Monday, April 26, 2010

Cool Iceberg's

Yesterday was another day for my friend and I to explore the outside world, and to enjoy ourselves without office routines. We went to Robinson's Place Manila and dined and watched "The Back-up Plan" and I cried a hell lot of tears. Yeah, the movie is supposed to be a rom-com but it turned out to be quite a tear-jerker too. But I didn't mind especially with J.Lo on it. God, she's definitely a good actress. And after all these years, the body.. especially the booty still hasn't changed.

After the movie, we went for a snack. I originally planned to have some of those coffee buns and a cup of hot coffee but changed my mind and went to Iceberg's instead. I have already dined there a couple of times over the years and I can really attest to the mouth-watering pictures that they have on their menu. Not to mention those giant banana splits, parfaits, and sandwiches painted on their walls too. The last time I went there, I had some cold concoction and their version of Philly's Cheesesteak sandwich. I was overwhelmed when they served it to me. I mean, the ice creams and all those cool, refreshing treats are out of the question since they "specialize" in them but the sandwich... real great. That Cheesesteak that I had was to die for. It has lots of cheese on it, and generous amount of beef that are very juicy and not tough at all. The sandwich is huge. Well, at least for me. I am a big girl and I really find it big, so I guess it really is a non-ordinary sized sandwich.

Anyway, yesterday, as I was lookin
g at their menu, I was overwhelmed again as I always do. They really have such a huge selection of food for people of different ages and preferences. The cold treats are really tempting but I tried to divert my eyes because I have cough and cold so I cannot indulge myself to those yummy looking, pastel-colored parfaits (poor me). I was trying to find something that will fill my tummy and at the same time is light on the pocket. I was torn between pasta and sandwich. At first, I wanted a Chili dog sandwich since it has already been a long time since I last tasted a chili dog sandwich. Then, when I compared the prices of the sandwiches against the pastas', I thought, what the heck, some of them got the same price tag and some pastas are only a few bucks more expensive. So I tried to find myself something off the pasta selections. It is quite hard to decide because every item on that menu of theirs looks real good. I know, I should not be fooled by these pictures and I have learned that in a not-so-good way, but it really is hard not to give in. So what I did was I chose one from each group, although I was leaning more to pastas, and asked the waitress to recommend something from each group also.

The waitress gave me their bestseller items and I finally settled for their Hungarian Sausage and
Mushroom Carbonara. My friend meanwhile settled for their Chicken sandwich. As for the drinks, I gave in to the temptation and asked for a Rootbeer Float, while my friend tried their Peach Mango Shake. When the drinks arrived, I was satisfied. I mean, the Peach Mango Shake looked like it was blended fresh fruit because of the color. I think it was unlike the other restaurants' offer of chemical blended and food coloring induced shakes. My Rootbeer Float on the other hand was great. Floats are not extraordinary anymore here, because of a fastfood chain's offer of Coke float and flavored Sprite float. But the real big difference between these two is that Iceberg's Rootbeer Float does not have any ice on it. They serve an ice cold rootbeer and dropped a scoop of Vanilla ice cream on it. Sure, the ice cream caused bubbles to form and in effect, spill some of the rootbeer but the spills are just about, one teaspoon max. They give it to you plainly which I like. They put in chocolate syrup but not too much that it makes it too sweet. As for the Peach Mango Shake, my friend told me that she only tasted the the Mango part and seems to not taste the Peach part. But at least, it is sweet unlike the one from where we dined for lunch, which is very sour that she has to add in sugar.


Then the pasta and sandwich arrived
. The sandwich looked dry to me. Maybe because it was slightly heated although not toasted. It was served with potato chips on the side and a garlic dip with brown powder on top which later on we guessed as barbecue powder according to its taste. My pasta on the other hand looks almost like the one on the picture. Actually, it looked better on my plate than in the picture. It looks creamy, meaning Iceberg's did not scrimp on the pasta sauce. I can see pieces of thinly sliced Hungarian Sausage, and mushrooms. And of course on top, there sprinkled Parmesan cheese and parsley that are not too much nor too less. The garlic bread also looked good beside the heap of pasta. It was gleaming golden yellow, with bright green bits sprinkled on top. For those who are quite confused, I was referring to the butter spread on the garlic bread and chopped parsley sprinkled on top of it.

I bit my first out of the bread and for me it is really good. The bread is soft, and you can taste the butter. I am not sure if I have tasted garlic but I cannot really say that I didn't because I have a little taste deficiency due to my colds. Maybe there's a garlic taste but is subtle that I didn't realized that the bread has garlic flavor in it. One thing that I have observed is that although the bread is gleaming with butter, it is not oily at all. I don't have oil on my fingers that I usually experience whenever I eat garlic bread, which is good. The pasta on the other hand was cooked
al dente. It is not soggy at all nor does the strands stick to each other inspite of the generous serving of the cream sauce. The thinly sliced Hungarian Sausage is a bit spicy but not too much that it burns your tongue. It does not overwhelm the whole dish, instead, it gives life to the dish itself. The thin slice made it just a part of the pasta instead of stealing the light away and making itself the main attraction. And one thing that I also appreciate is that I cannot count how many slices of Hungarian Sausage they put on the dish, unlike in some restaurants that the ratio of the toppings against the pasta is 2:10 in favor of the pasta. The mushroom, on the other hand, is also thinly sliced, thus preventing it to be too chewy. The sauce is also good. It is not too much that it makes your pasta too heavy when twirling with your fork. It also has no "umay" factor and is seasoned well. It really bound together all the ingredients there are on the dish.

All in all, the Iceberg's experience was a winner. I cannot remember when I have ever regret eating there. I plan on going back a couple more times to sample their other dishes as well. Their menu simply looks so amazing that it makes my mouth water more and leave me craving for their food.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
Creative Commons License
Yuummm!!! by Shiela Briol is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.
Based on a work at www.shielastaste.blogspot.com.