Dali Restaurante y Bar de Tapas

Dali Restaurante y Bar de Tapas is a newly-established Spanish restaurant, which primarily serves tapas. By the way, to those who are still unfamiliar with tapas (like me when we went here), these are Spanish snacks served either hot or cold.

 
AMBIANCE AND ENVIRONMENT

When we arrived at the place, the first thing I noticed was the fountain. I haven’t been to a restaurant with a fountain before so I thought that this was really cool and was definitely a refreshing change from glass walls and doors.

They also have an al fresco dining area, which doesn’t look as airy and vibrant as it is in the morning during the night. I guess this part of the restaurant has a lot of potential and would really look good during the day.

Of note, this place was named after a certain Spanish artist named Salvador Dali and I guess, because of that, the owners of the store decided to give the place an artsy feel by hanging a lot of paintings everywhere.

Apart from being well-decorated, the place was also very clean and everything looked new. However, I didn’t like the floor as it was just concreted in some parts. I would’ve been happier if the floors were tiled or carpeted.

Nonetheless, some parts of the restaurant are really worth noting.  For instance, The dining area has these huge hanging lamps with several candle-shaped bulbs inside, which give the place a Spanish feel.

The lighting, albeit dark, was very classy and warm too. And to our delight, some of the tables looked like barrels.

I believe that the place really had a certain theme. Everything looked Spanish-inspired and even the LCD television is framed as if it’s a painting.

The restroom area looked really unique too with these framed ceramic sculpture of two people dressed in traditional Spanish costumes. 

As this is also a bar, there is a wide selection of wines to choose from. However, I didn’t want to try any as I don’t really drink. I did hear though that their Sangres here are good.

FOOD AND DRINKS

In my opinion, the food here was very satisfactory and filling and all the dishes looked very appetizing. I can say that the establishment really pays close attention to the flavor and appeal of the food. 

French Bread (Complimentary)

At first, they served slices of French bread for free as an appetizer. It also came with a dip, which reminded me of Italianni’s restaurant.

The only difference is that the bread here is tastier and crispier than Italianni’s soggy and bland basket of bread. The salsa-like dip was also very good. I actually wanted another helping of it!

Queso Fresca (P 80.00)

Our first tapas for the day is the Queso Fresca, which is composed of Spanish farmer’s cheese with some basil and paprika, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

I’m not a fan of cheese but this was really good. It’s weird but every bite of this cheese made me feel so light and happy, I really had to smile. I think I now understand the meaning of “comfort food” after I tasted this.

Croquettas de Pollo (P 85.00)

We also ordered some Croquettas. To those who do not know what this food is, Croquettas is a small fried roll with a certain filling. There are many versions of this in Dali’s menu but we chose the chicken version.

This dish came with a dip, which was creamy and delicious and it looked so good with the lemon slice on it. I just felt though that there’s this peculiar fishy taste in the croquettas. I felt like eating tuna and not chicken croquettas.

Callos (P 295.00)

For the main course, we ordered some Callos. This dish is also popular here in the Philippines so, when I saw it on the menu, I ordered it right away. I was so glad I selected this because I thought that, among all the dishes we tried here, this was the best I’ve tasted. I almost ate all of it! It tasted like the tomato-based dishes my grandma used to cook for us when we were small. 

Lengua de Terez (P 300.00)

The second main entree we had was the Lengua de Terez. According to the menu, this is comprised of ox tongue (Lengua), which is braised in sherry sauce with mushrooms and olives. It also came with green beans and some mashed potatoes.

Honestly, the presentation of this dish was the most appealing aspect of this food but the taste, to me, was so-so. It was good at first because it tasted different but eventually, I started to taste more of the sherry flavor, which was really overwhelming. And it doesn’t come with rice! Of course, I’d understand that because I’m in a Spanish restaurant but I feel as if no meal is complete without rice. 

Plain Rice (P 40.00)

Hence, being an obligate ricevore and unable to order their specialty rice dishes (as they’re mainly composed of shrimps and I have seafood allergy), I had to order a cup of plain rice. As expected, this tasted like regular rice. There was nothing special here apart from the green herbs on top. This one looked plain (Duh, that’s why it’s plain rice!).

Garlic Rice (P 50.00)

The garlic rice was a different story though. This rice dish had more toasted garlic than Shang-ri La Hotel’s and it was very delicious too. What’s also noticeable is that it wasn’t very oily, which was actually good. I felt satisfied with this one but I still am sad that I wasn’t able try out the Paella.

Churros con Chocolate (P 135.00)

Finally, for dessert, we tried the Churros con Chocolate. This one’s divine. Just look at the plating! It was also served hot but because I had to take a lot of pictures of it, it got cold before we were able to eat everything! 

This one’s just a regular Churro (Spanish doughnut) which comes with a chocolate dip. It was so delicious, especially if dipped in the chocolate, but I advise that you consume this right away as it is not as good when cold.

SERVICE AND OVERALL SATISFACTION

The service here was fast and the waiters were so efficient. They served us water even if we’re not asking for it, they provided an extra seat for my friend’s bag, they seated us away from those who were drinking during the night, and they took photos of me and my friend when we asked them. 

It was a delightful experience and I hope it’s not just because  there were only very few customers when we ate here.

VALUE FOR MONEY

The food here is not really very cheap. The tapas are quite affordable but the serving size is small as they’re meant to be eaten as snacks only. However, the service was very good and the Callos was fantastic so I guess there still is some value for money here.

