There's a newly opened restaurant near the corner of T. Azucena and P. Zulueta, beside Simple Treats, here in San Pablo City. A Mediterranean cuisine restaurant? Here in San Pablo City? I knew I wanted to try it as soon as it opened. The name of the restaurant is pretty clever too, don't you think?
As for appetizers we tried something we had before at other Mediterranean restaurants, the "Baba Ganoush".
I thought it was nice that the flat bread came wrapped in cloth. As for the taste, well, it tasted like what I would expect Baba Ganoush to taste. I didn't see much difference compared to how others like it tasted, which is pretty good. This appetizer went for P108.
For the main dish, Ilyn ordered the "Chicken Cacciatore", which is chicken braised in tomato based sauce, olives, mushrooms and white wine.
It's probably not apparent in the photo, but it was a lot of food on that plate. Lots of pasta and almost half of a small chicken. Ilyn is pretty picky when it comes to pasta, and she seemed to really like it. It was a little too much as she was unable to finish it and we brought home the leftovers later on. This dish went for P248.
I ordered the Grilled Chicken Souvlaki, which is actually a kebab of grilled chicken and vegetables marinated in a "Tunisian Spice Mix".
I don't know what Tunisian spice mix is, but it tasted pretty good. It's not as flavorful as I would like, but it's still very nice nevertheless. It came with this white sauce that tasted quite unique. I kind of wished that you could order that sauce as a sidedish because it went really well with the grilled chicken and the sauce just wasn't enough. Well, I never did find out if you could order it as I never asked. This dish went for P198.
As for drinks we had "Maltese Ice Tea by the Carafe", which is simply a large pitcher of really nice tasting ice tea. It was enough for two servings for the both of us. This went for P158.
These prices are probably on the higher end of what regular San Pablo residents are probably used to but for the quality of this food, plus the quantity of it per serving, plus the quality of the "little things" like napkins, utensils, furniture, cleanliness and ambiance of the surroundings and attentive and friendly servers, I think it was worth it.
Even their toilets are extremely clean and nice smelling. It's obvious this place is very well maintained.
I really like restaurants that invest in seemingly unnecessary things. But if you put them all together, you come up with the impression that this is a place that wishes to make your stay as comfortable and as pleasant as possible. I hate it when restaurants use cheap napkins and utensils, ketchup, sauce, and napkin holders, salt and pepper shakers, cheap decor, cheap furniture, cheap furnishings. To me it seems those restaurants want to have as little overhead as possible. It's all about making money, nothing more. Isn't it a wonder those kinds of restaurants don't really last?
While I have no illusions that places like Middle Eats are also in it for the money, the fact that they invest in the little things only goes to show that they are also interested in quality of service, along with quality of food. And that's important in the success of any restaurant.
This customer is definitely very satisfied and I will definitely be coming back.
Middle Eats is open 7 days a week from 11am to 11pm.
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