Sunday, June 14, 2015

Pink Panda: A Zesty New Menu

Pink Panda has always been one of my favourite restaurants, being one of the few that offer a cool mix of different interesting South East Asian cuisines. Invited over to try out the new menu, we were looking forward to trying out what I was expecting to be new, delicious, innovative dishes.

pink panda

If I judged this book by its cover, I'd say this menu exudes the fun, quirky personality of Pink Panda. Short and sweet, it offers an appropriate number of dishes. Not too many to get your head spinning, though numerous enough to be exciting.

pink panda
Gising Gising Gyoza, P240.00
coconut stewed pork, winged bean, garlic aligue sauce
We started this fine lunch with a Bicol-Japan hybrid! Beneath the crunchy exterior is a splendid mix of veggies which tasted a lot like laing, complete with the strong coconut milk flavor. Doused in the spicy aligue sauce, it made for a fine, zesty experience.


pink panda
Asian Peri Chicken Thighs, P380.00
banana heart and black vinegar vermicelli toss, harissa sauce
Speaking of which, this chicken is the king of zesty! The finely prepared chicken thighs burst with tangy flavor with every bite. Easily the most flavorful Peri style chicken I've ever tried! This made a nice contrast against the vermicelli noodles, which had a much more delicate taste.


pink panda
Mixed Seafood Sambal, P550.00
curried tomato and chickpea, fried prawn toasties
The rich curry-ish sauce was really good, and the added chickpeas provided a bit of a hummus-like quality to the dish. It went quite well with the prawn infused toasted bread, seafood and cherry tomatoes within. There was a lot of it, more than enough for two to share. For added spice, you can infuse your bites with the chili sauce on the side.


pink panda
Sisig Siopao, P250.00
crispy pork mask, egg, caramelized soy onions, atchuete aioli
Ain't this a sight? I think I've seen sisig siopao somewhere before, perhaps 7-11, but it never looked as enticing as this, egg and all. For what it's worth, the sisig inside was actually good and legit, and paired nicely with the bun. The caramelized onions made for a nice palate cleanser, tasting slightly like candied yams, but what really improved this dish, was the aioli, giving a mayonnaisse-ish charm that also usually goes great with your standard sisig.

pink panda
Chai Iced Tea, P100.00
Kopi Panda, P110.00
These were our drinks for the meal. The chai iced tea was very tasty, sweet with a strong citrusy sour taste. The kopi panda is just like the usual Malaysian coffee, with a thick layer of condensed milk, to be mixed together for a deliciously bittersweet cool drink.


A fine meal! We look forward to coming back for more Pink Panda meals, or even trying out their sister restaurants, Hawk, Baits, Sprout and Sabao!

Menu:
Noodles & Broth, Sides, Mains
Small Bites, Rolls/Wraps/Bao & Pao, Salads, Dimsum & Dumplings
Dessert, Drinks, Alcoholic Drinks

Love Pink Panda? Hate it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!



Previous Panda visits:
Pink Panda South East Asian Diner
Pink Panda: Rendang, that's good!

Hatch 22 (sister restaurant) visits:
Hatch 22: Birth of a New Cafe
Hearty New Dishes at the Hatch 22
Hatch 22: No Ordinary Benedicts


PINK PANDA SOUTHEAST ASIAN DINER
G/F Y2 Residence Hotel,
4687 Santiago St. corner B. Valdez & Singian Sts., Makati City
(0906) 205-3898 / (02) 224-3000 loc. 3057
Operating Hours: 11:00 am - 12:00 mn
Facebook: Pink Panda Southeast Asian Diner
Twitter: @PinkPandaManila


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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

El Pollo Loco: Childhood Chicken

I'm back from my writing hiatus! I think. Things have gotten hella busy in my life with work, exercise, catching up on my PS4, watching movies and the infinite number of TV series I am catching up on, reading comics, reading books, singing with my new band STAREtheSUNSET, and after writing a few articles I wrote for Breakfast Mag, I felt I needed to step back for a while. While I'm still as busy doing both the important and the unimportant, I'll try to get some writing in every now and then. I am hopeful that I can somewhat keep Savvy about Nothing, which just recently hit 2 years (last 18th, as Timehop reminded me), ALIVE!

Starting off slow, this is one of my pending posts from the past. I don't even remember when Alvie and I ate here, but we did because this place is a childhood favorite of mine! Now, I think MOA has the only remaining branch, but the branch my family frequented the most long ago was the one in Megamall. Does that place still exist??
el pollo loco
Pollo Lovers Meal, P510.00
4 pc. Chicken
2 Large Sidedish (Spanish Beans and Spanish Rice)
4 Tortillas
2 Salsas (hot/mild)
2 Desserts (Ube Halaya and Leche Flan)
2 Regular Drinks

One very strong aspect of the Pollo Loco experience is the aroma of the place. As soon as I stepped in, I recognised that same ol' scent that kept us coming back in the past. Being that this is kind of a fast food place, it was a bit more expensive than I expected, but it was worth the trip down memory lane.

el pollo loco

Good, good. The food was good as I remember. Is it just the nostalgia though, or is it genuinely something I'll enjoy eating for the first time at this age? I guess I'll never know. Alvie didn't like it much, but I refuse to believe that the food here is bad. Haha. I enjoy eating the chicken and rice on the tortilla with salsa on it. Delicious.

el pollo loco

Dessert wasn't that impressive, but it was worth eating, at least.

Menu:
Pollo Lovers Meal
Main Menu

Did you love El Pollo Loco? Why not go and see if it's as good as remember, before it inevitably vanishes from our lives entirely?