Recipes by Café Metro: Good Filipino Comfort Food

Whenever my date and I would dine out, we'd often veer away from restaurants serving Filipino food. With moms capable of whipping up really good authentic home-cooked Filipino dishes, we usually reason out that if we crave for a Filipino meal, we can always have that at home, for free. However, earlier this week, I thought of giving a popular Filipino restaurant a try. I've heard of good things about Recipes by Café Metro, so why not give it a shot?

I was also looking forward to eat a rice meal for dinner, so this restaurant just fits the bill. And since it was our first time to dine at Recipes by Café Metro, both my date and I didn't know what to get. I actually tried my hardest to remember The Pickiest Eater's Recipes Killer Combo. However, I slightly failed as I forgot 1 out of the 3 dishes.

What's good though is I managed to create my own trio combo for our Recipes by Café Metro experience. First, we ordered the very famous vegetable dish called Gising-Gising (P135). It's a spicy viand made up of chopped string beans and ground pork cooked in coconut milk.

Although my date is not a vegetable eater, he quite liked this. I on the other hand, found Recipes by Café Metro's Gising-Gising slightly similar to how my mom cooks her Bicol Express. The former is more interesting though as the chopped string beans give the dish an added crunch.

We also got the all-time Recipes by Café Metro favorite, the General's Chicken (P215) -- a dish made from crispy fried chicken fillet and some eggplant cutlets, coated with a sweet and slightly spicy sauce.

I may have not captured an enticing photo of the General's Chicken, but I can assure you that it tasted so good! The chicken pieces were both crunchy and hard, creating a really nice balance when eaten with the soft eggplant cutlets. The sauce is also to die for. It somehow tasted quite similar to BonChon's soy garlic glaze, but more savory.

I initially wanted to get Kare-Kare, but since my date loves tofu and was craving for a tofu dish, we decided to get the Tofu with Garlic Sauce (P135). It was no mistake though as this tofu item was so good! The tofu was quite soft but has a slightly crispy and chewy outside. The garlic sauce was also really delicious. It was sweet and really tasted of garlic.

And although I don't usually make a fuss over rice, both my date and I really enjoyed the Café Metro Garlic Rice (P48) -- a slightly sticky rice fried in Knorr seasoning (I didn't make this up. Our server really told us so.) and topped with fried garlic bits.

Along with our great home-cooked Filipino dinner, my date enjoyed a hot cup of the Brewed Barako (P50) -- a really strong coffee I didn't dare to try. I on the other hand, sipped through a glass of Bottomless Iced Tea (P65) which I sadly find too diluted.

THE VERDICT

I must admit that I didn't have high expectations when we visited Recipes by Café Metro. But after this trip, I can definitely assure you that this will not be the last. The crew from the Greenbelt 3 branch were all very courteous and helpful. The ambiance was sleek, modern and quite cozy. And above all, the food items we got to try were all very good. I might skip the iced tea on our next visit though.

Taste - 4.5/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Service - 4/5
Price - 4/5
Overall Value - 4/5

Recipes by Café Metro, Greenbelt 3
2/F Greenbelt 3, Esperanza St., Ayala Center
Makati City, Metro Manila
Philippines
(02) 728-0917