Punta

Chino Ong

4.0

PuNta Manila ( known as Puñta before ) is situated at Mandala Park in Mandaluyong City. It's a decent watering hole that serves Latin American inspired dishes with local ingredients sourced locally in the Philippines.As interesting as its name, it was tremendously appealing for us to taste their selection of Anticuchos or the traditional Peruvian street fare consisting of skewered meat and innards!We love how tender their Mollejas de Pollo or chicken gizzard is. We also love their Higado de pollo or chicken liver, and Chinchulines or pork intestines that are equally tasty and savory.Anticuchos is similar to Filipino street food, like our all time favorite, “isaw”.PuNta Manila got their edge and served theirs with their house salsa and sauces: crema de ajo, chimichurri,salsa roja and hot aceite de Puñta (which we all loved!)Aside from their Anticuchos, I also enjoyed eating their Nacho Mexicana! I love how the Red Bean Chili, Crunchy Cabbage, baked pulled chicken, cheese, pico de gallo, frijole charros, and garlic cream went well together.And lastly their cute Chorittos! ( round churros that would resemble a munchkin ) served with either Chocolate or Dulce de Leche dipNow to call it a Night,PuNta is a perfect place where you can enjoy live performances! (Along with a few bottles of beer or a glass of cocktail or whiskey).PuNta can also be a place where you can sing your heart out or request your favorite song then sing-along with the band. (Must-try!)***All Thanks to website and Mr. Paolo Bediones for the invite! Sure we had one hell of a night!! Cheers!***ALL DISHES WERE COMPLIMENTARYTrisha Garcia Karl Legaspi Alvin Ong | TFC Marianne In Manila Mickey. Raina Cheng CateyPerryAlwaysHungry Jovijovijovi Hungry Pants Janix Lo Anj None EATer.PH Christina Advincula : Cofficehunter RicKy SantiAgo Joshua Castro Dizon Francis Moria Patricia Infante

Zofie Zeng

4.0

Punta is a restaurant in Mandala Park area of Liberty Center on Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong. This particular area of the mall has undergone a gradual transformation and has two other up and coming bars - Commissaire and Madly British Bar - as neighbors. Mandala enjoys the presence of a semi-regular weekend food market that boosts the vibe of this area.Punta is open from 5 pm to 3 am, and it has had a lineup of live performances from showbands, acoustic groups, and established performers of the last 10-15 years (True Faith, Jimmy Bondoc, MYMP, Kitchie Nadal), and according to Paolo Bediones, who is one of Punta's owners, there is no cover charge. Yay!Since Punta is quite spacious and the acoustics are great, there's the option to watch them either from their main dining area, their sunken lounge, or the tent outside, where you can catch the breeze. website and Punta partnered for one evening some days ago to give us some highlights from their Latin American-inspired food, starting with some "anticuchos," or Peruvian-style marinated meat skewers, using chicken heart and beef tongue. This was a delicious treat all by itself, while the marinated vinegar dip that went with these skewers should be bottled and sold - it was so good. Some of their other items are certified crowdpleasers, from their nachos, their eight-spiced fries, to a corn soup, and an egg-topped chorizo burger with spicy potatoes. Things get more interesting with richly infused sopa de mariscos, a seafood soup that tasted both of crab and shrimp; their tomatoey beef stew ropa vieja, which works as a light supper on its own, great with a beer; and their platos asados. Of the latter, we tried two - pork belly and chicken. Both were smoky and tasty, grilled to the right point. Paired with Mexican-style dirty rice and the lemony-grassiness of chimichurri, these two combos were hard to beat. We tried two fun desserts - churritos shaped into balls, with dulce de leche and chocolate sauce, and crepes with vanilla ice cream and grated cheese. I vote for the churritos.The evening ended with a live music show with an acoustic trio singing 90s songs - and they invited the audience to jam for whomever was up to it. We discovered Paolo is an awesome keyboardist!Punta looks promising, if I'm to gauge them also from their drinks - the Salty Snow Queen, their punch drinks (ponches), and Tropical Zombies (Zombies are so very 90s).  They're an asset to the neighborhood, with their live music performances and satisfying food.Thank you to website once again and to Punta for hosting this visit. 

Taufiq Jibu

3.0

The Mandala Park will revolutionize the food selections against the hustle and bustle of Shaw Boulevard. And serving as its front liners is Punta serving delicious dishes from Latin America.Let me first talk about the ambiance - whether you're looking for a good place to eat, or a place to listen to live music, or have a night cap, or have a blissful date with your special someone, you should not go further and consider this place. The place is spacious with a beautiful AL fresco dining nurturing the cool January breeze. Whilst inside is very laid back with great singer and a large projector screen where you can watch your favorite games. A VIP room as dwells on the second floor perfect for more intimate celebrations for the barkada.The food has pretty good range of appetizers, soups and mains. And surprisingly decent desserts. If you need a night cap, they also have a great range of alcoholic beverages, wine and scotch selection. The food, place and service were phenomenal but the food had its own hits and misses. So let me talk instead of the ones I absolutely loved!Must Order:Nachos Mexicana - delicious nachos poured with generous load of cheese!Beef Tounge - grilled beef tongue perfectly paired with a cold bottle of beerTequila Pasta - not to worry because this isn't going to make you tipsy. It kinda tastes like Mac N Cheese.Plato Asados - I hope you come in two's when you pay Punta a visit because these 2 is a MUST ORDER FOR REALZZZZ! The chicken and pork portions are so juicy, soft and flavorful and it blends perfectly well with the flavored rice!Punta Burger - egg with burger? Who would've thought that combination would be good. We'll you have to try this one!Churritos - surprisingly decent dessert. Order the Dulce the Leche rather than the cake. It's definitely a great end to a hearty Latin American meal!Thanks to the management of Punta and Mr.Paolo Bediones for hosting this website meet up.