Pazzo Rollio

Pazzo Rollio in Robinson's Magnolia is a pleasant surprise to me. I didn't expect much when we went there, it's a small space near the cinema. But the food turned out nice and we were very full when we left the place.

What we ordered:

1. Pesto salad - my advice is not to order anything with pesto here, they overdo the pesto and the dish become bitter. Other than that, the greens are fresh and the ingredients are good.

2. Chicken Wings - served with potato wedges in barbeque sauce. The wings re a bit small but the taste is nice.

3. Fellini's Capellini (P195) - pesto pasta with shrimps. Again, avoid the pesto, it's too much. 

4. De Niro's Classic Bolognese (P210) - you just can't go wrong with bolognese, it's tasty and meaty.

The best part are the pizzas :)

5. Big Bang Supreme (P400) - with bacon, ham, pepperoni, mushroom and cheese sauce, everything we love in a pizza, yum! ;-)

6. Forrest's Fave (P400) - with shrimp, salami, tomato, chili, cheese. Also very good, I love that it's not oily at all. :)

I would want to return again and try their other pizzas. 

Makansutra

I miss Singapore food so when I heard that a new Singapore Hawker is opening in Megamall, I just have to try. It's called Makansutra located at Megamall building A, beside Yellow Cab and Burger King. I understand that they're still new so the staff are not yet used to the number of people coming so the service is a bit off, the food not cooked as I hope for but I still hope they can improve in the future.

Here's what we ordered:

1. Bah Kut Teh (P300) served with rice and side of boiled peanuts. - My parents liked it because the ribs are cooked well so they're tender.

2. Oyster Omelette (P320) - it's too salty!!! I think the cook accidentallt poured a spoonful of salt in our omelette, we can't eat it without rice.

3. Black Carrot Cake - it's not bad, but Wan Chai's Radish Cake in XO sauce is so much better.

4. Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles (P270) - I liked it, a little soggy but tasty.

5. Fried Rice - this one is also good. I still like sambal fried rice better but too bad they don't have it there.

6. Chopsuey (P320) - I don't really like vegetables a lot, and this didn't make me like it ang better.

7. Lemon Chicken (P420) - this one is good, the chicken is coated well and crispy.

I wanted to try their claypot chicken but we got there too early, it's only available starting at 12noon. The Roti Prata is not available, I'm not sure why. And they don't have my favorite Char Quay Teow, they do have duck quay teow though, but I didn't get to try. I'm not sure if I'll be going back, maybe if I crave for Singapore food again, and hopefully they've improved by then.

Wee Nam Kee

Eating out again, it's the weekend afterall. ^^ Today we chose Wee Nam Kee because it's the last day of their Chicken Rice promo, order one Personal Set for the regular price of P175 and get the second order for only P50. You can order the chicken roasted or white, we ordered both roasted.

Roasted Chicken Rice Personal Set (P175) - Hainanese rice tasted authentic so that's good but the chicken serving is small. I'm not sure if they ordered smaller chickens for the promo or their chicken is usually that small.

Salted Egg Chinese Style Fried Chicken (P295) - the taste is okay but I'm missing the crunch from the fried chicken. I love salted egg dishes, mostly because of the crunchy salted egg coating. Wee Nam Kee made the salted egg more like a sauce instead of using it as a batter for frying.

Sauteed Beef Fillet with Broccoli in Oyster Sauce (P295) - the broccoli is crunchy and the beef is sliced thinly to avoid being chewy.

Hot Plate Seafood Combination (P305) - the sauce is delicious, it's sweet and just the right spicy. But there seems to be so much onions and tomatoes instead of more seafoods.

Spicy Sambal Rice Noodles (P295) - this one's a disappoinment. There's nothing sambal about it at all, not spicy and not tasty.

Spinach (P210) - you can order this cooked in garlic or oyster sauce. My dad chose garlic so it came out with crunchy garlic on top. The spinach is cooked just right, not over or under.

Wee Nam Kees's food is not bad at all. It's not as good as what you get from Singapore but i'm willing to eat there over and over again. My real issue is the servings, they're too small for the price. The dishes that came out big are full of extenders like big chunks of tomatoes or tofu.

