Change of operating hours

After months of discussion, the new operating hours follows

Mondays to Fridays 12 noon to 11pm (last order at 10 pm)
Saturday BRUNCH 10:30am -3:30pm

Miss B's is closed on Sundays.

*only sites maintain by Miss B's would reflect the changes, these would be both our facebook page and blogspot page*

E coli outbreak: Russia widens EU vegetable ban

Officials say measure will be in place until European officials inform Moscow of the disease's cause and how it is being spread

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 June 2011 09.41 BST

A farmer destroys iceberg lettuce on a field in Germany, where most of the E coli cases have occurred. Photograph: Carmen Jaspersen/EPA

Russia has extended its ban on vegetable imports to all of the EU in a bid to prevent a deadly European bacterial outbreak from spreading into the country.

Researchers are still unable to pinpoint the cause of the E coli outbreak that has hit Germany and other European countries, infecting 1,500 people and leaving 17 people dead.

Lyubov Voropayeva, a spokeswoman for the Russian Agency for the supervision of consumer rights, said on Thursday that the ban had been imposed with immediate effect.

The agency's chief, Gennady Onishchenko, told Russian news agencies that this "unpopular measure" would be in place until European officials inform Moscow of the cause of the disease and how it is being spread.

"How many more lives of European citizens does it take for European officials to tackle this problem?" he said to the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.

Russia banned fresh imports from Spain and Germany on Monday, warning of a possible extension of the sanction. No fatalities or infections have yet been reported in the country.

The outbreak has hit at least nine European states, but nearly all the people affected either live in Germany or recently travelled there. Two people who were taken ill are now in the US; both had recently travelled to Hamburg, Germany, where many of the infections occurred.

Medical authorities appeared no closer to discovering the source of the infection late on Wednesday. Germany's national health agency said that more than 1,530 people there had been affected by the E coli germ, including 470 suffering from a kidney failure complication that was previously considered extremely rare.

The outbreak is already seen as the third-largest involving E coli in recent years, and it may be the deadliest. Twelve people died in a 1996 Japanese outbreak that reportedly affected more than 12,000, and seven died in a 2000 Canadian outbreak

E coli outbreak: bean sprouts may not be to blame

Organic farm in Germany tests negative so far for bacterium, throwing source of contamination into doubt again

Peter Walker and Siobhan Dowling in Bienenbüttel, guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 June 2011 20.09 BST

An assistant opens packages of bean sprouts to be tested for E coli at the Lower Saxony food safety laboratory in Oldenburg, Germany. Photograph: Ingo Wagner/EPA

The source of Europe's E coli outbreak remains a mystery after German scientists said there was as yet no evidence from tests to link the bacterium to a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony.

The results of laboratory tests came as a surprise, as ministers had earlier said there were "strong and clear indications" that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm had spread the new and particularly virulent strain of E coli, which has so far killed 22 people and left 2,200 people ill.

A first set of 23 results from 40 samples taken at the farm were negative, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said in a statement.

"The search for the outbreak's cause is very difficult, as several weeks have passed since its suspected start," it said. "A conclusion of the investigations and a clarification of the contamination's origin is not expected in the short term."

This is the worst possible news for both German consumers, who face indefinite warnings against raw salad leaves, tomatoes and cucumbers, and, more acutely, farmers. Spain's farmers, whose cucumbers were wrongly at first blamed by German scientists, have suffered in particular. The news also came too late to prevent the small town of Bienenbüttel, 40 miles south of Hamburg in Lower Saxony's rural heartland, being overrun by media while police sealed off access to the farm. Its owner, Klaus Verbeck, told a local newspaper he was baffled at the apparent connection, given there were no animals or animal products on the site.

Locals on Bienenbüttel's modest main street of one-storey red brick buildings said they sympathised. "It's not nice for the farmer – it's like the Spanish with the cucumbers," said one woman, identifying herself only as Frau Köhler. "The farmer won't recover quickly, not after he's been dragged through the press."

Fabrizio de Cesaro, owner of the town's Italian ice cream parlour, said he had particular sympathy for the Spanish. "There was a Spanish TV station in town today," he said. "They probably wanted to get a little revenge on Germany. I think people should wait until they know for sure."

