For me coconut cream is the stuff of life and one of my favorite “condiment” of all time.
As a mom of 4 (collectively called “the piggery” lovingly), I incorporate gata or coconut cream in almost everything I cook if I can get away with it hahaha. Lucky for me, my late mother in law has the same love for this “white elixir ” which can elevate any ordinary dish into something exotic and quite delicious.
Naturally when I received an invite for a restaurant that calls itself GATA, you could say I was more than elated and quite excited to hie off to faraway QC to taste their food.
Here are my favorites :
KINUNOT NA PAGI P295
Flakes of stingray with malunggay leaves swimming in gata simmered for several hours. I tasted the calamansi which provided the much needed acidity to counteract the fishy taste. You need to order cups of rice for this. It was that good.
I suggest you stick with plain rice (P40) . It complements the
richness of the dish allowing you to focus on the
pagi which is the star of the show.
LAING P235
As far as my family is concerned, there are two kinds of laing. There is the “wet” laing where the whole dish looks like green mud. Then there is the “dry” laing where the gabi leaves are dark green , almost crisp and swimming in the oil of the coconut cream which separated from the “milk” part of the gata.
We prefer the latter. Fortunately for me, Gata’s Laing is the dry one. Yay! Had to consciously restrain myself though not to indulge too much as there are other dishes to taste. It was delicious.
KARE KARENG BAGNET P320
This is a double whammy dish that combines two of my favorite dishes in one. Kare Kareng Bagnet falls under the “high cholesterol” category . Bagnet is double deep fried pork belly which is an iconic dish in Ilocos province.
Traditionally, Kare Kare has melt-in-the-mouth ox tail and tripe or “twalya” . So Gata’s Kare Kareng Bagnet puts a little spin on the classic version familiar to us.
The bagnet was crunchy and to die for (literally and figuratively haha) and married well with the Kare Kare sauce.
BICOL EXPRESS P250
There was heat which was expected so I tiptoed around the green chilis like it was a minefield and selected a few liempo fully submerged in all that gata goodness. It was umami delicious. The perfect balance of acidity, sweetness from the coconut cream or gata, spice from the chilis , perhaps some fish sauce for saltiness was evident.
SUMMARY :
If you are missing the food that is lovingly made for you by your mom or lola, go to Gata. Food is scrumptious you almost feel home. Prices are not bad either.
Thank you for having us Gata Restaurant and for the invite @boyeatworldph.
Definitely going back with the piggery in tow.
