Food: CCME Homemade Foodstuff

I learned of CCME Homemadefoodstuff when I was searching for an affordable wedding caterer. Their catering service is affordable indeed and they enjoy a good number of positive feedback from those who have tried their food. But I decided against getting them when they told me that they only use artificial flowers for the table setup. I figured, it'll cost me more to hire a separate event stylist to dress up the reception venue.

But then, because a lot of people are raving about their food and their price, I recommended CCME to my brother for his first son's christening party. He had a limited budget and opted to have the food delivered instead of availing their complete catering setup. Based on menu recommendations I've gathered from online forums and other blogs, we ordered the following dishes:

• Chicken Pastel (6 orders)
• Beef Morcon (4 orders)
• Barbeque (3 orders)
• Chopsuey (3 orders)
• Lumpiang Shanghai (2 orders)
• Dark Chocolate cake (3 orders)

Rating Guides:

= A big headache!
= Relieved that it's over.
= It wasn't that bad. But it wasn't that good either.
= Happy about the outcome.
= I wouldn't be grinning this big for nothing.


How did they fare?

Food:

Chicken Pastel. A lot said that this is highly recommended and they were right. It's delicious and had big chunks of chicken, sausages, juicy button mushrooms, potatoes and carrots in a light creamy sauce. But I failed to considered that a lot of people are not fond of milk-based or cheese-based dishes. Out of the 6 trays that we ordered, we had 3 leftovers. So we had chicken pastel for dinner and for breakfast the morning after. Surprisingly, it tasted even better than it did the day before. My mom said that it was cooked well that's why it lasted until the next day and was even better tasting.


Beef Morcon. I'm not a fan of their beef morcon. Probably because my mom cooks a better version and all the other beef morcons I've tasted pale in comparison to her cooking. But it doesn't mean that the beef morcon is not delicious. A lot of guests loved it. They just didn't like the sauce that came with it. One guest even said that it tastes better with the vinegar concoction that came with the Lumpiang Shanghai.

Pork Barbeque. It was ok, tasted a notch better than regular barbeques. But like the morcon, I've tasted more delicious barbeque recipes.



Chopsuey. I saw that the Chopsuey has generous amounts of ingredients like button mushrooms, carrots, cabbage slices, shreds of chicken, etc. The vegetables were not overly cooked and overall, it tasted good. But again, my dad cooks a really scrumptious and crunchy version of the dish so I can't really rave about CCME's Chopsuey.

Lumpiang Shanghai. I didn't get to taste the Lumpiang Shanghai except for a small bite. And I forgot how it tasted.

Dark Chocolate Cake. The cake was too sweet for me. But it was moist and the kids love it so I guess, it was ok.



Ordering:

Ordering was done through phone. I made several calls before giving my final order and whoever answered was very polite and patiently entertained all my inquiries. There was just a little misunderstanding when it came to what they'll write on the cake. And they misspelled my nephew's name.

Delivery:

Delivery Fee was remarkably low and delivery time was more than punctual. Our food was scheduled to be delivered at 10:30 am. The delivery van arrived at 9:45 am. Before the driver left CCME, he sent me a message asking for directions. I gave him the vaguest of directions and yet he was still able to arrive 45 minutes ahead of schedule.

Packaging

The dishes were piping hot when they came, as if they've just been cooked which is impossible because it came to Laguna all the way from Quezon City. They were in cardboard box containers lined with aluminum foil wraps and covered with plastic. Although not aesthetically appealing, these containers are very convenient and can easily be disposed of. The sauces and dipping were packed separately in plastic bags.

Serving:

They said 1 tray can make about 10-12 servings. That is, if you only have 1 dish to serve. But if paired with other viands, 1 dish can serve at least 20 persons. Our orders above can feed about 80 to 100 persons. And for only P10,340.00 (including delivery fee), that's really an affordable way to cater a party.

Overall: We'll definitely order from them again.

Food item list and prices, and contact information are available at CCME's website: www.homemadefoodstuff.com