Lunch at Iceberg

Have you ever been to Iceberg and not enjoyed halo-halo or any of their oversized and yummy desserts? A few weeks ago, my husband and his officemates had lunch at Iceberg (Banawe Mall of Asia) and he told me that the food was surprisingly good. He was especially impressed with the lechon kawali.

Last weekend, we were at the mall and looking for a not-too-crowded restaurant for a very late lunch. The girls wanted Japanese but we passed Iceberg and reached a compromise. If they agreed to have lunch at Iceberg, we could go Japanese for dinner.

Since we taste each other’s food as a practice, all this is first-hand information.

Alex’s lasagna was the first dish to be served. The lasagna sauce wasn’t bad at all but, sadly, the pasta was undercooked. No, not al dente but really undercooked. She finished it though — hard not to when you’re having lunch at 3.00 p.m.

My choice was a fish dish — deep-fried tilapia fillets served with adobo sauce and mangoes (below). I know that sounds weird but the combination worked. The sour-salty adobo sauce was thickened with starch then poured over the fish. The cubes of ripe mangoes were really just a garnish.

The fish fillets were only about half an inch thick. Surprisingly, the outside was crisp but the centers were soft and moist. With such thin slices, unless the cook knew exactly what he was doing, it would have been so easy to overcook the fish.

My husband’s sisig wasn’t bad either except that nothing was crisp. We prefer our sisig to be crisp in places (normally, the part that touches the hot plate) but Iceberg’s sisig lacked the texture that we love so much. In terms of flavor though, we had nothing to complain about.

The last dish to arrive was Sam’s chicken barbecue. We had to make several follow-ups because we were already worried that the waitress missed her order or something. Sam also ordered a bowl of mushroom soup which was served just a few minutes before the chicken. The chicken was good — a substantial serving of boneless fillets — and the soup didn’t taste like it came from a can.

With the drinks, the bill came up to P700.00 plus.

The food, although nothing ultra fantastic, was generally good and the prices were reasonable too. The problem was the service. Too slow. A group that came in after us had all their orders served before Sam’s soup and chicken reached our table. The manager was more concerned about arranging and re-arranging tables to accommodate as many walk-ins as possible and the waitresses were just as flustered as she was. Like I said earlier, we had to make several follow-ups before all our orders were served.

The funniest thing was that the French fries were served when we were almost through with our meals.

Perhaps, we should have had halo-halo for lunch.

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