Fine weather engulfed the entire metro as I sat at ease inside the metro rail train. Kapitolyo in Pasig was my destination to meet some friends and for an exciting food adventure in another food hub in Metro Manila. With established and new eateries along East Capitol Drive, we conditioned our tummies for a day of serious eating.
BREAKFAST: MILKY AND SUNNY (9 East Capitol Drive, Pasig)
An early flight from Cebu required me to ask them if we could try a breakfast place and Milky and Sunny was the answer I got. The name of the restaurant absolutely reminds me of the most important meal of the day. The frames of meals posted on the walls will entice you to make an order right away. The menu includes sunny rice meals, omelets, breakfast platters, pancakes, toasts, some starters and pasta, breakfast specials and burritos, and their coffee and milkshakes.
Platters cost Php300 but it might be heavy for the first meal of the day so we chose to get some rice meals: Tapa (Php200), Hungarian Sausage (Php180), Bacon, Mushroom, and Cheese Omelet (Php170), Tapa Breakfast Burrito (Php250), Strawberry, and Chocolate Milkshakes (Php140), and Café Mocha (Php80) for beverage.
Tapa is their house specialty with the beef strips marinated in their homemade sauce served with rice and egg (boiled, scrambled, or sunny-side-up). For the Hungarian sausage, I didn’t expect for it to be served on slices but the burnt outside is a bit off. I find the serving size of the omelet to be pricey. Tapa breakfast burrito is wrapped beef strips, garlic rice, hashbrown, cheese, veggies, served with garlic yoghurt tomato salsa.
LUNCH: MAD MARK’S CREAMERY AND GOOD EATS (23 East Capitol Drive, Pasig)
For some, Mad Mark’s in Glorietta 5 is a haven when it comes to good food. Truth is, it’s just an expansion branch of the restaurant and the original one is located in Kapitolyo. It was time for some meat so we decided to drop by. There are two main dining halls and the first one was crowded when we arrived.
Their menu is limited which is a great thing because choosing what to order wasn’t that difficult: Shareables, Man Sandwiches, Grilled Works, Comfort Foods, and Beverages. It was also nice to see that most of the meals have solo or for group servings. We requested for Buffalo Wings (Php180), Lumberjack Sandwich (Php220), and Batavia Pasta (Php205).
Lumberjack is one of their specialty steak sandwiches with the crisp bread squeezing well done Angus beef in cream mushroom sauce, some greens, and a lot of caramelized onions. It was difficult not to be impressed by the sandwich. The Batavia Pasta brings a certain flavor that puzzled us but basically the pasta has a fresh shiitake mushroom base sauce with battered chicken or river cobbler on top, we went for the fish. The Buffalo Wings are slightly blazing with the raging Cajun sauce.
DESSERT: LIA’S CAKES IN SEASON (25 A&B East Capitol Drive, Pasig)
Have you ever tried an avocado cheesecake or avocado sansrival? We were blessed that it was the fruit of the season and the main thing in Lia’s Cakes in Season. ‘Cakes in season’ simply because they incorporate the fruit of the season on the cakes and pastries they offer. And on our visit, avocado dominated the chiller.
We got slices of Avocado Sansrival, Avocado Cheesecake, Mango Cheesecake, and Blueberry Cheesecake, all Php180 a slice. You might consider it pricey but the hefty sizes compensate the amount you’re paying and you can also appreciate the generosity of fruit bits and the quality of cream cheese used. The crust of the cheesecakes is damped unlike others that are parched and firm.
They have myriad options of pastries from cakes like banana caramel, calamansi tea, chocolate decadent, red velvet, and strawberry, to cupcakes, cookies, polvoron, and bars. They also offer chicken empanada, and pasta such as Homemade Spaghetti, Aligue Pasta, Pork Adobo, Baked Chicken, and Baked Fish Pasta.
DINNER: SILANTRO FIL-MEX CANTINA (75 East Capitol Drive, Pasig)
For dinner, Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina got a unanimous decision. We made our way to the restaurant around 5:30PM and the whole place was crowded and the queue was already long. A crew gave us a priority number and took our orders. Waiting time was a bit long, evidence that the place indeed offers appetizing Filipino-Mexican fusion dishes.
For appetizers we ordered Beef Nachos (Php180) and Silantro’s Quesadillas (Php160), and Lamb Chop (Php350) for main course. Of course, we shouldn’t forget the refreshing coolers: banana, melon, watermelon, and mango shakes, Php150 for each.
The beef nachos was explosive and shocking with the large stack of tortilla chips topped with premium chunky Angus beef, tomatoes, a lot of cheese, and finished with cilantro. To know that the chips are not the cheap one, it was a major plus for me. I was hesitant at first to try the lamb chops because I hate the awful smell/aftertaste of the meat. Surprisingly, the meat was perfectly cooked with the very savory sauce. Never mind the mashed potato on the side.
Silantro quesadilla also didn’t let us down with the chewy tacos compressing a thick and intense mixture of chicken and cheeses with some potato fries on top. I wasn’t able to scrutinize the other ingredients combined with the cheeses but a certain aftertaste emerged, cilantro, a significant flavor that will remind you that it was a great decision to have a dining experience in the restaurant.
We thanked the good weather on that day that we were able to stay along East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig all-day hopping from one restaurant to another. It was really a great day and discovering some food places that offer diverse options was a nice idea to catch up with friends; sharing stories over affordable yet scrumptious food.
