TummyTripManila in Bacolod : Aboy's

We were in Bacolod for a friend's wedding and boy, we had a grand time , more like a feast sampling the local cuisine, the Negrense treats and the much talked about Calea cakes and pastries.

We arrived an hour before lunch and since we didn't have breakfast , only butter cake and coffee at PAL terminal, we were hungry and prepared to fill up our tummies with our first meal in Bacolod.  Our gracious host took us to Aboy's and even if it's a big place, it was packed with locals and visitors, definitely a must visit place.

We ordered grilled prawns, blue marlin, scallops, ensaladang talong, laing, fresh lumpia and oysters.  Mr. Aboy was there too!

We were happy with the food we ordered. Simple, grilled and everything tasted fresh.

Wee Nam Kee

It's only our second time to eat at Wee Nam Kee, the first time was more than a year ago when they were still on soft opening.

We ordered the signature roast chicken rice, fish fillet with ginger and onion, brocolli flowers with garlic and sweet corn soup with chicken.

I love the thick corn soup but I feel it would have been better without the chicken cubes or if they used crab meat instead.

The roasted chicken was good,  it wasn't that hot when it was served though.  Love the chicken rice.

Roasted Chicken Rice

The fish fillets with ginger and onion were surprisingly yummy. I like this dish.

Fish Fillet with Ginger and Onions

The veggies were okay too.

We had yoghurt from the nearby Golden Spoon for dessert to cap this wonderful meal. And thank you to Marco's officemate for treating us!

Achiote

Achiote is the newest Mexican joint of Chef Robby Goco. I admire Chef Robby's passion for good food ( Cyma, originally Ristras et al) so when I learned he opened a new Mexican resto at the Power Plant mall, I just had to try it . And we weren't disappointed.


We had the chips and salsa, carne asada burrito and mushrooms quesadillas. As expected, the burrito was huge and split into two.

Chips and Salsa

It was good and I like the long grain rice they used. I like the burst of flavors in every bite. One half is more than enough for one person but we still had the mushroom quesadilla.

Mushroom Quesadilla with Salad

I like the dressing they used on the salad. It was a mild lemon vinaigrette with a hint of sweetness. It was the perfect side dish to 4 huge quesadilla pieces filled with shitake mushrooms, mozarella cheese , beans , onion and other stuffings ( I didn't bother dissecting the piece, I was just too happy eating it haha ). This is definitely good for sharing.

We were stuffed like a burrito after but happy.

Greens Vegetarian Restaurant

Obviously, I'm no vegetarian but we just wanted to re-visit Greens along Scout Castor , sort of a detox from all the meat we've been consumming.  The last time I've been here was ages ago and I was curious if they added new items, or what we call faux dishes in their menu.

Greens uses vegemeat which others are not a fan of , they'd rather have the real vegetables. Once in awhile I apprecite it, the same holds true for Bodhi, another popular vegetarian food joint.

I ordered a minestrone soup and a pastel combo meal which includes organice brown rice.

My minestrone soup ( on the left) is watery and a bit bland. 

We had soy cheese melts and fried oyster mushrooms for appetizers.

Soy Cheese Melts

The soy cheese melt is like their version of the fried mozarella sticks but made with cheese containing no animal fat? This crispy log is okay, the cheese was wrapped in kani and breaded and fried to a crispy.



Fried Oyster Mushrooms

We usually make oyster mushrooms at home, we season it and dip it in cornstarch and fry in hot oil. Their version okay, I guess no one can mess up a simple dish like this.

Aglio Olio Pasta

They said the pasta is simple but good.

Now here's my order.

The pastel is covered in crust but the crust is so gummy! Oh well, so much for that. Taste wise, the pastel is a bit bland and paired with the brown rice, I wish I just ordered their classic barbecue or tofu and mushroom kebabs.

New Bombay

When we're craving for Indian food, we hop over to New Bombay at Salcedo. We usually order samosas or palak paneer ( creamy spinach with cottage cheese )  plain or garlic naan or a chapati  to go with one of their curries and a biryani or masala.

For that lunch, I ordered the fish biryani with basmati rice. I love their biryani ,  consistently good.  They adjusted the spice level to mild.

Fish Biryani and Basmati Rice

We ordered the mutton curry with chapati also but I only had a small piece of the meat. The curry sauce was perfect and screaming for more basmati rice ha ha.

Mutton Curry and Chapati

New Bombay may not be the oldest Indian restaurant here , some say Kashmir is , but we're happy with it so far.

Agave Mexican Cantina

There's nothing like a Mexican lunch to re-energize me after an all nighter , waiting and standing for hours at the recent Katy Perry concert. Even though Agave is not really my go to place when I'm craving for enchiladas, nachos, burritos and other favorites, it was the only resto at Boni Hi Street serving these stuff.

It was Chinese New Year that day and we were lunching with a friend who just arrived from Japan. We ordered a platter of nachos and three individual combinaciones.

How can anyone go wrong with nachos? This one had grilled chicken so it was healthy and yummy of course, the chips weren't soggy or drowning in toppings too.

My combinaciones is plate of two chicken enchiladas, two crab and shrimp chili rellenos served with Mexican rice and refried beans.

Chicken Enchiladas and Crab & Shrimp Chili Rellenos Combinaciones

The enchiladas,  which looked like quesadillas ( enchiladas are usually rolled like a canneloni ) tasted so ordinary, it's something you can just put together at home. Good thing there's salsa to add zest to this "enchilada". The crab and shrimp chili rellenos were okay , similar to the Spanish croquettas, these logs have tiny pieces of shrimp , crab and cheese stuffed inside a chili coated in batter. Not bad at all.
The red rice could use more paprika or cayenne and other spices.

The boys looked happy with their combinaciones.

Chicken Taco and Yucatan Chicken Skewers

Andy was satisfied with his chicken taco and yucatan chicken combi(naciones).

Chicken or Steak Burrito?

Marco was okay with their burrito but offhand,  we've had better and I personally prefer B & T's version.

For dessert  , Andy gave us a box of green tea mochi straight from Kansai airport. I love green tea! Green tea KitKat, ice cream, yoghurt and other matcha nibblers. These mochi balls were really yummy, we only had a piece each because we were planning on having frozen yogurt  after.

We transferred to Hobbes and Landes for their froyo , not exactly my favorite but I love froyo , it was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal.

Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe

It's very rare that I go to Mall of Asia and usually we're there for a concert. This time, it was for  Katy Perry  and we made sure to have a good dinner before the actual event. And thankfully we did because we waited for two hours !!! Good thing the show was worth the wait. Going back to our dinner, we decided to to try Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe since it's unique to MOA. It's an international franchise serving dishes from HK, Singapore , Macau and Shanghai including hawker items. I must say the menu is quite overwhelming but we ordered the reliable dimsum and noodles.

We ordered the hargow and the steamed dumplings. Both were good. 

Hargow

Dumplings

I got the fish fillet with egg and horfun noodles. 

Fish Fillet with Horfun Noodles

I like hofan noodles that's why I ordered this dish but it was just okay, the sauce overwhelmed the noodles. There's just too much of it , it's like having a noodle soup instead. 

Wonton Noodles with Spicy Pork 

The noodles with pork is okay, we didn't touch the egg though haha..

 If I happen to find myself again in MOA (for another great concert hopefully), I'll pay this resto another visit  to try the other interesting looking items in their menu.