Food Tasting # 5: Josiah's Catering

Josiah’s Catering was not part of our original options for our caterer because of their high rates, but I still scheduled a food tasting with them just to see if their food is as delicious as others say. Plus, you’ll never know if they can offer a package that can fit our budget.  I brought my mother and younger brother along with me during our food tasting last Saturday because they are our certified “food critics”. In other words, sila ang mga maarte sa pagkain! Haha. This food tasting, and the others that would follow, was also my Mother’s Day treat to my mom. Oh diba, double purpose ang event.

Before the food tasting proper, my AE, MeAnn, explained the inclusions of their wedding packages. Our chosen package was the P995 per head, which includes welcome cocktails, a soup and bread station, salad, chicken or pork, fish, beef, pasta, two drinks and four desserts. But MeAnn offered to upgrade our pasta dish to a pasta bar, our salad dish to a salad bar, and our dessert selection to a buffet of 15 desserts plus a chocolate fountain with three kinds of chocolate, all for free! The total package price was P164,000 inclusive of the 10% service charge. But as you’ve read from my previous post, I had to decline their offer due to budget constraints.

Now on to the food! The food tasting was originally only for two people but the servings were large enough to share so all three of us were full afterwards. The dishes were served one at a time so we were able to truly savor them without having our taste buds confused from all the flavors.

For our soup, we had the Wild Mushroom Soup. Sorry we didn’t take any pictures of it because we already slurped it down before we got the camera out of my bag. The soup was rich and creamy, with just the right amount of saltiness. This dish alone is already filling because you get a mouthful of mushrooms in every bite, unlike other soups where you can count their contents in just one hand. 
 
Afterwards, they served us the rice dishes (Parsley Rice and Mushroom & Walnut Risotto) and the fish dishes (Parmesan & Herb Crusted Fish Fillet in Tomato Herb Sauce and Pan-Seared Norwegian Pink Salmon with Mango Butter Sauce). The parsley rice tasted like steamed rice with bits of parsley sprinkled on top, which was how it looked like. Nothing too special. The risotto was a different story though; it was so full of flavor that you can even enjoy it without any entrée. Kanin pa lang, ulam na!

For the fish dishes, I liked the salmon better than the fish fillet mainly because I rarely had the chance to eat the former. The salmon meat was very tender and soft, and the mango butter sauce added more flavor to the meat's natural sweet taste. As for the fish fillet, I couldn't quite taste the parmesan in the dish, although it was still delicious because of the tomato sauce.

Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the dishes individually

On to the veggies! I don’t think I’ve stressed this enough, but I’m not a vegetable lover. Still, I thought Josiah’s Baked Stuffed Zucchini was one of the best-tasting veggies I've ever eaten because the zucchini was very crispy and the filling on top (I forgot what it was) was able to mask the veggie taste that I hate. But for the Eggplant Parmigiana, I thought the parmesan sauce was a bit too much; in fact, you could barely taste the eggplant in there. Puro sauce na keso lang nakakain mo.
 

Eggplant Parmigiana

Baked Stuffed Zucchini

Again, I didn't take any photos of the Western US Roast Beef with Pepper Mashed Potato because I was too hungry. My brother didn't like this dish because he said it was too bland. Even with gravy on top, the beef lacked flavor. Only the pepper mashed potato tasted great. I think the best way to eat this dish is to mix the beef with the mashed potato, and then eat it with the mushroom and walnut risotto so that the flavors would truly come out.

For the pasta, we had two dishes: Penne with Seafood and Mango Cream Sauce and Penne with Seafood and Sundried Tomato Pesto. Honestly, I don't know what a sundried tomato is and how it would taste like, but the penne with seafood and sundried tomato pesto was definitely a winner. Everyone loved this dish because the tomato sauce has a distinctive taste and yet it is not as sour as the ordinary tomato sauces. It is a bit too salty though, so maybe we can ask the chef to tone it down next time. The pasta was also full of seafood so it was very filling.

I liked the penne with seafood and mango cream sauce because the sweetness of the sauce brought by the mangoes was not too overpowering so there was no umay factor. However, I couldn't find any seafood at all in this dish, only noodles. So yes, minus points for me.

Penne with Seafood and Sundried Tomato Pesto

Penne with Seafood and Mango Cream Sauce

Our package does not include a seafood dish, but MeAnn still gave us some Prawns with Lemon Butter Sauce to taste. I love prawns so I knew I would like this dish. And yes I was right! The prawns were already cut open so all you had to do was to scrape the meat off and dip it into the lemon butter sauce. Bits of garlic were also sprinkled on top to give it more flavor. But just like the sundried pesto, the lemon butter sauce was too salty.

Prawns with Lemon Butter Sauce

We only had one pork dish: Baby Back Ribs. Again, I love baby back ribs so I'm pretty biased with this dish. It has the sweet-salty barbecue taste that I love. The blurry photo below says it all. I was too excited to eat this dish so the camera was shaky when I took the picture. I want to finish everything then and there because the meat was so juicy and tender. A must-try, I should say! :)

Baby Back Ribs

And now for our chicken entree. Honestly I forgot the name of this dish. I don't know if this is the Mandarin Roasted Chicken with Orange Sauce or the Asian Roasted Chicken with Sesame Sauce. All I know is that while the dish was delicious, I was not too pleased with it because the sauce was again too salty that I couldn't taste the chicken properly. My mother also didn't like this dish but my brother thought it was delicious. Oh well, kanya-kanyang taste yan.

Forgot the name of this dish :(

For our desserts, we had Blueberry Cheesecake, Creme Caramel and Chocolate Cake. I liked the chocolate cake because it was moist and had the right amount of bittersweetness, but my brother thought it was too bitter. And while he loved the blueberry cheesecake, I thought it was too sour. You can barely taste the cheese in it too. My brother and I agreed with the creme caramel though. It was not too sweet so you can enjoy it again and again without the panguumay.

And to wash all that food down, we had Peach Iced Tea for refreshments. The peach taste was a refreshing treat from all the generic iced teas out there. Yummy!

VERDICT: As you all knew, I was so tempted to book Josiah's because of its attractive freebies and delicious food. However, I was right. Our wedding budget simply could not allow us to book them. Oh well, on to the next caterer.

This month of May is actually food tasting month because after my food tasting with Josiah's, I will have one with K by Cunanan, Quido's Grill and possibly Passion Cooks. So stay tuned with my reviews about them in my later posts. :)

JOSIAH'S CATERING
34 East Drive, Marikina Heights, Marikina
475-2703