When we told Chito, my wife's brother, that we wanted to have burger's at Gino's (which we liked a lot from our last visit in 2012), he said "I'll take you to a place with even better hamburgers."
And indeed, it was better! Backyard Burgers is relatively new having formally opened in February, 2012 (we didn't know about it then - it was just a hole-in-the-wall joint - we were told). This time they are now in two locations with a third one soon to open. We tried the one in Quimpo Street which was not that far from Chito's house.
Now for the sandwiches. I had the Garshroom Bacon Burger - "garshroom" being derived from garlic and mushroom. Although the bacon wasn't crispy enough, the burger itself was thick and heavenly! Just a tad short of In-N-Out's yummy-ness. The cheddar cheese was melting over the fried garlic and mushroom. Lettuce and tomato completed the ensemble. I'll give it 4.5 stars out of 5.
Chito had the Extra Cheesy Burger which really lived up to its name. Again the burger meat was thick and juicy complemented by a heavy dousing of melted cheddar. Chito gave it a perfect 5.
Cynthia opted for the BLT. Similar to my garshroom, the bacon was not crispy. Instead of cheese, the sandwich had mayonnaise to go along with the tomato and lettuce. My wife rated it a 4.
We had a side order of french fries to go with our orders which was much better than the fast food joints in Manila. Unfortunately, at the time we were there they were not serving combo meals yet. They will put that back in their menu beginning April 1, 2014.
Price-wise, they are at a definite advantage. The sandwiches we had cost from P135 to P165 (about $3 - $3.75). Compare that with the similar tasting burgers at Charlie's in MetroManila whose prices are double.
Backyard Burgers has a more homely ambiance and is more like a restaurant specializing in hamburgers than a MacDonald's wannabe. Overall rating is 4.5
Follow them in Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/backyardburgersdavao
Cynthia wanted to check out the restaurants at the UP Town Center so after church last Sunday we drove to that newly opened place along Katipunan Avenue.
There were so many different choices of restaurants offering a wide range of culinary delights - from IHOP to Salusalo. We finally settled for Tokyo Tonteki, a restaurant that offers a different kind of Japanese cuisine. Forget the Katsus and the Sushis and say hello to the Tonteki - which is pork loin (ton) steak (teki) cooked over low temperature.
Although we were seated right away, it took a while before our order was taken. My wife even threatened to walk out if we continued to be ignored by the servers in the next 5 minutes, inasmuch as we have already waited for more than ten minutes. Please take note that this is not a huge restaurant, maximum capacity would be 50 diners. Thankfully, I was able to flag down one of the waitresses before Cynthia's deadline came up. We ordered the large portion of the house specialty -the tonteki, of course, and Ebi Fry, which is basically shrimp tempura.
While waiting for our food, we discovered the reason for the lack of attention to the customers - two more waitresses reported for work at noon (we came at around quarter to twelve). With the personnel now in full force, service got a lot better.
First to be served was the Miso Soup - which is bottomless, by the way. I liked the taste of this one which is a bit different from the ones I have had from the other Japanese restaurants that we patronized before. Instead of tofu bits, they added tiny pieces of pork meat to the soup giving more oomph to the flavor. Five stars out of five!
Then came the main entree. The pork loin steak was so tender and had very minimum fat. The sauce that covered the meat was made from a combination of fruits, vegetables and spices that complemented the pork. The meat was served on a skillet from which it was cooked, along with shredded cabbage. I added some Japanese mayonnaise to the shredded cabbage and this was the first time that I truly enjoyed eating this side dish. Cynthia and I shared this dish and we couldn't even finish it! That's how large it was. Whopping 5 stars!
The Ebi Fry had the usual tempura taste. However, the accompanying sauce made all the difference which made the fried breaded shrimp a lot more enjoyable. I'd give this 4 stars only because of the sauce.
Except for the early unease from the lack of attention from the servers, our experience with Tokyo Tonteki was very pleasant, food-wise and service-wise.
Overall rating would be: 4.5 for food, 4 for service.
We would definitely return to try out the other dishes which looked really appetizing.
Check out their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tokyotontekiphilippines
