Naci Comfort Food and Dessert Bar

Inspired by the bloggers I met in all the OpenRice Eats a Date events I've been to, I decided to put up this blog I hope I can sustain.

I am looking forward to blogging about other wonderful things God has created, but for now, I'll be starting off with one of the things I'm most thankful God for, food :)

This is a review of the latest eats a date event I've attended last April 14.

Pretty strong and brave words you got there, I thought.

Let’s see.

Aha! Yet another dose of words meant to tease. Now I'm getting pretty excited.

But before delving into what Naci had in store for the evening, I took the liberty of touring the place to take photos.

It's nice seeing patissier's station this open and visible. I confess just standing there for a view minutes staring at the maestro at work and even when we were in the middle of the dinner, I occasionally glanced that way. ^___^

Displayed around the station was a parade of the pastry chef’s handicraft which all looked mouthwatering. It was nice to see bowls some cookies for free taste.

Walking across the room I saw the service crew gathered around for last minute instructions. It’s nice to know that they’ve taken the time to prepare for us. They even had a list of the evening’s dinner course.

I was lucky to have been seated facing the wall with showed photos of some of their food. That alone was an appetizer already. At this point, I couldn’t wait for our food to come out.

I glanced upon the other Open Ricers and bloggers hoping to see someone I know but didn’t recognize anyone. My attention was drawn into this beautiful lady seated at the head of the table. To my surprise, she wasn’t just another blogger but the owner herself Nadine Nocom. Looking so young I couldn’t help but ask how young she is, and 23 shocked us all. Another shocker was finding out that she was a daughter of a celebrity! No wonder she looked like one.

Aside from having been blessed with the beauty to brag, she has a down-to-earth personality as well. One can instantly tell with the way she interacted with us and even let us take so many pictures of her. She was always beaming and graciously shared with us what’s behind Naci even details I used to ignore like the 120-150 seating capacity.

I was even more astounded when I found out that the chef that made Nadine and her family’s ideas of what to put on the menu materialize was no other than Chef Ed Quimson, known for his outrageous experimentations on food which proved not only to be edible but amazingly good.

Not only was it Nadine who was very accommodating but the rest of the staff as well, who even after someone as well-known as Mrs. Marcos arrived for an event, still had their attention on us and attended to our requests. 

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. -Virginia Woolf

This was on written on one of the pillars in Naci. Good thing we dined well that night.

APPETIZER SAMPLER

Junior Crab cakes ₱280

Shallow Fried Sautéed Crabmeat Croquettes served with Remoulade and Petite Greens

I don’t usually eat crabmeat without rice because I find the taste too strong and a little tang, but this was nothing close to that. I could eat 2-3 or even more servings of it!

Buffalo Chicken Wings ₱295

Deep Fried Marinated Chicken Wings with Buffalo Glaze served with Blue Cheese Dip and Celery Sticks

I was expecting the typical Buffalo wings taste but like Khaezel, I tasted something else in that dish I could not seem to pinpoint. Rest assured though that’s a good one. The pieces were big for an appetizer but who cares; I loved every bite of it!

Chorizo and Brie Puffs ₱380

Baked cream puffs filled with Spanish chorizo and banana

Now this is something I’ve tried for the first time. Spanish chorizo and banana – what genius thought of that? The soft texture and sweetness of the banana perfectly complimented the prikly taste of the chorizo

Beef Taco Spring Rolls ₱210

Crispy Springrolls stuffed with Beef Taco filling, Tomato Salsa served with Sour Cream

I didn’t look at the menu so it was a very wonderful surprise to have tasted taco instead of the usual lumpia I was expecting! It was a little spicy, with that rich and flavorful beef, salsa and sour cream combination. Whoever thought of presenting taco this way – mess free – is one smart mind.

SALAD

Kani Mango Crunch ₱200

Layers of assorted greens, kani, ripe mangoes, cucumber with crispy wonton and vermicelli, drizzled with wasabi mayo

This was a shocker, that first spoonful was remarkable in taste – very rich and flavorful, but very spicy as well. For a second there I thought I was going to have heartburn. I later found out that it had wasabi and I didn’t dare taking another bit of it.

Smoked Salmon Salad ₱290

Mixed Greens tossed in Honey Lemon Dill Dressing with Smoked Salmon and Parmesan Shavings

I’m not so much of a fan of greens so I had a taste of the dish and found the salmon and Parmesan shavings blending well. The dish looked interesting with the salmon shaped like onion rings, another clever idea.

Fried Chicken Macaroni Salad ₱250

Marinated crispy chicken cutlets topped with macaroni salad and crisp lettuce  

This was even a cleverer piece of art – using chicken cutlets instead of the usual chicken shavings. This added a twist to this seemingly ordinary dish.

