(Update: Neil's Kitchen has a newer menu. This post has been updated to include new dishes tried on another visit.)
When I eat out, I don't choose Filipino food because I always think that it's something I can eat at home. But after eating here, I already can't wait to go back and try the other dishes.
Neil's Kitchen is a new restaurant located in Westgate, Filinvest, Alabang. We decided to eat here for lunch because our friend highly recommended it. She's been saying that food is good, price is okay, and that the place is very Instagram-worthy. My, was she right!
If you've been to Westgate before (like, years before), Neil's Kitchen occupies the space where Poquito Mas was. If you don't know where that is, then it's in front of Brothers Burger. You won't miss it because their door is painted yellow.
If I could describe the food, I would really say that it's like home cooked meal with a twist. I even wouldn't think of fusing different ingredients and different food together. Based on what we order, the owner has done a great job on concocting dishes that would surely make your tastebuds tingle and dance.
We were 4 in our group. The good thing about their restaurant is that you can share. The viand is good for 2 but the rice might be good for only 1 (not sure if you can order extra rice).
For my first trip, we ordered Sinigang Paella with Grilled Pork Belly (their best seller), Boneless Chicken Barbeque with Java Rice, and Crab Fat Palabok. For my second trip, aside from the chicken barbeque and crab fat palabok, we ordered the calamares, spanish tempura with paella valenciana, and callos with chorizo rice.
Sinigang Paella with Grilled Pork Belly (P 350)
I can understand why this is the restaurant's best seller. It's a unique concoction of different flavors. The 3 different aspects of the dish is already good, but when molded together, it creates a good balance of sourness, saltiness, and smokiness. We all loved the crispy kangkong topping (at least I think that's kangkong). The sourness of the sinigang broth that flavored the paella was a smack in the face, so some people might not like it. The pork belly was lightly seasoned so it really complements well the flavorful rice dish. This isn't really my favorite but I would recommend this to eaters who aren't afraid to taste something different from a dish that is quite common.
Boneless Chicken Barbeque with Java Rice (P 395)
This is the dish that I chose. When I went with my family the second time, my brother and mom really loved this dish. It's quite a common dish that you would find not just in bar-restaurants but also in food courts. But I liked the way the made it. There are quite a number of places that would serve it either overcooked or undercooked, or even overseasoned (too salty or too sweet). It's good that they served it boneless and sliced so that it's easier to eat. The chicken is well-seasoned. The java rice wasn't oily. The side dishes of pickled ampalaya and macaroni salad amazed us. Usually, these would be too sweet. But these just had the right amount of sweetness. We couldn't stop saying how good they were. Good job!
Crab Fat Palabok (P 350)
This is actually part of the merienda section of the menu, but it was good enough for us to eat at lunch. This dish amazed us so much that I think it became our favorite! I don't really like crab fat (or aligue) because I don't like fatty or oily food. They mix the crab fat in the sauce so it's not that visible. It makes the dish very creamy and silky. It has the right amount that it doesn't overpower the other flavors. The dish is topped with fried squid that serves as the "meat" ingredient. It also has pieces of fried tofu that gives a neutral flavor to a flavorful dish. Unlike the usual palabok, this one is served with flat noodles. I truly enjoyed this dish. You will surely we awed at how they didn't skimp on ingredients because noone likes eating palabok with just the noodles and plain sauce.
Calamares with Saffron Aioli (P350)
The squid was juicy, batter was perfectly textured and seasoned, and the dip added more flavors to the dish.
Paella Valenciana with Spanish Tempura (P450)
My mom loved the paella so much. It was seasoned and cooked well. The tempura had a Spanish flavor because of the saffron. I really loved this dish and would surely order it again.
Chorizo rice with Callos (P395)
This was my least favorite dish maybe because the rice part of the dish wasn't anything special. Don't get me wrong. The callos was good. Maybe they could have done something more with the rice.
When I was researching about the place, they would say that you would shell out at least 500 bucks each. This might be true if you get drinks and order the beef or seafood dishes. We just shelled out about 350 pesos each for the 3 dishes. We don't really order drinks and we were trying to not shell out much. But we were all stuffed! We still had leftovers. If we just ordered 2 dishes, we would still be stuffed. I also saw some reviews that their dishes can be quite salty. I guess you can count the Sinigang Paella as part of that list, but for the other dishes we tried, they were just okay to us. I can't wait to go back and try the other dishes because I'm curious about what each dish would taste like. I highly recommend this place. We got there at around 2 PM and the place was packed. They have really nice staff but they could still improve on service. It took quite a while for them to send us the Sinigang Paella dish. We were also served the Boneless Chicken twice (of course we declined the 2nd one since we didn't order 2). They also gave us a bill even if we haven't asked for it yet (by this time, we were the only diners left and we felt that they were making us leave). Good thing we were having fun so we were still nice to the staff. I'd rate this place an 8 out of 10 because I really love it. It would have been 9 if it weren't for the service part. But yes, I would love to go back here.
I hope this blog helps. Feel free to comment below and tell me what you think. Thanks and happy eating!
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