Pantalan Maynila Restaurant, one of the pioneer seafood restaurants in the country, has a new menu, which boasts of local fares based on family recipes.
Pantalan chef consultant Norberto Famadico whips up the yummy dishes, which he learned from the various Filipino restaurants he worked for during the ‘70s.
Must-try is the aniit, a seasonal delicacy from Romblon. It is served only in May when mountain crabs molt. The crab meat, grated coconut and crab fat are sauteed in garlic, ginger and lemon grass. The mixture is then stuffed in a crab shell and served with kangkong and black beans.
Try the adobadong manok, which is the Batangueño version of the adobo. Instead of soy sauce, fish sauce is used to flavor the dish.
Chef Norberto gives a new spin to the traditional tortang talong. Instead of cooking boiled eggplant in an egg batter, he chops the veggie and cooks it with egg in a mold with chopped onions, tomatoes, salted egg and raisins.
Those familiar with the Ilonggo laoya will enjoy the pata sa kamias (pork leg cooked in kamias broth). Another Ilonggo favorite is the chicken binakol (native chicken cooked with coconut water). It is served in a buko shell.
Others on the menu are hinornong lapu-lapu sa asin (fresh lapu-lapu steamed on a bed of rock salt), liempo in leeks (grilled pork belly wrapped in leeks, lengua hecho en Pantalan (baked ox tongue), bulalo en ranchero (bulalo steak simmered in red wine sauce), crusted embotido with guava sauce, lapu-lapu with tausi sauce (lapu-lapu fillet cooked in black beans), daing na isdang dapa sa bararawan (sole fish cooked in coconut milk), the Asian version of paella (topped with steamed chicken slices, roast pork, Japanese sweet corn, shrimps in egg whites, and clams and mussels).
Pantalan Maynila Restaurant is at the old Army & Navy Complex, Parade St., Rizal Park, Ermita, Manila.