Crisostomo

It's the weekend and we are going to S&R for some grocery shopping, so we thought we'd grab a bite on the way and the closest place is Blue Bay Walk. We picked Crisostomo since it had been a while since we ate in a Filipino restaurant, and we're glad we did because we all enjoyed our meal. =)

What we ordered: 

Don Rafael, their classic crispy pata (P695) - well crispy pata is my brother's favorite, he always orders it whenever he can.^^ Crisostomo's crispy pata is expensive, but it's good so I can forgive the price. The meat is tender and the skin, very crispy.

Manok ng Diablo, hot and spicy fried chicken (P325 half) - we ordered this because my brother is craving for something spicy. It comes with prawn crackers and pineapple sauce. It's not bad but it's also nothing so special. Definitely way too expensive for the price.

Simon, seafood Kare-Kare (P495) - the kare-kare have shrimps, mussels, fish, and vegetables. The sauce is good with crunchy peanuts, the bagoong is a bit sweet which adds more flavor. But the problem is the fish, it's too fishy, I don't know if it's not fresh or if it was not cooked well to take out the fishiness of the seafood.

Sinang con Laing (P225) - the laing is creamy which my mom liked. And it's tasty as well so the carnivore me did try it out a bit and enjoyed it. ^^

Tinapa and Salted Egg Rice (P265) - we're choosing between bagoong rice or tinapa rice but chose tinapa since the kare-kare has bagoong already and my parents can't eat too much salty dishes. It's not too tasty which is just good because so we can eat it with the dishes we ordered.

Moist Chocolate with Yema Cake (P175 slice) - with our sweet tooth, we always have room for dessert. ^^ True to it's name, the cake is very moist and we loved it. It might be too sweet for some but I love sweet so it's just perfect for me. =)

Ramen Nagi

Ramen Nagi in Robinson's Magnolia used to be always full when they first opened, now not very much. They still serve good ramen, people might just want something new.

We ordered 3 ramens, Original King (Butao), Red King (Akao), and Green King (Midorio). Butao is Nagi's original broth, white rich broth that is very tasty. Midorio is the same broth with olive oil and basil topped with parmesan cheese, it gives a slight pesto taste. Akao has red spicy broth, just seeing that broth screams hot! It has garlic, chili oil, cayenne, with minced pork to add more flavor.

All their ramen comes with pork on top, with your choice if shoulder or belly meat. You also get to choose how the softness of the noodles, spiciness, green onion or cabbage topping, how much garlic, special sauce, etc. you want with your ramen.

We also ordered Chicken Karage, very crunchy breaded fried chicken with cabbage and mayo sides. Their gyoza is meaty but I think lacking in taste. Mom and Dad both had rice toppings, Chasu Rice and Spicy Karage Rice, both delicious.

The Food Club

It's Mother's Day! Well, it was when we ate at The Food Club. ^^  Everywhere else was fully booked so we took our chance and maybe get a seat if we're early, and we did, but not without hardship. =S

The first time we tried The Food Club was when it was still in their soft opening, they didn't impress me then, and they still didn't impress me now. My first complain is the way they handle their walk-ins. While every other buffet restaurant lists down names of walk-ins as they come, I wonder why Food Club won't do that?! It's a systematic way that can make the lives of their guests so much easier.  When they finally open, they can just call the names from the list and the guests can dine in peace.  Food Club insists on not using a list and just let the guests line up as they come, as if that works?! I really wish they get to their senses and learn from other more successful buffet restaurants. Ok, enough ranting, lol!

Aside from that bad start, I'll have to say, their food is actually good. The crabs are fresh and refilled all the time, which is what I always look for in buffets. ^^ For appetizers, they have a salad bar and cheese and bread bar, and soups. They offer different cuisines for the main course, starting with Asian food, for Filipino, sinigang, fish skin chicharon, etc. Their Chinese line has chopsuey, birthday noodles, dimsum, noodle soup, etc. Japanese cuisine has sushi, sashimi, tempura, gyoza (this is so good!), etc., and they also have Thai and Vietnamese food.

