Angus Au Jus

By: The Moody Critic

Every time I eat at Racks, Angus Au Jus never fails to be included in my eating program. One simply cannot deny or ignore the quality of a genuine Angus beef.

Without any sauce, any sidings, or any elaborate plating, the Angus beef can definitely stand alone on the plate. The way the meat was seasoned was very remarkable. It is delicious on its own and any sauce would just serve as a bonus. Even if I would asked for a well-done steak, the meat would still remain very tender and juicy.

This dish comes with two sidings of choice. I would almost always choose mashed potato and macaroni & cheese out of the variety of sidings because of their caloric value. But if you're on the heavier side, veggie siding is the way to go!

I found the mashed potato shockingly lumpy and watery. Moreover, it was made very bland given that it has no accompanying gravy. The macaroni & cheese was basically "okay" but the macaroni was slightly undercooked. I almost knocked the living daylights of the waiter because my mac & cheese still had the bacon bits after I specifically asked him not once, but twice to remove them.

With an average size of around 13 cm x 10 cm x 1.7 cm, this beef dish can surely say "shut up and eat!". Sometimes, I would even fast for a whole day just to allot space for this dish because I usually had problems in ambulating afterwards due to my overly distended stomach.

Choice of side dishes:

1. Baked Beans
2. Corn Bread
3. Potato Salad
4. Gravy Fries
5. Mac and Cheese
6. Corn on the Cob
7. Coleslaw
8. Garlic Mashed Potato
9. Buttered Vegetables
10. Pasta Salad

Choice of Sauce:

1. Au Jus (comes with the dish) - Red wine plus the Angus beef's own juice
2. Racks' original barbeque sauce regular (on the table)
3. Racks' original barbeque sauce extra hot (on the table)

Presentation: 6.5
Taste: 8.3
Texture and consistency: 7.5
Complexity: 7.2
Value for money: 8.1

Overall rating: 7.7/10
Mood: Satisfied

Resto: Racks
Address: Ground floor, Entertainment mall, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City
Full food name: Angus Au Jus
Price: P680.00

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Spaghetti Bolognese

By: The Moody Critic

What a delicious-looking dish! The shape of the plate and the parsley really stirred up my appetite. As expected, the parsley gave the effective color contrast on the plate. However, the pasta was undercooked; it needed five more minutes. The bolognese sauce was lacking an effective flavor. All I could taste were the sourness and the metallic "canny" taste from the canned mushrooms.

How about the bread? In one look, you can say that it is inferior. The bread did not have an interesting personality (e.g. garlic bread). Though you can see minute amounts of an unknown herb, it was still very bland. I'm sure a little spread of butter will go a long way! This bread also seemed out of place on the plate due to its elephantine size, its paleness, and the way it was sliced. Lastly, it was moderately rubbery in consistency so a little precaution to those with brittle or loose teeth. Considering the price of this dish, is quality bread too much too ask?

Whenever I would see meat sauce in the food description, I find it exasperating to ask the fastfood chain or restaurant what their meat sauce was made of (I can't eat pork). There are two reasons behind this: (1) just the act of asking the person who cooked it takes a lot of time, and (2) some establishments don't actually know what it is made of. Consequently, I would usually shy away and would not order the dish that has "meat sauce" in it. But thank you Dolcelatte for specifying in the menu that this dish has an all-beef meat sauce.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 6.4
Texture and consistency: 6.2
Serving size: 8.5
Value for money: 6.5

Overall rating: 6.9/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Dolcelatte
Address: 1616 Quezon Ave., South Triangle, Quezon City
Full food name: Spaghetti Bolognese
Price: P295.00

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Dolcelatte's Red Velvet Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

Combining modern defiant crimson with traditional white elegance was never a problem for this dessert.

The frosting without a doubt was the trump card of this dessert because not only was it designed to have those intricate rosettes or billows but it was made to harmonize with the rich cheesecake matrix and its semi-bland base.

The cheesecake matrix lacked compactness and the dead air spaces within it was quite easy to discriminate. These air spaces made the matrix osteoporotic causing the latter to easily break apart or fall off.

The red velvet base was moist and was cooked evenly. However, the idea of making ectopic red velvet layers within the cheesecake matrix tarnished the apparent elegance of this dessert. It looked like it has open surgical wounds that need attending to. It would have been better if they adhered to the standard layering of cheesecakes.

