Restaurant Review: Patricio’s Cevicheria

Patricio’s Cevicheria is located along Bayani Road in Taguig and it’s a place you actually wouldn’t notice unless you actually look for it.  In our case, we’ve seen their signage for the past year whenever we take the Bayani Road route to the airport.  We’ve been curious but never found much reason to intentionally make the trip to this place…I think it’s because it’s besides a busy road and we felt that parking might be a bit tricky.

Then an article from Pepper.ph regarding it’s Queso Crema made us realize that we should take the time to visit this place…that and the fact that they serve “Binakhaw” which is my hometown’s version of kinilaw. Nostalgia prevails.

After a busy Saturday, we decided at the last minute to eat out as I was too lazy to whip something up.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t much traffic so the drive to Patricio’s wasn’t so bad and we got a parking spot just a bit off the restaurant front and the Generics Pharmacy next to it.

This is the interiors of Patricio’s Cevicheria. Simple and clean.  It makes one thinks that life is quite uncomplicated.  Even the menu is a one-pager offering enough choices to not confuse the hungry patron.

When we arrived, there was only one table occupied with two patrons. We placed our orders of Chicharrones, Lomo Saltado and Queso Crema at the counter and paid for our orders.  We chose the table by the window and the server came with a huge bottle of cold water along with the utensils.

Lomo Saltado (Php180)

Verdict: The Lomo Saltado is described on their menu as “spicy stir-fried beef with Aji Amarillo peppers on a bed of roasted tomatoes, sweet onions & fried potato wedges, served with long grain rice.  When this dish was served, there was sprinkling of about 6 small pieces of beef on a bed of fried potato wedges and red onions that were barely caramelized and tomatoes that didn’t appear roasted.  The beef pieces were salty and I mean really really salty.  B had a higher tolerance for sweet and salty food but even he was a bit turned off by the saltiness of the meat.  The potato wedges were really good though.  I don’t think there was any Aji Amarillo peppers in this dish given that this type of pepper is supposed to give off a medium to hot heat level and there was nothing remotely spicy about this dish.  I’m not a big fan of spicy food (unless you count KFC’s hot and crispy chicken) so I would know if a dish is spicy or not, this definitely wasn’t.  Needless to say, because of the serving size of the meat, the taste of the overall dish and the actual dish being off from what was actually described in the menu, I would definitely not order this again.

Chicharrones – Solo portion with Black Bean Rice (Php160)

Verdict: This dish is actually good! Can do without the side sauces since the meat is quite tasty on its own.  While there is the chicharrones quality, I think the heat was too high that some parts of each piece ended up being too brown and too hard to bite off.  The black bean rice is delicious and goes quite well with chicharrones.  In hindsight we realized we should’ve gone with our first instinct and ordered the full serving (for sharing for Php290) and ordered each the black bean rice (Php60 per serving) since they were that good.  If we come back, we’ll definitely order both.

Queso Crema, Mini (Php90)

Verdict:  This is the real reason we visited Patricio’s Cevicheria in the first place.  It served served warm and after the first two spoonfuls, I honestly didn’t detect any hint of cheese….for me, this was more reminiscent of a cassava cake, a creamier buttery version at best.  It was a bit on the sweet side too since there’s no tart or sharp taste of cheese. A bit disappointed but this is a simple enough dessert that one can have if craving for something sweet.  Since we don’t use microwave at home, we didn’t bother ordering another mini portion to go.

Overall, Patricio’s Cevicheria was an experience.  We’d definitely be back for the black bean rice and the chicharrones and we might try their other dishes.  The lomo saltado we’ll give a miss on the next visit and the queso crema? Will probably depend on our mood for sweets after meal. Service though is friendly and efficient and the staff are quite helpful on where to park.  If you plan to visit Patricio’s Cevicheria, I would suggest a weekend or holiday (if they’re open) evening is the best time as you can get a chance to park; during the day, Bayani Road is quite busy.

Restaurant Review: Ooma Japanese Rice Bar

The B and I always plan ahead when we want to try a new place, especially when it’s a place we read a lot about and know that waiting in line is a possibility.  After all, we both hate waiting too long for our food.

We arrived at SM Megamall after an hour and a half of drive, just as it has opened.  Since the mall had just opened, we decided to kill a bit of time before heading to Ooma, mostly to build up an appetite.

