Food Trip at Bangkok

Aside from shopping, eating is one of the most enjoyable activities in Bangkok. Like the Pinoy, Thais love to eat. Restaurants and food centers in malls of various types of food - western, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, etc can be found. In our last trip at Bangkok, Apple and I had a food trip.

At MBK's 4th floor, there is a food center where stalls serve thai and chinese food at very reasonable price (ranging from 50 to 70 Baht) per serving. We ordered tom yum soup, fried rice and grilled chicken. For dessert, Apple had the sticky rice with sweet mango.

At MBK Food Center

Sticky Rice with Sweet Mango

 At Siam Paragon's food court, we tried the ramen in one of the Japanese restaurants.  And in one of my solo trips, I enjoyed the chinese rice noodle with various dumplings.



Chinese Noodles



Want some ramen?



At MBK's Sizzler, you order a main dish - grilled fish, chicken, pork or beef (price ranges from 250 Baht up) and you can eat all you can the vegetable salad, soup and dessert. You can choose various types of vegetables and dressing for the salad. There are three choices for soup. With the salad only, you will get full. That's why my former DLSU students who were with me ate only a portion of the main dish and had a take-out after.

Grilled pork and salad at Sizzler

Happy Faces, Hungry Tummies



With DLSU Alumni

Omelette and chili soup at Yum Saap - Ramchuri Square



Crabs at Somboon Restaurant

At Shabu-shi, buffet costs 300 Baht and includes Japanese food (various types of sushi), hot pot with various choices of meat, vegetables and dumplings which are served by conveyer belt - just pick your favorite dish and dip into your individual hot pot. Drinks and ice cream are also available.

Choose a dish and dip on you hot pot at Shabu-shi

Sushi galore

Hotpot at Shabu-shi



Lutong Bahay at Ateneo

 Want a taste of the best monggo soup in town? Partner it with pork inihaw.  Yummy, isn't it. If you happen to be at the Ateneo de Manila Campus at Loyola Heights, QC, you will find our favorite cafeteria at the PE Complex. We just call it "Manang's" and they serve filipino dishes that are close to home. Simple, no frills and reasonably priced. This is our favorite eatery duirng summer when the kids had swimming lessons at this PE complex. In our most recent visit here, Apple and I had monggo, pork inihaw, fried tilapia and vegetables. The monggo soup was superb - crushed monggo with chicharon and sili leaves - cooked the way I want it. The inihaw and fried tilapia matched with the monggo. It's really very satisfying to eat at Manang's -you pay less (compared to restos) but you gain more (weight).

KEN AFFORD

Stuffed Sizzling Squid (Pusit)

Fish Salpicao

Stir fried Vegatables

If we want value for money for a delicious and sumptuous meal, we go to KEN AFFORD at B.Gonzales Street cor Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights, Quezon City (Beside Citibank). In our previous lunch, we ordered stuffed sizzling squid, fish salpicao and stir fried vegetables with squid balls. Rice is included in the main dishes. Total bill is only P290.00.

Longganisa Sorpresa

You don't have to travel to Vigan to taste the famous Vigan longganisa, or to Pampanga to savor the sweet version or to Lucban to buy their garlic filled longganisa. Just visit "Longganisa Sorpresa", my favorite "longsilog" resto which can be found at SM North's sky garden area. Longganisa Sorpresa serves different types of longganisa that can be found in the Philippines - Vigan, Cebu, Lucban, Calumpit, Pampanga, Tuguegarao, Laoag, GenSan. My favorites are the recado version with garlic not the sweet type from Calumpit, Vigan and Lucban.

For only P99.00 (special price - excluding service fee), you can enjoy your favorite longganisa with two eggs (cooked the way you want them - sunny side-up or scrambled) and iced tea. And they serve fried brown rice. The last time I visited the place I ordered the Calumpit longganisa.

You may also try their vinegar "sawsawan" from different regions of the Philippines. They have "suka" or vinegar like the "Pinakurat", "Paombong", "Tuba" and more.

"Sari saring sukang sawsawan"

So longganisa lovers, whether you like the longganisa "short" or "long", "meaty" or "sweet", you can choose your favorites at Longganisa Sorpresa and I'm sure you will be suprised with the taste and price of their longsilog meal. You may visit their website at http://longganisasorpresa.com/

Food & Art at Silya't Sili

If you regularly pass Katipunan Ave., White Plains in Quezon City, I'm sure you've seen the sign board of Silya't Sili. We pass the area only occasionally but the green and bold red color of the sign, plus the intriguing combination of silya (chair) and sili (chili) puzzled us - what is the connection of the two, save for both starting with the letter "s"?

So we gave in to our curiosity and visited the place one lunch time. We were at first apprehensive since we're not sure if it's a restaurant or a furniture shop. Unlike other restos, it doesn't have the feel of being in a glass aquarium that most often make costumers look like goldfish.

