Mighty Quinn's: BBQ Cooked the Old School Way

The holiday season is all about reuniting with good friends over some great food which is why when my friends and I wanted to have our annual Christmas get-together, we were lucky enough to catch the opening day of one of the newest restaurants at the Mega Fashion Hall -- Mighty Quinn's.

One of the best barbeque chains from New York has now made its way to Manila to give us a taste of what old school barbeque cooking is all about. Mighty Quinn's pride themselves in using only the finest ingredients, and cooking it with wood and time which grounds you to the basic elements of making great food.

The wood interiors gives it a rustic feel, making you feel like you're just in a friend's backyard, having some barbeque and cold drinks. The ordering process is self-service so you basically just go up to the counter and tell them what you want. I really liked this because you can talk to the people preparing your food, and you can really see the side dishes which help you decide what you want to order. Also, seeing the big chunks of meats being carved right in front of you is so entertaining, and surely whets your appetite.

Since we were a big group, we ordered a full rack of their ribs, a pound of their brisket, and some dirty rice and potato salad for sides. Unlike the usual fall off the bone ribs you'll find in other restaurants, Mighty Quinn's emphasizes that their ribs are not that, and rather have a little bite to it so that you can literally hold the rib bone, and tear the meat with your teeth. I liked how the ribs are not drenched in sauce so that you can really appreciate the smoky flavor from the barbeque process.

Just like their ribs, their brisket was spectacular. It was so moist and tender, and I really liked how it was meaty but had a thin lining of fat to keep it juicy. It's good as it is, but I recommend that you try their signature barbeque sauce with it which has a nice balance of tanginess and spiciness.

For the sides, we had the dirty rice which is rice mixed with the rich, flavorful drippings of the meats. They showed us how they did this and they literally squeeze the cling wrap used to wrap the meat to extract all the drippings into the rice. They also scrape off the excess sauce left on the carving board and add it into the rice. We also liked the potato salad because the potatoes were not too mushy and it had a refreshing spiciness to contrast the creaminess of the dressing. 

I don't know how we managed to make room for dessert considering how stuffed we were, but we all shared some of their bread pudding which is banana pudding topped with vanilla ice cream. The warm, gooey banana pudding paired so well with the cold vanilla ice cream, and was a great finish to an incredible meal.

Check out my video below to see some mouth-watering clips of my experience there!

Casa Verde is Now In Manila!

My friends could probably tell how excited I was upon seeing Casa Verde by how fast I ran towards them (in an unathletic, girly manner) to tell them we should eat there. It was our first time in U.P. Town Center (which I blogged about here) and with so many restaurants that were so tempting to try, we took our time going around, checking every single restaurant before we would finally decide. While walking, I noticed with my peripheral vision a familiar green logo. I left the pack to go check it out and lo and behold, it was Casa Verde!

Casa Verde is a famous restaurant which previously only had branches in Cebu that serves classic American comfort food. I was lucky enough that I was able to go to Cebu early this year for work which gave me the chance to try this awesome restaurant. I blogged about Casa Verde before and I said that I would seriously go back to Cebu just for this restaurant. What do you know, now I don't have to because it's finally here!

While a lot of the restaurants were pretty empty despite how enthusiastic their servers were in inviting people to try them out, Casa Verde was jam-packed. Since they've only been open for less than a month, some of their dishes (and service water) were still unavailable but that didn't stop people from coming.

It's a good thing though that their famous best-seller, Brian's Ribs was available. I would have been so heartbroken if it wasn't. If you eat in Casa Verde, it would be a sin not to try this ribs. It's so good and so affordable. One order which is already good for two people is just around P250. And it is so delicious. I was never really a fan of ribs because I don't like sweet food but this has the right balance of sweet and tangy. Although the meat was tougher and drier than the one I had in Cebu, it still tasted like the original. 

To go with our ribs, we also ordered their Southwest Pasta. It's penne pasta tossed in alfredo sauce, with chicken, bell peppers and onions. I love this dish! Even though it has a cream-based sauce, it was surprisingly light which only means you can eat more of it (and trust me, you will). The flavors of the bell peppers and onions were also a great contrast to the richness of the sauce. I could have finished this whole plate if only I didn't have too much of the ribs (and of course I had to share it with my friends). 

There's so much more on the menu that I'm so excited to try at Casa Verde and I'm so happy I don't have to take a plane anymore to try them!