REVIEWS/FOOD On one plate then the other ... BW sends two critics to one restaurant.
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MANILA BAY
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GLENN LANDBERG
Two fried fish heads sit in a chafing dish at one end of the buffet. When I set out to sample Manila Bay’s food, I wasn’t prepared to don Another dish is filled with tiny squid in an opaque purple sauce and my Sherlock Holmes persona but sleuthing quickly became the order yet another with bright yellow curry. Fatty chunks of bacon. Panof the day. Once inside on a weekday afternoon, I was confronted fried noodles with chicken. Lean adobo pork. Whole chicken legs with no menus and no other identification for the murky cauldrons and hunks of potato in a tomato sauce. Sour soup. Vegetable beef that “fleshed� out the buffet (vegetarians be advised). My Dr. Watson soup. Crispy spring rolls. A huge vat of steamed white rice. All-you- arrived in the form of a Filipino server, friendly and game to help me can-eat ($10.99). figure out what would quell the audible growls from my stomach. Filipino restaurant Manila Bay sits in a stand-alone building on FairManila Bay bills itself as Boise’s source for authentic Filipino view between Milwaukee and Maple Grove streets, between Popeye’s food and offers a rotating assortment of dishes on a buffet. Certain Chicken and Five Guys Burgers. On a Saturday night at a little after 8 staples of the Philippines, like adobo (considered by some to be the p.m., we are the only “national dish� of diners at Manila Bay. the island nation), A soon-to-be-setting have permanent real sun beams through estate on the service the two walls of line. Borrowed floor-to-ceiling from the Spanish windows, as we take language, adobo in the 20 or so square refers to a popular cloth-less tables in the cooking process that unadorned but clean involves soy sauce, space. Our appearcrushed garlic, bay ance is greeted with leaves and vinegar. a mixture of surprise Happily aware and smiles, quickly that vinegar inhibits followed by an explabacterial growth, I nation of the protein was less intimidated in each pan and what by the fact that both dishes are spicy. the chicken adobo While a few of and the pork adobo the chafing dishes are appeared to have full, others, like the been sitting in their fish head dish, have stainless serving trays mostly just the dregs for quite a while. of their contents left; This resulted in limp they look like they’ve red peppers, but been siting there the sturdy hunks of since lunch. The “Watch Your Step� signs plastered all potato and meat stayed moist in their reddish-brown MANILA BAY 8716 Fairview Ave. around the sneeze guard are apparently not enough of a sauce. Water glass in hand, I was ready for heat, but 208-375-5547 warning and I trip stepping up to the buffet, wondering the sauce was mild and needed a splash of chile paste Wed.-Sat., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. why the platform is there at all. Only the steamed rice to liven it up. Even chile paste couldn’t remedy the fact has a lid (and is therefore hot) so we spoon out big helpthat the chunks of pork in almost every dish I tried had ings of rice. We hesitantly take smaller portions of most a fatty rind at least a half-inch thick. of the dozen or so options (except for the lilac squid in coconut milk), As one might expect from a primarily island cuisine, seafood and take our plates—and a condiment selection of vinegar, shoyu and plays a starring role at Manila Bay. Rubbery squid bumped up fish sauce—to a table where we can see the TV, turned to a Spanishagainst steamed mussels still in their shells, but the most memoralanguage game show. ble flavor came from the milkfish in a neighboring pan. Despite an We are as surprised as the three employees when a Filipino family infusion of lemon juice, it was overwhelmingly musky, the earthiof four walks in. We surmise they are there for the first time, too, and ness consistent with the mangrove swamps where these mature fish are soon engaged with the employees in a happy, hearty conversation in dwell. Notorious for being much bonier than other fish, it made for Tagalog. We are also surprised to find that while the sauce-based dishes a challenging chew. have unappetizingly been sitting for far too long, the dry adobo cooked On a second visit—in the evening this time—I was relieved to pork and bacon chunks are very tender and well-seasoned. The spring find most of the dishes brighter and satisfyingly firmer in texture, rolls are burnt on the ends, but don’t taste bad with a shake or two of though disappointed that my favorite item from my first encounter, fish sauce and the rice is perfectly sticky and has held up well. We don’t a creamy curried chicken, wasn’t there. Thank goodness for the fafinish what is on our plates and we don’t go back for seconds, but we’re miliarity of the lumpia, a crispy sleeve encasing shredded cabbage, pleased to see the father of the family go back a third time. carrot and ground beef or pork, reminiscent of what most of us Since opening in the fall of 2009, Manila Bay has changed from a might identify as a spring roll. No particular dish stood out to me, full-service restaurant to buffet service only and on Thursday, Aug. 5, but a trio of soy sauce, chile paste and something sweet-and-sour plans to reduce its hours to Wednesday-Saturday, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. When with a touch of garlic added intrigue to the ongoing mystery of my so many restaurants are closing, bringing the focus in tight and staying dining experience. open only 20 hours per week may be the way to go. Though I still For $10.99 per person, this Filipino buffet struck me as an overmight not try the squid, I’m willing to give the buffet another try (but priced lunch option, but worthy as an evening adventure and a I’m going as soon as the doors open next time). chance to play international detective. —Amy Atkins is so busy watching everyone else’s steps, she seldom watches her own. WWW. B OISEWEEKLY.C O M
—Sarah Barber says “Elementary, my dear Watson,� far too often.
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