Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Small Bites at the Bar

Popped in to BAM! Tapas-Sake Bar with V. It can get really noisy in the small space. It could be worse than the volume at gigs because of the different registers of human voices, the clanging of glasses, crockery, pots and pans. But I love its casual vibes and Chef Pepe Moncayo's unpretentious food. This combination keeps me returning regularly for dependable meals, with earplugs. I really rather not get a headache and a ringing in the ears after.

I'm not here for its meats. The seafood is so good. I usually pick its omakase offerings and opt for all seafood. Sometimes, when there're four of us, we'll order the entire a la carte menu and share the food. Those small bites are deceiving. Eaten in quantity, they easily fill us up. This night out with V, there were familiar favorites on the menu. Cold capellini with strips of seaweed, uni and sakura ebi. Thick pieces of abalone in mushroom soup topped with truffle foam. Seared kinmedai and heirloom tomatoes. The grilled pasta (a la plancha) seemed to be a pennoni lisci or rigatoni served with squid ink and black truffles. Beautiful. Oh those grilled carabinero prawns! Luckily V loves prawns and didn't mind taking additional heads from my plate. I love them, but really don't dare to risk allergies flaring from the juices in the heads.

By now, Chef Pepe has figured out I'm not fan of meats. Although the meats are mostly for my dining companions, he sometimes still uhhh portions out a plate for me too. There was also charcoal grilled quail. It was lovely, but there was a thick slab of foie gras terrine at the side of which I half-heartedly stabbed at, and left it alone. I can't stand the smell, taste and texture of foie gras. Forgot to tell them to leave it out. We had two desserts. TWO. Pastry chef didn't think we were up for cloying desserts. He made us sour desserts. Awesome. Rolled out of the restaurant totally stuffed to the brim.

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