Review: Sentro 1771 has a new menu – what should you order?

Sentro 1771 has reinvented Filipino cuisine, courtesy of Executive Chef Vicky Pacheco. Tucked away at the posh Serendra at Taguig City and at Greenbelt 3 in Makati, Sentro 1771 would not be out of place if it were located in, say, a high end street in New York City. Indeed, while its ambiance alone deserves merit, the sumptuous dishes being served are just as unique – each one, a story on its own.

It all begins with the ingredients. Sentro uses its own selection of orgaic vegetables and meat sourced from the select suppliers all over the country. From there, every dish is made straight out of the kitchen. Even the corned beef, which takes a while to cure, is made from scratch. Chef Vicky admitted that this sometimes poses a challenge when replicating a dish. Every offering in the Sentro 1771 menu has been masterfully crafted, if not re-invented. So when you dine at Sentro 1771, you are assured of a unique experience unavailable elsewhere.

Their one of a kind menu is written in a mixture of Filipino (Tagalog) and English, starting with Sinigang na Corned Beef as its first dish, being the house specialty. The dishes are grouped according to purpose. Pica-pica would be your appetizers, Filipino favorites would be stuff like kare-kare, pancit palabok, and lechon kawali, inihaw would be your grilled section. There’s even a section dedicated to our favorite adobo and of course, different kinds of rice, such as the seafood bagoong rice.

Beside every dish is a “popularity marker”. From a scale of 1-3, it serves as a guide for any newcomer when deciding what to order. Don’t let this fool you though, there are a lot of interesting dishes that you might miss when simply looking at the ratings. For example, lamb caldereta is only rated at 1.5 out of 3. Kare-kare, lechon kawali, and adobo sa gata are only rated 2 out of 3.

We have written about the much-touted sinigang na corned beef before, and it remains at the top of our list of recommended orders at Sentro 1771. The sinigang na corned beef can be a hit or a miss, so we suggest that you drop any expectations you may have and just try it an enjoy the experience. To our knowledge they are the only restaurant that serves this, so there really is no comparing it anywhere else.

In addition to the sinigang, we highly recommend the adobo sa gata, a reinvention of the classic adobo sa gata, cooked to perfection. The combination of asim (sour) and alat (salty), with a slight hint of anghang (spicy) underlined by milky goodness of gata (coconut milk) is just perfect. The amount of sauce is neither overwhelming nor underwhelming. It is cooked a la probre, with lots of garlic and cooked long enough to melt the chicken fat to bring about the home-cooked goodness of adobo that we love.

The lamb caldereta is another must try. We love lamb, so this is our personal favorite. For the uninitiated, “caldereta” is usually beef or lamb cooked with tomato sauce, usually garnished with peppers and carrots. It is supposed to be primarily spicy, followed by the sweet, slightly sour taste of tomatoes and finally flavored by salty goodness. Yummy!

These would be what we call the safe orders. If you are feeling a little more adventurous, there are a whole lot of other dishes to choose from, such as catfish with ponzu sauce, duck pancakes, sugar-free humba, sinigang na isda in tamarind and guava, and more.

When it came to deserts, the banana tart is a must try. It is good enough to be taken on its own, with a cup of steaming hot kapeng barako (black Batangas coffee).

However, out of all the deserts the fried suman really left us an impression. Perhaps because it reminds us so much of the sticky mango rice, a desert common in Thailand. The fried suman is entirely Filipino, and a unique experience on its own.