Finally, I’ve always wanted to eat dinner Je Suis Gourmand and finally we decided to eat here as we celebrate Aidan’s first birthday in a simple way with family. It was a personal decision not to celebrate Aidan’s birthday in an elaborate Kid’s party way because it was not appropriate. A lot of people are raving about Gourmand for its delicious French cuisine by Chef Marc. We ordered mostly their main entrees and it was indeed delicious with generous servings (good for 2). We ordered the best sellers in the house and should have listened to Sharon that each serving was big and good for more than one person.
Je Suis Gourmand has an intimate setting and only has few tables inside and some outside as the smoking section area. This January, it is still cool with the winds tunneling outside of the resto. Actually, it was the perfect type for the evening dinner conversation with friends enjoying good french cuisine, good company and good wine. Unfortunately, I lacked foresight that we were bringing in three babies (aidan, carlos, and sophia) and it could get chaotic with the babies. Anyway, we survived the night with the babies but I felt we were frowned upon by the Chef because he did not go back to our table after initially greeting us or even thanked us for coming. Chef Marc, the owner, is known for chatting with his customers and making sure they feel welcomed.
Aidan is wearing a Chinese Tiongsam Red Pajama with matching red cap. He looks like the baby from the last emperor 🙂
This is the ambiance of Je Suis Gourmand and there were a lot of foreigners eating dinner (which is often a good testament of good authentic cooking. Also, there are a lot of regulars including my online friend Sharon who visits there almost every week (wow!). By the way, I already started my low carb vegetarian, Eat to Live diet (so no dairy and meat for me). I relied on my wife’s and my family’s testament on how the food was. Although, I can vouch for the vegetables, it tasted crunchy, fresh and full of flavor 🙂
Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms (P290) with olive oil, Garlic and Tomatoes topped with Poached Fresh Farm Egg. I loved the mushrooms! As part of my diet, I should eat a lot of beans and mushroom so I did not waste anytime and enjoyed this plate of portabello mushrooms. I did not know that mushrooms can absorb such flavor and can taste so great.
Roasted Vegetables and Feta Cheese Salad (P220) with Red Wine Vinegar Vinaigrette. Another winner, this salad tasted great with the red wine vinaigrette. Everything tasted great even without the cheese. Maybe its the roasting that creates the flavor, huh…
Assorted Pate Platter (P480) with Duck Foie Gras, Duck Rillettes, Farmer’s Pate & Pork Rillettes served with condiments and bread. This is their killer food in their appetizers. You should taste the Duck Foie Gras, so deliciously addicting that I don’t even want to taste it cause it could ruin my diet 🙂 This was a winner for my wife although she didn’t eat too much of it because of the cholesterol it has 🙂
Roasted Marinated Duck Confit (P490) with stewed lentil and Marsala Sauce.. If you are into ducks, you should try this. Just by the looks of this, you can taste the Marsala sauce and the duck. This is far from the typical peking duck that you would have in Chinese restaurants. Expensive but worth it and we ordered two of these and everything was wiped out.
Braised Lamb Shank (P440) in pepper mushroom sauce with roasted potatoes and vegetables. You cannot go wrong with this order. I ate the vegetables and you could taste the yummy sauce the type that you would want to lick the sauce clean out of the plate 🙂 My wife liked this lamb shank too although a few said that it was a little salty. We ordered three of these 🙂
Roasted Pig Trotter (P350) with Dijon Mustard Sauce. This is like crispy pata roasted and the bones removed. My dad ordered it and liked it too. The serving was too much for one person.
Ox Tongue “Ravigotte” (P320) with marble tomatoes. If you are into Lengua dishes, this is certified as one of the killer food in the entrees. Both my sister-in-law loved this and said that it is heavenly delicious. You should order this if there is one thing you would like to try.
Fettuccini with Sundried Tomato Pesto and Goat Cheese (P280). Of course, you there are the traditional pastas that you can order. Tanya has a review and raved about it during one of her lunch with friends.
There were fifteen adults in the family, 3 babies, and 2 yayas celebrating Aidan’s First Birthday. Unfortunately, our last emperor, Aidan, was already knocked out by this time and slept thru the night away… Happy 1st Birthday Aidan!! We love you so much!
MORE INFORMATION:
Je Suis Gourmand Inc.
GF Net1 Center Bldg. Fort Bonifacio, beside Neo Spa and BPI
Parking in Mcdonalds in front of Gourmand
Tel# +632 815-8801-02
More Pictures of Aidan’s Birthday Celebration.
Hi Anton,
Always a pleasure to read about the places and restaurants you’ve been to. I’ve been to JSG a couple of times and have always come away extremely satisfied each time. Value for money, I think it ranks up there among the best restos in town.
If I may digress a bit, I’ve been having some problems with your blog lately. It seems to take forever to read/view some of your pieces/pics. Is there a way to speed it up?
By the way, I already use a broadband service and it still comes in quite slow. Cheers!