German officials said the farm could still be the source of the outbreak, even if all the tests come back negative. Bean sprouts had seemed a likely culprit, having previously been implicated in serious E coli outbreaks in the US and Japan. They are grown in water heated to 38C, ideal for bacteria to flourish. US scientists warn that young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems should not consume them raw, advice now taken up by the UK Food Standards Agency.

Hugh Pennington, the professor who led inquiries into two major UK outbreaks of E coli, said: "They've done experimental studies on contaminating bean sprouts and seeing what happens to the bacteria during sprouting, and you can get up to a million-fold increase in bacteria. It's like incubating a culture of bacteria."

The health crisis, which has seen doctors at hospitals in northern Germany work round the clock amid talk that some retired staff might be called in, has taken on a parallel political dimension.

Russia has angered the EU by banning fresh vegetable imports while relations between Germany and Spain have slumped.

In Luxembourg, Spain's health minister, Leire Pajín, said before a meeting with EU counterparts: "We want compensation for the grave and irreparable damage done to Spain. We condemn the slow response and are concerned about how this crisis has been managed from the very start."

Exports show little sign of picking up despite the all clear for Spanish produce, said Antonio Moreno of the Coag farmers' organisation in Almeria, where salad crops are a major part of the local economy. "I've had a farmer on the phone to me this morning saying that he cannot sell a single kilo of his summer tomatoes and he has had to ask for help to tear all the plants up."

How the blame has shifted

At various points in the last fortnight the finger of blame for the E coli outbreak has pointed at Spanish cucumbers, German bean sprouts and even, briefly, a specialist potato restaurant in a Baltic city.

• First to be implicated were cucumbers from Spain. As the infection spread late last month tests at a Hamburg market showed traces of an E coli bacterium. Sales of Spanish salad vegetables – a major export for the country – plummeted. Madrid protested, with the agriculture minister for Andalusia's regional government eating a cucumber on live TV to make a point. Just over a week ago Germany admitted it had got it wrong.

• A general warning remained in place for all Germans to avoid eating raw cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce. Germany's agriculture minister, Ilse Aigner, said "hundreds" of tests had determined that most of those made ill had eaten these items, mainly in the north of the country.

• On 2 June, days after banning vegetables from Spain and Germany from import, Russia's government extended this to the entire EU. On the same day the World Health Organisation confirmed that the outbreak involved a new and more virulent form of E coli.

• On Saturday the focus fell, briefly, on the Kartoffel-Keller, a potato-themed restaurant in Lübeck, in Germany's north-east, after reports claimed it had been identified by scientists as a possible infection hotspot.

• The following day German officials said bean sprouts produced in Lower Saxony were the most likely source. Despite statements of increasing confidence about this, tests on Monday came back negative.

E coli outbreak: German hospitals struggling to cope

Death toll rises to 21 as number of cases increases to 2,200, with bean sprouts thought to be to blame- Abby D'Arcy Hughes in Berlin, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 June 2011.

German hospitals are struggling to cope with the surge in patients caused by the E coli outbreak, as the death toll rose to 22.

The health minister, Daniel Bahr, said hospitals in northern Germany were finding it difficult to provide enough beds and treatment for patients, with the total number of cases increasing to 2,200.

"We're facing a tense situation with patient care," Bahr said, "but we will manage it."

Agriculture officials said that bean sprouts grown in one organic farm between Hamburg and Hanover were the likely cause of the illness.

Hospital authorities said blood supplies were running low and staff were exhausted and working round-the-clock, with the northern cities of Hamburg and Bremen the worst affected.

E.Coli- Outbreak in Europe

E coli outbreak: UK health agency issues advice to public

Dr Bob Adak from the Health Protection Agency explains who is at risk from the new strain of E coli and how to avoid infection

Friday 3 June 2011 17.52 BST – Guardian Newspaper UK

The HPA advises anyone travelling to Germany to avoid eating lettuce, cucumber or tomatoes. Photograph: Michael Sohn/AP

The source of this outbreak has not yet been identified by the German authorities so we might see further cases in the UK in people who have recently spent time in Germany (the incubation period for this illness is 8-14 days). That is why the Health Protection Agency is advising anyone visiting Germany to avoid eating lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes, and to seek urgent medical advice if they have illness and bloody diarrhoea within two weeks of being there.

