Something for everyone

Fast-casual dining hub My South Hall opens at S’Maison

Food parks, food courts, and food halls are everywhere. From the outside, they are all hip and fresh, but it’s what’s on the inside that matters. Honestly, not all serve delicious food. A lot of them are strictly business in the sense that as long as the space is rented and the stalls serve edible stuff, they’re good.

New player My South Hall at S’Maison isn’t satisfied with good. It wants to be great! Selection-wise, it offers Japanese, Chinese, Italian, American, and even Taiwanese, contained within brick walls, and under one funky paint-splattered roof. While it’s self-service, there are roving waiting staff members who are more than happy to assist you.

The Bistro Group (TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, and Denny’s, etc.) and its executive corporate chef Josh Boutwood are used to discerning dining crowds. According to Boutwood, this new fast-casual concept was driven by groups with one or two members who do not like what’s on the menu. It’s impossible to please everyone, but Boutwood will certainly try. “There are moments someone from a family, or a group of friends, would not enjoy the food we’re serving, especially if they’re tagging the Millennials along. I learned [they] grew up to be pickier eaters...There should be something for everyone,” he says.

The menus are composed of items that the England-born, award-winning chef has a strong connection to or are from cuisines he has become an expert of. “We wanted to please the unique collective taste of the Filipino palate as well as ours, so we look into their favorite cuisines, and try to work around them,” he says.

There are many good things about this place. Besides the quality and variety of the food, it sources local and fresh produce every day, and it uses paper cups and straws instead of plastic. “My South Hall is much easier to control and regulate because from the ground up, everything is just in one store,” adds Boutwood. “We’re constantly making sure that we’re able to reduce, reuse, and recycle.”

Here are some things you would wish to order and eat again and again.