Pino

Ms. Re

4.0

Chef Ed Bugia does it again...Creative, playful and inventive, Chef Ed Bugia introduces new dishes with a cool spin on classic Filipino comfort food. I've always enjoyed Chef Ed's fresh take on traditional favorites, and the latest batch of new dishes confirm this even more (for more on Pino's inventive take on Filipino dishes, check out my previous post here at http://dude4food.blogspot.com/2012/12/pino-resto-bar-fine-filipino-food.html).Go for some of Pino's newest appetizers, like the Isol Popcorn (P 205), Pino's take on the popular street food, fried and crispy chicken butt tossed in soy-miso-inasal glaze. Sweet and crisp in perfect bite-sized pieces, great with a few beers......and the Bagnet Spring Rolls (P 235), crispy spring rills filled with bagnet, chinese chorizo, salted eggs, vermicelli noodles, and served with calamansi vinaigrette. Packed with so much flavor, each crisp spring roll brings a medley of bold and complex flavors in each and every bite. And its got bagnet, can't go wrong with that.Bagnet Bicol Express (P 295), winged beans cooked in spicy (real spicy) coconut milk and alamang, topped with a crispy bagnet.The spicy and creamy Bicol Express combines well with the crispy bagnet, providing contrasting flavors and textures. Extra rice? Definitely.Bagnet Ribs Lechon Paksiw (P 245), fried pork ribs stewed in vinegar liver sauce and chicken liver. The rich sauce, enhanced with chicken liver, adds depth to the flavors of this hearty and comforting dish.Tender bagnet pork ribs in a rich sauce served with steamed white rice, a complete meal in itself.Pino Pochero (P 385), tender beef and pork stew with crushed tomatoes, saba, kamote, pechay and chinese chorizo. The slow-cooked, rich and thick stew blends all the flavors, with a layer of sweetness from the plantain, sweet potatoes and vegetables.Steamed Lapu-Lapu (P 495), fresh grouper steamed in lemongrass and leeks, topped with pineapple aioli, salted egg, bell pepper, pickle relish, cheddar cheese, scallions, and garlic chips. The slated egg, cheese and vegetable topping add more layers of flavor to the delicately-flavored fish.Nilasing na Tahong (P 245), succulent and plump mussels cooked in beer, lime soda and chili. The citrusy sharpness of the lemon, a flavorful punch from the chili and a comforting beer broth complement the plump mussels. A deceptively simple dish with complex flavors, rounding out Chef Ed's new dishes.Familiar and comforting with a refreshing new twist. Leave it to Chef Ed Bugia for a delicious and cool spin on your traditional favorites.----- 01 Apr, 2013 -----Traditional Filipino favorites, reinvented with a twist. That's Pino in a nutshell. And in one amazing dinner, I got sample the full range of Pino's fun, playful and creative culinary style with flavors that comfortingly familiar yet different, new and refreshing.Start with the Crispy Hito Salad, deep-fried catfish with thinly sliced Indian mangoes, cucumbers, mixed greens with a Thai vinaigrette. The Spiced Sweet Potato Chips came next, handcut spiced fried sweet potatoes with honey mustard dip. The Mini Sisig Tacos, crisp tacos with pork sisig, lettuce, fresh tomato salsa and cheese, a traditional favorite with an updated execution that makes it new and different. Then, the Buffalo Chicken Skin, crisp chicken skin coated with a sweet glaze and served with blue cheese dressing, great with a cold beer.For soups, go for the Binakol, a tinola with chicken and buko juice, or the Kansi, with tender beef cubes in a sour broth topped with roasted bone marrow. For the mains, go for the Kare-Kareng Bagnet, crisp pork belly with annatto peanut sauce and bagoong rice, a personal favorite. The use of crisp bagnet makes this totally different from the usual soft ox-tail kare-kare one is familiar with, and this dish best captures the culinary style of Pino, weaving in delicious surprises and cool twists on traditional dishes.Also try the Binusog na Pusit with Kesong Puti, grilled squid stuffed with white cheese and mango salsa with soy-vinegar dip. And the Adobong Sarsi with Egg, a cool chicken adobo stewed with Sarsi for that nice sarsaparilla flavor. And finally, a cool new take on Bistek, Pino's Coffee Crusted Beef Belly, slow roasted US beef belly with coffee spice, served with marble potatoes, bistek gravy,and red wine onion marmalade. Pino also serves a variety of flavored beers, in green apple, honeymansi, strawberry, watermelon, lychee and peach. Great with dessert. And talking about dessert, go for the Chunky Choco Tempura, chocolate wafer coated in tempura batter and deep-fried. Cool.Filipino dishes with a twist. Check out Pino's and rediscover your traditional favorites.

