We were driving around Tomas Morato looking for a nice place to hang out and eat dinner.  We were choosing between Mesa & 2 other restaurants which were on the same area.  We stopped for a moment as we were all undecided which one to choose.  We ended up dining at Mesa and we were so glad we did!

Mesa just opened their branch at Tomas Morato.  They had other branches in the metro but I still haven’t tried their dishes.  I was curious to find out if they are good.  It was nice to see more choices for Filipino food.  I wondered what would make them different from the rest.

I was in awe when we entered the restaurant seeing those big light decorations on the ceiling.  I also liked that most of their seats are couches which people prefer all the time.

I was just a bit uncomfortable walking around the place as the walkway is only good for one person.  Other than that, the experience was great.  I really, really noticed the awesome service from the staff.  If I’m gonna rate their service, it would be a 5/5 score.  Very impressive!

The food is another thing worth raving for.  See the list of food we ordered from our dinner last saturday:

• Fresh Buko Juice (Php 60)

Fresh fruit juices has always been my favorite.  Since Mesa is a Filipino restaurant, I ordered for a fresh buko juice.  It was very refreshing.  You can ask them to open it up after you finished up all the juice inside.  It was nice to eat those tender buko meat after a heavy meal.

• Chicken Binakol (Php 235)

We ordered the ones with “must-try” label as it was our 1st visit to Mesa.  For the soup, it was chicken binakol.  It’s basically chicken soup simmered with young coconut and green papaya.  That explains why the excess soup was placed in a coconut shell.  As an FYI, the one in the picture was the extra soup.  Our order was put in a big white bowl and was poured already into our individual bowls.

By the way, do ask for “patis”.  You’ll enjoy the chicken better if you dip it to patis 🙂

• Duck Basil Fried Rice (Php 250)

We initially didn’t plan to order any meat dishes, that was why we ended up getting the duck basil fried rice.  It was basically fried rice with duck flakes & basil.  It has chili too but we asked if they could separate it.  The rice was alright, it was tasty but I wouldn’t go back ordering it again.

• Boneless Tilapia (Php 290)

We were definitely in heaven with Mesa’s boneless tilapia!!!  Mesa’s tilapia was definitely satisfying to our taste buds.  Not much effort also in taking off the meat as they already did it for us!  Mind you, it was boneless too!  There were 4 sauces to choose from: sweet chili sauce, honey bagoong sauce, mesa’s special sauce & vinegar sauce.  Definitely, a great twist to a Filipino dish right there.

• Sigarillas (Php 180)

Wing beans with coconut milk & shrimps.  I noticed Mesa loves to put coconut milk into their dishes.  Well, it worked.  This dish was good too but not exceptional.

• 1/6 CrispChon 2-ways (Php 999)

Now, this is what Mesa is known for: Crispchon!  We ordered 1/6 which was perfect for the 4 of us.  They told us we’d be served with Crispchon in 2 ways.

First, they wrapped the meat & skin in pandan wrap.  They did it right in front of us.  Boy, it was definitely yummy!  There were 3 sauces given but I enjoyed the sweet sauce the most.

Lastly, they cooked the rest of the lechon in chili & garlic.  The dish looked so sinful!  If you care for your body, you wouldn’t eat too much!  But hey, it’s okay to let go once in a while and enjoy good food.

As a side note, we ordered stuffed squid but changed it to crispchon at the last minute.  When we saw them serve crispchon at the adjacent table, we decided that it would be such a waste if we didn’t order that hehe 😛

We initially planned to have desserts but we were too full to eat more haha!  Our dining experience at Mesa was definitely a pig-out!  Not complaining because it was great to discover new food places.  Glad we discovered Mesa.

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Mesa Filipino Moderne
291 Tomas Morato Avenue corner Scout Fernandez, Bgry. Sacred Heart, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 441-5197

After just a few days, we went back to King Chef again hahaha!  This time around, to try their famous dimsum.  At 9PM onwards, King Chef cuts down the prices of their dimsum to almost half.  That is why a lot of people go there for late night snacks.

As usual, we still get the same warm welcome from the servers.  I love good service and King Chef definitely have it.

They were ready to serve dimsum as the carts were all out.  They were roaming around the restaurant offering dimsum to guests.  At Php48 each, who could resist?

My friend and I had crabs and spareribs while we await for the 9PM dimsum discount.  This made us so full already.  I only had a few space for more food.  Anyhow, still didn’t stop us from ordering.  Since I love siomai so much, we ordered several variants of it.

• Radish Cake (Php 60)

I wonder why they didn’t include Radish cake in the discounted items but I guess it’s because it’s new?  Maybe after a month or so, they’ll priced it at Php48 after 9PM together with other dimsum offerings.  Radish Cake has always been my favorite dimsum so this will always be part of my order 😀

• Siomai (Php 48)

I love King Chef’s siomai!  They have so much stuff inside (meat & shrimps).  We really get our money’s worth.  One of the best I’ve tasted.  You should try it out! 🙂

• Quail Egg Siomai (Php 48)

Restaurants are becoming more innovative.  See, King Chef has created their own version of siomai.  It’s called Quail Egg Siomai.  It’s basically the same as the normal siomai but this time around, it has one whole quail egg inside.  Pretty unique and it worked out.  It was good!  During discount time, Php48 for that is definitely a steal!

• Japanese Siomai (Php 48)

Another variant of siomai.  This time, they presented it Japanese style.  As much as I loved the presentation, I didn’t like the taste.  I don’t know what ingredient made me dislike this dimsum.  Maybe the sushi wrap?  I’m sure there’s more to it.  A lot of people liked this variant though so to each his own 🙂

• Sharksfin Dumplings (Php 48)

Another favorite!  Sharksfin dumplings!  I was too full already that I only ate 1 piece.  Just like the siomai, this one was definitely meaty!  I really love that they didn’t think of saving ingredients when doing this.  King Chef was going for quality.  I truly appreciate that.

I also liked that they weren’t that strict with dress attire.  I was just wearing shorts and t-shirt when we were there.  It was just a few blocks away from my house.  See me? hahaha!  Ready to go home & sleep!

I’m glad I found out about King Chef & their dimsum.  I now know where to go when I’m craving for something to eat late at night.

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King Chef
989 Banawe St., Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 410-4919