Nomnomnomnomnomnomnom

One of my favorite restaurants nowadays is Nomnomnom. It's easy to find, right at the intersection of E. Rodriguez and Tomas Morato, but you have to remember to go around back (there's ample pay parking) where the entrance is. No photos for this post. We dug in before I remembered to take some!

The food here can be characterized as heavy, rich and creamy – food that's a comfort during the darkest of days, the sourest of moods.

The T.L.S. (P180) is a hearty tomato soup that fills the stomach and the heart. Not too creamy, not too sour.

The Happy Hemp Pesto (P140) is your basic pesto pasta with, well, hemp. Don't worry, nothing illegal here. Nothing that'll get you high, certainly, but maybe a nice herby tone to the basil and pine nut base that'll certainly make you happy. I'm not too keen on pesto myself but I did appreciate the merits of this dish.

My first introduction to this restaurant was through the Spinach and Cheese Enchilada (P140), which is good as is, but in my opinion tastes even better when taken home and reheated the next day. It's a cross between an enchilada and lasagna, though it's really more of a ginormous ravioli. Filled with cheese and spinach and smothered in tomato sauce and more cheese, it's a really neat treat. The amount of sauce in this dish was a bit overwhelming for me, but this excess of liquid is what adds to th next day's reheating perfection.

My current favorite dish in this joint is the Clam Pasta (P140). Lots of tiny clams cooked in a buttery white wine sauce and served with a lemon wedge, this dish is filling without being heavy. I would have preferred that it be served with spaghettini instead of the offered penne or fettuccine (I chose the latter), as the clams' sweetish sauce-broth would have gone better with a thinner noodle.

The Mushroom Burger (P120) is also good. The sandwich is pretty big, and though you know by taste that you aren't eating beef, you somehow don't care anyway.

I am a big fan of their pizza, and I would recommend their Malinomnom (P180), crusty dough topped with tinapa, kesong puti, salted egg and onion. The cheese and onion make a nice base, punctuated by the saltiness of the fish and egg. The crispy tinapa adds another dimension of texture which rounds out the dish. Their Pizza Margherita (P180) is also good, but the its hard to mess up mozzarella, basil and tomatoes.

My friend Denise (who helped taste-test the dishes) suggests that first-timers try the Snookum Bookum (P40), a frozen chocolate pudding with almonds, hemp seeds and a dark chocolate and mint center but my favorite dessert is Peach Drunk Love (P90), flambéed peach in rhum sauce served with vanilla ice cream and butter cake drowned in rhum. I cannot get enough of this sweet treat.

The interior of Nomnomnom has a light, summery feel. It's a great place for get-togethers with friends. And since most of the food is vegetarian, you won't feel too guilty about eating out. One complaint would be that the service is less than perfect, as the restaurant sports some of the most forgetful waiters on the planet.

The resto has movie nights every Friday and some Saturdays where select films are projected onto the wall of a nearby building for outdoor viewing.

Nomnomnom is a great way to enjoy the beauty of summer, anytime of the year.

Nomnomnom
Tomas Morato cor E. Rodriguez streets
Tues – Sun 12nn – 12am
nomnomnomhappyfood.multiply.com