If there are three things Pinoys are most passionate about, it is politics, basketball, and eating — not necessarily in that order. Eating out is inarguably a favorite family pastime. Families bond over food, glorious Filipino food, enriched by a variety of foreign influences. Simply browse old family albums and you’re bound to come across an eating scenario or two or three. Our delicious childhood memories are made of these.
Thank heavens, we’ll never run out of memories, what with the many different restaurants at the Mall of Asia, whose assorted offerings are certified family favorites.
Congo Grille: All-Pinoy family grill resto
There’s no monkey business in this African-inspired, all-Filipino family grill restaurant that’s serious about offering only the most innovative flavors for the Filipino palate. So serious are Kenneth Sytin and his brothers that nine years and nine outlets since they opened Congo Grille’s maiden branch, there are now 155 items on its menu, including appetizers, seafood, steaks, soups, chicken, pork, beef and steaks, desserts, drinks, sodas, wines, and other native favorites.
If you think Congo’s 155-item menu is a lot, hear this: Never satisfied, Congo’s creative chefs have added 29 new dishes, fusing traditional Filipino cuisine with Oriental, Western, and European flavors.
Old favorites are the Congo rice (rice made of squid ink topped with calamares rings — Congo Grille’s version of the black paella), Congo Mango (refrigerator cake loaded with mango slices) and, of course, Congo’s famous pork sisig. Did you know that Congo Grille is the reigning sisig king, winning in three professional categories (exotic, original, seafood) at the Sisig Festival in Pampanga, and besting even Sisig Queen Aling Lucing?
We took the 60-second sisig challenge at Congo Grille, MOA — our sisig order came out in 56 seconds, with four minutes to spare!
And yes, have some pancit habhab (a specialty food of Lukban, Quezon consisting of sauteed noodles mixed with chopped pork, shrimps, and veggies with onion and garlic, and best enjoyed with a sprinkling of vinegar).
Things are getting really hot at Congo Grille.
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Congo Grille is located at the ground floor, south arcade of Mall of Asia with telephone number 556-0108.
Bangus: Milkfish be with you
Sisters Diana Santamaria and Erlinda Yap share a burning passion for good food. And guess what? They both love bangus (milkfish) so they put up a restaurant and named it — yes! — Bangus, serving up this versatile fish in a variety of creative ways. Bangus chef Leo Baliduya names ’em: sizzling, a la pobre, bistek, paksiw, milkfish belly with sampalok candy sauce and crispy kangkong, boneless bangus, binusog na tinapang bangus, bangus sisig.
“Or try our new bangus burger that uses bangus patty,” Zaldy Janculan recommends. “It’s only P99 and it comes with crispy kamote, ketchup, and iced tea.”
And did you know that Bangus has bragging rights to the widely popular green mango shake, which was concocted right at the restaurant in 1982? The story goes that the inventor, Choy, who still tends the bar at Bangus Mall of Asia, ran out of ripe mangoes for the guests’ milk shake orders that day. Not at all shaken, Choy thought of the next best thing — green mangoes. And now, Bangus guests are going back and asking for Choy’s green mango shake.
Yes, milkfish on earth, good food, and good drinks to all men!
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Bangus is located at the ground floor, north arcade of Mall of Asia with telephone number 556-0386.
Gerry’s Grill: Please pass the ‘pusit’
The “Gerry” in Gerry’s Grill is Gerry Apolinario, whose sizzling love affair with food inspired him to put up a restaurant.
At Gerry’s Grill, Gerry shares his love for food via innovative dishes that have become family favorites.
“Try our inihaw na pusit, pinaputok na creme dory fish fillet, seafood rice aligue, sugba kilaw (combination of liempo and tanigue kilaw with onion and vinegar),” recommend chef Eraño Sanchez and dining supervisor Bong Carmen, who are both Caviteños.
For a little night of eating and drinking, try Gerry’s own “chichabits” (handmade chicharon bits done Gerry’s style).
Gerry’s inihaw (anyhow you want it) and sizzling specialties (gambas, spare ribs, bangus, tuna sisig) have always been hot house favorites. Of course, for drinkers, sisig is best enjoyed with San Miguel beer. Gerry’s Grill is currently holding its Beer Tower promo, where a beer tower (a cylinder beer dispenser containing nine bottles of San Miguel Light draft) costs only P330. Now, that’s beer-y good news!
Now you know what makes Gerry’s Grill sizzle!.
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Gerry’s Grill is located at the ground floor, entertainment mall, north wing (facing the bay) of Mall of Asia with telephone number 556-0310.
Ferino’s Bibingka: Selling like hotcakes
Who doesn’t remember Ferino’s? It’s been around since 1938 — and it’s still selling like hotcakes!
“The Francisco family owns Ferino’s and our outlet at SM Mall of Asia is the only franchise branch,” says franchisee Oscar Yabut.
Since 1938, Ferino’s has used the same treasured bibingka recipe that its founder, Ferino (yes, there’s such a person) Francisco concocted in 1932. Through the decades, down to the third generation, Ferino’s has been using natural aged rice for its bibingka, never scrimping on the ingredients.
“That is why our bibingka does not harden and it has a long shelf life, you can store it in the freezer for up to six months,” adds Oscar. “We have a lot of balikbayans who buy our bibingka in freezer bags to bring abroad.”
