Spanish Food in Manila and Fangirl Moment at the Alqueria Restaurant in SM Mega Fashion Hall!

A Spain trip is on the works for me soon this year hehe. And from what I've heard, Barcelona alone already promises a culinary adventure and a week may not be enough! What more the other neighboring cities?! While waiting, I dropped by Alqueria Restaurant in SM Megamall for a taste of Spanish-inspired dishes from the SumoSam Group of Restaurants :) We're no strangers to paella and all other dishes initially borrowed from Spanish influences. I thought I'd only have tapas and churros but I was a bit speechless with the special company of one fellow Pinoy travel blogger that I admire from afar. Hehe. Hopefully, I get to visit an actual alqueria in Spain and have awesome company who loves travel as much as I do and who I can learn from like this day... :)

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For tapas, we had Gambas Al Ajillo (P375). This can be a meal in itself with all that garlic (just order rice hehe). But we had to make space for the mains.

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They have a weekend promo now (2pm to 7pm) at P498 with unlimited Sangria or beer and Tablon de Alqueria (a mix of their 10 best tapas)!

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J likes his sangria (spiked) while I had a refreshing seedless grape shake.

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They brought out the Pollo Iberico (P395), which was a slowly roasted quarter leg chicken with chorizo, bell peppers in olive oil and white wine.

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The Prime Rib Solo (P1499) is best eaten hot with that addicting and tangy chimichurri sauce... 

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For meat lovers, there's Paella del Carne (P480 S, comes in M/L) with chicken, chorizo, smoked bacon and spareribs.

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Before I could eat my top 2, I watched the seasoned travel writer and photographer set up the Cochinillo Belly with gravy (P888) for a shot hehe. He took his time and it served as a wakeup call for me and my photography skills for my travel blog haha. As a collector of inflight magazines, I could only look forward to his next adventure article before. Now that I met him, I'm looking forward to travelling with him and being friends... Stalker much haha. I was super inspired to look for better angles for food. Hehe. If you're wondering who I'm fangirling about, it's Edgar Alan Zeta-Yap also known as the EazyTraveller ;) And cochinillo is actually our lechon (this one roasted suckling pig) - a delicate farm-to-table dish served in Spain since the olden times.

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I hope the bright colors of this Fisherman's Paella (P885) shot brings out how much seafood was in there (even with just the rice) which is one of the things I loved about this dish. The rice is infused with saffron and pomodoro with shrimp, mussels, squid and fish of the day. I even went for seconds and thirds haha.

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A slice of Alqueria's Manchego Cheesecake (P230) can satisfy many tummies, esp. mine that can't eat chocolate... That's one loaded cheesecake drizzled with melted manchego and cream cheeses. 

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You might want to dig into their Pudin (P160) too. It's a chocolate pudding made from Valor chocolates and topped with ice cream.

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I think of Disneyland and theme parks when I see churros and it's the only time I care for cinnamon.

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They have Churros with Valor chocolate dip (P158 for 3 pcs, P198 for 5 pcs, P298 for 10 pcs) in Alqueria.

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Then for me, there's classic churros in cinnamon and sugar (P138 for 3 pcs, P158 for 5 pcs, P228 for 10 pcs).

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Do check out Alqueria with the fam for a Spanish food trip!

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