Our expressions masking the extreme urges to stick our faces in the food
An interesting challenge is to have a relatively unknown restaurant in a place that is already abundant with places to eat. The restaurant we went to is Rory’s in Katipunan Road – a place with a small entrance and with a very intimate motif probably suited for small barkadas and for dating with the intent of getting away from everybody else. To our delight, we were greeted by a menu that is rich with seemingly unusual dishes. This restaurant is truly a job for Rarely Ordered!
We would like to thank Steff Someda for being our lovely guest reviewer here and for taking all the pictures. This food fanatic, finicky eater and vegetarian is perfect for dealing with this situation and is our first female voice. Steff you rock! Also, hands off to Ryan, co-owner of the place for being so accommodating with us – needless to say Ryan your staff service is excellent! Bravo!
Nutty Apple-Chicken Salad
Fiel: While it was an interestingly good blend of flavors at first, taking the next few bites seems to dissuade you from eating it. The best part about this was the crunchy aspect of the nuts – the apples were good too but I really don’t think the chicken and the dressing especially, blended with this well. Perhaps there was too much dressing here that it was too strong. 5/10.
Ren: Well as much as the name of the dish is, it is exactly what it tasted like. But what was interesting here was that instead of using regular leaf salad, it used apples, if I remember correctly, was a nice touch. Its different in the sense of what a salad it but I the chicken didn’t hit me as much as I somewhat expected it to be, nor was the dressing, a little bit too much on my side. So for being different and it could have been good, I would give it a 6.5/10
Steff: The moment I tried this, it took me some time before I could analyze the taste. Although I didn’t eat the chicken, the combination of apples, nuts, and the creamy dressing was very unusual. The white dressing was very indistinct and somewhat lacked flavor. You couldn’t tell if it’s ranch or ceasar because of the weak flavor. But since some apples were green apples, the sweet & sour taste compensated the dressing. The addition of nuts gave the dish its finishing flavor. It sort of became reminiscent of peanut brittle because of the sweetness of the apples with the nutty hint. The dressing could have been better to complement all the ingredients. Honestly, it’s not a dish I’d come back for. Overall it’s a 5/10.
Tofu and Mushroom
Fiel: This is really really good! Its has an interesting flavor, and the mushrooms were very creamy. If you can imagine creamy mushroom on fried tofu, then you can imagine how uniquely good this was. The strong flavor of the mushrooms in their sauce was perfect for the blandness of the tofu. I believe that this could also be excellent on rice or pasta. 8.5/10!
Ren: A good dish for me, as for presentation it was really good, the tofu was fried on the side. The taste was very creamy and it had healthy portions of mushroom with it. Mostly vegetable dishes would be served as a side and won’t have too much of a flavor, in order to give more impact for the heavy and meat dishes, but this dish was able to hold out on its own and give a wonderful performance to stand alone. For that feat I’ll give it a 8/10!
Steff: My first impression of the dish is the lack of color. When it arrived on the table, it looked like a pool of mushed fungi surrounded by little blocks of tofu (well, it actually is). It was plain and simple. It may not seem appetizing but the aroma was heavenly. The mushroom mixture had a very mild spicy flavor. It was not like gravy or mushroom sauce. The taste was more salty and strong. When paired with the crunchy tofu, the dish became Bonnie & Clyde. They were perfect for each other. The crunchy tofu complemented the flavorful saucy mushrooms. I’d give it a 7.5/10.
Black Magic (Squid’s Ink Pasta – for descriptive purposes, not officially stated)
Fiel: This pasta has a unique appeal to it because it is black – but it still tastes like great pasta. There is no squid’s ink after taste – it was just pleasantly sour and topped off with the strong flavored cheeses. Imagine good quality pasta – just that its black. This is a solid 8/10.
Ren: Definitely not your everyday pasta. Made with squids ink as the sauce and topped with powdered cheese on top with a bit of squid meat. It had an interesting taste as you can taste a bit of the squid ink as the sauce but it failed to highlight the taste of squid as the cheese seems to overpower the sauce leaving you kind of empty without the taste of squid. A good “to try” dish, a 6/10 for me.
Steff: This is known as “Pasta Negra” in some restaurants. It’s the very Pinoy black ink pasta with squid. I’m not much of a fan for pasta but I do like putanesca and pesto because of their exceptional taste. This dish was also exceptional, but in a negative way. The sauce hardly tasted like squid ink. It had a powdery taste mainly because of the powdered cheese sprinkled all over. It was appalling. Everything just wasn’t right. For those fond of exotic food, however, this may be worth a shot. For me, this one’s a 2/10.
Grilled Fish with Mango Pesto Sauce
Fiel: This piece of talakitok fish goodness is probably their crowing glory! The sweet mango with the flavors of pesto on the fish blended perfectly. The fish was cooked just right and even the potatoes on the side were excellent. Creative and more than solid - going to this place and not ordering it would be a mortal sin. This is the best fish I have had in a very long time. 9.5/10.
Ren: Though I am no fish connoisseur, I can only recognize few of the fish that we use for cooking, salmon, milkfish, tilapia etc. etc. but setting that aside, I can say that this dish is pretty good. Who knew that ripe mango could be so good with fish. And the combination of fish and sweet mango, is a worthwhile performance in your mouth! A 9.2/10 for me!
Steff: I don’t eat fish anymore so I just tried the pesto with rice. I was surprised with how a simple pesto and rice combination can taste so exquisite. The leafy basil-made pesto was spiked with lemon & citrus sauce that gave it a unique tangy flavor. Even with potatoes, the pesto was superb. If only I still ate fish, this dish would have been in my favorites list. Maybe they could come up with a similar dish for vegetarians (even just pesto and rice!). This is definitely a 9/10.
THE ARCHER’S BOW V.S. THE BLUE EAGLE!
Animo La Salle! One Big Fight! These drinks make the UAAP more exciting to watch at Rory’s. Every school has a certain alcoholic beverage matched to it. Ren being a Lasallian and Fiel being at Atenean couldnt resist to have one each and review them at only P110 for two drinks in any combination. Just to be fair, we promised to review each drink as objectively as possible! (yeah right…)
Fiel: Wah! The Archer’s Bow definitely tastes better! It had a minty-cool lime taste to it that easily made it the one of the best custom drinks I have ever had at this price – 9.5/10. The Blue Eagle was good, but it tasted generic to me. It was like having your ordinary vodka-spiked juice to me only that it was colored blue – 8/10. NOOOOO!!!
Ren: What can I say? Archers ROCK! Well putting that aside it had a very soft feel into it. It doesn’t hit you hard and leaves a pleasant taste in your mouth after. Unlike the *cough* Atenean *cough* counter part it doesn’t hit you hard on the alcohol and soon you’ll realize that your drink is gone! Archer’s Bow I would give it a solid 9/10 and as for the *cough* Blue Eagle *cough*, even though it had a blue color it deceives you as it hits you hard on the first sip, a 7/10.
When we went: Thursday, 7:30pm on July 10, 2008
Where it is: Along Katipunan Road, Loyola Heights, Q.C. in the same block as Bo’s Coffee Club, it has a small entrance so watch out for it. It is also beside a barber shop.
Budget Range: About 150-250 per person. Not expensive but not thrifty enough to go for an every day meal.
