FOO’D: Cucina Pop Style Fine Dining in Manila

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, my friends and I tried a new restaurant called FOO’D(pronounced as Fu-do) at Shangri-la Fort in BGC.

FOO’D is a restaurant that was recently opened in Manila by Foodee Global Concepts and was done through a partnership with Chef Davide Oldani, a Michelin-starred chef that became known for his restaurant called D’O which opened in 2003 in Cornaredo, Italy(near Milan) and earned a Michelin star 12 months after it opened. D’O has been featured in Conde Nast Traveller as one of the best restaurants in Italy, has a 6-month waitlist and is considered as one of the most affordable Michelin star restaurants in Europe.

Chef Davide Oldani worked with and learned from famous chefs Alain Ducasse and Pierre Hermes before. Chef Davide is known for his “Cucina Pop” cuisine concept since his philosophy is to make fine dining accessible to everyone while maintaining high quality. He blends the essential with the well-made and creates something good and accessible. He is able to keep prices affordable by maintaining a small restaurant with a lean crew. At his D’O restaurant in Italy, a 35-seater restaurant, he and other chefs under his team present dishes to the customers. With this, the chefs are able to fully explain the dish to customers which also enhances customer experience. He also makes use of ingredients that are in season to keep cost low.

FOO’D in Manila offers affordable fine dining as a 3-course meal is priced at PHP800 (around USD16.00) and one can have the option to upgrade the meal by choosing from other types of antipasto, secondo or dolce(dessert) dishes. One may also opt to go for a 4-course or 5-course meal.

The signature dish of Chef Davide known as Cipolla Caramelata(Onion Tart) is offered at FOO’D.

Our group tried the 3-course meal and below are the dishes we tried:

 

Cipolla Caramelata

A caramelized onion with 24-month aged
Grana Padano gelato and Grana Padano hot cream

We all liked the Cipolla Caramelata for our antipasto since the sweet and salty blend of flavors from the onion and cheese gelato and cream was certainly delightful.

Chicken and Prawn
Free range spring chicken  with
veal jus, raisins and scent of thyme

Most of us had the Chicken and Prawn which was tender and well-seasoned while my friend’s sister tried the Iberico pork ribs as her secondo dish which was very tender and had a flavorful mushroom sauce.

Iberico pork ribs with mushroom sauce

For dessert we had the chocolate fondant with toasted seeds and milk gelato. My friends wanted to have more of the gelato though since the fondant chocolate was bitter sweet.

Fondant

Chocolate fondant with toasted seeds and milk gelato

Our overall dining experience at FOO’D was very good. We enjoyed the food and the ambience of the place is simple yet modern and elegant. The dimly lit restaurant accommodates around 50 guests and the tables covered in white table cloth, gray chairs and shelves with books, bird figurines and other interesting items makes the place feel cozy. 

FOO'D restaurant interiors

source:  www.spot.ph 

Since the place is not too big it would be best to reserve for a table if you want to dine at FOO'D (Reservation Phone # : (02) 2469069 ext. 620).

We all found the food to be good.  FOO'D is certainly a value for money fine dining Italian restaurant as the price for their 3-course meal was affordable and the portions, taste and quality of the dishes were all good .We definitely enjoyed our New Year's Eve meal. Cheers!