Friday, September 6, 2013

Filipino Favorites at Dencio's with a View


So there I was, looking out at the breathtaking view of Capitol Hills' golf club and getting some much needed fresh air, thinking to myself: How on earth I end up all the way over here?

It started out simple enough. I got an invite that read "Sisig", which garnered an automatic "Yes,"  With one of the original owners of Dencio's, Dennis Nakpil, hosting lunch, I knew I was in for quite a treat and didn't quite pay attention to the address, only to find out it was way up in Kapitolyo. Whatever, the curiosity for good food got the better of me and I made my way up north to check what the hullabaloo was about and dig in to the all familiar Dencio's favorites.


Located on the topmost floor of Greenstreet Mall, this definitely isn't your typical booze and bar chow restaurant. The space is big enough to hold celebrations and other important functions, it's a great place to hang out with your buds, or have dinner with the rest of the family.


Lunch started off with some of Dencio's newest bar chow special, this included the cholesterol-rising Crispy Chicken Skin (P169). It's hard to not eat this like you would popcorn once you get started.


A dish I had never tried before was Spiced Pork Balingit (P129) - basically fried, spicy pig cheeks. It was both crispy and chewy at the same time.


My favorite of the ar chow was the Crunchy Kwek Kwek (P139). Instead of a fluffy coating of orange batter, the coating was in strips, much lke tortilla chip strands.


I was grateful to get to wash everything down with Dencio's Iced Tea Shake (P69). Ok fine, I had three of these. But in my defense they were refreshingly good!


I needed a bit of veg with my lunch, and it was a good thing they brought out a few orders of Asparagus with Garlic.


Dennis also ordered a few plates of Nilasing na Hipon nsa Taba ng Talangka (P185) for us - they were spicy, fatty and absolutely delightful!


The usual star of any Dencio's meal is their famous Crispy Sisig (Regular- P209; Large- P319). I couldn't get enough of the stuff, I must've tucked away a whole plateful just for myself. The sizzling, crisp cubes of pork bits and red onions were perfect with a few drops of hot sauce for a hit of heat.


One of the newest and more unusual types of sisig is the Chicken Isaw Sisig (169). I stuck to the bits of sisig I knew weren't chicken innards - call me a sisig purist but the whole isaw culture has never sat very well with me.

If you're dining with your barkada or family, there's the Dencio's Grand Bilao Feast that's good for 4 - 5 people. We were a pretty big group to try out all of Dencio's cholesterol-raising goodies, so we celebrated with two types of bilao feasts.


For the guys who like their meat deep-fried, there the Krispy Pata Bilao (P1,690) that consists of
Dencio's Krispy Pata, chicken satay, crispy chicken BBQ, sinugbang bangus, misua soup, nilagang gulay at bagoong, ampalaya at nata atchara, sinigang rice, and 1.5L bottle of Coca Cola.


The slightly healthier option is the Barbecue Bilao (P1,330) that comes with pork barbecue, chicken kebabs, daing na bangus, crispy tanglad, misua soup, nilagang gulay at bagoong, ampalaya at nata atchara, Inasal rice and a 1.5L bottle of Coke.

When mucking around Kapitolyo, pay Dencio's a visit - this branch is one of the handful still owned and maintained by the original owner. The food was top notch, the service was courteous, and although everything I wanted on their dessert menu wasn't available, it was just as well since I was stuffed to popping,


Just mucking around Manila,


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Dencio's Bar & Grill
3/F Capitol Greenstreet Mall,
(formerly Capitol Hills Golf Clubhouse)
#1 Capitol Drive, Old Balara, Quezon City