Had been planning a meal at Canteen for the longest time, after having discovered the good old chocnut ice cream from Uva still being offered here. Finally got around to it the other day.
I really wanted to say i liked the meal; but I can't. We both ordered fish (mainly because most of the other meals were not available that day; in fact, it seemed they had more items not available than available). She had the miso glazed mahimahi fillet with soy rice; i had the crusted fish fillet with citrus dressing. My friend found her order too salty (I didn't try so I can't comment); my fish, on the other hand, was spoiled (weird and funky smelling and tasting). The restaurant did offer to change the dish, but I kinda lost my appetite (just asked for a tuna sandwich; ate half and gave away the other half).
Masochists that we were, we stayed for coffee and dessert. Having tried the chocnut ice cream previously (which I must add was very good), we opted for the Trailer Park Reeses Peanut Butter and Jelly Monte Cristo and the Bananas Foster with Mantecado Ice Cream. The less said about the Monte Cristo the better (unless you two years old or hugely fanatical for deep fried bread), basically, it was not good. The bananas foster, on the other hand, I am conflicted about; having run out of mantecado, the restaurant served the dessert with chocnut ice cream. It wasn't a good pairing; lumalaban ang chocnut flavor with the caramel sauced bananas. Perhaps with the mantecado, it might have been better.
All in all, a very disappointing meal. Had really high hopes for the restaurant, it being reasonably close to my office. Sigh!
BTW, the restaurant occupies a third of a boutique. The stuff the store carried did look interesting (mix of street and club wear with eco-socio footwear thrown in (the store carried Toms)).
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, April 03, 2010
In Mr. Choi's Garden
We celebrated my mom's Chinese birthday today at Choi's Garden. It was my second time to eat in this Greenhills landmark (highly regrettable but it is rather hard to park in that stretch of road). (For the unaware, Chinese people have two birthdays; one based on the Chinese Lunar calendar, the other on the western Gregorian calendar. We get to celebrate twice in year; it's a good thing.)
We ordered the old staples: sweet and sour pork (yummy! one of my favorites), fish fillet with bean curd, string beans with stir fried pork (another one of my favorites); and cha misua (or misua guisado; another favorite). The sweet and sour pork and the string beans were two of best I've tasted in a while. The pork was crispy and the sauce was perfectly balanced between a bit sour and a bit sweet. This was classic Cantonese style! The string beans were juicy; the minced pork flavorful, salty and spicy. The fish fillet was also perfectly cooked; the fish fillets were moist and the batter was not too thick. The cha misua was not too oily, a bit dry (but I like my cha misua dry) and loaded with sahog (shrimp, chicken and ham! never had ham before in cha misua).
We only had two dimsums, cha siew rice roll (another one of my favorites) and chicken feet (not one of my favorites!), so I really can't comment on the quality and taste. Suffice to say that the cha siew rice roll was not up there on my Go To list (I think the roll was oversteamed as the rice roll was a bit mushy).
All in all, a very enjoyable lunch! The bill came to about P1300 for five persons; pretty reasonable in my opinion. Worth going back to try the other stuff on the menu.
PS. Some of the dishes came out a bit oily. According to my mom, it is common practice for Chinese chefs to splash a little oil on the dishes right before serving. This is to enhance the look of the dish (bright and shiny). I would recommend a word to the waiter (hold the anointing!) IHMO, Chinese food is not suitable for people who are weight challenged who hoping to be not.
We ordered the old staples: sweet and sour pork (yummy! one of my favorites), fish fillet with bean curd, string beans with stir fried pork (another one of my favorites); and cha misua (or misua guisado; another favorite). The sweet and sour pork and the string beans were two of best I've tasted in a while. The pork was crispy and the sauce was perfectly balanced between a bit sour and a bit sweet. This was classic Cantonese style! The string beans were juicy; the minced pork flavorful, salty and spicy. The fish fillet was also perfectly cooked; the fish fillets were moist and the batter was not too thick. The cha misua was not too oily, a bit dry (but I like my cha misua dry) and loaded with sahog (shrimp, chicken and ham! never had ham before in cha misua).
We only had two dimsums, cha siew rice roll (another one of my favorites) and chicken feet (not one of my favorites!), so I really can't comment on the quality and taste. Suffice to say that the cha siew rice roll was not up there on my Go To list (I think the roll was oversteamed as the rice roll was a bit mushy).
All in all, a very enjoyable lunch! The bill came to about P1300 for five persons; pretty reasonable in my opinion. Worth going back to try the other stuff on the menu.
PS. Some of the dishes came out a bit oily. According to my mom, it is common practice for Chinese chefs to splash a little oil on the dishes right before serving. This is to enhance the look of the dish (bright and shiny). I would recommend a word to the waiter (hold the anointing!) IHMO, Chinese food is not suitable for people who are weight challenged who hoping to be not.
