Grams Diner

Specialty: American style diner cuisine
Location: Ground floor, Seaside Boulevard, Mall Of Asia.
Service charge: 10%
Rating: ★★★★

Grams Diner serves American styled food at a decent price. While diners are not normally located beside the sea, this diner has chosen it's location well. Near enough the sea so you could see its beauty while you dine and yet far enough so you wouldn't smell the filth of Philippine waters. But enough of the location. we are here for the food.

The Menu
The breakfast menu is decidedly non-American besides the set breakfast that they have. Somehow, English muffins layered with ham and topped with hollandaise sauce doesn't sound too American to me. They should have added more waffles and coffee in the menu if they want to be called a diner.

We couldn't decide on what to eat, so we settled on the set lunch package. Says so in the menu. "Can't decide? Here's our list of..."







The set lunch comprises of the following:

• main dish
• a choice between soup or salad
• a choice of mashed potatoes, fries, steamed rice or garlic rice
  
• iced tea
• a choice between coffee and tea

That's a lot of choices for a list of 4 dishes. We settled for fish fritters with mashed potatoes and camomile tea and the roast beef with hot coffee. That way, I get to try a lot of food.

Iced Tea
The ice tea in itself was not spectacular but what was interesting was the fact that men and women have different glasses. Men have sexy curvy glasses and women have straight no-nonsense glasses. Why? I have no clue. And I didn't bother to ask because they only have 2 waiters to serve a place capable of handling roughly 25 to 30 people.

Cream Soup
The cream soup was... well, soupy. Plain chicken soup. Nothing in it but soup. I didn't bother to post pictures of it here.

Roast Beef
Price: php 235
Rating: ★★★★
The roast beef didn't look roasted at all. looked more like grilled if you ask me. But I'm not a cook. I just eat a lot. It may not look roasted but it was scrumptious indeed. Nice thin slices of red, kill-yourself-softly, meat with a huge dollop of rice. A veritable concoction of cholesterol and carbohydrates. It wasn't oily too.

It was served with sauce, steamed rice a few bits of string beans, some corn kernels and a pathetic slice of carrot. It was a high dose of cholesterol and carbohydrates and I loved it.

They also placed a few bottles of other sauces if you might like them (a very nice addition for those who are spoiled for choice). It included a bottle of A.1. steak sauce, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and oddly enough, Knorr seasoning.

Fish Fritters
Price: php 205
Rating: ★★★★
A set of 5 to 6 pieces of fish fritters with soft tender white meat that melts in your mouth with a delicious coating of batter. The batter was uneven in some places though. they could use a better way to coat the fish. The mashed potatoes were soft and a bit on the creamy side as one would expect a mashed potato to be, even if its a bit on the bland side. The secret sauce could be none other than mayo and ketchup. Although I couldn't say for certain.

As with the roast beef, it was also served with a few pieces of string beans and a few corn kernels. But unlike the roast beef, this had 2 slices of carrots. Talk about healthy living.


Conclusion
All in all, a great dining experience. The food is good, the ambiance and setting is good for a medium sized gathering. They even have a section where you can scribe your moment of celebration on the wall to remember the good times. To finish off, here is their list of reasons why you should dine there. Personally, I think number 8 should be number 1.