Ever since I got myself into this program, i drag the butts of my office lunch buddies to restos that serve “real” meals, instead of fast food restos that serve nothing but oil, junk, and what not. Today, we decided to dine in at Recipes by Cafe Metro.

What did we think about it?

We first thought that their food was cheap because their chopsuey meal costs only 135 but when we saw how small their serving was, we go so disappointed. We got more disappointed when we saw their their chopsuey looked anything but that  . There was no liver, no broccoli, no cauliflower; instead, we saw loads of bean sprouts or mongo shoot (toge) or whatever you call it. Gosh, it tasted like the sauted bean sprouts, often served in Tokyo Tokyo as side dish. It tasted NOTHING like chopseuy.

Pardon the photo, we were so hungry hahaha!

We also ordered Bistek Tagalog and even though I cannot complain on the beef selection (soft and thinly sliced), I can’t help but think about Tokyo Tokyo’s Beef Misono when I tasted it . Again, super small serving, it can barely feed 2 people.

Again, we ate a portion of it already .. talk about patay gutoms

Because the food barely escaped reached our tummies, we ordered another dish that looked soo tempting on their menu.

In reality, the dish was served to us like this – parang halo halo lang.

In fairness, the lechon tasted okay, but the kangkong tasted like kangkong with plain soy sauce period. It took forever to arrive, we even had to follow up on it because they apparently forgot to process our additional order. tsk 

To make things worst, the waiters were so distracted, unattentive, and snob. I mean gaaashh, it seemed like we owe them for eating there. I promised to avoid negative vibes but this is just annoying!

We paid for the bill with heavy burden in our hearts

An 8.9% service charge for such an awful service.  Never again!

Thursday – As always, we went to 14 churches to fulfill a family tradition, that is visita iglesia; one church along C5, near Eastwood made us carry a cross! Quite heavy but overall a pleasant experience because at least we got to at least try and carry a cross and walk under the heat of the sun.

Friday – Instead of fasting and prayer, BQ invited his mom and brother to go to Nuvali, and so we all did. Since there’s really nothing to do there, we went straight to Tagaytay and ate too much at Sonya’s Garden. For only Php 610 per head, we had unlimited salad (with dressing, etc.), unlimited salmon pasta, and unlimited dalandan juice!

–> Super sulit, fresh, delish, and filling! Did not like the ants I saw everywhere (yes, even on our tables) though…

Saturday – Another pig out session… went to C’ Italian Dining in Clark Pampanga to try their famous panizza (where Yellow Cab copied their Dear Darla).

To those who are not familiar, this resto is famous for their C’ SUPER CLASSIC FRESHLY BAKED PANIZZA (approx Php 600+ and good for 3 people), Chef Chris Locher’s masterpiece. Panizza is a rectangular thin crust pizza, served and eaten with arugula and alfalfa sprouts.

We also tried 2 of their risottos – Risotto Kristina  – Php 600+ (salmon, prawns, asparagus, broccoli, and finished with tender mushrooms and white truffle oil) and Risotto Frutti di Mare – Php 700+ (salmon, marlin, prawns, mussels blended with tomato and saffron-flavored parmesan risotto).

Their SLOW ROASTED LAMB RIBS IN AROMATIC SPICE RUB (Php 890) was a pleasant surprise. Even though I’m not really into Lamb, theirs is actually delicious and tender.

Lastly, we ordered pasta but wasn’t able to taste it anymore, I was sooo full and not to mention, it was around 9 p.m. already when we ordered that.

Sunday – I just went to the salon to have my hair and nails done – at last! And then went to church service in the afternoon. One important lesson learned, everything means nothing without Him. We must not let ourselves be a prisoner of this world by following what it dictates; instead, let us live a meaningful life by doing what He wants us to .

Happy Easter everyone!

Anyway, here’s what I think of the resto:

First of all, the location is convenient because you can park right outside their restaurant. Secondly, their Monggo na Mayaman is to die for! The place is also awesome because the interiors stayed true to the Filipiana theme and I’m impressed with the implementation.

After that, the good stuff ends because their food serving is very small but expensive and paying an additional 10% service charge isn’t really thrilling.

