Chelsea Market and Café
A Taste of New York
By P.A. Castro

MUST VISIT Yes, the place has annoyances, e.g. slow service and occasional delivery of wrong food from those ordered, but when they get it right, they get it good, making Chelsea's still worth a visit..
MUST TRY Relatively big portions are in store, so that communal dining is made possible.

"The intention was to bring to the Philippines a feel of New York,” says Belle Cagadas, who heads the marketing department of Raintree Restaurants (foodparks.com).  “With Chelsea Market and Café (CMC), at Serendra in Taguig City, we (have come up with a community market café that is) inspired by the trendy, cosmopolitan shops particularly of the Chelsea district of New York.”

CMC is, of course, exactly just that – a deli and gourmet food market, and a neighborhood café and bistro at the same time.  The café/bistro offers dishes that, as executive chef Sau del Rosario says, were created with the goal of making guests come back for more.  These include house specials Fisherman’s Mixed Grill (crab and cucumber salad, wasabi aioli, quail eggs and pesto, P395), Thinly-Sliced Spanish Jamon Serrano and Chorizo Iberico (three kinds of olives, chilled vegetable sticks and crostini and crackers, P495), Molten Cheese Risotto Balls (spicy Jalapeno cheese sauce, deep fried olives and Parmesan cheese, P250), Granny Smith Apple Shreds and Gorgonzola (fresh arugula, toasted walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette, P295), and Truffled Green Pea and Housemade Mushroom Ravioli (Crème Fraiche, P195).

These delicacies, says Cagadas, are not commonly served in restaurants in the Philippines, and which CMC serves in big portions – “both a gastronomic experience, and a filling one that that,” she says.

Beyond these, however, there are other more traditional, and perhaps more identified with New York, offerings.  There are the ribs, steaks and chops, including the Hickory Smoked BBQ Baby Back Ribs (full slab at P720), Wagyu Gold Rib-Eye (seven oz. for P1,950), and the US New York Striploin (11 oz. for P895).  Then there are the thin crust pizza pie, famous in Chelsea in New York, including the Five Cheeses (five Chelsea cheeses, Asian mushrooms, and apple and arugula salad, from P375), Roasted Prawns and Prosciutto (with preserved lemons and roasted bell peppers, from P395), and the newly introduced Hickory Smoked BBQ Baby Back Ribs (with fresh cilantro, tomato-corn salsa and red onions, from P395).
“A real taste of New York, at least of the Chelsea district, in Metro Manila,” Cagadas says.

The deli/gourmet food market, meanwhile, offers most of the ingredients used in the dishes offered in the café/bistro, including the select (and hard to find in the Philippines) cheeses of Brie de Meaux, Camambert, and Petit Livarot from France; Pecorino and Gorgonzola from Italy; Manchego from Spain; Edam from Netherlands; Goat Feta from Greece; and even the Quesong Kalabaw from the Philippines.

It helps, too, of course that Serendra in Taguig City is considered as “the new Greenbelt (in Makati City),” adds Cagadas, so that, aside from CMC, “you’d be in a venue that has various offerings to deal with your taste, whatever that may be.”  Still, despite this, “CMC, by itself, is always worth a visit – one that never fails to please.”