Nothing gives me a bigger thrill than discovering a new restaurant to eat at. Luckily, a friend recommended this new place for a lunch get together a few days back and I felt like I found a treasure. I was pleasantly surprised with this restaurant because I pass by it quite often and have always felt drawn to the cute exterior but I never dreamt that there was a cafe inside that country crafts store! Out of excitement, I forgot to take pictures of the facade but here is a peek of their homey interior.
The place is very well decorated and has a very cozy and quaint feel to it. It's very much ideal for small family meals or just simply chit chats with friends. Even their menu matched their theme!
We ordered the calamares for starters, garlic and mushroom fettucine for our pasta and the baby back ribs, steamed cream dory with coconut and lengua for our entree.
I particularly think that calamares generally tastes the same and not too different. I mean, there's only so much that you can do with calamares. So for me this dish in general, not just at this restaurant, isnt anything out of the ordinary. I just liked that it wasnt thickly breaded and it wasnt gummy.
The baby back ribs were DELISH! The meat was tender and it just melted in your mouth. I liked that it wasnt overly sweet, unlike the Casa Verde ribs. I normally dont like sweet food in my meals so I didnt take to ordering this but wished I did after I took a bite from my friend's dish. The serving is also generous and very much worth its price of P200.
My other friend had the lengua which she said she's been dying to try because it was supposedly one of the restaurant's best dishes. And she was right! The gravy was not too salty and the consistency of the tongue was just right, not too gummy nor too soft. It was just right for my taste.
I ordered the fish. Cream dory has always been my favorite so it was a no-brainer when I decided to get this. It was wrapped in a banana leaf topped with a curry like sauce. I didnt expect that this dish was going to be curry since I'm not a big fan of it. But then again the menu said that it was coconut fish so I guess it was my fault. I was just taken with cream dory that I immediately ordered it without thinking. This dish wasnt' bad really, but it wasn't great for me either. Maybe it would suit some other person's taste buds with a liking for curry, but not mine. My friend happened to like it however.
The pasta was a nice breaker for everything else that we ordered. It was a good dish to neutralize the taste buds before moving on to another dish. It's lightly flavored with garlic and topped with mushroom, cheese and some herbs. I would recommend this to somebody on a diet. It doesnt feel sinful but its not exactly bland either. I'm not on diet, so this pasta was simply a side dish to my meal hehe.
For my drink, I had the Guava Lemon cooler. I liked its fruity taste (which was really like four seasons) so much that I had two rounds but my friend said it tasted like Tempra medicine. I havent had too much Tempra in my life to liken the taste to so. If you have, you might want to skip this.
Now let me just fast forward this story to later in the evening when I met with my boyfriend and some of his friends. I told them of my recent discovery which was lying just by the corner of one of the guys' shop. Curious with the place, they decided that we should all eat there for dinner. So I ate at Simply J's twice in one day but I didn't mind :)
They basically ate what my friends and I had for lunch but I want to slip in this article the Bolognese spaghetti that we had for dinner.
When it was served to us, we initially thought that it would taste sour since the orange colored sauce looked intimidating. But when we started to dig in, an array of flavors burst in our mouths. We were very surprised that it didnt taste as sour as we expected. The flavors blended very well with each other. I'm not sure what the ingredients of Bolognese spaghetti is since I'm not into Italian food as well but I can only guess that there was a hint of oregano in there, pepper, maybe some garlic and obviously tomatoes.
Rewind to lunch so we can move on to what we had for dessert. We had mango parfait, panacotta and fruity cheesecake. I was led to believe that there was going to be an assortment of fruits in the cheesecake but apparently its just plain blueberry cheesecake. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in catching up with my friends that my impatient self only got to take a picture of the parfait and just chomped down on everything, only realizing later that I didnt get to shoot the other desserts. Sorry, I'm still getting used to this food blogging thing. I still have to remind myself to take photos before I eat sometimes.
The parfait was good, there was a lot of cream in the dessert which is something I can totally feed on forever. The mangoes werent sweet though, it was borderline sour. But I can see a lot of potential in the dessert had the mangoes been better. I found the panacotta bland and the cheesecake tasted like, well, blueberry cheesecake. Again, its one of the dishes that I think couldnt taste any different, like the calamares.
For lunch, we spent under P1,200 for our meal. In general their dishes cost around P150-P200 each. I'd say their prices are mid-range but worth it for the ambiance and the taste of the food. I want to keep this restaurant a secret forever because I have a penchant for non-mainstream things but I guess it wont be too much of a secret now but I'm not too sure again because I dont think I have a lot of readers on this blog hahaha.
As mentioned, a con would be its location. Although it is strategically located (N. Escario extension near Parklane hotel), the restaurant is fronted by a crafts store which sort of conceals the restaurant from the public view but I think this is still an advantage in itself for the few people who patronize this cafe because it is quite small. If the place would be jam packed, its lose its quaint charm and it just doesnt vibe with the whole feel of the restaurant.
Here is a picture of the restaurant from the side, taken when we went back for dinner. Again I didnt get to take a picture of the facade but it's by the corner across those strip of establishments beside Parklane.
