Tourne Me On: Tourne by Chef Sandralyn Hataway

I felt like I was transported somewhere with billowing clouds, soft wind and crawling water as I entered the bistro-designed interiors of BGC's newest hotspot, IMO, Tourne by Chef Sandralyn Hataway. The white linens with the blue gingham patterns, mixed with plaid-esque linens put to mind Santorini but I am not sure what's my basis. There are far too many times when I've been charmed by quaint restaurants, though they feel ages ago. I was blown away at Tourne and I'm counting the days till I can come back.

I was coming out from a TRX session at Fitness First at the Fort Strip and my friend and I decided Tourne was the perfect place to have lunch on a slow and perfect Saturday. Prior to this, I have heard multiple praises for this restaurant for its 'slow food' advocacy from my friend R. I was sold. Whereas my happy place used to be Mom and Tina's, I can safely say that I have found a new one. It's this one.

 And true enough, the food we had exploded in flavor. I could not taste cooking oil, salt, MSG and extenderizers {extenders?}and every bite introduces several exotic flavors onto the tongue.

Tourne's food philosophy is heavily anchored on the concept of slow food, or promoting the use of local produce in the food that they serve. Every two weeks, the menu of Tourne {meaning 'turned' in French, is a culinary technique of shaping food into somewhat a heptagonal shape} changes accordingly, to what fruits, livestock, vegetables and crops that they get. In a country with an economy driven by fast food and with a cuisine predominantly saltier and more potent {with artificial} spices, I thought it was brave of Chef Hataway to introduce {or re-introduce} the concept of eating food that comes from the field and goes straight to our forks. With that, any advocate of un-processed food is going to be in cloud nine here. Like me.

That's Chef Sandralyn Hataway and her very infectious smile {and laughter!}

Our table's centerpiece

Tourne Placemats are characteristically whimsical <3

The bright and sunny interiors makes one want to stay at the restaurant all day.

Look at this impossibly homey corner!

And some tables are done in plaid rather than gingham.

Homemade Soya Chips with Salsa are served to all diners. When I bit the chip for the first time, I think I broke into a huge smile and declared I could eat it all day. It was THAT good.

 For starters, we had the Chicken Inasal Inspired Pizza, which is made of Homemade Dough, Turmeric and Lemongrass Sauce, Grilled Marinated Chicken with Pickled Papaya and Green Mango {Php 208}

Because of its thin crust, it was sufficiently satisfactory to the taste buds, and the amount of ingredient that goes on into the mouth at a given time was of good proportion that resulted to an exotic explosion of flavors in the mouth. 

Ormoc Pineapple Shake {I think it was Php105}

They say that the sweetest pineapples grow from the farms of Ormoc and so I tried the pineapple shake which I believe did not have any sugar in it and it was delightfully refreshing and at that moment, I thought there would no place else that can grow pineapples as yummy as this shake had. Only in the Philippines!

 For my 'main course,'I chose Fish and Chips Sandwich because I was not feeling particularly kargador-level hungry.  The sandwich is fillet of tilapia wrapped in crispy batter with red cabbage slaw, Russian sauce served with grilled Ciabatta {Php 278}. Also, even the ketchup is homemade!

When Chef Sandralyn came by our table, she noticed I was not eating the ciabatta as much as I've chomped on the fish. "Diet ka ano? Like me?" she asked. I was not able to mumble a response because I was really entranced with the food. The ciabatta tasted amazing {in all its buttery goodness} but I guess I just can't eat so much carbs these days. My taste buds ask for greens and fish most days now but one slice of ciabatta didn't hurt.

 That's me and a very giddy Chef Sandralyn, whom you could tell is a very happy person because she gets to follow her heart by cooking slow food and sharing her advocacy.

Barbecue Spring Chicken served with mashed sweet potato, fresh salsa with brunoise of watermelon and house barbecue sauce {Php 608}. While I had an idea that spring chicken tended to be more tender than their erm, older counterparts, I found the chicken a little dry. I am not sure if them being free-range has something to do with that but it was nevertheless fragrant and the sauce was good. Oh and it was nice to try out mashed sweet potato and when I bit into those baby carrots, I think I died and went to carrot heaven.

And of course, Tara's meal is never a meal without a dessert: Ormoc Pineapple Cloud Cake, moist pound cake with brunoise of fresh organic pineapple and Chantilly cream {Php 98}

If bliss had a taste and if we could put it into our mouths, this was it.

I do realize it was useless enticing {if anyone is, really} with all these details and photos because the food I had at Tourne were to be served during July 16-31 only. Starting today, August 1st, they will be serving a different set and just thinking about what could be in it is already seducing me back to my new happy place.

Have you eaten at Tourne? What do you think of it?

Tourne is located at Unit 5 and 6 of The Fort Strip, 7th Ave. Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
02. 555.0267
Tourné.restaurant@gmail.com
You can also visit their fan page here.

Also, this is not a solicited post :)