Food, Outside the South, Restaurants, Sana Nasa South

Uncle Moe’s Shawarma Hub

Dinner at Uncle Moe’s—a much-anticipated event

One of the things I love about working in Mandaluyong (yes, I have a day job now) is the easy access to my “North” friends—and places like Kapitolyo and Ortigas, where there are a lot of restaurants to hang out in that haven’t yet reached the South. I used to head over to Silver City during weekends to enjoy some California Berry yogurt and conversation; now I jealously guard my weekends home, but I’m able to go to places like Charlie’s and Good Burgers during the workweek. Despite the drive, this is as good a setup as it gets (well, maybe it would be better if there were more hours in the day so I could actually post my Southbound stuff before midnight…).

Chicken kebab… chicken kebab… chicken kebaaaaaab!!!

The biggest draw, however—both for me and my friends—is our favorite crave-inducing laid back restaurant, Uncle Moe’s. This Persian bar / restaurant (ok, it’s not really a bar, but it’s the sort of place where you can hang out drinking all night long) serves the undisputed best—BEST!!!—chicken kebab I have ever tried. My friends and I plan weekends around this place—and this dish. I’ve sat outside the closed restaurant one Sunday patiently waiting for them to open to satisfy my kebab cravings. For this alone, they’re worth the visit.

Moussaka Melt

Anyhoo, tonight we had a long overdue dinner there, and in honor of Southbound’s rebirth, I decided to forego my usual chicken kebab to order their Moussaka Melt, since I felt duty-bound to write about something else (it wasn’t really a great sacrifice—I had a side order of kebab on the side (2 sticks for P65)). The moussaka (P140) came in a small round dish, the sort that’s used for crème brulée. It had a thick, almost-sweet layer of cheese and béchamel sauce on top, what looked like minced bell pepper in the beef, virtually non-existent eggplant (hmmm… maybe that wasn’t minced bell pepper after all…), and a slightly toasted pita on the side. It was good enough, though a far cry from, say Café Med’s moussaka, and certainly not enough to replace my standing kebab order.

Moroccan Fish Fillet…

… with sauce on the side

Lods also ordered something different as well (though she did share the side order of kebab with me)—Moroccan Fish Fillet with Buttered Rice (P195; P175 without the rice). The dory fillets were pretty big, and the flavor was good—the olives for the dish came in the form of a layer of tapenade, and the tomato sauce had the chopped onions worked in. Lods had her sauce on the side, so it may not look that appetizing in the pictures, but then that’s Uncle Moe’s for you—plain on the outside and yummy inside.

Olive Tapenade with pita… yes, I know, the olive oil looks like gasoline, hehe

We also had a separate order of Tapenade, which had a strong flavor of anchovies (yum!). The serving was relatively small, but at just 50 bucks, this is another reason why I love it here. I’ve been known to spend hundreds more than expected because I can’t resist ordering all these cheap starters—they also have Moutabal and Hummus at P50 each.

Since the cuisine just begs comparison with Café Med, it would be reasonable to say that the general idea of the dishes are the same (sorry, getting all Platonic here), though Uncle Moe’s implementation is more basic, and, to their credit, cheaper as well. The context—a small, drab, gray resto just short of being a hole in the wall—elevates everything from just pretty good to panalo.

Chicken kebab done just right!

Like I said, though, it’s the Chicken Kebab (P115 for three sticks with butter rice and salsa) that really keeps us coming back. The spice-drenched yellow-tinged chicken pieces are extremely tender (watch out for this, sometimes they can be ever so slightly uncooked), and they go really well with the rice, which is best mixed with the salsa. Add the requisite spicy and garlic sauces, and you’re good to go. Reena had this, and the look on her face when she finished her meal was priceless—perfectly sated, cravings assuaged. I may be in danger of overselling it, but I don’t know anyone who’s tried Uncle Moe’s who doesn’t rave about the chicken kebab, so I’m not really concerned.

“All Beef” Shawarma is right!

One last dish that I’ve only seen in Uncle Moe’s (I may not have been paying attention elsewhere): All Beef Shawarma (P110 for regular, P150 for large). This looks exactly the way it sounds: it’s a cup-sized quantity of beef—all beef and nothing but beef—wrapped in pita. I didn’t get to try it, but Chris had no complaints, so I guess it curbed her carnivorous cravings well enough.

Uncle Moe’s also has a branch in Kapitolyo (along United Avenue, near Pioneer Center) which is relatively close to my office, though I haven’t been there yet. I’m content to stick with the original CitiGolf branch, where I have many fond memories of friends and chicken kebab.

Uncle Moe’s
(Gak! Completely forgot to get contact info! Obviously am still getting used to doing Southbound stuff again. Will add their phone numbers soon. At least I have their schedule. Note that they open at 3PM on Sundays—which is why I had to wait before!)
CitiGolf Arcade, Julia Vargas Street, Pasig City
Restaurant hours: 3:00PM –  3:00AM, Sundays; 11:30AM – 2:00AM, Mondays – Fridays; 11:30AM – 3:00AM, Saturdays

Tags: chicken kebab, citigolf, julia vargas, kebab, moussaka, pasig city, persian cuisine, shawarma, tapenade, uncle moe's

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