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.
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| Grilled Mahi-mahi |
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| Rib Finger |
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.
My wife and I received as a gift a couple of coupons (worth P1000) for Cafe Shibuya. So off we went to the U.P. Town Center to have lunch at this restaurant.We were promptly seated and as we pondered on what to order, our server, Sasha, was standing beside us giving suggestions and answering the questions that we had. We decided on Honey Lemongrass Chops for me and Baked Salmon for my wife. For our drinks, I had regular coke and Cynthia had the Pink Passion fruit cooler. For dessert, we ordered a slice of the Caramel Pecan Crunch cake which we shared.It took a while for our meals to be served - about 15-20 minutes.The pork chops were cooked well and were tender and juicy. The java rice, however, wasn't up to par and the tomato corn sauce was very minimal. My wife's baked salmon still had that slight fishy taste and the mushroom cream cheese sauce that went with it was quite overwhelming. The Pink Passion fruit cooler was also a bit bland. Their redeeming factor was the cake! It had the crunchiness that we hoped for and the sweetness was just right.Again, I'd like to reiterate that the service given by our waitress and the cashier was excellent. For the food, I'll give a 3.5 rating, for the service, 4.5. The price range was also a bit on the high end - about P300+ for the meals (good thing we had coupons).
Overall rating: 4.0
My wife and I went to Ba Noi's at the U.P. Town Center for lunch. The servers were very polite and attentive. When asked on what our orders were going to be, I pointed to the posting on their wall about their all day brunch menu and said I wanted the Bo Luc Lac. The waiter said that that was only good from Monday to Friday. When we got home, I checked their menu online and found out that the all day brunch was served everyday! That was minus point number 1. I also ordered the Iced Vietnamese Blended Caramel. A few minutes later, I was informed that they don't have whipped cream. So I canceled that order, after all what good is iced blended coffee without whipped cream. Minus point number 2.My wife ordered Banh Mi. However the side dish of lobster crisps were not crispy at all. She had to inform the servers about it. To their credit they replaced it. The Banh Mi though was very good and my wife enjoyed it.My order was Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crepe) with chicken, beef, and shrimp sauteed with bean sprouts. The taste was quite good, but not outstanding.Service: 3.5/5Food: 3.5/5Ambiance: 4/5
This was our first time to try IHOP here in the Philippines. In the U.S. IHOP was one of our favorite brunch places. However our visit here was for lunch.
The servers were very attentive and accommodating especially to my wife's request regarding their lemonade drink. I ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu and my wife wanted the Cheese Steak Sandwich. It took a while before our orders arrived (and there weren't that many customers).
When our meals finally came, it looked good - presentation wise. The taste however did not meet our standards. The cordon bleu was a bit tough and the sauce did not have the "cordon bleu" quality to it and lacked thickness. My wife was also disappointed with her sandwich. The beef was bland and the cheese tasted like cheez whiz.
And to top all that the bill was a bit pricey - it cost us almost P700 (including iced tea and lemonade) - and that was already senior discounted.
Are we going back? Most likely not.
Rating: 3 out of 5
