Chelsea Market: a nostalgic trip back to Manhattan

Chelsea Market: a nostalgic trip back to Manhattan
By : Aly Abaquin http://alyabaquin.blogspot.com



“Chelsea Market and the meat packing district are evolving into the hottest new destination in New York City!!!” . . . AHHH! New York... New York!!! Reminds me of my gastronomical tour and my wonderful stay in the Big Apple.
And one memorable visit is-The Chelsea Market. As I stumbled upon this one stop culinary food shop and a gourmet’s lover’s whole sale retail wonderland. Alice would surely be delighted to be thrown in here. It is an “industrial- chic hotspot” along a historic and most unique city block in Manhattan that I was fortunate enough to experienced, a few years back. It’s located in the 75 9th Avenue to be exact. Every thing is wonderful. There’s a -master baker, a real butcher, unpretentious outlets, super sandwiches, fabulous cakes, cookies, muffins, flowers and even FOOD NETWORK.- That’ s The Chelsea Market


FAST FORWARD TO SERENDRA, Philippines…
THE FEEL : The owners of this Serendra sensation tries to replicate that New York feeling. It is a quintessential modern industrial American restaurant.
The dining is casual and fun but still a little elegant with its familiar menu yet sophisticated. SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD pretty like much what a market should be.
THE CHALLENGE: My brother wants me to prove if the P1,000 pesos- Dinner for two is conceivable in Chelsea. Because I keep on raving about how great a bargain eater I am…so due to my BIG MOUTH I must be able to convince him and believe that it is doable.
I told him of the rules: The vats and 10% charges will not be part of the P1K. And I will order for both of us. So I told myself stick to your guns of PSW system.
Pasta-Salad and Wine…. Dude!! So perfect that when I was ordering. This brother of mine told me -“I don’t like pasta or pesto. I had enough of the pasta last Christmas”. Oh no!?! Is he simply being hard on me or simply a pain in the ass.
Naturally both… so change plans! So here’s what we ordered: Main Dish: Grilled Roasted Gourmet Sausage which he like - plus “pogi” points to me, then the Salad: Granny Smith Apple Shreds & Gorgonzola and 2 Red Wine/Shiraz. Later on we will let you in with the price.
THE FOOD: The resto’s cuisine prides itself of the Italian-American classics meets sensible Mediterranean accents and the creative energy of CosMo Manila, in dishes like....Moroccan Food, Lamb Shack Tanjine, Five Cheese Pizza and the Meat Ball Pasta, Seafood Linguini and Fettuccini are the favorites.
But we took the different route due to the P 1,000 pesos challenge and to proved my MANTRA : GREAT FOOD CHEAP EATS…exists.

Firstly our server Leo gave us the freshly baked Foccacia bread with black olives and dipping it in EVOO and balsamic vinaigrette with powered parmesan cheese is just the start of a perfect dinner.
We opted for the Red Wine: Full bodied Grant Burge, Benchmark Australian red wine or simply SHIRAZ is good for the meat dish.
Our salad is the Granny Smith Apple shreds & gorgonzola- fresh arugula, toasted walnuts drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette with sliced green apples is served topped with gorgonzola. This salad is not for everybody due to its sour leafy arugula(over grown leaves) so to mystify the sour we needed a little kick so we ask for a little more salt, pepper, brown sugar and more vinaigrette and presto sweet and sour just right but the crumbled gorgonzola was “bitin” too little was on top of the salad. Instead of toasted walnuts I prefer candied walnuts- Filipino taste buds are really different.;)
The Grilled Roasted Gourmet Sausages was served on top of homemade sauerkraut and classic mashed potatoes with Dijon mustard and red peppercorn cream sauce. The techniques in cooking the sausages are basic, not fussy, the ingredients easy-to-find, not esoteric, but the flavors are bold not flighty.
So as we divided and tasted each one, the English pork, the Shulib and the Hungarian sausage are divine, each with its own distinct flavor and is good with the Foccacia bread with black olives, ask your server to bring you another round.
The food is simple, It looks simple but when you dig in it. Your instantly satisfied.
THE SERVICE: Friendly, Informative and helpful.
THE PRICE: Reasonable and competitive but they need to incorporate the vat in their menu price and add on the 10% service charged later.
So not to irritate Budget Conscious diners.
Here’s the math : Grilled Sausage P 495 + Salad P 295 +2 glasses of shiraz at P160 each equals total of P 1,110 not bad a little over by P110 but wait we need to pay the vat and service charge of P 244 oh no….;(.
Note: Weekends they do not take reservations. Please add more seats…..;)
Overall CHELSEA MARKET & CAFÉ will continue to provide comfort food and delight its patrons with superb service. It was a nostalgic trip to Manhattan after all. Despite the non-inclusion of vat in their menu price. Its worth the trip.
With out the jet lag.

Ratings :5 spoons