­  Halfdan ­ 

4.0

For those of you who don’t frequent the North and are not familiar with Pino Resto Bar + Pipino Vegetarian, Pino serves creative comfort Filipino food, while Pipino presents vegetables in more playful light. The person behind both is Chef Ed Bugia who wanted to redefine the concept of Filipino comfort food and serve something special.Sufficiently buttery, Pino’s version of the Vegetable Kare-kare (PhP 185) was not the best I have tasted so far but it could be unfailingly pleasing for most vegetarians and vegans alike. I found the nuttiness a little bland if not eaten with the Bagoong Rice (below) made of black beans. To improve, I think the taste will be enhanced if there’s some level of heat we can live with.The Calamares Negra (PhP 275) was comforting and slightly elevated. Because they’re black, you might have the impression that it was dipped in squid ink. I don’t know if that’s right, but I’m sure that these hit the spot as they’re quite exotic and yummy. It’s a new spin from a simply fried calamari with a golden crust we often are served in most restaurants.The quality of layered pasta in Pino Resto Bar’s Vegan Lasagna (PhP 175) was great. Balanced in flavor, this lasagna had a great mix of sweet and tart elements—the kind of bright, popping flavors that Southeast Asian cuisine is known for. The tomato sauce dominated the top part and it was assertive but not so much as to overwhelm the vegetarian fillings.As the name Watermelon Steak (PhP 245) appeared on the menu, it got me curious on how it would look and taste like. It sounded suspicious and ended up nothing particularly good. Watermelon juice oozing out in every forkbite was just weird. The mushrooms, asparagus and mashed potatoes were memorably delicious.We destroyed the mystery of kale and malunggay in one when we had two orders of the Kale Malunggay Pesto Pasta (PhP 195). Hearty and heavy went hand-in-hand. With a substantial amount of pesto flavor, this pasta dish could be better with toasted pine nuts scattered on top and a bit of grated Parmesan.Having started our day at Pino with kare-kare, it was perfectly acceptable to end it with one, too. This time though, we had the Seafood Kare-kare (PhP 625) which featured various seafood such as shrimps, mussels and squids. It was totally likable. The peanut gravy and the coconut milk blended well together. Adding an extra luscious dimension was the richness of the texture of the sauce. This can be your Achilles heel!

Lawrence Philemon

4.0

I was eager to try Pino and Pipino since it was regularly featured in Makati guides as one of the place to find good vegan dishes. However, after doing some research, I was not too impressed with the vegan menu items despite the glowing reviews. What I became curious of was the unique fusion of ingredients to create familiar Pinoy dishes. It also happened that it was Pino's 4th Quiz Night and since it was my first to participate in one, it felt like hitting two birds with one stone. The food was delicious. Hand's down, I liked my order of Tuna with Shitake Mushroom Pasta (P215). I just found the serving too little and since it tasted so good it was "bitin". I also got to try the Mini Sisig Tacos and frankly I didn't appreciate the combination of distinctly pork meat with tacos. I still prefer beef tacos. We also tried the Tofu Lemongrass Skewers and thought it was a popular dish on most reviews I've read, for me it wasn't too striking either. It lacked flavor (again, I am not vegan so I might be biased here) and even with just a small bite it was nakakaumay. For dessert, I got to try the Chocolate Tableau and thought it was salty, it was actually good. It's best for sharing even if it's just a small slice because if consumed by just one person, the saltiness might prove to be overbearing. Overall, if not for the Tuna Pasta, I wouldn't have been too happy with the place. The Chicken Breast stuffed with Bacon and Cheese seemed promising so I'll be sure to order that in the next quiz night which happens normally every month on a Wednesday. Check out their FB page for details. The price, for me, was too expensive given the small servings but since the ambiance of the place was classy, I guess that was reason enough for it.