Casa Armas

The month of June has been pretty much a busy month for me, and I haven't had much time to go online.  But I've been visiting a lot of places, and among them is Casa Armas, which used to be just a quaint restaurant in the Malate area, but today has several franchise outlets all over the metro (I understand that there is even a branch in Davao).  This restaurant was started by Jesus Armas great chef with a flair for good food and fine living, and further on gained prominence in the the late eighties--people were simply raving over their paella!  Yes, that was, and still is their number one bestseller!  Our business meeting turned into a happy hour meal of sorts, and we had a lot of tapas and pica-picas on our table--

Ham, salami and cheese platter for starters!

Spicy octopus, bathed in olive oil, was sheer delight to much on

Beef tenderloin tips, fried crispy and cooked with a lot of garlic

The squid was soft, albeit a bit bland for me, so I let the calamansi add the zing!

Beef Tapa was quiet tasty, and the raw onions added contrast to every bite

Garlic fried button mushrooms!  A time tested favorite

Gambas, with lots of olive oil, and with just the right spice

Baked clams, lots of cheese on top--one of my favorites

The branch's interiors at the Podium have been quite modernized, a far cry from the traditional brick look and homey feel projected by the original Malate outlet.  Service was pretty fast and courteous.  Just one comment--the restaurant outlet is located right next to the entrance door of the mall, and this was a bit distracting to our discussion, as there was a steady stream of shoppers lining up to enter the mall.  Despite the modern mall surroundings, select Spanish decor gave the place some authenticity--the bull heads adorning the wall gave a nice Iberian touch.  Our bill came to around P400 per head, which was not bad for happy hour chit-chat!