Finding Comfort at Mom and Tina's

There's a place called Mom and Tina's Bakery Cafe and our friend Joy checked it out for us. Let's see what they have for us:

Once a month my girlfriends and I look for a place with a cozy ambiance for dinner. We usually go to different restaurants on these monthly girls night out to try out different dishes, to talk about the over-all environment of the restaurant, to critique the food and of course, to catch up about what has been going on in our lives from work to our dating life, to our love life and to our family life. From these monthly girls night outs, I realized why not share all these restaurant critiques? I’m going to begin writing out our insights of the different restaurants we go to for other women out there who like us, loves to hang out and catch up with their wonderful girlfriends over dinner in a really good restaurant. May our comments be a guide for them in picking out a good restaurant where they can bond.

Mom and Tina’s Bakery Café may seem like a bakeshop with their yellowish lights and bread displays but when you look again closely, you can see all the tables filled with people who seem to be looking for an escape from their stressful day at the office. As you go inside, the waiters and waitresses seem very courteous in greeting their customers with a good evening. One of the waiters approached me and my friend, Irene and asked us if we wanted a table even though all the tables are already filled. It was a nice gesture because you know they still want to accept you as their customer and put you on the waiting list unlike other restaurants, if all their tables are filled, the waiters or waitresses would not mind you at all. It was a nice first impression. However, my other girlfriends have already arrived earlier than us so I just said, “Thank you!” and went to my friends’ table.

Since we’ve arrived later than our friends, the waiters still gave us a menu for additional orders. I was impressed this time because not all waiters do this. They usually wait for you to ask for the menu if you’ve arrived later than your friends. To be nice, I used the menu by asking my friends what they have ordered and point it out to me since they have already ordered earlier then I ordered additional chicken fingers.

The first order that came was the Caesar Salad. Each leaf of the salad was coated with creamy salad sauce but it was not soggy and you can still feel the fresh and crispiness of the leaf as you bite it.
The freshly baked Garlic Cheese Rolls came with the Shepard’s Pie. The rolls are big. Just eating one of the warm bread will make you think that it will fill you up but then as you are in the middle of finishing the bread, you’ll surely crave for more because the bread is not sweet nor salty which is really nice. Aside from that, the soft texture and good smell of the bread will tempt you to have more. For the Shepard’s Pie, I was actually expecting something that will look like a buco pie with meat in it but it was not how it looked like. It was crusty on top which looks amazing. For the taste, it was delicious and sinful. It can be a good comfort food for the stressed souls. No wonder why there were a lot of office workers who are hanging out there after working hours. Just a taste of their Shepard’s Pie will make you feel better. However, it seems like there was more mashed potatoes than meat in the pie. My friends and I agreed that the pie will taste a lot better with more meat to give more flavour to the mashed potato.

The Chicken Pot Pie came in next. It looks exactly like the Shepard’s Pie. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know which is which. Like the Shepard’s Pie, it was good. However, eating both at the same time, it was hard to distinguish which is which until you taste the meat. The amount of chicken was generous but I think the sauce should be more flavourful to give it a more chicken taste so that if you order both Shepard’s Pie and Chicken Pot Pie at the same time, you’ll be able to differentiate right away which is which by just the taste of the mashed potatoes.
My order of Chicken Fingers was the next in line. It is the regular chicken fingers with fries. The batter was crispy and the chicken was tender and juicy inside which is perfect. It may look like a simple dish and very common to many restaurants but it is actually a basic dish which should be taken well care of because it serves as a gauge how good the cook is. With this dish being perfect to the texture and taste, I salute to the one that cooked this.
For dessert to satisfy our sweet tooth, we had the Strawberry Walnut Cup. It was hard when it was served because it was fresh from the freezer. It took time for us to dig our spoons into the dessert because it’s icy. Good thing our waiter knew what to do. He suggested that he microwaves it a little. When he came back with our dessert, it was dig in time! The Strawberry Walnut Cup was not too sweet but still quite icy. I have to be honest that I did not enjoy it. It was good for me that it was not too sweet but then the icy part seems to take away the flavour of the dessert. Every time I had a bite, I was looking for the strawberry taste which didn’t come out well.
Overall, I think my dining experience here was okay. I love the ambiance, the service and the Garlic Cheese Rolls. If you’re tired from work and your office is at Legaspi, Makati, Mom and Tina’s Bakery Café is a good place to chill and relax.