Fish & Co

WE ARE A FAMILY THAT WON’T pass up a chance to try the fish and chips offering of any new restaurant we visit. But we’ve been disappointed a lot in the past so when the Fish & Co. menu says “Get hooked on the best fish and chips in town,” it whets our appetites, sure, but we know better than to expect much. Lucky for us, Fish & Co. happens to be a Singapore-based chain, and Singapore having a very English background, it is not surprising that their fish and chips offerings are excellent. Their classic fried breaded fish is served with lemon butter sauce. We love it and for us it’s the next best thing to eating it with vinegar, the way they served it at a small shop called London Fish and Chips back in Sacramento, California. All right, Sacramento isn’t London but the cook at the fish place swore to us once that their recipe was a genuine London fish and chips recipe. And you want to know something? When we were in London and ordered fish and chips there, we realizedthe real McCoy wasn’t nearly as delicious as the Sacramento version. So who cares if it’s London authentic or not, right? What counts is the taste. The taste mostly depends, of course, on the kind of fish used—its freshness, the balance between lightness and meatiness. The breading is important, too. We prefer crunchy over “doughy” breading. The Fish & Co. version wins on all those points. We are told the restaurant imports the fish it serves with the chips, even the fish that it stuffs with Parmesan cheese (the New York Fish & Chips), the dory that it serves sweet and sour style, the baked salmon with citrus crust, the fish that it serves grilled or Cajun, the black pepper mahi-mahi and the barramundi fillet. Fish & Co. imports its seafood ingredients to maintain the chain’s standards, but they are studying the possibility of sourcing locally because, hey, these are 7,100 islands right here and if there’s anything we have a lot of, it’s fish. As for quality, our sea harvest should be even superior to our neighbors’ produce. Before diving into the fish and chips basket, we treat ourselves to the Pasta & Shrimp Salad, a departure from the boring greens we usually order; the Grilled Calamari, a surprisingly tender and tasty alternative to the usual fried calamari; and the Prawn Trellis, a delicious starter of prawns and vermicelli all wrapped up and deep-fried like lumpia. Among the pasta dishes, we fall for the Prawns Fettucini with Creamy Mushroom Sauce. Quite obviously, we’re a family that loves shrimps and prawns, too, but go ahead and try the Mussels Penne with either garlic cream sauce or citrus cream sauce, or the Seafood Spaghetti Marinara. Another crowd favorite at Fish & Co. is the Portuguese Chili Crab topped with sweet and spicy sauce and served with a baguette. Their other specialties are grilled main courses: Chicken Peri-Peri, Mediterranean Tenderloin and Porkchop Basilico. The seafood platter of mussels, fish, tiger prawns and calamari on a bed of rice is big enough for a family or a barkada to share. It is also wonderful that their Jungle Freeze drinks come in one-liter mugs, again for sharing. Everyone gets to have a bite as well of the Warm Chocolate Fudge Cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert since it’s better for us to stay away from temptation. But Fish & Co. has other sweet baits too hard to resist: the walang kamatayang Crème Brûlée, Sweetlips Empress (peanut butter with hazelnut ice cream) and Peach Melba (vanilla ice cream with peaches topped with raspberry coulis). Fish & Co. is owned by the Bistro Group of Restaurants, a company with an impressive track record in the food retail business, having managed such successes as Italianni’s, Fridays and Outback. The latest franchise acquisition, Fish & Co. opened its flagship restaurant at Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City, only two months after the opening of the first Fish & Co. at Greenbelt 3 in Makati City. Just to show you how much we like fish and chips, we’ve been to both places. Food Suggestion : New York Fish & Chips (Php.495), huge chunk of fish fillet with melted Parmesan cheese inside, enveloped in a yummy crispy batter with a side of seasoned fries. Like all Bistro Company restaurants, their portions are huge. They also had a fabulous shrimp appetizer (Php.300+) with a creamy tartar dip and a refreshing tuna salad. Fish and Co Address : 3/F Greenbelt 3 Rating : 4 star Value for Money : 3 star

Wok n Stix at Morato

After I played billiard with my friends, we went to find a new restaurant to dine in. My friend mentioned that her sister likes a restaurant along Morato, but he only remembered the name as Wok. So we went to find Wok along Morato. We found Wok n Stix, but we are hesitant to dine at this place since there was nobody eating inside. I said that the food might be good since they have a poster outside of their dish that seems to look good. We went inside and found a comfortable sofa chair to seat. We ordered Brocolli flower P180, Braised Minced Pork with beancurd in Hot Pot P160. Fried Chicken Half P180, Salted fried riceP90, Yang Chow Fried Rice P90, Almond Jelly Drink P40, Fresh Buko P50. It seems that we are right nobody eats at this place since the food does not taste good. The chicken tasted like it was reheated a lot of times. Our total bill was around P891. Wok n Stix Timog Near South Triangle Quezon City Rating : 1 star Value for money : 1 star

