Spices: Corazon

We were looking for a place to dine at the new wing of Shangri-la. Looking at the queue of each restos, one can tell the good from the bad ones. Most of the good restos had long lines, we ended up dining in Corazon which was also full packed that Saturday night. Having dined in one of Chef Florabel's resto before, I had high expectations with Filipino-Hispanic food that the resto serves.

Corazon

There were a few wines on their list, we chose a Spanish red brand blend of Tempranillo and Shiraz to go with our meal.

Volteo Tempranillo Shiraz - Php 1,300

There was a good number of tapas to choose from, we started off with the Coronado or chorizo spring rolls. The spring rolls was served with a side of marinara sauce. Each spring roll was fried to crispy perfection and the marinara dip was a delight. My only gripe about the dish is the chorizo stuffing, I wanted more of it.

Coronado - Php 285

I was a little bit wary of ordering the Ponce, having fresh oysters will either be a hit or a miss. Luckily the oysters that the resto serves was so fresh. I liked that they gave options for the your preferred sauce, the oyster came with a vinegar-garlic dip, wedges of lemons and a bottle of Tabasco.

Ponce - Php 375

Normally I wouldn't really order something that I regularly eat at home. But the Sorolla or twice cooked adobo with kesong puti caught our attention I was so curious on how they would incorporate the kesong puti to the adobo. When the dish was served, I was disappointed to see that they just added a few pieces of kesong puti on top. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed the adobo, the soy-vinegar sarsa or sauce was balanced in flavor and I particularly enjoyed how thick it was. The meat is also something to rave about, the chunk of pork was so tender that it melts in your mouth.

Sorolla - Php 350

The server insisted that we tried one of the resto's Paella, we agreed and ordered the Paella Mariscos. The seafood paella consists of  aquid, prawns, fish fillet, mussels, octopus, vegetables and egg. The very first thing I take note of when eating paella is the paellera or pan used to cook and serve the paella, it differentiates the good from the great tasting paella. A great tasting paella is cook in a heavy cast iron pan, the slightly burnt toasted rice at the bottom of the iron pan adds aroma and flavor to the dish. Corazon's paella was good, all the ingredients were cooked well and the flavors were spot on. Now, if only they use a real paellera instead of a teflon coated pan, this would have been a great paella instead of being just a good one.

Paella Marisco - Php 525

I must say that my expectations were met, I'm happy with our dinner. Corazon's quality of ingredients was excellent,  familiar dishes was cooked well and tasted like how it should be. A restaurant that worth going back to.

Corazon
Address: 4th Floor, East Wing, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City
Tel No.: 687 1955
Webpage: www.corazon.ph