Once inside, it evokes a classy elegance that doesn't come handy anymore these days - there are no shouting food servers that greet you with "WELCOME MA'AM-SIR" at the top of their voice. Instead, a plain 'Good morning ma'am/ sir' from the staff is enough. And the paintings - oh, the paintings. Big, small, and huge decorate the walls - some are modern, others are post-modern!

As we sat, we admire also the chairs - simple and elegant. Indeed, the place evokes a feeling of being in a fine-dining resto.

When we checked the menu, we understood instantly the odd combination of "Silya't Sili" - the owner of the restaurant also loves to 'play' with chili - either to add an 'umph' to simple dishes, or to simply put a little 'red color' in a rather bland brown-colored "sisig."

The price range is also very friendly! For instance, we hosted a meeting in the resto for 15 people, and ordered 3 chicken teriyaki, 3 grilled pusit, 3 binagoongan-lechon kawali, 3 veggie curry, 3 okra salad, 3 sisig, 2 fish sinigang, 3 fried fish, adobo rice for sharing, bagoong rice for sharing, and plain rice, and bottomless iced tea/ lemonade - and guess how much was our bill? P9,000 only - that's just about P600 per head (and we did brought home a loooot of left-overs). The place has two function rooms that can accommodate 15 and 20, respectively - and the room can be used for a minimum of P5,000 consumable, for 3 hours)

My favorite, thus far, is the veggie curry (crispy and very flavorful), lechon kawali-binagoongan (sinfully delicious), kare-kare (all beefy-meaty goodness), chopseuy (crispy veggy, just as we like it). The adobo and bagoong rice are also good. In fact, all the dishes we've tasted so far are good - kudos to the cook! It's definitely one of our favorite resto at the moment.

Silya't Sili is along White Plains, QC (near David's Saloon). Visit their website at http://silyatsili.com/

A painting of a praying girl at Silya't Sili

Blog written by Apple

Today's Menu at Pinggan

Before going to school I usually take my lunch at Pinggan which is located at Mapagkawanggawa St, Teacher's Village, QC. Pinggan is a popular eatery - "turo-turo" style - of employees from NHA, QC City Hall, Hilti and nearby NGOs. The price of the food is very reasonable and it's a resto where you can eat really "lutong bahay" dishes. Price ranges from P35.00 (Veggie) to P70.00 (Pork/Beef). Pinggan's all time favorites include the lechon kawali, lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang ubod and the patatim. Read an earlier blog about Pinggan. Here are my favorites at Pinggan.

Lumpiang Shanghai

Ginataang Langka

Beef Steak

Lechon Kawali: A Best Seller

Sweet & Sour Fish Fillet

Crispy Dilis

Chicken Adobo sa Gata



Patatim



Headless!

Happy Halloween to everyone. This is the time where kids love to frighten themselves with ghost stories - a white lady who haunts taxi drivers during the night, skeletons walking at the corridor, eerie sounds from a dark alley, the piano playing by itself and the lights turning on and off by themsleves...... spooky, scary, creepy, hair-raising - these are terms used to describe these ghost stories.

In our house, we also a have very scary experience ... there is a cute little girl whose head moves from one body to another. Once she was a mommy and the other day she became a daddy. It's really frigthening to see the headless body ..... and the head of the little girl ...... awoooooooo!

It was Julia's idea to take these photos using trick photography. With a pretty face like Julia's, I'm sure halloween will not be scary but merry! Happy Halloween!

The Meaty Curacha of Zamboanga

In a recent trip to Zamboanga City, a gracious (magnanimous, I should say) friend sent us loads of curacha and lapu-lapu. Lapu-lapu is all to familiar to us Manila-based folks so let me tell you about la curacha.

The Spanish term for cockroach (which I abhor from the depths of my being), I think the curacha doesn't deserve the unflattering name. The curacha is a sea crab specie which can be found in the waters of Zamboanga. This crustacean is like 'crab-leveled-up.' Outside, you'll see a pagong-like (turtle-like) appearance but with tentacles. Andy describes it like the predator in the alien movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The alien look of the curacha



Meaty Curacha!

Once you remove the 'gigantic' cover, what appears is like the regular crab except that the shell is harder (I had to use a knife to cut the body in the middle). The tentacles also have less meat. The curacha-meat is like crab-meat but firmer. The taste is also similar but i'd say it has more texture as the strands of meat are thicker (more like crab-meat has hair-like-strands, while curacha-meat has crochet-thread-like-strands). It also has loads of aligue (crab fat) that I had to literally restrain Andy from devouring all of it (it's his super fave!)