The Western dishes includes their steak, Italian pasta and pizza, Mexican tacos and nachos (I love the beef and cheese topping for the nachos), and many other dishes with salmon, chicken, pork, beef, fish, etc.  And the desserts, I have a sweet tooth so I never skip desserts, LOL! =P I love their ice cream flavors, dark chocolate, pistachio, coffee almond, yum!!! 

I did enjoy my meal, but unless they fix the system their doing now, they will always be my last choice when picking a buffet.

Mad for Pizza

My brother really likes pizza and since he's driving, he gets to choose where we'll eat today, and he chose Mad for Pizza.  Aside from the food which is not so bad at all, the service is excellent. =)

The first food that was served is their house salad, it's very simple and not the as good as CPK's.  Then the drinks, I ordered salted caramel, my mom ordered strawberry mango iced tea, and my dad and bro ordered iced tea which are all nice.

The main courses are next, first is the spaghetti bolognese.  It's meaty and saucy but you have to mix it to your own taste, like us, we added more peppers and hot sauce to bring out the flavor, it's a little bland if not.  Then my brother's own creation super cheesy and meaty pizza, love it! ^^ 

We also ordered 2 dishes with rice, one is angus beef belly which is really soft and well cooked, I just hope it's a little less fatty.  And another is chicken crispers that comes with fries or rice, and mustard sauce.

The Legend Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant

My brother suggested The Legend for our sunday lunch, to my mom's delight since it's Chinese food, her favorite. =)

The first dish to come out is Crab Meat Pumpkin Soup, it's not thick as the usual pumpkin soup but nice.  And I like the the crab meat are actually visible unlike other soups.  But my dad didn't like it much because of the initial dried shrimp taste that will eventually disappear as you eat.

Next is the Seafood Noodles in Superior Sauce.  The ingredients are scallop, squid/cattlefish, and halaan, it's not great but it's not bad too.  Then the compulsary vegetable dish for my dad, we ordered Polonchay in garlic.

Then came the Angus Beef Tenderloin in Pepper Sauce that came served in sizzling plate.  The beef is well cooked and the sauce is tasty. =) One of the dishes that we always order is fish fillet, this time we chose one in Singapore style sauce.  It's fish fillet fried then cooked in sweet chili sauce, it's very good as well.

And finally, this one is a "pahabol" because my mom likes taro a lot, we ordered Fried Taro Basket with Shimp and Pork.  I really liked the taro, very well fried and tastes good with the toppings.  But for the price, I expected a little bit more shrimps.

Over all, the food are good because it has the authentic Chinese food taste, not the usual vetsin taste we get from most restaurants lately.  The service is very good as well, servers are nice and attentive.  And plus points for the yummy peanuts glazed with sesame seeds, my brother can't get enough of it. =P

Zao Vietnamese Bistro

We decided to look around the new wing of Promenade Greenhills for a place to eat.  Then we saw this Vietnamese restaurant and thought of trying it out.  It's our first time to eat in Zao Vietnamese Bistro but I'm sorry to say we're disappointed with the food.  Everything we ordered are a bit too salty for our taste.

First we ordered is Zao Satay Platter, it has 6 sticks of grilled specialties, chicken, pork, and shrimp, 2 of each kind. This is not so bad but the serving is too small, and the seasoning for the chicken is a bit salty.  Next is Zao Pho, it has beef slices, meat balls, and rice noodles in soup.  Again it's not so bad but then, the soup is also salty.

For the main we ordered Saigon Fried Rice, Curried Chicken, and Shaking Beef.  The rice they used for the fried rice is too dry so it tasted undercooked.  The curried chiken is ok but has too much sauce.  The shaking beef is cooked medium rare so it's a bit chewy.  

They have very small servings for the price so I didn't find it's worth the money at all.  Over all, I don't think we'll be going back again to try their other dishes.

La Fiesta - Largest Filipino Buffet

A new buffet has opened in SM by the bay MOA, it's called La Fiesta.  The name is fitting since they serve Filipino dishes in abundance just like in a real fiesta. =)

We tried out their saturday lunch and it's quite good and value for money.  For only P550.00 (P750.00 for weekend dinners and Sunday lunch) we got to eat to our heart's content.  They have so many varieties of food that I didn't even got to try everything I wanted like their balut and isaw. ^^

Their buffet is divided into seafood (mostly grilled fish), street foods (like isaw, bituka, tenga, etc.), roasts (lechon de leche, lechon manok, spareribs, shawarma, etc.), cooked food or "ulam" (dinuguan, crispy pata, kaldereta, pochero, paella, lasagna, pizza, etc.), soup (bulalo, tinola, etc.) appetizers (all kinds of chicharon, arrozcaldo, salads, etc.), drinks (gulaman, buko, tamarind,etc.), and desserts (halo-halo, kakanin, pastillas, sorbetes, etc.).

