Restaurant Rave: The Balcony

This was actually my THIRD visit to The Balcony, the new Gastro-pub along C.Palanca in Legazpi Village in Makati, but my first time to actually go there to eat. The first two times were to meet and catch up over (more than) a few drinks with friend and fellow blogger Dane (trustme-itsparadise.blogspot.com) so this third visit's mission was purely to FINALLY try out all this yummy food I have been seeing photos of on Facebook.

Met up for dinner with my cousin (and amazing young woman) Vicky Herrera who was up for a "pig out" session with me. She was starving and had already ordered when I arrived but I managed to get her to share an order of Sisig with me. I'm not really one to immediately order sisig. In fact, it took years for me to finally even try it and I am still VERY picky when it comes to Sisig and through the years have only eaten the one at Aysee's near Ultra and Ken Afford along Katipunan.

And then this came into my life. See, the thing is with sisig is it needs to be crunchy- no excuses and no other way to eat it. This is the same reason why I can't get into chicken or fish sisig- they completely miss the entire point of the whole dish. They can't get the crunch, or even the exact flavor of real sisig. This one at The Balcony is pre-marinated, super crunchy and gets ten million extra points for its addition of AIOLI that is mixed into the dish. Say what you want about fat content and heart attacks, but I say if you are gonna eat sisig, you might as well go all the way.

I have also heard a lot about their Twin Mac n' Cheese. Being a sucker for anything with carbs and O.D.-worthy amounts of cheese I had to order this. Pretending it was for my daughter, I knew I would be able to eat some because there was no way she would be able to finish the two bowls by herself.

The Balcony's Twin Mac n' Cheese consists of a bowl of macaroni with cream cheese, truffle oil and bacon bits, and another of macaroni with cheddar and fontina. It's good for sharing as it is VERY rich and the price is pretty nice also at only over P300 for both bowls. Vicky and I ate some of this when Ananda was done eating- and I STILL brought home left overs. Not because it wasn't THAT good, but mostly because I ordered this too...


Sheperd's Pie. I was so famished, and when I'm hungry, I just want uncomplicated things I can shove in my mouth (don't even go there- I know what you're thinking) This particular uncomplicated thing consists of beef, mashed potatoes and cheese. I mean seriously, how can you go wrong with that...ever? This dish has a strong oregano taste from the beef and I managed half of it before I threw down the towel (or fork) I was so full from this, the sisig AND the mac n' cheese. They made awesome next day left overs, by the way.


This is what Vicky had. I didn't get to try it but she seemed to finish it in all of 30 seconds so I'm guessing it was good. To quote her: " I love chicken. Any kind of chicken. I'll eat any chicken."


Visit The Balcony at 110 C.Palanca street, Legaspi Village, Makati