Monday, June 6, 2016

Love at First Bite: Manam

I have been eying Manam for quite some time now. Anyone who could resist good sisig at an affordable price is not human. Come on, crunchy sisig on sizzling plate at less than PHP200? I’m drooling just thinking about it. After months of planning to visit this place, it finally happened.
Hello, Manam!

The spacious and high ceiling restaurant was barely full at 6:30 p.m.. Diners started to pour around 7 p.m. and it was packed by the time we left. 
It was a good thing that I made a mental list of what to order as we were really famished while browsing the menu. We could have ordered more than we could eat that night. After some “process of elimination” for the other dishes F wanted to try, we finally settled with House Crispy Sisig (PHP135, solo), Overloaded Garlic Bangus Belly (PHP175, solo), Gising Gising (PHP120, solo) and Bagoong Rice (PHP95, solo). F ordered Strawberry + Kamias (PHP115) while I went with Mango + Pomelo + Coconut Cream + Sago (PHP120). 

The drinks arrived first and both looked good.
F’s drink was refreshing yet a bit tangy because of the kamias.
It was balanced though by the strawberries (if it was indeed naturally sweet).   
My drink was like the beverage version of Mango Sago with a hint of pomelo
It was delightful yet not exactly thirst quenching. 
The dishes were served right after our drinks and the aroma made us drool.
After hurriedly taking photos, we took a small serving of each dish to sample.
I first took a spoonful of Gising Gising and though I loved the coconut milk base, the veggies were a bit too hard to my liking. I have been a fan of this dish and this was perhaps the hardest Gising Gising I have ever munched on. Jay, our server, offered to replace our plate with a new one after hearing my comment but I declined his generous offer as there were only about 3 spoonfuls left. 
The Overloaded Garlic Bangus Belly was indeed overloaded with garlic and it was pure bliss! I love anything garlicky! The fish was also cooked perfectly as it had a crisp skin yet the meat remained juicy. 
But the star of the night was the crunchy sisig. I have read several reviews about Manam’s sisig and that was the very reason why I wanted to try it in the first place. And true enough, it was great! It was crunchy yet not dry. 
Drizzled with calamansi juice, you have the perfect salty and tangy killer combination!
The solo size bagoong rice was also perfect for two hungry diners. At first, F wanted to order bagoong rice and University Fried Rice (PHP155) but the server said that it might be too heavy if we also ordered the latter as one bowl is like a complete meal given that it has tapa bits and fried eggs. And it was a good thing we stuck with just one bowl as it was indeed more than just a cup of rice. As for the taste, it was great! Its tangy and salty taste went well with the dishes we ordered.
When we asked for our bill, we were delighted with a complimentary ginataang leche flan. It sounded so weird but it was very good. The consistency of the flan was spot on. It was dense, creamy and very smooth. I loved it!
With Manam’s great food, affordable prices, and noteworthy wait service, I will definitely be back! 

Manam is located at Ground Floor, Net Park, 5th Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. 

Manam Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

1 comment:

Comments or other recommendations? :)