Quezon Boulevard is part of my regular route when I go home coming from work. Recently, I have noticed new food establishments in the area. Among these new places to eat or chill is Baitul Halal and Coffee Grounds, which I have done a review of before.
BAITUL HALAL
Located at corner Quezon Boulevard and Roxas St., this fairly new restaurant offers mostly Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Indian dishes but there are also some other cuisine on the menu.
I have been eyeing this restaurant since I saw food posts from some of my Facebook friends. So when I found the time to have dinner here, I went for it.
The place is still in its soft opening so don’t be surprised if the place still looks unfinished, which was my first impression of the place.
For dinner I ordered the Middle Eastern Set (P205), which includes Chicken Kabsa with fries, dessert on demand, and iced tea. I upgraded my iced tea to Pomegranate Juice and added P80.
The Chicken Kabsa was delicious. The rice and chicken were flavorful. The chicken I had was beautifully cooked, juicy, and not dry. It is definitely somewhere on the top of my list of “The food I crave for”.
While it was written fries on the menu, I was expecting it to be french fries but it was instead potato mojos. It tasted good though.
As for the dessert, I was expecting it to be a slice of cake but instead it was a bite-size brownie. It was hard and cold when it was served. It tasted okay.
I find their food to be reasonably priced. The appetizers are mostly less than P200 while the main dishes are mostly less than P300. The set meals are P200 and above.
The service at Baitul Halal was great! The food was served within 15 minutes, which is a standard for most restaurants. The staff were also amazing. They were very attentive and friendly.
When I went here, they do not have WiFi but I hope they will install it soon.
Overall, I enjoyed my dinner here at Baitul Halal. I will definitely be back to try their other dishes.
Update: Sadly, Baitul Halal has since closed its doors. It seems like it won’t open again anytime soon.
COFFEE GROUNDS
Located at the ground floor of the Golden Lion Hotel along Roxas Extension, is one of the newer coffee shops in Davao City.
I have been here a couple of times already and made a review of it. Recently, they made some renovations at the place so I decided to check the place out again after my dinner at Baitul Halal.
There were definitely some changes like they removed the open bar at the dining area and replaced with a brick wall.
I just love how cozy the place still is. I love how comfortable their chairs are. I also like how cool the place is.
I ordered an Americano (P95) and a Chocolate Smores Cake (P150) to accompany me while I read Steve Berry’s Charlemagne Pursuit.
The Americano was bad. It had this odd aftertaste, which I cannot explain.
However, I did enjoyed the cake. I like how it was not too sweet.
The service I experienced was pretty good. The staff were friendly and accommodating.
Coffee Grounds has WiFi, which is fairly okay but not very fast. I think it is good for catching up for work and surfing through social media.
In general, my experience at Coffee Grounds was fairly good. Though the Americano was bad, the Chocolate Smores Cake was good. I find the coffee shop to be a great place to study or just chill.
They all are so yummy.Specially the cake piece.