Sunday, March 27, 2011

Kanin Club: Deadly delicious

For my Papa's birthday, we went to one of the hottest places in the metro right now, The Ayala Triangle Garden which is right behind the Philippine Stock Exchange in Makati. It's said to be the fave hangout of all the yuppies in the business district. Fortunately, it is not crowded on Sundays and we were able to easily get a table at Kanin Club.

Papa, the birthday boy

The first thing that struck us was the very Pinoy look of the resto. We loved the decorative capiz shell windows and the translucent colored windows that they actually used. Twinx noted the heavy wooden tables and chairs which lent a homey atmosphere to the place.


Foreigners have described Pinoy food as all brown and fried to death. Instead of apologizing for it, Kanin Club has completely embraced it with their menu.

First up, we order the dilis salad(P149), heaps of fried anchovies with tomatoes, cilantro  with vinaigrette to counter the saltiness of the fish. Would actually go very well with rice,too, according to my sister.

To refresh the palette, we get the hototai soup(P224) which is filled with soft pork slices and mushrooms.

Their most famous dish is the crispy dinuguan (P261) which is deep-fried pork and chicharon bulaklak in dinuguan sauce. So instead of biting into soft slices of pork and fat, I get a crrrrunchy and sinful mouthful that is so sinful and unhealthy! But I keep eating anyway!

Another bestseller is the seafood kare-kare(P298) which looked so beautiful, though Mama didn't like gata (coconut cream) in the sauce. While there were plenty of squid and some mussels, I think I only saw 1 or 2 shrimps. This would also taste better if it was less oily.


We also had the camaron rebosado (P276) which was good but not as tasty as my Tita's camaron. Must be because Kanin Club doesn't use MSG, because we didn't feel sleepy afterwards? But that's a good thing!

Of course, Twinx and Papa tried the unlimited rice order(P60 each) but stopped after the 2nd cup. That's why we can't get our money's worth at buffets...

We also tried the aligue rice(P149) another cholesterol-laden pot of rice mixed with crab fat, though I couldn't really taste it, but it was orange-colored all over and there was a small mound of it on top. The menu says it's good for 2-3 but between Pa and Twinx's unlimited rice and all the food, we weren't able to finish this.
Check out the size of the regular (non-bottomless) glass of daladan juice (P67) and green tea(P54)

We got stuffed before we could finish everything which is usually not the case. Maybe there was also the "umay" factor , or food fatigue, which Jon said of the dinuguan. Maybe next time, we should order some items that are less oily, like the sinigang, to redeem our palette from the sinfulness of the deep-fried dishes. Good thing we didn't order the Binukadkad na Tilapia, which is also deep-fried!  Or the halo-halo a la mode, where all the ingredients are encased in a turon and, yes, deep-fried before it's topped by a scoop of ice cream!


 Total bill was a very affordable P1,777. The savings will help pay for the lipitor and xenical pills, hehehe!
Dog lovers rejoice! The Triangle welcomes 4-legged patrons, too
You can also jog or play frisbee in the park

For dessert, we had gelato at Amici, also in Ayala Triangle. While their other branches are self-service, this one had waiters. Good idea since a cafeteria- style set up would probably get crazy on weekdays! My sister looked at the prices and she said there didn't seem to be a considerable price difference between this classy-looking resto and their original branch.  But I was impressed by the attentive staff. A waitress gave us all a glass of water, without our asking her to, just because she saw us eating our gelato. Talk about anticipating a customer's needs! Bravo!

I had the peach walnut ice cream cake(P95) which was delicious and not too sweet but cannot equal my love for Conti's peach walnut torte! Gelatos in cups (Sans rival, Tiramisu, Pistachio, choco sans rival)now cost P70, up from P60 last year but still very creamy and you know the quality has remained as good as it was when they started. In fact, I think the tiramisu now tastes better! I'm so proud of this little restaurant that started from a small cafeteria in my school. And though it's no longer run by the Italian priest/chef, it still donates to the Tuloy sa Don Bosco projects.

The Amici menu mentions the charities they support. One of the people in charge of Tuloy sa Don Bosco, Fr. Rocky Evangelista,  used to be our school principal!

Our Ayala Triangle adventure was a hit and the good news is that there are still so many restos there to explore! Till next time!
You can park your car beside the Filipinas Heritage Library P45 for the first 2 hours, P15 for every succeeding hour)
This library used to be the Nielson Tower, the only surviving pre-war structure in Makati.

1 comment:

i♥pinkc00kies said...

their sinigang na baka is so good!

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