By Joel Pinaroc

Despite the immense popularity of grill-type restaurants catering to young urban professionals, families, groups and individuals, Sangkalan Grill is holding its own, silently thriving and competing silently against high-profile competition.

Sangkalan Grill, with several branches in Quezon City, offers no fuss, no frills grill cooking, serving numerous specialties, particularly grilled seafood.

Sangkalan has also carved a nice niche, counting on its loyal patrons to make that regular visit to the restaurant, despite the countless grill-type places now dotting Metro Manila. Sangkalan however differs from the others by offering fancy-free dishes at affordable prices.

The Sangkalan Experience

Sangkalan in Visayas Ave. has been a favorite haunt of this writer, even before the emergence of fancy grill restaurants, which have been established to cater to a more chic clientele.

Even before grill and restaurants became the in place for the professional set, Sangkalan was way ahead of competition, catering to government workers and 9 to 5 employees all wanting to have that nice ice cold drink accompanied by a plate of grilled goodies.

Family dining is also one of Sangkalan’s specialties, with throngs of families, and groups often seen visiting the place.
While some of the Sangkalan branches do have function rooms for special occasions, the dining area in Sangkalan Visayas has a nice, open view of nearby Visayas Avenue.

The ubiquitous and sometimes annoying tricycles and passenger jeepneys, merely adds to the simple charm and mass appeal of the place.

The service is also commendable, and to assure that the food is grilled fresh, Sangkalan has strategically placed its grilling area in the heart of the dining space, in a way that it will not inconvenience customers.

It is a usual sight to see Sangkal staff loading plate-loads of squid, tuna belly, and tuna “panga” to the grill area. The smoke emanating from the grill area and the smell of freshly grilled seafood only adds to the dining experience.

There are no blaring music in Sangkalan, just an inconspicuous piped music from a simple sound system neatly place in a few corners.

This makes the place ideal for after-office meeting and that relaxing drink after going through the 9-to-5 daily grind.

Keeping Up With the Times

Sangkalan in Visayas however has to keep up with the demands of diners wanting more than just a drink and grilled food. The place fairly recently introduced a videoke room, where customers can sing through a videoke machine.

The good news is that the air-conditioned videoke room is separated from the main dining area, assuring customers that they can still have that quiet dinner without getting disturbed by somebody belting out Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

What’s more, Sangkalan has started offering function rooms for weddings and other occasions. In fact, its branch in nearby Scout Albano is listed online as one of the recommended places for such occasions.

The popularity of the beer by the bucket gimmick also prompted Sangkalan to come up with its own special “combo” package for the budget-conscious drinker. Order a bucket, pick a nice “pulutan” and you only get to pay a certain amount.
Sangkalan also had to expand its menu, opting to serve more non-grill items.

A particularly popular dish is Sangkalan’s version of “ginataang kuhol” or snail stewed in coconut milk, which goes down very good with that ice cold beer.

Sangkalan also offers the customary pork “sisig” in a sizzling plate and a surprisingly good “pinakbet” or mixed vegetables sautéed in fish sauce.

So if you want to experience grilled food at its best, you can’t go wrong with Sangkalan.

For information on Sangkalan Grill and its services:
Sangkalan Grill Restaurant
Address: 7 Scout Albano St., Quezon City, Philippines
Telephone No: 431-5580

Tags: Manila Grill Restaurants, Manila Dining Guide, Philippine Restaurants