The "aligue" - Andy's favorite

What can I say - we had bulging tummies and satisfied palates after the experience!

by Apple

The World of Pan De Amerikana

It's an inverted world at Pan De Amerikana

When you go to Pan de Amerikana along White Plains Ave., it is like visiting Alice's Wonderland (local version). Outside, the facade is an inverted house, with the corresponding inverted car and table and chair set. Once you're in, you'll find more colorful chairs and tables - at the ceiling!

The place is refreshing and cozy. There are a lot of plants and recylcled ceramic decorations (even the toilets are peppered with broken ceramic designs). The ceiling is high and there are a lot of open windows, making it energy efficient.

Now comes the food - they are ultra affordable. Where can you find a restaurant with a price range of P20.00 to P200.00? Steamed vegetables like the okra we ordered was P20.00. Their bangus belly sinigang was P80.00; pinakbet at P30; caldereta at P60. The sisig was P145.00. Brewed coffee is P20; turon langka at P20. Pan de Amerikana is like a classy carinderia that offers good "lutong bahay" food at very reasonable price.

No wonder parking is hard - patrons troop here for that eat-out-pig-out experience that's not hard on the pocket.

Food and Coffee at Pan De Amerikana

Coffee Mates: Pandesal, Ensaymada and Empanada

Drinking coffee in the morning perks you up; but  having a good coffe-mate makes it even more exciting.  That's especially true if these 'mateys' include the all-time favorites - hot pandesal, warm ensaymada, and crunchy empanada!   

The pandesal from Pan de Amerikana is the first in our books.  For P6.00 you get a 4"x 3"x 2" soft and moist and chewy pandesal. It's even better when toasted and eaten with  your favorite butter or cheese...hmmmm .....yummy.

Ensaymada is one of the kids' favorite for snack or breakfast. Mom's manyaman (tasty) ensyamada at Trinoma is a discovery. The bite size ensaymadas are pillowy-soft, creamy,  and cheesy. They also have queso de bola ensaymada which we have to try.

Finally, the empanada.  At Magiting St., UP Teacher's Village, Diliman,  just opposite "Ate Fe's" corner restaurant/ carinderia (which is the subject of another blog entry :-)  at Maginhawa St.,   we discovered a new stall called Empanada Avenue (just beside the 24 hour grocery store) which sells empanadas with various fillings - beef, pork, asado, chicken, and tuna.  Of course, it is not your gourmet empanada, but for its affordable price, this empanada is already good but not as good as the empanada of  Gateau de |Manille.  We've tried the pork, chicken and tuna, and....they all taste the same! (magical :-)    But really, this empanada  is very filling, and served to you hot/ newly cooked.  

So, next time your coffee looks forlorn, try these 'mates' - it gurantees not only to wake you, but to also fill your grumbling tummy.  :-) 

Exploring Nuvali! We got "Pig Out!"

Nuvali. We've heard that it's a nice place. Last Septmber 4 (Sunday), we trooped to the place, ready to explore.

We were in awe with the hundreds of kois in the pond! Fish food pellets are available for P15/small pack and the fish just gorge them - literally. They would swim (looks more like swarming, though) to the food as soon as the pellet touches water. You can really prove that Darwin's law is true - it is really the survival of the fittest! Seeing how the fish eat, we got hungry ourselves, so off we go to "Pig Out" to have lunch - the place was recommended by friends (and also by a famous food blogger). We were really excited to go to Pig Out! As a matter of fact we had a plan a week before to eat here but the plan did not push through because of the typhoon. Before entering the resto, we had a photo infront of the place expecting an enjoyable dining experience.

However, our Pig Out! experience was not pleasant. First thing we noticed was the food was a bit pricey - barbeque at P110 a piece, 2 pieces fried chicken at P220, mongo bean soup at P85 per (small) bowl, eggplant dip at P145, rice for sharing (good for 3) P105, coke in can P65, and a glass of iced-tea at P75. But hey, if the taste is good, who'll complain?

But then, there were a lot to complain about. First was the service. The table next to us, who just finished ordering when we were seated, have already finished their meals before our food arrived. Among us, Geof is actually the most gracious and patient when it comes to restaurant eating (he always gives the restaurant the benefit of the doubt every time we complain about something), so in my world, when Geof complains re restaurant service, you have to take notice. And he complained twice! ("is the food not yet here?" "what's taking them too long to cook?") When it finally arrived, I asked for table napkins. The attendant, using his wet hands (with motorcycle gloves), handed us a bundle of tissues --- Eeeeewwww!!! Talk about cleanliness, manners, and sanitation! I had to rummage the middle part of the tissue bundle since the outside parts have all the wet finger imprints on them!!!!

The barbeque sticks were small (I think it's just twice the size of the sticks we get at UP stalls whose price range is only between P15 to 20 per stick). It doesn't look anything like the huge picture in the menu. The mongo soup has alukbati leaves on it - but the leaves were uncooked!! The soup they served us was lukewarm, and obviously the alukbati leaves were dropped when the soup is no longer boiling hot - they were as fresh as the morning sun!