Sushi-yum at Masangkay

Sushi-yum "Japanese to go" is the only Japanese restaurant in Ongpin, Manila. My girlfriend mentioned to me that she loves the food at Sushi-yum. So I decied to try it out. We went to Sushi-yum around 4pm and the place looks nice and clean compared to the usual restaurants around Ongpin. We ordered Ika fry (breaded squid cutlet) P80, Mabo Tofu (spicy) P95, Yakimeshi Japanese fried rice P40, Japanese Green Tea 35. I must say that I love the food and our bill was not expensive as it was P295 for 2 person. By the way, it's difficult to find a good parking in Ongpin area. Sushi-Yum 10:30am to 5:45pm Benavides Street near soler Tel : 3091559 Recommended dish : Ika Fry and Mabo Tofu Rating : 4star Value for money : 4star

Marina at Timog

Marina is an Ilongo restaurant. They already have around 5 branches in Metro Manila. I went to Marina with my friends to try out the place. Marina's best sellers are seafoods like oyster, Squid, Tanguigue, Bangus, Blue Marlin, Shrimps, Plapla, Alimasag which are either Steamed, Grilled, Baked, Kinilaw or simply served fresh. Unfortunately one of my friend is allergic to seafoods so we just ordered Crispy Beef Ribs for P187, Grilled Liempo P149, Tuna Sisig P182 and we had lemonade P45 for drinks and garlic rice P28 per cup. We did not like the food we ordered, the beef ribs were not crispy, the liempo not tender, tuna sisig does not taste good. So my friends decided that they will never eat at Marina again. As for me I still haven't tried their best sellers like Oysters, so I may need to eat again. Marina 51-A Timog Ave., Brgy. South Triangle Quezon City Tel. 412-0827 Rating : 2 star Value for Money : 2 star

Dulcinea at Megamall

I went to Megamall together with my friends (Jessie, Edmond and Joseph) to see a Trade Show. Afterwards we went to Dulcinea to have our dinner. We ordered 2 orders of Tuhod Y Batoc P310 (good for 2), basically this is a stewed beef with potatoes, mushroom, onion and Pepper. For the drink we got Fresh Fruit shake P125 (a combination of Mango, Banana, Pineapple) which is very good. We enjoyed the dish as it's tender and the taste is just good. We also ordered an extra rice as one rice is not enough. Total bill of 856. Dulcinea SM MegaMall 2nd Level, Bridgeway, Bldg. B Julia Vargas Ave. Mandaluyong City Tel. 634-0611 to 12 Recommended dish : Tuhod Y Batoc and Fresh Fruit Shake for the drink Rating : 4star Value for Money : 4star

Italiannis at Greenbelt 2

We were planning to watch a movie at Greenbelt 3, unfortunately there was no good movies to watch. So we just went to Time Zone to play the coin machine. This is our 3rd time to play the coin machine and got very lucky as we won around 150 coins. After this very exciting date, we went to Italiannis G2 to dine. We were served with the complimentary Herb bread and Tuscan bread , which you can dip in Balsamic Vinegar with Extra Virgin Oil. I really love this appetizer, and I requested more of the Herb bread which is very Tender and taste just nice with the dippings. I felt full after eating a lot of Herb bread, but we still need to order our main dish, we ordered Sicilian Chicken Salad lunch size P345, Parmesan Crusted Fish Fillet P450 and Shrimp Linguine P330 and 2 Fresh Grape Juice P320. I did not enjoy any of the food compared to the first time I ate at Italiannis. Although we ordered a different set this time. So I really cannot recommend any of the above we ordered except the Fresh Grape Juice which I really loved. Total bill was P1156 as we got 20% discount since my girlfriend has the Gold Bistro Card. Italianni's Restaurant Greenbelt 2 Ground Level Estrella St. Ayala Center Makati City Tel. 728-0291, 728-0289 Recommended dish : Caesar Salad and Fresh Grape Juice Rating : 2star Value for Money : 1star

Cafe Via Mare - Landmark

I fetched my girlfriend at glorietta and we were on our way to Greenbelt 3 to watch a movie. But my girlfriend said she's hungry so we decided to have our merienda at Cafe via Mare. This is my first time to eat at Cafe via Mare in Landmark. So I really don't know what to order, fortunately my girlfriend has already dined at Cafe via Mare, so she ordered Pancit Luglug P158, Puto bumbong P67 and Sago Gulaman P68. We shared the Pancit Luglug and Puto Bumbong, I love the Pancit Luglug as it has my favorite chicharon in it. The Puto Bumbong is also good it comes with 3 dippings (cheese, grinded niyog, muscovado). CAFE VIA MARE 2nd Floor Landmark Dept. Store Ayala Center, Makati City Telefax: 817-9720 Recommended dish : Pancit Luglug and Puto Bumbong Ranking : 3 star Value to money : 2star