I've seen bars and restaurants stick to one thing and then fade away. Most of the restaurants can't keep up and have a hard time evolving with the fast changing trends and customers who are in search for that great bar and restaurant experience.
Waterside Restobar at Solaire has evolved numerous times already and in a good way. I can still remember the first few times we were there years ago. I tried to feed a team there for the event that we are having at one of the venues and I clearly remember that they didn't have meals that are good for sharing. The price per dish of course came with the teritory, I understand that. I also recall that the food then wasn't bad either, I didn't remember having a bad meal at Waterside.
After a year, they changed menu and even though the price still fell on the same range, the food menu line up also increased. We had more choices and food just kept getting better. We've celebrated birthdays, reunions and after event get together at Waterside. Everytime I go there, there's always something new.
The Waterside used to have a lot of things going on, they had the Waterside Weekend Jam before, and daily happy hours from 5:30 - 8:30 PM (until now its available) and also unlimited nachos before! You can read about it here
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| Hylton Le Roux, Executive Sous Chef, Western for Solaire restaurants |
When Hylton took over, they changed the direction of their dishes and went for a Latin-inspired cuisine or South American food not because of of the view or the sunset but because Chef Le Roux saw that there was a market for it.
There was so many similarities between Filipino and South American food. A lot of Filipinos think that South American food is spicy, it's not. They have the same flavor profile, sour, sweet salty, and its extreme. There is a lot of similarities, that's why we decided to go with Southern American food." Added Le Roux
Peruvian Night is the latest offering of Waterside, it happens 6PM - 9PM daily for the price of Php 1,199 per head. Here you can have unlimited cocktails and your choice of two (2) Tapas (pica-pica).
If you think there's something fishy going on here with their unlimited cocktails, well you're wrong. I checked the ingredients. It checks out and they use quality ingredients, believe me. If you want to get your booze and cocktail fix, this place would be it.
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| Pisco Sour - Made out of Pisco, lemon & sugar bitter |
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| Pisco Jerngibre - Pisco, lime, fresh ginger & ginger ale |
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| Caipirinha Prima - Cachaca, lime, passion fruit and spiced sugar. |
Fourth one is the Peruvian Fog Cutter - a heavy-set Tiki cocktail with vibrant citrus noted and hints of roassted almond and marzipan.
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| Peruvian Fog Cutter - Artisan Rum, orgeat infused with sesame, orange liqueur, lime, bitters |
To complete the Peruvian cocktails set is the Cul De Sac, A rendition to a classic old fashioned cocktail that is strong and straighforward with citrus and floral notes. Made with tequila, agave syrup, orange bitters and hickory smoke.
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| Cul De Sac - Tequila, agave syrup, orange bitters & hickory smoke. |
Now for the tapas, you get to choose two tapas if you avail of the Php 1,199+ per head. Additional serving of any tapas is only Php 130.
Kingfish Tiradito
The local kingfish is cut sashimi style and you'd notice that it's very flat. This dish is made out of Tomato leche de tigre, cancha corn, chili and coriander. Similar to our local kinilaw, a Leche de Tigre is basically a maritnate that they use to cook the fish with. A normal leche de tigre has lime, onions,chili, fish stock, blend it and strain it, what waterside has done is they used used tomato, blended correander and strainer. Leche de Tigre when translated is tiger's milk. Traditionally Ceviche, should not be cooked all the way through, it should still be raw, then all of the liquid form the fish should cook it. Cancha corn is the white thing that you see on the dish. It is like an unpoped popcorn. Then tomatos, coriander, red onion and lime juice.
Lomo Saltado Anticuchos
Exactly like the 'bistek tagalog', beef, soy sauce but instead of calamansi, it's lime juice. It should taste like bistek tagalog. What chef does it they marinate it overnight. Chef suggests that 24 hours is just enough, you don't want to marinate it for too long because the acidity is going to cool all the meat and it's going to be tough and dry. A lomo saltado, isn't normally on a stick, it's a saucy dish smiliar to the bistek tagalog, also available on the menu. What they did is they took the flavors and made it into another classic peruvian street food, Anticuchos. Originally made of beef parts, on skewers and on the grill. Taking the flavor of Lomo Saltado and put them on skewers and you have anticuchos. This Lomo Saltado Anticuchos is made with beef tenderloin skewers, cherry tomato, piquillo salsa and glazed lomo.
Peruvian Empanada.
Argentinian originally, pretty much every country in South America has their own version of empanada. This one is a classic peruvian empanada. One has to keep in mind that empanada is not a pie, and it's not saucy and has to hold itself together. Inside is Cumin ground beef, tomatos and then a bit of chili and lime juice, also chopped up hard-boild egg and olive inside and Huancaina sauce when served. The way they cook it is not deep-friend but just pan-fried or sauteed. The cumcumber and red redish add freshness to the dish.
Jalea Mixta
Basically a deep-fried seafood. Made with Crispy fried mixed seafood, aji rocoto and salsa criolla. If the Japanese have their tempura, the Peruvians have their Jalea Mixta. Normally comes with a sauce. Classically, tomatoes, red onions and lime juice and classically served with Ceviche.
The flavors of the dishes are as authentic as they come. Some ingredients and spices are shipped from South America to make sure that they get that flavor profile.
So if you're looking for a southern comfort food that has that authentic taste of Peru, head over to Solaire's Waterside and be sure to taste of these cocktails and tapas to get the full experience.
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