We Flirted with Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones

Level 1 - Greenbelt 5, Makati City

+63 (02)500-5000 / +63 (02)501-3111

14 September 2010

I already shared a snippet of the family's food trip at Mr. Jones, this post contains the full story.

When I received the GC for Mr. Jones last July (refresh - I won the Yummy Magazine blog contest in May and my prizes included a six-month subscription to Yummy Magazine plus p2000 GC from Mr. Jones), I knew I would want to use it for mom's birthday as the family rarely go as far as Makati just to eat. I called the restaurant the night before to reserve a table, and despite the early problems - someone answered the phone, but when I told my purpose of the call he said to wait for a while. I was waiting for him to come back and surprisingly, he hanged up the phone. Errrks, quite a bad start there. I called again, and hearing the same voice, I quickly asked him why he dropped my call. He just apologized and accommodated my call.

My reservation was at 12nn, but they told me they will just hold the table for about 15 minutes. If we weren't there by 12:15pm, they'd give the table to other people. We arrived in Makati City around 11:45am, but walking from the MRT Ayala Station to the restaurant took so long because none of us were quite familiar with the ins and outs of Greenbelt. We were actually looking inside the mall, until we realized that the restaurant was outside. We reached Mr. Jones around 12:25pm, and it was a good thing that there weren't that much people (only one table occupied), so the reserved table was still there.

Mr. Jones might just be a few years old, but stepping inside can bring a lot of memories. Though there weren't much of its kind, seeing the 50's style Diner theme is like going back to old movies and TV shows I watched before. The place inside was small - only four tables, but what we liked about the place was that we can take a peek at their kitchen right from our table.


They also have an al fresco area, which isn't really recommended during hot, sunny afternoons, but they had a lot of electric cooling fans to help lower the temperature. Of course, come night time, this would be an ideal place to dine at.

Seeing a big bottle of Tootsie Rolls add more nostalgic feeling, but it was their display of toys that really made the place truly nostalgic, and yes, truly Pinoy. I am not sure, though, if guests can borrow the toys.

Even before we got there, I already had a plan of which foods to order, but seeing their extensive menu made me re-think the plan. Consulting each members of the family, we had these foods:

Fish and Chips (p385). Old fashioned beer battered fish served with French Fries, Old Bay tartar sauce, spicy cocktail sauce, malt vinegar and homemade coleslaw. The Fish and Chips is one of my sister's favorite foods (ever), so this we quickly ordered. The fish was big enough for the family to share, and while each of the sauces and dips paired good with the fish, my favorite would have to be the malt vinegar.

Melted "Old Bay" Crab & Dory Thermidor (p395). Hollandaise and Mornay Sauce, Wilted Spinach, Herb Rice Pilaf, and Fresh Lemon. This one had crabs, so we went for this, too, as my mom loves crabs. Although there weren't much crab meat, we sure can taste its presence in the dish, and even if we weren't familiar with the taste of red rice, it paired well with the whole dish.


Char-Grilled "Greek Style" Norwegian Salmon Steak (p450). Topped with Greek salad with anchovy-dill yogurt vinaigrette, served with rice pilaf and fresh lemon. The family always just eat salmon heads because it was the cheapest salmon cut in the supermarket. We so wanted to eat the salmon steak, so seeing this, we went for it as well. Again, we didn't eat much of the rice (as it tasted a little nutty compared to the typical white rice we eat at home), but the baby carrots and the green beans we quickly consumed! As for the salmon, it was really good - very well seasoned and the Greek salad was superbly done.

Wicked Truffled Mac n' Cheese (p395). Baked with three types of macaroni, four cheeses, "Canadian Style" double smoked bacon, portobello mushrooms and green peas drizzled with truffle oil. At first bite we sure can't taste the full flavor of the truffle oil, but when we decided to mix it up, we found that the oil was actually sitting under the macaroni. This was a very unique dish, and among all we had on the table, this was the one I ate the most. It was so delicious, and yes, really wicked!

Blueberry Granola "Slim Shake" (p250). The family decided to go for their shakes, too, but mom just asked sis and I to choose what we want and the family will just share both drinks. Anyway, I liked the idea of this being a "slim shake," and that this one didn't have that much calories compared with the other shakes on the menu, but I only took a few sips of this as I am not really into blueberries.


Banana Cream Pie Milkshake (p250). Fresh bananas, graham chunks, and a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon. They have quite a lot of milkshakes, but I chose this one as I didn't want to go with the chocolate flavors. Drinking this is like eating melted banana ice cream - very rich, but with the right amount of sweetness.

Both shakes were served with a little extra on the side - the excess milkshake that didn't fit the glass were served, too, so at first mom and brother just took the "excess" glass before we shared the drinks in the main glass.

We went a little more than the allotted p2000, but we didn't mind it already (we, of course happily paid the rest in cash). It was an awesome lunch for us, and we just couldn't help but thank Yummy Magazine for this prize. This food trip was actually a testament that if you see contests online, just join... maybe you'd win. :) Happy birthday (well, super belated) mom.

The food was good, their service was top-notch (very friendly and nice - I now wonder who was the one who answered my call the night before), and although the food was a bit expensive for us, the quality was well worth it.

Will we flirt with Mr. Jones again? We sure hope so.

*** Jenn ***