Jenny’s birthday at Restaurant CiÇou

We celebrated our dear friend Jenny’s birthday at Restaurant Cicou. Before going I checked out some blogs that have featured this restaurant. I read mostly negative reviews so I was kind of hesitant to try it. I even wanted to suggest Aubergine instead. But I’m always eager to try a new restaurant so I went with an open mind and a hungry stomach.

Restaurant CiÇou is located at the ground floor of Hotel Celeste in Makati. There’s no parking space so come with a driver.

The interiors were nice and modern.

Jenny’s beautiful family

I forgot what this was but it was very good.

amuse bouche

The soups were all superb. The onion soup (not pictured here) was one of the best in town according to Jenny. Deb loved her squash soup. I said my prawn bisque was better but she disagreed. So we declared both delicious.

squash soup w/ duck liver flan P230

Aida and I shared an order of the prawn bisque. It’s the best, best, best seafood soup I’ve ever tasted! It was very rich and full flavored. It tasted even better than lobster bisque. I was glad I shared an order since it was very filling.

1/2 serving of prawn bisque w/ sea urchin flan P300 (full serving)

The risotto was the only disappointment in our entire meal. It was bland and tasteless. Pass on this.

risotto w/ herbs P260

Coquillettes are a type of pasta that’s similar to elbow macaroni but much smaller. According the description in the menu it’s cooked in chicken broth, lardons of foie gras, ham, parmesan, mushroom and truffle cream sauce. I couldn’t distinguish each one of those ingredients. All I know this was the best pasta dish EVER! It wasn’t too rich nor did it have a thick sauce, it was just plain lip smackin’ yummy. 8 of us shared two orders asides from our individual main courses.

coquillettes P700

I wasn’t able to try the next few dishes since they were too far from me and my dear friends weren’t willing to pass the plate to our end of the table. Since all the plates were sparkling clean I assume they enjoyed the food.

tenderloin beef P1,200

halibut stuffed w/ king crab mousse P750

prawn, scallop, squid, clams fricassee P750

I ordered the ox tongue. It was a pleasant change from the usual Spanish way of serving ox tongue slathered with either a mushroom or tomato sauce. The ox tongue was simply cooked in a ravigote sauce. The classic French sauce was slightly acidic and showcased the ox tongue wonderfully.

wagyu ox tongue P580

braised oxtail parmentier P550

They gave Jenny a mini croquembouche or profiterole tower. It was yummy!

birthday profiteroles

Even all the petit fours were good.

petit fours

Unbelievable but I ordered this light and refreshing dessert. I enjoyed the grapefruit sorbet but I wasn’t fond of the soft egg white meringue or floating island so I passed it to Debbie who loved it. Thank goodness somebody ordered 2 chocolate desserts which I enjoyed much, much more.

floating island w/ grapefruit sherbet P180

They used maracaibo 65% Venezuelan chocolate in their desserts. It was bittersweet, rich and fragrant. This was the second best dessert. Both chocolate desserts were simple yet sinful.

chocolate creme brulee P300

This was the best dessert. Sure most restaurants have their own version of the chocolate lava cake but this was something else.

chocolate fondant P300

The melted chocolate was magnificent!You can really taste the quality of the chocolate used. You must order this.

Thanks for the fabulous dinner Jenny!

The food at CiÇou definitely beats Je Suis Gourmand by a mile. It’s a close call with Aubergine. Cicou has better soups, pasta and desserts while Aubergine has better main course. Be prepared to spend at least P1,000 per head without wine. When I go back I’m definitely ordering the prawn bisque, coquillettes and chocolate fondant and call it my happy meal.

top half of the menu