Chop House

Chop House is located at Trinoma and we ended up eating in this restaurant because we wanted to try a place that is unique to that mall and doesn't have branches elsewhere. It was Christmas Day and in between family gatherings , we found ourselves in this mall for some last minute errands and wanting to avoid the crowds , we picked Chop House simply because I haven't seen it elsewhere. Something new. That's me.

The house specialties obviously would be steaks and chops but after the heavy noche buena the night before and anticipating the Christmas dinner , I opted to stay away from the meat. 

We ordered the Spanakopitas, Barbecue Chicken Asian Salad, Pesca Puttanesca and Pulled BBQ Beef Rib Sandwich .

Spanakopitas P175

The Spanakopitas are crispy triangles of spinach and feta cheese in pastry or a Greek spinach pie simply put. This is ok but I'm not really raving about their version, I've had better.

Barbecue Chicken Salad P130 Solo

The salad is alright,I like the dressing even if the chicken strips didn't really taste like they were barbecued if not for the sauce. The solo serving can be good for two.

Pesca Puttanesca P265

The seafood puttanesca is fine. I like the sauce and it had enough shrimp, fish and squid though the squid wasn't really tender. This pasta dish is  not really spectacular, but it's okay because this is a steak place after all and not a trattoria.

Pulled Barbecue Beef Rib Sandwich P240

I only took a small bite of this sandwich , which is really M's order so I can try it and taste wise it's ok because of the sauce  though some of the beef strips were a bit tough. Love the fries.

It was a pleasant meal  but I feel the dishes we ordered lack a bit of flair. Maybe the steaks are good but I'm not really a steak person so I might have to think twice if I will eat here again.

Manila Maki

"I think I just died and went to maki heaven",  this is what I told Alain Panlilio, managing partner/owner of Manila Maki after trying their Laguna Roll, one of their premium rolls. Manila Maki is this cozy Japanese Filipino fusion restaurant tucked at the ground floor of Elizabeth Place along HV Dela Costa, Salcedo Village in Makati.

This is the Laguna Roll, crispy salmon belly with kesong puti in sushi rice and bacon bits topped with spicy salmon. Divine. Love at first bite.  The taste is nothing short of heavenly. It even comes with this special sauce but the Laguna Roll in itself is really good already.

Laguna Roll

Laguna Roll

We also tried the Manila Maki - nilasing na hipon with mango and kani salad in garlic sushi rice topped with fresh tuna and a special mango dressing. This is another brilliant creation and equally good but if I will be forced to  choose between the two  I will pick the Laguna Roll but this is a must order too!

Manila Maki

Manila Maki

Before the rolls, I had a bowl of their miso soup. I can't start my meal without a bowl or cup of soup and their miso soup tasted so fresh ,  you can actually  taste the hint of tamarind they added to give it a Pinoy flavor.

Comforting Miso Soup

Aside from the premium rolls, there's the  Sabahi Belly sushi. Crispy bangus belly in teriyaki sauce on sushi rice. Mmmm... I love it.

Sabahi Belly

And of course , no Japanese meal would be complete without the Ebi Tempura. I like it, crispy, not oily and the sauce was okay. It was perfect with the rolls.

The last ordered dish is the Sisigdon. Oh my god if you love sisig, you have to order this dish. It's real pork sisig and when I say real, not the sisig that's mostly chopped chicharon they put on sizzling plates. Their sisig has that sweet Japanese sauce,  on top of Japanese rice with chicharon bits and a few chili flakes for a bit of heat. I super duper love this dish that I almost finished it to the last grain because I just love Japanese rice and the sisig itself was simply delish.

Sisigdon

There was very little room for dessert that's why we weren't able to finish the yummy banana fritter ala mode that Alain sent to us. It tastes as good as it looks. 

Drool!!!

I was beyond happy, imagine I had tempura and sisig in one meal with a pretty darn good maki and a sinful dessert ..sigh. Thank you Alain and Manila Maki for a wonderful meal.

Barcino

I've been to Barcino several times but it was only a month ago, during the birthday dinner of two friends at their Greenbelt branch that we were able  to take pictures of the tapas and the paella.


We ordered the good old favorites , crab croquettes , gambas, chorizo pamplona, brie trufado, seafood paella and we tried their squid cooked what appeared to be sisig style for me.

