A dash of good taste at Salt & Pepper Restaurant

Do you flinch at the thought of braving the mall when crowds are thick and parking spaces are nil? Do you avoid popular cafes and bars where you have to shout to be heard above the din? Do you get a headache from the constant buzzing noise caused by a multitude talking at the same time? Do you lose your appetite after an interminable queue for a table at a restaurant? Would you rather opt for catatonic boredom at home, if the alternative were to compete for breathing space with the usual weekend mob? If you answered "Yes, always" to any of these questions, you may be in danger of becoming a weekend hermit.

In an urban area like Metro Manila, public places such as malls are regularly packed on weekends. This is understandable. Most people work on weekdays, leaving weekends as their only free time for recreation. Accordingly, as the numbers of weekend leisure-seekers increase, going out on weekends entails considerably more effort. Of course, the easy, stress-free alternative is to stay at home and vegetate. But undoubtedly, it would be nice to go somewhere and meet up with friends sometimes. The challenge is to find a venue that is convenient, comfortable, and reasonably priced.

I recently found a nice, cozy, hassle-free place where one could relax away from the maddening crowd. And I’m almost tempted to keep it a secret! However, it is in the interest of encouraging other weekend recluses to emerge from their shells that I am sharing my latest find: Salt & Pepper Restaurant at the corner of 6797 Ayala Ave. and V. A. Rufino St. in Makati City, the latest venture of the company that runs Play & Display.

Play & Display is a major player in the imported furniture industry. It has attracted an avid and loyal following throughout the years for its inventory of contemporary furniture with clean, simple lines, and unique accessories. It could be said that the same philosophy of clean lines, striking simplicity, and excellent quality applies at their Salt & Pepper Restaurant as well.

The restaurant is brightly-lit, spacious, spotless, and furnished with items from Play & Display. The staff was attentive and the menu offered appealing alternatives. A serving of caramel banana walnut waffle topped with whipped cream at P189 was a substantial breakfast for two. Aside from the waffles (peanut butter banana, blueberry, strawberry, peach, and fruity combo) an all-day breakfast menu listed hearty choices that included popular favorites such as beef tenderloin tapa, pork tocino, bacon, daing na bangus, and assorted omelets. A young couple seated at the next table was having a late breakfast, and I discreetly examined their breakfast. The substantial portions were not at all bad for P99! The Filipino and international breakfast package is served with a cup of steaming hot brewed coffee that may be refilled with as much as you can drink. However, many tempting choices in the menu convinced me that I should try dishes other than those found under the breakfast list.

To assuage the smidgen of guilt that very briefly assailed me, I started the meal with a healthy oriental chicken salad (P179). Shreds of tender, grilled chicken breast topped a salad of crisp greens. Oriental sesame dressing – flavorful without being overpowering – was a melodious accompaniment to the vegetables. A smattering of crunchy noodles added visual appeal to the dish. It was a good idea to share the salad to be able to try other items in the menu.

I was torn between the flank steak (P159), Cajun chicken (P179), and the braciola zucchini. The flank steak was described as "a succulent Creole seasoned steak with special black peppercorn sauce," while the Cajun chicken was charbroiled chicken marinated in Cajun spices and herbs, and glazed with spicy barbecue sauce.

Creole cuisine combines elements of French, Spanish, and African cuisines and is native to New Orleans, Louisiana. It is characterized by the use of butter, cream, green onions, celery, tomatoes, and filé powder made from the ground leaves of the sassafras tree. (The Sassafras albidum tree belongs to the laurel family.) Being partial to Creole cooking, known more popularly as Cajun cooking, since this is both an aromatic and flavorful cuisine, I was sorely tempted to have either flank steak or chicken.

However, we opted for pork. The braciola zucchini (P189) consisted of specially marinated pork tenderloin layered with flavored roasted zucchini and topped with melted cheese. Braciola is merely the Italian term for a slice or chop of meat, often stuffed. Don’t let the fancy terms or foreign words intimidate you. However, the heaped dish that reached our table was intimidating, indeed. Will we be able to consume all that food? The tenderloin was flavorful and cooked just right. As with all entrees, this was served with salad, bread, and the soup of the day (roasted pumpkin, on the day of our visit).

We were pleased with the aesthetically presented, tasty, and very reasonably priced food that reached our table so far; and a bit surprised that the restaurant wasn’t packed. We soon realized that it was a Saturday, and the area wasn’t too busy on that day. After all, the restaurant is located where offices predominate. The restaurant is so much busier on weekdays, says restaurant manager Matt Tee. The pace at Salt & Pepper is leisurely on Saturdays, which suited us just fine. The easy pace was exactly what we were looking for. It allowed us to relax and the relative quiet was conducive for pleasurable catching up on news with friends. Another plus is that one does not have to kill for parking space since the building has its own spacious parking area.

While waiting for the dish called Nuts About Lapu-Lapu (P229), we were able to peruse the menu. Healthy salads, such as crab and corn (P149) and classic Caesar salad (P159), came with garlic bread. More substantial salads were tuna and olive (P169), and an unusual peach twisted salad (P179) that combines pasta, grilled chicken breast, cubed peaches, bell peppers, lettuce, and Parmesan cheese.

The Salt & Pepper saltimbocca (P209), pan-seared marinated tenderloin scallops and fresh herbs wrapped with bacon and served with red gravy, looked promising, as did the sole piccati (P239), which is fish fillet with Parmesan cheese and herbs.

Red chicken curry and soy beans-fermented pork (both P179) lent Asian flavor to the menu. And we wondered if the Salt & Pepper Gina Dip (P179), of smoothly baked artichokes and cream with a blend of three kinds of cheese, salmon, and spinach leaves, served with warm wheat tortilla on a bed of lettuce, was named after Geena Llamanzares, general manager of Play & Display.

The lapu-lapu, tender fillets of fish in honey lime juice, breaded in Parmesan cheese and topped with a roulade of herbs and butter, was soon served. With saffron risotto and buttered vegetables, it was tasty and we were immensely pleased with it.

The dessert list was tempting: orange and peach cake, nelusco, chocolate decadent, and truffle cake. But then, we had already eaten our fill. We would try these on our next visit.

How should one describe the food served at Salt & Pepper?

It is all of western, Mediterranean, and Asian. It is flavorful and easy on the pocket. It is hearty, attractive, simple, diverse, and uncomplicated. The best part of it all is that the food at Salt & Pepper is delicious without being pretentious. My taste buds don’t have to do excruciating calisthenics. I don’t have to think too hard to decipher the flavors. I just know that I like the place as much as I like the food.

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Salt & Pepper is located at the ground floor of 6797 Ayala Ave. corner V. A. Rufino St., Makati City. It is open from Monday to Saturday. Call 840-5656 for inquiries.