But the fried chicken really blew our top. When I cut the chicken, fresh blood ooze from inside both pieces! (How hard is it to cook fried chicken? The Mcdo chicken is way much better in terms of taste and preparation! What kind of chef would serve something without checking if it's cooked?) We complained, obviously, so the attendant took the chicken, and returned after about 15 minutes, with the same two pieces chicken, re-fried!!! The color is no longer golden brown, it's deep brown. The outside and the inside are not juicy anymore, they were tough and dry. I wanted to complain again, but my kids just went ahead and ate - they were realllllly hungry after all the waiting. And personally, I just want to get out of the place ( I was mad and I don't want to give the manager a dressing down and spoil the mood of everyone - after all, it was supposed to be a happy family outing).

We got out of the place (still hungry), and robbed of P1,100 for food that is way, way, way (WAY) below our expectations - and I hope whoever owns "Pig out" reads this! (And never give us the excuse "bad timing" - cleanliness and food quality are non-negotiables in the food business! We were pigged-out! Na-"baboy" kami.Obviously this will be our first and last visit at Pig Out!).

But enough of that. There were other things we did that redeemed our stay at Nuvali - the boat ride was a joy, especially for Julia, and Geof's 1st attempt at planking allowed us to forget our horrible lunch experience. The ice cream at "Crisostomo" was a delight - it's thickness and creaminess remind me of the ice cream I enjoy growing up in Malabon. In all, it was a good trip and refreshing because of the wide and green environment (save for the torture we had during lunch). There are other restaurants at Nuvali which I believe can give good service and food - Conti's, Crisosotomo, Nature's Trail, Domo Tomo, Brothers Burger, Yellow Cab . According to the Nuvali website, there is a wildlife and bird sanctuary - but we never attempted to go there because of the heat. Nuvali should offer more attractions - like a butterfly park/ zoo, go-cart rides, kite flying areas, museum and other things that a family can enjoy doing together.

PS: Because we were still hungry after our Nuvali trip, we stopped by at the Paseo de Sta. Rosa and ate at Kanin Club. Wow, we feasted on pancit canton, toron and banana con yelo. Our Sta. Rosa trip was redeemed! We went home satisfied. LOL!

Mommy's special pasta

"Kesong Puti Pasta" - my version :-)

I had a dinner date with friends at LA Cafe in Timog QC. Among the food we gorged, I mean ate, is the "kesong puti (cottage cheese) pasta" that, according to the waiter, is the late Doreen Fernadez's favorite. And indeed, it was really nice - it has a taste so finesse, you can savor each of the ingredients in your palate - fresh cherry tomatoes, kesong puti, and basil leaves. The simplicity of the flavor lingered in my palate-memory (if there's such a thing) that I've attempted to imitate it.

Instead of cherry tomatoes, I used the big, plump tomatoes (those as big as apples), and instead of just kesong puti, I added mozzarella (for the simple reason that the kesong puti you get from groceries are too madaya (cheats) - it looks big, but it's actually just the banana-leaves' wrapping that's bulky. The actual cheese you see once all the wrappings are removed are too small, you can perhaps fill 4 small pandesals (Pinoy buns) with it. (I later discovered that the Nestle cottage cheese taste almost the same, and with the same price you get more cheese, and its shelf-life lasts longer.)

Preparing (my imitation) is actually easy.

1. Heat olive oil, then add crushed garlic - the amount of garlic depends on how much garlic-ky you want your pasta.

2. Once the garlic's in (maybe after 20 seconds) - don't let it brown - add the sliced tomatoes. For 300g (spaghetti) pasta, I use about 1/2 kl of tomatoes (you can also use ordinary tomatoes). Add a dash of salt (adjust according to your taste)

3. When the tomatoes are cooked and saucy (the skin easily peels from the meat), add the cheese and basil. Allow it to boil for about 30 seconds (1 minute max) only, since the cottage cheese, when cooked, melts and sticks to the pan. You don't want that, you want the cottage cheese to retain its texture and taste. As I've mentioned, I've added mozzarella in my first attempt.

Voila - my kids loved it! (see picture above)

In succeeding attempts, I've been more adventurous. Once, I made it with 4 different cheese - cheddar, mozzarella, Colby's (Anchor/New Zealand), and cottage cheese; on another occasion, I added canned tuna (see picture below).

"Tuna Pasta"

Now, whenever my kids feel like eating pasta on any (special) occasion, they'd alway request for "Mommy's special pasta..." aaahhhh, music to my ears :-)

PS: Daddy likes Spanish sardines pasta (we tried it at Mary Grace Cafe) .. maybe I will try it soon ....

Blog written by Apple