Me and Mr. Jones
Finally was able to grab a seat inside Mr. Jones (who is Mr. Jones anyway?), an upscale diner located along restaurant row in Greenbelt 5. The smallish restaurant only has around 8 tables in airconditioned comfort; more seats are available outside, if one doesn't mind the heat and a rather strong pair of misters (no not bouncers; I meant machines which spray water mist to cool the air through evaporation; end of science lesson) which instead of being pointed skywards, is tilted towards the tables and diners (yummy, finely misted dirty water in your food!). If you are like me and would prefer indoor seating (where it is cool and dry), make sure you either arrive early (11:30ish) or later (after 1pm).
Have had two meals in Mr. Jones and the dishes ranged from good to great. The green salad is a huge bowl of mixed, unusual greens, topped with soft boiled egg, orange slices, olives, grapes, feta cheese, walnuts, and parmesan cheese shavings, served with what I think is a honey balsamic vinaigrette. This was yummy; had it two days straight and still liked it (best salad I've had in a long time). I and my dining companion had the salad split into two; but even this portion size was substantial. If you aren't too hungry, half of this salad would make a fantastic light lunch. In this first meal, we also ordered the bacon-wrapped meat loaf, again split into two. The portions served to us, even halved, were substantial. The meat loaf was moist, but lacked a certain oomph. It was good, but could have been better. The slab of ground meat was served with a mound of mashed potato, baby carrots and haricot verts (green beans, pardon my french).
My second meal (which was exactly 25 hours later) I and another dining companion had the same salad (well, she hadn't tried it and i liked it still), tomato soup, and taco. The tomato soup was thick and creamy (with the addition of cream); it came with a grilled cheese sandwich; the soup alone would have made a satisfying light lunch. I found the soup a tad salty, but not to the extent that I couldn't slurp it down. It was a nice touch that the soup contained alphabet-shaped pasta. The taco was gigantic; a huge quantity of rice, black beans, tomato, onions, cheese, lettuce enveloped by a crispy taco shell (which I think is made by the restaurant; had that homemade quality, which is good). One has the choice of fish or beef; we had beef and what a lot of beef! Whole chunks of grilled steak! The taco was served with tomato and onion salsa, pickled jalapenos, and sour cream. Owing to the impending mess, I always eat my taco salad-style (which just means you break up the taco and mixed everything together, doused with liberal spikes of hot sauce). Yum!
The price points per dish is rather steep (from P300 to P500) but serving sizes are huge. I strongly recommend sharing; splitting with your friends also means you get to try more dishes! For both meals, i spent a shade or two below P500. Service is excellent and the wait staff knowledgable and helpful.
Mr. Jones is my current favorite in Greenbelt 5 (also known as the great wasteland; so many restaurants, so many bad and overpriced). I will certainly be back for more; in both visits, i failed to sample dessert owing to the huge size of main courses. The milk shakes (served to the other diners) look fantastic; the breakfast selection also seems inviting (I spent minutes reading the description for a five-stack lemon ricotta blueberry pancake).
Have had two meals in Mr. Jones and the dishes ranged from good to great. The green salad is a huge bowl of mixed, unusual greens, topped with soft boiled egg, orange slices, olives, grapes, feta cheese, walnuts, and parmesan cheese shavings, served with what I think is a honey balsamic vinaigrette. This was yummy; had it two days straight and still liked it (best salad I've had in a long time). I and my dining companion had the salad split into two; but even this portion size was substantial. If you aren't too hungry, half of this salad would make a fantastic light lunch. In this first meal, we also ordered the bacon-wrapped meat loaf, again split into two. The portions served to us, even halved, were substantial. The meat loaf was moist, but lacked a certain oomph. It was good, but could have been better. The slab of ground meat was served with a mound of mashed potato, baby carrots and haricot verts (green beans, pardon my french).
My second meal (which was exactly 25 hours later) I and another dining companion had the same salad (well, she hadn't tried it and i liked it still), tomato soup, and taco. The tomato soup was thick and creamy (with the addition of cream); it came with a grilled cheese sandwich; the soup alone would have made a satisfying light lunch. I found the soup a tad salty, but not to the extent that I couldn't slurp it down. It was a nice touch that the soup contained alphabet-shaped pasta. The taco was gigantic; a huge quantity of rice, black beans, tomato, onions, cheese, lettuce enveloped by a crispy taco shell (which I think is made by the restaurant; had that homemade quality, which is good). One has the choice of fish or beef; we had beef and what a lot of beef! Whole chunks of grilled steak! The taco was served with tomato and onion salsa, pickled jalapenos, and sour cream. Owing to the impending mess, I always eat my taco salad-style (which just means you break up the taco and mixed everything together, doused with liberal spikes of hot sauce). Yum!
The price points per dish is rather steep (from P300 to P500) but serving sizes are huge. I strongly recommend sharing; splitting with your friends also means you get to try more dishes! For both meals, i spent a shade or two below P500. Service is excellent and the wait staff knowledgable and helpful.
Mr. Jones is my current favorite in Greenbelt 5 (also known as the great wasteland; so many restaurants, so many bad and overpriced). I will certainly be back for more; in both visits, i failed to sample dessert owing to the huge size of main courses. The milk shakes (served to the other diners) look fantastic; the breakfast selection also seems inviting (I spent minutes reading the description for a five-stack lemon ricotta blueberry pancake).
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