We came back to Ooma about 30 minutes later and the place was still deserted. We were given a seat just off the counter and within seconds were handed the menu.

Phol our server was very attentive and friendly.  Within minutes of handing us our menu, we were ready to order.  We asked for the Scallop and Tuna Aburi Maki, Soft-shell Crab Taco Maki, Hanger Steak and the Uni Udon. He smiled and commented that we ordered all their bestsellers (we were that ready. LOL).

While we were waiting for our orders, our server came back and gave us our house tea. Without having to wait long, our first maki order arrived.

Scallop and Tuna Aburi Maki (6 pieces, Php295 + SC)

Verdict:  At first glance, the sushi rolls was smaller than expected and you could hardly see the tuna or taste the scallop in the maki.  It was tasty but given that we could not really taste either the tuna or the scallop, this dish is quite disappointing. The spicy mayo and kimchi aioli made it spicier than I would’ve liked. The sweet soy glaze came in this quaint cup with a paintbrush making the dish a bit interesting and added a depth of flavor to the maki. Overall, I would give this dish a miss.

Soft-shell Crab Taco Maki (2 pieces, Php199 + SC)

Verdict:  This one is an absolute winner!  I am not a big fan of crustacean but since all the Ooma reviews I’ve read so far had raved about this dish, I just had to order it.  B was initially adamant about ordering it simply because as much as he loved crabs, he wasn’t a fan of soft shell crabs and with the price, he felt like it wasn’t value for money.  I decided to ignore his disinterest and ordered this dish anyway.  And boy, are we both glad!  The presentation itself was interesting enough but when you look at the dish closely, you can see layers of interesting ingredients in it.  While it is expensive, each piece is huge enough that you have to take 2-3 bites to finish it off.  Once you bite into it, you get an explosion of flavors. The crunch of the soft shell crab, the richness and creaminess of the aligue mayo, the saltiness of the tobiko along with the rice and seaweed wrap – it all comes together in one heavenly bite.  This is definitely one dish you should not miss!  I could probably eat 2 or 3 orders of this alone.

Hanger Steak (Php495 + SC)

Verdict:  Another winner of a dish. Value for money too!  Portion is good enough for sharing between 2-3 people. This dish is very very rich given that it has both white truffle oil and ponzu butter but each component of the dish actually works well together.  The softness sweet potato mash, the crispness of the baby potato slices…everything is just so, so good!  Definitely something you should try.

By the time we were on our main entrees, people were slowly trickling into the restaurant and the servers were busy.  The Hanger steak, which was delivered by a different server, came ahead of our order of Uni Udon (Phol remedied this by quickly reminding the other server that we still had another entree waiting).  It took about 20 minutes before one of the servers came and offered us steamed white rice. By the time the steamed rice was offered, the Uni Udon was already served and we got a bit “umay” already.  The richness of the udon and the hanger steak with all the truffle oil can get a bit rich so steamed rice would’ve been nice if it was served along with it.

Uni Udon (Php495 + SC)

Verdict:  Again, something that B was not too keen about but we ordered it anyway just to give it a try.  We absolutely did not regret this.  While the serving for this order was smaller than we would’ve liked, it’s so rich that you wouldn’t mind sharing it actually.  The udon was cooked perfectly and the uni cream sauce was soooo sinfully delicious.  There was actually a bit of sauce left on the bowl after B finished off the noodles that I was tempted to ask for some rice to finish off the sauce!  Definitely order the Uni Udon.

Black Sesame Ice Cream (Php85 + SC)

Verdict:  For the price, we actually expected a scoop of ice cream and were pleasantly surprised to get 2 scoops!  It was served with toasted almonds and alfalfa sprouts and both complemented the creamy black sesame ice cream quite well.  It takes a few spoonfuls before you actually detect any hint of black sesame but it’s there.  B says it”s not as creamy as the other black sesame ice cream he has tried in other restaurants but I didn’t mind.

Overall, our entire experience was very pleasant.  I was actually quite impressed with the service, particularly our server Phol, as he was very quick on his feet.  We had asked for 2 glasses of hot water  as we usually do upon ordering our food.  Halfway through our meal, he came back and offered to replace our water saying that it might have cooled down already.  In all the restaurants where we asked for hot water, no server has ever offered to do that voluntarily and without us having to ask. Kudos to your Ooma’s customer service!  We will surely be back.