Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant And It’s Nature’s Gift Chicken

It’s the 41st day of quarantine period in our region and again, I’m posting throwbacks for my blog’s restaurant reviews.

As the name says, Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant will let diners feel that they are in a garden. They will be able to enjoy not just the good food but also the beautiful nature. 

Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant became an instant hit in the province. Our town is two hours away from Mansalay and many Pinamaleños travelled the long way just to try the talk of the town.

Fried Chicken

I was amazed with the restaurant’s quick service as they delivered our first dish with speed. I easily fell in love with their Fried Chicken. As always, it’s the skin that attracted me the most. It’s crispy, savoury and not floury. From the flavors of the meat, you would sense that the chicken was native. Plus, this platter has a generous serving chicken pieces.

Sisig

I just grabbed this photo of Sisig from my mom captured when she first visited Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant. I wasn’t with her that time so I wasn’t able to have a taste of the restaurant’s Sisig. But let me relay my mother’s comment about it here. It’s neither crispy nor dry. But undeniably, it’s the best companion for a hot cup of rice.

Adobo Rice with Grilled Mixed Seafood

The restaurant is offering Boodle Fight Platters in their menu. But for small groups, I love that they have Seafood Boats, which already includes rice. The adobo rice alone is already flavorful. It matches with the grilled tuna, shrimps, squid and scallops on its top.  It was evident that they get the freshest and highest quality of seafood out there.

Buttered Scallops 

The Buttered Scallop really stood out among the seafood. Aside from the fact that scallops are rarely offered in Mindoro, these clams were surprisingly chunky. The touch of butter into it is good. I just think that it needs more butter flavor and that the dish lacks sauce. But I like its creamy texture. I’m also glad that there are also other seafood on this plate.

Chopsuey

I can’t help but notice the big amount of sauce in this Chopsuey. But I appreciate it because I’m used to pour sauce in my rice. The sauce is sweet with a hint of bitterness from the vegetables. The carrot was fresh and the mushroom was delish. The other veggies were kinda soggy. The meat and chicken liver lifted the flavors of the dish.

Pancit Bihon

Just like their Chopsuey, the Pancit Bihon is also saucy. And I actually like pancit this way. However, the sauce is quite salty but tolerable. I commend the noodles they used for this dish because they are already flavorful on their own. I just wish this Pancit Bihon has more vegetables to minimize the intense flavors.

Halo-Halo

Their Halo-Halo is more like sundae because instead of ice, they used ice cream and chilled cream. I admire  the idea. It’s like a fusion of American and Filipino dessert. The combo of jellies and marshmallows is incredible.  I truly appreciate the jackfruit, ube, cheese and crispies. Despite of having ice cream, the sweetness is not overwhelming.

Generally, our casual dining experience is fine. Perhaps, my only concern is the unreasonable pricing of their dishes. I was surprised to know that the value of food in Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant is higher than the value of food in most restaurants in Manila. However, aside from that, I also experienced the worst concert in Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant.

Yep! Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant is holding concerts of famous celebrities and singers. I admire and thank the restaurant for the effort of bringing our idols to Mindoro. It was just sad that they weren’t able to manage them properly.

One time, we attended Morisette Amon’s concert in Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant. I already had a bad impression before but I was just keeping my mouth shut because the owner is a friend of our friend. But when we came back for the concert, I can’t hide the criticisms anymore because even our friend, who is also a friend of the owner, is also complaining. 

I agree that they should be strict with the flow of guests at the entrance but it was super strict to the point that even the staff couldn’t understand one another. There were three stops to validate the ticket for entry. At the first stop, they collected our tickets one by one. I didn’t know what they did with the tickets but it took a long time and we were waiting outside with the rain pouring. They returned the torn tickets collectively and we didn’t know which ticket belongs to each of us. At the second stop, the crew there asked us why our tickets were torn apart. While they were suffering in confusion, we again waited in the middle of the rain. WTF?

When we finally got inside, the usher didn’t memorize the sitting arrangement. There were 15 of us in the group. All of us have VIP tickets. We have consecutive ticket numbers but they directed us to different and separate seats. Some of the VIP seats were placed on a spot where the audience cannot see anything on stage, even a dot of Morissette, because the show was blocked by the people in front. As what I learned from theatre, in venues, backs seats should be placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those further forward. But Nature’s Gift Garden Restaurant isn’t designed this way so we ended up not seeing anything. I even heard other viewers complain, “1500 ang binayad namin pero wala kaming makita.”

At the third stop, we surrendered our tickets to get our meal. We availed the VIP ticket so we assumed to receive a casual dining experience. But they gave us a packed meal and a small bottle of 250 mL water. Let’s get this straight. The Chicken Inasal may be big but it has no wow factor. I like the lumpia though.

Honestly, I’m not bragging and I’m not saying that I’m entitled here. It was embarrassing to see people, who are the real VIPs in the province, to be treated and accommodated like this. It’s a sore in the eye seeing them in an area like this. So you just gave them this kind of experience. We are all disappointed!

It’s a good thing that Morissette Amon didn’t disappoint us with that kind of voice. She’s a stunner and will always be one. Aside from singing, she was able to entertain us with her jolly personality despite of this kind of concert management. Anyway, I was able to watch her closely because I forced myself to go inside the boundery.