HAVING been imprisoned (oh, you mean the word should be confined? I don’t know… you have to convince me first) in the hospital midweek and forced to stay home one more day, there was just Friday to panic. Where to eat?
Imee suggested this place, which she described as the Frenchie-Frenchie place by Chippens that is across Chippens. I remember a café-looking place that I long wanted to try but never had the chance. And true enough, it was that place, except that it has a different name now and a big sign to announce its presence.
Chez*nous, pronounced /sei-nu/, and I know that’s how because it’s written on the signboard.
Chez Nous is along Padre Gomez Street, or the street that has a traffic light, which crosses Roxas Avenue. The place has a small parking area good for four vehicles. But it was filled up at that time, so we had to park along Jacinto Street instead, a short walk away.
It’s a relatively small restaurant, maybe ten tables at most. When we came in, at least five were occupied, we got the couch that gave us a good view of the kitchen and the uniformed cooks and chef inside. It was neat. The service is fast, too.
Considering that we ordered meat and fish. We started off with their tuna nicoise, which wasn’t the well-tossed salade nicoise that I was expecting. It came as a well-arranged plate of greens and other veggie stuff, seared tuna (which was properly seared and tasty), and a really nicely poached egg with all the yolk running down as you cut through it, but not a strand of mucous-y white. I liked it. *Clap-clap-clap!*
Next came Imee’s order, the Arancini, decribed as risotto balls on herbed tomato sauce. It was yummy too. But then… *I love herbed tomato sauce*, so that dish had a “partida”, it could have been anything, I’d still love it.
Our main course consisted of the tuna tornado (mine, because I have to stick to a new healthy diet), Imee’s beef ribs, and beef stroganoff. I like them all, I’d love a bit more of that swish of sauce on my tuna plate though. Whatever that was.
The beef stroganoff is worth an extra mention. Surrounded by star-shaped mashed potato, the stroganoff has another nicely poached egg on top.
Everything’s well-presented and didn’t stop at just the presentation.
They all tasted good, and priced just right. They have huge servings too.
The surprise? A treat from the chef: triple chocolate mousse served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and preserved raspberries.
Tip: When eating this, get a piece of the raspberry, cut a bite size of the mousse and a bit of the vanilla ice cream and chew all together.
Although, they’re okay on their own, still, having them all together is a happy experience.
