Not Your Usual Lunch at Yuca – A Unique Dining Experience

Received an invite  from GMA network’s PR to experience a cooking-show-set-visit  at Yuca Restaurant at the ground floor of Venice Grand Canal Mall in Mckinley Hill, Taguig City.

This was my second event  from the same PR group that launched Iya and Drew Arellano’s cooking show SAN MIG HOME FOODIES some months prior.

So yesterday I hied off  to Venice Grand Canal Mall for an interesting insider peek at another taping of the same genre.

I’m not however allowed to post the pics as yet till the show airs sometime next week , so will make do with sharing what we ate during the taping.

Thoroughly enjoyed that Yuca Style Ceviche P330  yesterday. Those  succulent and fresh tuna, squid and prawns made us forget the lights , the cameras, the action and the celebrities as they  acted out their spiels for their show.

Those kaleidoscope of colors from the purple shallots. yellow capsicum ,  red bell peppers to the green cilantro and cucumber mesmerized and made us forget the horde of fans waving to the stars/hosts just  a foot or two away from our table. I actually considered waving at them myself ahaha

I digress…

Reminiscent of our local kilawin, the dish made use of lime or lemon instead of vinegar. The taste was a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Loved how the cilantro gave the  dish a vibrant and refreshing tenor which elevated the flavors a notch.

Tio Romy’s Nachos  was another interesting dish to order. Quite different from the ubiquitous nachos we are familiar with, Yuca’s version is the  deconstructed kind (pardon the oft used term). Visualize two plates –  one for the sauce and a bowl for the nachos.

CHIPS. The chips  themselves were already a topic for conversation. It was a bowl of varying size, shapes, textures and color of  (what tasted like) plantains,  potatoes, purple yam, cassava, etc. So you get thick and hard chips (plantain?) or thin and crunch  ones (potatoes)

The chips paired well with that bright and sunny   plate of  pulled beef, corn salsa , shallots, cilantro swimming in a bed of sinful, thick and creamy cheese.

Cheese upon cheese as the dish gets more via a dusting of  what appeared to be parmegianno regianno all over.

Now that’s the way to eat Tio Romy’s Nachos. Just ditch the spoon and scoop  a dollop of that golden  and delicious nacho sauce with that purple yam chip.

Actually there were more dishes to be relished supposedly  but duty beckoned .  Taping done, we were summoned to interview the stars for a few minutes.

After that and the quintessential photo op  with the celebrities, we were off. Yes we missed the dessert too.

Oh well all the more reason to return with the piggery in tow.

Do watch out for my blog post detailing more of this cooking-show-set-visit taping experience in a few days.

Thank you GMA network for the invite.

YUCA is located at the ground floor Venice Grand Canal Mall Mckinley Hill Taguig.