Once in a while, along comes a restaurant without a concept, with only the owners’ dining experiences behind it. Many of the dishes are the best of family recipes, best of friends’ dining adventures, or replications of favorites. I love such a restaurant. It says a lot about the people behind it.

You know these are diehard foodies on the lookout for new, good food. From them, I get tips and ideas.

I am referring to Mamou, a resto described as a “home kitchen,” and its chef is Malou Montano Fores who has a trove of dining experiences here and abroad.

One such experience is at Peter Luger steakhouse in Brooklyn, New York. Its steak is so good that I can see Malou trying to imagine how it was made. Now other Filipinos can taste the delicious, prime-grade, Peter Luger-style steak at Mamou.

Recently, I found another new dining place with a similar background—five friends, all foodies, who put up Bread, Broth and Beyond.

We sampled its menu—starting with apple and arugula salad. There was the sweetness of apples, the crunch from the nuts, the saltiness of cheese and the peppery taste of arugula. It was a winner.

Then came the chicken pops in salted egg—boneless dark meat chicken, crispy fried and coated with the very popular salted egg dusting. This reminded me of Singapore’s Irvins Salted Egg chips with fried curry leaves. But this was freshly fried and must be the best-selling appetizer. With rice or on freshly toasted pan de sal, this could have been my lunch. Very good.

We also had pork chop—thick cut of char-grilled pork on a bed of mashed potatoes with French beans and a brown gravy on the side. It was very good.

I also fell in love with the simple but unique grilled cheese sandwich. The melted cheese was hidden between crusty bread slices with a drizzle of what tasted like reduced balsamic vinegar. Also very good.

The mildly spicy sardines with cherry tomatoes in olive oil was likewise a winner, you could eat everything. Yummy. I can imagine having this for breakfast or even if you’re on a diet, which I’m forever on.

The biggest winner for me was the fried chicken. My cardiologist Eric Pascual, who was craving for the dish, asked which is the best, and he got a lot of suggestions. At the moment, BBB’s fried chicken beats them all. These are boneless, tasty, delicious dark meat chicken fried to a crisp, and served with french fries. Not too salty but perfect.

This is the type of fried chicken I wouldn’t mind having one piece of, with three cups of piping hot rice and drops of Savor liquid all over, and ice-cold Coke.

Happy eating!

Bread, Broth and Beyond, Cherry-Shaw complex along the old Wack Wack Road, Mandaluyong; tel. 09178802571 and 9427830

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