This is how expensive their dishes are, and I am so hoping that they reassess their rates:

• Their monggo soup costs 240++ for 1 small bowl just enough for 2 people
• Their rib eye bistek costs 340++ for 1 small slice of beef

Aside from Monggo na Mayaman, we also ordered Bistek Filipino but it didn’t taste special and was kind of hard. Lastly, we had to ask for a receipt before they issued us an OR. I mean, every restaurant I know gives a receipt automatically right? Here’s how it happened:

1. Bill came
2. We paid
3. We received our change but the official receipt or even the bill-looking receipt was not there
4. We asked for the receipt but they gave us the bill-looking thing again
5. We were about to leave with that piece of paper but they stopped us
6. The girl at the counter told us that they’ll issue an OR instead

Weird huh?!

For information about 1521, read this article.

———

1521 Restaurant
547 Shaw Blvd., Brgy. Wack- Wack
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
Telephone: (+632) 794-0433; (+632) 794-0433
Mobile: (+63917) 8606687 ; (+63917) 8606687
Email: fifteentwentyonerestaurant@yahoo.com

After 27 years of existence, at last, nakarating din sa Bora!!! Thanks to Nes and Ian for inviting us to their wedding kasi kung hindi pa dun, di pa din siguro kame pupunta ng Bora =) During our first day there, hubby and I had our 3pm lunch at Smoke Resto (with Inggo’s recommendation), and no regrets for that

The chicken curry rice topping that husband ordered was superb! I mean, the chicken no longer tasted like chicken (you know how boiled chicken tastes right, that’s what I mean), but tasted totally in sync with the curry. The sauce was perfectly creamy, the chicken, potatoes, and carrots tender and cooked just right.

On the other hand, the sizzling bicol express was behind in quality… too bad. The pork was not tender enough, the dish lacked coconut sauce and it was kind of dry.

Since I really loved their chicken curry, we went back during our last day with friends and ordered Bulalo soup, lechon kawali, spicy kangkong, chicken curry, and buttered shrimp. Here’s what we thought:

• Bulalo soup – others found this great tasting but for me, it was just okay… there were lots of meat though, so I guess it’s worth the price 
• Lechon kawali – yummers!
• Spicy kangkong – tasted sweet instead of spicy due to lack of chili, we forgive Smoke because they warned us beforehand
• Chicken curry – as expected, everyone loved it
• Buttered shrimp – all of us found it ironic that Bora restos failed to serve quality seafood dishes but thank God because we found one resto who did serve fresh shrimps hooraaay!

On another note, don’t expect lavish interiors because Smoke Resto is bordering turo turo slash carinderia kind of resto. But hey, who cares? I don’t, as long as they serve yummy curry, I’ll keep coming back.

As for price range, the rate of their dishes range from Php 80 to Php 200. I think the curry rice topping is approx 120 while the bulalo that fed all 5 of us was around 180 pesos. Totally not bad right?!

————————————

Smoke Resto caters and delivers too. You may contact them at (036) 2886014 and (036) 2884565.

Went back to Antonio’s for the second time and the place looked more beautiful in broad daylight. The food was better than I remembered and the service was above average.

My order: Seafood Sampler @ PHP 1,600

From left to right:

Prawn Thermidor – I think this dish was the best among the three because it gave me the right amount of flavour without becoming too salty, and creaminess without overpowering the natural flavor of the prawn. This dish actually made me regret that I ordered the Seafood Sampler instead of the Mixed Seafood Thermidor

Crispy Cod Fish Glazed with Kombu Sauce on Peppered Egg Noodles – The glazed fish came off a bit too sweet for me and it kinda reminded me of turon (banna fritters). On the other hand, I loved the noodles so much, I think it tasted better than chinese misua being served in popular chinese restaurants.

Pan Seared Scallops on Celleriac Mashed, Truffle Cream Sauce – This tasted delicious but it didn’t offer something new and unique the way the thermidor has; it tasted like a normal scallop ;p

Herb Roasted Rack of Lamb with Cardamon Beurre Blac @ PHP 1,650

Schwein Haxen (Roast Pork Knuckle), Sauerkraut, Chateau Potato, Cabbage @ PHP 1,000

(not sure with this one yet, I’ll have to check)

Organic Free-Range Roast Chicken Leg with Bourbon Tomato and Boiled Potato @ PHP 1,200

My friends were raving for this… its aroma  reminded me of my all-time favorite Fazolis’ chicken.