Peek a boo! I see you! The partly hidden caramel sauce underneath the red velvet base seemed to be very modest in proclaiming that this dessert is worth a try. It either needs a new plating design or a trip to oblivion.

Presentation: 8.7
Taste: 9.0
Texture and consistency: 8.3
Serving size: 9.0
Value for money: 9.1

Overall rating: 8.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Dolcelatte
Address: 1616 Quezon Ave., South Triangle, Quezon City
Full food name: Red Velvet Cheesecake
Price: P150.00

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Milk Chocolate Cake

By: The Moody Critic

NOT BAD for a home-made desert! For such a small cake, it immediately earned it's title as one of the store's bestsellers.

The small grated chocolates which looked like pencil shavings matched the size of this cake. The milk chocolate frosting which served as the skin of the cake seemed like it underwent a lot of oxidative stress because its top surface was uneven. Furthermore, it needs 10% more sweetness because it lacked that penetrating chocolatey goodness. Lastly, the chocolate pillars, those vertical structures surrounding the milk chocolate frosting, should not have been there at all if they would look grotesque in the first place.

The cake was very moist and had the right level of sweetness. It was divided into a superior and inferior partition by an inconspicuous milk chocolate filling. However, you will need a magnifying lens to see this very thin layer of chocolate filling.

If it is such a drag to wash chocolate-smeared plates, then hire an indefatigable dishwasher rather than serve the cake on a disposable plastic plate. The dog bowl-like plate was such a nuisance because it prevented my fork from slicing the cake all the way down to the bottom. The menu brags that this cake is sinfully rich and moist, but I believe this plastic plate should be the genuine sin that they should talk about.

Presentation: 6.7
Taste: 8.0
Texture and consistency: 8.4
Serving size: 8.1
Value for money: 8.0

Overall rating: 7.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: The Parvati Store
Address: Mindanao Lobby, Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
Full food name: Milk Chocolate Cake
Price: P150.00 (mini), P595.00 (6-inch), P995.00 (8-inch)

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Déjà vu

By: The Moody Critic

I really do hope I will never have a Déjà vu of eating this dessert. The crepe was undercooked as evidenced by its stickiness to the plate and my knife. It was also made too thick due to the redundant folding thus accentuating its eggy blandness. This thickness also disturbed the ratio of the crepe to its overripe mango filling by around 30%. Instead of the crepe claiming the spotlight with its potent flavor, the hero of the day was the vanilla ice cream embellished with whipped cream and caramel sauce. It saved the crepe from uttermost disaster. However, it would have been better if it was placed on top of the crepe.

Presentation: 6.5
Taste: 7.0
Texture and consistency: 6.0
Serving size: 6.4
Value for money: 3.6

Overall rating: 6.3/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Cafe Breton 
Address: Robinson's Place, Ermita, Manila
Full food name: Déjà vu
Price: P228.00

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Mango Chiboust

By: The Moody Critic

No bee or butterfly would dare overlook this alluring flower-like dessert. The sweet extract from the beautifully arranged fresh mango slices seemed like honeydew from heaven.

Surprisingly, the cheesecake matrix had a strange wet cotton wool consistency. Though it may not be as solid or compact like your everyday cheesecake, it didn't melt, collapse, or show any sign of deterioration at room temperature.

The harmony and balance of tastes together with the coherence in color choice for the matrix and base layers make this dessert a winner. The meticulous handiwork applied on this dessert will surely make eating this piece of art a painful struggle

Presentation: 9.4
Taste: 8.9
Texture and consistency: 8.3
Serving size: 8.2
Value for money: 8.4

Overall rating: 8.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Bizu Patisserie
Address: Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Mango Chiboust
Price: P195.00

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Mixed Ravioli

By: The Moody Critic

This dish features a duo of spinach and cheese ravioli and a mushroom ravioli. Though I'm not really a fan of vegetables, this dish surely proved me wrong even if meat was not involved at all.

The mushroom ravioli was a lot better because it's taste was complementary to the pomodoro sauce. On the other hand, the spinach and cheese ravioli was quite pungent and it didn't produce a synergistic effect with the sauce. The pasta was al dente and had a correct ratio with its filling.

