I am admittedly a breakfast person. I can have an eggs benedict all day everyday. Maybe alternate it with corned beef hash. If I had to choose between rib eye or eggs benedict, it's eggs benedict hands down. No reason, just a personal preference. I certainly can't explain the psychological underpinnings of such choice - just that the dish is delicious.
Thanks to Forrest Gump and Jessica Rabbit, I've found a new breakfast nook with eggs benedict to recommend. Malcolm's Deli, whose original branch is in Salcedo Village, opened another Malcolm's a couple of years ago at the corner of McKinley and 5th Avenue. You will find it just as you enter the Fort from Forbes (although you can't directly turn left into 5th, you'll have to cross 5th, make a U, turn right into 5th, then make another U to get to the side of the road of the resto).
Because it's not in such a mainstream location, it's ideal for business meetings where you need a little more privacy. Although the place is quite small, with a capacity of around 20 seats inside and space for a few more tables outside if it's not raining too hard, so it would be easy to overhear your conversation if your voice is just a decibel louder than normal.
Reports have it that the restaurant has not only been home to business meetings but to other private meetings as well - ahem, ahem. But don't get me wrong. Sleazy is not welcome here. The crowd is quite respectable. At all times of the day. At least as far as I saw.
Our breakfast on a beautiful July Saturday morning was (hello) eggs benedict. The eggs are beautifully poached. But the surprise is that if you peek under the eggs, you will see that this is not your usual Canadian bacon or ham, this uses corned beef. They call it the Irish Benedict. You can find a bit of history here. Apparently the Irish replace the Canadian bacon with either Irish bacon or corned beef hash.
There are two restaurants in Manila where I absolutely love the eggs benedict: Apartment 1B, which now has 2 branches - one in Salcedo Village and the other in Rockwell - and Masseto, also in Salcedo Village. For steak and eggs, I heart Mamou (Serendra/Rockwell). Unfortunately, on weekdays, they don't open until breakfast is over. For tapa, I used to love Rufo's tapa, my plebeian breakfast nook of choice, but it's not the same as when we were in college. It could be that as it became more commercial, quality suffered. It could be that there's no good breakfast without Orange (ok maybe 5 people who frequented Orange will get this joke.) Or it could simply prove that drunken college students are not the best arbiters of taste, even if it's just a simple breakfast meal.
On top of the eggs benedict, we also feasted on Malcolm's Steak and Eggs. I believe they use Kitayama Wagyu, which is a local Wagyu from Cagayan de Oro. But don't let that bother you. Stand up with Pinoy pride because this local Wagyu is really quite good - especially for breakfast.
But best of all on this plate are those potatoes. They are apparently dipped in bone marrow. (Need I say more?)
If your breakfast crosses over to brunch, they offer these burgers too.
As much as possible, try to make a reservation when you go. Otherwise you risk being turned away. But if you do your homework (or are lucky), it's really a nice little nook to just chill in. There's a tv on a corner too if you need catch your favorite show.
Best of all, they offer breakfast everyday so if you happen to be jogging in the area, you can make this your last stop (you can park here too!) and have breakfast while you cool down. You've earned it anyway.
Malcolm's Deli
G/F Fairways Tower
5th Ave cor McKinley Rd
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig
(02) 556-3186