Mixed Seafood Thermidor (scallops, prawn, mussles, and cod fish) @1,450

*drools* I wish I ordered this instead =(

My order: Sorbet (guava, green mango, lamolime, green apple, watermelon, calamansi) - This tasted like an ice shaved off from an ice candy. After tasting this one, I immediately swapped with Nats because I couldn’t bear eating one more spoon of it.

I swapped Sorbet with Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce or Caramel Sauce

This one tasted a liitle better because of the bread and ice cream but I did not like the very generic taste of its chocolate. This is so far the best among the dessert offerings of Antonio’s.

Overall, Antonio’s is so worth another visit. Their main course dishes are awesome but don’t expect much on their dessert because you’ll be dissapointed.

A yummy surprise greeted me in the office this afternoon =) I was requested by my boss to go to Oceana (our Christmas party venue) and attend food-tasting offered Oceana for the the Christmas party committee of our organization.

As of now, I’m only sharing the pictures of the food we’ve ordered and will give the verdict after our Christmas party because I know there are still room for improvements; after all, the reason for the food-tasting is to get our feedback on how they can improve the taste of the dishes.

Special thanks goes to Carlo for his Nikon D40 camera; and Barbie + Rhenz for the beautiful photos.

  Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon, Cream, and Bacon

Pepper Crusted Seared Tuna Nocoise

Pan Roasted Mahi-Mahi Fillets with Pesto Cream Sauce

Penne Pasta with Pancetta Cream, Wild Mushrooms, and Fresh Peas

Beef Pot Roast with Mushroom Bordelaise

 Fresh Mango Tarlets and Creme Brulee

Fresh Mango Tarlets

———————–

Oceana is located at San Miguel by the Bay, SM Mall of Asia Complex. You can contact them at +632 7032515 or visit their site at www.cca-manila.com.

Anyway, we ordered the following:

1. Crunchy Tuna Roll (PHP 189)
   • Tasted like normal quality maki; nothing special here
   • This dish contains 2 types of toppings – raw tuna and crunchy tuna
2. Crazy Roll 
   • Tasted so much like the Crunch Tuna Roll; i think the only difference is the crunchy topping of the other
3. Pepper Chicken Fillet (PHP 348)
   • I was a little worried about this dish because there’s a similar dish at Sumo Sam and I disked it so much
   • BUT! the one being served at Mr. Kurosawa tasted great!
   • This dish is served with a yummy cup of fried rice
   • I personally recommend this dish; just a bit pricey though
4. Salmon Wasabi Cream Sauce (PHP 338)
   • Although I didn’t really feel wasabi’s presence here, this dish didn’t disappoint
   • This dish is filled with pepper tidbits and even though the salmon usually overpowers the taste of any ingredient you season it with, the peppery taste in this dish blended well
   • Big serving; I thought that the price is well justified by its flavor and serving

…some more of my thoughts

• Great service - constant water refills, great-tasting complimentary tea, courtesty to customers
• Our maki orders was served in an instant
• The only downside here is that it took around 40 mins before they finally served our main course

Overall, ours was a great experience at Mr. Kurosawa and I’m giving them the following ratings:

• Ambiance – 6 because the place is kinda off for me; it felt like a red district bar/resto
• Value for Money – 7 because they serve relatively big portions and their dishes tasted good
• Flavor - 7 because although their food is great tasting, i was a bit disappointed at how similar their 2 maki roll dishes taste

During our overnight stay at The Boutique, we passed by this very intriguing place so we decided to check it out for dinner. This place is located a few steps away from The Boutique and it is also owned by Happy Ongpauco. 

The facade of the place

The interiors of the place

Anyway, as you can see, the place is really well designed. It gives you a distinctly Filipino design flavor and it allows you to enjoy the feel of an ancestral home.

When we arrived at around 7, the place is already almost full and there were lots of reservations so I guess we were kind of lucky to be able to sit on a good spot.

While waiting for the food, we decided to have a mini pictorial =D

And at last, food was served! BQ was already in a bad mood back then; ayaw na nga magpapicture ;p Gutom na daw cya. 

Our orders:

Barrio Pinakbet (230 PHP) – very tasty and the saltiness is just right

 Sinigang na Bangus Belly sa Kamias (310 PHP) – this dish tastes okay, nothing extraordinary

 Angus Ribeye Bistek Tagalog (340 PHP) – this is the only dish I didn’t like; there was no hint of bistek tagalog taste; it tasted more like a salpicao dish

So would I recommend this place? Definitely =) I’m giving a 7 to the food because of its traditional delish taste and an 8 for the ambiance, value for money, and overall experience.

