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Mina’s Restaurant and Lounge
Fine Dining with a Filipino Flair
T
ucked into the bucolic setting of The Lakes neighborhood on West Sahara between Durango Drive and Fort Apache, there is a lovely Filipino restaurant that has a special feeling of Pacific ambiance.
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
Mina’s Restaurant has a beautifully designed setting—complete with the vibrant colors of the Philippines and flowers painted upon the walls. The very first moment that you step into this place of delightful dining, you can sense being whisked away to the beautiful islands of the Philippines.
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
Mina, the owner and manager of this unique place is very involved in her quest to make your dining a pleasurable and memorable experience. Through the music that is gently playing, you sense a peaceful, yet elegant sensation, that is about to unfold. There is a large area for ballroom dancing—a feature that is missing from many a restaurant in modern times. What is more divine than to have a pre-dinner drink and get on to a dance floor to work up your appetite for fine Filipino- and Pacific-influenced international cuisine?
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
Mina's Restaurant and Lounge
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
To begin our repast, we ordered the Pritong Kalamares—which is calamari, mildly spiced and quite tasty. At only $8 for a goodly sized portion, we realized that a meal in this restaurant would not be a typical pricey meal—but one with special foods at moderate prices. The rest of the appetizers range in price from only six to ten dollars each and are well worth it!
For our main dish, we ordered the Pochero—a stewed beef shank that is served with cabbage, green beans, bok choy, red kidney beans and potatoes. This meat dish was succulent and juicy. Priced at only $15, you get a great bargain! We also sampled the delicious Ginataang Kabibe, consisting of pan-seared diver scallops, which are poached in coconut cream and ginger, with baby bok choy and purple yams. This unbeatable selection at only $12 is a true palette pleaser.
PRITONG KALAMARES—Squid marinated in house adobo sauce, lightly breaded and flashed fried. Served with aioli and lemon wedge.
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
ADOBONG LIEMPO—Rendered pork belly braised in house adobo sauce, served with kamote frites.
(Photo: © Mina's Restaurant and Lounge)
There are a wide variety of different rices—our favorite was the jasmine rice (only $3!!!)—which was on a plate of sample rice dishes. The chef brought to our table tastings of seasonal vegetables that varies according to the time of year for absolute freshness. The dessert was a true Filipino gourmet-style, rice-based dish—Puto Bungbong—that had purple rice, buttered and presented with freshly grated coconut and turbinado sugar. At only $6, this sweet finish is prepared to be sized generously and can be shared by two people.
The chef visited with us and explained the traditions and backgrounds of the menu choices. He was a very gracious man with savoir fare and quite talented in his preparation of food. Our hostess, the manager and owner, Mina, was a lovely lady who is the brain behind this entire little bit of Filipino fantasy and makes you feel very welcome and respects your privacy while you dine.
We recommend this restaurant as an escape from the ordinary, and the décor impressed us as well. Purple is the color that seemed to vibrate throughout with hot touches of gentle oranges and island colors. You can actually have a fine dining and dancing memory at this moderately priced, relaxed atmosphere, and genuinely good restaurant. There is ample parking on the grounds that surround the lushly landscaped location.
Check out Mina’s at her Web site: www.minaonline.com. Mina’s is conveniently located at 8991 West Sahara; telephone is (702) 834-8888. Enjoy!!!
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©2010 Lucille Thaler and Tony Zanoff
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