FoodMetroManila

Metro Manila gastropubs fell into a bit of a rut due to two main reasons: They served mediocre, artsy-fartsy food; Then tried to compensate by serving international beer at impossible prices. This gastropub in swanky Bonifacio Global City tries to step away from that notoriety.

Would you believe I initially thought this place served high-end ice cream? Don’t ask why, I’m an idiot. We went on a short date here not expecting anything but ended up having one of our best nights this 2014.

You can hang with your boys, enjoy a pint, and watch the game. You can take your girls, get cocktails, and catch-up. You can take your date and just enjoy good food and drinks and see what happens after.

The entire concept of Perfect Pint, I believe, was perfectly explained in this article from Our Awesome Planet. I just like that it gives Metro Manila a worthy gastropub highlighting Filipino products. The menu was conceptualized along with Chef Gene Gonzalez and the beers are locally brewed craft beers. Fitting that it’s located in close proximity to the F1 Hotel.

Oyster Two Ways

Three of the six oysters are baked with a cheesy, creamy beschamel sauce which my lady loved. The others are are of a cool and mildly spicy cocktail with beer reduction sauce which I gorged. I am not entirely sure, but the spicy hit is the cooling kind you get from wasabi and I loved it.

I won’t pretend to know anything about how best to pair food with beer, I’m not an expert on those things. But I did like everything we ordered, including just two dishes (one of which was a dessert). Bottomline, the drinks and food were ordered independently from each other. 

Beers on tap

Their place mats also serve as a guide for those not sure what type of beer they’ll get. It’s a flow chart that allows you to choose based on your mood. It’s a fantastic and thoughtful idea which some may interpret as a subtle way to get people to buy more beer.

The Katipunan Signal No. 1 Stout is dark, slightly bitter but also has some hints of sweetness.  The flavors are bold but come to you slowly. I like to think this was a good drink to start the night with.

The Pivo Praha Dark Lager is a Czech-Style brew. Czech Beer is supposed to be some of the best quality beers in the world and judging from this glass I’ll have to agree.

It has a strong, bold flavor of roasted malt and caramel. It’s aggressive and in your face. I can imagine myself watching a game and drinking this to hype myself up.

Compared to the first two, the Joes’ Brew Fish Rider Pale Ale is more mellow.  It has a pronounced floral hint at the end that I can’t put my finger on to that lingers for a bit. It’s also sweet and smoother to get down. I think this is a good “banlaw” drink and this was one my girl wanted more than I did.

Perfect Margarita Magic

According to their menu, this margarita was made special by Chef Gene. I don’t know what he did to make this special but it tasted like ordinary margarita to me. It wasn’t even strong on alcohol. Is the name just some marketing bit?

This was for the lady, and she seemed to have a blast sipping this.

Freshly Baked Caramel Brownie Smores with Rhum Raisin Ice Cream (Wow! That’s a long name!)

Stay with me here. It’s a feshly baked chocolate fudge brownie topped with marshmallows and nuts. It is then topped with rhum raisin ice cream, a healthy drizzle of caramel sauce, and that tall fluff of sugar strings. A kid will have a blast eating this all day!

The brownie is so good, warm and chocolaty. I seriously could eat it on its own and still be willing to pay the more than 300 Php price tag on this bad boy. If you can get a bite of all those things going on in one spoonful then that’s the best way to enjoy this dessert.

Ruminations…

Although I didn’t get to eat much of the menu, I was pretty content with my The Perfect Pint Experience. I’m making plans on watching the Super Bowl here (if they’ll show it) and my lady is planning to take her girlfriends as well. It’s pretty easy to get to so you can go check it out with no fuzz. A colleague calls the place it is situated on as “the place with the drive thru Starbucks in BGC” and I bet you already know where it is. The prices are mostly reasonable so don’t fret that you need to have a fat wallet just to be able to drink here.

I hope that people planning to open a pub or a bar will take the same concept and effort that people behind The Perfect Pint has put into their place. The staff is friendly, accomodating, attentive, but not intrusive. The overall vibe is just, well, perfect.

Cheers!