IMC Kavino

A few months ago, I celebrated my 5th year in the company I work for.  It’s a personal milestone because it has always been my dream to work there 😀

So I got into thinking, in which restaurant should we celebrate it?  The food place should be near our office as we usually have meetings before and after lunch time.  It should also serve delicious food and lastly, ambiance should be great.  Additional criteria for me is a place that we haven’t eaten yet.  Since I’m a blogger, I always have this thinking that I should be sharing my experiences through this site.  So we ended up in…. IMC Kavino!

So I wondered, what does IMC Kavino stands for?  The place certainly looked intimidating.  I have to check the menu before we finally reserved seats in the restaurant.  Our budget might not cut it for the expensive-looking place.  Anyway, we continued with it wishing that we would be having a great dining experience.

IMC Kavino stands for International Master Chef Kavino.  Wow!  Having your restaurant named as that definitely gives the impression that you cook really good.  I had high expectations.  Did the food satisfy my expectations though?  Oh, YES! 🙂

We were a big group so we ordered quite a lot.  Here’s a rundown:

• Sze Chuan Hot & Sour (Php 328)

It was hot but not sour.  You should put black vinegar (available at IMC Kavino) so you can appreciate the soup better.

• Cheesy Shrimp Bomb (Php 388)

This is the best appetizer in the house!  Gee, shrimp balls that was made of real shrimps!  It was very rich and had generous servings.  The cheese wasn’t noticeable though.  You must not miss this dish in IMC Kavino.  One of my favorites for the day.

• Cheesy Baked Oyster (Php 328).

Contrary to the shrimp balls, this time you can taste the deliciousness of the cheese.  I’m not really fond of oysters so I’m glad that it was covered with melted cheese.  Yummy!

• Aomori Hot Prawn Salad (Php 388)

Super yummy!  The prawns were cooked perfectly.  It was not too creamy that will let us feel fatty.  Loved hot prawn salad, one of the best dishes of the day.

• Takoyaki (Php 388)

One of the greatest culinary innovations of master Chef Kavino.  His Takoyaki was just too awesome in every aspect!  I was expecting a takoyaki ball but I was surprised when I saw that it was actually deconstructed.  IMC Kavino’s version is a lettuce wrap with puffed octopus.  The takoyaki was not flour based and it was made purely of octopus.  Very affordable and very excellent dish!  I was truly impressed!

• Savor Ginger Onion & Chicken in Casserole (Php 498)

This is IMC Kavino’s signature dish.  However, I didn’t find it good.  Maybe, that day was a special case because as I read through the different reviews in this restaurant, everyone was raving about the dish.  Oh well.

• Stewed Pork Belly with Salted Fish in Casserole

While I didn’t enjoy IMC Kavino’s chicken in casserole, their pork belly dish was just superb!  The pork belly was very tender.  Also, the salty flavor of the fish and pork are perfect.  A great dish to pair with rice.  A must order.

• Golden Garlic Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 248)

Nothing special here.  It’s our usual Yang Chow Chinese fried rice.

• Sweet and Sour Pork with Peaches (Php 328)

IMC Kavino made a twist to the popular sweet and sour pork dish.  They used peaches instead of the usual pineapples.  The effect of it was the dish lacked sweetness.  The contrast of sweet and sour didn’t come out in this dish.

• Imported Beef Tenderloin with Black Pepper Sauce (Php 388)

The Beef Tenderlion was super soft and tender.  Sometimes beef tenderloin tends to be chewy (like a chewing gum) but this dish was just cooked perfectly!  The sauce complimented with the beef as well.  The vegetable on the side was a good complement bec of its crispiness.  This dish was really, really good and I highly recommend you order it when you visit IMC Kavino.

• Deep Fried Lapu-lapu Thai Style Mango Sauce (Php 990+)

The dish had too much things going on.  It was tangy but we couldn’t taste the lapu lapu.  The garnishes & sauce overpowered the main ingredient in the dish.  I do appreciate that we didn’t need to exert so much effort in taking the fish bones out though.  It was a great looking dish 🙂

• Pork a La Beijing (Php 338)

Pork puff that was put inside a lumpia wrapper.  It was very crispy inside (which is good as we love everything crispy!).  The dish was inspired by the peking duck dish.  Replacing it with pork worked really well.  Pork a la Beijing was very unique indeed and we loved it!  The pork wrap also had cucumber and carrots inside with hoisin sauce.

Aside from enjoying all the dishes we ordered, we had complimentary tea to go with them.

What a great way to celebrate!  I loved the food, ambiance and the service was superb!  Another great addition to the number of restaurants in Jupiter Street.  I do hope that IMC Kavino will continue on for a long time.

——————–
IMC Kavino
136 Jupiter Street, Ground Floor, Jupiter Place, Makati City, Philippines
(02) 964-7545