Eastwood is a place that’s so dear to my heart. Not only did I found my first job there, I also found my lifetime partner there

We’ve been wanting to give this resto a try but they’re always full on weekends so we went there on a weekday instead =D We were lucky because there was one table left! whew!

The look and feel of the place is really nice, it is modern but it still gives you that homy feeling. The only complaint I have with the place is the space, the resto is kind of small and it can only cater to a number of people.

We ordered the following:

1. Pla Tod for PHP 205 – Crispy Fish Fingers with Green Chili Dip

This dish tasted kind of bland and the dip did not go well with the fish fingers so we requested for a chili sauce instead and the the fish finger instantly tasted better.

2. Gai Phat Bai Kraphrau for PHP235 – Stir Fried Chicken with Crispy Basil

This dish was very original and tasted really great. I definitely recommend ordering this one when you go to My Thai Kitchen.

 3. Khap Pat Bpuu for PHP250 – Crabmeat Fried Rice

According to hb, kanin palang daw ulam na … need I say more?

 Kitchen BQ Rating:

 My Thai is located at the Ground Floor Veranda of the Eastwood Mall. You may contact them at 709-2127. To view their menu, click here.

Got this while doing my usual grocery shopping at SM Hypermarket. I’m really glad that specialty stores are now reaching malls to sell their products. I also got Dolor’s famous sapin sapin but I guess my review is no longer necessary for that, the brand speaks for itself.

As for their puto, it did not dissappoint, it is very delicious and not too sweet.

 You can contact them at:

Malabon (Main) – 2820071, 2835782
Quezon City (Banawe) – 7314352, 7437947
Caloocan (Monumento) – 3320227, 3320228
Paranaque (BF Homes) – 9944717

Anyway, we ordered the following:

1. Crunchy Tuna Roll (PHP 189)
   • Tasted like normal quality maki; nothing special here
   • This dish contains 2 types of toppings – raw tuna and crunchy tuna
2. Crazy Roll 
   • Tasted so much like the Crunch Tuna Roll; i think the only difference is the crunchy topping of the other
3. Pepper Chicken Fillet (PHP 348)
   • I was a little worried about this dish because there’s a similar dish at Sumo Sam and I disked it so much
   • BUT! the one being served at Mr. Kurosawa tasted great!
   • This dish is served with a yummy cup of fried rice
   • I personally recommend this dish; just a bit pricey though
4. Salmon Wasabi Cream Sauce (PHP 338)
   • Although I didn’t really feel wasabi’s presence here, this dish didn’t disappoint
   • This dish is filled with pepper tidbits and even though the salmon usually overpowers the taste of any ingredient you season it with, the peppery taste in this dish blended well
   • Big serving; I thought that the price is well justified by its flavor and serving

…some more of my thoughts

• Great service - constant water refills, great-tasting complimentary tea, courtesty to customers
• Our maki orders was served in an instant
• The only downside here is that it took around 40 mins before they finally served our main course

Overall, ours was a great experience at Mr. Kurosawa and I’m giving them the following ratings:

• Ambiance – 6 because the place is kinda off for me; it felt like a red district bar/resto
• Value for Money – 7 because they serve relatively big portions and their dishes tasted good
• Flavor - 7 because although their food is great tasting, i was a bit disappointed at how similar their 2 maki roll dishes taste

To our disappointment, the place seemed to have aged a lot in a short span of time. The facade no longer called for attention… it no longer spells magnificence =(

We were greeted fairly well and welcomed with personalized greetings.

We were surprised to see how small the room was, considering the price (I Dream – weekend rate of 6,555 PHP + 22% worth of taxes) tsk.

What dissapointed us further is their curtains… NOT black out, another tsk! We were forced to wake up early because of the sunlight which effortlessly entered and dominated the room. Graaahhh! Isn’t black out curtains an SOP to all hotels (being a bed and breakfast does not excuse The Boutique I swear!)

Anyway, to top it off, the massage that costs 600 PHP is the worst that I have ever experienced boo!

