TAVERN ASIA RESTAURANT

TAVERN ASIA RESTAURANT
197 Aguirre Ave.
BF Homes Paranaque

Killing time in my cousin's laptop playing games, reading posts and answering stupid quiz questions on my Facebook page, thinking I will end this Thursday night bored and unproductive.
I got an unusual call from Elwin inviting me to meet James and Ja in a place called Tavern. Yes the name speaks for itself. Tavern is a resto/bar here in BF homes with a Thailand-ish taste located along Aguirre Avenue you cant miss it they have a Lighted sign "TAV" written on it.

On the way to tavern, shotgun on Elwin's Jazzy car, with Jazzy music Michael Jackson's - Man in the mirror covered by an unknown artist, on a rainy night, what can i say... it was one quiet ten minute ride. Finally we arrived slowing down glancing on the place, crowded for a Thursday night, parking was almost full, but by chance we parked in an empty lot.

On entering the place escorted by some parking attendant holding a big umbrella, we saw James and Ja who arrived same time as we did. "Good Evening Sir" Said by the Guard, well i guess it's OK to give back a smile. Outside to the left there are tables with a big umbrella packed with people and to the right bamboo's everywhere, two small tables with round red pillows to sit on and the bar, and on the inside was air conditioned, another bar, some tables (sorry, i did not count) and a comfort room for the gents and ladies.

The comfort rooms are separated, white tiles on the wall and black on the floor with some white pebbles on the side, good thing there is no awful smell, the sink is universal, the sink offered liquid soap, although coming up short of tissue papers, and a bin under the sink. Overall it's clean and neat. As my mother always tell me how important it is to have a clean comfort room in a restaurant.

I was worried our table would be in the air conditioned area, I always liked to smoke while drinking. Luckily we decided to sit outside beside the bar where the red pillows are. The table was still messy cigarette ashes everywhere and you could still see the circle marks made by the bottle or glass of the previous customer. Minutes after getting our butts comfy some waiter gave us menus, I did not get an earful of what he was saying, because the crowd is a bit loud and the background music is playing. So I just nodded and then he left, maybe because to give us time to decide, plus the place was busy and he had other customers to attend to.

There are two separate orange and black colored menus, one for the food and another for the drinks. Looking at the menu, laminated orange paper with black text for the food listed, looks simple but what I did not see was food images and a little description on their menu. Since the menu is readable I guess it's ok.

A waiter cleaned the table for us. The waiters are well dressed in uniforms, they are wearing collared shirts, black pants and leather shoes, and they were wearing name tags. We were greeted by Manny - The captain waiter (not the people's champ), he is the only waiter there who seemed happy to see us. He is easy to spot in this crowded place because of his black hat. It's his black hat that differentiates him from the other waiters. In a waiter's point of view, that black hat IS the power ha ha

We ordered a couple of pitcher-ed cocktails or a mixed drink from bottom to top of the menu
since we are close to the bar, the drinks we ordered came out quick around four to five minutes tops. Here are the drinks we ordered: Alex Delight, Gallera Blow, Palawan Beat, Sentosa Strike, Phuket Punch and Boracay Cruiser. Sadly I cannot describe and differentiate the taste because we requested the drink to be stronger, like adding a knife to it, so all i tasted was the alcohol ha ha. For me it really doesn't matter were here to get drunk anyway.

For the Crowd, I guess it's safe to say and as people call it before, a bunch of Yuppies or as wikipedia tells it "young urban professionals" for a Thursday night it's very crowded. Plus there are a many waiting customers, everyone is just drinking and being friendly, because I've heard some bars here in BF Homes are packed with gangs and often have a street fights... all i can say is that this place looks and feels safe.

For the food we ordered Squid Chili Mushrooms, it took around 20 to 30 minutes to arrive, it was well presented in a white square plate, and a couple of forks and saucer depending on how many people are there on the table, for the taste it reminded me of a Chinese dish Sweet and Sour Pork, here its a squid, although a bit spicy (hence the chili part), and the squid was well cooked because of the meaty texture with a slightly more chew. For the secondary ingredients like onions, bell peppers, green chillies and the sweet and spicy sauce really accompanies one another, giving you a little bit of sweetness and a bit of spice.

Another dish we ordered was Calamares Ala Negra, note that at this point I am wasted, I apologize for the lack of info on this dish, at first it looked burnt, the color was black, James told me it was because of the squid's ink plus "the Ala Negra" part explains it all, it was crunchy outside and soft on the inside, presented in a rectangular white plate with a white dipping sauce in the side. The taste was good but I liked the Squid Chili Mushrooms more. I Forgot to ask the waiter for their Specialty before oredering, so I asked Manny some questions about this place, then i was directed to the Ms. Babs.

Ms. Babs - The Manager. She told me that the place started eight months ago, the place received an article in the Inquirer. And that they serve Thai Food and yes they serve red horse and san mig light, Plus there is and Acoustic night every thursday and Bossanova night on Sundays, playing from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 pm, She also said that their ingredients are as I recall... imported. I asked for some recommended dishes, She gave me an old menu and marked some of her recommendations

Starters: the Asian Pork Sisig and Calamares Ala Negra
Off the grill: Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Soup: Tom Yum Goong
Rice: Shrimp Fried Rice and Thai Bagoong Rice

On their menu they have a Seafood Specialties, Chicken Specialties, Beef Specialties, Pork Specialties, Noodles, Soup, Grilled and Dessert. The cost was not that expensive, in an average cost of 400 pesos you can get wasted and full. For my next visit I will try Tavern's Pork Binagoongan, I love salty foods especially anything with bagoong (shrimp paste). After our small talk and giving thanks to Ms. Babs for the information I returned to our table.

So here I am with James, Elwin, Ja, and Anton, enjoying the night having a little debate on whos the strongest person in the world, in the end Son Goku won. Another friend came up to greet us It was Lope and his friend (I forgot his name), they joined our table with their bucket of San Mig Light. The more the merrier as they say, on hearing their conversations, and listening to the acoustic music, I kept on staring at the embossed wood carving in the wall, the face looks so familiar... funny thing was it took me the whole night to figure out it was Buddha's face after all ha ha.

As the night ended, our goodbye's were set, the bill was taken care of, and as I exit the place hammered and praying that I do not make a mess in my friend's car, hating myself for not bringing a camera with me. But with everything had taken into account it was one happy evening.