Top Picks from iBagnet

I love Iloko food, and I've featured it quite a lot: see here, here, here, here, and here. There were lots of dishes to love at the Scout Borromeo branch of iBagnet: the bagnet, of course, which was on the lean side; the smoky poqui-poqui, topped with chicharon; the garlicky goat caldereta, which was creamy and sweetish.

But tops for me when I had lunch there were the longganisa: medium-sized jewels which  looked tostado but were juicy inside. My tummy is grumbling as I write this--garlicky longganiza is one of my favorite things, and I can eat this with loads of rice every breakfast. The grilled squid was excellent as well. It was smoky, buttery, and soft.

Disclosure: two of my friends are co-owners of the restaurant.

iBagnet Restaurant
Scout Borromeo, Quezon City

Top Picks at Old Swiss Inn Restaurant

Once we entered the restaurant, this crossed my mind: it needs a make-over. I'm willing to look past the tired interiors if they serve good food, though. Fortunately, the bacchanalian gods were with us during our visit. Here are my favorites:

Corned beef. I learned quite late that corned beef is salt-cured beef, and not limited to the canned variety. Old Swiss Inn's was soft and superb, and quite interesting with either the mustard and horseradish dip.

The shrimp and bacon pasta. I wasn't inclined towards it at first, but I ended up loving it.

The sausage platter. I was partial to the the Schublig and Hungarian variants, the rosy, full-flavored beauties in the pic.

For dessert, we had the choco fondue. The fragrant Toblerone dip was intoxicating.


Old Swiss Inn Restaurant
Garden Plaza Hotel
1030 Belen St
Paco Manila
(+63) 02 522 4835