Apéro: First things first
On Temple Drive in Corinthian Hills, a bustling, uppity neighborhood near White Plains in Quezon City, is a French bistro called Apéro. The casually chic restaurant was built on two stories: first, it was built out of love; second, it was built out of love for good French food.
For their honeymoon in 2010, young couple Bryan and Kathleen Chua explored France. In romantic Paris, Bryan reserved a dinner table for two in a steakhouse. Excited for their date, the couple arrived early in the restaurant but were not allowed entry right away.
“The restaurant wouldn’t let us in yet so we decided to explore the neighborhood before dinner. We then noticed a very small shop nearby where locals were talking loudly and merrily and were having drinks and small snacks and we decided to go in and have a drink ourselves before dinner. The food and the drinks were all quite simple but very well made; the vibe, very casual but unintentionally chic and comforting,” said Bryan.
It was a romantic and unforgettable experience for the then newly married couple that by “luck” they discovered a place that they wanted to replicate in Manila. Ironically, Bryan said, the small shop they went to for pre-dinner drinks ended up to be much more memorable than the actual steak dinner itself.
In that dreamy exploration in the heart of Paris, Bryan and Kathleen learned about the cherished French tradition of apéro from a local friend of theirs and understood it firsthand. Apéro, Bryan said, is short for aperitif, which refers to both the pre-dinner drinks and the social occasion itself.
“We then placed the memory in our back burners, thinking that it would be cool if we had something like that in Manila. Many years later, in 2016, my wife and I had the opportunity to bring this concept to life with our business partners (including Bryan’s brothers Jamieson Chua and Marvin Chua and Apéro executive chef Jacqueline Tan),” he added.
The piece-de-resistance in Apéro is the Corned Beef Short Ribs, an appetizing, melt-in-the mouth gustatory encounter. It’s a home-cured bone in corned beef served with potato hash (or aromatic fried brown rice, if you so desire) and Bearnaise sauce. It’s a heaven-meets-a-rack-of-meat experience because it’s so tender the meat just falls off the bone. Every bite, especially when a sliver of corned beef in the fork is joined with a slice of caramelized onion, is an excursion to a glorious meal.
Remarkable, too, is the Halibut Fish ’n Chips with Caviar Tartar. The vodka-beer battered halibut is fried to crisp perfection, paired with golden fries, and complemented by the delicate caviar tartar sauce. Squeeze a slice of lemon and the tangy, exquisite taste of the sea is achieved.
Since the bistro is also a breakfast place—lunch and dinner here, to borrow a line from Beauty and the Beast, are never second best—trust that an early morning indulgence of Dutch Baby Pancakes with Sausage & Eggs is a sure tummy-pleaser. Oven-puffed pancakes are a charmer when appetizingly topped with yummy sausages and fragrant basil eggs. Divine!
Another breakfast favorite is the Honey Toast Jamon & Eggs. Satisfying. Delicious. Filling. How ham and eggs create an unforgettable classic goodness to the tastebuds is a secret or magic only Apéro can wield.
Classy and crusty is the lasagna at the bistro. Because many like the edges of the lasagna for its crispness, Jacq, the executive chef, devised a way to make a seemingly “all-edge” pasta dish in Beef Bourguignon Aubergine Lasagna. The dish is a labor and flavor of love composed of a tender eight-hour red wine-braised beef, slow-roasted eggplant, and layers and layers of cheese. Magnifique!
The carnivores will taste heaven in a good-to-share serving of Beef Shank with Bone Marrow Sauce. It’s both sinful and salivating—but good food is always food for the soul. The meat is fork-tender; and the fork glistens as it digs to the dish bathed in bone marrow juice. Complementing the richness of the dish is the charred bok choy.
The 80-sq.-m. bistro that can accommodate 50 guests in one sitting is a testament to the culinary innovation and tradition its owners have setup from the time they put up Duck and Buvette, a French restaurant inside Shangri-La Mall in Ortigas.
“Apéro came about right after we opened Duck and Buvette,” said Bryan. “At D&B, our focus was creating quality food from scratch, without shortcuts, slowly and meticulously. But we felt there was something missing with what we could showcase to our customers, since D&B is limited within the mall operating hours. And so we scouted for a space where we could serve freshly baked breads made each day at 2 a.m., do a proper all-day dining menu and a good drink list for after-dinner hangouts.”
With this mission in mind, Apéro in Corinthian Hills was born.
And what’s for dessert? A sweet ending to a savory meal is the Honey Lavender Mascarpone. It’s a well-curated dessert with layers of delicate lavender-infused cream and honey-glazed figs, all settled and nestled on crisp, freshly baked French toast.
C’est delicieux! *
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