurants, the bread itself was quite surprising. Baked into the bread itself were pieces of pimiento which added a nice tangy flavor to the bread. My only comment about the bread was that it could have been served warm.

We were given a sample of the Buta Kakuni as our Amuse Bouche. Basically it was the trim from our main course then placed on a crispy seafood kropek cracker. It seemed like a novel idea but the taste of the cracker clashed with the sweetness of the meat. For an opener, it wasn’t really that awe inspiring.

Next up was the smoked toro tempura roll. Now we’re getting serious with the food. The tempura “skin” on the roll provided a nice crispy texture to the dish. The tuna was smoked just right with no hint of being oversmoked or any of that fishy smell that usually comes with improperly smoked fish. The balsamic mayo provided a smoothness and a richness to the dish that goes quite well with the smoked tuna. And finally, the ponzu sauce added a bit of acidity that brought the dish all together.

Next on the menu was tha Pako and Prawn Salad. To be quite honest, this was the first time I had Pako. Surprisingly, the plant wasn’t as bitter as I imagined it to be, in fact, the flavor was quite mild. The salted egg provided an excellent contrast to the sweet red onion vinaigrette and those two ingredients were definitely the star of the dish. I’m a bit saddened by the fact that the prawns in the salad weren’t seasoned, and they were a bit tough. I feel as though it was placed in the dish as an afterthought, I guess just to justify the cost of the salad. I mean, a “Pako Salad” would be a nice addition to any menu, but a “Pako and Prawn Salad” would be a nice Expensive addition to any menu.

Even without the prawns, the salad could have stood out on its own. *Oh, and I found a piece of hair in my salad, and for a high end place like this, that’s practically inexcusable.

The next item on the menu was cream of asparagus soup with shiso froth. Now the original item on the menu was pumpkin soup, but since I’m allergic to the stuff, they graciously agreed to replace it with asparagus. The soup itself wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but the addition of the shiso froth gave it another dimension, an extra “bite” if you will. Overall, this dish was for the lack of a better term, a classic with a twist.

Our first main course was the pan seared halibut in three kinds of mushroom. First off, the fish, definitely the star of the dish. It was light and flaky and tasty as the same time. Very clean taste and perfectly cooked throughout. The mushrooms added an earthy fullness to the dish that was just exactly what the lightness of the fish needed. While the uni yuzu sauce added some nice flavor to the dish, I couldn’t taste the uni, all I got was yuzu and a strong hit of lemon. My only real comment about the dish was that the skin of the fish could have been a bit crispier. But that’s just nitpicking since I absolutely love the dish. Oh, and bigger serving portions hehe.

Our intermezzo was pineapple sorbet. The purpose of the sorbet was to cleanse the palate in between the main courses, but for me, I found it cloyingly sweet and it really didn’t serve its purpose as much as it was originally intended.

Next was the Buta Kakuni. Pork belly that was braised for at least 8 hours till overly tender. On paper, the dish looks to be really tasty, and the presentation just screams fine dining. The braising just renders almost all of the fat out of the pork making the usually fatty pork belly into a lean, yet tender and juicy morsel of meat. The flavor itself wasn’t as impressive as the cooking method though. It was overly sweet (the Japanese mustard helped, but there wasn’t enough of it) and the texture wasn’t something to write home about since the meat was soft and almost had no bite and blanched bok choi leaves were also soft. It’s soft on soft, with no contrast whatsoever.

And, as a true blue Filipino, the dish for me lacked a starch component, rice! Rice! Rice! but then, it was a tasting menu so I guess the starch wasn’t really an issue.

And finally we get to dessert. Banana harumaki. It’s basically a banana, wrapped in a sesame roll, styled made to look like a sushi roll. The flavor was nice overall. The sesame roll provided a nice earthy flavor to contrast the sweetness of the banana. The matcha ice cream was rich and refreshing at the same time. It also came with a couple of spherified juice balls just for an additional texture kick but I didn’t find the flavor to be all that special.

Now, at the end of all of that, was the cost of the degustation just right or were we just paying for the ambiance? Well, aside from a few hiccups with the dishes here and there, I must say that we got our money’s worth with the food and the ambiance and the service are just the bonuses.