Crab Croquettes

I love tapas and a croquette or croquetta is one of my favorites. I love how crunchy it is outside and creamy on the inside. I remember in Barcelona, we would frequent the tapas bar along Las Ramblas and elsewhere in the city  and grab these cute yummy logs with the other  tapas on toothpicks.  Some tapas bar are self service, diners just get from the tapas buffet and almost all the tapas are on mini sticks including your chorizos, gambas, twirls of jamon and after your meal , you just go to the counter and pay the corresponding amount for the number of sticks you've consumed. 

Barcino's version doesn't fall short , I love it and I think it's better than Tapella by Gaudi. 

Gambas 

You can never go wrong with this dish. This is good.

Brie Trufado

Brie turfado is simply caramelized onion topped with brie cheese served on a slice of bread. Tapella serves this exact thing on fluted bread and it's one of my favorite tapas in that resto. Barcino upped the ante by adding truffle and it was heavenly. Now I have to go back to Tapella and decide which is really better haha..

Chorizo and the Squid dish 

We ordered two kinds of chorizo and we liked the other one better because it was so mild and not salty. The other one, pictured above  was a bit salty for us already. The squid dish at the right is Barcino's version for me of a squid sisig, chopped tender squid in olive oil, topped with crumbled chorizo , bell peppers with a bit of chili for heat. It was good, I liked it.

Seafood Paella 

Barcino's paella is good and can easily serve 4  to 5 specially if you're already full from the various tapas, still we managed to eat a good portion of it saving enough space for dessert at the nearby Bizu.

I love Barcino and I know my other friends feel the same way. Good food, wine and happy memories! Cheers!

Ye Dang

My friend Jen, another foodie and fellow schoolmate from the International School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management ,   has been raving about Ye Dang , this inconspicous Korean restaurant beside Metrowalk for quite sometime now  and today, we had that opportunity of eating lunch there  with another friend,  who unlike us,  is a Korean food newbie ( after our meal, he said he has been "kimchified" ).

The place was full of Koreans so it must really be good.

Jen did the ordering for us. We ordered the grilled chicken , bibimpap, tofu and vegetable soup and spicy squid.  Then we were given the free appetizers.

free but yummy appetizers

The appetizers consisted of kimchi, sweet and spicy fish cake slices, sweet and spicy dilis, baby potatoes, pancakes, morning glory or something that looked like spinach and spicy radish.

We love these goodies in small plates, specially their kimchi and you can actually ask for a second bowl , the fish cake slices, the potatoes were so good, the dilis were crispy , even the pancakes were ok as well as the morning glory.

kimchi, the spinach look alike , spicy radish

fish cake slices and spicy dilis

dilis and the baby potatoes

mini pancakes - good also 

Our orders arrived....

Tofu with Clams Soup

I love this soup! You can request if the dishes will really be spicy or just mild and we picked mild for all the dishes. I liked that they serve it really hot, almost boiling hot and the tofu was so soft and it had clams and veggies too.. A must order dish and if you like a lot of heat, you can get the spicy version.

Bibimbap

We Ye Dang first timers, that means me and Pao enjoyed their version of the bibimbap. We finished it until the last grain. Great job Jen! You sure know your favorites by now.

Spicy Squid

The spicy squid was the best and the most tender I've had. And they served it with tender leafy vegetables and carrots and the sauce was sweet and mildly spicy. The sauce was perfect with the bibimbap or even plain rice.

Grilled Chicken

The chicken was also good, fully cooked yet moist and tender.

Thank you Jen for bringing us to Ye Dang, I will defnitely go back and try their other dishes.

Tokyo Cafe

Tokyo Cafe doesn't offer traditional dishes you would find in a Japanese restaurant ,  instead their menu boasts of salads, pizzas, pastas, burger steaks , sandwiches with a Japanese touch. But they also have a few classics like tendon and unaji donburi.

We ended up ordering two kinds of pastas, garlic and shrimp and creamy salmon and a tempura donburi.

Shrimp and Garlic 

I had the shrimp and garlic and in fairness, it turned out to be really good with lots of shrimp.

Creamy Salmon Pasta

The salmon pasta was ok too though it didn't have a lot of salmon compared to the shrimp pasta.

Tendon

I had only a small piece of tempura and it was crispy enough , the sauce was a bit sweet for me but I've had better tendon.

