K.K.K.

10 March 2012


Short for "Kainan sa Kalye Kanluran" (or "eatery at west road" in English), it's a restaurant specializing in Filipino cuisine that started in West Avenue, Quezon City. We've often passed by their branch in SM Mall of Asia, but never thought of trying them out.

This all changed when I read Linamnam, the latest book by Claude Tayag and his wife Mary Ann Quioc (owners of the locally celebrated Bale Dutung), in which they featured K.K.K. as one of the places to go to in Metro Manila.

We decided to try a few of the dishes mentioned in the book - makes sense considering that's what got us in the door to begin with.


Krispy Kangkong Salad - Php 100

Basically water spinach fried in tempura-like batter, this is usually served with mayonnaise as an appetizer at parties. Here they used vinaigrette instead and added tomatoes, onions, jícama (singkamas) and chopped nuts. Both Earl and I liked this version better and we agreed it was our favorite part of the meal. Earl wanted to order it twice, but I convinced him we should try something else.


Inihaw na Liempo, Bacon Cut - Php 250

This was featured in the book so I was excited to try it. It's grilled pork belly cut bacon style and marinated in barbeque sauce. Our verdict? Definitely tasty especially when eaten together with the green papaya salad, but not spectacular. Or maybe we expected too much?

Also, there were only three slices so we found the serving size rather small considering we were told this was good for at least two to three people. Probably if there were just three of you and you're ordering other things. But by itself, it's just good for one person.


Maquezong Scallops - Php 195

Since I was still hungry, we ordered what we thought would be a light dish. We were mistaken - overloaded with cheese, garlic and what seemed to be mayonnaise, this is best shared with others as you can only eat so much of it.


              Buko Shake - Php 78                       Dalandan Juice - Php 75

We loved our drinks! It's rather difficult to find a restaurant that has coconut shake on the menu (unless you're in the province) so we were quite happy to find that they served it. And the dalandan (local orange) juice had just the right amount of sweetness - not too tangy unlike some I've had before.

All in all, the food was good, service was prompt, and we'll definitely be back especially for the shake and the salad.

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