Or to put it more bluntly, as Oscar Wilde did, "After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives."
That’s the power of good food.
The interiors hint at modernity and simplicity, evoking images of serene, flowing water. The food and the wine, on the other hand, are quite another story. The chef and owners have put together an exciting menu that all diners can look forward to.
Aqua restaurant, located at the lobby level of Enterprise Center on Ayala Avenue, wears three faces (or chef’s toques if you will): One is for office employees on the run, squeezing lunch between deadlines, but still liking their gourmet food; second is for people who like things to be finer, with time on their hands to just sit back and enjoy themselves; and third is the CEO and wine connoisseur who want to close a deal over, oh say, a bottle of 1954 French wine.
Aqua has three subtly divided sections (each with their own menus) in one space. Right at the entrance is Aqua Cafe, where the fare is easy on the pocket (ranging from P150 to P300); in the middle is Aqua fine dining, which the entire restaurant originally was when it opened three-and-a-half years ago, where crisp white linens cover the tables and the menu is a little more sophisticated; and at the far end is Aqua wine lounge and library, with booths and private rooms equipped with TV sets, broadband Internet access and books about wine.
Aqua chef and co-owner Markus Gfeller says that people like to come back to the cafe because it’s not specific to one cuisine. "We have regular food festivals," he says. "For this month and next, we have the Asian Noodle festival and Rice Toppings festival. It makes life more exciting for the people in the building and the surrounding areas."
Needless to say, Aqua at lunchtime is filled with the Makati crowd – bankers, lawyers, corporate men – the kind that gets your mother’s nod.
Markus clarifies that rather than sticking to the typical Asian dishes famous in each country, Aqua’s noodles are more innovative and experimental. This is his trademark as a chef: Never go the beaten path if you can make a new one. After all, cooking is an art – not simply following what others are doing even though they’re age-old recipes.
The cafe menu includes stir-fried Thai noodles with chicken and egg (P170), Vietnamese beef and noodle soup (P180), Singapore BBQ pork laksa (P180), Japanese beef and vegetables udon (P190), Asian noodle salad and shrimps tempura (190). The rice toppings bestsellers are chili roasted beef tips (P170), seafood and scallops with leeks (P180), crispy fired pork belly asado (P170).
Aqua Cafe’s starters include a diverse selection, from fresh shucked oysters (P240 for half a dozen) to savory crab cake nuggets with curry remoulade (P180), steamed mussel, clam and vegetable bouillon (P120), tomato soup with garlic croutons (P140) and classic Tagaytay tomato with basil and buffalo mozzarella (P180). The mozzarella, says Markus, uses fresh milk and is made locally. Main courses include pepper tuna steak with Provencal vegetables and tomato sugo (P220), grilled pesto chicken breast with roasted potatoes and onion sauce (P195) and the classic Austrian meal, veal schnitzel with lemon and french fries (P290).
Oh to have such selections on a working day! Oh to work at the Enterprise! Oh to have lunch that doesn’t come in styrofoam boxes!
Aqua restaurant was designed by Nicky Magcase. It is, as other restaurants of Markus Gfeller’s, a study of subdued modern design where the interiors don’t detract from the food.
"The emphasis is on food and art," says Markus, gesturing at the artworks on the walls. The restaurant exhibits (and sells) works of modern artists such as Gus Albor. Markus says Aqua doesn’t get anything in terms of commission, which is just fine because "we get to display such beautiful artworks for a period of time."
As you would notice in Aqua, art and fine dining go well together, like mint and lamb chops, like sea bass and truffle cream, or if you were alive in the ‘70s and liked disco, like Peaches and Herb.
Well, you get the point.
Aqua’s cuisine is modern European and they "haven’t changed anything in the fine dining level," which is great news to Aqua fans who discovered the restaurant when it first opened.
Bestsellers include the bouillabaisse with sea bass, salmon, scallops and prawns with garlic puree and crostini; the crab claw tempura, which uses imported crabs; the Chilean sea bass; and prawns Provençale which come with roasted vegetables and garlic tomato herb broth.