We didn't try their coffee and other drinks but I think they must be good because they're prepared using the traditional and distinctive style of Japanese coffee preparation.

Sango Burger

It's been months since we've tried Sango Burger at the Shang so this is a very late post...

We ordered the Sango Master Burgers with special sauce , fries and their green salad.

The salad looks like your airplane salad haha..but tastewise it was just simply ok, greens, corn, tomatoes, onion rings and a light dressing.

Sango Master Burger 

 

 

The Sango master burger had this special sauce oozing from the patty..I had my first bite with the sauce and it was good but the sauce gets a bit messy and it all goes to the side . Without the sauce, the burger for me tastes ordinary, I've had better burgers and I will appreciate this burger only if I continuously put the sauce inside before each bite.

Red Garlic

Red Garlic is the  newest resto bar along Katipunan near Blue Ridge. Though parking looks discouraging , we were able to find a spot in the nearby Metrobank. It was a holiday and the place was full. Their menu serves comfort food like buffallo wings, pizza , pasta, ribs  and other Asian fusion dishes.

We ordered the Mandarin Crunch Oriental Chicken Salad, Mystic Pizza and Santorini Pasta.

Mandarin Crunch Oriental Chicken Salad P195

 The salad was ok, mixed greens with barbecued chicken slices, crunchy wonton strips and an oriental dressing. It was refreshing and good for two people.

Mystic Pizza P250

The mystic pizza is their take on the margherita pizza. The crust was thin and crispy but I feel my brothers make better home made neopolitan style pizzas.

Santorini Pasta P400

The santorini pasta is a penne pasta in tomato sauce with rock salt shrimps and crabmeat . This was good , a bit spicy but I liked it that they didn't scrimp on the shrimps. Good for sharing also.

For our next visit, we will try their tokyo and chicken steak burgers . A wide array of desserts are also available for your sweet ending.

Hacienda Macalauan Chocolate Milk

This is what I'm loving now...so good!!! : ))

Trying Out Chelsea's New Dishes

I was at Chelsea Market Cafe Podium last month as part of my week long birthday celebration but I forgot to take pictures of the food we ordered  because we went straight at it ! Anyway, last Saturday, we decided to have dinner at Serendra  and we picked Chelsea because they have new items on their menu but this time we made sure to take a snap shot of the dishes we ordered.

For our salad, we tried their version of the Greek Salad with Panko Crusted Feta. I love Cyma's Roka Salata so I'm curious if Chelsea's version will hold its ground. 

Greek Salad with Panko Crusted Feta P350+

Their Greek Salad was refreshingly awesome! I love the dressing , it was a cross between ranch and a Greek vinaigrette and didn't overpower the greens. The panko crusted feta , panko is just a fancy term for the Japanese breadcrumbs , blended well with the salad.  Imagine a warm, crispy soft cheese mixing with the plump, juicy tomatoes and the crispy greens, hmmm...gotta love the texture in this dish and the overall taste. 

For the main course, we ordered the Seafood in Tomato Cream Sauce with Linguini Pasta. This is one of their best selling dish . 

Seafood in Tomato Cream with Linguini P450+

I love this pasta, it's tomato based but not that acidic because the cream dilutes the sauce and bursting with flavor.  Topped with shrimps, calamari and mussels though the squid was a bit tough for me, it is satisfying and good for two. 

But the piece de resistance for that night was the newest addition to their menu , the Crisp Citrus Rosemary Roasted Pork Belly with Cranberry Chutney served with Mashed Potatoes . 

  Crisp Citrus Rosemary Roasted  Pork Belly with Apple Cranberry Chutney  P450+

What a long and fancy name for crispy liempo! Reading it sounds yummy already and it sure was , this sinfully good dish has huge chunks of crispy and tender pork belly or liempo with a crackling skin served with a killer sauce of apple and cranberry chutney. The sauce is a bit sweet and citrusy and perfect with the mashed potatoes and a few asparagus strips.  An interesting way of serving the liempo, just don't eat the layer of fat between the skin and the meat. 

It was a happy and really filling dinner , with the other tables ordering pretty much the same dishes we had. I've been dining at Chelsea way back in 2007 with Chef Sau Del Rosario still at the helm  and I'm impressed that four years later , the  place still gets packed with diners like us looking for a good and  heartwarming meal.

