Food Tasting # 13: NE Catering Services

I chanced upon NE Catering Services while searching for other caterers on the Internet. At first, I was hesistant to inquire with them because there weren't that many feedbacks in W@W and GirlTalk on this caterer. But when I saw how affordable their packages are, I decided to send out an email and schedule a food tasting with them.

My AE asked me to choose from the variety of choices in their menu and the dishes that I have chosen would be served during the food tasting. This was the first time that I would attend a food tasting without a set menu so I was excited to create our menu for the day. And since I didn't have any idea which food would go well together, I just chose the most sosyal-sounding name in the menu. Haha.

I have chosen the Elegant Wedding Package, which includes two appetizers, soup, two salads (green and cold), five main courses (beef, chicken, pork, fish AND seafood), veggies, pasta, two desserts and one drink. All in all, that is 15 food items for only P650 per head! Now that is quite cheap, don't you think? And to think that is not yet their most expensive package yet.

During our food tasting, only the main courses were served at first. And so, we only had one picture of our plates piled with heaps of food.

For our appetizers, I chose the Crispy Assorted Vegetables with Dip. For the dip, you can choose either honey mustard or tartar sauce. What I love about this dish is that you can easily forget that you’re eating vegetables because you can barely taste them. As much as possible, I wanted sauces with my vegetables to mask their bland, leafy flavor, and luckily, the tartar sauce and deep-fried coating were able to do just that. My mother even commented that she would cook deep-fried vegetables if that’s the only way to get me and my brother to eat our leafy greens.

Surprisingly, we also liked our veggie dish, the Vegetable Ham Primavera. The vegetables are submerged in a creamy sauce that tasted similarly like the sauce used in carbonara. It’s as if we’re eating carbonara, only with veggies instead of pasta. And since the creaminess of the sauce was able to disguise the taste of the veggies, we were able to finish this dish in record time. Haha.

For our beef entrée, I chose the Beef Lengua Champignon because I have an affinity for beef with mushroom sauce. The beef was very soft and tender that you can easily cut it with your fork. The sauce was also very flavorful and creamy. It's just too bad that they only served a few slices during our food tasting. Nabitin tuloy ako. :(

We had the Pork Hickory BBQ for our pork dish. Again, this dish was a clear winner! It was so savory and barbecue-y, if that was even a word. The barbecue sauce tasted just like my mom's own barbecue concoction, so sweet and salty all at once. I even kept on licking my fork because I just couldn't get enough of the sauce. So delicious!

We also love our chicken entree, the Baked Honey Lemon Chicken. At the first bite, you would immediately be bombarded by the lemon’s flavor, which others might find too sour. But I find it refreshing and yummy! You can practically taste the lemon right down to the bones. This was actually my mom’s favorite out of the bunch. She loved this so much that she ate two chicken legs. Ang takaw lang. Haha!

Unlike other caterers where we had to choose between fish and seafood, NE Catering allowed us to pick BOTH fish and seafood from their menu. For our seafood dish, I chose the Baked Prawns Thermidor. I have mixed feedbacks about this dish. I have nothing against its taste; it was delicious and the filling was rich and creamy. However, I was disappointed with the prawns’ size. Actually, I don’t think you can even call them prawns because they were just so small. Compared to Passion Cooks’ baked prawns thermidor, NE’s prawns were puny! It would probably take 10 of those little critters to satisfy my craving.

I was also disappointed with their fish entrée, Baked Pink Salmon with Mornay Sauce. I was expecting the salmon to be pink, soft and juicy, just like the ones used in making sashimi. Instead, I got a hard and dry salmon. The mornay sauce was able to soften the salmon a bit, but I still didn’t like it. However, my mom said that the oldies would probably prefer this dish because it was baked, which makes it a healthier option for them.

For our pasta, we had the usual Carbonara. I give plus points again to NE Catering because they were able to create the perfect carbonara, in my opinion. The sauce was very rich, creamy and oh so delicious. Sauce pa lang, ulam na! They also didn’t scrimp on the add-ons either. There were ham, bacon, and a lot of other things that got lost within the white sauce. One of the best-tasting carbonaras out there.

The soup, salads and dessert were served after we ate all of the main dishes. But since we were too excited to taste them all, we forgot to take pictures. Boo.

For our soup, I chose the Seafood Spinach Soup because it was the only soup in the menu that I haven’t tried yet. And it was definitely a good choice because it was delicious! The soup was light yet filling. It was satisfying enough without being too heavy in the stomach. The flavor of the seafood is also very distinct in every bite (or slurp). Uber yummy!

We had to pick two entrees for our salad: one for a green salad and one for a cold salad. I chose the Chicken Asian Salad for our green salad and the Russian Potato Salad for our cold salad. I didn’t eat the Asian salad because I was already familiar with the taste of the green, leafy vegetables with strips of chicken on it. The Russian potato salad, on the other hand, was unlike the usual salads offered during food tastings. We were hesitant to taste it at first because it looked weird—like a purple fruit salad—but when we ate it, WOW! It has this unique flavor that we couldn’t get enough of. It was salty, sweet and tangy all at once, and in a good way! I couldn’t really distinguish the ingredients used to make the salad, except for the hard-boiled eggs, but all of them complemented each other so well. Two thumbs up for this dish!

Lastly, we were served Buko Pandan Jello for dessert. I chose this dessert because I wanted to compare it to Ma Del’s buko pandan jello, which is my all-time favorite out of all the desserts that I have eaten. Unfortunately, Ma Del’s version still prevailed over its competition. Wala na atang makakatalo sa sarap nun eh.

VERDICT: NE Catering is actually one of our top options because of its affordable packages and delicious food. Even my mother commended their dishes, and she is probably the hardest person to please when it comes to food. However, there was nothing spectacular in their styling.  They only offer two kinds of centerpieces: candelabra or beads. For thematic styling, you have to get their affiliate The Posh Caterer, but this may cost a lot more. My AE also couldn’t seem to understand what kind of color turquoise is. She kept showing me a light blue swatch and looked baffled when I tried to explain what I liked.

So will I get them or not? As of now, I still couldn't decide because I have my eye on another caterer. But, I'm definitely not closing my doors on them. If things don't work out with my first choice, then they will be our next option.

NE CATERING SERVICES
40 Aurora Blvd. corner H. Lozada St., San Juan
726-9384 / 290-5452
info@necatering.com / ne_catering@yahoo.com