Lunch at Florabel's Podium

For our regular weekly lunch date, I met up again with Lenz at the Podium. We chose to have lunch at Florabel's. She has been here with her siblings and she wanted me to try their food.

Florabel's is owned by chef  Florabel Co Yatco. The casual dining restaurant is located at the side of the Podium. Being a Monday, there weren't much people dining in.  When I arrived, Lenz was already there. The wait staff were courteous and accomodating when I asked if it's okay if I can take photos. 

 

 

The ambience is cozy and has that bright,clean, sophisticated look with high ceiling, floor to ceiling glass windows in front, black furniture and minimal table decors. 

The menu is a listing of Asian Continental and Filipino dishes . I had a heavy snack mid morning and wasn't craving for anything special. I preferred something light, less carbo. For those on a diet and into healthy eating, would be glad to know that Florabel’s has South Beach dishes to chose from. 

 

Complimentary bread comes with a dipping sauce made of olive oil, peppers, garlic and herbs.

 

For starters, we had soups. Lenz chose the Vegetable Barley Soup with Fresh Herbs (P160), which Lenz seemed to enjoy.

While I got the Tomato Soup topped with Ricotta Cheese and Baby Arugula (P200).  I find my soup a bit on the salty side and the baby arugula (what I was looking forward to) is missing. I would have loved it so much had they toned down on the salt. the ricotta cheese gave a creamy taste to complement the acidity of tomatoes. 

For the main course, we settled for the JT Wagyu burger (P475), listed on their ultimate burgers selection.  Wagyu beef patty  on sesame bun with mushrooms and bacon. We requested to cut it in half. The burger came in two separate plates. The staff was so generous to give each plate a bowl of salad greens with parmesan cheese shavings, and potato chips, making it almost two servings instead of one.  We requested the burger to be cooked medium well.  We should have asked for medium rare. Wagyu meat when cooked well done, tends to go dry and our Wagyu burgers were a bit dry and bland.  

Lenz ordered a glass of red wine to go with our meal.  It was too early for me to have wine and opted for the cantaloupe juice, which is sweet and refreshing. 

We didn’t try their desserts.  A sweet excuse to come back and try their Pinoy fare and bring home the Yema filled Chocolate Cake, the signature dessert of Chef Florabel.   

Next on my list would be a visit to Felix in Greenbelt 5, another one of Chef Florabel’s numerous restaurants, soon.