Heart2Heart was so happy to have lunch with Michelle and Bambi Meer! I have not seen them for quite some time and I could not believe that they already have 5 kids!!! And yet they look so young and energetic 🙂
They had recently opened a restaurant in the new Shangri-la East Mall and its been doing very well. They have outside seating at the back and the mall allowed them to put tables already in front outside the restaurant and still they are always full.
I was so happy to see Tito Spanky and Tita Apples Meer there also as Tita Apples was celebrating her birthday!! I knew them since I was a kid since they are good friends of Tita Merl and my parents. And it seems like many years after, they still look the same and have not aged! I think it is because they are always smiling!! I remember Tita Apples as the Tita that is always smiling and always happy and until this day when I see her it’s still the same. They are the owners of the Meat Plus and Tender Bobs group of restaurants! Together with their friends – Meer, Tenchavez, Tanjangco and Santos
Tito Bob Tenchavez was there – and apparently Tender Bob’s was named after him 🙂 They have 5 branches of Tender Bob’s – SM North Edsa, Greenhills Promenade, Shanrgila Mall, SM The Block and Greenbelt 2
Bambi is the son of Tito Spanky and Tita Apples and has been the General Manager of all the restaurants since the start -which is with Meat Plus in Subic. This guy is amazing and I salute him for what he has achieved and done for the restaurants that he runs! Congratulations Bambi and more power!! I asked Bambi why he called the restaurant Kettle and he said he wanted something to describe “slow tender cooking with a lot of passion all cooked into a kettle” 🙂 And that is what Kettle is all about – cooking with so much passion and it’s a lot of comfort food which you crave for. Bambi likes lentils, cheese and chorizo so you will see these ingredients in the menu
Another son of one of the owners – Chef Chiloy Santos. Now he is involved in the business as the Chef of Kettle. He studied culinary at Iscahm Culinary school and then worked at the Peninsula hotel and now works for the family business. He said that a lot of the recipes are a mixture of all the owners ideas and inputs. They did a lot of food tasting before the restaurant opened. A very young chef and with a bright future for sure! More power and looking forward to more food concepts to come! H2H loves KETTLE!!!
I liked that the Baked brie already had the jam inside together with the cheese. So when you slice it, you can see the jam and cheese oozing out 🙂 Yum! This is comfort food with passion and love! It looks so nice and tastes so good 🙂
Oh my gosh!!!!! This looks so good!! I am definitely ordering this next time. We could not order this at that time but I was able to take a photo as it was passing by! WOW!!
Closing up on some crunchy pork belly spotted in between the potato strips 🙂
Loved the house salad and I took note of the giant pepper mill and the pink himalayan salt that they offer 🙂
Kettle Grilled Four Cheese!!! Good thing Bambi loves cheese just like me!! We ordered plenty things with CHEESE!! 🙂 This sandwich is the most unique four cheese sandwich I have ever eaten in my entire life! 🙂 and I love it!! The presentation, the taste! There’s actually more good things at Kettle aside from the Buttermilk fried chicken that everyone is raving about! 🙂
One of Michelle’s favorite here. Also very good!!!!! Bambi told me that they cure their own meats in their commissary. So this is one of them. In fact, they may be selling their meats for those who just want to buy and take home to cook at home
Because we could not possible order and eat everything, this was a sandwich I did not get to try but wow, it looked so good!!! It’s an open faced sandwich with Angus roast beef!! WOW!!!!!
I am telling you, everything was so good!! I wanted to just keep on eating but my stomach was already so full! 🙂 This Mac and Four Cheese was AMAZING!!! I am not kidding!! I have tried so many and this is one of the best!!!!! Some customers like the bacon on top so I told Bambi and Chiloy to just have the option to order extra bacon! haha 🙂 LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!! When Chef Chiloy makes something, it’s really good!! It’s a Mac and Cheese but it’s a really really well thought of and yummy Mac and Cheese and not for the sake of just having it on the menu! YUM!
Oh my gosh!!! Steak and Marrow!!!!! Need I say more??? They dry age their beef in the commissary so this is no ordinary steak. I love the rice and the bone marrow too!
My gosh!! Another Yummy dish!!!!!!
The famous Kettle Buttermilk fried chicken which I have been seeing in instagram. It’s really true that this is so yummy!!! So even if there are other good things on the menu make sure you order this. It is so yummy!! And Bambi suggested I eat it with the two side sauces – country gravy and cajun honey – and I followed and mixed the two and wow!!!!!!! SARAP!!!! I heard that many chefs are coming over to taste and see whats making this P 519.00 chicken so good and making people order this despite the P 519.00 price!
After all that I was hoping we could try everything on the menu because despite the fact that the menu is not too long, everything looked so good! And of course the meal is not complete without dessert even if we are bursting already 🙂
A few of the desserts on the menu are made by the owners 🙂 One of them is the Peach trifle made by Tita Apples. Definitely made with lots of smiles and love 🙂
And the Checkered cake which keeps everyone guessing how the mom of Chef Chiloy makes this! 🙂 It reminds me of the rainbow cake but this one looks more complicated to make! It’s a secret recipe that even Chef Chiloy doesn’t know how it is made 🙂 I told Chef Chiloy that maybe he got his kitchen skills from his mom 🙂
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Thanks for sharing Rica .I am always updated because of heart2heart…God bless…..