The Off the Grill branch along Brick Road of the Santa Lucia East Grand Mall in Cainta, Rizal |
On rainy nights, frogs
come out and make noise, but they can hardly be found now in highly urbanized
Quezon City, only in the logo and bright sign of a prominent bar and restaurant
along Timog Avenue. The owner said they saw many frogs when they were building
the now popular night spot and decided to put them in the logo, one holding a
bottle of beer, another a microphone and the other a fried chicken, showing
what Off the Grill offers—drinks, live entertainment and food.
“Well, (we chose) frogs
because of their unique sound, (which) can definitely attract people. Frogs
bring in good luck,” added one of the owners and operation manger Jeremy Sy,
who insists of being called Boojie.
Located at the corner of
Timog Avenue and Scout Torillo Street, Off the Grill is a large bar and
restaurant that assumes the look of a warehouse, a vestige of the 1990s when
the warehouse type and industrial look had become popular among bars. It is
cavernous inside, the steel frame embellished with faux vines, and plastic
chairs and tables spread on the 800 square meters of dining area fronting a
large stage. There is a fake waterfall at one end and a well-stocked bar at
another. A room closed off from the bar is a family restaurant. Open six to
nine in the evening, it is well-lit and has a better ambiance, but it has large
glass windows so one can see the live acts. The whole place can accommodate
about 700 people. There is an additional 200 square meters for the kitchen and
400 square meters for the parking lot with 30 parking slots.
Sy said the area had many
“bentahan ng gulong” (stores selling tires) and Off the Grill (OTG) was
one of the pioneers there. Now, Timog Avenue and Tomas Morato Street are
studded with restaurants and bars, a popular dining and night strip.
“Looking back, we never
thought this will hit the market,” Sy recalled. “We were just a group of
friends who wanted to have a place where everything is cool—music, ambiance,
food. I guess it’s that kind of ‘experience’ that has brought us to where we
are now, and which the people or the public come back for—the Off the Grill
experience.”
Off the Grill opened in
2003, sporting the characteristics the owners wanted in a bar—a homey, garden
set-up serving good food and having live bands. Over the years, it has become
popular, especially among the professional types with the median age of 35
years old.
“Those who can spend,” Sy
said. “We cater to the buying crowd.”
The beer is at P65, the
most expensive in the area. But the advantage is the safety, Sy added. The
bar-restaurant doesn’t attract the rowdy crowds, making it almost safe to bring
the kids, and some do. One can hardly find a bouncer.
A popular attraction of
the bar-restaurant is the live acts. Every night, Off the Grill features
different bands and performers. Sy boasted that the bar-restaurant pioneered in
having live bands and acoustic performances. In fact, some of the popular and
award-winning performers started in Off the Grill.
“We are proud to say that
some of our country’s top performers in the music industry started their stints
here in Off the Grill,” shared Sy, “the likes of Side A, Freestyle, Paolo
Santos, UrbanNation, Richard Poon. And they are still very much part of Off the
Grill.”
Through the years,
guest performances from MYMP, K24-7,
True Faith, Mocha Girls, South Border, Brownman Revival, Princess Velasco,
First Five, Duncan, Jimmy Bondoc and Saia continues to add glitter to its
nightlife experience. Chopstiks, 7th Soul, Joint with Pau Chavez, Flow,
Retrospect, Fat Session, Part 3, Milan, Deep Projek, Fair Ground, Big Night
Out, Malik, Gentry, Pedo, Bloomfield, Luke Mijares, Alamid, Moymoy, Retro
All-Star, Twisted Pair and Overdose have also graced the Off the Grill stage.
Brownman Revival |
First Five |
Freestyle |
K24-7 |
MYMP |
Princess Velasco |
Paolo Santos, Jimmy Bondoc and Duncan |
South Border |
Saia with Duncan |
True Faith |
Another aspect Off the
Grill is proud of is the food. The menu is actually comprehensive for a bar
with ample choices for appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, desserts, drinks and
others. Popular chows are included as well as Filipino regional dishes, many of
which are not offered in other bars. Additionally, they have their signature
dishes labelled “OTG,” which Sy said are selling well along with their
bestsellers such as the grilled tuna belly, the grilled squid, buffalo wings,
sisig and crispy pata.
Among the appetizers the
buffalo wings (P195) is the bestseller but they also recommend the cheese
sticks (P95) and the French fries (P115). Aside from that, choices include
buttered corn (P140), calamares (P195), chicharong bulaklak (P220),
chicken wings (P160), crispy crablets (P150), crispy molo (P150), crispy
tenga (P160), dinakdakan (P195), fish finger (P210), dried pusit
(P175), garlic mushroom (P140), kilawin tuna (P220), kilawin
tanigue (P220), lumpiang shanghai (P140), mashed potato (P65), nilasing
na hipon (P230), onion rings (P150), peanuts (P80), potato wedges (P110),
spicy tofu (P150), sugba’t kilaw (P275), tokwa’t baboy (P170),
and vegetable sticks (P120).
