Sabao

Karen Carreon

2.0

The soups, which is the restaurant's specialty tastes like ordinary soups that you could order in any restaurant in the Philippines but pricier.

Ayr Sia

4.0

They have other types of sinigang such as Soy Ginger Braised Beef Brisket and Salmon/Poached Shrimp but we opted for this: Sampaloc Glazed Pork Belly. There are a multitude of sinigang dishes out there but nothing beats the sampaloc type. And theirs was just really good. I liked the tangy taste of the soup that melded well with the tender pork belly. I liked the roasted tomatoes on this one too. Gives it this roasty tasteMost would think that this place just serve soup just by the name of the resto (sabaw is the Tagalog word for soup). But my friend pointed out that it’s actually a play on the phrase “sa bao” meaning “in a bowl”. Rightly so, all of their dishes are served in bowls. Clever! So for our first non-soup dish, their Crispy Mochiko really piqued me. It said on their menu that it’s a rice flour battered chicken with spiced honey, sampaloc glaze, toasted sesame, toge, green cabbage and cilantro. It can be served either with brown rice or canton. We chose the former and the whole combination was good. If I would go here alone, I’ll definitely have this all to myself. The chicken wasn’t oily and very flavorful. The mesh of honey and sampaloc gave a sweet and tangy taste to it.At first, it didn’t dawn on me that this had coconut milk. I only realized it when I came home. Haha. :D I kept wondering why the shrimp paste wasn’t as strong as I expected it to be. It was probably due to the coconut milk that leveled the taste of the shrimp paste. It was still very flavorful and good to pair with brown rice.

@mrs.suciptoadi

2.0

Been looking for a place for a long-long time to try Bicol Express and found some portion which seemed just right for one. Ordered Bicol Express, Corn Aligue and Ginger Iced tea. While I enjoyed the unique taste of black rice with the saltiness of the meat (only pinoy recipe that isn't sweet like pinoys themselves), what really put me off was being made to sit while someone's crockery washing sent soapy foam my way (sitting was something I agreed to but I never agreed to soapy foam in my iced tea and as a matter of fact don't know how much of it made its way into my iced tea). As if this wasn't enough, I waited humbly for that corn aligue for like eons before I decided to remind them and then had to point it out again (and I thought that the point of taking orders on paper was not missing stuff, maybe I am mistaken or illinformed). So while the food was decent and my first try at black rice was amazing, the poor service will remind me of avoiding this throughout my stay.