Foie Gras Overload

When Jackie called me to say that Mandarin Oriental's Tivoli was having it's annual Foie Gras Festival, I'm pretty sure she knew I would immediately say yes to trying out this years offering, I really love this very sinful yet delicious delicacy. Bon Bon & Loy Jimenez, close friends of Jackie and fellow Foie Gras fans also joined us last Saturday night. This years event was also joined by the mushroom festival, which is also celebrated annually. For starters we all had Millionaire's salad, with a name like this you knew that you were in for something special, aside from lovely fresh greens, there was also lobster, scallops & a generous piece of pan fried goose liver all tossed in a light vinaigrette dressing (Really really good!). Since Jackie & I were sharing the salad, I opted to order the soup, capuccino of morels with sesame encrusted foie gras, this was the first time I had ever tried morels which are considered to be among the most prized of the wild mushrooms and frankly speaking it tasted just like ordinary button mushrooms to me (hahaha), the soup was very flavorful but I was disappointed with the sesame/foie gras combination that was served on the side, It just did not work for me at all, the sesame was too overpowering for the delicate taste of the liver, you couldn't even tell what you were eating anymore. For our main course, Jackie ordered the Rabbit stuffed with Polenta & Mushrooms (also my first time to have rabbit - tasted like chicken),Loy & Bon Bon both had steak, while I the fanatic opted for the Pan fried Duck Liver. I wanted to see the difference in taste between the goose & duck liver. I am no food expert but after my first taste I found that duck liver isn't as rich & intense & has a milder flavor compared to that of goose liver. People who aren't accustomed to the taste of foie gras will probably like duck liver more. We ended our meal with complimentary chocolate truffles from the super nice & friendly Tivoli staff. The shock of the night though was when the bill came & we saw that they charged us Php 260.00 for my glass of hot calamansi juice. At todays market price of 20 pesos per kilo, I could buy 13 kilos wortrh of calamansi with what we were charged with. I could have supplied a whole battalion with calamansi juice at that rate!!!

The Millionaire's Salad

Close up of my pan fried duck liver

Rabbit stuffed with polenta and mushrooms

Cappuccino of morels with sesame encrusted foie gras