pakbet – Jellybeans in the City

Look back on your favorite homespun food, the ones that your mom or lola used to cook for the family during special occasions.

Now imagine them with a fresh twist, a little change that makes them keep the nostalgia that you harbor for them but, at the same time, gives them a new dimension that gets you so giddy with excitement for a taste of something new.

That is what Chef Jehrad Dolino achieved when he unveiled his latest creations of reimagined Filipino food for Moonshine PUB.

Moonshine PUB is a cozy public urban bar situated in the hip and happenin’ Sapphire Bloc in Ortigas Center. It has a relaxing atmosphere with muted lights, dark leather furniture and brick decor reminiscent of 1920s underground speakeasies.

This is where Ortigas-based yuppies can go and unwind, enjoying the pub’s signature drinks which include these cocktails:

Calamansi Gin Smash (Php335). A refresing gin-based cocktail made with muddled sugar, cucumber and basil leaves and flavored with calamansi.

Smoked Old Fashioned (Php310). A whiskey-based cocktail made with muddled sugar and bitters accented by a lemon peel. It is smoked then covered for full effect.

Whiskey Sour (Php310). A whiskey-based cocktail made with lemon juice and sugar.

Chef Dolino’s new set of #FilipinoReimagined dishes take advantage of locally-sourced ingredients that are in season and allows Moonshine to continue to provide fresh takes on classic Pinoy cuisines. These include:

Chori Burger (Php395). Made from scratch by the chef and his team using vinegar and a lot of garlic and allowed to marinate in the chiller for two weeks, the chorizo patties give the burgers an exotic taste and feel. Each burger is served in a brioche bun with the house slaw and a sunny side up, plus some fries on the side.

Crispy Palabok with Crablets (Php350). Crispy glass noodles drenched in made-from-scratch palabok sauce made even heartier with the crablets and chicharon bulaklak.

Pizza Margarito (Php465). Chef Dolino’s twist on the Pizza Margherita, adding some house-made longganisa to the toasty pizza. This dish was inspired the chef and his wife’s trips to Italy.

Longganisa Shanghai (Php280). Also incorporating the house-made longganisa, this is the chef’s take on the classic Lumpiang Shanghai.

Laing with Chicharon (Php240). Inspired by the traditional family of one of the chef’s long-time cooks who hails from Bicol, this dish is not the blow-your-socks-off spicy kind of laing but, especially with the addition of crunchy chicharon, it is well-suited for a Manileno palate.

Spicy Sardine Pasta (Php320). The chef and his staff make the resto’s sardines from scratch using fresh, locally sourced fish. Added to some al dente pasta, these make for quite a filling dish.

Prawn Pakbet (Php380). Made with traditional bagoong, the vegetables here are prepared by blanching them in boiling water then shocking them in iced water, allowing them to retain their crispy texture and vibrant color. And seeing how the shrimp is mostly treated as an add-on in the usual pakbet dishes, he made it the star of the show with the addition of large grilled prawns in his version of the dish.

Salt and Pepper Prawns (Php700). Also inspired by his memories of meals at his lola’s seaside home, this seemingly simple dish pan-fried prawns accompanied by a refreshing cucumber salad presents a lot of pleasing complex flavors.

Angus Beef Adobo (Php540). Taking advantage of the resto’s abundance in tender and flavorful Angus beef, the chef applied classic adobo preparation for this dish with the addition of pan-fried potatoes for added texture like his grandma used to make, and some soft-boiled quail eggs for added richness, as inspired by his tita’s version of the dish.

Langka and Mango Biko (Php190). The classic kakanin (rice delicacy) is given the added twist of mango ang langka (jackfruit) bits, making this reminiscent of the Mango Sticky Rice dish from Thailand.

These new creations highlight the variety and versatility of Filipino cuisine.

Now, if you’re one Moonshine’s loyal patrons and have already developed your favorites among the items in its menu, don’t fret. These new dishes are additions, not replacements. You can still indulge yourself with your old favorites.

This Moonshine branch is located at The Sapphire Bloc, Sapphire corner Onyx corner Garnet Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 10am to 3am and Fridays to Saturdays from 10am to 4am. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 927 8000920.

