A food hall right up your alley
The Alley, the hawker center-type food hall created by The Vikings Group, recently rolled out their holiday offerings, and they’re a great option if you want a family feast or barkada get-together without having to lift a finger to cook.
The savory star is Christmas ham — cured, baked and glazed in-house — but the real showstopper is the vast array of holiday desserts, from gingerbread houses to festively decorated Christmas cakes, cookies, and cupcakes.
The attractive offerings are the brainchild of chef Michael Santos, corporate executive chef of The Alley by Vikings, his team and one of the owners, managing director Jackson Go. “Mr. Go is very hands-on with everything,” notes chef Mike.
Scott and I visited The Alley in Capitol Commons, which is the smallest branch at almost 300 seats but notable for having the only shabu-shabu station and live musical entertainment every night.
In this branch there are around 10 food stalls, and each offers a different type of food. There’s a Japanese station with sushi and sashimi; a seafood stall with freshly cooked tempura, calamari and fish; Just Steak a Minute has all the carving meats like roast lamb, roast chicken, roast pork, and roast beef; Frituen Batsoy focuses on everything bagnet: fried, sinigang, batchoy, kare-kare, binagoongan, etc.; while L’Italiano serves freshly made, hand-tossed pizzas and pastas.
Mien Bao dishes up Chinese food like dim sum, roasts, fried rice, and noodles; a shabu-shabu station cooks the ingredients you pick in your preferred soup base; the Salads & Desserts station features antipasto, appetizers, and desserts like ice cream where you can choose the toppings.
At the entrance of The Alley you have carts with Ferino’s bibingka, puto bumbong, and fish balls.
“From Monday to Wednesday, lunch is at P688, but that includes everything: beer, cocktails, coffee, and drinks,” notes Santos.
The great thing about a concept like The Alley is that with its variety, there is something for everyone.
At L’Italiano, Scott had plump, appetizing slices of quattro carne and Margherita pizzas, along with the mac ‘n’ cheese; from Steak a Minute’s glistening array, he selected some roast lamb and roast beef slices with peppercorn sauce and steak rice; from Bag of Seafood there was fresh, delicious fried calamares and paella negra; from Frituen Batsoy, the bagnet kare-kare was yummy; and at Salad & Desserts he had the antipasto salad, watermelon cup and crostini with creamed cheese, garlic and chopped vegetables.
I started with my favorite fish balls in a sweet-and-spicy sauce then proceeded to the sushi station to load up on rolls and salmon sashimi. I then had to try the light and crispy tempura, which is so popular it’s gone almost as soon as it’s served; and the shabu-shabu, filling up my plate with carrot noodles, fish fillets, all kinds of vegetables and had them cooked in a laksa soup base. Hot, comforting, and delicious.
For dessert we both had creamy cups of ice cream topped with gummy bears, sprinkles, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. I saved room for a personal serving of Ferino’s bibingka and it was moist and flavorful.
“This Alley is more hip,” says chef Mike. “It’s the only Alley that has live entertainment at night, so people get up and sing, you can request your song.”
In contrast, The Alley at Manila Bay is bigger, with 400 seats, more and larger stations, and double the amount of food.
“There’s a full coffee shop, full bar with flaring — cocktail mixing — and puto bumbong, bibingka, taho, everything,” says chef Mike. “There, the Filipino food is divided into two stalls: one’s Frituen, and the other’s called Lasap, where you have the dinuguan, kaldereta, igado, bopis. We have Lost & Pound, which is American food: burgers, nachos, etc.; Streetwalk, where we have our Thai and Korean dishes; Hao Chi Chinese is huge, with congee, soups, roasts, lechon Macau, and asado.
“The Italian is also cut into two: one’s purely pizzas and calzones, and one is all pasta. The Japanese has two stations: one is cold for the sushi, sashimi, and one’s hot for the katsudon, Japanese fried rice, yakisoba, etc.”
For twice the amount of food the price is nominally higher: on weekdays, it’s about P1,035, and on weekends, it’s P1,100.
And this holiday season those prices include Christmas ham, turkey (at the Manila Bay branch), queso de bola, house-made pan de sal, and a mouthwatering array of Christmas desserts.
You’ll come away full — not just with food — but also holiday spirit.
* * *
The holiday offerings are available at The Alley by Vikings in Capitol Commons (second level above Unimart), and Ayala Malls Manila Bay.
