Anyone looking for world-class yet casual dining will be pleased by a recent addition to the food scene in the South.
Soil in Molito, Alabang is a modernist-cuisine restaurant run by Iñigo and Chef Lorenzo Pimentel, two brothers who are passionate about using fresh, locally-sourced produce to create exciting arrays of dishes.
Examples of their unique concoctions include pork mesentry (chicharon bulaklak) in mantou buns, mud crab with aligue risotto, and roasted pork belly with blood sausage (dinuguan) and garlic mash, just to name a few—and yes, everything on the menu is a mouthful!
An adventure for the palate
Each dish is a conversational piece, as described by Iñigo, who doubles as the restaurant’s manager and articulate maître d'. Each local ingredient provides an important flavor and texture to the whole meal. This makes trying new dishes a creative experience, an adventure for the palate.
In fact, trying something new is never a problem at Soil because of their seasonal menu, which is modified every three months to match the kinds of meat, fish and vegetable that become available from one season to the next.
Ordering food, if one has a special diet, is not a problem either because the kitchen led by Chef Lorenzo can easily whip up a meal to satisfy one’s health concerns.
Symphony of flavors
If you find the fancy menu too daunting, then worry not—Soil also breaks the barrier between casual and fine dining. The intricately crafted food does evoke an aura of fine dining, but their intimate space provides such a casual vibe, one that serves as a background for the symphony of flavors that can be discovered in each plate.
These are the fruits of labor of not only Iñigo, Chef Lorenzo, and the rest of the staff, but also of our local, everyday farmers and fishermen, all neatly packaged in elaborate dishes found in this classy, down-to-earth food joint.
Soil is located at Unit 16, Molito Lifestyle Building, Madrigal Avenue corner Alabang-Zapote Road. You can also like Soil on Facebook or follow @soilmoderndining on Instagram.