Mango Tree is an international Thai restaurant brand with outlets  in Bangkok, Dubai, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Doha. 

Mango Tree is found in Bonifacio High Street Central with a store-like facade.  It also has a cozy al fresco and bar area. 

Once you go inside, you'll be mesmerized by its cozy, casual fine dining ambiance.  It has majestic curtains, elegant black leatherette lofts and beautiful table settings.  

It has a modernistic atmosphere with high ceiling.  It has a mezzanine area too.  It's walls are filled with Thai ornaments which give it a nice Thai flair. 

Project Brave Kids
My main reason for dining at Mango Tree is to celebrate the birthday of the kid beneficiaries of Project Brave Kids.  For the second anniversary of Mango Tree, they decided to donate a portion of their sales for their anniversary months March, April and May to Project Brave Kids, a non-profit organization who seeks to aid the family of children from age 0-12 who are inflicted with cancer.
 

I've always had a soft spot for Corporate Social Responsibility activities so I just had to attend this small gathering.  After losing a 15-year old friend to leukemia a decade ago, I could understand the struggles of these kids and their families so I really appreciate Mango Tree's initiative in choosing to do this.

Children's Birthday Cake by Mango Tree

These kids are quite sensitive so Mango Tree did their best to prepare a little gathering serving them spaghetti and preparing cakes so they could be comfortable.  It was a success because I could see smiles on the kids faces as they blew their birthday candles while the entire Mango Tree crew sang them their birthday song.


Food


Cold Appetizers

♥ Yum Mamuang (280 php)

The Yum Mamuang is a green mango salad with peanuts and grated coconut.  This dish was executed perfectly.  The peanuts, grated coconut as well as the onion bits were able to complement the nicely thin green mango strips well.  If you love our local tangy green mangos then this is a must try for you.

Hot Appetizers

Tod Mun Goong (380 php)

The Tod Mun Goong are deep fried shrimp cakes served with sweet chili sauce.  The Tod Mun Goong has a wonderful golden brown crispy coating and a tender yet compact shrimp cake within.  I like that it wasn't oily at all.  Both kids and adult will enjoy this.

Soup & Curry

Tom Yum Goong (450 php)

The Tom Yum Goong is a spicy hot and sour prawn soup with lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal, mushroom and red chillies.  This had generous amounts of shrimp and the taste of the Thai spices and coconut milk were prevalent.  The one served to us was toned down so the spiciness was hardly determinable for me and instead I found it a bit salty for my taste.   Although my companions who don't like spicy dishes loved this, I personally prefer this being authentically Thai spicy so I'll probably request the chef to cook it that way on my next visit.  


Thai Specialty

Talay Ruam Mit (1700 php)

The Talay Ruam Mit is an excellent option for the lenten season.  It's a hot seafood platter of grilled prawns, squid, crab and a trio of sauces.  This platter is a bit expensive but the seafood served are as fresh as it can be.  The crabs are deliciously sweet and flavorful.  While,  the squid are soft and chewy which makes it quite addictive with the sauces. However, the prawns were not cooked evenly as some parts were still raw. 
 

♥ Pla Krapong Neung Ma Now (850 php)

It was my first time to try the Pla Krapong Neung Ma Now.  It's a steamed sea bass with fresh garlic, chili and lime sauce.  It's served hot with a candle at the bottom so its recommend to eat this upon serving.  The flavors of the ingredients are fragrant yet subtle so you can enjoy the nice clean taste of the sea bass.  This is a must try!

Gai Phad Med Ma-Maung (400 php)

The Gai Phad Med Ma-Maung is another new discovery for me.  It's probably because we often opt for the usual Pandan Chicken when ordering.   The Gai Phad Med Ma-Maung is stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, capsicum and onion.  It's reminds me of my favorite Chinese dish.  I guess this is the Thai counterpart of it.  The taste is good but again I'd prefer if this was spiced up a bit with some more capsicum.   Also, I'd imagine the play of textures would have been better if the chicken bits were not dried and tough to eat.  

Rice & Noodles

♥ Pad Thai Jay (350 php)

The Pad Thai Jay is our favorite stir-fried rice noodles with mixed vegetables and tofu.  This is one of the best versions of pad thai I've encountered yet.  The noodles were moist and bouncy.  It has generous amounts of crunchy bean sprouts that makes it a chewing pleasure to eat with the rice noodles.  And more importantly, the taste was well-balanced.  It was neither too strong nor too light.  I highly recommend this and I'll definitely order this again on my subsequent visits.

♥ Khao Ob Supparod (380 php)

The Khao Ob Supparod is pineapple fried rice with chicken bits, corn kernels, green peas, onions, mushroom and raisins.  I expected this to be dominantly sweet and sour similar to the Chinese version but its actually different.  All the ingredients especially the bold flavor of the chicken makes this a flavorful fried rice which can be eaten on its own.  This is quite interesting to try!

Desserts
Finally, my favorite part in every Thai meal...

♥ Tub Tim Grob (250 php)

The Tub Tim Grob is red ruby water chestnuts with homemade coconut ice cream.  Unlike those served in Simply Thai or Makan Makan which I loved because of the textures of the red rubies, I fell in love with the Tub Tim Grob because of its delicious mildly salted ice cream made from coconut cream.  The red rubies, the ice cream plus the jackfruit delivers a heavenly sensation.

♥ Tako Khao Phod (220 php)

The Tako Khao Phod is a coconut custard with sweet corn.  Don't let its appearance fool you.  Although this may look plain, inside it has a genrous layer of corn kernels and  coconut bits.  Unlike the usual gelatinous texture, this one is pleasantly soft, smooth and creamy.  In terms of flavor, it was not plain coconut cream but instead slightly salty.  Although its not the usual for me, I'm quite surprised that it actually works well especially with the other components. 

Drinks

Specialty Drinks

Thai Iced Tea (90 php)

The Thai Iced Tea is a delicious blend of Thai iced tea with the right amount of sweetness.

Special Drink of the Day (fresh orange and carrot juice)

Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
Mango Tree is a world class Thai restaurant with superb casual fine dining ambiance.  They're Thai chefs can offer you an authentic Thai experience.  But at the same time, they can also cater to adjustments to soothe the Filipino taste.  I suggest you advise the kitchen about your preference upon ordering.   Mango Tree is a great place to start your exploration for Thai cuisine.  The back portion of their menu even has Thai names with the photos of the dishes to aid you in ordering.  The servers are quite knowledgeable with the menu too so don't hesitate to ask them.  The price is a bit steep but given the food quality, service and location, its quite reasonable.  I like that they have a wide range of Thai offerings so I'm really tempted to go back and explore some more.