When I heard that they opened up a Hooters bar here in the island (Philippines) I got excited and planned a visit right away. We first went to mall of asia (moa) to do a little shopping and walk over to Hooters for a few drinks — big mistake! Why? If you’re planning to go to Hooters, bring your car. Its not as close as you think. The place it at the very end of the series of bars that line up the bay side. So I highly suggest that you move your car and park it near because after a few beers, you wouldn’t want to walk all the way back to MOA. Or you can probably take that slow ride on the free transport that “parades” you in front of other people – screaming “I’m to lazy to walk!” (kidding)

Anyway, here’s a few key notes about our Hooters trip:

• They have small hoots guys
• Not what you would expect – I doubt that these girls are just working there to put themselves through law school (like in the movies, Hahahaha)
• I don’t think the hooters chicks were selected with the pinoy market in mind – more on expat market (no offense guys)
• Nothing there seem to fit the image of huge – I ordered something called big daddy mug or something to that effect that costs around Php 160. I was expecting a liter mug just like the ones they “used” to have at Cable Car (will post in a different entry) but what I got was a regular mug. Its probably just me, but I’d expect a bigger mug from the name.
• The chicken wings – I’m not a fan of it. Some of my friends said that we should have ordered the extra hot instead of medium hot. Nevertheless, if you’ve eaten Don Henrico’s buffalo wings the day before and then order chicken wings at Hooters – you’re bound to compare and end up with the conclusion that these are tweety bird wings.
• Small cute burgers – this ones a good one
• Ambiance – it won’t blow your mind but its cozy and exactly what you’d expect.

Some pictures:

That’s my friend jojo, and he stands 6’3″ tall.

Monster Recommends:

• July 18, 2008 — Tokyo Cafe at Mall of Asia (4)
• June 13, 2008 — Friday’s MOA – Carewell Fundraising Dinner (0)
• September 30, 2011 — Buffalo’s Wings N’ Things (0)
• August 14, 2009 — Jollibeer serves up BEER! (0)

They are conveniently located at one of the many entry points of MOA. I don’t know how to tell you exactly where they are but I’ll try – ground floor, walkway entrance, to your right, near Ace or was it True Value. Hahaha. Just ask.

A few interesting points from this dining adventure:

• According to our waitress – one of the owners is Japanese and the partner is Chinese. Interesting ey?
• This is the tastiest looking menu that I have ever seen. You will be overwhelmed.
• They have plastic renditions of their dishes laid out behind a glass window – looks amazingly real
• Cozy and lighting – excellent

Moving on the food, we ordered the following:

• Chicken teriyaki salad
• Garlic and Shrimp Pasta
• Forgot the name of the Burger – but its the one with the meat sauce
• Pork Cutlet
• Burger Steak

The chicken teriyaki salad good. I just hoped it had more teriyaki flavor. I could taste it, but I wanted more. Haha

Garlic and Shrimp Pasta… hmm. I guess I’m used to having garlic pasta paired up with really tasty items like steak or something grilled. Normally, if its paired with shrimp, I fancy having a tomato based sauce paired with it. Reason I’m saying that is because the shrimp got easily overpowered by the garlic – this is literally garlic, pasta, and a few additional ingredients – so if you love garlic, then go for this one. But I would still recommend that you pair it with one more dish. That’s just me.

Burger with meat sauce – this is your typical Japanese burger. I like it. It tastes like the one from Sango at Milelong but I like that one more. It has that distinct pepper taste that I find common in Japanese hamburger versions. Its not that big, but it satisfies your pallet. It comes with fries – not much, but we all know it pairs great with burgers.

Burger steak – hehehe, I was still hungry so I decided to try it out. 2 burger patties will fill you up quick! Same pepper taste that I love but this time it came with a tonkatsu like sauce sprinkled with spring onions. By the way, japanese rice was excellent!

Breaded pork cutlet (ordered by Jojo) was exactly what you would expect. There’s nothing extraordinary about it. No big deal, you can order it if you want a safe order that satisfies your cravings – you can never go wrong. It comes with a simple sauce so ask for some tonkatsu sauce to make it a bit more interesting.

Biscotti (Jhanki) ordered hot choco to finish the deal – as usual, chocolate is chocolate… yumyum.

Monster Recommends:

• July 26, 2008 — Hooters at Mall of Asia (1)
• June 13, 2008 — Friday’s MOA – Carewell Fundraising Dinner (0)
• June 13, 2011 — Sango Special Meat Sauce (0)
• May 19, 2010 — Malcolm’s Wagyu Burger (1)

Yesterday, the Bistro Group hosted a benefit dinner for Carewell at the opening of their TGI Friday’s restaurant at the Mall of Asia. Proceeds from the dinner all went to Carewell so that they can continue to support persons with cancer and their loved ones free of charge. A set dinner was available for adults at P1,000 per person, and a kiddie meal for children 10 years old and below went for P500 each

For the P1,000 ticket price, we were entitled to a FULL MEAL: salad, appetizer, main course and dessert from their set menus.

Here are some pics of the food served:

Crunchy chicken with a sweet tangy sauce! yum and nice with the caesar salad.

Half slab ribs with java rice. I want more sauce!!!

Spicy Pasta with chicken and bellpeppers. I didnt like this so much, but Arn loved it coz it was simple and peppery.

And ofcourse, DESSERT, my favorite part of the meal!!! Twas a night of good food and good vibes. Burp!

If you want to volunteer at Carewell or you need Carewell’s assistance, check out their website for details: http://www.carewellcommunity.org/

Monster Recommends:

• July 18, 2008 — Tokyo Cafe at Mall of Asia (4)
• July 26, 2008 — Hooters at Mall of Asia (1)
• March 20, 2011 — Casa Marcos at Burgos Circle, Tagug (0)
• May 19, 2010 — Malcolm’s Wagyu Burger (1)