Dining Snippets: Roice’s Restaurant + G x Green Pastures x O Banh Mi
ROICE’S RESTAURANT + G
Despite being a newcomer in the busy restaurant scene in QC, Roice’s Restaurant + G has a historical appeal to it as it’s housed in one of QC’s oldest residential properties. Homes-turned-restaurants line up the busy Scout streets but Roice’s Restaurant + G aims to differentiate itself by serving up its own twist to local Filipino dishes.
BLOOMING ONION (P190)
The restaurant traded in the usual house starters of peanuts and bread with some lightly-buttered popcorn. Unfortunately, the popcorn kernels were more gummy than crunchy; wasting what would have been an opportunity for a poppin’ starter (pun intended). Roice’s Blooming Onion seems to be a cheaper knock-off of Outback Steakhouse’s Typhoon Bloom. Unfortunately, similarities seem to stop with their names as the Blooming Onion came with a bunch of raw onions which made a comfort food favorite uncomfortable to eat.
BAGNET WITH GARLIC MANGO RICE (P390)
The Bagnet with Garlic Mango Rice was promising as each strip came with crisp skin and juicy meat. Unfortunately, the kitchen seemed to have forgotten to season the meat which made it incredibly bland. A little salt and pepper would have made the meat pair perfectly with the spiced vinegar it came with.
SEAFOOD CURRY RICE (P570)
The Seafood Curry Rice was already the best tasting dish we had from Roice’s as the rice was seasoned and carried just the right hint of curry flavor. The seafood was fresh and cooked well; but the dish in its entirety still failed to impress. At best, it was a decent dish that failed to be memorable.
Roice’s Restaurant + G
112 Scout Delgado St., Diliman, QC
Date of Visit: January 25, 2018 with Lily Chua and Jem Chua
GREEN PASTURES
Green Pastures always promises new offerings through its seasonal menu. This helps the restaurant source the best ingredients at the optimum season, and also keeps things fresh and interesting for its patrons. For creatures of habit, rest assured that they do maintain a staple menu of their best-sellers.
UMAMI BOWL (P360/P545)
The Umami Bowl was a hearty bowl filled with a delightful combination of superfoods. The bowl featured an assortment of kale, mushrooms, cauliflower, tofu, red onions, sunflower seeds, carrots, all dressed in a delightfully light miso dressing. True to its name, the bowl packs in a lot of umami flavor that you won’t even look for any meat to pair up with it.
PAN-ROASTED SWORDFISH (P590)
Admittedly, I had no prior experience of tasting swordfish that I was a bit taken aback as to how meaty the fish was. However, I quickly warmed up to the dish as it was served with an insanely clean and refreshingly light clam infused-kombu broth.
Green Pastures
4F Shangri-la Plaza Mall, East Wing, Mandaluyong City
Date of Visit: February 17, 2018 with Lily Chua
O BANH MI
I was pretty ecstatic when O Banh Mi opened in Robinsons Galleria as it offered a quick work lunch alternative. Housed on Galleria’s cinema level, this grab-and-go concept conveniently has self-service seating for its hungry diners. Apart from serving a range of banh mis or Vietnamese baguettes, it also serves Vietnamese classic dishes such as pho and iced coffee.
BBQ PORK (P190)
My staple order would be the classic Bbq Pork Banh Mi. I was actually surprised that the barbecued pork strips it came with had perfectly charred skin and were well-marinated. The baguette was stuffed with fresh crunchy vegetables such as cucumber, carrots, and radishes to make it a well-balanced meal. One of the major perks of dining in is that you can horde a whole bottle of Sriracha and hoisin sauce each all to yourself. I actually layer each bite with a dollop each!
Its pho comes in two affordably-prized sizes (Regular – P130, Large – P150). Its noodles obviously were of the instant variant as these came with an artificial aftertaste; but you’d forget about this once you have a taste of its intensely flavored broth beautifully balanced by fresh shallots. The best part of the bowl is that it comes with a serving of the same barbecued pork they serve in their banh mis! Cool down after with an order of their strong Iced Vietnamese Coffee (P105). I loved that the coffee flavor was robust; however, I did want a little more condensed milk to go with it.
O Banh Mi
4F Robinsons Galleria, EDSA cor Ortigas, Ugong Norte, QC
