Rose And Grace Restaurant: Home Of The Famous Batangas Bulalo

It’s the 27th day of quarantine period in our region and no, I haven’t left our residences since then. Like everyone else, I wanna go out, try out different restaurants and spend the summer at the beach. But because of this pandemic, I’m stuck at our house thinking about fancy restaurants and drooling over their dishes. I wish to have something new to review here in my blog. But for the meantime, let’s tackle the restaurants I have tried before but haven’t reviewed yet. It’s a good thing I still have my photo with my mother and grandmother at Rose and Grace. Gladly, I also kept the photos of their food. Now, I have a subject.

If Lipa has Lando and Lorie’s Banay Banay Eatery, Sto. Tomas has Rose and Grace Restaurant. Rose and Grace Restaurant is surely a familiar food spot for people who travel frequently to and from Batangas using the Sto. Tomas town proper route. It’s the usual stopover of buses and other commuters during meal times as they can accomodate big groups and big crowd. But even car users like us would opt to dine in Rose and Grace Restaurant because of the delightful yet affordable home-cooked Filipino dishes. And now that they have expanded, we can also enjoy these dishes at Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Special Bulalo

We all know that Bulalo is one of the specialties of Batangas. And I’m glad that the meat of Rose and Grace’s Bulalo really got the exquisite savor of it. Its tenderness and beefiness didn’t disappoint. The broth is kinda bland but I guess it is intended for customers to season the soup based on their liking. I wish there’s bone marrow because that’s what we are looking forward to a Bulalo. It just completes this dish.

Crispy Tadyang

Here comes Crispy Tadyang that is not crispy. But I don’t care anymore because it is tastefully good and that’s what matters, right? Crispy Tadyang isn’t a native dish of Batangas, unlike Bulalo, but they also nailed this one. The inside stayed soft and not chewy. Plus, the beef can easily be peeled from the ribs. Don’t forget to dunk your beef-filled fork into the vinegar and soy sauce mixture to get the greatness of its flavors.

Sinigang na Lapu-Lapu

I think we have a big catch right here. And I’m happy that they served us a large cut of grouper, locally known as Lapu-Lapu, as half of the fish head covers the whole big bowl. The soup is really tangy and I love it that way. The fish is good. It’s fresh. The vegetables were fresh as well. It’s yummy. We got a lot of meat despite of this complicated part of a fish. I hope they also have salmon, my favorite fish.

Tempura

The breading of these tempura pieces may be thick but thankfully, the fillings inside were also big. My favorite among this platter is the prawn. Behind those crispy batter, I could recognize the fresh and flavorful shrimp meat. I also appreciate the creamy filling with it. The rest were bland, even when I dipped them on the accompanying sauce. But the vegetables were just fine. The sweet potato sliced were undercooked.

Shrimps

Since we already know that Rose and Grace Restaurant offers freshly caught seafood, we had shrimps during our next visit. As expected, they were delicious. I just wish they peeled the shells before frying because the batter is useless with shells on. The batter gives the dish more flavor since it is salted and peppered. But as I peel the shrimps, they’re gone with the shells. But aside from that, I see no problem with it.

Special Chopsuey

Chopsuey is always on our table whenever we dine in Rose and Grace Restaurant because of my mom. Since we ordered this in both of their branches, I see that the Sta. Rosa’s version is better and has bigger portions. They have balanced amount of meat and vegetables so it’s approved to both parents and children. Every bite of greens screams freshness. It has thicks sauce, which is full of veggie flavor. It’s absolutely good with their soft steamed rice.

Lumpiang Sariwa

I noticed that the wrapper of their Lumpiang Sariwa is thinner compared to what we have here in our province. And I actually like that because it gives space for more fillings. In fact, this one far roll is oozing with shredded fresh vegetables and minced heart of palm, locally known as ubod. I relish the sauce since it’s not too sweet. The fillings were already crunchy but the peanuts just gives extra crunch.

Watermelon Slices

It wasn’t the month for watermelon and mangoes but I’m surprised to see these attractive pink and yellow fruits in their counter. But as expected, they were force-riped. The bright colors of flesh can’t hide the flavorlessness of watermelon and tanginess of mangoes. The waitress gave us iodized salt without us asking for it. It just tells that she, herself, knew that the fruits needed to be seasoned. I hope that they offer seasonal fruits instead.