Something magical lands at the Eastwood Citywalk as the 121 Group of Restaurants opens SALAMANGKA, a restaurant, coffee place and a bar all-in-one. With inspiration drawn from the rich and vast Philippine mythical folklore, Salamangka opens up our eyes once again to the different strange mythical creatures that haunted most of your youth days with their themed aesthetics coupled with a myriad of drinks that are named after these creatures of our imagination.
Now for our F.A.B. review!
(F)OOD:
Their food is mostly our all-time favorite Filipino comfort food paired with our choice of either specialty coffee, craft beer or cocktails whose names will surely give you the creeps 🙂
KAMOTE CHIPS: deep fried, hand-cut sweet potato crisps served with a yummy condensed milk reduction. Such a simple snack but who would have thought that it will be a sure hit with all of us. It was instantly devoured at once as it landed on our table.
PIK-NIK: hand-cut fries and served with 3 different sauces. Freshly cut and deep-fried string potatoes that are reminiscent of those tasty potato snacks we used to have while we were young. Perfect as a beer match!
COCA-COLA PAKPAK: fried wings simmered in a sweet and savory Coca-Cola reduction served with PIKNIK.
ITLOG NA MAALAT PAKPAK: salted egg chicken wings served with piknik. A little spicy and salty which is best with rice or with their piknik just to tone-down the saltiness from the yummy salted egg.
SPAGHETTI CARBONARA: Carbonara with bacon, ham, spinach and roasted garlic. Served with garlic bread. This one is a creamy number. I hope they tone down the creamy component and some crispy bacon but don’t just take my word for it.
KESO AT BAWANG QUESADILLA: grilled cheese and garlic quesadilla. Perfect for those looking for a filling snack that will satisfy your cheese cravings.
PITA AT HUMMUS SAMPLER for those looking for a light snack that has many different flavors: original, pesto, sun dried tomato, balsamic vinegar and tandoori.
Now, let’s move on to their drinks! First, their SPECIALTY COFFEE. Their coffee is high grade coffee (less than 2 percent of the coffee in the world!) that has traceability of the coffee’s origin.
Chocnut Latte, Coconut Latte, Kapeko 3-in-1 and Ube Latte: each drink is a distinct taste on it’s own. Love the Ube Latte and the flavorful chocnut. Haven’t tried the Kapeko but for the coconut latte, better order it hot since the taste would be more evident in it’s hot version.
ALL DAY KANIN AT ULAM
Winner rice toppings that can surely fill-up a hungry person’s appetite!
Tinapa flakes paired with salted egg and a whole green mango will make you ask for more.
Ever heard of Beef Sinigang? Our favorite sour soup turned into solid and with a green mango twist. We can eat it for days.
HOMEMADE COCKTAILS are reinforced by nfusions that are crafted and matured in-house. These native infusions are paired with gin, vodka, tequila and rum with fruity notes like dried mangoes, lemon peel, raisins, oranges and chili. So, if you are not into beer, these are your perfect beer replacements.
WAKWAK: rum, lime juice, mango puree, mint leaves. I just love the right combination of fruits and alcohol in this drink.
MAMBABARANG: gin. lime juice, cucumber slices, mint leaves. Not a fan of this, there are a lot of pieces of it when you drink.
IBONG ADARNA: tequila, pineapple. calamansi and chili. A refreshing drink that will surely make you sing like an ibong adarna 🙂
NATIVE INFUSIONS: Crafted and matured for a week in Salamangka and can be ordered per shot or try all of the 7 varieties: Undin – roasted bellpepper vodka. Tiyanak – Thai chili tequila. Kibaan – raisin gin. Santelmo – lemon vodka. Sigbin – orange vodka. Duwende – dried mango rum and Nuno Sa Punso – spearmint chocolate vodka, like an After 8. These little critters surely do have a bad name but don’t be fooled since these pack a punch and mostly great tasting. My face was the raisin gin, lemon vodka and orange vodlka.
(A)MBIENCE:
As a 15-year or more citizen of Eastwood City myself, this space has been the house of different spaces whose main purpose is to give you either a relaxing ambience or a Friday-night out all-out drinking.slash party place. Since Salamangka is fusion of a coffee shop cum bar, the atmosphere inside Salamangka is just like other coffee shops you’ve been to but the touches of Salamangka emphasizing on Filipino folklore is surely a party starter. It is evident with the murals and some of their decorations that will surely make you want to take advantage for a photo op.
(B)UTLER SERVICE:
All other servers are OK with our requests provided at once. One notable was the bartender; we are not sure if he is not accustomed to a lot of customers asking for many orders at once but he didn’t have to be a little grumpy when the job requires multi-tasking skills. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the friendly atmosphere especially when the owner was there and attend to us and our needs.
The restaurant may be intimidating from the outside but once you take the first step into this mysterious place, you will find yourself satisfied by their food, ther ingeniously named cocktails or their specialty coffee.
