Jones All Day at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City
With restrictions easing up and cases staying steadily low, we're starting to gain more confidence to go out and relive our lives once again. So what was my life before the pandemic? It was a mix of work during the weekdays, giving my undivided attention to my kids and family during the weekends and meeting up with friends somewhere in between. We sure have spent a lot of time dining out and that's one of the things that I missed the most for the past two years. Luckily, we were able to discover a number of home businesses that quickly became our favorites and we have also rekindled our love for cooking too.
As soon as our government lowered the restrictions, Paul and I met up with his cousin and later with some of my high school friends at Jones All Day. This is one of the newest restaurants by the Raintree Hospitality Group and if you're wondering how come the name sounds so familiar, they're the management team behind some of the biggest names in the F&B industry -- Saboten, Friends and Family, Chotto Matte and Farmer's Table to name a few.
During the earlier days of my food blogging, they were also the ones who have created Chelsea, MoMo, Mr Jones and Stella. All of which, Paul and I are huge fans of.
This is why we wasted no time and safely made our way to Serendra to try Jones All Day! This restaurant is headed by Chef Kalel Chan who also used to handle Mr Jones. I knew right away that we'll be in for a delicious treat as I've always been a fan of how he always manages to elevate your comfort food into something so satisfyingly good.
As of this writing, I have dined at Jones All Day three times already so here's a compilation of the different dishes and drinks that we were able to try and truly enjoyed:
Jones Seafood Tower (Php. 1395) -- if you're dining with a group, trust me when I say that this makes a good starter to any meal. For one thing, it truly is a showstopper with fresh oysters and seafood filling up the double-tier icy tower. It has a mix of fresh oysters (so fresh that we literally saw this being delivered and served to our table within minutes), mussels, salmon, tuna and uni sashimi slices, spicy tuna dynamite, shrimp cocktails (Paul's favorite!), fresh lato as decor which I ate anyway, corn tortillas and wonton crackers to go with the seafood. It was so good that the only thing missing is the relaxing sound of the waves crashing against the shore and powdery sand on your feet.
French Onion Soup (Php. 295) -- If you want something warm before going for the fresh seafood tower, you have to try their French Onion Soup. To be honest, I rarely would have French Onion Soup as the few times that I had it, it gave me really bad hyperacidity and left me wincing in pain for days. So, I've always been very wary when it comes to this soup. I'm happy to share though that I didn't had hyperacidity during the two occasions that I enjoyed this soup. I guess Chef was able to perfectly balance the acidity of this soup thus it came out to be very clean, comforting and so delicious.
Cacio e Pepe Truffle Fries (Php. 275) -- I tried this while having some drinks with my high school friends and it was so good! It's so funny because we even commented how huge the serving was and how can we possibly finish it off but as we continued to catch up, shared our stories while enjoying our chosen drinks, we successfully managed to wipe this plate sparkling clean. Oops! I love the thin salt and pepper shoestring fries and how you can really detect the strong truffle scent. It also had parmesan cheese shavings thus giving it a more interesting texture. It's something quite simple yet elevated to a whole new level.
Mr Jones' Filipino Breakfast (Php. 350) -- Now, here's a tip that I know you'll thank me for later. Whenever you're dining at any Raintree Restaurants and at any time they have their famous Mr Jones tapa on the menu -- don't even think twice -- just order it! This is one of their specialties at Mr Jones and one that they have perfected over time. You'll love how tender the beef slices are and it's just so yummy! It goes so well with their garlic rice and sunny-side up egg (personally, I always ask for scrambled eggs). The serving is good for sharing or if you're in for a very heavy breakfast then you'll definitely enjoy this down to the last grain of rice. This is one of my favorites and I'm glad that Chef Kalel decided to add this into the menu. It brings back a lot of good memories dining in their older restaurants with friends and of course, with Paul.
Dan Dan on Homemade Handkerchief Pasta (Php. 395) -- As they say during weddings, "something old and something new." If they have Mr Jones' Tapa which is a classic, then they also have these homemade handkerchief pasta dishes which are Chef's newest creations and definitely a winner in my book. I love fresh pasta because it has this chewy, full bodied bite that works with almost all types of sauces -- oil based, cream based, tomato -- you name it, I will never trade a bowl of fresh pasta over anything. This pasta dish is the perfect marriage of East meets West. Combining the rich, spicy flavors of the famous Dan Dan Mian and swapping out the Chinese noodles with some homemade handkerchief pasta, who would have thought that it would work? It sure did and we were blown away! I had this twice and I loved it both times. I'm excited to try the other handkerchief pasta variants next time as that Stella's Black Pepper Crab is calling out to me too.
Passionfruit Strawberry G&T (Php. 250) -- while catching up with my high school friends, we made the most of the happy hour by trying some of Jones All Day's drinks. I love G&T as its naturally very light and not very sweet. I was never a fan of heavy alcoholic drinks that's loaded with sugar. I do appreciate that Jones All Day has 3 types of G&T and all three are fruity based. Of course, I love anything with strawberries so this one was a fast and obvious choice. I love it! I made Paul take a sip as he was never into G&T and he said it's good too. I love the refreshing mix of passionfruit and sweet strawberries. It was perfect given the temperature is quickly rising nowadays.
Jones All Day has a very extensive menu which you can view here. What we have tried are just some of a few of their dishes and we still have a lot more to discover. So far, I was so pleased with everything that we have tried and I look forward to more succeeding visits to try more. The menu is a mix of Asian-inspired comfort dishes. For one thing, I can't wait to go back and try Chef's version of the Singaporean Seafood Laksa Bowl and the Lamb Rib Pho.
They have a huge sitting capacity indoors with al fresco dining for those who wants to enjoy some fresh air outside. I highly recommend that you call to make a reservation as the restaurant easily gets filled up especially during weekends.
Check out Jones All Day at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. Call them at 0917-8362172.
