Papa Mai’s Grill

I have been raving about Papa Mai’s Grill for the longest time already. Yet I did not have the opportunity to actually blog about this what-was-once-a-hidden-gem-in-the-city.

I first heard about this eatery ages ago when a friend of mine was blabbing about how delectable their grilled pork belly is. Tales of their grilled pork belly delight was only a word-of-mouth sensation then. Having heard so many good reviews about their specialty, I was not able to resist the temptation any longer…

And you don’t have to guess if I loved it… I simply did and I still very much do!

In fact, whenever I’m feeling for some grilled meat, I head straight to Papa Mai’s Grill.

Tip: Dip those chops of grilled pork belly in a mixture of soy sauce, crushed chilies for some heat, some calamansi extract, and Papa Mai’s special ground ginger-garlic-spices sauce thing. Match made in heaven.

Obviously, grilled pork belly isn’t the only thing in their menu…
You should try their “Halang-halang” (The soup only is free! Who doesn’t want free stuff?) and “Papaitan”.

Originally, they were located in the anus of somewhere and it was really tasking to get there especially since they didn’t post any signage outside of their building.

Trust. I’ve been there a few times and every time I was on the way there…
I still wasn’t sure if I was heading in the right direction or place!

Certainly, the only ones who knew that Papa Mai’s Grill even existed were only the people who already ate there previously or was brought there by a friend. Hence, word-of-mouth.

Thankfully, just recently, they managed to get a space at Pasillo so they are now totally accessible to everyone. I promise to link a map location whenever I remember how to do it again.

Flamoo

Flamoo is the latest burger joint in town and it’s located inside The Strip. Trust me, once you’re there, you won’t miss it. It’s facing the open field and is just right beside Red Planet Grill.

Flamoo gave me a good first impression. I like the fact that everything about it really tells me that I am indeed inside a restaurant that serves burgers.

They have two dining areas, one on the inside and one on the outside, so to give us the liberty where we want to have our Flamoo dining experience.

As much as I would like to sit outside and breathe some fresh air, apparently I can’t. Just because I can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke. So obviously, I am left without a choice.

I honestly like everything about the interior, except for the poor air-conditioning and for the smoke coming out from the kitchen which saturated the whole dining area and irritated my eyes. I do hope the management does something about those issues soon.

Anyhoodles, let’s get to the meat of this story!
(Pun intended.)

Yes.

Take a good look at that. That’s Cheesy Flamoo–one of their scrumptious flame-grilled burgers and it’s my favorite on their list.  In the background are Seafood Tower and Rib-eye Steak.

This is their Bacon Mushroom Melt Burger.

Everything about their burgers, in general, are far superior to what I usually have here in Iligan.

I love how their patties are seasoned well and I can tell that they are already good on their own. All their burgers have a generous amount of toppings and have fries on the side. Though, I do wish they would use the kind of cheese that would melt more nicely. But that’s already me nit-picking.

Here’s another angle of the Rib-eye Steak that comes with a perfectly done sunny-side-up egg sitting prettily on a bed of rice with mixed vegetables on the side.

Trivia: I am not a fan of runny egg yolks.

So my boyfriend took the pleasure of gobbling it all up for me.

The steak was alright. Sad to say that their steaks are really thin and this means that it would be very difficult to have them done in medium-rare. So steaks are only well-done in Flamoo.

Unfortunately, all my Seafood Tower photos look really sad and are not worth posting…
I don’t have anything much to say about it anyway except that it was good. I still prefer the traditional burgers over it though.

Here’s another dish that they serve called Nacho Loco.
The ratio of nachos to toppings is divine. It’s a plate bursting with flavor! I love it.

I also got to try their Buffalo Wings. Again, my pictures of it are sad-looking. Taste-wise, it was okay. But pocket-wise, it was bang for the buck.

And these here are two tall glasses of their Red Iced Tea. I also like their Blue Lemonade and especially their Raspberry Shake (which strangely tasted more like strawberry to me… I must have read it wrong or something).

Bringing this post to a close, if you’re feeling for some burgers, Flamoo is the place to be. Be warned though, their service can be excruciatingly slow and you might have to wait at least 30 minutes to an hour for your order. But I assure you, it is definitely worth the wait.

This is all for my first post and there will certainly be more to come.
Just keep on following!