Alba's Restaurant

excuse me for the shallownes of this review as i have been typing the whole day creating and updating test cases. i have not also been able to get a good picture of the foods.the team that i had just transferred to finished the first phase of the project successfully thus gave them/us the reward of a free lunch out. we went to Alba's restaurant which was located at Polaris st., BelAir in Makati. The place was quite small, which can hold about 30-40 persons at a time. We had the lunch buffet which to what I heard costs about P500/head. The price was pretty big for a not so big eater like me. yeah, i may be fat but i don't eat a lot. anyways, parking was pretty bad since there really is n o parking space alloted for customers. so if the space in front of the restaurant is pack with cars already, the staff redirects you to the parking space of La Taverna which is out of business already, so they really won't mind. As you entered Alba's you are greeted by the front desk staff in English. I was hoping they would greet us in Spanish since it is a Spanish restaurant.The buffet table is set on a separate room (less the doors). The restaurant was like a house turned into a restaurant. the interior was very hispanic. the chairs were pretty high , or should i say, the table was pretty low. either way, it isn't that comfortable if your used to eating slouching your back because here you are inadvertently forced to eat with your back straight.if that is how they ate before, hands up to them. the girdles the illustrados wore must be pretty helpful for them to keep a good posture.

the appetizers were placed on the center in a round table. the choices there as far as i could remember are baked oysters, breads, butter, different spreads(cream cheese, cream cheese and mushroom...), jams, sweetened beans, omelets shaped into a big circle and sliced into bite size, banana cubes wrapped in bacon and cubed fish in cream sauce.i forgot to list their name, my bad. the entrees include seafood paella, lengua, lechon kawali, beef cooked like sarciado, fried chicken with vegetables and mash potato, and pasta in white sauce. the desserts are orange jelly, sliced watermelons and papaya, food for the god's and braso de mercedes without the flan in the center but replaced with condensed milk as its sauce.

I didn't like the oyster though it has so much cheese in it.i still prefer baked tahong over it.the appetizers were not that bad either, i just did not try the banana wrapped in bacon. the idea seemed pretty weird for my delicate tastebuds. the chicken was tasty even without the sauce. it was also too crispy that made it difficult to slice and chew.well atleast a part of it.the lechon kawali was very good. it was very crunchy and the fat really melts in every bite you wouldn't even hate it.hehe.i have this thing about pork fats, it should be cooked in such a way that i wouldnt recognized its fat because i don't eat it.it should blend with the meat without being noticed. the paella is not that flavorful. i have always liked paella and its sibling the arroz valenciana and for me this rice dish should be very powerful when it comes to flavor that you should forget you name in every bite.OA na..basta kelangan masarap.The pasta was very good.Salty and Cheesy and just plain delicious. First ever white sauce pasta i liked. for dessert, imagine braso de mercedes in a rectangular shape, like the cakes in Bakeshops,without the flan in the center instead you pour condensed milk on a slice and you eat it like that.

First picture was before we ate, the second one was after the empty plate was taken away.

Aside from the parking flaw, they did not placed napkins/tissue on out table and when they take your empty plate away, they leave behind the silverware on the table without any napkins or saucers to place it on. i find it very unhygeinic and very unethical.i dont really know the right word for it but it shouldn't be that way.


Alba's Restaurant
Polaris St. BelAir, Makati
http://www.alba.com.ph/branches.htm