Torch's new menu raises the bar for comfort food

Running a restaurant is tough, but there are a few that succeed by running on passion, perseverance, and a knack for knowing what their customers want. One such restaurant is Torch.

The two-year-old restaurant on Connecticut Street in Greenhills has been drawing families and business people for lunch, dinner and, most recently, breakfast, and the clubbers for dinner, drinks, and...well, breakfast. Owner Mike Chua said he envisioned a restaurant that was "different, interesting. Something that draws curiosity from people."

The Volcano Roll

Torch's interiors are raw, almost austere. All the better to focus on the food, which Mike describes as "comfort food with a twist." This isn't just a throwaway phrase. Torch really does take pride in putting their own spin on comfort classics. "Like the Philly Cheesesteak. It's a comfort food sandwich, but we turned it into a pizza. Or the Mac and Cheese, which we turned into a burger," Mike says.

With this as a guide, Torch recently updated its menu with what has become three of Metro Manila's go-to dishes: pizza, sushi, and steak.

The White Truffle Sausage Pizza

Favorites include the White Truffle Sausage Pizza (P429.95), a thin crust pizza topped with mozzarella and grilled Italian sausage, drizzled with white truffle oil and served with alfalfa sprouts, arugula, and salsa. You eat the pizza rolled with the vegetables inside it.

Then there's the Gambas Pizza (P329.95), a deliciously light starter made up of shrimps sauteed in chipotle garlic olive oil resting on a crispy pizza slathered with melted mozzarella, and the aforementioned Philly Cheesesteak Pizza (P369.95), which is basically a flat, open-faced sandwich topped with everything good in life, i.e., steak and cheese.

The makis are worth checking out as well. They're complicated and over-the-top, just the thing to order when you're out with friends, especially if there's alcohol involved.

The Smoked Salmon Truffle Sushi

The Smoked Salmon Truffle Sushi (P449.95) is a spruced-up California roll. Topped with wakame, smoked salmon, and a fried egg and drizzled with white truffle oil, it's the kind of dish designed to make your taste buds explode. The egg adds a sense of playful hominess to an otherwise cosmopolitan dish, adding to its accessibility. Also, it's pretty hard to turn down a dish that includes a fried egg.

The Volcano Roll (P369.95) is a—wait for it—baked! Sushi roll filled with cucumber! Tempura! Tamago! And topped with Spice-Baked US Scallops! It sounds insane, and tastes that way too, the rush of umami feeling like a warm, if heavy and slightly confusing, hug, the confusion coming from your brain saying "maki" and your mouth saying "nope."

Torch has an interesting selection of meat, such as the Beef Fondue (P879.95) which comes with five sauces, and the Salpicao Medallion (P479.95), a slab of Certified Angus wrapped in bacon served with garlic parsely rice and French beans. Many people say that bacon is overused, but pay no heed to them because bacon is awesome.

The Salpicao Medallion

Should you linger in Torch past 10 p.m., you'll find that the lights go off, the music gets loud, and that the crowd changes to one that's younger, more energetic, eager to party. This is your cue to order a Dragon Sangria (P899.95), a white wine sangria with fresh dragon fruit and guava, served in a fishbowl and good for three to five persons (You really weren't going to drink all that by yourself, were you?).

When it comes to feel-good food, Torch presses all the right buttons. "I want customers to feel like they ate somewhere comfy and relaxing," Mike says. "It's a place where people get together. Relax lang talaga." — BM, GMA News