Just returned to my blog and was surprised it had been more than a year since my last post. I admit I had a case of tamaditis; will make it my new year's resolution to try to update more often.
Myron's has been at Greenbelt for a long while; had a (not so) recent dinner there and it was good (better than I remembered from my first visit). Our group split a mushroom and cheese appetizer, a salad, steak and chicken (my apologies for the generic description but i blame this on my fuzzy memory given that this dinner was a couple of months back. Will update once i get my hands on a copy of the menu). All the dishes were pretty amazing (particularly the mushroom and cheese thingie) except for the chicken which was quite forgettable. Although price points were on the high side; serving sizes were generous.
Service was excellent, attentive but not stalkerish. Expect to pay upwards of P1000.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Canteen
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)).
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)).
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).
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Bok Lene - a good thing
It's always a good thing when one stumbles onto hidden food treasures. Bok Lene (beats me what this means) is one such gem, a smallish hole-in-the-wall chinese restaurant just off the banawe restaurant row (if you are along banawe, coming from quezon avenue, turn left on the retiro traffic light. The restaurant is on the second corner on your right). Literally a mom and son shop with the owner as waitress, cook, and cashier.
We've been back several times after our first visit; this alone is a testament to the restaurant's good food (my family is notoriously hard to please). Among the dishes we liked were the oyster cake, fish filet and tofu hotpot, various dimsums (hakaw, spinach dumpling, shiao long pao, taro puff, and radish cake). A word about the radish cake--Bok Lene's version is one of the best I've had in a very long time. One can order a whole uncooked slab, ready for pan frying at home (in fact, am having a piece right now).
Have also tried their dumpling noodle soup (quite good; the noodle was very soft, almost misua-like) and quick stir fried vegetables. The Yang Chow was also acceptable (reminiscent of the version of downtown restaurants of yore; deep yellow with lots of duck egg). There were some misses, notable among which was the beef tenderloin Chinese style (much to sweet and swimming in sauce).
Price points is at par with the most of the chinese restaurants along banawe (dimsum around P70 to P80; main dishes between P150 to P250). But the friendly service, good food, and generous serving size do make the difference.
We've been back several times after our first visit; this alone is a testament to the restaurant's good food (my family is notoriously hard to please). Among the dishes we liked were the oyster cake, fish filet and tofu hotpot, various dimsums (hakaw, spinach dumpling, shiao long pao, taro puff, and radish cake). A word about the radish cake--Bok Lene's version is one of the best I've had in a very long time. One can order a whole uncooked slab, ready for pan frying at home (in fact, am having a piece right now).
Have also tried their dumpling noodle soup (quite good; the noodle was very soft, almost misua-like) and quick stir fried vegetables. The Yang Chow was also acceptable (reminiscent of the version of downtown restaurants of yore; deep yellow with lots of duck egg). There were some misses, notable among which was the beef tenderloin Chinese style (much to sweet and swimming in sauce).
Price points is at par with the most of the chinese restaurants along banawe (dimsum around P70 to P80; main dishes between P150 to P250). But the friendly service, good food, and generous serving size do make the difference.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Lorenzo's Way
After that mesa, it was with some trepidation that I suggested to friends we try Lorenzo's Way (yes, another new restaurant in the [infamous] Greenbelt 5). The restaurant is a tribute to the late Larry Cruz, and pulls famous dishes from most of his well-known restaurants.
We had the pinaputok na plapla (malaking tilapia pala), kkk (karekare, what's the third K?), and bacalao. The giant tilapia reminded me of the same dish we had in Mesa; the only difference was that Lorenzo's version came with rice buro while Mesa's came with the four sauces (I chickened out of the buro and asked for the common suka-soy sauce-sibuyas dip). The bacalao, we all agreed, was too too salty (parang kulang sa babad). I recall a show on travel and leisure (can't recall the host chef) but I remembered the interviewed chef of a restaurant in Spain mentioning having soaked the bacalao overnight (or was it two days) with four or five changes of water.
The star of the meal was definitely the karekare. The peanut gravy was de-luscious and married perfectly with the guinisang bagoong and mixed with white rice. Yummy! One always hears this but in this case, it is perfectly true - Sauce pa lang, ....
Service was okay; the waitstaff helpful and attentive but could stand a bit more training. I came early and settled on the KKK as my first choice. However, I was having difficulty coming up with one or two more dishes to complete our order (given the eclectic menu). Asking the waiter proved frustrating and unhelpful as he was recommending baby back ribs, gambas, and paella. Medyo off.
As with most restaurants in GB5, prices are on the high size. However, the restaurant does make up for it with the serving size. For three persons, i think we spent just under P500 per head (including taxes and tip but no drinks). We could have easily fed another person with what we had ordered.
