Tale of Two Restaurants: Going Under the "Mesa"

Recently tried two of the newer restaurants in Greenbelt 5 (fast becoming known as the go to place for pretentious, overpriced yet forgettable eateries). Mesa is a contemporary Filipino restaurant, serving traditional dishes with a twist. I really wanted to like the restaurant given the raves by my friend but unfortunately, this was not to be. We had steamed apahap with soy sauce, caramelized garlic pork, laing two ways and the fried tilapia with four sauces. Among the four, only the tilapia and the laing stood out; not that the two dishes were extraordinary, just better than the other two. The fried tilapia came with four different sauces (honey patis, tokwa't baboy sauce, sweet chili, and mango bagoong (not too sure about this last one). This was a fun dish, as it allowed one to play with the flavors of the different sauces. The laing two ways came with sauce (the normal way one would serve laing) and without (dry, with the sauce cooked into the gabi leaves). I didn't like the dry version at first, but i must admit, it kinda grew on me.

The other two dishes were not so great. The fish was overcooked (the flesh was too firm and chalky). Steaming fish is a delicate science with much that can go wrong; if fine chinese restaurants do sometimes get this wrong, Mesa may be forgiven for this misstep. The caramelized garlic pork, however, was a disaster. The first time the order came to our table, the pork was more pork fat than meat (more suited for a carinderia rather than a fine dining establishment; the purchasing manager should be flogged). On the plus side, the wait staff was quick to pick up on our dissatisfication and quickly sent the dish back to the kitchen. Unfortunately, the revamped dish still failed to impress. Despite its name, the pork meat was pale and unappetizing; overriding flavor was sugary sweetness with none of the great garlic flavor. This certainly did not live up to its "signature dish" status.

I may need to try the restaurant again; there are other interesting-sounding dishes on the menu. Another plus is that the dishes are quite reasonably priced, certainly for a Greenbelt 5 restaurant. Despite the giant apahap (more than 700 gms, the smallest that the restaurant had at that time, and the most expensive item among our orders), our total bill was only around P1,300 for three persons.