FoodMetroManila

The only time that I have been out of the country so far was when I went to Manhattan, NY for business. I spent a month in downtown Manhattan for training at a large financial institution (yes, Wall Street large financial institution). This was way back in May of 2013 and I truly enjoyed my stay there. So when I heard about The Bowery I just knew I had to eat here.

The Bowery is named after a neighborhood in downtown Manhattan that is not really known in terms of food. It used to be a shady district but has been revived in recent years. Some luxury apartment complexes have been sprouting up in the area. I guess that’s where the inspiration for the restaurant’s name is from? It is near the luxury condominiums in BGC.

I did not eat in many notable restaurants in New York, but from the little that I was able to try I got a good sense of how differently food was cooked there compared to the Philippines. Skimming through The Bowery’s menu and the items screamed NYC but I have an issue with the serving sizes. Take these dishes I got to try during my time in NYC for example:

Look at that Meatloaf dish from Serendipity III. I had to take half of that monster home (home being a hotel in this case) and eat it for breakfast the next day because it was so huge. The mashed potato was meh. Don’t get me started about the size of the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. That burger from Shake Shack? It was heaven! I had to really stretch my mouth to get a bite in!

The meatloaf costs as much as the The Bowery Bar Steak and the Shack Stack costs slightly more than the Bowery’s House Burger but the portion sizes are really way off.

It brands itself as “NYC Comfort Food”, meaning its not supposed to be some big-wig restaurant that gives you controlled portions. If anything, American Comfort Food is supposed to be generous and decadent. And how can you be supposed to be selling NYC Comfort Food without a good hot dog on your menu?

Prices are reminiscent of New York though just converted to peso. The food is cooked very well, absolutely scrumptious even, but please don’t scrimp with the amount of food on our plates.

Temptress Stout Beer

It’s reminiscent of the Katipunan Signal No. 1 Stout with its slight hint of chocolate. It’s a very filling type of beer and I liked it.

Mojito

Very, very, very faint hint of alcohol on this one. The table full of girls on a night out next to us kept ordering rounds of these and didn’t seem to have been inebriated by their drinks. My girlfriend, thankfully, only ordered one.

The House Burger

The patty is thick and juicy being cooked medium. The seasoning was just right that had I ordered extra cheese on this bad boy it wouldn’t have been overpowering.

I ordered extra bacon for the burger but they forgot to add it upon serving. The attentive server that took my order immediately noticed it (he did not serve the dish initially) and immediately told me he will get it himself. That guy got a healthy tip.

The bread is not dry and able to hold the juices of the patty. The veggies were fresh which is a good touch. But the size of the burger (the circumference?) was really small.

The Bowery Bar Steak

Its a hanger steak with bearnaise sauce and a side of fries once again served on a tin can. It’s sitting next to the meat! I don’t care how much you clean those things, don’t put tin cans next to our meats! Is that really sanitary?

Again, spot on with the seasoning and the bearnaise serves to enhance the flavor. It’s juicy and tasty but it’s really small for a dish that’s almost 700 Php. But I guess asking for two pieces would be too much? How about a more inspiring side dish aside from a bouquet of french fries in a tin can?

Ruminations…

I heard that the Bowery has a killer chocolate cake, that has a small ass slice per serving. We didn’ get that and I’m king of ruing that now.

It’s really funny how it calls its food NYC Comfort Food but gives us relatively small portions at New York Prices. And I still can’t get past the fact that they do not serve a wicked hot dog! You know the beef dogs in natural casing with the notorious NYC sauerkraut? NYC comfort food! Bam! No need to add lobster on Mac and Cheese to get my attention.

It is a great place to hang out in or have a date on. Good food, good atmosphere, good location, and easy to get to. If you haven’t been to the Big Apple itself then these are some decent (minute) representation of food you can get there. Just keep the tin cans away from the food and please give us actual NYC comfort food portions. They’ve already got flavor and cooking execution down to a tee.