Lazy Oeuf By Metronome Serves French Bistro Fare

Meet this take-out delivery food service by Metronome’s Chef Miko Calo. Their meticulously thought-out menu of rustic French cuisine will keep you coming back for more!

Metronome is one of Manila’s few fine dining, haute cuisine establishments; one that we are definitely proud of. In fact, we named Metronome as Tatler Dining’s Best New Restaurant 2020 - and we sure do miss it!

During our time in quarantine, Chef Miko Calo and her partners at Metronome refused to let a pandemic stop them from doing what they love - feeding people. Since dine-in was not an option for any of us, they rolled up their sleeves and created Lazy Oeuf!

Above Chef Miko Calo and her team

RJ Galang, a partner head of restaurant communications at Metronome said that the name for Metronome’s new food delivery brand came about from a combination of several things. First of, “‘Lazy oeuf’ is a play on ‘lazy oaf.’ We understand that during the quarantine period, people can either be too tired to cook for themselves or simply don’t know how to cook. That’s why we decided to create dishes for take-out that are ready to reheat. There is no cooking involved on the customer’s end” RJ expounded. To stay true to Metronome’s French DNA, oeuf was chosen as it is the French word for egg, an ingredient that you will see a lot of on their menu.

I wanted to know why the group felt the need to make a whole new menu for their take-out service instead of re-working certain dishes on the Metronome menu. RJ explained that the Metronome experience is a combination of the food, service, and ambiance. He shared that Metronome’s food does not translate well when taken out of the restaurant (they have a no take-out policy in the first place.) Their dishes are designed to be eaten in the restaurant, fresh from the kitchen. There clearly is a different science to a take-out food menu as the process of ordering and consumption is totally different from the din-in experience. Because of food safety reasons, RJ and the team “felt the need to create a whole new menu that’s designed specifically for take-out. Food that will pack well, keep well, and travel well.”

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To ensure their menu items travelled well, Chef de Cuisine of Metrome, Miko Calo said: “We package our pre-cooked meals in chilled oven ready containers, ready to be reheated. This ensures us that our guests will still be able to enjoy a freshly cooked meal that they just need to warm up on the oven (or stovetop if they don’t have an oven.) Our salads are prepared shortly before pick up and is kept in the chiller to ensure that it remains cold longer. Every order comes with heating and storage instructions too.”

Left Halibut,

Right Chroizo quiche

I thought, there must be a difference between what people want to eat in-restaurant and at home. Miko enlightened me with her thoughts: “Like us, people more often than not, will want comfort food and hearty meals at home, but at the same time there are people who miss eating in restaurants so we wanted to create restaurant quality food that can be enjoyed comfortably with minimal effort.”

Left French onion burger

When can you expect on their menu? Full flavour, high quality food that will taste as spectacular after you reheat the dish as it would have when it came out of their kitchen. You can tell the team did R&D thoroughly. In fact, RJ said they even did test deliveries in order to really figure out what not to do. With Lazy Oeuf, there are no complex steps, no separation of liquids and ingredients, no confusing assemblage, and no fancy plating steps which often prove to be cumbersome for the home diner. They made sure that all of us at home would have the easiest time enjoying Metronome-quality food.

Above French onion soup

RJ excitedly said that Lazy Oeuf's menu is ‘constantly changing too because it depends on what fresh produce is readily available. When it came down to creating Lazy Oeuf's menu Miko first listed down items that she knew they could prepare in big batches or very quickly. “We then had to figure out the proper heating instructions, including the correct oven temperature and heating time for each dish” she said, again thinking about her diners.

Above Tartlets

Their spin-off concept still stays authentic to Metronome’s DNA not only through their dedication to thoughtful, luxurious and skilfully executed food but also through a maintenance of strong corporate culture. “Since we opened Metronome last year, we have tried to develop a close, family relationship with our team members. Lazy Oeuf by Metronome is Metronome’s way of taking care of its family as all profits directly go to a fund that is equally distributed among everyone in the team. After opening our kitchens to feed frontliners in the early days of the quarantine, we figured that we can also open our kitchen to help our team during these trying times” RJ shared sincerely.

“Even if we are serving less-fine dining and more bistro-inspired dishes, we instil Metronome’s attention to quality when creating dishes for Lazy Oeuf by Metronome” Chef Miko explained. RJ jumped in to say that Lazy Oeuf by Metronome is the “fun side of Metronome.”

Left Dark mousse,

Right Ginger cookies

At the end of the day, Chef Miko summed it up perfectly: “our goal is to give our customers an enjoyable dining experience, whether they are dining in Metronome or having Lazy Oeuf by Metronome for take out.”

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Instagram - @lazyoeufbymetronome

Facebook - fb.com/lazyoeuf

Credits

Photography

Chichi Tullao

Topics

Metronome Miko Calo

Tatler Asia

Lazy Oeuf By Metronome Serves French Bistro Fare