Seafood Market

It was a balmy day and everyone seemed to feel cold in the office. When approached by Gentley asking for a lunch place, I suggested Marina Seafood Restaurant in G4 as I craved for a hot clam soup. Everyone seemed to like the idea as we needed hot food at the moment to perk us up.

On our way to G4, Gentley fancied the idea of trying out Seafood Market, a resto that offers live seafood where you can go to their market section to select which ones you wanted cooked for you. It was adjacent to Marina and having not had the chance to try it, I quickly assented.

The resto was located on the 2nd floor overlooking the park and it seemed to cater to families as tables were quite large seating some 12 people. We were given a spot in the middle of the restaurant and settings were cleared as there were only 5 of us in the group. We browsed through their menu and trooped our way to their market section to check out what seafood were available. We were happy to see live clams, suahe (white shrimps) and squid. There were also live groupers, lobsters of all sizes, oysters, crabs, tuna, salmon and tiger prawns. But, we agreed we're veering away from ordering crabs and lobsters as these can get our bill to astronomical proportions.

I ordered squid - to be grilled with tomatoe stuffings, suahe (white shrimps) - to be sauteed in butter and, clams - to be prepared in clear soup. I asked for options on vegetables, and we settled for water cress in garlic (kangkong). We opted for plain rice to accompany our food and had our individual choices of drinks. While waiting for our meal, we feasted on fish crackers while talking about a TV show exposing the hygienic questions on vinegar preparation by some scrupulous entrepreneurs.

The clam soup came in first, and it was steamy hot. Comparing it with Marina's soup, I should say, Marina's tasted a lot better. Rene thought, it must be the amount of ginger that was put on the clam soup. Next came the sauteed shrimps on butter, oh it was rosy red, it glistened before our eyes. It tasted sweet, you tell easily it was live and fresh before it was cooked. The shrimp was excellent. Then, the water cress sauteed in garlic came. The serving was a plenty and it smelled wonderful. The gang could not complain either on its taste - just pure bliss. The last viand to be served was the grilled squid. How it was grilled to perfection. We loved it, the stuffing lent an aroma that no fishy smell was ever left. The kicker was the vinegar and soy sauce dip with lots of extra hot chili peppers. O, what a great meal indeed.

We knew we're paying a premium for the live seafood that we ordered. Though, we orginally planned for a cheaper meal at Marina's, we knew we could not complain for what dining experience we just went throught. Our bill came and we contributed Php480.00 (US$10.66) each.

It rained hard when we left the restaurant. Gentley would have wanted to have his passport picture taken and to browse on Oakley sports glasses but we convinced him to do these on another day as it got darker outside. We came back to the office together, me, Rene, Maidette, Gentley and Max. Max came fresh from his vacation in Australia who was thoughtful enough to give me a box of Macadamia Nut Trios. I have also a bar of 3 Muskeeters, courtesy of Randy who also flew in from the US as his pasalubong to us. Jimmy was kind enough to drive us to the mall, as always.