Last night, my sister Juji and her boyfriend Jay came over. We planned to grab some dinner and then J, J and I wanted to go to the cinema to catch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – At World’s End, we’d been hoping to see that movie before its run ended. When J and J arrived though, they suggested we scrap Pirates 3 and go to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix instead. Usually I never go to see films when they’re newly released as I hate really crowded cinemas, but we really wanted to see this film and couldn’t resist – I quite happily agreed to the change of plan. For dinner, Jac suggested we try a restaurant we’ve driven past many a time but never tried – she’s been dying to try it for years – The Manila Restaurant, at 1236 Albany Highway in Cannington, which features a buffet dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for AU$24.00 per head.
It’s tricky taking photos at a buffet. I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself nor get in anyone’s way, and as a result didn’t manage to take pictures of everything I wanted to.
We started our session of gluttony with spring rolls with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The spring rolls were mostly skin, but quite tasty.
I had a bowl of chicken and corn soup, which I topped with chopped spring onion. The soup had a nice flavour to it, an almost chargrilled chicken flavour.
I managed to take photos of some of the salads on offer – this was pasta salad, which I tried. It has sultanas in it!
The sign above this salad announced that it contained seafood extender. Even though I like fish balls and fish cakes and those sorts of reconstituted seafood products I’m not a fan of seafood extender and avoid it whenever possible.
I forgot to try this salad – it had nile perch in it.
Melon:
Our table’s favourite of the savoury dishes – roast belly pork.
I loved this chicken curry too.
Jay’s plate:
Juji’s plate:
Jac’s plate:
My plate – I was ravenous and loaded my plate without hesitation. I got stir-fried vegetables, fried rice, fried rice noodles, chicken curry, pork adobo, sweet and sour battered fish, belly pork, beef casserole, potato salad and pasta salad.
We all went up for subsequent rounds of food – the four of us agreed the hot dishes were all delicious. They were homestyle and tasty and fresh. All thumbs up. I just wish I could’ve taken photos of all the hot dishes in the bain marie, so you could really see what it was like. Oh well.
I can’t believe it took us so long to give The Manila Restaurant a go – I’d never eaten Filipino cuisine before – this was really yummy! But there’s more -the desserts!
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
hehe im Filipino and those dishes aren’t really Filipino food =( But im sure they were yummy anyways.
Some of the dishes ARE Filipino, like the spring rolls (lumpia) and pork belly (lechon)….
mmm.. this is a little scary! hahaha. We just went to the Manila restaurant this afternoon (sat)for lunch. We had the pork adobo (soy, vinegar n sugar) and ginataang gulay (veges in coconut gravy)-really good stuff. The young coconut pie was a surprise as well (it’s actually flaky pie with young coconut in it not dessicated coconut!)
hi – - – - beautiful photos!
i’m filipino – and a regular at Manila Restaurant – - – and just want to invite everyone to experience the Filipino/Australian culture that happens in that restaurant – - great food, great atmosphere, family friendly, a place that you can sit and enjoy a night out – or you can let your hair down on stage with the karaoke – or on the dancefloor….
and thank you to the photographer – - – beautiful photos indeed!!!!
cheers
Maita