Hana Kazu

After having lunch at Mona Lisa , with a few hours in between to burn the calories, it was time to go Japanese for dinner. Dinner was at Hana Kazu, a small restaurant along BF's Aguirre Avenue and since I'm a northener , it was actually my first time to try a restaurant in this southern area.

Being a family dinner , in celebration of Marco's Lola Lettie's birthday,  we ordered a variety of dishes from the appetizer to the main course.

Potato Salad

I didn't order this but they said it was ok with the Japanese mayo and nori on top.

Salmon

Hamachi 

The salmon was ok , they said the hamachi had that fishy taste but the server told us the taste should be like that ..hmmm..of course not..

grilled squid 

Special California Maki

I love the special california maki, instead of kani, they used ebi tempura inside , I'm not really sure but it was crispy , maybe it was kani tempura..

Toridon

The toridon is actually my main course. It was ok.

Tendon

Some ordered the tendon. They said it was good , they dipped the tempura into the sauce already but you can ask for additional.

Chirashi Set

The chirashi set looks so cute, isn't it? Ria said it was good and healthy. There were lots of dishes we weren't able to take pictures of coz' everyone started eating but everyone was happy with their food.

Mona Lisa Ristorante

It was a Sunday down south a.k.a. Alabang and for lunch, we decided to try Mona Lisa at the Commerce Center. I've always wanted to try this restaurant because they serve for dessert cannoli, tube shaped pastry dough filled with ricotta cheese and Mona Lisa even serves it with gelato ice cream!

We ordered a classic Sicilian salad to start and the Spaghetti con Polpetine (Spaghetti with Meatballs)  for the main course. You can choose your own noodle so for a change, we opted to try the meatballs with linguini.

They give you complimentary bread with a variety of spreads, tomato, herbed butter and pesto. The bread is ok , I didn't indulge in the bread coz' I was preparing for the huge amount of carbs with the pasta and making room for the cannoli.

Sicilian Salad 

The Sicilian Salad is good for two , so we asked our server to split it already . It was very good and refreshing with the grapes, walnuts, mangoes, sun dried tomatoes and romaine lettuce. I love their home made dressing.

After the salad, enter frame the Linguini con Polpetine.

Linguini con Polpetine

The linguini with meatballs is good. I like that there are chunks of tomatoes in the pommodoro sauce and it tasted fresh. The meatballs were very savory , tender but firm texture wise and didn't taste like they put in a lot of breadcrumbs. Meatballs are a combination of ground sirloin and pork or sometimes even with ground veal. The serving is definitely good for two or three if you're having other dishes but since we finished it, we were so full there wasn't any room for dessert anymore.  Oh well, there's definitely a next time and we'll make sure to have that cannoli for dessert.

Mona Lisa Ristorante is located at the 2nd level of the Commerce Building , Commerce Ave., Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang , Muntinlupa

Kulinarya Kitchen

Kulinarya is an old favorite at the Power Plant Mall though I haven't eaten there in ages! Actually the original Kulinarya is along Katipunan extension after the flyover, where Fat Skillet presently resides. I love their Gamberi Pasta and other blue plate specials so I was pleasantly surprised that they're still open and newly renovated as Kulinarya Kitchen.

We tried their executive lunch specials . For a fixed price you get a soup and a main course with sidings and rice. I anticipated that it won't be enough ( and I was right) so we got an appetizer too.

Seafood Salad Maki

 The seafood salad maki is good! I highly recommend this appetizer. It came with a wasabi aioli dip and fresh mango cubes on top.

Grilled Chicken Teriyaki

The grilled chicken teriyaki is good, fully cooked yet tender and not charred. It was perfect with the fried rice.

Breaded Porkchop

If you want pork , get the breaded porkchop. You get a nice piece of meat without the thick breading though a small portion would be the fat ,typical of porkie chops.

Lunch was just right but not really full (executive lunch specials are really like this, they're not really heavy on the belly ). I guess if you're a hearty and heavy eater like me , there's still that tummy space that can only be filled up by another dish perhaps or a good dessert to cap the meal.

Shi Lin

Shi Lin at the Podium,  like Crystal Jade and Lugang, serves xiao long bao among other dimsum choices. The limited menu also offers noodle soups and rice toppings. It wasn't the xiao long bao that attracted us when we were checking out the menu but the noodles with spicy sesame and peanut sauce. Hmmm....So we ordered it plus the wonton noodle soup , vegetable buns and just to try their version, the xiao long bao. 

The xiao long bao is ok. The wrapper was firm enough to hold the soup inside but the filling was a bit tough for me. The xiao long bao of Lugang is better. Or perhaps it was just one of those days for the guys making this dimsum..

xiao long bao

The vegetable buns are just ok for me. It had a mild bitter after taste, I won't order this the next time.

vegetable buns

This is the noodles with spicy sesame and peanut sauce. It was served lukewarm , intentional I think and it was very rich! The sauce was good ,specially with the spicy sesame but it was thick that you needed some sort of  a chaser , or in this case, soup from the wonton noodles to dilute it  after a couple of spoonfuls. Make sure to share this noodles 'coz you will pause midway after having too much of that rich peanut sesame sauce. 

Noodles with Spicy Sesame and Peanut Sauce

Wonton Noodle Soup

The wonton noodle soup is ok. The clear soup tasted so mild, almost bland but at least it wasn't salty.  The wontons are better than the xiao long bao for me.