… BUT there’s one thing that didn’t dissapoint, and it is the FOOOOOODDDD!!!! YUM YUM YUM! Our stay has a complimentary breakfast where you can choose from Continental, American, Filipino, and Hawaiian.

Fresh fruits

Great tasting bread

BQ’s Loco Moco

My Crispy Tinapa

Lastly, they gave us a promo card wherein you have to complete a number of stay to entitle you to one free night; they also gave us a parting gift.

The rib eye or ribeye, also known as the Scotch fillet (in Australia and New Zealand), is a beef steak from the beef rib. When cut into steaks, the ribeye is one of the most popular, juicy, and expensive steaks on the market. Meat from the rib section is more tender and fattier (the meat is said to be “marbled”) than most other cuts of beef. This extra fat makes ribeye steaks and roasts especially tender and flavorsome, and well suited to dry heat cookery.

There are numerous steak houses who brag about how juicy and yummy their steaks are, but the truth is, only a handful of them is telling the truth. Actually, for hubby and I, only Steak Town in Shangrila Mall and Antonio’s in Tagaytay passed the test. The sad part here is, whether these restos serve good steak or not, all of them are very expensive – as reiterated by Wiki’s entry on steak…

…the idea of eating steak signifies relative wealth.

Anyway, the secret to preparing a good steak dish is first and foremost a good quality beef; how you season and cook the steak only follows.

For all the readers of BQ’s Kitchen, I am giving you the opportunity to serve a steak with quality that is at par with the steaks that Steak Town and Antonio’s serve.

For all those who are interested, send me a note at daynelov@yahoo.com or text me at 0917 8210225 or 0922 8210225.
 

Anyway, this post is about the Toblerone Cake from Cake 2 Go. A slice of this cake costs less than 100 pesos and yet, this has got to be one of the yummiest things I have ever tasted. This is me – not a chocolate fan – telling you this.

• Their complimentary bread came warm and I was really excited to taste it because it looked a lot like the ones being served in Italiannis’ but to my disappointment, it was rough and it tasted bland; and their olive oil with balsamic vinegar dip was not that good also – no herbs and spices
• It is kinda weird to me that they do not serve mozzarella sticks, I mean any Itallian resto should have that right?
• Their main course are kinda expensive, there are like P600++ worth fish meals
• Our orders arrived immediately and that’s just awesome =D
• The plating looked nice, reminded me of the Iron Chef that I failed to watch last Saturday
• As for the taste of the food:

1. Salmon meal that came with pesto pasta ordered by BQ – yummy! I wished I ordered the same

2. Dory meal that I ordered – Generally salty and nakakaumay because of the heavy cream on top of it; but when I squeezed the lemon that came with it, the dish achieved its balance and tasted better

3. Sea bass that my mom in law ordered – hmmm so so, actually yummy na din. better than what I ordered; but its taste can easily be overpowered if you eat it with something stronger

4. NYC Pizza – pure awesomeness hehehe, super tasty and cheesy and no umay feeling even after eating 2 slices; what prompted me to write this review is actually this dish; we were not able to finish this pizza because only BQ and I were eating; when I reheated this via microwave oven a while ago for breakfast, I was amazed at how perfect it remained despite being heated in a microwave – other pizzas would become makunat but this one did not, wow =D

5. Smoked Salmon-Asparagus Risotto that my bro in law ordered – this one I remember so well because it tasted exactly like the pasta I make wahahahah! It was yummy but was heavy to the stomach so you might wanna share this with your companion

Grarr! really sorry I did not take note of the names of the dishes that we ordered.

BUT!

My officemates and I finally decided to eat there tonight to watch the fireworks close up and to try this branch out; and yeah, the food quality is at par as their branch in Tagaytay. Yum!

Sorry no pictures for now, we were too hungry to take pictures hehe

If I’m not mistaken, I believe there are around 3 branches of this resto but we went to the last one:

- near Broadway

- C5

- Magallanes

We ordered stuffed pechay, buntot and panga ng tuna, kare-kareng sugpo, tom yum, sugpo in aligue sauce, liempo, garlic kangkong, and many more and sa dami nun, lahat super! You can never go wrong here, I guess maski anong orderin mo winner pa din kakalabasan =D Sa sobrang dami ng kinain namin dito, I gained 4 lbs overnight wahahaha! Pero after a few days bumalik din sa normal, thank God!