Tourne, Fort Strip

I always enjoy dining with my friends Cheska and Brian.* They're cheery pleasant people who are undeniably up for a new foodie experience. Want proof? Here we go, Mercato Centrale, Greenhills area,

Chinatown. So it was a definite must to have a meal with them since I'm in Manila.

I asked them to suggest a restaurant since they're such good food hunters. HAHA. They suggested a newly opened restaurant called Tourne, duh. I googled Tourne but there hardly was any info about the restaurant except the fact that it's owned by a chef that trained in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu.**

We got there early.
So it was still pretty empty.

A quote by Alice Waters up on the wall.

The ambiance is elegant, all white, clean, and pristine. Despite that, it was cozy too. The staff look prim and proper. And the huge window allowed customers to peer into the kitchen to watch the chefs in action.

complimentary noms.

So I'm told the menu changes every 3 weeks, if I'm not mistaken. As far as I know, that's one of the firsts here in the Philippines. Their menu for the night doesn't have an apparent cuisine pinned down. But there there's an array of interesting things to be found.

Thai Inspired Beef, Cilantro, Cucumber, and Glass Noodle Salad.
With Talavera's Fish Sauce Vinaigrette.
P 218

White Picca, Duck Confit, Young Chili Leaves
and Malagos Farm Goat's Cheese
P180

For appetizers, we have the White Pizza and a Thai Salad. The portions may be a bit scant but the flavors are spot on and ultimately deliver. I wish there was more confit duck on the White Pizza, that would've been terrific instead of flecks of duck floss. It had a creamy cheesy sauce too. A had a taste of the Thai Salad, there was an acidic-spicy thing going on. My friends loved it.

Spiced Chicken Breast, Grilled French Beans,
Tarragon and Orange Vinaigrette,
Saffron Rice Pilaf.
P308

Cheska ordered the chicken and everything went down contently. I had a go, it was tender, well crusted and it had a bit of cinnamon flavor.

Pesto marinaded Pork Chops, Tourne of Carrots,
Grilled French Beans, Brunoise of Pineapple and Tomato salsa
and Yellow Rice.
P398

Brian on the other hand, had pork chops. I've never been a fan of pork chops until I tried Pork Chops at Cyma. At Tourne, the pork chops were also thick but a bit on the dry side. It's grilled nicely with the whole shibang of char marks. But it's a mess to eat and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a date. wink.

Pili Encrusted Tilapia, Red Beet Coulis, Hollandaise and
Grilled Baguio Beans served on Potato Mash.
P298

I had fish.*** It was sweet, and crusted well. It's one of those minimum effort, maximum flavor things. The sauce was contrasting, and it cuts the flavor of the crusted fish well. Maybe the single downside of it was the crust was a bit salty toward the end, perhaps not mixed thoroughly?

Roaster Juan's Tiramisu
Boras, Roaster Juan's coffee infused Creme Patissiere
P90

Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream.

Of course, there were desserts. The tiramisu was one of those deconstructed sorts. The visual appeal was.. um.. yeah.. not that great. As a whole, we weren't such big fans of it. It needed a kick to up the notch. The bread and butter pudding wasn't spot on either. It was heavy, but then bread and butter pudding is heavy anyway. This one felt like eating French Toast rather than a Bread Pudding. It's Cinnamon Raisin French Toast. And the caramel sauce lacked that punch too. We were fairly disappointed of the outcome of the desserts.

Tourne is something new, something special. Their menu changes every few weeks and they pay particular attention to slow food. That's something that's really lacking in the food scene these days. Their desserts might need more of  rethink and redo though.

Tourne by Chef Sandralyn Hataway
The Fort Strip, Taguig


Telephone: +63917-8275685

Business Hours: 10 AM to 10 PM daily.

* They're such a lovely couple.

** One of the bigs of the culinary world. I'm jealous.

*** Got to admit, fish is my favorite thing to have these days.