Cycle 5 – Item 226

19 (Tue) August 2014

Calamares Caesar

0.5

at Jack’s Loft

(Robinsons Place)

-Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

with EK

Try Every Restaurant in Robinsons Place (74) (see also TERRP)

Living above Robinsons Place, I’ve been eating my way through the mall.  As far as I know, nobody has ever done anything like this, my unique contribution to the city’s food/blog scene.

Jack’s Loft is a restaurant, of some sort.   Don’t know, don’t care, not worth finding out, thinking about, writing of.

The food was atrocious.  I took one bite and put my fork down, immediate Rule 2.0.  I wasn’t imagining it, because EK agreed completely.

I rarely ban a restaurant on the basis of a single bad dish, or even a bad meal, but I’m happy to make an exception this time.

Afterwards, we went next door to Cyma.  The menu has changed, much more simplified (e.g., no more pikilia).  We ordered a couple dishes, one of which was crappy, the other inedible.  Very troubling for a restaurant that previously had been virtually infallible.  I suspect that a change in management has taken place, a change for the worse.  On the next visit, I’ll order the tried/true to determine whether this place remains worthy of continuing patronage.

The clams had gone bad, immediately evident by the fetid odor when the plate was placed on the table.  Unbelievable that the cook and the server had missed it, totally out of character for an establishment that I’d once regarded as impeccable.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)