Ten 2 One: Good Food, Great Atmosphere, Where Moments Are Celebrated, Everyday!

One thing we don’t have in Mindoro is night life. Usually, residents go home as early as eight or nine in the evening and you will only see few people in the streets when the clock ticks 12, unlike in Manila. Therefore, establishments like restaurants also close early everyday. But 24-hour fast food chains, convenience stores and some bars remain open at midnight for those who want to spend their late-night bonding. However, bars in our province are mostly nightclubs with performing girls. Only few bars here are sensible, which will allow customers to chill with merely their friends and their drinks. This is one advantage of Ten 2 One to other restaurants.

When we put up our branch in Calapan, normally, we finish our work by 11 in the evening. We leave Breen only to find out closed restaurants. It’s a good thing we discovered, Ten 2 One, a restobar that opens from 10:00 am to 1:00 am. OMG! As of the writing, I just found out why the restaurant was named Ten 2 One. Anyway, with the engaging music from the live band in the background, we spend our dinner here while others enjoy their beers. During the day, they offer casual Filipino dishes.

Royal Fam Boodle Fight Specials

I admire restaurants with Seafood Island-inspired menu because they exhibit the Filipino military tradition of dining, which is the boodle fight. And aside from that, boodle fight dishes give customers variety of food in one serving. On this banana leaf, there’s a grilled squid, which they kept simple yet delicious, gizzard kebab, which, I think, has the same yummy marinade, juicy okra and eggplant, fresh steamed prawns, rice, which is just right for four persons and other stuff.

Chicharon Bulaklak

Chicharon Bulaklak is my companions’ favorite bar chow. But for a person like me who doesn’t drink too much, it is also enjoyed as a snack and as a viand to pair with rice. My palate likes that it is well-salted. it doesn’t have fats and it looks clean. We left the plate on the table without any remaining morsels. Maybe, the only problems I have here are the small serving and its oiliness.

Crispy Pata

When I dug my fork into the deep-fried pork leg for the first time to get my part, I already know that it is soft in the mouth and easy to chew. Moreover, the crispiness doesn’t disappoint. In fact, I could hear the crunch from my companions while they were eating. It’s flavorful, too, especially when the meat is dipped into the accompanying chili and calamansi infused soy sauce. I also appreciate that it is well-chopped.

Bulalo Steak

I just realized now that everytime we visit Ten 2 One, their Bulalo Steak is always on our table. It must be the company’s favorite. You can’t blame us because this sizzling beef shank is boiled to perfect softness and grilled to beautiful crispiness of the crust. It’s like a Filipino-style steak as it features Filipino dish, Bulalo. I just wish that we can choose how it is cooked because I personally think that it would be better if it’s only medium rare and not well done to ease the dryness.

Salmon Belly

The flavors of seasonings in Salmon Belly can easily be recognized but it doesn’t hinder the natural juices of salmon. I’m glad that the belly is so tender and there are no bones to distract. Some salmon belly cuts still have meat attached to them, which surprised me because the meat has the same texture as the belly. We also had Ten 2 One’s Tuna Belly and I think, they were marinated and cooked the same way. Both are sizzling!

Cala-bet

Apart from having generous serving of ingredients, this dish has big cuts of different kinds of vegetables. It has balanced flavors of sweetness and bitterness from squash and bitter melon respectively. I was amazed on the sauce. Even my parents keep on saying “sarap” while eating. I wonder what’s Ten 2 One’s secret, or perhaps, Calapeno’s secret because the name, Cala-bet, implies that this is the city’s version of the Filipino dish, Pinakbet.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

You may be wondering what this plain-looking soup doing in a casual restaurant, which is a bar at the same time. Maybe, you’ll be surprise when I say that I can finish this big bowl of Cream of Mushroom by myself. That’s how luscious it is despite of its dull appearance. It’s full of flavor. It’s thick and creamy at once. It warms one’s heart. I like that they didn’t add more ingredients except for the mushroom bits because they might make thedish complicated.

Fries Surprise

For our snack, we ordered Fries Surprise because we thought that we might be surprise to this fusion of fries and shawarma. Well, I like the salsa. The cucumber, tomato and onions were fresh and the sauce has intense garlic flavor, which really gives me a shawarma vibe that surprisingly complements with the fries. I guess I was just disappointed with the small amount of salsa serving as it is not proportioned to the amount of fries.