Still fasting for Lent? Here are some seafood options
MANILA, Philippines — We're in the thick of Holy Week, which is the highlight of the Lenten season. And so the fasting goes on, and meatless is still the way to go.
Meatless meals do not have to be boring, though, as there are now lots of places that offer really good seafood options. Here are some of them:
Seafood picks from the buffet
The Alley by Vikings is one buffet restaurant that offers so many fish and seafood options that you won’t feel like you’re missing anything at all.
As its name suggests, The Alley is from the same owner as Vikings. Unlike Vikings, though, which is a full-on buffet restaurant, The Alley serves its food buffet style but divided into food stalls, giving it the vibe of a food hall, but with unlimited food at one price. The fish and seafood options will thus come from different food stalls — tempura, sushi and sashimi, fish escabeche, pasta and noodles, paella, grilled squid, etc.
Fish, shrimps or plant-based?
Burger Beast by Chef Carlo Miguel may come off as an indulgent, huge and meaty burger line, but it also has its fair share of delicious fish- and plant-based creations.
Particularly for Lent, the brand offers Crispy Fish Sandwich, which is fried fish fillet with homemade tartar sauce, served on a brioche bun; Fish and Chips, which are perfectly golden and crispy battered fish fillets, served with salted fries and tangy homemade tartar sauce; and Popcorn Shrimps with Umami Sauce, which are crispy battered shrimps fried to a golden finish.
Burger Beast also has a line of Quorn plant-based meal options on its regular menu.
Seafood burgers
Sweet Ecstasy, also a casual dining restaurant specializing in burgers, has whipped up two great meatless burgers for Lent — Filet x Shrimp, which is a shrimp patty on a freshly baked bun; and Filet x Fish, a battered fish fillet sandwich that capitalizes on the freshness of the fish.
Try one or try both. They are equally delicious and satisfying.
Wide array of choices
Cloud kitchen @ticxs, which recently won the “Best Seafood Kare-Kare in Manila” title from the Ultimate Taste Test 2022, offers plenty of seafood dishes.
They are a combination of local and international favorites, such as its award-winning Shrimp Kare-Kare (shrimps in place of ox tripe, ox tail and beef), Cajun Crab and Cajun Shrimps (a New Orleans or Creole specialty), Korean Seafood Pasta (which bears the distinct flavors of popular Korean food), Sinigang na Salmon, and Adobong Pusit.
These specialty dishes, available for dine-in or for delivery via food delivery options such as GrabFood, should get you by splendidly without meat.
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