Love at First Bite: Hook by Todd English

I'm so thankful that I live in a country that has access to several kinds of seafood. However, some of my favorites cost me an arm and leg (at times two legs). But that was about to change thanks to this new Todd English concept called Hook. 

Hello, Hook! 

Just like the other Todd English restaurants, Hook has dark interiors and a bit of pub/bar vibe to it but with a touch of class. 

I was first greeted by a beautiful showcase of seafood ranging from humongous fishes in different colors to the freshest oysters I've laid my eyes on. 

Eric welcomed us and ushered us to our table and suggested that we try the Three Tiered Seafood Platter (PHP3,500) and (Not) Paella (PHP750). As clueless diners, we let him surprise us with his choices. 

While waiting for our food, we were given glasses of champagne to pair with our meal. And it was a pretty good way to cap the week. 

Second Bite: Pound

I never waited for food for over 2 hours until that Pay What You Want promo. I don’t know what got into me to make me wait for so long. Well, I guess the idea of just spending whatever you feel like for your burger or slider is attractive. Okay, okay! It was tempting as ice cream for a person who has sore throat! But just when I said I will never ever wait that long… it happened again after 4 days. Darn it!

So hello again, Pound.

Yes, I have been lured to this place again after my new looloo friends R and W expressed interest in the very tempting promo.

R was the first to arrive around 6PM and she was already on the second column of the list. That means over 20 diners were ahead of her. Unbelievable! My officemate A also had her sister B reserve a table and given that she’s ahead of R, I had the seat reservation up by two more to accommodate R and W.

And then the wait game began.

We almost ran out of topics to talk about as we waited 3 hours this time. At least, it was more enjoyable than my last visit where I waited alone.

We quickly ordered as soon as we got settled. R and I decided to share two slider meals—Bacon and Egg Sliders (PHP200) and T.E. Crispy Chicken Sliders (PHP195) while everyone else ordered Amsterdam Burger and T.E. Burger.

Service was quick and in less than 10 minutes, everyone’s burger arrived—except for our sliders. R and I were literally drooling after getting a sniff of the burgers in front (or beside) us.  We had to follow up and overheard that the staff overlooked ours. Whaaaaat???

Anyway, they did make up for it and our sliders were served in 5 minutes or so. Or so I thought.