Silantro - U.P. Town Center

I'm really not into fish dishes. With a few exceptions, of course, and one of those exceptions is grilled mahi-mahi. In Southern California, that is my order of choice whenever we eat at a Hawaiian restaurant. When I discovered that Silantro is serving this, I made plans to try it as soon as possible.

Today, Dec. 23, when traffic wasn't that detrimental and exasperating, my wife and I hied over to the U.P. Town Center. Thankfully we arrived early enough that we were seated right away (normally it takes from 30 minutes to 1 hour before that could happen). The menu wasn't that extensive, besides, I already know what to order. Naturally, it was Grilled Mahi-mahi for me, while my wife ordered the Rib Finger. For drinks, I asked for Iced Tea while the Mrs wanted Fresh Dalandan Juice. The server told us it would take about 25-30 minutes for our orders to be served. 

The drinks came almost immediately though. One aspect why my rating was less that 5 was the iced tea. It had a tad of bitterness that a real tea has and because I am so used to having the sweet kind, this particular brew did not hit well with me. The dalandan juice, on the other hand, was just perfect!

The Rib Finger came first. It was actually pieces of rib steak covered with Barbecue (not smoked) sauce. It was served with mashed potato. The meat was not fall-off-the-bone tender but definitely not tough. Some were even done medium rare. The mashed potato was delicious. When the Grilled Mahi-mahi came I was a bit apprehensive...would it taste the same as those I had in the U.S.?.. would there be a fishy taste to it? To my delight, it was as if I was having lunch at a Hawaiian place in southern California. The fried rice that came with it was mixed with peas and corn which sort of uplifted the quality of the rice itself. Another thing that intrigued me was the sauce that came with the fish. In America, usually it is tartar sauce, but here I was curious as to what that green thing was. It turned out to be guacamole with cucumber. It went well with the mahi-mahi I must admit.

The ambiance was not that great - the place was relatively small and the chairs were like benches. Since it is a very popular place, it gets full quickly and as I mentioned earlier, newly arrived customers have to wait for quite a while to be seated.

Grilled Mahi-mahi

Rib Finger

Wildflour Cafe + Bakery

Our friend treated us to this place and since this will be the first time here I was curious as to what type of food they offer. After much deliberation (despite the fact that their menu for main dishes wasn't that extensive) I decided on the Wildflour Breakfast which consisted of baguette, eggs (you choose how it is done - I opted for scrambled), crispy potatoes and either sausage or bacon steak. I chose the latter. My wife ordered the Tuna Melt Sandwich while our friends had Kimchi Rice and Baby Mixed Green Salad. Before our orders were served we were given a baguette with butter as an appetizer. 

The breakfast was awesome! They probably used at least 3 eggs for the omelet and the bacon-steak was tender and delicious! The crispy potatoes were also good. The bread came with a jam. I preferred butter so I asked the server for one and she was kind enough to fulfill my request. My wife's tuna melt sandwich was - how shall I describe it - overflowing! The leafy salad that came with it had a very minimal vinaigrette dressing though. One reason I did not order the Kimchi Rice for myself was that I was afraid it might be too spicy for my taste. When our friend offered me a bite, it did have a degree of spiciness to it - not that hot but more like an aftertaste.

The ambiance is, sad to say, horrible. The tables are located right next to the main lobby of the Podium and close to the escalators so you can just imagine the amount of people passing by and the noise that goes along with that. Another minus point is the price. I consider it a bit too much for the quality of the food that they offer.

Overall Rating: 3.5

breakfast - bacon steak

mixed vegetable salad, kimchi rice

tuna melt sandwich

Banana Leaf

Banana Leaf had always been one of our favorite restaurants. We used to patronize their branch at Podium but unfortunately that place already closed. When we learned that they opened at the U.P. Town Center which we was nearer to our home, we visited it as soon as we had the chance. We've been back several times and let me just say that it still remains a favorite.

Today, we ordered the usual entrees that we really enjoy: Barbecue-roasted Baby Back Ribs and Stir Fried Clams in Singaporean Chili Sauce. Since we're not really into spicy food we always request that the latter be made extra mild. The baby back, as always, was so tender that the meat falls off the bones.

Prior to the entree we had the Roti Canai with Curry Sauce as an appetizer. The roti has the right amount of crispiness to it and the curry was mild.

Service was excellent: The server repeated our orders to make sure that she got them right. The waiting time was very minimal.

Definintely a place that we would come back to.