Lemon Grass at Ayala Center Cebu

Lemon Grass is a restaurant serving Thai and Vietnamese cuisine located at the 1st level of the Ayala Food and Entertainment Center at Ayala Center Cebu. (EDIT: The restaurant is now at the 1st level of The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu)

This would be my second time to eat out with my family at Lemon Grass and this time, I will be sharing my experience with you by posting some photos and describing the experience. This early, I’m advising you not to expect much from this review because I am not an expert food writer. I will just be speaking from my point of view and my taste might differ from yours.

Physical Aspect. The restaurant is not that spacious in fact you could expect to encounter a long queue of people wanting to dine in during peak hours (11am-1pm and 5-7pm). The consolation to the lack of space is the good ambience and the good service. You won’t lose your appetite while waiting since food is served on time, just enough to keep you excited. Their staff and personnel are very friendly and accomodating, thus enriching your dining experience.

One will not fail to locate Lemon Grass since it is situated at a strategic location, just across the entrance of the Ayala Food and Entertainment Center.

Food. Above all aspects, we come to a restaurant for the food. Lemon Grass serves a variety of Vietnamese and Thai dishes that you will surely enjoy.

Among everything we ordered, the drinks came first. This is Lemon Grass’s signature drink, the Citrus and Herb Lemonade. It is one of the bestsellers and I doubt if Lemon Grass would be as known as it is today if they did not have this drink.

Citrus and Herb Lemonade

You can see that my brother seemed hesitant to try the drink. You can see the “Eek” expression on his face. Curious enough though, he did try the drink and guess what, he asked for more! That is how refreshing the drink is. This drink is made up of freshly squeezed citrus fruits such as orange, lemon and lime plus some cucumber slices, mint leaves and ice. Chopsticks are provided for each person so you could pick those slices and eat them fresh. But although the drink is refreshing, I hate cucumber! I don’t like the aftertaste it leaves in my mouth. I feel like throwing up everytime I eat a cucumber. So I just got the lemon iced tea as my drink.

Although iced tea almost seems like a generic or everyday drink, I still appreciate Lemon Grass’s lemon iced tea since it didn’t have the “somehow-urine-like” taste in their iced tea as in other restaurants. I really despise those other restaurants which have that “somehow-urine-like” taste in their iced tea, LOL. I do not know where that taste is derived from. Perhaps its from how they wash their drinking glasses, unrinsed soap, or whatever…

Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Fresh Summer Rolls)

This dish consists of pork, shrimp, herbs, thin noodles (made from rice), and other ingredients wrapped in rice paper. These summer rolls are served cold, and are not fried. If you can’t take the taste of fresh, uncooked vegetables, the dish is accompanied by a dipping sauce that has peanut butter as its main ingredient.

Som Tam (Spicy Papaya Salad)

As the name says, it is a papaya salad. But, it tasted like bagoong. And it did not taste spicy. Based on my research, the authentic Thai Som Tam uses soy sauce, not bagoong. But it still tasted good even if it wasn’t the taste it was supposedly meant to be. The taste was perfect if you were using it as a dipping sauce for green mango.

Pad Thai (Mung Sprouts, Rice Noodles, Chicken, Nuts, Shrimp, topped with Herbs)

I wasn’t able to enjoy this dish. I just tried it and based on that taste test, I cannot appreciate the dish. It just tasted like ordinary raw mung sprouts. But I should have tasted and analyzed it further though.

Tom Yam Soup

The Tom Yam Soup is one of the most famous Thai dishes. The soup is characterized by its distinct hot and sour flavors, with fragrant herbs generously used. The basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves (a type of lime native to Malaysia and Indonesia), galangal (which looks like ginger), shallots (which look like small and elongated onions) lime juice, fish sauce (patis), tamarind, and crushed chili peppers. The soup is also made with fish.

Tod Mun Goong

The Tod Mun Goong is a fried shrimp cake accompanied by a sweet peanut and chili sauce. If you’re looking for a seafood dish without much of the “fishy” taste, then this dish is for you.

Conclusion. Lemon Grass is a very good place to dine if you’re looking for Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. It is also very friendly to all those who are into adventurous food trips. The dishes are also reasonably priced, and you get what you are paying for. So, don’t miss Lemon Grass! I will definitely dine in this restaurant again and again and again.  =)

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