Editor Pick
Sentro
- November 20, 2005
- Rated 4 of 5 by
marseilles from Metro Manila, Philippines
If you want to be introduced to local Tagalog (the region including and around Manila) fare, Sentro is a good place to start. The restaurant is situated in swanky Greenbelt 2 in Makati's business district, and is a favorite among local businessmen. Expect to spend around USD 6 per head. It's a good idea to make a reservation before arriving, as the restaurant can get pretty full with families and groups of friends, especially during supper time.
For appetizers, each table has a bowl of "butong pakwan," salted and dried watermelon seeds, a Filipino favorite. (Eat it like a peanut: crack open the shell with your teeth and eat the meat inside.)
Food is served "family style" in Sentro: each person is given a bowl of rice, but main dishes are placed in the center of the table for everyone to try.
A Sentro favorite is "corned beef sinigang." Sinigang is a Filipino style of cooking in which meat is cooked in a tamarind-based broth. With corned beef sinigang, the meat they use is, you guessed it, corned beef. Before they serve you the sinigang, a waiter will come out and have you taste the broth. Filipinos like their sinigang broth sour and slightly salty.
As with most Filipino restaurants, you have a choice between steamed rice and garlic rice. Garlic rice is rice fried in garlic and seasoned with salt, a Filipino favorite.
The service is good, the atmosphere clean and cosmopolitan but a little noisy becaue of the big groups that dine here.
From journal Manila, Gastronomical Wonderland