I would take Lorenzo's Way again. There were a good number of dishes which begs to be tried out (the famous knockout knuckles for one; the vegetable dishes and the costillas (beef stew) among others). And with hot, fluffy white rice!
We had the pinaputok na plapla (malaking tilapia pala), kkk (karekare, what's the third K?), and bacalao. The giant tilapia reminded me of the same dish we had in Mesa; the only difference was that Lorenzo's version came with rice buro while Mesa's came with the four sauces (I chickened out of the buro and asked for the common suka-soy sauce-sibuyas dip). The bacalao, we all agreed, was too too salty (parang kulang sa babad). I recall a show on travel and leisure (can't recall the host chef) but I remembered the interviewed chef of a restaurant in Spain mentioning having soaked the bacalao overnight (or was it two days) with four or five changes of water.
The star of the meal was definitely the karekare. The peanut gravy was de-luscious and married perfectly with the guinisang bagoong and mixed with white rice. Yummy! One always hears this but in this case, it is perfectly true - Sauce pa lang, ....
Service was okay; the waitstaff helpful and attentive but could stand a bit more training. I came early and settled on the KKK as my first choice. However, I was having difficulty coming up with one or two more dishes to complete our order (given the eclectic menu). Asking the waiter proved frustrating and unhelpful as he was recommending baby back ribs, gambas, and paella. Medyo off.
As with most restaurants in GB5, prices are on the high size. However, the restaurant does make up for it with the serving size. For three persons, i think we spent just under P500 per head (including taxes and tip but no drinks). We could have easily fed another person with what we had ordered.
I would take Lorenzo's Way again. There were a good number of dishes which begs to be tried out (the famous knockout knuckles for one; the vegetable dishes and the costillas (beef stew) among others). And with hot, fluffy white rice!
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Bawai's: Vietnamese Kitchen
My two friends and I just had lunch at Bawai's Vietnamese Kitchen in Tagaytay. I had heard and read tremendous things about this restaurant that's not a restaurant (apparently it is in the owner's living room!).
It was a two hourish trip (coupled with a bit of getting lost) but we finally made it to the restaurant/house. A quirk of the restaurant was that you MUST call ahead to reserve and preferably pre-order. Once you get to the restaurant, everything is made clear; the place is tiny (large enough, by my guess, for only about 30 to 40? spread over five tables). When we were there, all tables were full. Someone without a reservation would have had a long wait. Also, it was apparent that the kitchen does not keep much inventory; one runs the risk of not getting a table.
We basically ordered every appetizer on the menu; these were Chao Tom (pounded shrimp on sugarcane skewers), Nem Nuong (grilled vietnamese sausage), Goi Cuon (fresh spring rolls), Cha Gio (fried spring roll), and Banh Cuon (minced pork and mushroom rolls). Among these I liked the Nem Nuong, Goi Cuon, and Banh Cuon the most (and if you must know, I liked the Cha Gio the least).
We also ordered the Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) as our main dish (something light in light of all the appetizers). No complaints here. The flavors were delicate, subtle, the perfect foil for one's personal touches (a little more chili sauce, some hoisin, some more nuoc nam).
We spent a little over P1500 for the meal plus drinks. Definitely worth a return visit (this time to try all of the entrees and noodle dishes!).
BTW, bawai means grandmother in Vietnamese.
It was a two hourish trip (coupled with a bit of getting lost) but we finally made it to the restaurant/house. A quirk of the restaurant was that you MUST call ahead to reserve and preferably pre-order. Once you get to the restaurant, everything is made clear; the place is tiny (large enough, by my guess, for only about 30 to 40? spread over five tables). When we were there, all tables were full. Someone without a reservation would have had a long wait. Also, it was apparent that the kitchen does not keep much inventory; one runs the risk of not getting a table.
We basically ordered every appetizer on the menu; these were Chao Tom (pounded shrimp on sugarcane skewers), Nem Nuong (grilled vietnamese sausage), Goi Cuon (fresh spring rolls), Cha Gio (fried spring roll), and Banh Cuon (minced pork and mushroom rolls). Among these I liked the Nem Nuong, Goi Cuon, and Banh Cuon the most (and if you must know, I liked the Cha Gio the least).
We also ordered the Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) as our main dish (something light in light of all the appetizers). No complaints here. The flavors were delicate, subtle, the perfect foil for one's personal touches (a little more chili sauce, some hoisin, some more nuoc nam).
We spent a little over P1500 for the meal plus drinks. Definitely worth a return visit (this time to try all of the entrees and noodle dishes!).
BTW, bawai means grandmother in Vietnamese.
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