FINAL SCORES

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 5/5

Value - 3/5

TOTAL - 4/5

Dali Restaurante y Bar de Tapas

(02) 928 0971

40 E. Lopez Drive Cor. Sgt. Esguerra

Quezon City

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Choi Garden Seafood & Shark’s Fin Restaurant

Choi Garden doesn’t have a website, which made this blogging experience a bit difficult as I found it hard to get enough information about the place. All I know is that it is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the metro and they serve top quality food.

AMBIANCE AND ENVIRONMENT

Choi Garden’s exterior alone can ward off solicitors, beggars, and illegal vendors within the area as the establishment appeared so intimidating on the outside. It even got really close to warding me off as well!

The main entry door looked like the ones I’ve seen in Chinese movies. It was a close imitation of the huge and grand doors of the ancient Chinese. 

There was this dramatic tunnel-like entrance inside, which leads to the dining hall. The receptionist will have to literally block your way before you can even set foot inside because, during peak hours, only people with reservations would be allowed entry inside as the place can get heavily packed.

The place looked very oriental with hanging Chinese lanterns, red table cloths, Chinese calligraphy on the walls and everything. The place looked pretty clean as well.

As this was a shark’s fin and seafood restaurant, they have these aquariums inside with lobsters and other sea creatures and they’re not only placed there to entertain the people, they can also be cooked and served to the hungry customers too!

A clear glass wall enables the guests to see what’s cooking inside like these poor yet very delicious ducks and a goose, which have been roasted for the customers to enjoy.

The establishment didn’t even leave the restroom out as they still maintained that oriental Chinese theme even inside the toilet. 

Overall, I would have to say that Choi Garden’s interior was absolutely breathtaking. It was definitely a feast for the eyes. I have seen some minor flaws like some signs of natural wear and tear but I believe that they’re too minor to even be noticed.

FOOD AND DRINKS

Before I discuss anything here, I would first want to apologize, for the pictures I have taken for the food are horrible. I’m not a camera expert and neither am I a professional photographer and I found the red lights rather harsh as a light source and no matter how hard I tried to make the settings of my camera work for this lighting setup, it was hopeless.

Complimentary Garlic Nuts (Free)

Similar to other Chinese restaurants, Choi Garden offered us a free serving of Garlic Roasted Peanuts, which, to me, is like any other peanut you can buy from the convenience store. The only thing that makes this special is that it comes for free.

Chicken Feet (P 90.00)

I love chicken feet! We ordered chicken feet as our dimsum appetizer and though I thought that it was not a bad choice, I didn’t really think it was that good. I believe the meat was delicious and the sauce was to die for. However, I thought that the chicken feet was a little bit tough and it was hard to eat. I had to gnaw this one really hard to get some meat off of it.

Fookien Fried Rice (P 220.00)

This one’s a rice dish that is floating in a sauce with shrimps, chicken, pork, mushrooms, and other ingredients. It’s like the yang chow fried rice with a sauce and this one’s really unique because this is rarely ordered.

My verdict: it was awesome. I do not have enough words to describe this rice dish. It was like nothing I’ve ever tasted. The serving size is big too!

Cold Cut Combination (P 340.00)

I do not know exactly what’s in the cold cut combination dish but I pretty much think that everything on it was delicious because we ate everything in this entire platter and left nothing but the bones.

I think there was this roasted barbecue pork on it and some roasted chicken and duck and the jelly fish (which my friend found to be a comfort food) and some century egg slices.

The Sauces (Comes with the Cold Cut Combination)

They have the sweet soy-sauce based condiment for the cold cut combination and this ginger-based sauce as well. The ginger-based sauce was very pleasant and I found it more delicious than the dark sauce.

Braised Pig Knuckle, Tai Shan Style (P 240.00)

This was a little disappointing. I wish it could’ve had some more sauce as it was very dry (as you can see above). The presentation was not really nice too and was far from the picture on the menu. The broccoli was chopped in chunks, which were too big to fit into our mouth and were hard to chew, and the pig knuckles didn’t really taste so special. I’ve tasted better ones from other Chinese restaurants.

BBQ Pork Rice Roll (P 90.00)

We weren’t able to touch this anymore as we ate so much, we felt as if we needed to drag ourselves home because we felt so heavy. The serving size of the food was very big. Anyway, we had this wrapped and I took it home. I guess this one’s good too because before I even had a bite of this dish, the folks at home had already consumed everything.

SERVICE AND OVERALL SATISFACTION

The service here was superb. I would understand if there was a delay with the delivery of our food because of the number of people in the restaurant but our food came hot and complete in only a few minutes. It took the waiters only around 10 to 15 minutes to complete serving all our orders. There wasn’t even a single one that was left out.

The waiters were also very fast in serving us water and all the things we requested for. One of the waiters even offered to take a photo of me and my friend together when he saw that we’re finding it difficult to take a picture of us together. Them handling so many people that well was worth the return visit.

VALUE FOR MONEY

I thought at first that the food here is expensive but now I realize that it’s just fair and reasonable. For the serving sizes, I can say that the food was rather cheap. However, if you’re going to dine here alone or if you have just one companion, I would suggest that you just purchase their rice toppings as the serving size could be overwhelming. The food will really fill your tummy.

FINAL SCORES

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 5/5

Value - 4/5

TOTAL - 4.25/5

Choi Garden Seafood & Shark's Fin Restaurant
(63 2) 727-6042, (63 2) 727-7489  
12 Annapolis St. cor. Purdue St., Greenhills
San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines

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