Opera song, dance and play of a Zarzuela added a new scene in our arts, culture and history, thanks to the Spaniards that came here and introduced this to us as new form of art and entertainment. I haven't seen a live zarzuela performance yet and thanks to Youtube that it took me just seconds to watch on how it is performed, I'm interested to see more of it.
I'm glad modern zarzuela is being taught in school and its a lot more entertaining for this generation, but the Zarzuela that I know now is a new restaurant that was put up in the new East Wing of Shangri La Plaza mall, the name of the resto gave you a teaser already what they serve, because they served food inspired from Spanish and Filipino cuisine.
No need to travel and go to the edge of our provinces,because Zarzuela is here to bring you the tastiest and yummiest food of our country.
In my first visit, my comments about the resto is that everything is all neat and bright.
Zarzuela resto uses natural lighting that's why it glows in day time. Thanks to the see through glass and their blinds, it added more drama inside and give you a good reason to eat and get hungry.
Colorful flowers are present in every table, this spot looks comfy.
Here's their menu.
Food price ranges from P200+ up to P400+
Some food on the menu are marked with a colored asterisk, it means that the marked food on the list are the best seller.
Here's a teaser of the food they served to us.
btw, I'm here for a food tasting session
Beef Tapa (P289)
A tender salty-sweet panfried US Beef Shortplate, served with Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Pusit Tisay (P549)
Squid cooked in Adobo style, but the difference is that this squid is cooked in white adobo style.
The common squid adobo we need is that the sauce is colored black. For me this is the pricey food in their menu, its a special here in Zarzuela.
Smoked Sardine Efuven (P259)
This is the first time that I tasted an efuven noodles, it is a rice noodle from the Visayas region. This was developed by the Bisaya during the war and this efuven noodles helped them survived the years from hunger. Its a must try!!! the noodles are paired with smoked sardines in olive oil cooked with tomatoes and topped with flaked bangus bits.
Crab and shrimp relleno (P499)
Relleno and ala bola bola style - a mix of premium crab meat and shrimp served with calamansi hollandaise. A must try here in Zarzuela! this is one of my favorite here.
Monggo sabaw susyal (P249)
Its a sosyal version of a monggo soup!!! with chorizo bits, sili leaves and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I just can't tell the difference of this..taste the same of our monggo soup at home,but this one is added with chorizo bits. ITs quite common for me.
Fountain of Youth (P199)
An appetizer food that can make you feel younger hahaha. Its a crispy strips of pork belly with dips of green mango, bagoong and tomato vinaigrette. Its a very tempting appetizer and it can serve also as your meal partnered with a plain rice.
Fountain of Youth
Its crispy...tasty and its pork pork porky soft inside!!
Pinangat (P229)
Also my favorite...no need to go to our pronvice in Sampaloc, Quezon just to hoard some pinangat food there, heeheh, I can now eat three set of pinagat here in Zarzuela. Pinangat is a "gabi" leaves stuffed with strips of pork belly and cooked in coconut cream. When you eat this, the coconut juice will flow and add sweet to spicy flavor. I can eat this forever!
Mango Shake
Calamansi Shake
Iced Sago't Gulaman
my favorite....I ordered three kinds of drinks that day and I missed their sago and gulaman, so after finishing the two drinks, I ordered this right away. The best drink to beat the heat.
Savor Maruja
The dessert of the day!! maruja or fried unripe banana top with ice cream and chocolate syrup.
my review and comments:
The restaurant is very intimidating, because of the bright and neatness of it, but if you follow your tummy's desire to eat good pinoy food, this is the best place to confine your hunger. Zarzuela is bit expensive for me, but eating one or two food for my lunch is quite okay. Me and my wife are planning to go here soon, because I keep on promoting this whenever Shangri La mall is being mentioned. Looking at the mall's resto list, Zarzuela is the only resto there that serve Spanish and Pinoy cuisine.
The food is great! especially the efuven noodles, its new to me and I like it.
If you missed our country's best food, then try it here in Zarzuela.
Visit Zarzuela restaurant in 6th level of East Wing of Shangri La Mall
