Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina: My Favorite Comfort Food

Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina is one of my favorite restaurants. The food is good, the prices are reasonable and the quality is fairly consistent.

The first time I visited Silantro was during a disastrous date with a guy. We went to their Kapitolyo branch. It was Friday night and the eve of a long weekend, so there was a long queue. We waited for 1.5 hour to be seated. After our dinner, we asked to take-out the leftovers but we found out at home that the server gave the wrong food bag.

Despite this, I gave it a chance. In fact, this is where Hali and I had one of our first dates. Since then we’d meet up in EDSA and either commute or take a long 40-minute walk to Silantro. (From McDonalds in Greenfields, it’s literally a long straight walk to ge there.)

Here are our favorite items.

Beef Nachos is the one thing we always order. It comes with a generous serving of flavorful chunks of beef, tomatoes, melted cheese and a small tray of dips (garlic sauce, guacamole and a spicy dip).

It’s supposed to be an appetizer, but it’s large enough to be a meal in itself.

I also love their Beef Skewers, roasted to medium rare and served with a cup of rice. It has a delicious smoky flavor that pairs perfectly with rice.

For a long time, the beef skewers was my go-to main until I had a taste of their Pork Ribs. This is one of my favorite dishes ever — every now and then I get a craving and we’d immediately go to Silantro for a bite. The meat is tender and delicious. It comes with a side of mashed potato, but I always order a cup of extra rice with it.

Hali is fond of their Caliente Wings, which are fried chicken wings in sweet-spicy barbecue sauce. I don’t normally like chicken wings but I admit the flavor is good. The shredded lettuce also adds a fresh taste.

We’d also tried their tacos, quesadilla, pancholo’s burger, seafood paella, pork fingers and Mexican rib-eye steak. I’m fairly sure we’d exhausted most if not all the items in their menu.

We don’t like everything though. We certainly don’t care for the Beef Quesadilla or Ribeye Steak. The quesadilla is unusually thick and the filling tasted like mushroom burger sauce, although I read reviews who like the overstuffing. We tried the ribeye steak once and it was tough. Funnily it’s one of the most expensive in the menu.

Aside from the good food, we’d shared so many moments in Silantro that I’d come to associate it with a good feeling.

Normally, we’d only go here for a casual snack. But this is also where we had our first date, Hali’s family celebration of Father’s Day weeks before his dad passed away, and finally our last dinner out before my flight to Malaysia, where I would live for a year.

Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina is one of my favorite restaurants in the Philippines and I’ll always go back here.

About Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina

Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina is a casual restaurant offering Fil-Mex food.

One of its owners describes as “Mexican adjusted to the Filipino taste buds.” Its first branch started in Dagupan City in Pangasinan and currently it has a handful of branches in Metro Manila.

Here are the branches:

• Kapitolyo, Pasig City
• Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa City
• UP Town Center, Quezon City
• Ayala Fairview Terraces, Quezon City
• Ayala Malls Serin, Tagaytay City

Suggested budget: P1000 for 2 people

Here are some tips:

• Silantro is often crowded so make sure to visit on off-peak hours or weekdays.

Contact: Facebook

Have you been to Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina? What can you say about it? Let us know in the comments section below!