All of the cases in the UK are associated with recent travel to Germany. There have been no reports of transmission of the infection in this country and there is no evidence that any food is contaminated with this strain of E coli in the UK.

E coli bacteria usually cause diarrhoea which settles within seven days without treatment. There are many strains of the infection. Most people normally carry harmless strains of E coli in their intestine. Both the harmless strains and those that cause diarrhoea are acquired primarily through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Person-to-person and animal-to-human transmission is through the oral-faecal route.

Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), which we have seen cases of in the current outbreak, is a serious complication from this particular strain that affects the blood, kidneys and, in severe cases, the central nervous system. It is a serious illness that requires treatment in hospital and can be fatal.

The number of severe cases of HUS that have occurred in a short period is very unusual and the affected age groups are not typical: HUS is a more common complication from E coli infection in children. The reason for this is not yet known. The World Health Organisation is currently carrying out genetic sequencing of the bacterium, which will teach us more about this particular strain.

Good hygiene is very important in preventing person-to person spread and small children should be supervised with hand-washing after using the toilet and before eating.

Dr Bob Adak is head of gastroenterology at the Health Protection Agency

BRAND(s) VS. GRASSROOTS

The Struggle Between Brand and Origin

Original-Synonyms: origin, inception, source, root¹
These nouns signify the point at which something originates. Origin is the point at which something comes into existence.

Brand -A commodity, service, or a process of  having a trade name.

                                   "We cannot escape our origins, however hard we try" (James Baldwin).The current crisis in Japan is a most recent reminder that as complex as this world has grown to be; home should and will always be our primary source of sustenance. The current contamination scare should not only remain in context with the ongoing crisis but also affect our daily perception of goods and food stuff produced and manufactured from outside our shores as compared to what we can source fresh from a controlled local agricultural environment. It’s about time we did the homework and segregate our choice of daily grub: Which is more sulit, when it comes to the food we put on our tables: the leading imported brand or taking a back track to what’s already originally ours?

At Miss B’s Tuckshop, since its days of inception the main focus has been on increasing the utilizing local sources for quality produce. We are a restaurant that uses an estimated 93% of locally bred or produced items. The reason for our choice is simple:  freshness. Imported Roma tomatoes for instance, are picked before they ripen; this is to cover for the amount of time it takes to transport the fruits and package them for leading exporters. This is done to ensure that when it gets onto the grocery shelves, most remain intact and visually pleasing; the same goes for California strawberries. So when one picks up an imported item, notice that it lacks flavor as compared to when you pick it up from its local origin.

Beef and The process of Aging

Traditional dry aging of beef is an old school process of bringing out the natural full bodied flavor of beef. The key effect of dry aging is the concentration and saturation of the natural flavor. The process changes beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef. For example, BLT in New York City, sources out local meat and age their meat in a salt cured room with humidity and temperature controlled environment, in order to bring out the best in its meat.

 The modern way of aging meat however, is called wet aging (this are so common that you would think of it as a norm). Meat are now pre packed into vacuum food packs and sealed, surplus are usually kept frozen and thawed before sale - this is done for all imported beef, for the prevention of rotting during transportation. Once kept in a bag and sealed shut from oxygen.

Meat sourced locally, skips all the above mentioned processes. Beef sold here in the Philippines are freshly slaughtered and sold within the day itself, not vacuum packed, not frozen, not aged. This freshness is our determining factor for the exceptional quality for our breed of cattle. To bring out the maximum flavor of this beef, it is the onus of the restaurant chefs, owners, caterers and hoteliers. The care and attention placed into the cut of meat before it is cooked and plated; can help you determine the quality of the restaurant if it best brings out the potential of the local cattle.  

At Miss B’s Tuckshop, we celebrate the flavor of local beef by using the traditional way of dry aging as well as serving our cooked beef items as natural as possible, unmasked by rich sauces, extenders, artificial flavor enhancers, MSG or the like. Our Beef comes from a local source which farms grass-fed Australian breed of cattle, raised in Batangas.

Changes to enhance your dining experience

Our new operating hours are as follows:

Mondays to Fridays: open from 12 noon till 12 midnight (1115pm last orders)
Saturdays: open from 5pm till 12 midnight (1115pm last orders)

These changes are made to offer our guest the best possible dining experience.

Warmest Culinary Regards,

Aaron and Nikki