About the food, I'll just comment on those I ate, and that's not few, lol!  The star of their buffet is the lechon de leche, I'm not a big fan of lechon so me saying it's not bad is actually saying a lot already.  You don't really need the sauce for the lechon because it gets too salty.  My personal favorite is their buttered crabs, so yummy!!!  I'm looking forward to the shrimps as well but too bad, they said they didn't have any deliveries that day.  So the pretty nice "shrimp and mushroom" dish ended up being just mushroom but still nice.

The shawarma is good and the lasagna and pizza as well.  They have 4 kinds of sisig, I ordered bangus and it's very good. =) I didn't like the any of the fish dishes, even the tuna and maya maya.  Their baked tahong is not the best, and the ginataang kuhol still tastes like sand. =( The grilled ribs is too tough, same with the crispy pata.  Since I ate so much heart attack foods already, I got some veggies to make me feel better (LOL!) so I got some very nice chopsuey.  I didn't try any of the soup anymore because I'm too full already and I still have dessert! =P

I always leave room for dessert and I'm happy with theirs.  I had halo-halo, sorbetes, and the yummy leche flan! ^^ I would love to go back again because it's really money well spent. ;-)

Mu Noodle Bar

For our sunday family lunch out today, we chose Mu Noodle Bar in San Juan.  We've been looking for this restaurant since my bestfriend recommended it but we can't find it before.  This time we finally did! =)

Only the 3 of us today and we eah ordered noodle soup.  Mine is beef noodles in soy, my dad ordered char siu pork in soy, and my mom ordered beef curry noodle.  Each noodle is served in hot stone pot which keeps the soup hot while you eat.  It's pretty good and very filling since the bowl is quite big.

We also ordered radish cake which I really like, it's similar to Wan Chai's radish cake in XO sauce from the Binondo branch since the Wan Chai in Banawe doesn't cook as good as in Binondo.  And one final dish we ordered is oyster cake.  It's not that great, Mien San and Shang Tzu makes better oyster cakes.  As for the serving, only the noodles are in big serving, the side dishes are all very small.  All in all, I'll give it a pass and would still go there to eat sometimes.

Banapple - Dark Chocolate Tiramisu Cheesecake

We had lunch today at Banapple, it's the place we go to when we don't want to have chinese dishes, but can't think of any other place we want to go. ^^

We ordered chicken breast parmigiano, herbed chicken roll with basil, baked creamy cheesy penne, and cheese and mushroom pie with potato salad.  The cheesy penne and chicken parmigiano are two of our all time favorites. =)

Before leaving, my brother wanted to bring home a cheesecake so we picked the dark chocolate tiramisu cheesecake, just because it sounded yummy lol! ^^  Well, it sure is yummy and super chocolatey!  But since it's cheesecake, having just a little is the best, having too much will spoil the yumminess.  Even if it's super chocolatey, it's not too sweet and the coffee taste of the cheesecake adds to the unique flavor.

[Food] Tokyo Cafe

I met up with my friends from my previous job and as always, we had dinner and a good chat. ^^ We usually meet up in Mall of Asia or Glorietta. But recently, I prefer MOA because of the traffic in Makati. Anyways, while in MOA, I suggested we try Tokyo Cafe because of it's really delicious looking food display. They're all so yummy looking! ^^

And I have to say, I was not disappointed at all! The service is fast and the food is good. But maybe because of the rush of guests, the presentation is not as nice as in the picture anymore but the taste is still good so it's forgivable.

We ordered three different kinds of pasta:

1. Shrimp Aglio Olio - which really smells so yummy! Upon arrival of the food, I immediately wanted to taste it! And I was not disappointed at all, it's very tasty and I love the touch of spiciness in it.