PASTA

(left) Nadine’s Adobo Cannelloni ₱300

Classic Flaked Adobo rolled in pasta topped with Béchamel laced with Adobo Sauce and Mozzarella

We were all waiting for this I believe. Named after Nadine herself, everyone was curious if it tasted indeed worthy of being one of Naci’s bestsellers. Yes indeed. It was surprising to see it as you would present lasagna, and there was indeed lasagna. I didn’t expect Adobo to have tasted well with pasta but I guess Naci just never fails to surprise me. It had the distinct taste of adobo but with a nice touch of sweetness and added mildness in texture brought by the lasagna. This is one dish I’d definitely recreate at home to share the amazement I had. J

(right) Beef Kaldereta Lasagna ₱310

Layers of Homemade Pasta and Beef Caldereta Filling topped with Mozarella and served with Garlic Toast

Now this, I already expected to taste great having tasted Nadine’s Adobo Cannelloni. The beef worked well with the pasta as well so this kept me wondering what other viands could be infused with pasta, I’d like to experiment on that sometime. J

PIZZA

Peking Chicken Pizza ₱495

Flaked Roast Chicken, Hoisin Tomato Sauce, Chinese Sausage, Shitake Mushroom and Cheese

My beau and I have high standard when it comes to pizza and I’ve been looking for a good place to invite him to that serves great tasting pizza – and I just found it. It tasted really good especially the roast chicken flakes that I had to blurt out “Now I have somewhere to bring by boyfriend to.” I was a little embarrassed that others actually heard me. But this is definitely one great tasting pizza from crust to toppings!

RICE DISH:

Peruvian Chicken Rice ₱350

Slow Cooked Baked Rice with Chunks of Chicken, Sauteed Capsicums topped with Aioli

The crew went around serving a spoonful or two of this. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to have a piece of the chicken chunks but the rice tasted good and was cooked well.

ENTREES

Chef Ed's Pork Shank ₱480

French-cut pork shank braised in onion soup topped with melted cheese and served with petite bread basket) 

The remarkable thing on this dish was the tenderness of the pork. I didn’t even need a knife to cut a portion. It tasted really awesome your mouth waters while eating it.

Bistek Lechon Kawali  ₱280

Double-fried crispy pork belly served with classic Bistek sauce and garlic rice) 

The serving was small but the presentation was simple yet elegant. The taste was to die for! The Bistek sauce added flavor to the pork which wonderfully remained crispy despite the sauce. Yet another mindboggling idea only genius cooks can think of.

Nate's Steak and Eggs ₱385

A stack of seared beef patty over parsely rice topped with eggs and onion rings served with chunky mushroom gravy 

A pretty simple and straightforward dish designed for people of big appetite presented in a unique and enticing way. The meat tasted 100% pure beef and I wouldn’t doubt it to be such.

 Fox Square Fish Fillet ₱360

Pan Seared Marinated Fish Fillet topped with Fried Banana and served with Crisp Potato Wedges and Lemon Butter Sauce

This is another interesting dish not only presentation wise but fusion wise as well. It’s something you wouldn’t expect to see when you hear fish fillet. The banana, although fried was soft and was dipped in sweet sauce. The fish fillet tasted way better than your usual fish fillet and the lemon butter sauce jived well with it.

Garlic Rosemary Chicken ₱420

Rosemary Marinated Grilled Chicken served with Gravy, Buttered Vegetables and Parsley Rice

A lot of us were deceived and thought this was beef but we were not at all upset that it turned out to be chicken which despite being covered in gravy had that distinct smell (and taste) of being grilled.

DESSERT (MINI SAMPLER OF NACI's DESSERT BAR)

Although the 16 course meal we’ve had was more than enough to satisfy our palate, I would admit having wished we had more of this. Personally, my comfort food is sweets so I was pretty excited for this part of the dinner. Among the 6 served I was able to taste 3 which were all cheesecakes. I wouldn’t say they were extraordinary but what I loved about them was the soft bottom which is uncommon to cheesecakes.

Mango Cheesecake, Whole 10" ₱1,250, Per Slice ₱135

Classic cheesecake adorned with glistening globes of ripe mango

Velvety cheesecake Whole 10" ₱1,350, Per Slice ₱145

Punctuated by swirls of tart raspberry compote with surprise chocolate chips strewn through the rich cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake Whole 10" ₱1,250, Per Slice ₱135

The familiar Blueberry Cheesecake, made only with the best-tasting cream cheese on top of a graham cracker crust

Pistachio Chocolate Per dozen ₱790, Per piece ₱70

Luxurious butter cream made with French pistachio paste and a dark chocolate base

Red Velvet Per dozen ₱620, Per piece ₱60

American Cream Cheese Frosting on top of a dense, red cupcake with a hint of cocoa

Black and White Per dozen ₱890, Per piece ₱75

Dark Belgian Chocolate Ganache covered with a silky chocolate glaze on top of a dense vanilla cupcake

Verdict:

Ambiance: 5

Service: 5

Price: 4

Taste: 5

Overall: 4.5 (almost almost 5 J)

Naci Comfort Food and Dessert Bar

2/F Fox Square Bldg. Connecticut St. Greenhills, San Juan City Metro Manila, 1500 San Juan, Philippines

Hours

Mon - Thu: 11:00 - 01:00

Fri - Sat:11:00 - 02:00

Sun:11:00 - 22:00