I was recently invited to try out this new restaurant called PHAT WONG! The theme of the restaurant is Asian comfort foods. Comfort foods are really up my alley and without hesitation, I said of course! Located along N. Garcia street (formerly Reposo street) in the LRI building, is this charming little restaurant that at first glance, does not look like much but really delivers quite a punch! Proving once again that you really must not judge a book by its cover.
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Look for this sign along Reposo street. If you passed the Alliance Francaise school then you missed it already.
Calm interiors.
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From the same family that gave us Lolo Dad’s is Phat Wong! The menu is tight and small, you can truly feel the meticulousness of the owners and the chef. I invited some friends to join me and I was so happy that the chef, Marge Villena and manager, Malou de Joya joined our table to help all of us navigate our way to a virtual Southeast Asian food festival.
We started out with some nibbles or “pica-pica”. Chef Marge brought out quite a number of beautiful starters but what stood out for me were the blue crab fritters that were really delightfully dipped in this creamy wasabi sauce. I wanted to eat it all! LOL! I also enjoyed their upscale rendition of the merienda treat that everyone loves at Mini Stop and convenience stores called “Kariman” . It is a deep friend dough bread filled with either adobo or menudo! I thought that it was going to be perfect for a mid-day treat but for a starter it can be heavy.
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Started out with some mushroom lumpia. This was my least favorite.
I LOVED this blue crab fritter sticks! SO YUMMY!
Care to try an upgraded version of a Kariman?
Perfect merienda!
Light as air fried tofu with 2 dipping sauces!
This was really odd. It's a vietnamese bam-i sandwhich that really looked like a burito to me! LOL!
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Then this amazing salad arrived! It was a coconut, prawn and pomelo salad that was literally OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! The foodie in me felt like jumping up and down as it was really spectacular. What arrived was this giant globe of sweet and succulent coconut flesh filled with generous portions of prawns, pomelo and lettuce that as you break into, would ooze into the plate into a cornucopia of flavors and textures that literally sang in your mouth! It was AMAZING! This salad actually won several awards in the food competitions around the region. Take it from me, this dish alone is worth the visit to Phat Wong.
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This SALAD is really the winner! This alone is going to make want to keep coming back!
I really love the concept of this dish.
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Then came a slew of main dishes. We had some bistek tagalog using prime grade beef. Then we had this amazing pork rib tocino that was marinated “sou vide” style which means, the meat was in vacuum bag and then slowly bathed in heated water. The pork was then slowly braised and broiled giving the dish a charred flavor that really made it memorable. Finally, we had two Hainan dishes: the Hainanese Chicken and Lapu-Lapu. Both of which were quite good but the ginger dip that came with it was really fabulous. Chef Margie whispered in my ear that the sauce had some crushed macadamia nuts giving a new dimension to the sauce. I thought that was brilliant!
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High-end Bistek Tagalog!
Pork rib tocino! YUM!
Hainan Chicken with special yellow chicken flown in from Hong Kong.
The special ginger sauce infused with crushed macadamia nuts.
Hainan Lapu-Lapu! I have never tried it like this before and it's really nice.
Took a break to take a photo of my friend Cedric Cid's Rick Owens shoes! They are so SICK! I LOVE IT!
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Then came the desserts! We tried everything on the menu! I was so happy and glad that I took a core kinesis class just before dinner, otherwise, I would have felt so guilty! LOL! We had some Gula Melacca, a Brazo de Mercedes in a pool of pandan cream. (read: deadly!) and then came the modern Halo-Halo. I fell in love with this dessert. It had some kafir leaves in the dessert that really made a huge difference in terms of flavor and aroma. The coconut iced/granita was also quite ingenious thus making me thoroughly love this dessert.
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Gula Melacca!
Super deadly Brazo de Mercedes! Rich and decadent!
Modern Halo-Halo! A real winner!
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All in all, I think Phat Wong is a real find and worth paying a visit. I love how subtle the flavors are and the fact that each dish was really well conceptualized! I cannot wait to be back! BRAVO!
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HUGS!
RAJO!
Tags: Phat Wong, restaurant
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