To be very, very honest, I was not convinced about the food at The Girl and The Bull. (See post here.) I LOVED the Faux Twix - oh God, I could finish two orders by myself! - but the savories did not leave me jumping up and down with joy.
But YES, I admire owners Gab and Thea for what they do. I mean, all I did at age 23 was eat Happy Meals and daydream about New Kids on the Block, and here they are, running a restaurant. Now, two!
12/10 is their second baby, and I have to say, arriving without any expectations, I left rather impressed!
The place is what my teenager niece would call "artsy"
There were strips of colored paper glued to the wall
And artificial plants growing out of frames
The place, in the middle of a very quiet area in Makati, was full on a Monday night, too!
These kids must be doing something right!
12/10 was still on soft-opening when we visited. There were 12 items on the menu,
2 were not available. In our true "Love Food" group fashion, we ordered all 10.
I almost cried over how tiny the servings were. I get emotional like that.
It was later on that I realized they are meant to be in tasting portions so you can build your own little degustation, which is really a swell idea if you are not a big group of 9 clueless, hungry people.
We didn't know what to expect and ordered only 2 servings of each dish, which became 3, then later on, 4.
I know we can still handle up to 7.
I wish the servers informed us earlier so some of us didn't have to pretend to be all kind and patient watching others go ahead while waiting for our additional orders.
Just kidding. We love each other to bits. Love is patient, love is kind, love does not kill
thy neighbor when she is oohing and aahing ridiculously over mackerel ceviche.
Instead, love is drowning hungry, evil thoughts in water
Or better yet, a Mai Tai!
Don Papa rum, cointreau, lime, peanut syrup.
The food at 12/10 made me very happy.
Not all dishes though. On my next visit I will skip these two:
Hijiki seaweed, candied anchovies, edamame, pink peppercorn
Chicken skin, enoki, spring onion root, sea salt, sansho, lemon
And order to my heart and stomach's content the following 8 dishes:
Mushroom salad, rocket, pickled red onion, salted egg yolk, sesame, honey
Mackerel ceviche, sriracha, coconut, coriander oil, radish
Raw tuna salad, kyuri, yuzu kosho, maple syrup, ebiko, shichimi, nori
Blowtorched salmon, uni, caviar, panko, nori, shiso, ponzu, sea salt
Chicken wings karaage, fish sauce caramel, tobiko, scallions
Salmon kushiyaki, truffle oil, aonori, black sesame, wasabi, curry, cornflakes
Korean fried chicken, charred eggplant, gochugang, sesame, shiso, lime
Toro onigiri, foie gras, negi, dynamite, balsamic maple syrup
Everything was wildly delicious it was hard to choose a favorite. It was wow after wow after wow.
Honestly, I could not find any fault in the dishes.
Except maybe the onigiri could do with less rice. Having said that, I still finished
every last grain. :D
I am now a Gab-and-Thea believer
I think we all are.
Only good food (and great company!) can bring out these smiles!
12/10: 7635 Guijo Street, Makati City
Monday - Saturday 5pm - 11pm
