COCONUTS HOT SPOT — No, I was not transported to France when I ate at Duck and Buvette. The restaurant is, after all, in the middle of a busy mall in Mandaluyong, miles and miles away from a French dining table with candlelights, picturesque view and unlimited wine.
However, I was able to enjoy a wonderful and comfortable meal with my family. We tucked into dishes full of flavor and finesse. No fuss, just good food.
With so many restaurants at the East Wing of Shangri-La Mall, it is easy to miss Duck and Buvette. It is dimly lit, quaint and quiet. It’s a French bistro and bakery that specializes in serving countryside cuisine. Compared its past life as Café Provençal, it now now has a more innovative approach to dining.
As its name suggests, the restaurant specializes in duck and buvette (the French equivalent of Spanish tapas). Because these are small-plate dishes, it is ideal to order a few and share them with the table. And trust me, with the wide range of buvettes on the menu, it’s very easy to choose more than one.
First, let’s get their French onion soup (PHP230) out of the way. What they served us was not French onion soup. It was simply vegetable broth given the wrong name. It was not hearty. There was no toast, and the Gruyere cheese on top was just sad. I didn’t even taste the caramelized onions.
Fortunately, everything else that we had after the soup made up for that horror.
As if bacon isn’t good enough, D&B made it even better with the maple candied bacon and lemon (PHP175). It was crispy just like bacon but with a bit more flavor because of the glaze. It tasted almost like sweet tocino, minus the artifical flavor, plus a bit more crunch. The drizzle of lemon did balanced out the taste.
The crispy potato pave and salted duck egg (PHP175) was addictive. It was a plate of masterfully assembled potato cubes topped with salted duck egg and crème fraiche. The layers of potato added an interesting texture to the dish, and it paired really well with the egg.
Other buvettes I tried — and recommend — were the truffle cauliflower (PHP185) and Angus meatballs (PHP240).
Duck and Buvette is also a bakery, and it takes pride in creating its own sourdoug, which is also used as pizza crust. We had the fennel sausage and crispy pepperoni pizza (PHP460). The meat was good and the sourdough made the pizza tasted expensive. It’s filling and would make a very good merienda item if eaten on its own.
The goat cheese ravioli (PHP320) was another impressive dish. The roasted baby vegetables were full of flavor, and the lemon garlic sage sauce was light but yummy. A single order was good enough for three of us.
The slow-braised beef burgundy (PHP620), an old favorite from Café Provençal and the only item retained in the new restaurant’s menu, is a slow-cooked for six hours in a Dutch oven, a mix of beef ribs and pork belly with red wine-infused pork. It was served with long-grain rice and the meat was tender and tasty.
But the star of the show was the duck confit.
Traditionally speaking, confit is a way to preserve food as a matter of necessity, but nowadays, it is often understood as a way to cook something in its own fat.
The D&B crispy half-duck confit (PHP980) looked like something straight out of a food magazine photo shoot. The presentation was brilliant. It was served with whole grain mustard, red wine sauce, ratatouille duck rice and cranberry carrot sides. For the price, this duck was definitely value for money.
I am not a fan of poultry, but this was a dish that I reallly enjoyed. It was crispy, which is not like how other restaurants serve it. It’s good for about two people, but a hungry customer can devour one order in a matter of minutes. (Guilty as charged!)
Duck and Buvette also brought in Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea to the country, one of the leaders in the Third Wave Coffee movement. I had a cup of El Mago Organic Decaf (PHP160), which was a bit on the sour side but the coffee taste was strong and distinct. It was was good on its own, but it could be paired with a slice of earl grey cheesecake or a brownie.
I wouldn’t go to Duck and Buvette for a romantic dinner, but I’d definitely go back to enjoy a hearty meal with my family. It’s ideal for small gatherings and celebrations because the place is spacious and there is good value for money.
