MJ’s Café Bar: Oh what a grill!

MANILA, Philippines - A long the sun-washed strip of Roxas Boulevard, you can catch a delicious whiff of assorted foods grilling and thrilling you at MJ’s Café Bar. Frankly, judging from its name, I was expecting just another watering hole by the bay, where guests drank until they dropped. I was dead wrong! Well, you should never judge a bar by its cover (charge)!

MJ’s Café Bar, which opened in 2006, is a full-service restaurant, which offers catering services, too. “Yes, we offer catering services for events (like product launches) and functions (like meetings) with a choice of on-site (MJ’s Café Bar lounge and upper deck) and off-site venues (Aquasphere pool party, Patio de Manila, Palacio de Maynila, etc.),” says Joanne Olivares, MJ’s Café Bar general manager.

Whether you’re dining in or having it catered, MJ’s has got an extensive menu that’s a delight to the taste buds and easy on the budget. For instance, a Deluxe Event Package (maximum of 100 persons for P41,000) would include such choices as: Deluxe Menu 1 — chicken cacciatore, fish fillet with tartar sauce, beef salpicao, fettucine Alfredo, mixed vegetables, mushroom soup with croutons, plain rice and coffee jelly; Deluxe Menu 2 — Hawaiian pork spareribs, Chicken Supreme, sweet and sour fish fillet, pasta aioli, potato salad, French onion soup, plain rice, and choco cake squares. The Filipino selection includes kare-kare, chicken adobo sa gata, bangus Shanghai, pancit bihon, ensalada, vegetable soup, plain rice, and buko pandan.

Of course, you’ll get a different kind of thrill if you have your food grilled. With the Barbecue Party Menu, you can have the house’s bestsellers grilled on site: grilled pork liempo, chicken bbq, bangus relleno. To go with these grilled faves are pancit chami, atchara/ensaladang kangkong, tamarind soup, Java rice, and cold saba with sago for dessert.

What makes the Deluxe Event Package even more inviting is the fact that it includes a free one-night hotel accommodation at Manila Hotel with buffet breakfast for two at Café Ilang-Ilang and free use of amenities, etc.

The bay’s crisp sea breeze brings oodles of good tidings to MJ’s Café Bar guests. There’s something fishy, meaty, and really crispy cooking at MJ’s, like the good old-fashioned crispy pata, jazzed up by MJ’s special vinegar/soy sauce with secret spices; sizzling sisig; crispy crablets; crispy danggit, and crispy squidheads garnished with fresh onion and chili.

Chicken lovers are also spoiled for choice. The resto boasts its MJ’s special fried chicken (only P395), a whole chicken marinated with special seasoning and spices, and deep fried with a special dip/gravy. You’re also bound to go wild over MJ’s Buffalo wings (P400) that come with french fries and veggie sticks, and a choice of dips — gravy dip, ranch-style dip, and chili sauce.

Get your own

For budgetarians, MJ’s offers rice meals for as low as P85: tender pork bbq (two sticks) rice meal, breaded fish fillet rice meal, grilled liempo value rice meal.

MJ’s Café Bar & Catering Services is also known for its Filipinized pizzas. So far, I’ve tried the bistek pizza, sisig pizza, and smoked tinapa with red egg pizza. “Before, we even had the laeng pizza, the asado pizza, and the humba pizza,” Joanne is delighted to recall.

Now, that’s a lot of pizza on earth! But there’s really no limit to the pizza possibilities. And everybody just wants to get a pizza of the action.

“We make our own hand-rolled, thin pizza crust,” Joanne shares. “To make it really crispy, the bottom of the crust is grilled.”

MJ’s serves Filipino fusion dishes. From MJ’s to you, there’s the tuyo pasta (tuyo flakes, red bell pepper strips, and Parmesan cheese, P135). Then there’s the Spaghetti Filipino (Filipino-style spaghetti with red sauce, hotdog slices, and ground pork topped with grated quick-melting cheese.

As if its food offerings are not enough to overwhelm you, MJ’s Café Bar & Catering Services also features the following: Mobile Bar (P150/head for a minimum of 30 persons); Dessert Bar (P150/head, minimum of 50 pax); appetizers (nachos with bistek sauce and cheese, hotdog and bacon wrap, bruschetta with tuna, tomato, and cheese, and pizza); pasta live cooking; mobile lights and sounds with projector and screen; lechon (P4,000-P9,000); chocolate fountain; kid’s meal (P110 per person), which includes spaghetti, chicken fingers, choco cake squares, hotdog on a stick, juice or iced tea.

The on-site buffet packages are priced at P10,000 for 30 persons and P20,000 for 60 persons. These packages include: five hours’ exclusive use of venue (MJ’s lounge) with videoke, buffet food with servers, laser lights and mirror ball, linen-covered tables and chairs.

MJ’s also offers seminar packages at P38,000 off-site for a maximum of 100 persons; P15,000 off-site for a maximum of 30 persons; P11,500 on-site for a maximum of 30 persons. The seminar package includes an a.m. snack and a complete lunch with a choice of pork, beef, chicken, and seafood dishes that come with vegetable dishes and dessert.

MJ’s snackeria of quick tummy fillers is still another lip-smacking feature of the place.

Certainly, MJ’s is not for the KJs (killjoys).

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MJ’s Café Bar, located at Baypark, Roxas Boulevard Service Road, Malate, is open daily from Monday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. For inquiries, reservations, and bookings, call 475-4163 or Carlo at 09304017140 and Joanna at 09327132209/09279078193. Visit www.mjcafe.ph.