Martini Night at Hole in One

[jkgourmet]

Together with another couple, husband and I made it over to Martini Night at The Hole in One last week. The menu included about eight different martini's, at 50 pesos each, including a mango, raspberry and mint, pomegranate and mint, classic dry martini, a pink lady (I think that's what it was called), Asian ginger martini and lemon drop martini. (sorry, I forget the eighth type).

Before ordering, I asked the waiter what the Pink Lady martini was. He had no idea, went off to find out and came back saying "it's vodka and tropical fruits." I know this martini thing is a new deal for H&O, but the staff should be better informed, IMO.

Husband ordered the lemon drop, another of our party ordered the pomegranate mint, I chose the Asian ginger, and the fourth does not drink martinis (chardonnay is her drink of choice). The waiter emphasized, very politely, that if we did not like any of them, they would adjust or replace. Frankly, the lemon drop martini (one of my favorites NOB) should have been sent back, but husband hates doing that. Totally sour, with none of the expected sweetness (or sugar on the rim of the martini glass). The pomegranate mint was very nice and the mint (from fresh mint leaves) added an interesting coolness. My Asian ginger was the big hit. Light, different and easily something I would order again.

We ordered all three of the appetizers on the menu - ribs with a Asiausage sauce (two small ribs to a plate, so we ordered two plates so we each had one rib), a sausage dish that was like an open sandwich (Argentinean sausage, perhaps?) and mussels in a Thai sauce.

The ribs were fine, but small with a slight smoky taste that I didn't think went well with the thick and good, Teriyaki like sauce. The mussels were green lipped mussels, which I should have realized before I ordered - I rarely enjoy frozen mussels. Still, these mussels were really pretty awful and a bit gritty. The sauce, however, was superb - similar to a peanut sauce you might get with sate, and on a bed of slightly sauteed spinach. The dish was a perfect example of a chef gone wild. Put this sauce on something simple, like chicken or maybe shrimp, and let the sauce sing. The mussels were just overkill and unnecessary.

We all agreed the biggest hit, and surprise, was the sausage. Quite a generous and delicious serving of a flat patty of sausage on what I think was lightly toasted bread.

As I said, this is a new offering for this restaurant. Considering the success of their brunch and dinners, I would suspect they will be able to work out the kinks.

[slumdog]

Your comments about taking time to get these 'new offerings' working right are well taken. But I'd like to take this new thread to comment on the many postings in the last HIO discussion. Lot of folks saying they enjoyed the food, hated the long wait: "Eric insists on doing each dish carefully."

I think Eric's cooking is dynamite, and I love it. However, it points out that he is still a cook, and not yet a chef. A chef, beyond being a good cook, knows how to run a kitchen. Can you imagine the mayhem if he was sending out his excellent food in a restaurant in a big city? Pandemonium.

He is probably stifled by the staff he is given; there are no sous-chefs or experienced choppers helping him. And of course the prices are extremely reasonable for most of his dishes, so we're not paying for proper cooking staff. I'll be going tonight to try the shank, no matter how long it takes. BUT I'll be happy when he ends up somewhere with a degree under his belt and some kitchen-management experience.

[jkgourmet]

Slumdog (my, how awful I feel using that moniker), you're thoughts are right on target.

I will add that Erik is certainly not a chef - he is ONLY a student at the culinary school, which I think explains a lot. The slow service, the control over every dish tfat leaves the kitchen, perhaps even the attitude. Call it inexperience or immaturity (he is, after all, a 21 year old kid).

I'lll just call it outstanding food (almost always) at incredibly low prices (based on quality) in an atmosphere of zero ambience, a very attractive and reasonable wine list, anxious to please wait staff, with an incredibly long wait to get your meal.

Not for everybody. And that's fair enough. But we will return.

[slumdog]

We went last night, and had an excellent meal, the steak and the shank. It was pretty busy, but the waiter said it was nothing like Sunday. In any case, service was very prompt, considering. We had our drinks within five minutes, our salad in 30, and our dinner another 30 after that. We had obviously been prepared to wait, so that wasn't a problem.

The ambience is going way up. They have marble table-tops for most, and lovely rattan-style (and very comfortable) chairs. If you look around you see the mountains on one side, the trees on the other, and a well-stocked and shiny bar in the middle (very cool bar stools, too). Only the driving range is out-of-sync, but nobody seems to care. With all those happy eaters, life indeed seems good. And instead of sports on the TV, there was a (DVD?) special of classical music from (perhaps Vienna).

As you pointed out, Erik is still a student, and he will be an exceptional chef.