So that's that for now. I've just decided to sneak this blog in to idle my insomnia away. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Eternally famished,
Pearl
The place is very well decorated and has a very cozy and quaint feel to it. It's very much ideal for small family meals or just simply chit chats with friends. Even their menu matched their theme!
We ordered the calamares for starters, garlic and mushroom fettucine for our pasta and the baby back ribs, steamed cream dory with coconut and lengua for our entree.
I particularly think that calamares generally tastes the same and not too different. I mean, there's only so much that you can do with calamares. So for me this dish in general, not just at this restaurant, isnt anything out of the ordinary. I just liked that it wasnt thickly breaded and it wasnt gummy.
The baby back ribs were DELISH! The meat was tender and it just melted in your mouth. I liked that it wasnt overly sweet, unlike the Casa Verde ribs. I normally dont like sweet food in my meals so I didnt take to ordering this but wished I did after I took a bite from my friend's dish. The serving is also generous and very much worth its price of P200.
My other friend had the lengua which she said she's been dying to try because it was supposedly one of the restaurant's best dishes. And she was right! The gravy was not too salty and the consistency of the tongue was just right, not too gummy nor too soft. It was just right for my taste.
I ordered the fish. Cream dory has always been my favorite so it was a no-brainer when I decided to get this. It was wrapped in a banana leaf topped with a curry like sauce. I didnt expect that this dish was going to be curry since I'm not a big fan of it. But then again the menu said that it was coconut fish so I guess it was my fault. I was just taken with cream dory that I immediately ordered it without thinking. This dish wasnt' bad really, but it wasn't great for me either. Maybe it would suit some other person's taste buds with a liking for curry, but not mine. My friend happened to like it however.
The pasta was a nice breaker for everything else that we ordered. It was a good dish to neutralize the taste buds before moving on to another dish. It's lightly flavored with garlic and topped with mushroom, cheese and some herbs. I would recommend this to somebody on a diet. It doesnt feel sinful but its not exactly bland either. I'm not on diet, so this pasta was simply a side dish to my meal hehe.
For my drink, I had the Guava Lemon cooler. I liked its fruity taste (which was really like four seasons) so much that I had two rounds but my friend said it tasted like Tempra medicine. I havent had too much Tempra in my life to liken the taste to so. If you have, you might want to skip this.
Now let me just fast forward this story to later in the evening when I met with my boyfriend and some of his friends. I told them of my recent discovery which was lying just by the corner of one of the guys' shop. Curious with the place, they decided that we should all eat there for dinner. So I ate at Simply J's twice in one day but I didn't mind :)
They basically ate what my friends and I had for lunch but I want to slip in this article the Bolognese spaghetti that we had for dinner.
When it was served to us, we initially thought that it would taste sour since the orange colored sauce looked intimidating. But when we started to dig in, an array of flavors burst in our mouths. We were very surprised that it didnt taste as sour as we expected. The flavors blended very well with each other. I'm not sure what the ingredients of Bolognese spaghetti is since I'm not into Italian food as well but I can only guess that there was a hint of oregano in there, pepper, maybe some garlic and obviously tomatoes.
Rewind to lunch so we can move on to what we had for dessert. We had mango parfait, panacotta and fruity cheesecake. I was led to believe that there was going to be an assortment of fruits in the cheesecake but apparently its just plain blueberry cheesecake. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in catching up with my friends that my impatient self only got to take a picture of the parfait and just chomped down on everything, only realizing later that I didnt get to shoot the other desserts. Sorry, I'm still getting used to this food blogging thing. I still have to remind myself to take photos before I eat sometimes.
The parfait was good, there was a lot of cream in the dessert which is something I can totally feed on forever. The mangoes werent sweet though, it was borderline sour. But I can see a lot of potential in the dessert had the mangoes been better. I found the panacotta bland and the cheesecake tasted like, well, blueberry cheesecake. Again, its one of the dishes that I think couldnt taste any different, like the calamares.
For lunch, we spent under P1,200 for our meal. In general their dishes cost around P150-P200 each. I'd say their prices are mid-range but worth it for the ambiance and the taste of the food. I want to keep this restaurant a secret forever because I have a penchant for non-mainstream things but I guess it wont be too much of a secret now but I'm not too sure again because I dont think I have a lot of readers on this blog hahaha.
As mentioned, a con would be its location. Although it is strategically located (N. Escario extension near Parklane hotel), the restaurant is fronted by a crafts store which sort of conceals the restaurant from the public view but I think this is still an advantage in itself for the few people who patronize this cafe because it is quite small. If the place would be jam packed, its lose its quaint charm and it just doesnt vibe with the whole feel of the restaurant.
Here is a picture of the restaurant from the side, taken when we went back for dinner. Again I didnt get to take a picture of the facade but it's by the corner across those strip of establishments beside Parklane.
So that's that for now. I've just decided to sneak this blog in to idle my insomnia away. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Eternally famished,
Pearl
Very detailed food blog! :)
ReplyDeletethanks jan! i have a lot of restos in line to blog about, really excited! :)
ReplyDeletethank you very much for the blog Pearl!:)
ReplyDeleteWell said and done....was a good promo for ur resto Simply J's...i might have a chance to visit and eat in there...one day!.....
ReplyDelete