Yummy Date Night

Date # 17: Ninyo Fusion Cuisine

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Ninyo Fusion Cuisine and Wine Lounge is popularly dubbed “QC’s best-kept secret”. It’s located along E.Abada St., which is a walking distance from Ateneo, where Douglas and I study.

The area was formerly a house, which was later converted into a fine dining restaurant. You will definitely love the garden setting outside, although we couldn’t eat there because it was drizzling when we arrived. Nevertheless, don’t miss the opportunity to dine al fresco if you can.

This is a nice, romantic table beside the double door entrance.

The complementary herbed butter and bread was served quite warm, just the way I liked it. It had a fresh scent and essence, probably because we came to the place quite early (we were their first customers).

We have heard of how good the Wasabi Fried Oysters (P330) are, and we’re happy to say that they didn’t disappoint. The crunchy batter was the perfect coating to the creaminess of the oyster filling. It was one of those dishes where you can feel the individual pieces, and at the same time taste how they work together to make this a classic. The batter has a light, citrus-y kick, and the filling melts in your mouth. The wasabi aftertaste was also very unique—I thought the entire concept was ingenious.

Douglas has been urging me to try uni for the longest time, and so he did not hesitate to order these Uni Balls (P350) for us to share. To tell you the truth, I was quite nervous to, because I’m scared of sea urchins.

Nevertheless, this dish did not fail to deliver. Although I quite liked the former appetizer over this one, it was not something I would say I didn’t like. Each crunchy ball was tightly packed with semi-sweet tasting uni, which had a very soft texture—you’d barely need your teeth once you’ve penetrated through the batter. You’ll enjoy the kamote chips that came with these too.

The waiters serve you a free spoonful of calamansi sorbet in order to cleanse your palate for the main course. I thought it would be bland, but it was surprisingly refreshing and tasty.

From the moment I laid eyes on the Pili Crusted Unagi (P840), I already knew it was another ingenious fusion dish. I would totally shake the hand of Chef Nino for coming up with this. It was a concept that you already knew would work, just by reading it on the menu.

It looks quite small on the picture, but we were surprised to find out that it actually had two generous portions of unagi layered on top of each other. Douglas said that the unagi was standard to most well-off Japanese restaurants, but the pili crust made it stand out. Sauces were quite sweet and a little bit of tangy.

I love how this restaurant serves their entrees with carb-heavy side dishes, reminiscent of the traditional Filipino “kanin at ulam” concept.

We had our order of US Hanging Tender Steak (P595) cooked medium rare. It was very tender, and still reddish inside. I definitely loved the sauce that came alongside it. The vegetables were good, too, because of the buttery coating—that’s big coming from me, who doesn’t eat veggies like a big girl. :|

We definitely loved the chewiness and the creaminess of the pumpkin risoni. However, both the risoni and the steak had quite strong flavors, which could be quite overpowering. Nevertheless, I loved every bite I took.

I am not a chocolate lover—all my friends can attest to that. But I liked Ninyo’s Chocolate Chocolate Cake (P270) because of the rich, dark chocolate frosting. The cake itself was not so strong compared to the warm frosting. I love how the cold milk that comes with it drowns out the heavy feeling one can get from a spoonful of heavy, rich chocolate. Quite thoughtful, if you ask me.

The Strawberry Surprise (P245) was surprising indeed. I love how it had fresh strawberries to give a tangy kick to the sweet meringue, graham and strawberry jam taste. Definitely a dessert we’ll order next time.

The Verdict: Discovering places like this is the exact reason why we became food bloggers. Definitely the best date place in Quezon City. It helps too that the place is a walking distance from Ateneo. :)) Perfect if you’d like to take your campus crush for a date or something. Be prepared to shell out some cash, though, because we spent around 2900 overall (+10% service charge).

Ninyo Fusion Cuisine and Wine Lounge

66 Esteban Abada St., Loyola Heights

Quezon City, Philippines, 1108

+6324260301/+639175385813

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With and For Love,
Rina Caparras and Douglas Chong

http://mydailydoseofrina.tumblr.com

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