Fely J's Again

Back at Fely J’s again for some Filipino food. It’s Butchie’s second night in Manila and Fely J’s has been on his agenda prior to visiting Manila. So, off we went. Thankfully, I was able to reserve a table this time.

We got curious about Fely J's Kamias Shake. Kamias is a local sour fruit often used for making sinigang. We used to have a tree in our backyard way back during my formative years when we lived in a small apartment in Quezon City. When I got married, our old townhouse also had a Kamias tree in the backyard. The neighbors would often ask me (on the rare occasions that I would do some gardening out front), if they could have some. As we dined at Fely J's, we were pleasantly surprised that you can actually make it into a nice refreshing shake. If I knew, I would have served some to my guests during parties, he he he. Such an unusual beverage.



Since we were all pigged out from the previous night’s dinner, we all decided to go seafood and veggies that night, to take a break from pork and to give our arteries a break.

We had the Crunchy Pako Salad (baby ferns) and a Shrimp Pomelo Salad. Both were good, light and refreshing.





Our Fely J's experience is never complete without the Dilis Rice.



Fely J’s best seller is their Pritong Tilapia in Sweet Plum Sauce. Almost every table had this dish. It’s actually a very simple dish to make, the tilapia is butterflied, floured, then deep fried and just brushed with their sweet plum sauce. The plum sauce is probably the secret.



We also ordered the Sadap Spicy Squid. This dish is just like a sweet and sour dish. Very simple. The sauce is light, not too sour, not too sweet but nothing spectacular overall.



Fely J's a must stop-over for balikbayans, I think. For they provide a new twist to local cuisine.



We were so full, we decided to just forego dessert altogether. Well, except for hubby who had some frozen chocolate yoghurt at Qoola.



Hubby still had to go to work after, I was a bit tired already and called it a night. Mom and Butchie partied on and had many more adventures that ended in the wee hours of the morning.

Teen-age flashback over good Filipino food

The BFF and I met our partner in crime during our elementary and early high school years, Nancy. She's in town for a few weeks to attend to some family matters and we seized the time to meet her and catch up on each other's lives.

As we were having dinner at Fely J's in Greenbelt, we talked about our jobs, Nanyc's life in Vietnam and essentially what happened with each other since the last we met up about four years ago. In between bites of Dilis Rice, Beef Morcon and Sauteed Mushrooms with Broccoli, we shared the joys of our lives and the many blessings that have come our way, the funny moments that we encountered in our travels, OCD tendencies, ideal men, food and every other topic under the sun. I love having moments like these with friends, catching up, gossiping and sharing hearty laughter that often leaves me in tears.







After finishing most of what we ordered, we were clamoring for more conversation and laughter. We headed off to Max Brenner, for some hot chocolate and churros. Max Brenner is quieter and less frequented by people, which provides an ideal atmosphere for reminiscing our elementary and high school days.

The collective memories of our childhood, weaved a tale of three young girls, enjoying life, childish adventures, pranks and the many naughty and funny things who did things together. We all had a childhood filled with laughter and adventure, although fraught with some setbacks and disappointment, we look back at it with fondness and gratitude that made us appreciate our lives even more.




We are only starting, there is more fun to be had, more adventures to try, more places to see. Ahhh, life only gets better and better.

Fely J's Restaurant

My aunt took us to this new Filipino fusion restaurant in Greenbelt 5 called Fely J's. They specialize in Filipino cuisine with a modern twist.

For starters, we had the Pako Salad (fern sprouts) with prawns, salted egg in a Thai dressing. It was good and a bit different from Kusina Salud's version. If you're craving for Pako Salad, you don't have to travel many miles to have one :-)



Of course, the Chickaron Bulaklak will never be absent :-)



For a slightly healthier fare, we ordered the Gule Magulang. A combination of shrimps,squash flowers, yellow squash and other vegetables cooked in coconut milk. This was good as well and surprisingly light for a coconut-based dish. Probably a Capampangan dish (from Pampanga).



Next was Fried Tilapia in Plum Sauce. Yummy, not oily.



For our soup we ordered Pork Sinigang, which is a staple in any Filipino household.



For dessert, we tried the Bayabas Pie (Guava Pie). It tasted like apple pie but a little more tart. Nice. The pie crust was also nice, very light and flaky.



Hubby opted to gorge on halo-halo for dessert. Halo-halo literally means, mix mix in English. The cold concoction has milk, assorted sweet beans, bananas, kamote stewed in sugar, topped with leche flan, some versions are toped with purple yam jam and ice cream. And yeah, hubby finished the entire mug by himself :-)