At Ferino’s Mall of Asia, you can choose between the bibingka king (P107) that’s got more salted egg and white cheese toppings and the bibingka super (P88) that’s got only one egg but is just as deliciously filling. If you’re on a diet, you can have the mini bibingka.
If you still have room left in your tummy, a great partner to your bibingka is the puto bumbong (P56).
Since Ferino’s fanatics have also started looking for other things to eat, Ferino’s has introduced its rice meals. Of course, you remember Ferino’s good old palabok made of tofu and squid, or its dinuguan at puto.
Who says you can’t have your bibingka and eat it, too?
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Ferino’s Bibingka is located at the ground floor, entertainment mall (near Music Hall and in front of the SM Bowling Center) of Mall of Asia.
Juan’s Bistro: Celebrating Independence Day with Pinoy ‘pamilya’ meals
Yes, bring the whole family — lolo, lola, nanay, tatay, ate, kuya — to Juan’s Bistro at Mall of Asia on June 12, Independence Day. Relish the taste of freedom via Juan Bistro’s pamilya meals. Pamilya Meal 1 features soup, inihaw na liempo, pritong hito, Bicol Express, steamed rice, and iced tea. Pamilya Meal 2 consists of soup, half chicken, kare-kare, mangga at bagoong, steamed rice, and iced tea. The meals are good for four persons and cost only P650 per plus five-percent service charge.
If you smell something delightfully familiar at Bistro Juan, it’s because some of its dishes come from Bistro Remedios that’s part of Larry J. Cruz’s chain of restaurants. Like the taba ng talangka rice topping and the pla-pla ni Juan with balo-balo sauce (fermented rice).
Juan’s Bistro chef Frank Fabia, who hails from Pangasinan, says that the resto’s Bicol Express is different from the one in Bicol as it’s an all-vegetable dish whereas the latter has pork. Juan’s Bistro also has its adobong kambing (P250) from Vigan.
“Our dishes are mainly from Pampanga, but we also have some from Ilocos,” Michael Baruc tells us.
And certainly, Juan’s Bistro did not forget the kids. It has its paborito ni bunso meals — spaghetti meatballs (P95) and the hearty combo platters (hotdog/spaghetti, pizza platter, fried chicken/spaghetti).
Going Pinoy all the way, try the Pizza Pinoy (P155), made of salted egg, onion, tomato, longanisa. It’s an LJC recipe.
Indeed, this bistro is for every Juan.
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Juan’s Bistro is located at the ground floor, south arcade of Mall of Asia with telephone number 556-0638.
Tapa King: Long live the Pinoy breakfast!
For a dash of history: It all started with a grandmother’s well-loved, closely-guarded recipe for delicious tapa. This was handed down from generation to generation and somehow, it fell into the lap of enterprising family members. In 1987, aunt-and-niece tandem Ida de Guzman and Olga de Asis Lozada, both certified foodies, invited family friend Richard Majul to join them in putting up a restaurant that would serve fave Pinoy fast foods such as tapa and tocino, complete with garlic rice and egg to make up a hearty Filipino breakfast fare that everyone can enjoy not just for breakfast but all day long.
So, how’d you like your tapa meal?
At Tapa King, you can choose from as follows: Tapa King Royale (crispy tapa served with two sunnyside-up eggs, garlic rice, and atchara); Tapa King house special (classic flavor with no sauce); Tapa Queen (sweet and spicy); Tapa Prince (sweet to suit kids’ taste); Tapa Joe (cooked on the griddle like bacon strips); Tapa Ranchero (barbecue); tapa adobo (adobo style with vinegar). Tapa meals cost from P85 to P115.
“Our tapa comes in tender bite-size pieces and everything is marinated in our commissary,” says Tapa King supervisor Loida del Rosario.
While the tapa reigns supreme at Tapa King, it also serves other all-time Pinoy favorites like beefsteak Filipino, crispy liempo, boneless bangus, danggit, and longanisa.
New on the Tapa King menu is the chicken king (grilled chicken) with Peking garden salad.
Always adding something new to titillate Pinoy taste buds, no wonder Tapa King has remained on top of the heap of Pinoy fast foods.
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Tapa King is located at the ground floor, entertainment mall, north wing of Mall of Asia with telephone number 900-2069.
Mannang: Good old-fashioned Pinoy food
Mannang at Mall of Asia spices up the Independence Day celebration on Thursday, June 12 by giving away a free appetizer of salt and pepper tofu to diners.
How so thoughtful of Mannang! Probably just like your own manang at home. (Manang refers to a woman with an outmoded sense of style and old-fashioned values. Young people also call their caregivers manang. She’s the dedicated and concerned woman who does all those humdrum domestic chores, making life easier for everybody.)
Mannang is the Filipino resto of the MannHann group. Food is modern Filipino, and prepared and served as meticulously and lovingly as it is in a Filipino household. But the menu is also culturally diverse, featuring foreign dishes with a Pinoy twist.
A hot seller is the Shanghai Sili, which is not fiery at all as the seeds of the chili have been carefully removed and replaced with a meat/shrimp stuffing, much like lumpiang shanghai.
Mannang regulars keep going back for its guinatanng isda (P195), sinigang na corned beef (P240), and tofu sisig (P120).
Mannang must be manna from heaven.
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Mannang is located at the ground floor, north arcade of Mall of Asia with telephone number 556-0785.