2. Chicken Cream Pasta - is like carbonara with chicken. It's creamy and quite light on the palate. A good choice for white sauce lovers.

3. Creamy Ebiko Pasta - I love shrimp and this shrimp pasta dish is a must try. The creamy sauce complements the shrimps so well. Love it!



Then we also ordered one All Meat Pizza and one order of Chicken & Cheese Roll. Their pizza is really thin and very light on the tummy. The Chicken Roll I think is a guest favorite. I see lot's of customers ordering it. I love the mozarella in it, makes the dry chicken breast meat juicier.



And with their really nice choice of dessert, who can resist not trying one when they all look so yummy! I ordered Adzuiki Parfait and I looooove the adzuki beans! Their big monggo beans that tastes sweet and really good with the green tea ice cream!!!

The food is a little bit pricey but most restaurants are anyways so might as well go to one with good food right? ^_^

You can check out the whole menu in click the city.com >> Tokyo Cafe

Rating: definitely yummy! 9/10

Luk Foo in QI

It's my mama's birthday last August 18th, Happy Birthday to my mom! We went on a family lunch in of course, a Chinese restaurant (my mom loves Chinese food) and our family's favorite whenever we can't think of any other place to eat, Luk Foo! ^^ It's near our place and the food is good so we usually go there.

What we ordered:

*Birthday noodles - it's my mama's birthday of course there's noodles! They cooked it a bit salty though but not so bad that you can still eat it freely.

*Spinach Seafood Soup - our favorite of the cream soups they have to offer. It's not too tasty which is just fine as an appetizer.

*Patatim - served in big platter with lettuce, carrots and mushroom! Very nice presentation and the taste is not bad at all. The meat is not as tender as I prefer but as long as you have teeth, it would be just fine. ^^

*Ginger Garlic Shrimps w/ Sotanghon - i love the giant shrimps! So yummy! The sotanghon is not the original ones we used to have when I was young. Sotanghon nowadays are like bihon, too soft and breaks too easily.

and the regulars (we always, always order these every time we eat there!)
*Fried Fish Fillet in Crab Sauce - my sioti's favorite! He insists on ordering this dish each and every time we eat in Luk Foo. The fish is tender and I have to admit, it's really good!

*Yang Chow Fried Rice - i love their Yang Chow because it's not bland. It has shrimps, roast pork, egg, green peas, etc. in it that made it taste good. You can eat it alone and you'll be satisfied.

The service is good, waiters are very accommodating and quick to serve. Food presentation is very nice as well that you'll definitely want to taste the food once served on your table. The only thing I didn't like is their beef dishes, they're always rubbery, so we see to it not to order any beef. But all in all, it's good and we love to eat there! ^_^

Rating: 9/10

Golden Fortune in Benavides

After exactly a year, me and 3 of my friends met up together! =) And our favorite thing to do when we're together is to eat out!!! This time we chose to try Golden Fortune tea house in Benavides St. This shop had be closed for renovation for a long time and just recently opened for business again.

I remembered before i closed, I had lunch there with my family and my mom loved the food so I personally suggested to my friends to go there and eat. But to my disappointment, it's not as good as before anymore... =(

Their menu consists of different categories like roast, soup, noodles, seafood, chicken, pork, beef, vegetables, dimsum, drinks, etc. What I noticed is that they don't have some of the most popular dishes you usually find in Chinese Restaurants like spinach soup, hot pot dishes, etc...

I'll just talk about how the food is and not the price since I didn't pay so I didn't notice. XD

We ordered:
For appetizer:
Siomai - average
Shark's fin dimsum - not good
Radish cake - this one is good, the sauce is unnecessary

Main dish:
Yang Chow fried rice - not bad but not exceptional too
Beef with Broccoli flowers - I like it because their beef is not rubbery like the others
Fish Fillet with Tofu in Tausi Sauce - This one is not in the menu. It's good if only their fillet doesn't have fish bones in them... =S
Japanese Udon with Seafoods - common noodle dish, nothing special

Over all, the food is edible so I won't really complain. It's too ordinary for any special occasion though.

Service is good. I'll give credit to the waiters, they're all very nice and accommodating.

Ambiance is fair. The place is clean but nothing special.

Rating: 7/10