Fely J is a new restaurant in Greenbelt 5 serving an eclectic menu of Filipino and Asian dishes. The restaurant is part of the LJC group of restaurants, which, upon my discovery (the group had cleverly printed all their restaurants on the paper placemat), had raised a red flag (too many forgettable meals in different LJC restaurants). However, since we were seated and my friends had already ordered (I arrived late), I decided to give the new kid on the block a chance.
I knew I should have trusted my instincts; the meal was really not very good. We ordered the dilis rice, sisig, kadyos, and the tilapia with plum sauce. The recommended (by the waitstaff) dilis rice reads nice (fried crispy dilis on rice) but the execution fell short. The oil from the crispy fish had soaked through the rice, resulting in a heavy, oily mess (one hopes they used olive oil). The dilis itself was tasteless, pure texture, no substance. Not a very pleasant dish; we left half untouched.
The sisig was the smallest sisig I had ever seen, the serving was literally the size of a saucer plate (yung patungan ng coffee cup). The dish was also quite oily (I know, you order sisig, you should expect oil). The kadyos was an unusual dish, a regional specialty of Iloilo consisting of pata and langka in soup base (flavored I think with star anise). It must be the manileno in me, I really couldn't appreciate it. To an ilonggo it might be comfort food, but to me, it was pork and langka in a pool of oily, brownish liquid. Finally we come to the tilapia, fried and smothered with the sweet plum sauce. It takes great skill to ruin what was basically a very simple dish, but the restaurant managed somehow. Really, you can get better in any decent chinese restaurant. (Oil seems to be a signature element of the restaurant).
We couldn't wait to leave and seek comfort in dessert (thank goodness for Classic Confections).
Service was good (that's a certainly a plus), but I found the restaurant to be incredibly noisy (seems to be a common problem with Greenbelt restaurants). Pricing was also okay given the location (I don't mean cheap though, P1500 for three persons).
Overall, recommend you look elsewhere for your Pan-Asian food fix.
2 comments:
Freska's kadyos was not oily--you are right, oily is Fely J's signature. I also did not care for it, I only ordered it to have a literal taste of Pinoy culture. Actually, cooked langka does not appeal to me--I prefer my langka in halo-halo haha. My friend liked Freska's kadyos, but then she eats like a guy, she likes everything that isn't rotten. You, on the other hand, eat like a woman.
I had the kadyos at Freska Promenade.
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