2014 Father's Day at The Porch and Robinsons' Magnolia

It was Father's Day and I really didn't have any plans. Chea and her side of the family celebrated it a day early by checking in their dad for a hotel staycation.

But since my dad is here in Manila, we wanted to celebrate it for him. I asked Chea if she knows any good place for lunch.

So at around 11am, Chea, Thirdy, Marilyn (Thirdy's new yaya) my dad, and I, piled into the car to head to Sikatuna Village. We had to pick up my mom along the way in East Avenue first since she visited the columbarium early in the day.

Chea brought us to The Porch by Casa Verde. She's heard about it already, but we never had the chance to try it out. So this was just a perfect time for us to try it out. Unfortunately, a lot of people had the same idea as us.

Their tavern sign

The Porch looks like a house in a big walled lot converted to a restaurant. This is evident with the big parking space that could fit at least 10 cars, with enough space for maneuvering.

The menu

The rest of the menu. 

Since we came in almost around lunch time, the parking inside was already full so we had to park in front of the restaurant, along the street.

When we went it, we were told that we were 5th on the waiting list. We decided to wait since it was probably the same everywhere else since it's Father's day.

The kitchen is behind these glass panels. The order window is to the right. Pay as you order

The main restaurant had about 3 tables inside. The kitchen and the ordering window (the cashier is inside the kitchen as well) was inside the airconditioned restaurant. There were tables and chairs right outside for the bulk of the clients. At the parking area, there was also a tent with a few more tables and chairs.

Shot of the restaurant from the parking lot

We decided to stay at the tent since it was mostly cool with the sun behind some clouds. There were big industrial fans to keep you cool as well.

A tent in the parking area allows a few more tables and chairs. Thirdy's sticking out his tongue

We went in and placed our orders. You had to queue up by the ordering window and pay as you order. I wanted to try out the steak, but there were burgers too. Since I knew my dad would order the steak, I went for the burger. I could get a few slices of the steak from my dad to get a taste.

He ordered "The Dax" (348 pesos). I ordered the Porch Burger (225). Chea went for the Seafood Carbonara (200), Brian's Ribs (250), and Death by Chocolate (188) for dessert. We also ordered a pitcher of Panama Orange (150). We actually ordered a second one towards the end of our meal since although the pitcher was good enough to fill up 5 tall glasses, the meal necessitated a second glass for everybody.

Panama Orange. We ordered two of these.

A bit later, we also ordered the Mixed Greens with Strawberry Vinaigrette (178) since my mom loves those, and she wants my dad to eat more greens.

So how was the meal? It was great. First of all, I find most of the prices inexpensive, especially given the sizes.

Porch Burger. Big, and good enough.

First of, the burger. It's big. I'm not sure how heavy the patty was, but the burger was about 5 inches across and probably 3 inches high. Aside from the patty and some greens, there was a entire sunny side up egg on top of the burger patty, and few strips of bacon as well. The burger came with fries. All of that for only 225 pesos. I can't say that it tasty, since I can barely taste the beef with all the other ingredients in there, but it gets point for packing in a lot of things inside there for that price. Sadly, eating it is a bit of a messy affair, and with their small cut up napkins, it made things a little bit frustrating at times. I wish they had big napkins so i could wipe off my fingers instead of smearing things all over them.

Too seafoody. The seafood tasted a bit undercooked.

The seafood carbonara, was a bit of a hit and miss. It was creamy and it had a lot of squid and shrimps in it. But I think that was the problem with it. I think the seafood was overpowering the cream and it was kinda off-putting.

Brian's ribs. These slabs are actually big.

Brian's Rib I think deserves it's reputation as their best seller as it's really big. It reminds me of the ribs we had at the Breakfast Club. That one was baked too, with a little herb rubbed on it. This one however, had a sweet glaze on top of it. However, i prefer my ribs smokey and hickory, still, it was a pleasant experience. And really, given the size of it, it's really something you should order at least once. It also comes with rice and some corn and carrots, so it's a complete meal already.

The Dax meets the Dad (my dad of course).

The Dax, was about two strips of beef about 3 inches long, and about two inches wide, and an inch high. It comes with breaded shrimps, rice and some vegetables. We ordered it well done, so there was a bit of charring. Still, the insides still had a little bit of color, and it was not that tough nor dry. My dad's complaint would probably be the gravy or the lack thereof. It only had a little bit of gravy on top, that my father wanted to ask for some soy sauce to add a little more flavor. I went to the counter to ask for additional gravy or soy sauce, but I was told that they didn't have any at the time, so I was given gravy for their chicken.

Death by Chocolate. There's probably a better way to die, but I'll wait til Thirdy turns 18 before i mention it here.

The Death by Chocolate was big. It was about 4 inches hight, and about 3 inches at the widest part. It's primarily ice cream, frozen into a cake shape. And since it was served along with the rest of the orders, it was already melting by the time we got around to it. Fortunately, it was really good. You could probably be better off buying a rocky road ice cream at your nearby convenience store, but if you're really aching for a dessert while you're here, it's a pretty good option to go for already.

Leafy greens.

I never got the chance to taste the salad, so I couldn't comment on that one. Also, since it was Father's day, we were given a free treat. It was a sandwich that looked like The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a ham and turkey affair. Again, I never got around to it as we gave it to my dad.

Overall, it was a pretty great experience. The ambiance is pretty good. The staff are overly courteous. The only complaint would be that the airconditioned part of the restaurant is small. It was good that it was partly cloudy that day so were weren't sweating all the time we were eating, but if it wasn't, I'd suggest you call beforehand and make sure you make an indoor reservation.

Gymboree.

After lunch, we decided to head to Robinson's Magnolia since it was still early noon. Chea bought a Gymboree voucher which was good for about 5 visits, so Thirdy can run around and expend all his pent up energies. We got to Robinson's and there was a long queue for the parking. It seems like a lot of people are spending Father's day there.

Thirdy apparently does not have a slow gear.

My mom and dad sat at the foodcourt area while Chea, Marilyn, Thirdy and myself went ahead to Gymboree. It was Marilyn's turn to run around after Thirdy. So for the next 1 hour, it was a joy seeing Thirdy running around and screaming at the top of his lungs, simply having fun, and not being the one to run after him.

At the start, there were about 4 kids playing, but the time Thirdy finished, there were a bunch of them already.

We left Robinson's Magnolia at around 4pm, and headed to Hi-Top to buy some groceries. After that, we went home and called it a day.