The Rustic Feel of Things (a review of RUSTIC MORNINGS)

In one of his TV shows he says to the effect that “You should do one thing perfectly, rather than do ten things wrong” – Gordon Ramsay

My fiancée and I have been talking about our wedding, and both being food lovers we agreed that if there was any aspect of our wedding on which time and careful consideration should be made, it should be the food in our reception.  Whether it’s a 20-person wedding or 200-person wedding, one thing is absolute as death and taxes, is the food in your reception. 

    Now, don’t let my words mislead you, they most definitely came to celebrate your special day of union with you, but after hours into the ceremony, waiting and anticipating, for sure their stomachs are grumbling and anticipating for the food at your reception and I think it is crucial that your food is just as good as your wedding decorations.  After all, who wants to wait for bad food? I would rather wait 45 minutes for a Michelin Star meal than 5 minutes for a badly cooked dish.

  So for this feast, I have decided to share with you my experience in one of those casual dining restaurants that offer wedding reception services that is located in the heart of Marikina City, RUSTIC MORNINGS.

    Let’s talk about location for a second.  By no means is this restaurant inaccessible without a GPS or maybe just a little web research, maybe a little familiarity with the area helps as well.  However, I will say, it may very well be categorized as a “hole-in-the-wall”, in fact if I hadn’t joined my sister in her quest for the perfect reception venue, I would have never figured out that there was a restaurant hidden along this short and narrow pathway.

   The logistics of the matter is irrelevant anyway, and most definitely it does have that rustic charm, brought about by the fact that, according to the owner herself, it used to be an ancestral home  and their use of reclaimed and refurbished wood does send that message pretty well.  There is always something about transforming a house and turning it into a small and humble restaurant.  It says a lot about the owner’s ingenuity and of course it has that homey feeling to it. And RUSTIC MORNINGS does deliver on all these points.

As with all places like this, you can choose to dine in the restaurant itself or at the terrace.  But to me all these things will never outweigh the importance of how good the food should be.  As far as I am concerned all the fancy décor and the resto’s interior design are just props for great food, which brings us to that topic.  

I will get right to it and I have to give them thumbs up for their PULLED PORK CRACKLING SANDWICH is incredibly hitting on all flavor cylinders. I have not had too many pulled pork sandwiches in my day but this one was just incredibly full of it!

One bite of that low-and-slow cooked and absolutely succulent pulled pork smothered with this sweet and salty sauce that is just soaked up by the toasted crisp ciabatta was immaculate. A truly mouthwatering delight between two pieces of bread other than a burger patty!  The saltiness of that ciabatta was perfect for the sweet and savory sauce on that pulled pork.  Let me put it to you in this way, they thought it was so good that the only adornment it needed was to garnish it with onions.  It is so simple but so packed with flavor that I makes it a definite must-try if you are into sandwiches. GOOD STUFF!

If I were to nitpick on something, it would be a very minor detail of how this sandwich was advertised.  It says crackling, now I’m no genius but to me crackling usually means a solid crunch from the crust of well cooked pork skin. Sadly though the only crackling I got was from the toasted ciabatta.  This is nothing to detract from the fact that this is by far one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Lets be frank here, the flavors are just there.  

It wouldn’t be fair if I were to judge them on one dish so I tried out their PINOY BURRITO. 

  Basically, it is a Chimichanga (deep-fat fried burrito) except that instead of being wrapped with tortilla they used lumpia wrappers that you get from your average supermarket.  What is to complain about? This is, after all, an interpretation of one of my favorite Mexican dishes.  

I won’t waste your time, sub-par.  Think about ordering it. Oh you’ll be tempted to do so but believe me, it isn’t that good.  I mean being Filipinos, who doesn’t like the sound of lumpia wrapper stuffed with “tinapa” fried rice with a white cream sauce. Sounds good right? The only problem is, it is bland as a piece of paper, although on paper it shows promise.  I’ve had my fair share of “tinapa” rice in various resots but this one was just way off the mark.  Not enough flakes of “tinapa” into the rice stuffing, that the smokey flavor of that fish is just lost in the mix.  Lacks seasoning either, it was a flat line of blandness with an occasional spike of smokey flavor when you’re lucky enough to land a piece of that fish.  They might as well have stuffed it with plain rice. 

It could have been good, to me the problem was portioning and seasoning, they made 2 giant burritos that it made no sense.  In my opinion, had they cut the size in half and served 4 pieces of well seasoned burritos rather than 2 large bland burritos and added some more of that fish to the stuffing that it would have been more of a cohesive dish.

In sum, my experience at RUSTIC MORNINGS was worth the trip.  It might very well be worth yours as well.  Its atmosphere does put you at ease, as if you were dining in the comforts of your own home.  The service could be improved. I mean expediting a bill for more than 25 minutes is just ridiculous.  However, their food was good enough that my culinary experience had “high notes”, but of course nothing is really perfect so “low notes” do come with that package.  

If you want to know more about their food, menu and their services you can visit their site at http://www.rusticmornings.com/

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