TuSuperlicious at Opus

Once upon a time in a beautiful hidden valley, there lived a chicken named Pacita… Oops, scratch that. Once upon a time in a magical kingdom of Supremedom, there lived the ultimate King of Supremeness: Tim Yap. And in his fantastical realm he had many superlicious friends. They were from all backgrounds and different stages of his life: childhood friends, party friends, colleagues, mentors, partners…

Man of the night: Chef Carlo Miguel

One thing this King Tim didn’t have was minions. With all his perceived nombril grazing, paradoxically in his reign all were equal, given the same amount of respect, love and attention, for King Tim was generous, full of optimism, light and energy. On his birthday, he gave a party… A night to remember with delicious food, wines and liquors so abundant that Dionysus himself was envious; amazing entertainment worthy of the Sun King’s court and in this modern-day Versailles that is Opus, he shared his birthday with all those January co-celebrants. Even with one certain J whose birthday is in August…

I had spent a long weekend hiding in the valleys of beautiful Bukidnon reading Alexandre Dumas’ La Reine Margot under swaying trees full of chirping birds. It was peace and quiet, nature at its best. The food we had enjoyed was all farm-grown, amazingly delicious. Arriving in Manila, in no less than 24 hours, I was thrown into what could possibly be the exact opposite; however, not unpleasantly so. It was a night of true glitz and glamour, yet in true Tim Yap fashion, it still felt warm and cozy with all familiar faces and just a bunch of friends having good fun.

Since its opening and one completely starved, drunken-binge evening where I inhaled perhaps five plates of tapas alone, Opus has intrigued me. Will it be the first successful chameleonic resto-lounge-bar-club in Manila? From what I remember (despite the fuzziness vodka tonics seem to bestow upon me), those tapas were amazing. I had an exploding bite of uni and seared foie gras cut by a nice sweet, sharp and tart radish. We had to order another plate because either I ate it all and refused to share or my friends ate it all and I wanted my own. Again, fuzzy vodka cloud.

With all the eating out I did in the insane “ber” month season, I really took pleasure in hiding out for the first part of January so I never really had the occasion to go back and truly eat in Opus. When Tim had invited of a sit down dinner before the party I was truly ecstatic to share this meal with friends and because it was to be a tasting, I could try more than what I could usually eat.

Birthday boy Tim Yap with author Stephanie Zubiril

Chef Carlo Miguel was the longtime chef of one of my favorite classic restaurants in Manila: Sala. At Opus he has finally let his creativity loose, unleashing molecular pearls and interesting texture on his dishes. Perhaps the fact that Opus has no real one type of cuisine means that he can truly play around with flavors and worldly influences. Dinner began with a salad: Grilled asparagus, parmesan, crisp greens and rather delightful croutons enriched with a poached egg and romesco sauce. It was quite delicious — not truly unusual in flavor but rather comforting and well executed. My only regret was that the poached egg could have been runnier but it’s not an easy task when dinner was for 40 people. The other option of seared tuna looked rather stunning and probably tasted amazing because Jonathan had wiped the plate clean before I could steal a piece.

Then there was a bite of quail and bacon-stuffed ravioli in truffle foam. This had to be one of the most out-of-this-world things I’ve had in Manila. The flavors were spot on, just how I like them. Rich, dense yet uncomplicated. The ravioli was perfectly executed, not mushy but still with that firm bite. The filing was heavenly and, well, as I finished off my tiny bowl, I tried in vain to take all the little remaining bits with the fork, not wanting to overstuff myself with bread for the next course. I turned to Jonathan and discreetly said, “I want to lick that bowl clean.” “Don’t do that!” “I really want to but I’m too polite, if I had a few more drinks I just might have.” One small regret… I wanted more!

Ravioli of wonders: Stuffed with quail and bacon with that truffle foam

My main was a sous-vide beef served with truffled mac and cheese. The technique was just as it should have been. The beef remained rather tender and yet it was pan-fried crisp à la minute so that the outside was deliciously crusty. The truffled mac and cheese was good but to be honest I would have liked a nice potato puree or gratin. Something that could really absorb that nice jus that glazed my plate. After a few glasses of wine and a funny social game of musical chairs (my seatmates at the beginning of dinner were different from those when dessert came!), when dessert did come I unfortunately ignored it engaging in conversation and decidedly headed to the bar to have a serious drink to “melt the fat” (at least that’s what I told myself).

A lingering memory of a good cocktail popped in my head and I casually asked the bartender for a Vesper. He looked at me, smiled and acknowledged the order. A rather young, good-looking man asked: “Do you know what a Vesper is?” Admittedly the bartender didn’t and so this man, dressed like a chic and fashionable referee in a striped black and white shirt (all he needed was a whistle “Tweeeet! You! One scotch too many!”), made me an impeccably smooth gin and Vodka Vesper martini: the glass chilled to perfection, lemon peel kissed the glass before it was dropped in and smooth clear liquid that could go horribly wrong when poorly done. David (as I learned was his name) manages the place and all their other sister bars and establishments. Great cocktail, great conversation.

Gin, oh dreadful gin… one drink and you’re under my skin. My second Vesper, which was more on the floor than on my lips, had me dancing away, celebrating the birthday of Tim and at midnight the birthday of my sweetheart Jonathan. At King Tim’s court, everything was dazzling and those little raviolis beware… As I shall be back and I may just discreetly lick that bowl clean!

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You can contact me at Stephanie_zubiri@yahoo.fr.