The last time I dined at Cable Car was at the Glorietta branch back in 1997. Almost two decades and one generation later, I learned that this restaurant was still active in the industry, and that the company was expanding, having their latest branch in Ortigas. Many thanks to Zomato Philippines, especially to Ms. Elaine Taningco, for inviting me to this gathering of foodies and food reviewers and try Cable Car’s newest place.
Back in the late 90’s, Cable Car specialized mostly in American and Italian types of cuisine, at a time when similar restaurants such as TGIF, Outback and Tony Roma’s dominated the dining scene. Upon checking this branch’s menu, the content has evolved such that Filipino dishes have been incorporated, adapting now to the varied taste of Filipino customers. The location itself was new – The Sapphire Bloc – which also showcased restaurants, bars and coffee shops suited for the corporate environment in the area. The restaurant’s interior gave the impression of a resto-bar, emphasizing more on the drinks, a place for friends and co-workers who would like to unwind after a day’s work.
For the dishes, several items were served, covering mainly appetizers and heavy meals. All dishes were visually appetizing, reflecting the artistic skills of the chef and food handlers. Some of these are as follows:
1. Buffalo chicken rice melt: Among the ones served, this dish was by far the best as it had balanced flavor. Chicken bits admixed with cheese on top of what seemed to be garlic fried rice, this dish could be a full meal on its own.
2. Sizzling seafood rice: This appeared like seafood paella with a hue of Java rice on a sizzling plate. As such, it had a flavorful rice base admixed with squid and shrimp. The bell pepper was an aromatic addition which enhanced the taste more.
3. Diablo fries: Potato wedges with spicy cheese sauce and shrimp, this dish was flavorful, although adding more spice and chili would be much better and more appropriate for the name.
4. Shrimp scampi pasta: This pasta was flavorful despite its simplicity, being composed mainly of linguini cooked al dente with oil base and topped with shrimp and Parmesan, then paired with garlic bread.
5. Crispy tokwa’t baboy: Visually, this dish was picture perfect. The pork ear slices were fried to perfection, and the tofu was also adequately cooked. However, this dish in its totality was bland, even with the addition of the soy-vinegar sauce. It would have tasted much better if the pork had been marinated prior to frying, and the sauce had more flavor in it.
6. Potato skin: As the name denotes, this consisted of baked potato skin with cream and bacon. Although visually appealing and olfactorily stimulating, the thickness of the potato substance diluted the flavor, making the taste quite bland. Addition of more seasoning, cream and bacon could improve the dish a lot.
7. Heartbreaker pizza: claimed to be one of the restaurant’s bestsellers, this pizza was so named because it was supposed to break the heart, medically speaking. However, my idea of a heartbeaker was something that oozed with fats, sodium and cholesterol. Translated to culinary language, it was something that supposedly had more bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage, or anything that had lots of flavor and lipids in it. This pizza did not have too many toppings. It is my recommendation that more meat and cheese toppings be added to keep up with the name.
8. Senior Gripman burger: This was my least favorite, perhaps because I was not into burgers in the first place. The patty was cooked the American way, i.e., the outer part was medium-well and the inner portion was rare to medium-rare. Meat of any form, for me, should be adequately cooked or well-done. Hence, I did not enjoy this item. Besides, the patty also needed some flavor enhancement. That would improve this dish a lot and would be more palatable to burger lovers.
To conclude, this restaurant has so much potential. Being operational for only a month at the time of this writing, it is understandable that there are still a lot of opportunities for improvement, especially when it comes to the dishes. I will come back to try the other items in the menu, as well as the other drinks aside from the Punyeta which they served (which actually tasted good). Thanks to Sherwin (the restaurant’s owner) and to the staff and crew, for attending to us very well and for being appreciative of our praises and constructive comments.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes