Taste the Dream at O'sonho

I was pissed and I was hungry. I needed good food fast.

After a particularly boring seminar in Makati, I decided to pick up my sister in her office along Jupiter Street with full intention of drowning my malcontent in grub and fodder. At around 8 p.m. we walked along Jupiter towards the direction of the MRT and decided to choose a restaurant we haven’t tried before – Discovery Day for Sisters. All my sister knew was that there was interesting Portuguese place that starts with an O. It wasn’t hard to find. After passing Gerry’s Grill, we found O’Sonho.

O’Sonho turned out to be Portuguese for the Dream. In fact, that’s how they advertise their food : Dreamy. I am inclined to agree.

I admit I have difficulty distinguishing Portuguese cooking from the more common Spanish fare. But having eaten at O’sonho taught me that Portuguese love their spices, and they aren’t as tomato-based as most of Spanish dishes are. The menu offers fish, meat, salad and desserts. Price was not unreasonable. The All Meat Paella caught my eye immediately. I love a good paella and I realized I am dying for one. We placed an advanced order since it takes 15 minutes to prepare.

I wish I took better pictures that could better justify it’s excellent taste. It wasn’t as savory as Spanish Paella where the tomato adds richer taste. Portuguese Paella was all saffron and cumin, a combination I also love. The rice wasn’t as soaked in the juices of the meat as I would’ve preferred, but the selection of chicken, lamb, beef, Portuguese chorizo and bacon all grilled to perfection makes up for what’s missing.

Looking around the various newspaper clippings displayed near their front door, every each one of them praised the Chorizo sisg, so we made a decision to try that as well.

Honestly, I couldn’t distinguish it from pork sisig. But is it good? Heck yeah! It isn’t as oily as pork victuals, and it’s not as “nakakasuya”. I enjoyed it, and for the price of P 210, it’s not a bad additional viand. But I don’t know if it’s worth all that praise as newspapers make it out to be.

My sister’s favourite is the Peri Peri Chicken dish. We both had no idea what exactly Peri Peri sauce is like, so this one was a nice surprise. It turns out it’s a slightly spicy marinade, while the chicken is grilled. I don’t know how they made the skin slightly crunchy, but however they did it ---- it’s gooood.

I also liked the ambience. It’s simple, warm but no-nonsense. Wine bottles adorn the walls, and there is an impressive wine bar; if you’re into good wines that’s a definite plus.

It’s too bad the restaurant is far from the swarm of other places along Jupiter, can be hard to find for the less courageous and more directionally-impaired. But believe me you --- it’s worth finding.

Go try them now and have yourself some food from Magellan country. :D