Sala Bistro

I attended a very enlightening event by Intel & guess what?  It’s not just learnings that I couldn’t forget but also the awesome food that we had eaten that day.  It was my 1st time at Sala Bistro & I must say, the service, the restaurant, the food were all top-notch!

It seems to me that Sala Bistro caters mostly to private events.  I was too engrossed with the event & the food that I forgot to ask the people there if they are exclusive to private parties/events.  I did however enter at the wrong restaurant at first, though the signage has Sala Bistro in it.  The servers told me that I entered People Restaurant.  Apparently, the owner of People Restaurant & Sala Bistro is the same.  Maybe People Restaurant is their restaurant while Sala Bistro is for private functions.  Well, I’m not sure but that’s how I see it.

I loved the menu (Php 1,480++) that Intel has chosen for us.  It was a set menu with appetizer, main dish & dessert.  Details as follow:

• Home Cured Salmon & Crisp Potato Cakes w/ Horseradish Sour Cream

This home cured salmon dish was really actually pretty nicely done.  Although I opted to not eat the salmon itself, and quite odd because it is the main focus of the dish, I did enjoy the rest of the components of the dish.  I usually like my salmon seared and cooked and not really cured, so I didn’t eat it.  Although, I can tell just by the taste of the rest of the dish, that it would have gone really great with salmon.  The horseradish sauce was really excellent, and the crispy potato cakes on the bed of greens offered great texture and a bit of richness and heaviness of being fried potato.  Actually, horseradish like wasabi really does add a great deal of flavor to seafood.  What a great concept of a dish!   Kudos to the chef on this excellent starter item.

• Angus Beef Bistro Fillet w/ Cauliflower Gratin & Grain Mustard Jus OR

I did not try the Angus beef, but from the looks of it, the presentation and the pinkness of the meat, I think those who chose this dish did not regret their choice.  The cooking of Angus beef really has to be done right, not overcooked or it becomes tough, and loses its flavor.  Nor should it be seasoned too much, because you lose the great natural taste of what Angus beef should be.  Again, gourmet at such a great place, great price, I can’t stop raving about it, even if I haven’t tried the dish.  As with most anything when it comes to high end restaurants, the presentation is key.  One really does feast with the eyes first, and feast I truly did.

Roast Lapu Lapu Fillet w/ Leek & Pancetta Risotto

As I mentioned, almost everyone decided to go with the Angus Beef dish, but I decided to go the healthy route and went for the fish instead.  I was trying to be healthy and that day, I made a conscious effort of choosing the less popular menu item.  I honestly think I made the better choice, since I really do like risotto.  That bed of risotto was just fantastic.  Again, the creaminess of it, and the taste was a bit different than the risotto that I’ve tried before.  I think what really made the risotto stand out had to be the added pancetta which just added so much flavor.

And there’s nothing more than great seafood to go with risotto, and the tenderness, moistness, and the great flavor of the fish was just outstanding.  The ingredients were all blended harmoniously, I loved it!

• Flourless Chocolate Cake w/ Honeycomb Ice Cream

I’m not really a great fan of chocolate, but honestly this dish was just a bit more than chocolate.  The layers of flavor, and once again presentation was just great.  The cake itself was rich, and I love the cracked texture of the exterior was just another part of a very unique dish.  Cake and ice cream really isn’t new, but when the ice cream is honeycomb ice cream, the combination is different, and may I say, DELICIOUS!  It’s definitely a rich dish, best to be savored.

• Twinings Tea

We were also given a choice between Vittoria coffee or Twinings tea.  I’ve decided to cut down on coffee so I asked for the tea. 🙂   What a great way to end such a fantastic and delicious meal!

When it comes to fine dining, I also usually try to savor the initial bread or rolls that start off the meals.  With Sala Bistro, it’s as if they read my mind!  Gee, presentation was just great!   We had good choices of breads & if you’re not picky, you can try each of every one of them! :p

There were also a good selection of drinks in Sala Bistro.  They have specialty smoothies (Php 150) & also fruit shakes (Php 120-160).  I ordered the Red Grape Shake (Php 160) while Rowena who was seated beside me ordered Yogurt Honey Passion (Php 150).

The other thing that really stood out is their service.  It seems to me that their servers & personnel were trained well.  Each & everyone was accommodating, helpful & most of all, we actually felt their focus on the customer.  I was too impressed.  When I got seated, they helped me with my bag then kindly asked if I wanted to drink something.  Offered water without me asking & we didn’t need to exert any effort in calling them when we needed assistance.  I just wish all restaurants’ service are like that.  It would be such a joy eating out.

Overall, this is definitely a good recommended place to dine out if you want fine dining, great ambiance, delicious food, and amazing service.

Interested?  If you wanna book Sala Bistro for your private events, here are information that you will find useful:

• restaurant can accommodate 80 guests for a sit down dinner & 150 guests for a cocktail party
• their garden dining can accommodate 40 guests for a sit down dinner & 80 guests for a cocktail party
• Private lunch events (11am to 3pm) – monday to friday (Php 55,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 65,000 minimum spend)
• Private dinner events (6pm to 12mn) – monday to friday (Php 110,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 130,000 minimum spend)
• Private garden events (5pm to 12mn) – monday to friday (Php 35,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 45,000 minimum spend)

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Sala Bistro
G/F Garden Side, Greenbelt 3, Greenbelt Malls, Ayala Center, Makati City 1200 Philippines
(02) 729-7500