Have at you!

The opening of a Casa Verde branch in Manila seemed to be a very big thing, since The Boyfriend and I have been hearing good things about it from our friends. We both had no idea what that place was, and after doing some research, learned that it’s a very famous restaurant in Cebu. A lot of people are big fans of their Brian’s Ribs and since The Boyfriend is a big ribs fan, we made sure we visited the place before he left for Kuala Lumpur. Our one visit turned into two when his family decided to celebrate a birthday at the same venue, so this post will feature some of the items ordered during those two visits.

Casa Verde on a weekday night, which was our first visit. There weren’t a lot of people when we arrived at 6 p.m., but a line was starting to form by 7 p.m.

The Boyfriend ordered the refillable Panama Orange iced tea (Php75.00) during our first visit. I guess it was just okay, since I didn’t hear any positive or negative comments from him about this drink.

I decided to be a little more experimental and ordered a serving of John’s Mix (Php95.00). This was a mix of orange juice, pineapple juice, Sprite and grenadine. I found it to be too sweet for me to really enjoy it. I think I should have ordered something else instead.

The Boyfriend enjoys ordering starters whenever we eat out. He ordered a serving of Karlamari (Php148.00), which is Casa Verde’s take on the popular deep fried squid dish and is served with their own sweet & sour sauce. The sauce reminded us of the ones from fish and squid balls street vendors, so it was okay for us. Serving size was good for one to two persons, depending on how hungry you are.

This really blurry shot was of their Tricia ala Pobre (Php195.00), which I had during our visit with The Boyfriend’s family. I know this isn’t exactly the best looking photo here, mainly because I was rushing to take a photo of it before anybody notices it. I wasn’t sure if everyone from The Boyfriend’s family is comfortable with the thought of me taking so much food photos. :p

Anyway, this dish consisted of grilled fish (dory, I believe), topped with fried garlic bits. It came with some vegetables on the side and a serving of what they referred to as ‘harvest rice’. Overall, it was a pretty satisfying dish. I found the grilled fish to be a bit too soft but the saltiness blended well with the buttered vegetables and rice.

During the time we were with his family, The Boyfriend was feeling adventurous and decided to order The Big Bang (Php438.00). It was a 9-inch burger bun filled with a generous meat patty, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cheese, and mayo. It also came with a side of fries. This huge burger was served on top of a wooden chopping board and was greeted by looks of amazement from our table.

The Boyfriend split half of the burger with his older brother, while the other half was sliced into smaller pieces for the other family members to try. Everyone seemed to agree that the patty was deliciously well-seasoned. The burger buns used were soft and airy, thus it was easily flattened by some so that it wasn’t too difficult to eat.

Casa Verde has an even bigger burger called The Mighty Ton (Php888.00). According to their menu, it’s a kilo’s worth of tenderloin stuffed into a 12-inch burger bun along with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. It’s also served with a side of flavored fries. No, we didn’t get that one but noticed several tables order it.

The photo above shows the Fish & Fries (Php228.00), which I decided to try during our first visit. I split this dish with The Boyfriend. There wasn’t anything special about this, just your regular fried dory fillets and fries served with tartar sauce. An order consists of five pieces of battered dory.

Of course, we couldn’t forget to order the main reason why we trooped all the way to UP Town Center: the Brian’s Ribs (Php250.00). This was served with corn and carrots, and your choice of rice or mashed potatoes. The Boyfriend has heard good things about this grilled pork dish that he wanted us to try it out as soon as we could. At only Php250.00, this is already considered cheap in comparison to the other ribs The Boyfriend has devoured before from other establishments. We both found it to be pretty average, with some parts of the meat already dry. The sauce spread on the meat was also very sweet, so we no longer touched the extra which was provided.

Overall, we agreed that Casa Verde was okay, but didn’t exactly live up to all the hype. We haven’t been to the original branch in Cebu, so we couldn’t say if the dishes we had tasted any different from the ones there. We have to give credit to the notably HUGE items offered in the restaurant, like The Big Bang and The Mighty Ton. They even have a very tall glass of chocolate milkshake called the Milky Way (Php345.00), which is definitely meant for sharing. One of The Boyfriend’s nephews ordered that but I wasn’t able to take a photo of it. It was so big, it was even served with five straws. Yep, five. I looked at it, tried to calculate how much sugar was in there and all I can think was how crazy strange it was! A lot of other tables ordered that too, so I guess it’s another one of those popular Casa Verde items.

If you feel like trying their ribs, burgers and/or milkshakes, visit them at the 2nd floor of the UP Town Center, along Katipunan in Q.C. Make sure to arrive early because this restaurant isn’t very big and gets full pretty quickly. There’s also usually a long line of hungry people waiting outside during peak hours. 🙂