Seafood Island (Metro Manila, Philippines)

This was the best dining experience I had on our last trip to the Philippines, it was literally a seafood feast! We ordered three selections here at Seafood Island which was good for 15-20 people but there were only 9 adults and 4 kids, go figure. I met up with my cousins on my father side, they were also my childhood friends where most of my weekends when I was between 7 to 12 years old was spent at their place, this family during my childhood days spends a lot on preparing food during Sundays where everyone partake a lunch feast prepared by my Uncle on a large round table, those were the times I treasured, those were the times where I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and my seven cousins who were aged nearly the same as me. After the lunch usually, my grandmother takes all of us around and her favourite was this Magnolia Ice Cream House in Aurora Boulevard, Quezon City.

Many years later without my grandmother I had felt the same warmth when I met my Aunt and cousins for a dinner. It was the same feeling, shared laughter, lots of stories with lots of food in the middle, but now instead of my grandmother leading the pack, it was my Aunt this time, too bad I did not bring my daughter along and feel that experience. Our choice of venue initially was Megamall but luckily it was changed to Eastwood, it was such a long time since I had seen this place, it was still being developed when I left and now it grew tenfold, I was surprised.

There were many restaurants to choose from, it was quite confusing to me, then they ask me what do I want to have for dinner. There were lots of options but it ended up with my ultimate favourite, seafood. Without so much thought they said let’s go to Seafood City.

Upon arriving at the place, we were greeted and seated then given this enormous menu where it says Boodle Feast, just looking at the menu alone I was already drooling, the selection was amazing and it was all seafood. It was a hard choice, it was overwhelming but it has to be made. I initially thought of getting two items as each one can at least cater for 5 people up to a max of 7 but my cousins ordered three.

First was this Tali Beach (Php 2250.00) good for 5-6 persons, named after a popular beach in Batangas it consists of Plain Rice, Crispy Canton, Grilled Tilapia, French Garlic Clams, Shrimp Skewers, Sautéed Mussels, Squid, Pork BBQ, Steamed Crab, Crispy Dulong, Ensaladang Lato, Grilled Talong, Grilled Tomato, Laing, Ensaladang Mangga, Watermelon, Green Mango, Squid Balls.

Then we had this Mt. Apo (Php 2499.00) good for 5-7 persons, again named after a popular place in the Philippines and this particular one is the highest mountain / volcano in the Philippines, it was also presented like a volcano. This one consists of Garlic Rice, French Garlic Clams. Shrimp Skewers, Squid Skewers, Lobster Balls, Fishballs Stuffed with Cheese, Fried Tilapia, Kinilaw na Tanguigue, Liempo Skewers, Steamed Crab, Crispy Dulong, Lumpiang Bangus, Ensaladang Lato, Gising Gising, Ensaladang Mangga, Watermelon, Ripe Mango, Sizzling Mixed Seafood

Finally since most of the ones above were seafood, we grabbed some Meaty Madness (Php 1799.00) again good for 5-7 persons and it is served with Garlic Rice, Canton Sotanghon Guisado, Crispy Pata, Pork Chop, Pork BBQ, Kinilaw na Tanguigue, Chicken Inasal Skewers, Pork Binagoongan with Tomato, Onion, Green Mango, Fried Garlic, Liempo Bits, Lato Salad, Grilled Okra, Grilled Talong, Laing and Salted Egg.

It was a feast! On all my senses, when it was served I was confused what to eat first. But I went in for the crab as that’s the one I was craving for, a long long time. Then the tilapia which is not available in New Zealand, then the prawns followed by everything else. I felt like a child left in a room full of lollies, cakes and ice cream, I was so happy.

Food was spectacular, starting with the very tasty garlic fried rice, it was so tasty you will forget to get the other viands. Laing was good, crispy pata was phenomenal, clams was so delicious. It was the perfect dinner for me!

A highly recommended place, it might be pricey but it was all worth it. I will definitely visit this again when I go back or recreate the same thing perhaps in a tropical island on a white sand in front of a nice beach.

Seafood Island
Address: H5, Citywalk 1, Eastwood Ave, Bagumbayan, Quezon City, 1110 Metro Manila, Philippines
Phone: +63 2 913 2694