COCONUTS HOT SPOT—With at least 16,000 Filipinos living in Thailand (as of December 2012) and at least 10 times more visiting annually for leisure or business trips, it’s a mystery why there are so few Thai eateries here in Metro Manila.
All that is about to change.
Gerry’s Grill, a homegrown chain of restaurants with branches abroad, has just opened Sweet Chili, a fish and noodle house serving Thai streetfood dishes. Who knows? If this turns out to be a huge hit, Gerry’s might open several branches nationwide.
The first location is far out—at Fisher Mall in Quezon City—and yet the 56-seater restaurant has been packed every night, especially on weekends, since it opened its doors in July.
THE LOOK
If Gerry’s Grill looks like a Filipino version of a German beerhouse, Sweet Chili is a couple of rungs up the sophistication ladder. The pin lights from the high ceiling, white designer-y chairs, and wallpaper showing photos of herbs and spices delicately sitting on soup spoons make Sweet Chili look like a corner of a chic boutique hotel.
The focal point of the design—next to the wallpapers—is a bar counter with shiny red tiles. Behind it is the kitchen, and you will be occasionally treated to wok fires.
It’s a shame that instead of using the bar to seat single diners—teppanyaki-style—the owners have opted to use it as an impromptu storage space for the employees’ punch card machine, a plastic tray for utensils and stacks of plates. It’s all dumped there willy-nilly, and it’s a shame because it just ruins the visual appeal.
There are two fish tanks shoved to one wall: according to the waiter, all fish dishes are fresh catch.
Inside can seat around 24 people, and there’s roughly the same number of tables and chairs outside in the mall’s hallway (they add more on weekends) but be warned that Fisher Mall is one of the noisiest buildings in town.
The sounds from the open event area on the ground floor reverberates around the entire building. Not pleasant.
THE GRUB
This is a streamlined menu, and we like that. There’s nothing more off-putting than a small restaurant offering more than 20 dishes; it makes you wonder how long they store the ingredients for.
At Sweet Chili, your only options are five types of noodles, two kinds of fish, one chicken dish, one pork dish, two vegetable options and three kinds of rice.
Ayotaya Special Noodles (PHP185) took us back to the streets of Thailand with the scent of Thai rice noodles in sweet and sour soup. It’s incredibly light, despite the number of ingredients tossed in: squid balls, fish balls, pork balls, ground pork, tofu strips, smashed peanuts and a stalk of Chinese cabbage.
The Shrimp Wanton Noodles (PHP175), another house specialty, was less impressive, more soup than noodles, and shrimp dumplings that tasted like cooked from frozen.
The stars of the menu are the Chinese kingfish (PHP365) and catfish (PHP295) which are bought live from the supermarket downstairs and cooked fresh from the aquarium. Both are crispy fried, but the kingfish is less bony and its flesh is more white, tender and creamy. For less than a PHP100 difference, it is the better choice.
There are three sauces to choose from when you order the kingfish. We tried it with five kinds of herbs (that included dried bird’s eye chili and kaffir lime leaves) and the fish was covered in a sticky sweet and sour sauce that had an overpowering flavor, we had to rescue our taste buds with steamed rice.
The kingfish served with mango relish was less combative, with the fish served plain-fried with a side of julienned green mango and crushed peanuts immersed in a sweet vinegary sauce that we ended up sipping aftewards.
The pad thai (PHP185) was served like an omelette. It stayed true to its original Thai taste, with a hint of MSG dancing lightly on our tongues. The stir-fried kangkong (PHP165), sautéed in soy bean paste and garlic, had an unappetizing oily shine so on our second visit we asked that it be cooked with less oil. The restaurant did.
We’ve since gone back three more times and everything has been consistent. To us who live in QC, this is heaven sent. The rest of you will just have to make the trek.
NOTES
Price: Soups and noodles PHP175-PHP205, seafoods PHP275 & 365, vegetables PHP165 & PHP195, pork and chicken PHP215-265.
Cleanliness: Spotless except for the bar counter which has been turned into a storage space.
Service: Pleasant and accommodating, they can tweak the recipe to accommodate your taste.
Lighting: Natural daylight steams in from one of the doors facing the street, but the ambiance turns more leisurely as night falls and yellow light takes over.
Sweet Chili, 2/F Fisher Mall, Quezon Ave cor Roosevelt Avenue, Bgy Sta Cruz, Quezon City; +63 2 3645550. Daily 10am-10pm.
Coconuts Manila dined anonymously and paid for this meal.
This story first appeared on Coconuts Manila. For more dining hot spots in Manila, go to http://manila.coconuts.co/tags/food.
