A Review of Sentro 1771

My wife and I met her former teammates at Sentro 1771 in Glorietta for a Christmas dinner. The place was a bit busy when we arrived and most tables were already full.

As such, we chose a table outside where it was more spacious and easier to move. The interiors were a combination of both modern and traditional Filipino decor. Although it was a busy night, the service was good and fast. We ordered perennial favorites such as kare-kare and inihaw na liempo. The kare-kare sauce was thick, creamy, and tasty -- best smothered over hot rice and paired with the ubiquitous bagoong (shrimp paste). It was also generously loaded with vegetables and slices of tender ox tripe.

For our soup, we ordered sinigang na corned beef. It was my first time to taste this dish, which at first sounded like an unusual combination (soup and corned beef). I was pleasantly surprised because it was a melange of unique flavors -- rich corned beef taste tempered by a fruity sour broth. It had all the usual vegetables that come with sinigang – eggplants, white radishes, tomato, string beans, and the like. It was addicting to eat.

Another dish with a twist was the camote (or sweet potato) with savory toppings. The camote was very sweet which was balanced by the salty filling of finely chopped vegetables and minced meat. It was also very good and I would recommend that diners try this dish.

Likewise notable was the crunchy lechon kawali. You can never go wrong with this dish. It was likewise delicious. You might want to go easy on this though because it is packed with cholesterol. This was great either with rice or as a beer food.

Food was also surprisingly on the affordable side. We were about 12 people in our group and we paid just a little over P6,000.

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