Sizzling Bulalo Steak and Seafood Paella (Food Review) at Food Trip Plaza

Sixth Dish:

Sizzling Bulalo Steak

In a city that has been known generally as Tuna Capital of the Philippines, now becomes a food hub of any cuisines for a large number of proliferated restaurants and food stalls. Presenting the newly opened Food Trip Plaza in General Santos City, last opened on April 19, 2018 which contains 40 different food stalls to choose from.

Luckily we arrived this day to try some of their few dishes one at a time, stall after stall, and today my senses brought me to this stall named THE FOOD SHACK (Sizzling-Grill) which offers a modern Filipino twists from classic, savory and hearty Pinoy Foods.

My cousin (Rosielyn) and I ordered different foods from different food stalls. She ordered a Seafood Paella (Php 120) from DADDY J'S SMOKEHOUSE whilst waiting for her meal; I roamed around to indulge my hungry senses, not my tummy, but of knowledge to new food favours. With that having said, I find myself in front of The Food Shack and ordered their Best Seller and on top of their list I ordered it, the Sizzling Bulalo Steak (Php 149).

Afterwards, my Sizzling Bulalo Steak was serve in less than 5mins. Too fast, of course everything is ready, the meat were already tenderized few hours ago, the sauce was already at their pantry as well as their blanched sweet corn and baguio beans. Later on the Paella was also delivered...

Judgment Time:
Sizzling Bulalo Steak
»When I smelled and tasted a spoon of that Sizzling Bulalo Steak sauce, I felt terribly happy. Because I knew, I made the right choice. Its flavor was so deep and rich. Decadent!

»This beef steak is really flavorful on its own, packed with beefy essence and has this amazing tenderness, when I sliced into it, the knife can't do the slicing not because it's a blunt knife but because it crumbles quite easily. No need for a steak knife, fork is all I need to cut through. Not to mention the bone marrow meat ("utak" as we used to call that deepest part of bone marrow) was so good and very soft, like your slurping some beef fats that was thoroughly cooked and boiled down for 6-8hrs. Delicious!

»The Sauce is creamy, savory, garlicky (from roasted garlic as topping) with a distinctive umami taste from mushrooms and few button mushrooms in, (I believed it is composed of butter, cream of mushrooms and flour to thicken) although not sure if they used salted butter or plain butter but it's saltiness "3.5/5" really shines thru, when I first dig in it felt truly satisfactory, but when I dug in for more, I know something isn't right from there on. Hence, that ruined my entire appetite. I would have purely enjoyed the whole dish if they seasoned their sauce just the right amount of salinity. Good thing I had a slice of sweet corn and baguio beans to end up my drenched tongue from the pure taste of the seas.

»Their rice was perfectly cooked, lovely, but not enough to redeem the ocean like taste in the sauce!

RATINGS:

Price: ⭐⭐⭐👍👍

Overall Flavours: ⭐⭐⭐⭐🤔

Overall Doneness: ⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Authenticity/creativity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐🤔

Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐🤔

Satisfaction: ⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Seventh Dish:

Seafood Paella

At a surprising price of 120 pesos, we thought it would have been larger than a dinner plate by diameter because of what we just viewed in their TV Screen, but we ended up wrong as we primarily thought of. 😅✌

Fun Fact:

The Authentic Paella uses Saffron to flavor and to add color and depth to the whole dish. Saffron was also the most expensive spice on earth and is referred to as expensive as gold.

© Saffron from Alibaba

Saffron:
»is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigmas and styles, called threads, are collected and dried to be used mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. Saffron, long among the world's most costly spices by weight, was probably first cultivated in or near Greece.

 © Zaran Saffron

© Exotic Bionaturals

»Iran is responsible for around 90–93% of global production, and much of their produce is exported.

Flavor profile:
»has a very subtle and distinct flavor and aroma from slighty bitter, hint of semi-sweetness, honey-like, floral and mushroomy. Its taste is very complex but what I'm certain about is it adds a stunning flavor and aroma to a dish.

Color, texture and freshness:
»has a vivid crimson colouring, having slight moistness, elasticity, and lack of broken-off thread debris are all traits of fresh saffron. Avoid using or buying the orange or yellow threads, which don’t provide any culinary benefits.

Health Benefits:
»Saffron is packed with antioxidants. It is said to help combat depression and lower blood pressure, to soften your skin and hair.

On July 2016, the Saffron costs between £5 and £10 per gram at the supermarket. That would be around 356.25 pesos - 712.50 pesos per gram. Later that year in the month of December, I bought my first saffron (that was bought by my friend from Middle East when she was working there) for more than 500pesos weighing 5grams. Right until now, I havent tried or tasted it just yet.

Lately on January 2017, Saffron price per gram can cost up to $25 or Php1,292.75 (current convertion).

Did you know? 🤓
That Saffron prices at wholesale and retail rates range from US$500 to US$5,000 per pound, or US$1,100–11,000/kg (or Php56,881 - Php568,810/kg if converted to our current US$ to Php Peso exchange rate).

In Western countries, the average retail price in 1974 was $1,000 per pound, or US$2,200 per kilogram (or Php51,710 - Php113,762 as of today's convertion).

In February 2013, a retail bottle containing 0.06 ounces could be purchased for $16.26 (Php840.80) or the equivalent of $4,336 per pound (Php224,214.56 per 0.454 kilogram) or as little as about $2,000/pound in larger quantities. A pound contains between 70,000 and 200,000 threads.

Glossary:
Current Exchange Rate as of April 28, 2018
1$ = 51.71Php
1£ = 71.25Php

Weight Conversion:
1 pound = 0.454 kilogram

Although saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, it really does transform dishes with just a single thread or two. Used in various dishes around the world. Without saffron in its most famous dishes of paella, risottos, or yellow curries, the dishes just feel flat, simple, and plain.

Verdict: 😈🤔

»The Paella Rice were vibrantly orangy in color, slightly mushy, shrimpy and savory, but too salty with some bits and pisces of rock salt that was thrown into the whole dish.

»Shrimps were perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful.

»Squids are chewy and well done.

»Mussels are also cooked just fine.

»Little Clams (kinason/imbao) were overcooked which resulted to over shrinking of the meat, almost dried out, but still packed with flavor.

Me and my cousin Rosielyn were amazed and excited at it visually, but not until we tasted the whole dish. Hahaha 😂😂😅

THIS WAS ALSO OVERSEASONED!

My goodness! What's the matter with these people behind this treachery? Can't they just tell if something went overseasoned? 😈😠😡

Overall, even if it's salty we almost manage to eat all of it. Because we were Filipino and we have this mentality called "sayang", plus we paid for what we just ate. Good grief! Better luck next time cooks/chefs of both stalls.

RATINGS:

Price: ⭐⭐⭐👍👍

Overall Flavours: ⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Overall Doneness: ⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Authenticity: ⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Service:⭐⭐⭐🤔🤔

Satisfaction:⭐⭐🤔🤔🤔