Aside from the a la carte menu, one can order a three-course set menu for P790, a reasonable price indeed and a bargain. The fixed sets include curried carrot soup or tuna carpaccio; seared salmon fillet with angel hair pasta and leek champagne foam or lemon veal schnitzel with roast herb potatoes and organic greens; and banana brulee with orange bouillon and caramel ice cream or caramel panna cotta with praline cream and chocolate syrup.
Aqua fine dining has its own wine list – a modest collection of rated mid-range wines. A few can be ordered by the glass (from P160 for a Marecot Cotes du Marmandais 2000 to P520 for a Moet & Chandon Brut – oooh, champagne and oysters, how nice!).
I don’t know about you, but for me enjoying wine has a lot to do with who you’re drinking it with. For instance, one might order a Houghton white Burgundy (P840) for a so-so first date; a Chablis La Chablisienne for an "I want to take this friendship further" date; or a Chateau Montelena cabernet sauvignon (P7,250) for a "Thank you, dear God, for the salary increase!" dinner. A good vintage, that cabernet sauvignon 1998, a good year for the chateau no doubt, and for you, too, it would seem.
Speaking of wines, Aquaman Markus Gfeller started collecting wines when he was 18. "That was a long time ago," he says with a laugh, "when New World wines were new. They were very interesting, very full bodied compared to the French wines." He collected mostly Australian and New Zealand wines. He also got his diploma on enology (study of wine) in his native Switzerland.
"Part of the education was memorizing wine history and the names, what years were good and what were not."
Since Markus has worked in many fine dining restaurants abroad, he also got to taste wines from all over the world. "Sometimes a customer sends you a glass of wine and it’s always nice for the chef. It’s a tremendous experience tasting a properly stored 50-year-old bottle. It’s wonderful."
If 50 years impresses you, how does a bottle from the 1800s sound? Or the 1920s? Or you can select one chateau and choose from three vintages? Or the famous 1947 Chateau Petrus (seeing that Petrus is the wine of presidents)?
Aqua Wine Lounge is a partnership between Markus’ group and Yats International, a Hong Kong-based company that’s famous for their vintage wine collection. "We heard they were looking for space in Makati and we offered them this space in Aqua. We’re servicing the lounge but they’re the ones providing the wines. They’re extreme vintage choices, select wines by great French wine houses and all the big names."
The wine lounge welcomes everybody, from connoisseurs to beginning wine lovers to executives wanting to seal a deal over a bottle of Bordeaux to people who just want to drink and read the wine books at the lounge. The booths and glass-enclosed rooms are very private that there’s a button to push if you want service, rather than having a waiter hovering around your table. The only rule here is that you must drink wine (after all, it is a wine lounge). Food, meanwhile, is provided by Aqua.
Markus says yes, there is a market for such wines in the country. "Can’t mention any names, but there are a lot of people who really appreciate good wine. The beauty of Yats International’s wine list is that it is huge, there are bottles for very reasonable prices (such as P2,000) and then there are the extreme."
The extreme being half a million pesos for a bottle of wine! "It’s better to buy here than going to auctions. Obviously, Yats get them at auctions, especially the French Bordeaux wines. I’m very proud to have their wine here, it’s like an art collection."
The wines on display in the lounge are dummy bottles. The real vintage wines are in a climate-controlled storage facility.
The lounge has over 300 wines to choose from. Markus says giving vintage gifts – wines with vintage matching the recipient’s special year, like his birthday or anniversary – to bosses and future fathers-in-law has become the fashionable way to impress them. (If your future son-in-law gives you the Petrus, try and welcome him to the family, won’t you?)
Markus’s advice for beginners who want to learn more about wine: "First know what you want – white or red? Explore a little, do you want something safe or really exclusive? Do you want something fruity or dry? If you can afford it, go and open those bottles and experience them, make your notes. That’s a gift – being able to afford these wonderful wines."
Well, you know what a novelist once said: One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
We’ll certainly drink to that.