A Taste of NOLA*

*NOLA – New Orleans, Louisiana

Weekend date night. What better way to go about a date night than to eat out, right? Inspired by Christian Green of Masterchef Season 5, we headed to the recently opened New Orleans Bourbon Street Ribs, Steaks and Oysters at the Ayala Mall to get us some seafood gumbo. We were not disappointed.

Date Night

I ordered the Debris Gumbo – rice surrounded by a hearty, thick soup of shrimp, chicken, andouille sausage, a little okra and spices. When the soup was brought to our table I thought the serving was kind of small, like it would take me only 5 minutes to finish. I was wrong. It was spiced just enough to feel the heat down your throat and keep you busy shoveling all the delicious goodness, spoonful after spoonful, like you would not want to stop. You will, however, realize that you have to stop soon or at least take long pauses in between mouthfuls because the heartiness of it will make your tummy feeling heavy. I needed sweet watermelon juice to wash everything down and refresh the palate.

Debris Gumbo

Watermelon Shake

On the other side of the table, he ordered the Voodobo – yes, Voodobo. The southern version of the already diverse pinoy adobo. Its adobo rice topped with pork adobo, quail eggs, mussels, tomatoes and okra, served in a large, cast iron skillet. It was the sweet kind of adobo. I especially like the mussels because it was bathed in adobo sauce first then will surprise you with its seafood taste. I mean, when and where have you tried adobong seafood? I was also heavy on the stomach, and with so much rice, we didn’t have space for anything else. So we’re already planning what we’re getting the next time we visit. I’m definitely gonna have me some of the famous Southern Fried Chicken. Or the Everglades Jambalaya. Or the Blackened Tuna.

Voodobo

All in all it was a good place, the staff were ok, the interior design was reminiscent of New Orleans on Mardi Gras, with matching Mardi Gras beads. Like that is not enough, there’s easy, beautiful jazz music to complete the experience.#