O Kitchen of Solace

†

WE WENT to see Quantum of Solace, my ex-girlfriend and I, on its first day of showing last week at Greenbelt 3.

I will not write a movie review about the latest James Bond thriller.† Suffice it to say that it is a superb and extremely entertaining movie.† Daniel Craig is doing a great job in reinventing James Bond.† Two thumbs up.† Go watch it if you havenít yet.

It was about 8:30 PM when we arrived at the box office counters of Greenbelt 3.† We bought tickets for a 10:00 PM screening. †I was famished so went to look for a place to eat.

Unknown to me, my ex-girlfriend already has her agenda all laid down as far as our dinner is concerned.† She wanted to check out a relatively new dining place right at the ground floor of Greenbelt 3.† Itís called O Kitchen.

She was curious, and I got curious too, since we know of a place also called ìO Kitchenî somewhere in Libis (very near Eastwood City) QC.† It was one of our favorite lunch places when we were still working at the IBM Plaza up until 2001 (we are not sure if it is still there).† It was also one of the few dining places my ex-girlfriend hasnít tried yet in the whole GB1-5 complex!

As soon as weíve entered the joint and opened the menu we agreed that it was nothing like the ìO Kitchenî in Libis that we used to go to.† The concept is different, the menu selections are different, the ambiance is different…† The only things that seem to be somehow similar, but not the same, are the spoons and forks.† Or should I say the trowels and gardening forks (they are huge!)?

Their menu is very interesting ñ entertaining even.† From their appetizers to entrees, to dessert, and to drinks they came up with really catchy names (mostly word plays of some popular or commonly used phrases).

For our appetizers, for instance, we ordered ìCatty Remarksî (deep fried cat fish rings).† I strongly recommend this to go with San Mig Light.† Quite good.† Very crunchy, you can chew and eat even the catfish bones.

For our main course we opted for ìToo Good It’s So Trueî (pan fried salmon belly with bistek tagalog sauce) for me and ìRibbitî (fried pork spare ribs) for her.† I find the bistek tagalog sauce too salty and the fried spare ribs too oily (must be the fat).

Their entrees come in really huge plates, BTW.† I think they serve too much rice.† Disproportionately too much!† Their rice serving will surely be appreciated in a turu-turo but definitely not by the AB, diet-conscious crowd of Greenbelt.† Oh well, why am I complaining when in truth I am a turu-turo folk?

Of course we had dessert.† We always have time for dessert.† We also always have room for dessert, in spite of the huge entrÈe plates.

We already have a ready-to-use strategy in ordering dessert.† We always order one kind for each of us, that way we get to try and taste more of whatís available.† Convenient excuse to load on beyond-the-scale, unwanted but much-craved-for calories.

We ordered ìSoft Spotî (classic pana cotta flavored with geeen tea) and ìSweet Nothingsî (moist chocolate with caramel icing). †ìSweet Nothingsî is too sweet for a nothing.† ìSoft Spotî is a winner and definitely found a soft spot in our taste buds.

For our drinks:† ìLeaves of Grassî (bottomless pandan iced tea) for her and ìSweet Serenadeî for me (pandan juice with honey).† Hers was very good.† Mine was too sweet.

We had coffee, too.† Itís weird but I donít recall that their coffees have similarly catchy names as the rest of the selections in their menu.† I guess they must have run out of catchy phrases.

Total bill:† Php 930.00, more or less.† Not bad, huh?

PS: †If you have plenty of time to waste and you are looking forward to a long slow dinner where you will be chatting in between chewing then you should be forewarned.† Their chairs, or should I say benches, do not have back support.† Looking at it from a positive perspective, you will be forced to lean forward, making for a more intimate moment with your loved one/s and/or friend/s.