Planning a trip to Moonshine soon? Drop by between 2pm to 8pm from Sundays to Thursdays for Happy Hour:

Get Php1,000 off on Black Label, Grey Goose and Hendricks
Buy 1 Take 1 on Superdry, Cerveza Negra, Brew Kettle and San Miguel Premium
Buy 1 Take 1 on wine (Php350 per glass)
Buy 1 and get 50% off on Signature Cocktails
San Mig Light and Pale Pilsen at Php50
Drop by from 6pm to 10pm every Saturday to Go Hard or Go Home:

Get Php1,000 off on Jack Daniel, Black Label, Grey Goose, Hendricks and Botanist
Buy 1 Take 1 on Jose Cuervo and Jagermeister

Did you know you can buy two drinks and get the same two drinks for free at Moonshine through Zomato Gold? Zomato Gold provides members with 1+1 deals on food or 2+2 deals on drinks. All you have to do is sign up for a Zomato Gold membership here. Use my code JELLYB to get 20% off the membership fee.

Disclosure: Together with my fellow foodies, I was invited to join a foodie meetup held at this restaurant. Food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Check out my reviews of other bars and watering holes in the Metro:

Other than actually going to a place, the best way to experience its culture is through its cuisine. Ilocano cuisine is influenced by the region’s major occupations: agriculture and fishing. Thus, its dishes are simple to prepare, down-to-earth, and uses fresh ingredients.

Considering how long I’ve been working in the Tomas Morato area, it’s a wonder I’ve only been able to dine at Victorino’s just now. Luckily, together with two of my closest office friends, we ventured out to have a taste of Ilocos Sur at this resto.

Located at the corner of 11th Jamboree and Scout Rallos in Quezon City, Victorino’s is a sprawling house converted to a restaurant, with interiors designed to look like a traditional home in Ilocos, complete with old-style aparadors and various bric-a-bracs.

The restaurant’s kitchen is helmed by renowned culinarian and cake designer Heny Sison, who brings with her a fresh take on Ilocano cuisine that embodies how “simple pleasures taste best.”

With three hungry girls hitting a stalemate in trying to decide between sharing a meat-veggie-rice or a pasta-pizza combo (all of us basically saying “I have no preference, it’s up to you” to each other in typical girl fashion), our waiter, Lloyd, gamely took it upon himself to break the tie and suggested that we go for the rice combo instead.

(He even took our picture to commemorate our lunch — Lloyd, you the real MVP!)

The winning combo which became our taste of Ilocos Sur consisted of:

Bagnet (Php415). Ilocos’ famous version of lechon kawali, this dish is basically a slab of pork belly broiled to tenderize the meat then deep-fried to achieve that signature crispy crackling skin. It is served with a dipping sauce called KBL which stands for Kamatis (tomatoes), Bagoong (shrimp paste) and Lasona (small purple onions).

Pinakbet Ala Apo Lakay. This is one of the two versions of pinakbet served here. Pinakbet consists of slow-cooked vegetables seasoned with bagoong and topped with bagnet. (We initially disappointed not to find eggplants in the mixture and it took our MVP waiter Lloyd to point out that the plump round morsels there were actually the eggplants – a far cry from the long and thin eggplants we usually see in the markets, right?)

Steamed White Rice (Php45/cup). The perfect palette with which to taste and savor our viands.

Because a good time spent with friends seeks to extend itself, we ordered a Mango Chocolate Torte (Php348.50) (recommended again by Lloyd the MVP), a Heny Sison creation which came to our table as towering layers of cashew meringue, bittersweet chocolate, mango mousse topped with white chocolate drizzles. One of us ordered a Brewed Coffee (Php95), which is, of course, served with the traditional Ilocos sweetener baculicha.

Despite the hefty food bill, the excellent service, the yummy food and the relaxed homey atmosphere made our taste of Ilocos Sur at Victorino’s totally worth it.

Victorino’s is open daily from 7am to 10pm. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 2 4147465.

And wouldn’t you know it, Victorino’s even delivers via Lalamove!

Check out my reviews of other Filipino restaurants:

Want to learn more about Filipino cuisine? Check out these books on Amazon.com!

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