The vibrant pomodoro sauce and the fresh basil chiffonade provided the effective contrast of colors making this dish very enticing to eat. However, I find the sauce very sour so I had to rely on the pasta to neutralize that acidity. If I had brought along a litmus paper, I'm sure the blue will turn red. The feta cheese should have been grated rather than placing them as large chunks.

What I most specifically didn't like about this dish was was the garlic bread foccacia. It was really hard and it lacked flavor.

Presentation: 8.3
Taste: 7.8
Texture and consistency: 8.8
Serving size: 7.4
Value for money: 6.9

Overall rating: 8.0/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Bizu Patisserie
Address: Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Mixed Ravioli
Price: P395.00

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Envy

By: The Moody Critic

Not the prettiest cake to behold especially when you remember the mysterious dripping goo from the Goosebumps show. As described by the menu, it is a super-moist chocolate cake with green mint sauce. And how couldn't it be super moist if it was practically bathed with this minty goo from a witch's cauldron? I think what they were trying to replicate here was a lava cake because of its traditional form. If it was a plain chocolate cake, it was way under-cooked and if it was a lava cake on the other hand, it was overcooked. To my dismay, the cafe staff didn't even know what it was.

The cake was extremely moist all over and the mint sauce was overwhelming in terms of amount and taste. After patiently waiting for 30-40 minutes, all I get was this wellspring of Flubber which I strongly suspect was a rushed dessert because of its uneven cooking inside and out manifested by its crusting surface and soft interior.

Speaking of Envy, it reminded me of Fullmetal Alchemist's Envy in his colossal monstrous form or at least what remained of him when the Philosopher's Stone was no more. Remember that FMA's Envy can transform into anything he liked to imitate. As I have mentioned earlier, this ambiguous cake lacks its own identity so I think that is why they called it Envy. I suggest that this dessert should undergo a complete overhaul.

Presentation: 5.2
Taste: 3.1
Texture and consistency: 4.6
Serving size: 6.4
Value for money: 6.0

Overall rating: 4.4/10
Mood: DISGUSTED

Resto: Wicked Kitchen
Address: Mother Ignacia St. Quezon City
Full food name: Envy
Price: P158.00

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Forest Berry Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

There's more to this cake than its apparent cuteness. First, you may consider this as a 2-week old forgotten birthday cake in the fridge because the base layer was mysteriously hard, coarse, and dry. Second, the middle layer had a shocking rubbery consistency similar to the nodes of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This layer would also demand tremendous muscle effort because your fork has the tendency of sticking avidly to the cake. So when you pull your fork from that layer, you will be dragging the entire cake. Moreover, this cheesecake was ridiculously nutty thus preventing me to savor the richness of the cream cheese.

To me, it was a Sahara desert experience rather than a forest adventure. However, the oasis of that desert-like experience was the white chocolate frosting. Although it was excessively sweet, it revived the entire dessert because of its highly contrasting and potent taste. The overall structure was quite appealing also because of its unique dome shape compared to the standard cheesecake wedge.

Presentation: 7.0
Taste: 6.5
Texture and consistency: 4.2
Serving size: 6.6
Value for money: 8.2

Overall rating: 7.2/10
Mood: UNSATISFIED

Resto: Cheesecake Etc.
Address: Northeast Square Bldg., Greenhills, San Juan
Full food name: Forest Berry Cheesecake
Price: P160.00

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Two Nut Caramel Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

With its relatively cheap price, you can never go wrong with this dessert when you come to the shop to fill your empty stomach.

The cheesecake matrix was very compact but it slightly lacked the ideal texture that I was looking for.

Above the rich matrix comes the poverty-stricken caramel layer. If they managed to saturate this dessert with not just one, but two kinds of nuts, then they could have bathed it with lavish caramel sauce instead. I really struggled to find the caramel taste up to the very last bite and I tried to conserve what little caramel was available just to match the generous amount of the cheesecake matrix. Although disappointed, this layer was still the reason why I chose this particular dessert because the caramel was captivatingly arranged in a Medusa-like or devil's snare-like manner.

Surprisingly, I noticed that the base layer was quite softer compared to the other cheesecake bases I ate before from this restaurant so I managed to consume the dessert completely.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 7.4
Texture and consistency: 7.8
Serving size: 9.0
Value for money: 9.0

Overall rating: 7.9/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Banapple Pies & Cheesecakes
Address: Il Terrazo Mall, Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City
Full food name: Two Nut Caramel Cheesecake
Price: P105.00

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