A couple of days before our dear friend Mary Rose resigned from the account, we decided to give her a despedida dinner. She wanted it to be a sort of a semi-formal but a simple kind of dinner fit for a duchess and a princess. Lucky for us, we were honored to have the Duchess (a.k.a. Carolyn) and the Princess (a.k.a. Jasmin) as our guests, hahaha! The question is, which restaurant could cater to our dear friend's wishes? Simple. That would be at Simply J's Cafe! It's located near Apitong St. in Escario (Cebu Parklane Hotel area). Unfortunately, I was unable to snap a photo of the restaurant's exterior and interior, sorry about that. Anyway, you can always Google it and they do have a Facebook page. Let's get it on with the food!
For our appetizer, we chose this:
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| Tortilla Chips with Dip |
It was so-so. The Tortillas junk food is even better than the tortillas that they served. Their salsa dip has a thin consistency and the taste was just okay. It lacks something that I really don't know what. I wasn't quite satisfied with this one.
Next up:
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| Taco Salad |
Yes! A complete opposite with the previous dish. This was really delicious. It's a mixture of all the ingredients that's in a taco, shredded, sliced and all and mixed together. They seasoned it just right.
Mine and Era's choice:
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| Chef's Signature Baby Back Ribs |
Instead of pork, they used our all-time favorite meat... Beef! It's the typical type, grilled baby back ribs marinated with herbs and instead of the usual barbecue sauce, they brushed it with honey-mustard sauce which is even better! I like this one compared to the famous ribs at Casa Verde and Mooon Cafe. This is one of best dishes of the night.
Dympna's pick:
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| Salsa Cream Dory |
This was the winner among all the dishes that we ordered. The fish fillet was pan-fried in lemon-butter sauce and then topped with tomato and herb salsa. Cream Dory is my least favorite fish but they were able to make it really tasty. It's light even though they fried it and the salsa really complements the fish in a perfect way! This is a super-duper must-try dish.
Mary Rose and the Duchess' selection:
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| Chicken Cordon Bleu |
A classic favorite. Deep-fried chicken breast rolled with smoked ham and cheese. A yummy treat for everybody! The taste is simple yet satisfying. My wish... more cheese, hehehe. For me, if it's cheese-dish, you should put like 1/3 more of cheese than what is required from the recipe.
Marie's preference:
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| Lasagna |
I haven't tried this one but according to our pasta lover, this is just okay.
Mira's choice:
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| Rack of Porkchop with Mushroom Gravy |
I totally forgot the name of this dish but you can just ask the waiter about it, sorry. It looked ordinary when the waiter served it to Mira. We thought that it was just another breaded pork chop kind of dish but when we tried it, wow! It was that good! They drizzled it with mushroom gravy and it made the pork even better. They added a reasonable amount of herbs and spices to the gravy and it made it very delicious! Maybe we could've asked for more, I'll just do it next time.
Princess Jasmin ordered the Country Pork Chops. I was unable to take a picture of it because we were so famished by the time it arrived, hehehe. It was just grilled pork chops with some herbs with a vegetable siding. It wasn't that bad, it was alright.
Now, let's move on to the sweetest part of the night... Dessert time, yehey! The first one that was served:
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| Fudge Brownie Ala Mode |
For chocolate lovers like yours truly, this was one heck of a dessert! The brownie was moist on the inside and crumbly on the outside. The vanilla ice cream on top made it perfect! I'd definitely order this one again.
Then I had:
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| Apple Pie Ala Mode |
It looked nice but when I took my first bite... it was really sad. The apple filling was undercooked or probably it wasn't cooked because it was still a bit sour and it was crunchy. I found it weird because usually, the filling should really be cooked and the apples should've been soft and saucy and all with a good amount of cinnamon. The crust was okay, I guess. It wasn't worth what I paid for. It costs P120! I don't recommend this dessert at all.
Then came:
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| Banoffee |
Thank you Lord for this one. It was the best dessert that was ordered that night! Everything was great, it wasn't too sweet and the whipped cream on top, wow, I loved it. The banana or coffee didn't overpower each other. They were blended evenly. What a winner!
Finally, I was able to take a picture of Jasmin's dessert:
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| Panna Cotta with Fruits |
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made with cream, milk, sugar and gelatin. This is the second time that I've tried this type of dessert and still I got reallt disappointed. For me, the taste is close to bland or boring. The fruits were delicious though.
Era tried their take of this:
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| Leche Flan |
We all loved it! It was really delish and soft and sweetened perfectly. It's creamy and almost flawless (without the bubbles and all). This was the cheapest item on the menu at only P50! I could absolutely chow down two of these!
And finally, Marie chose...
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| Mango/Pineapple Ice Box Cake |
This was also yummy if you ask me. I would describe it as a fusion of refrigerator cake and mango float all rolled into one and instead of using graham crackers, they used otap! The combination of these desserts worked well, I liked it.
The cafe's ambience is country-style. It's like a cozy home, the lighting of the place is perfect, they even have a chandelier! They also have a fireplace (I'm not sure if it really works, maybe it's just part of the design) and you will really feel at home. A very lovely place and most of the food that we ate passed or even exceeded our expectations. It was a wonderful experience and the service was great. Simply J's is simply the best!
