Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea at Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill was a nice surprise. The only time that we get to explore restaurants there is when we have lunch with my husband's parents. Jay and I usually let them pick where to eat and they usually pick a place where I can eat safely (too many allergies!).

So today they chose to try out "Sweet Pea" and my-oh-my they had a hefty menu! I had a hard time choosing what to eat because everything looked delicious. I must have changed my choice five times before I settled for the lasagna (my mantra now is to eat something that I don't cook whenever we are out). My original choice was salisbury steak, then I wanted ham and cheese omelette, then fish and chips, then... anyway check out their menu I'm sure you'll get confused too because they had enticing photos!

Our drinks were served with really cute and colorful straws! Here's Sweetie's pink lemonade (I had a rootbeer float).

We started off with some quesadilla with cheese and bell pepper.

Miguel's chicken fingers quickly disappeared.

Sweetie's mustard salmon fish was enormous!

I must've gained 5 pounds from the sauce-rich lasagna.

I super loved the hawaiian potato salad! (Okay, okay I admit I didn't eat the pineapples hehe but I really loved how they made it).

And I promptly forgot to take a photo of what my FIL and MIL ordered. The short ribs steak which I got to sample. It was absolutely delicious too.

Please forgive me for using the words "delicious" and "love" so many times in this post. I'm still in food heaven right now.

Sweet Pea (map)
Ground Floor, Venice Piazza
McKinley Hill, Taguig City

Must have: potato salad and the steak

Price range: PhP500/head; found it pricey but servings were good and I like the homey feel of the resto (just don't sit near the window where the air purifier is located, it'll make you dizzy)

Lakwatsera Rating: will come back! Just need to save up for it.

Kuse, Traditional Filipino Cuisine

Got our chance to explore The Venice Piazza last weekend with Sweetie's parents. We had no idea about the restaurants and just winged it by checking out the different restos at the first floor of the relatively new mall. Sweetie's Dad's attention was caught by Kuse's "Adobado". It looked delicious based on the photo so that's what hooked us in.

Loved the interiors of Kuse. It was modern Pinoy and I took pleasure in identifying the Philippine stones inlaid on the table (green elbert, yellow stone and tiger eye, mostly from Southern Philippines). We had a hard time going through the menu since everything looked delicious.

The Appetizers

Mini Ukoy with Visayan Sauce. I grew up having ukoy all the time since it was one dish my Titas loved to cook. Miguel said that he liked it. I unfortunately had to pass because of allergies.

Paco Salad sa Laguna. Paco is one of my Dad's favorite veggies. He lights up whenever my Mom manages to buy some from the market. I think it's been years since he had some because this veggie is hard to find. I never tried it when it was available at home so it was my first time to sample it. Now I understand why my Dad loves this veggie. The salad had kesong puti and mixed with tomatoes and onions plus special sauce (I don't know what).

Pork Sisig Kapampangan. We ordered this as a safety net. Sisig never fails anyone. The serving though was bitin.

The Entrees

BBQ Beef Rack Ribs Adobado. The dish that reeled us in. We had the waiter explain why it was called adobado. He said that the ribs were cooked like adobo with slow fire. The meat was very tender and juicy and easily came off the bone. Quite tasty and addicting. It went well with the Paco Salad. The dish was complemented with radish and carrot atsara.

Salmon Head and Belly Paksiw. We were supposed to get sinigang sa guava but Sweetie's parents changed their mind and ordered this dish instead. I just took a small portion but Sweetie's parents loved it to the bones!

Dessert
 
 I didn't have enough space left for dessert so my comments below are based on Miguel and Jay's reaction.

Cassava Cake with Ice Cream. I was engrossed listening to Jay's Mom's story and by the time I was going to try it out it had already disappeared from Miguel's plate. He just said sheepishly, "Masarap kasi!!!" We were all surprised that it was gone in less than 5 minutes.

Turon with Langka and Sesame Seeds. The turon was served with melted sangkaka. I could only watch in awe as Jay's Dad polished one off after another. Next time I'm going to leave some space for dessert!

Leche Flan Napoleon. I'm not really sure what was holding the leche flan since I only tried out the leche flan. It was quite rich, but the boys loved it nonetheless.

I'm definitely going back with my parents next time. I'm sure my Dad would love the Paco Salad =)

Price Range: approx. PhP300 per dish

Must try: BBQ Beef Rack Ribs Adobado and Paco Salad sa Laguna

Just so-so: Sisig

Lakwatsera's Rating: Definitely going back

Kuse, Traditional Filipino Cuisine (map)
Unit 115-119 Mckinley Hill Piazza
Upper McKinley Road
Mckinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio,
Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. Nos.: +632-8364966/4969