Sobremesa is a restaurant that serves mostly Latin American and some FIlipino cuisine. It is one of the new restaurants at the Sapphire Bloc. The ambiance is clean and classic like a coffee shop in Ecuador. Once you enter, you will feel the South American vibes as the music is light and festive like dancing on the streets of Peru. The restaurants promotes communication. They have a little bird cage for your cellphones in every table, with a note that whoever opens the cage to get his/her phone will pay for the bill.
The restaurant has been talked about alot in my circle, and the owner is a friend, so I was excited to try it out one Saturday. Price is a bit steep but food is good for sharing. Unfortunately, with all the hype, I was a bit disappointed, or maybe it just did not meet my expectations. Here's what we ordered:
- Sweet Corn Fritters (Php140) - when it was served, it looked like hush puppies, so it was already different from my expectation of a regular corn fritter. But hey, this is South America, so maybe this is how they make corn fritters. The fritters are made with cornflour/cornmeal with a few pieces of kernels attached to it. It came with a supposed spicy marinara sauce, however, there were no hint of spice. So you end up with a muffin-like poppers that are sweet and dipped in a watery tomato sauce.
- Spicy and Crispy Squid (Php220) - my friends would know, I love crispy calamares, so when I saw this on the menu, I instantly ordered it. It looked appetizing when served, unfortunately, it stopped there. The squid is a bit rubbery. The breading does not have any taste except for the super spicy powder on it, makes me the dish incredibly spicy. The entire dish was bland, and eventually, you need to submerge it into the garlic yogurt dip.
- Peruvian Spiced Roasted Chicken Half (Php380) - served with three sauces: Chimichurri (made with jalapeno and coriancer), red pepper mayo, and garlic yogurt dip. Let's start with the sauces. The chimichurri is okay, I guess but it was too oily for me, as in like 1 teaspoon herbs to 1 cup olive oil ratio. The other two sauces worked better for me with the chicken. Now, let's go to the chicken. Chicken is okay but I've had better.
- Grilled Pork Belly (Php440) - served with roasted garlic mashed potato and pineapple salsa. The salsa was great as it gave acidity and sweetness to the dish. The pork was crunchy and tender enough. The mashed potato has the same texture as when you eat paper (yes, I've tried it). Flavor is good though.
Overall, I think it would have went better if the dishes were not bland. The South American cuisine is known for the use of its spices, but with this experience, it was not tasted. Everything was just too bland. There is a difference between over-seasoning and under-seasoning, but theirs just don't have seasoning at all.
I guess if you visit the restaurant on a non-peak hour/day, service is different. We visited on a Saturday after-lunch hour (1:30pm), and there were just 2 tables before us. We entered yet did not feel any welcome from the receptionist, a few more seconds and we probably have to sit ourselves. The flow of service was good until we needed anything. The servers were in one corner chatting all the way to closing time because we were already to the point of hollering yet we were still ignored.
I don't usually mention this in my reviews, but I have to say that they have one pretty neat restroom. It's like it feels enjoyable having to do your business there. It is clean, dim, and well-decorated with posters and flowers. This part I enjoyed. read more