Foodie-ing...

...in between holiday shopping.
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by PAM


For the longest time, my nephew and I had been looking for the "perfect liempo".  We have gone to many eating places, trying their versions of liempo.  Some were good while others were lame excuse for good old liempo.  So the search continued... until recently.  

We were Christmas shopping for fresh produce and sea foods in one of the newest malls in Quezon City - Fisher Mall.  So, while joining the Metro crowd Christmas rush, we got

Limited choices in the menu... but all are very good.

hungry.  As the more popular restaurants were all crowded, we found ourselves eating in a small restaurant on the third floor of the Mall. 

The restaurant is called Sweet Chili Thai Fish and Noodle House, and it's a part of the Gerry's Grill Group. It's small but tidy and with a pleasing ambiance of understated neighborhood-restaurant class. The service was satisfactory, too.  The staff showed concern for their guests without being too annoyingly eager.  The menu was quite limited for our liking.  However, as we discovered later, they are merely starting (they opened only last September 2014, and the Fisher Mall branch is the first) so, perhaps, they don't really need an expansive menu at the moment.  Besides, as we pleasantly discovered later, all the dishes they currently offer were very good, not to mention very affordable!  The restaurant features Thai dishes with Filipino twist, or Filipino dishes with Thai twist.  My nephew and I were very surprised to have found grilled liempo in their menu.  Naturally, as Sweet Chili is supposed to be a Thai restaurant, we did not have much expectations... therefore, we were pleasantly surprised when the liempo we ordered was served.

Grilled liempo: tender, juicy...
...and with the lemon sauce, it was perfect!

The meat was grilled just right - tender and juicy, and it looked and smelled absolutely mouthwatering.  When we tasted it, it didn't disappoint. It was delicious and satisfying on its own.  And, when dipped in the mildly spicy lemon sauce - the Thai touch, we supposed - it was perfect!  So, yeah, it seems that the search is over... we have found our "perfect" liempo.  We went back twice after our first visit, and tried the liempo each time... the quality was consistent - delicious, perfect for our taste.      

My nephew and I also tried their bagoong fried rice, which was jasmine rice, fried and

Bagoong fried rice - a big hit.

made to taste with one of Philippines' fave condiments, bagoong (fermented fish with salt).  It was topped with small slices of freshly cooked and tasty pork adobo, sliced fried scrambled egg, green mango strips, thinly sliced red onion and a twist of cilantro.  The adobo heightened the exotic flavor of the fried rice while the mango strips and the onion brought contrast to the smooth saltiness of the rice and the meat.  Just like the grilled liempo, the bagoong fried rice serving size was large enough to be shared by two adults.  In fact, if we did not know that they served liempo, we would have been contented with the bagoong fried rice.    

As I am a big fan of Pad Thai, we also tried their version of this well-loved Thai dish.  We

Pad Thai - "old dish", nice touch.

opted for that one with fried scrambled egg. Needless to say, we were not disappointed at all. The balance between the sweetness and sourness, and how the mild spiciness bound the two for a satisfying gastronomic experience was spot-on.  The variation of textures, starting from the noodles that were cooked just-right to the crunchiness of the vegetable ingredients, made eating interesting and fun. Yep, it was delicious!  Even my nephew, who was not a fan of Pad Thai, became a 'believer'. :) 

We finished our meal up with Thako - a Thai dessert.  It is a soft pudding wrapped in banana leaf, and topped with browned grated mature coconut meat.  The Sweet Chili version had two pudding layers, a green translucent one (tapioca) at the bottom with the distinct flavor of pandan, and a white opaque layer on top with a rich flavor of coconut milk but with thinner consistency. One order of Thako came in six pieces, therefore, it was great for sharing. And, when shared by two people only, it can indeed be a sweet treat!  Yep, it was a perfect ending to a truly satisfying meal.    

Thai Thako - perfect ending!

As I said, after our first visit, we visited again twice within the same week, with different companions.  In one of our visits, we tried their Tom Yum soup with shrimps.  It was awesome - one of the best I've tasted so far.  Needless to say, all our companions were as gastronomically satisfied as we were.  

If Sweet Chili is trying to become a "neighborhood eating place" with an easy-going ambiance and with budget-friendly food choices as well, I believe they will find success.  The mix of Thai and Pinoy tastes is a good formula as well... but Sweet Chili's real ace is that they found the perfect blend of these tastes to appeal to most Filipinos. As we observed a number of seemingly satisfied foreign customers during our visits, I believe their blend also captures other cultures' fancy.

So, are we going to visit again? Aw, definitely!

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All photos used in this post are mine.

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