Lunch at Kanin Club

My friend Ariel from San Francisco is in town and we brought him to Kanin Club yesterday for some Filipino food.

Several of my friends already told me how good the food was so I was eager to try it. I’m glad they opened a branch at Ayala Triangle Garden in Makati.

Rochelle arrived around 11:30 and the restaurant was already full. They don’t accept reservations so be sure to go there early or after 1:00 pm to avoid the working crowd who filled up the restaurant.

Hmm a long table empty? I suspect this was reserved.

Ariel, Rochelle, Chris and Pat

We started our meal with a refreshing and tart green mango salad. I wasn’t able to try it but everyone assured me it was good.

Thai green mango salad P172

I’ve never, ever eaten dinuguan in my life. The idea of eating a pig’s stomach, intestines, ears, heart and snout cooked in pork blood with vinegar made me squeamish. But since everyone raved about Kanin Club’s crispy dinuguan I closed my eyes and tried a piece.

Wow oh wow! It was fabulous. Super crispy chicharon (pork rind) coated with a salty, sour sauce. Is this what I’ve missed all my life? My friends assured me regular dinuguan didn’t taste like this. Well I’m happy that this was my first taste of dinuguan.

Every time I got a piece of dinuguan it felt was like Russian roulette. I was afraid I’d get a piece of pork innard but luckily all 3 pieces I ate was either chicharon or fried pork. I would have eaten more but my luck might run out. (I just read the menu after writing this. It says this dish contained pork only. I wish I knew that at lunch. I would have eaten more!)

crispy diniguan P261

Ariel declared the adobo tasted like his mother’s recipe. That was high praise from an adobo lover. The adobo combo had pork, chicken and liver pieces. The meat was tender and simmered in the sauce for a long time. The thick sauce had a very good balance of salty and sour.

adobo combo P209

My favorite dish was the seafood kare kare. I could have finished the whole order by myself. The sauce had a slight peanut flavor and lots of coconut milk. The sauce was sooooooo good that it didn’t need bagoong at all. The seafood was comprised of shrimp, squid and mussels. Please you must order this dish. Well unless you don’t like coconut milk which I love.

seafood kare kare P298

This was our least liked dish. It wasn’t bad at all but quite ordinary. The pork was too fatty. The sauce lacked a more distinct bagoong flavor. It was just a thin, slightly sweet, salty sauce. It needed more ooomph.

crispy pork binagoongan P231

Blanched kang kong leaves with adobo sauce. Simply executed but quite delicious.

adobong kang kong P97

Both the tinapa and aligue rice were good and complemented the dishes we ordered. These two orders of flavored rice plus 1 1/2 bowls of white rice were just enough for the 6 of us.

tinapa rice P149

aligue rice P149

I ordered the turon KC but they ran out so we had to make do with the saba con hielo. Deb loved it! The banana slices were firm, sweet and perfect with the evaporated milk and crushed ice.

saba con hielo P90

The sticky rice was chewy and undercooked. Too bad since the flavor was quite nice and not too sweet. The mango was very sour though.

mango w/ sticky rice P149

Finally there’s a new Filipino restaurant that I really like. The prices are reasonable, the serving size just right for sharing, the acoustics could be improved but overall I give Kanin Club a two thumbs up!

Note: After we left the restaurant the bus bombing incident happened and I got stuck in traffic. Had to pass Roxas Blvd. to go home after bringing Ariel back to Marriott in Resort World. 

Kanin Club’s menu

Kanin Club
Ayala Triangle Gardens
Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
telephone: 621-6109

Paseo de Sta. Rosa, Laguna
telephone: (049)544-0332

UP-Technohub,QC
telephone: 332-5978