Dining at the Wharf

If you plan to visit, and I suggest that you do, The Pacific Wharf along Tomas Morato St. in Quezon City, forget the eating places cramped cheek by jowl along this busy thoroughfare, the cars triple parked and the signboards competing for your attention.

Once you are seated comfortably, imagine that there is a tranquil bay just outside the window. It is easy to do so inside the coolly sedate restaurant. Indeed, the interior of The Pacific Wharf Restaurant evokes images of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Or close to it.

Incorporators of The Pacific Wharf had worked on the central idea that harbors have always been associated with good food. And it makes sense. A wharf is where fishermen unload fresh catch from the sea. Fresh produce from the farm and meat from slaughter houses are likewise transported to a wharf for shipping to various destinations. It is no coincidence that, all over the world, a harbor or a wharf plays host to myriad restaurants, among the best a city has to offer.

Consider the following: the Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey Bay in California, Harbor Place in Maryland, South Street Seaport in New York, Aberdeen in Hong Kong and Sydney Harbor in Australia play host to glorious restaurants.

With this in mind, former banker Tirso Antiporda, Sally Bustamante, and a host of investors created Milestone Holdings Corp. to set up restaurants that will offer fresh ideas about casual dining. The branches of The Pacific Wharf in Morato and Power Plant Mall in Rockwell are results of the group’s labor.

Antiporda says The Pacific Wharf kitchen crew initially did marketing daily to procure fresh ingredients. However, a change in the system of sourcing raw materials now enables them to save on overhead costs. The significant cuts in the cost of most of the ingredients are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices–by as low as 30 percent in many items in the menu, he reveals.

Be forewarned that portions are generous; American size, in keeping perhaps with their name. It is therefore easy to over-order, as happened when we visited The Pacific Wharf Restaurant in Morato. For starters, we sampled tender, golden-brown calamari rings, baked Pacific oysters with the restaurant’s own special cream sauce and baked mussels baked in three kinds of cheese.

From the Captain’s choice cuts, the baby back ribs tempted us, and we were not disappointed: succulently glazed with spicy sweet tomato-based marinade sauce and slowly baked.

From The Pacific Wharf’s bounty, we tried the Pacific dory fillet (a Pacific Wharf original) grilled to perfection and enhanced by the chef’s oriental sauce, seafood paella, Malaysian-style squid marinated in soy sauce, honey, butter, and garlic, and Cajun-spiced shrimp kebab wrapped in bacon and served on a bed of garlic rice.

Much as we wanted to sample other items, we had no choice but to skip items listed in the Sicilian Harbor, Pier 39 Sandwiches and Pier Pleasures. We could not say no, however, to The Pacific Wharf’s mango crepe and white chocolate cheesecake. Simply glorious!

The Pacific Wharf in Morato has a fairly good selection of wine for a casual dining place, with substantial choices of Chilean, Spanish and Italian wines. With good food, a substantial wine list and attentive but unobtrusive service, The Pacific Wharf in Morato is a great place to enjoy the delights of the sea, even if the nearest body of water is miles away.