Orale!

As I've mentioned in my previous entries, I love Mexican food  so I was very pleased that there's a new one at the Fort called Orale! . Orale , based from what I saw online , is Mexican for  "hell yes!" or "right on!". They have the more or less the basic menu of tacos, burrittos , quesadillas, chips and rice plates.

We ordered the chips and salsa , I just can't recall their word for it, it sounds like a topopos but it's just your usual chips but theirs is home made and really good with the ranchero sauce!

For the main meal, we tried the grilled chicken soft tacos and vegetarian burritto. 

Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos

The grilled chicken tacos are a bit spicy but if you like a bit of heat in your dish , this is really good.

Vegetarian Burrito

The vegetarian burrito is ok but I'm not really raving about it.  Still, we're happy with the food and will be back to try their other offerings. Orale! 

Tourné by Chef Sandralyn Hataway

Tourné is French for turned and if you took culinary classes like me,  you would quickly associate it with the turned vegetables they ask you to do in one of the modules for knife/cutting skills. But as of late, this word is the name of the newest restaurant to open at the Fort Strip.  According to my office mate and friend who co-owns the place with the Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Sandralyn,  Tourné  promotes the slow food movement, which means everything is cooked fresh , no shortcuts, no pre-mixed stuff , even their ketchup is homemade..simply put , from farm to plate. They also change their menu every two weeks so you won't get that diner fatigue of ordering the same stuff over and over again. It also shows how creative their chefs can be in coming up with new dishes on a regular basis.

For my best friend Teresa's birthday dinner,  they handed us the menu for August 1 to 15.

For our soup, we tried the Roasted Tomato Soup.

Roasted Tomato Soup

The tomato soup was good and hearty.  Warm and soothing , it doesn't leave you with that acidic feeling in the tummy when you have tomato based dishes.


We also had two kinds of salad, the Tourne cobb salad and the Asian chicken salad.

The cobb salad

Asian Chicken Salad

Their salads are presented or rather plated in a different way but  were okay nonetheless. The cobb salad looks like a sandwich because the two huge tomatoes stacks in between the chicken cubes, avocado and greens.  The asian chicken salad used crispy noodles instead of the usual fried wanton wrappers.


We also tried their pizzas, the wild mushroom and the buffalo chicken.

Wild Mushroom Pizza

Their pizzas are really for appetizers since they used a tortilla wrapper instead of a pizza dough. The wild mushroom pizza was flavorful , yummy and vegan healthy.

For our main course, we had three orders of the Soyami Chicken.

Soyami Chicken

The soyami chicken is named such because the large portion of breast is crusted with Soyami tofu chips and served with Mexican rice and salsa. The chicken was very moist and tasty with the tofu chips crust. Usually, chicken breasts have a tendency to be dry so they did a good job of retaining its moisture.

The celebrant wanted to try the vegan dish and ordered the Polenta with Shitake Mushrooms.

Polenta with Shitake Mushrooms

Polenta is a corn meal mush and it can be a starch substitute for rice and pasta . It can be combined with almost anything making it a comfort food.  I liked her dish too. The polenta was creamy and blended well with the sauce of the mushrooms.

Marco had the Mutton Stew and Mushroom Risotto.

Mutton Stew and Mushroom Risotto

I also tried Marco's dish and this was really G-O-O-D! The mutton was fork tender , braised in brown sauce,  perfect with the creamy mushroom risotto. This dish is rice intensive and would require another serving of the risotto .

The others ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich with Kamote Fries and the Tagaytay Steak.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Our friend Keetchee who ordered this said it was good and I can obviously see from her contented face.

Tagaytay Steak with Potato Gratin

Carlos, cousin of the celebrant and who also has a food blog (Foodie Manila)   , ordered the Tagaytay Steak with Potato Gratin. He was very happy with his order and raved about how good everything was - the steak, the sauce and the gratin.

Since it's Tere's birthday, they surprised her with a birthday cake with everyone singing including Chef Sandra and her sous chefs .

She got a Cloud Cake, moist sponge cake with pineapples and cream.  It was delicious and light.  To my surprise, they also gave me an advance happy birthday cake in the form of a Pili Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream. It was perfect and can rival the Pecan Tart for me.

Pili Tart with Ice Cream, drool!!!

Thank you Tourné for the surprise! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful dinner.