Date # 81: 2nd’s, Comfort Food Revisited

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Despite being a food blogger, I still think that I’m not that much of an adventurous diner. Most of the time, I go for the more popular cuisines, like Italian, Japanese, American and Chinese. That’s why restaurants like 2nd’s appeal to me, because they serve comfort food, but elevated to have the finesse of gourmet food.

2nd’s has a very relaxing ambiance, with dark and heavy interiors. It’s great to stay here for hours drinking and chatting the day away. The tables are evenly spaced, so you have a lot of privacy.

For starters, we had a bowl of Emmental French Onion Soup (P255). The soup is quite rich and chunky: be prepared to encounter plenty of onion slices as you try to scoop up the soup. I guess this isn’t for people who love their onion soup with plenty of liquid.

Emmental is slowly becoming one of my favorite cheeses: it has a soft, stringy texture like mozzarella but has a subtle, savory taste.

I’ve had my eyes on the Crispy Duck Confit (P795) for quite some time. Duck is currently my favorite kind of meat, because it’s very moist and juicy, and it has a unique flavor. 2nd’s serves their duck confit with emmental mashed potatoes, pineapple chutney, sautéed red and white cabbage and sweet duck jus.

A good duck confit must have a nice, crisp, layer of skin, a thin layer of fat, as well as tender meat underneath. If the duck missed one of these, it means that the bird was not properly cooked in its own fat. To my delight, the duck leg was perfectly cooked.

2nd’s Duck Confit is very well-balanced: the tangy red cabbage slaw complements the salty duck meat, and then it’s all brought together by the emmental mash and sweet pineapple chutney. The entire dish is both well-executed and wisely conceptualized.

It was a toss between the Truffled Three Cheese Macaroni or the Triple Mushroom Risotto (P485) for Douglas. The description reads: “traditional risotto with enoki, shitake and button mushrooms drizzled with a balsamic glaze and white truffle oil.” I suppose the description won him over.

The risotto was rich and creamy—but perhaps too rich for one person to finish. It’s good to share between two to three people, but overwhelming for just one.

The letdown for this risotto was that the rice was undercooked. It could’ve used two to three minutes more in the pan to soften. The grains were stiff and hard.

Overall Verdict: 2nds offers good food, although I think the staff has to work on the food’s consistency. There’s really no excuse if you paid almost P500 for undercooked risotto. The concepts on their menu work, but perhaps with stricter quality control this restaurant could be better.

2nd’s, Comfort Food Revisited

2nd floor, Wumaco Building 1, Quadrant 3, 9th Avenue, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. Call them at+63 (918) 822-8362      .

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With and For Love,

Rina Caparras and Douglas Chong

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