Aidan looks sooo cute! =)
Anyways, just wanted to give you the thumbs-up with this blog! It really gives us less-adventurous food-lovers lots of ideas of where to go and what more to eat. Thank you!
Hey.. Happy Birthday Aidan!
I think the poor page loading is due to the interface between flickr and blogs.com. If the picture from flickr has a high res, the loading from the reading site is affected.
Also, bro, you didnt explain why it is not appropriate for you to have a children’s party.
All – thanks for the feedback on the site being slow. I was experimenting with the panoramic shot of malapascua and bantayan which is higher resolution AND panoramic. I finally figured out how to change it. Can you please feedback if it is still slow?
Thanks again!
@ Enzo — the children is sometimes noisy and plays around so it sometimes disturb other guest since the place is small and cozy 🙂
Ahhh! So much faster now. I figured it had something to do with the pictures. Hi-res pala. That would really slow it down.
Thanks for taking time to look into this.
And Happy Birthday to little Aidan! Looks like he’s well on his way to being a gourmand.
happy birthday aidan…you look good on that hat and pajama combination =)
Aldrin — oo nga, that’s the Last Emperor outfit 🙂
Belated Happy Birthday to Aidan!!!
Yup, JSG is a very good restaurant!!! I’ve been there last December with my hubby to celebrate our first anniversary… We also ordered the portobello mushrooms, roasted veggie and feta cheese salad, and roasted marinated duck confit… My hubby had veal tenderloin steak and everything was spectacular… Truly worth every buck!! Also featured this in my friendster blog! Thanks for posting the pics.. Made my mouth water!=)
thanks Kate! Sarap no?! Yeah — really reserve for that special dinner event… I agree worth every penny and I’m glad to know that my food shot works! hehe
Anton
Anton, no dessert? :p I found your write-up incredibly descriptive, although I must say that the portions don’t look too big. Ah, looks can deceive!
yeah no dessert unfortunately… after eating a big meal for two 🙂 yeah, pictures could be deceiving but that was enough that you don’t need a dessert hehe… I know it should come first 🙂
happy brithday to aidan 🙂 as usual, aidan celebrated it in a sosy way. 🙂
next time try their heavenly ice creams 🙂
thanks Tanya! Ok, I’ll try their yummy ice cream next time…
To the owner of this blog
My name is Cary and my family is part owner with Chef Marc at Gourmand. I came across this when I googled Je Suis Gourmand and I must say thank you for the great reviews. Its always wonderful to see and hear about people who really appreciate good food.
I noticed that you were a large group at that time and perhaps you may have found the place a bit tight for your group. If you didn’t hear, we were closed for renovation and just opened again three weeks ago. The restaurant is now bigger, with cozier interiors, and even has two private rooms now. We have also added a number of new and exciting dishes to our menu, as well as increased our wine list. Please come visit us again when you get the chance! Thanks again!
Hi,
I was at JSG last Sunday (July 9) for lunch with my whole family. I ordered the Warm onion tart with Emmental cheese salad that was soooo good and yet not so expensive. Then we ordered a pricier salad which was the salad with parma ham, a special of that day which was equally good!For the main courses, we ordered the Ox tongue which was absolutely divine, so soft and tender that it melts in your mouth. The Spring Chicken that we had was also good, the rabbit was also very good,as well as the Sea Bass. The Best of the best was the Brasied lamb which was sooo tender yet flavorful, the best lamb dish ever. The duck breast with mushroom sauce was also very very good and even way better than those serve in 5 star hotel fine dining restos. Definitely one of the best restos around and will surely return to that food heaven.
Hi,
I was at JSG again last night, it was the first time that I went back to the same restaurant in a span of less than a week. This time I was with 2 of my friends. We tried the Warm ST. Maure goat cheese salad with lemon vinaigrette which was superb, the goat cheese mentioned was new to me but it tasted really good. For the main courses, we ordered again the Braised lamb shank and the Rabbit, but I order the poached lapu lapu stuffed with clams served with leek cream sauce. This was excellent! The fish was fresh and perfectly cook and the sauce was sooo yummmy. We also had the coffee cheesecake which was equally good, though the cheesecake has a lot of lumps or big pieces of cream cheese.
hi there! where is this restaurant exactly located? my finace and i would love to try it! =)
Been taking our guests to this resto since we had our anniversary dinner here 2005(plus I had a short stint here before grad school last year – Thanks, Sir Cary and Chef Marc for the learning experience!). They recently revised the menu, and the dining area is so much more spacious now! A tout a leure!
I love Aidan’s picture! 🙂
Love your reviews..
one thing though..
get someone to teach you about “white balance”
you’ll end up with more spectacular photos.
i know how delicious the foods are in je suis gourmand coz i had my ojt as a trainee chef in this restaurant… both the foods and the people who work here are awesome…=)
I think because there were more adults attending Aidan’s birthday…just a wild guess. = )
Me and my lovely wife will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this May 21st and I’m planning to bring her here at Je Suis Gourmand for dinner. It’s our first time to go there…hoping she’d love the place.
The place has a new name and concept already.