Last week, I attended the first ever Zomato Quiz Night, hosted by 121 at the BGC Stopover.
The BGC Stopover
This was actually my first time to check out the BGC Stopover Pavilion, which opened in the middle of last year. It’s an “open-style” three-story building with an air well in the middle, which I like. All the restaurants and shops have access to a “balcony”, each one gets some air and natural light.
The shops there are mostly restaurants, with some places open 24 hours! So if you live nearby and are craving for some food at 4 am, you know where to go!
BGC Stopover is located just behind the landmark Jollibee on 32nd St., diagonally across from St. Luke’s.
Here’s a view of the parking lot along Rizal Drive:
121 Grille and Restaurant
There are five branches of 121, and this one is located at the corner of the third floor of BGC Stopover. They have a bar on the left side of the main dining area, and three canta (karaoke) rooms, which cost P1,200 per hour, consumable.
It is mostly an “entertainment” place, where you go with your friends to unwind after work with some drinking, some karaoke, or participate in games like quiz night, beer pong, etc…
THE FOOD
This was our menu for the night:
The food at 121 is bar food – we had the Lumpiang Shanghai (P759, barkada size) with sweet chili sauce on the side, it was okay. Not bad. Not unforgettable, either. Next was the Chicken Binakol Soup (P269), which I thought was good, a tad salty, but was fine for me.
The best dish in my opinion, was the Grilled Pork Liempo (P219) – this was a really good, honest-to-goodness grilled liempo that made me recall my college days. There was a lot of meat and not too much fat. Make sure to eat it with their signature 121 sauce!
The Sizzling Beef Salpicao (P349, solo size) was okay, but I kept finding myself going back for the Grilled Liempo. For rice, we had the Tuyo Fried Rice (P199).
For dessert, we had a small slice of White Chocolate Cheesecake, which was just a regular no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, but nonetheless, still delicious.
SUMMARY
Quiz night was fun! There were about 40-50 of us, grouped into 8 teams. Being a Zomato event, the topic, of course, was FOOD!
It was quite entertaining, and I see the appeal of going out to these kinds of things. Everyone was laughing, hilarious things were said by friends and new acquaintances, everyone was having a good time. How could we not? With people naming their teams Team Ho Wan Tu Wan (we were at 121, get it? hahaha), Team Ba, Pata Team, etc…?
The host, Brian Banta of 121, was good – witty, banter-y but non-offensive. This is to reassure those who might be worried that the humor might not be wholesome – Brian doesn’t make fun of the audience or anything like that.
The food was good, but average, except that I really liked their Grilled Liempo and Chicken Binakol.
I am not one of those people who enjoy hanging out in bars – I would rather spend the night watching TV or reading at a coffee shop. However, the grilled liempo is quite delicious that I would actually go back to have it again.
121 Grille and Restaurant
Third Floor, BGC Stopover Pavillion
Rizal Drive Corner 31st Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Email: [email protected]
Contact #: 624-4183
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/121resto/
Hours:
Mon-Fri: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm ; 5:00 pm – 12:00 am
Sat: 5:00 pm – 12:00 am
