Azul – Spanish and Filipino Dishes + Unlimited Rice!

We were hungry, it’s past mall hours (10PM) and we only had an hour left before the 11PM Harry Potter Cinema 1 movie starts. Our life saver… Azul.  We liked our first trip so we returned the next day (this time, armed with a camera and more time in our hands).

About the Store

Azul is located at the 2nd floor of MOA’s Entertainment Mall, near IMAX (North Parking).  True to its name (“Azul” – Spanish for “Blue”), the place is full of blue colored accessories (napkins, lights, art works, wall paint and tablecloths).  The blueness of the place seems to be more noticeable at night because of the blue lights but at day time, it’s not as ‘blue’.

Here's daytime Azul view from inside facing the mall. I wasn't able to adjust the camera settings so the colors don't show that well. The chairs and tables are brown (and cream for the sofa) while the tablecloth is bluegreen with a skyblue glass vase.

Here's the place at night (our First Visit). Behind me are the glass doors. Hard to figure out but you'll notice the "CLOSE/OPEN" sign. Outside are more tables and chairs if you want to enjoy the food with a good view of Manila Bay and the MOA fountain.

Red marks the exact location of Azul (2nd Level). You can click on this picture if you want to find other stalls using this map. Thank goodness MOA has an online map!

Here's how it looks from outside. You can check on their menu before entering (menu stand at the left).

One thing that’s very odd is how they used the round tables and placed them together to form a set that’s supposed to be good for 4 people.  I think it was a waste of space and also spells “accident about to happen”.  You’ll know what I mean when you see the pictures.

Here's how the normal set looks like where 2 square tables are placed side by side to form a rectangular table good for 4. No fuzz, no space wasted and very safe.

Here's the other table set where 2 round tables are placed side by side so that 4 people can eat together. Look at how the tablecloth falls into the spaces between the tables. Just not the best table arrangement.

They also used really big spoons that you’ll have to put extra effort to open your mouth really big to eat one spoonful.

We used Mario's finger to be our scale but I think we should have used something generic instead. Well, anyway, Mario stands 6'3" (if I'm not mistaken) and he has really long fingers. Even though the spoon is slightly closer to the camera than the finger, you can still imagine how unusually big the spoon is. It was slightly uncomfortable eating with it.

Unlimited Rice and Service

We got a wonderful surprise during our first visit when we learned that they offer unlimited rice.  Yes, it’s Tokyo Tokyo style!  We didn’t know that at first so we tried to order for extra rice (that’s how hungry we were that Saturday night).

The service was great!  They were fast and very accommodating.  I believe it was the store manager, she offered to take our picture together (Mario and I).

Yey! It's really rare to have us both in the picture!

About the Food

Since we were in a hurry on the first visit, we forgot to take pictures of the food.  Plus the fact that we only had a cellphone camera with us, the night photos won’t come out good.  But just for review purposes, we ordered Torta Española and Pork Sisig.

Torta Española, is tortang talong (eggplant) with cheeze (Parmesan, if I remember it correctly).  We loved this but maybe not because it’s cooked in a special way, but just because we both love eggplant cooked as ‘torta’.  This was the hit for the night.  I hope to visit them again for this dish and post pictures once I do.

The Pork Sisig, according to Mario, wasn’t salty enough.  It was a good thing for me though, because you just have to request for soysauce and season to taste.  I’m a sucker for Pork Sisig so this was still ok for me.

On our 2nd visit we tried something different, Binagoongang Baboy with Gata and Bicol Express (the version with pork – I know some versions are all veggies).

The sauce of the Binagoongang Baboy with Gata was good.  We ended up scraping off the remaining sauce from the sizzling plate.  We just wished there were a lot more sauce though.  As for the pork, oh my…  The slices were huge but they’re mostly pork fat…  Bad idea to order this dish if you don’t eat pork fat, because half would just go to waste.  The dish was served on sizzling plate with 3 slices of fried eggplant.

Here's the Binagoongang Baboy with Gata. Despite the chillies, the dish wasn't spicy. Notice how big the pork slices are?

A closer look reveals what you're really getting from that huge chunk of pork. I know I shouldn't complain since pork is pork so we should have expected it to be fatty. But because the cuts are so big, you can't help but notice that half of it is fat. I wish they had cut the pork smaller.

Bye Bye, Sauce!

The Bicol Express was ordinary.  Nothing much to say but I like the fact that they kept the red chili uncrushed and just let the customer mix it in the dish if they want it extra spicy.  Without the red chili, it wasn’t hot at all.  That might be a little disappointing for those who are expecting a kick from this dish.

Here's the Bicol Express.

Bowl in the middle has the unilimited rice!!! That's the main attraction.

Mario was there...

I was there...

Tadaaaaa! It's the first time this pair was photographed for this blog. ^_^ This is my "all-tied-up" boots.