In my line of work, I’ve had numerous opportunities to be the first to try out some exotic meats, like frogs, rabbit, crocodile, kangaroo, worms—name it and I’ve probably chickened out my way into trying it—coming up with some crazy excuses–until now.
One of my good friends Yugel Losorata, recently invited me to check out a place called “The Ostrich Farm” at the Blue Bay Walk just a few blocks away from the SM Mall of Asia.
But before we go to that story, here’s a fun fact for all of you. I could pick up cockroaches with my bare hands, and have once or twice gone rat hunting armed with nothing but a dust pan, but I am absolutely terrified of birds—or anything with feathers for that matter. Our neighbor has a few pet turkeys, some geese and chicken and I couldn’t cross the street when those feathered menaces are out.
The only bird I ain’t afraid of is chicken—especially when its crispy and smothered with gravy.
So why the hell did I say yes to Yugel? Call me naïve, or even stupid, but the first thing that came to mind was exactly an OSTRICH FARM–that it was just going to be another attraction to bring more people in the area, besides, after everything that has been going on at the Mall of Asia, having ostriches running around the area for kids to see didn’t seem all that strange.
Besides, I thought we would probably just be taking pictures of big birds and interviewing whoever came up with the concept.
I never thought we were gonna eat them.
That was my first mistake. As they say assumption (not the school) is the mother of all fuckups.
It was only the day before the event that I found out that we were trying out a restaurant that actually served ostrich meat! Yeah. I told you I could be stupid sometimes.
Yugel, however, assured me there would be other kinds of meat available and that I really didn’t have to try it out.
My second mistake was thinking that I could get to Pasay from Makati in half an hour (and believing I could actually get an uber, grabcar or taxi during rush hour).
In short I arrived an hour late and the rest of the other guests have already started eating.
And since I was late, any further excuses would just make me look rude, especially when the only seat left is the one beside Kristine S. Lim, the owner herself, and she’s the one handing you their specialty Ostrich Burger for you to taste.
The first bite is always the hardest and when everyone is awaiting your reaction, you simply can’t swallow and say “Yummy! (ala Coco Martin)
So, I took a small slice, making sure that the bread was bigger than the patty, and took a bite.
Aaaand…
It was actually a lot better than I expected. If I hadn’t known it was ostrich, I wouldn’t have noticed any difference from beef.
In fact the bigger challenge was not spewing out the cucumber. Which I hate—even more than birds.
I absolutely effin’ loathe cucumbers, like if there was an apocalypse and the only thing you could eat was cucumber, I’d probably be the first to become a zombie.
So back to the meat, the ostrich burger was actually good, and would have probably tasted even better if I arrived 30 minutes earlier. The meat was juicy and tender and for once you couldn’t compare the meat to chicken. I actually liked it more than the first time I had lamb.
Well it did taste like beef, but it has that bit of sweet and tangy aftertaste that makes it unique.
Kristine actually suggests the BIG BIRD OSTRICH Burger for first time customers of the Ostrich Farm, as everyone loves burgers and with the generous toppings of caramelized onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber, it’s actually hard to taste the difference.
I also got to try the SUNRISE BURGER, BLT, pickes, caramelized onions, and egg served sunny side up. Don’t worry its not an Ostrich egg. If you are ordering this one I suggest you get the BEEF (Php 298) instead of the OSTRICH (Php 448) as the combination of the egg and ostrich meat can be cloying and bit overwhelming.
They also have other kinds of burgers with the option to choose between beef or ostrich patty, including THE FARM BURGER BLT, pickes, caramelized onions BEEF (Php 198) and OSTRICH (Php 338); MUSHROOM BURGER, BLT, pickes, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese sauce, BEEF (Php238) and OSTRICH (Php 368)
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But since I couldn’t get the images that I just ate a the thought of eating of the Big Bird, I had to chew on something more familiar, good thing Ostrich Farm also serves a variety of appetizers such as the FARMER’S NACHOS (Php 138) SLOPPY FRIES (Php 148), BBQ FRIES (Php 98) CHEESE BALLS (Php 178) and even TOFU CHIPS (Php 148).
Next, we got to try a couple of their PASTA dishes. The first was the TOF MEATBALL PASTA, two juicy meatballs on a bed of pasta and tomato sauce and again you can choose from either BEEF (Php 228) or OSTRICH (Php 378), of course we had the Ostrich Meatballs. Because the meatballs were cooked just right and the flavors did not seem too foreign for my tastebuds, I ended up eating a lot.
