Find Incredible Pasta in an Unlikely Place (the Bar Behind 7-Eleven)

It is a well-known fact that the tiny 7-Eleven on 26th Street extends to a sprawling lounge. Bank Bar, the crown jewel of The Moment Group’s empire of restaurant chains, is a halfway house of sorts for retired partygoers who can no longer deal with the aftermath of late nights and have settled instead for earnest and lazy weeknight cocktails. Though it has proven time and again how it is a venerable space for great booze, its food is pretty special, too. After all, this is TMG, home of crispy sisig and impressive shawarma.

Pork and Shrimp Wontons, Jamon Iberico de Bellota, Chorizo Toast

Photo by BANK BAR.

The sisig, incidentally, is part of Bank Bar’s food menu. The beef shawarma rice, too. Bank Bar has the privilege of having its pick of food from its sibling establishments, but it does well on its own. There is hummus with roti, a light bite for a light drink as one waits for day to turn into night. There are three variants of jamon Iberico on one platter—Salchichon, de Cebo, or de Bellota. The chorizo toast takes a different approach from the bar morsel. Instead of plain bread, thumb-sized platforms of ensaymada are browned then topped with chorizo and cheese.

Hummus and Roti

Photo by BANK BAR.

Jamon

Photo by BANK BAR.

Bank Bar doesn’t inhibit its menu in terms of geography, too. There are shrimp wontons, crispy and packed with a good burst of salty flavor beneath the crispy shell, alongside kimchi pajeon, which is as spicy as it is addictive.

It is perhaps the unlikeliest of bar chow, however, that will lead you toward Bank Bar after work. Its fusilli is probably more fitting as a post-drink pick-me-up, but you'll eat it, nonetheless, before, after, during, and any hour of the day. Corkscrew pasta, so al dente and coated evenly with a light-tasting tomato sauce, is kept simple to leave room for the tasty seasoning of Italian sausage. It is impressive in both taste and texture and reminiscent of TMG’s long gone pizza and pasta restaurant Linguini Fini.

Kimchi Pajeon

Photo by BANK BAR.

Fusilli with Italian Sausage

Photo by BANK BAR.

Photo by BANK BAR.

Two new cocktails have also joined the fray: Jason Nuqui’s Halleluya is a treacherously bright combination of whisky, ginger syrup, fresh mint, and lime while Bryan Damasco’s Tainted Love is a peppy juice-tasting gin-based blend of muddled olives, angostura bitters, saccharum, and lemon, finished with a squid-ink salt rim. Both drinks are available during Happy Hour, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday. Perfect timing. We'll have the fusilli, too.

Halleluya and Tainted Love

Photo by BANK BAR.

Open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Bank Bar is at RCBC Savings Bank Corporate Center, 26th and 25th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.