Restaurant Review | Gumbo: A Taste of New Orleans

Gumbo: A Taste of New Orleans
2nd Level, Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia
Type of Cuisine: New Orleanian
Average cost per person: Php 300-350 (USD$7.5 - USD$8.75)
Overall Rating:

To tell you the truth, when you say New Orleans, Tiffy thinks of vampires -- as in the vampires in Anne Rice's novels. Thoughts of Brad Pitt as Vampire Louis will serve as food for the mind (according to her). But for Bong, it's a different story. When you say New Orleans, he thinks of fresh seafood, and good old creole-Cajun comfort food.

So when we passed by Gumbo in SM Mall of Asia, Thea, Tiffy's sister pointed out the place and mentioned that it was Burgoo's sister company, as well as being one of the places whose food she likes. A big factor in helping us choose this place for lunch (to tell you the truth) was the server with the really awesome-looking headdress.

After being seated, the one who escorted us in signaled someone from behind the bar to play the music. I guess since it was still early that time, there was practically no one at the place.

Deciding what to order was tough -- so we asked our server to recommend a salad, a pizza, and something else (which we told her should be based on what she liked). For the salad, she recommended the Four Seasons Salad and the Mardi Gras Salad. For the pizza she said that the Meat Extravaganza was great, plus the Quattro Formaggio for cheese lovers. And of course, your New Orleanean food adventure wouldn't be complete without the Seafood Jambalaya.

After putting in our orders, she asked our names and introduced herself -- Tess.


Mardi Gras Salad (Petite: Php 225, US$5.36, Grande: Php 445, US$10.60)
So between freshly grounded pepper (lots of it), and the sour vinaigrette, we had our own little Mardi Gras on a plate. The addition of corn, though, was a bit weird. We're not entirely sure if it fits in with the status quo.


Quattro Formaggio (Petite: Php 295, US$7.02, Grade: Php 365, US$8.69)
My, my, my, Tess was right! If you're a cheese lover, you're going to love this pizza. The strong mozzarella taste is just fab. Plus, it's a semi-thickly crusted although still very crunchy -- the kind of thing that you wouldn't want to get cold cause we all know it's going to be hard to bite into.


Seafood Jambalaya (Petite: Php 325, US$7.74, Grande: Php 475, US$11.31, Chicken Petite: Php 275, US$6.55, Chicken Grande: Php 425, US$10.12)
It has mussels, clams, squids and shrimps. The seafood bed plus the cajun spices blended well. It wasn't so much that it was salty. There were just really strong flavors -- the rice alone can stand on its own. Although the flavors may come off as powerful, the dish was really a comfort food.

And after everything has been paid for (it's a pain washing dishes), we asked Tess if we can borrow the headdresses displayed around to take pictures with. Guess what, she said yes! :3

Reviewed by Bong and Tiffy.
Photography by Tiffy.