Leading the pack of new age ihaw-ihaw is Krocodile Grillery. If you can’t remember the name, just look for the gigantic croc snout at the EDSA end of Jupiter St. in Makati. Do the same in Libis, Quezon City, where our crocodile story begins.
"I started the restaurant with high school buddies Jimmy Juan and Luis Lim. Whenever we get together, we like to drink and hop from one bar or ihaw-ihaw to the next. So I thought, why not put together all our favorite pulutan under one roof and give it a nice ambience," narrates Rikki Dee, principal owner of Krocodile Grillery.
Then the businessman in him took over. How can they survive on beer and pulutan alone? He decided to add lunch and dinner fare and opened the first Krocodile Grillery in Libis four years ago.
"We were the only building in the area. We had the whole stretch of E. Rodriguez for people to park. Now Libis is packed with restaurants," says Rikki whose self-avowed background is marketing and eating.
Two years ago, they opened a second branch in Jupiter, Makati. That time, the street was dark and dying until Gerry’s Grill came along, followed by Krocodile Grillery. We entered the croc’s snout lunchtime one weekday and the place was packed. And it wasn’t even sweldo day.
Aside from the usual grilled items – pork barbecue, lamang loob and pla-pla, this resto serves exotic items like frog’s legs, ostrich, tapang usa, balut, eel and kambing.
We looked vainly for crocodile on the menu. Rikki pointed to the item, Crocodile’s brother-in-law. "Bayaw-ak. Get it?" he says laughing.
But why the name Krocodile Grillery?
"I named it after my daughter Erica’s collection of crocodiles. In 1997, my family and I visited Florida which is crocodile country," he explains. "Erica, then seven, bought a lot of stuffed crocodiles and memorabilia."
At about the same time, Rikki was thinking of a theme for his new restaurant and decided to use his daughter’s crocodile collection.
What does Erica, now 12, collect these days?
"Pencils, paints, drawing materials. She wants to be an artist," the proud father says.
Now when Rikki travels he heads for the souvenir shops and starts looking for anything crocodile – mugs, toothbrush, cookie jar, pens, ashtray, shampoo bottle...
Friends and regular diners got in on the croc act and would pick up a reptile or two to add to his collection. Rikki has 300 crocs items and they come from all over the world: Florida, New Orleans, Hawaii, Thailand and Australia. The cheapest item would be the one-dollar key chains and the most expensive is the $300 life-size three-part crocodile half-submerged in sand. "I hand-carried that on the plane," he says.
The croc collection is distributed in Libis and Jupiter. Opening in July is the third branch in Greenbelt – the first Krocodile in the mall.
Rikki has been in the food business for 15 years. He helped set up and co-owns Kitchen (with Ricco Ocampo), Mangan (with Ocampo and Maritel Nievera) and Dish (with Philip Cu-unjieng and EJ Litton). He plans to open two more restos, W, a Western-type grill, and O’Sake which will serve Pacific Rim-influenced Japanese food, both at Glorietta 2.
What’s his secret for success?
"I listen to my customers and I keep my margins low. Of course, the food is good, we serve it in pleasant surroundings and the staff is attentive," he says.
Rikki observes that the Filipino diner has changed in the last five years: "He has become more demanding. He wants good food but he doesn’t want the usual fare. He wants something new or with a twist, served in a nice atmosphere, with entertainment and get this – everything has to be reasonably priced."
No, Rikki is not worried. Far from it – he looks forward to the challenge. "These are exciting times," he says.
We thought so too, especially since our food had arrived and we were unashamedly famished. First, we tried the salted spicy crabs which was not grilled, it was pan-fried. The crab came all the way from Capiz and went straight to the pan. It was cooked fresh, it was juicy, and it disappeared fast.
Crab Mentality is an ongoing festival at Krocodile Grillery. Choose from six different crab recipes: Steamed (crabs sotanghon and binagoongang alimango) and pan-fried crabs (peppered crabs, alimango sa aligue, salted spicy crabs, and custard crabs).
Next we tried the inihaw sampler plate, which had a little of everything: pork barbecue, pusit, tahong and salmon, which were grilled to perfection.
Pinaputok na Seafoods Halo-halo came wrapped in banana leaf. Tahong, blue marlin, crab, and pusit were steamed, their flavors and juices oozing and mixing, and then they were fried. It was heavenly!
We also had Seafoods Pinakbet which Rikki said he concocted especially for two of his friends who love to eat, but do not take red meat or chicken. This strictly seafood and veggies pinakbet is the best I’ve tasted. "The secret," Rikki says, "is in the squash. We pureed it and used it as the sauce base. That’s why it’s so thick."
Upon our host’s insistence, we also tried Ostrich Salpicao. No, it didn’t taste like chicken. It tasted like meat, only it’s more tender and lighter (it has less cholesterol, you see).
For dessert, we had Pandan Jello. The glutton in us wanted to try the Chocolate Mousse and the Leche Flan, but there was simply no space left in our happy tummies.
We had a croc of a good time. Now who said ihaw-ihaw was only for the boys?