For lunch, I met up with friends in a small ... dinnerette. How do you describe a place that is not quite a hole in the wall, not quite a bistro, that services a primarily business clientele in the Salcedo Village area for lunch, while the dinner crowd tends towards those avoiding traffic and the neighborhood "ethnics"?
Sinbad is that kind of place. Serves Middle eastern/indian ethnic food, has enough space for 25 to 30 people (the latter would be quite snug), and decorated with that relatively kitschy interior (a knockoff heiroglyphic wall hanging, alongside Bollywood music) sensibility. An upscale canteen perhaps is the best short description for it. And it serves the frugal hordes well, with waiters providing decent service (no mess ups with the drinks and food delivery, plus they took our comments re: the baba ghanoush in good stead). I caught sight of a female chef in the kitchen, and a Sikh eating heartily, while another Middle Eastern couple were sampling the small dishes of hummus and fatoush.
Our group of four had two kebabs (beef and lamb), a chicken tandoori set, and a madras beef stew, and the order of baba (made fresh, but too much lemon tarted it up.). Sinbad uses Australian cuts of beef and lamb; I found the lamb to be decent, not as tender as I normally prefer, but it was a decent kebab. E ordered the chicken and rated it well, saying the chicken breast was tender. C chose the beef stew, and liked the "unspicyness" of it. Hmmmm, oh well.
We all spent an average of P160 for food (no one was in the mood to add drinks, so tack on another P40 for drinks). A nice little lunch neighborhood place for those in the Salcedo area.
Sinbad is along San Agustin St, near the corner of Valero and Rufino/Herrera.
Pike Market Peonies
6 comments:
Thanks for the tip. A welcome addition to my (short) list of unassuming but good indian restos in Makati.
You're welcome. I remember a friend posted all sorts of places that offered decent meals for P200 or less. I wish I could get my hands on that list these days.
Thanks for the heads up! Will put this in my list. I also am on the lookout for good MidEatern Food. I really miss the Iranian resto I ate at in Anaheim. I think the name is Hatam's. *sigh*
Thanks Mila! Will check it out one of these days...always happy to try another mid-eastern restaurant :) They have fatoush? That's great! I love that but haven't seen it around here....must try...
Ziggurat also had "fatoush" on the menu. I didn't try the fatoush on the Sinbad menu, so I don't know how authenticate it is.
Candish, don't expect the same level of food as the iranian restos in S. Cal (I know what you mean, those were great places, cheap and amazing food). This is basic stuff
http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2008/09/sinbad.html
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