TORCHed again! The UP Town Center Experience

Last weekend me and the hubby wanted to go on a food trip for lunch. Both of us were craving for burgers, but we wanted to deviate from our default choices. So the hubby decided to go to Maginhawa.

I had a really nice time going around Maginhawa during my previous trip and was actually looking forward to it. We arrived there a few minutes before 12 noon, and we realized that it was too early to be on the prowl since almost all of the good places are still closed and will open only late in the afternoon. So we just decided to go all the way to UP Town Center.

We initially planned to dine at Casa Verde, unfortunately, we were 10th on their waiting list >.< . Knowing that Torch has a branch there, we went there instead. (I will be back for you Casa Verde!)

We were actually surprised to see that only two tables were occupied, being that it was already a bit past 12 noon. We happily settled in the corner, couch-seated table and ordered our favorites: Buffalo Asian Wings, Beef Short Plate and Bacon Roll (for a change) For the Buffalo Asian Wings, I requested if they could hold mixing-in the spicy sauce. They offered me a better alternative, which is to serve the sauce separately.

The Bacon Roll (Php 229.99) - Overloaded with bacon bits and cream cheese, yummy in every bite! The only thing that we noticed was that the rice used for it wasn't Japanese rice, since the roll would just collapse when I use the chopstick to pick one up. Hope they use real Japanese rice next time. :)



Buffalo Asian Wings (Php 324.95) - One of our staple orders. Yummy crispy wings, with sauce separately served. The two sauces are described as "Two Asian Sauces", one  on the right is sweet with a hint of barbecue and the other one tasted like mild spiced honey. Both go perfectly well with the wings! I personally prefer the spiced honey sauce.



Beef Short Plate (Php 269.95) - Our favorite main dish and definitely a bang for the buck! Tender beef belly slices drenched in mushroom gravy, with a side of buttered vegetables and a serving of garlic rice.



Torch is definitely one of our go-to places for affordable and delicious comfort food!

The good news is that the now have four branches:

TORCH GREENHILLS
63 Connecticut Street, Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila
477-3771
Sun to Tue - 7:00 am to 12:00 mn
Wed to Sat - 7:00 am to 3:00 am

TORCH KATIPUNAN
Ground Floor UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City
287-8675
Sun to Thu - 10:00 am to 11:00 pm
Fri to Sat - 10:00 am to 12:00 am

TORCH TRINOMA
2nd Level Garden Restaurants, Trinoma, ESDA cor. North Ave., Quezon City
730-4102
Sun to Sat - 10:00 am to 11:00 pm

TORCH GREENBELT
Level 1, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City
751-6213
Sun to Tue - 10:00 am to 12:00 mn
Wed to Sat - 10:00 am to 3:00 am

New Found Love!

Last Friday night, the wind took us all the way to UP Town Center for dinner. Our first choice was Shrimp Bucket, but unfortunately, we were seventh on the waiting list. After being listed, we went around the area and my attention was caught by Tokyo Tonteki's Php499 Meal for Two promo, and of course, because they had bottomless drinks. :)

     

Tokyo Tonteki deviates from the over-hyped katsu craze and specializes in making the best pork loin steak you've ever had! With this, we were very intrigued on trying their specialty. We availed the promo and got their Regular Tonteki (Php 375 per order) and the Stir Fried Japanese Mushrooms (Php 250 ala carte) for our sides. We also added an order of their Chicken Karaage (Php 250) and a bottomless rootbeer (Php 85).

We were first served with their pork miso soup. The flavor of the miso was very light and delightful. The soup was also very meaty, having a lot of pork bits in it. This is probably my favorite miso soup.  The  best part is, it's refillable! I was able to finish three servings, while Kyle had four. Yes, it was that good. :)



Our mouthwatering main dishes: Regular Tonteki, Stir Fried Japanese Mushrooms and Chicken Karaage

      

Their tonteki was heavenly! Premium pork loin slow cooked and simmered in their signature tonteki sauce, topped with toasted garlic chips. The meat was so succulent and really soaked up the delicious sauce, it also had a decent amount of fat on it.

Complementing  our main dish were the stir fried mushrooms and chicken karaage. The mushrooms were divine! It had a very bold buttery flavor. Texture wise, it was both soft and chewy, very enjoyable to eat. The chicken karaage tasted like your usual boneless fried chicken.

The promo comes with refillable soup, rice and cabbage, but we only managed to finish one serving, except for the soup. I think their promo is actually good enough for three people.

Tokyo Tonteki is a definite go-to place for meat lovers! Will definitely be going back here!

TOKYO TONTEKI

Ground Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City (02-9552269, 02-9552270)