This can be the entire
menu for another bar but just a section in Off the Grill’s. In the soups, the
bestselling is the classic bulalo (P320), but they also have clam
chowder (P120), cream of asparagus (P120), cream of mushroom (P75), cream of
wild mushroom (P120), nido (P75 per cup or P290 per bowl), nilagang baka (P195),
papaitan baka (P135), seafood (P235), sinigang na baboy (P195), sinigang
na hipon (P215), sinigang na salmon belly sa miso (P245), sinigang
na tiyan ng bangus (P245), and sotanghon (P65 per cup or P200 per
bowl).
Their vegetable dishes
include ampalaya con carne (P165), Bicol Express (P155), broccoli with
garlic (P170), broccoli with oyster sauce (P175), chopsuey (P180), kangkong
lechon (P140) which is the bestseller, sizzling or adobong kangkong (P140),
kilawing puso ng saging (P155), laing (P) and the Japanese
stir-fried vegetables called yasai itami (P140) which is recommended.
Filipino noodle dishes are aso offered—bihon gisado (P175), the
bestselling birthday noodles (P195), lomi, (P175), pansit canton in
seafood or pork (P195) and sotanghon gisado (P175)—as well as pasta
(carbonara, P250; grilled chicken
diablo, P250; linguini in clam sauce, P280; and pesto, P280) and pizza
(Hawaiian, P240; OTG, P250; pesto, P240; puttanesca, P240; and Supropia Fiesta
de Pizza, P250). For sandwiches, they have the popular OTG (P210), cheeseburger
(P140), clubhouse (P200), hamburger (P120), roast beef with fresh asparagus
(P210) and Philly cheese steak (P220).
Seafood items are popular
in Off the Grill such as the bestselling baked oyster (P240), ginataang
plapla (P265), kilawing talaba (P160), shrimp and mushroom (P265),
the bestselling Spanish gambas (P265), steamed fish filler (P250),
steamed oyster (P215), steamed plapla (P195) and sweet and sour fish
(P195). Sizzling plates have never become out of fashion, and they offer
several varieties—chicken (P250), beef and mushroom (P255), pork sisig (P195),
tuna sisig (P190), gambas (P285), salmon belly (P260), squid
(P245), tokwa (P145) and hotdog (P105).
Crispy pata |
Grilled tuna belly |
Grilled pusit |
Bulalo steak |
The stars of the menu are
in the Favorites and Grilled sections. The Favorites include adobong pusit (P160),
bangus ala pobre (P160), beef caldereta (P250), beef salpicao (P280),
binagoongan (P170), buttered chicken (P285), chicken cordon bleu (P205),
crispy hito (P180), crispy kambing (P270), crispy pata (P490),
crispy plapla (P190), patatim (P480), crispy squid heads (P), crispy tuna buntot
(P295), fried chicken (P270), gising-gising (P260), kalderetang
kambing (P280), kare-kareng baka (P270), lechon kawali (P225),
lengua estofada (P280), pinaputok na plapla (P260), seafood kare-kare
(P245), sweet and sour pork (P195), and salt and pepper spare ribs (P195).
In the Grilled section, they have blue marlin (P135), boneless bangus (P235),
chicken barbecue (P140), chicken inasal (P135), hito (P160), plapla
(P60 per 100 grams), pusit (P90 per 100 grams), pork barbecue (P85
for two sticks), liempo (P180), pork spare ribs (P215), tuna panga (P85),
salmon belly (P95), tuna belly (P95), tuna buntot (P85), chicken wings
(P140), chicken tail (P140), chicken gizzard (P140) and chicken liver
(P140).
To go with these, they
have rice cooked in different ways (P45 to P195) and salads (P95 to P180).
Drinks include juices, shakes, tea, soft drinks, coffee, beers and different
cocktails. Desserts range from halo-halo (P95) to ice cream maki (P80).
Sy said they will expand
international cuisines offerings because many customers are asking for them.
Actually, there will be several developments as the bar-restaurant celebrates
its tenth year. One of the major ones is the establishment of branches, adding
to its one branch along Brick Road of the Santa Lucia East Grand Mall in
Cainta, Rizal.
“This year, we would like
to spread some more, targeting to have five more branches, south-based, so that
more and more people can get to share the Off the Grill experience,” Sy
revealed, who dreams of expanding outside Metro Manila, particularly to Cebu,
Davao City and Baguio City, in the next three years.
For the original bar, it
will undergo a renovation because “it is already an old bar,” Sy admitted. The
family restaurant will be turned into a fine-dining one, and there is plan to
put up a dessert bar and a mocktail bar. A counter will be created for take-out
orders.
They are now in
intensifying the promotion of their catering services and “opening our
prospects for franchising, which is our next big step,” Sy said.
With these developments,
Off the Grills hopes to leap to greater heights and continue to make noise for
another 10 years and beyond.
Off the Grill is at 69 Timog Avenue
corner Scout Torillo, Timog, Quezon City, with telephone number 426-9773; and
Brick Road, Sta Lucia East Grand Mall, Cainta, Rizal, with telephone number
571-7531.
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