MANGO Tree is inarguably one of the best Thai restaurants in the metro. It sets the standard on what good Thai food should be. Yet it does not sit on its laurels. It continues to innovate, constantly works hard to come up with new dishes that its loyal diners and new clients will surely enjoy. Just recently, Mango Tree rolled out a new menu that focuses on healthy and authentic Thai dishes from the four regions of Thailand.
From the new menu, there are eight dishes, ranging from appetizers to desserts, that you absolutely must try:
Watermelon Salad with Dried Shrimp Floss. Called Tangmoo Goong Haeng in Thai, this salad is a palate cleanser of watermelon balls and shrimp floss sweetened with a little sugar. The shrimp floss perfectly equalizes the sweetness of the watermelon, so that it does not come out as a dessert but the nicely salty sweet appetizer that it is meant to be.
Stir-fried Crab in Curry Sauce. Perhaps one of the most flavorful dishes on the new menu, Phad Phong Ka Ree is crabmeat with egg and yellow curry sauce. This dish is so simple and yet the flavors are so complex. It is impossible not to fall in love with it, especially if you eat it with hot, freshly cooked Jasmine rice. Just spoon the crabmeat curry mixture over rice, mix it up and enjoy. Do not be shy.
Grilled U.S. Pork Collar. Kor Moo Yang to the Thais, this dish is for meat lovers. It is marinated grilled U.S. pork collar served with Isan jim jaew sauce. It is the Thai version of the Filipino inihaw na baboy, whose dip is vinegar with garlic, onion, pepper and other condiments and spices, while the Thais love theirs with fish sauce, tamarind juice, palm sugar, lime juice, crushed red pepper and chopped cilantro.
Shrimp Cakes. These are my personal favorites! Tod Mun Goong refers to deep-fried crumbed shrimp cakes served with plum sauce. The flavor is subtle, but you can taste the freshness of the shrimps, and the patties go perfectly with the plum sauce. Never ever miss this!
Stir-fried Lady Finger Okra. Eat healthy to live healthy, so make sure you have a vegetable dish included in your meal. Okra Fai Daeng is okra, or lady fingers, cooked with garlic, bird’s eye chili and yellow bean paste.
Steamed Chilean Black Mussels in Tom Yum. The mussels, or tahong, in this dish are black because they are imported. There are no shells or corals attached to the mussel shell itself, and there are definitely less troublesome “beards” that are stubbornly attached to the mussel meat. It is cooked tom yum style, so you can enjoy sips of the soup as you partake of the spicy and sour black mussels with coriander and seafood sauce.
Tub Tim Grob. This dessert is chewy red ruby chestnuts (made by coating dices of water chestnuts with cassava starch and cooking in red colored syrup until the water chestnuts float to the surface) paired with coconut ice cream. I personally love this and would hand-pick it for dessert!
Thai-style Mochi. This dessert is basically glutinous rice balls in violet and green colors, coated with grated coconut and palm sugar. Although the glutinous rice “balls” are round balls and not flattened oblong shapes, it will surely remind you of the Filipino palitaw.
Enjoy these eight new dishes—and more!—in relaxing and cozy environment, with the flagship restaurant in Manila of Mango Tree Worldwide having just revitalized its look with new interior design and The 200-seater casual fine dining restaurant has now looks more casual and relaxed. The hardly used outdoor area beside the main door has now been incorporated into the indoor dining area. The area is now occupied by a 20-seat solarium with lots of hanging plants that make it look like an al fresco garden area although, in reality, it is part of the indoor dining area and therefore enjoys air-conditioned comfort. A stylish bar, similarly themed, stands beside the entrance to the solarium. On the other end, a show kitchen, a wine room, semi-private booth seats, and a 40-seat loft for private functions now stand. Together, they create a cozy, relaxing atmosphere that makes dining even more exciting.
(Mango Tree’s flagship restaurant is located at Bonifacio High Street Central, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.)