Then there was also the classic BOLOGNESE PASTA, BEEF (Php 198) and OSTRICH (Php 338). This was my favorite and tasted better than some of the offerings in other restos.
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Other pasta choices in their menu are PULLED PORK CARBONARA (Php 168); CHICKEN MARINARA (Php 228).
Unfortunately, I was too late to try their WINGS and TENDERS but everyone said it was good and was regular sized were not the ostrich wings I had imagined occupying the entire table.
Served with Bleu Cheese Dip, choices include BUFFALO WINGS (Php 228); HONEY BBQ WINGS (Php 228) GARLIC PARMESAN WINGS (Php 258) and BUFFALO CHICKEN TENDERS (Php 138)
All that tasting made me quite thirsty and everyone suggested I order the detox water, which sounded delicious…except there were cucumbers again!
DETOX WATER (Php 188) was a heavenly drink for those who are looking for a totally nutritious and nourishing drink to accompany a healthy meal. You can pick your freshies or go crazy and ask them to put mint leaves, basil leaves, cucumber, lemon, orange, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, green apple, red apple. It can even double as a healthy snack/dessert!
Then came the RICE PAIRS. To prove that ostrich meat is not just good grounded, Kristine served us their rice specialties.
The rice meals are part of their all breakfast menu and the ones we tried out were the Ostrich Salpicao (Php 398) and Ostrich Teriyaki (Php398) which were price PhP 100 more than their beef counterparts and all meals come garlic rice, a small side salad and egg.
Now these were the two dishes that really made the ostrich meat stand out. Kristine said cooking ostrich was a bit tricky as overcooking it will make the meat very tough and gamey. Although I prefer the Salpicao for its garlicky taste, both ostrich meat in the two dishes were cooked quite good and you can really taste the ostrich meat. Like I said earlier, the taste is not so shockingly unfamiliar but will definitely notice that it’s different from beef as it lacks that juicy creaminess that comes with the beef fat.
Other choices are the TAPA BEEF (Php 258) OSTRICH (Php 358); SALISBURY STEAK BEEF (Php 218) OSTRICH (378) and ADOBO BEEF (Php 238) OSTRICH (Php 378).
Check out the other dishes and desserts available at the Ostrich Farm:
CHOOSE HEALTHY, CHOOSE OSTRICH
In between mouthfuls, I asked Kristine why they chose to highlight ostrich in their restaurants. She said they wanted to tell Filipinos that ostrich is a healthier meat alternative.
According to research, Ostrich meat resembles beef in looks and taste, but is very low in calories, fat and cholesterol, it is also rich in proteins and contains more iron as compared to beef, lamb, turkey, chicken and pork. Ostrich meat has been gaining popularity in recently due to its sweeter and richer taste when compared to other types of meat and it doesn’t really taste all too unfamiliar.
And Kristine wasn’t kidding, having made the switch herself and has been regularly eating Ostrich for the past few years, you can definitely notice the results in her very slim figure and radiant looking skin.
“With more and more Filipinos becoming more health conscious, we wanted to introduce a new alternative which more nutritious but still delicious.”
“At The Ostrich Farm, we make your comfort food favorites with a fresh new twist. We make our juicy burgers, sumptuous pasta dishes, hearty chili nachos, and salads with 100% ostrich meat straight from our own Ostrich Farm—so you’ll know what goes on each and every plate we serve,” she added.
We’d like more Filipinos to join the trend of health and wellness, so why not educate the market? It’s leaner than beef, healthier than beef, or any other type of meat.”
“It’s a way of letting people know that if we Filipinos really want to eat healthy, and we want our families to be healthy, then we should also look at other [options] and that we can satisfy our cravings without the guilt and without depriving us of our favorite comfort food.
“But if you are still too chicken for ostrich, we also serve a variety of dishes with the more familiar beef and chicken, but trust us, The Ostrich Farm will grow on you.”
Well she does have point, as I’m craving for another round of O-meat while I’m writing this. It’s a good thing that the Ostrich Farm has an Ostrich Mini Deli where you can find precooked versions of their dishes which you can bring home and reheat.”
If you are looking for a new place to hang out with your friends or family and are in the mood to try something new, but not too daring, drop by the Ostrich Farm at the Blue Bay Walk EDSA cor. Macapagal Boulevard, Metro Park, Bay Area CBD, Pasay City.
They say you can never have too much of a good thing, and that certainly holds true at The Ostrich Farm.
