Chinoy Eater

Internet Police

2012-01-08T01:16:00.004+08:00

What's your New Year wish?

Mine is for an internet police to take down obvious clone sites like those that I mentioned in http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2011/03/cloned-again.html.

I had considered blogging here because, despite the clones and my not blogging here so much, I got more than 107 hits yesterday.

I had considered posting dots in every post, to destroy the clone sites. I guess it would be like being asked what you wanted, but that your enemy gets twice of what you get, and asking for the cutting off of your own hand so your enemy gets both hands cut off. Is this from the Bible?

The Chinoy Eater

Mama Sita Sauces

2011-12-10T20:58:00.004+08:00

I said in a previous post (http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2011/03/cloned-again.html) that I would try to post old-fashioned links instead of hyperlinks.

So I'm back here on experimental basis, to thank my friend for giving us three variants of Mama Sita oyster sauce: mushroom, garlic and less sodium.

Nasi Lemak Clams

2011-08-17T00:48:00.036+08:00

Thanks to HK Tan for treating my friend and me to Roti, Char Kway Teow and what CdA calls XLP: Xiao Long Pao.

Thanks, too, for lending me your hard drive for your music, although I can't figure out which folder has the music!

BTW, when I told my mom that you are opening in two months' time, she said that she hoped that it would open for her birthday, October 29.

Anyway, after all my Nasi Lemak stories, my friend got curious even though my family might not go to the Galleria branch because we felt that 8 Spices and Banana Leaf offered more value for money, not to mention ambience and service. It didn't help that the last time we went there, the Tom Yum Seafood (Tom Yum Talay) was too spicy, we ate in a table in the corridor, and Galleria's A/C was not working properly.

We were in Galleria to look for Olga bra, which had disappeared from SM Megamall. I was in Ortigas Center hoping to get my tanggera giveaway, but I had not given her advance notice that I would be in the area. So I was in Galleria mostly to walk and maybe get a pair of skorts.

I had merienda but was still hungry, as I had not had lunch. My friend had lunch already.

HK was talking with a customer when we arrived, but he urged me to get a seat.

The aircon was working. My friend commented that the booth was not too comfortable.

I told my friend to order what she wanted, since I had been to Nasi Lemak often. She wanted the Clams in Mild Singapore Chili Sauce, which we both like. I still prefer Banana Leaf's Curry Clams, which my friend also loved so much she cooked her version of it at home.

She let me order the second dish, but I deferred to HK, who had joined us at the table and had asked the waiter to bring us the Xiao Lung Pao that he had wanted me to try a few weeks ago.

HK and my friend wanted to steer clear of overly spicy food for my sake. I explained to HK that I have learned to eat slightly spicy food because of my friend, and that it was my parents who could not take spicy food. My friend was the opposite, she often found, say, KFC Hot and Spicy Chicken not spicy enough, the only exception being BBQ Chicken's spicy chicken, which was too spicy for her. Yummy, though.

Incidentally, BBQ Chicken Jupiter has changed its name, although it looks the same from the outside.

My friend pointed out that BBQ meant 'Best ______ (help!) Quality' and that BBQ was the first resto to bring in Korean chicken to the Philippines.

HK asked her which Korean chicken she likes the best. She said that she likes Chicken Charlie (Quezon City).

I have not tried it, but of the Korean chickens I've tried, I like BBQ the most, followed by Mannang's. Chicken Charlie San Juan and Bon Chon were just ok for me.

HK asked me where Manang's Chicken is. I told him that I had tried it at Mercato Centrale, but that I had seen a branch in Ortigas Center. My brother-in-law said that it is on Garnet Road.

I also told HK the good news that the World Bank was moving to BGC.

Photos:

It was raining, so HK cancelled his trip, and my friend and I decided to watch Ang Babae sa Septic Tank instead of being trapped in traffic.

I forget which bread HK likes the best, but I told him that I like Italian bread. He likes Italianni's bread. Bellissimo complimentary bread and spreads photo is too pretty to have been taken by me. I think that Mamameow took the photo.

We got to talking about how Pinoys like ambience. I told him that Mamameow and I plan to go back to Omakase Il Terrazzo even though the food was so-so, much worse than the Greenhills branch.

I told HK that from Il Terrazzo, we walked to Fleur de Lis where Mamameow fell in love with the macadamia pie. Apple pie also in photo.

Chicken curry was not too spicy. Told HK that I had one overcooked bite.

My friend invited HK (in blue) to her resto, Reyes Barbecue at Bonifacio Stopover.

I told HK about Pancake's The Best Taco in Town and Fiesta Taco Salad. In my to-eat list is Mercato's tacos.

Mondo Juice in Megamall has pretty sandwiches in its display case.

HK, I need help with the beef dish.

Oatmeal Prawns of Nasi Lemak

2011-06-19T17:26:00.010+08:00

I've been wanting to bring 3ima to Nasi Lemak, as she is sensitive to MSG.

So when we decided to have a little Father's Day dinner tonight, I thought of it.

The other choices were:

Alex III--not sure about the vetsin there, although I don't mind going there, as the last time I was there was when I gave Butterfly a San Juan food tour around 2009. Actually, we were even in a sister resto next door.

Aquaknox

the tofu resto at Northeast Square

8 Spices, the best resto in Robinsons Galleria--fully booked tonight

the ex-Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodles which has a new look

La Nuova, which AMYC wanted to go to, but ASUY was against it because it's too chaotic.

I made a reservation for 8 pm, because the Cs were going to a 6 pm Mass. There's a 30-minute grace period, said May, and the resto closes at 9.

So I'm going over all the Nasi Lemak dishes that we've tried, and the ones that got good press.

So this is my new Nasi Lemak order plan:

Popular dishes online:
Honey glazed spareribs
Oatmeal Butter Prawns

For ASUY:
Hainanese Chicken
Meatball Soup

Japanese siomai

Crispy roast pork
Pomelo salad
Malaysian fried rice

Excluded due to probable spiciness, which EFY and 3ima cannot eat:

Thai Green Chicken curry
Malaysian curry

While we're there, I hope to try Chatime.

Pandan chicken: 8 Spices: February 13.
Other photos: Nasi Lemak seafood soup, curry, April 17.

Source: Nasi Lemak menu provided by H. K. Tan

Nasi Lemak Wish List

2011-04-09T20:15:00.041+08:00

While waiting for my friend to bring the car around, AZ and I waited near R. Lapid's at S&R.

A asked me, Can you smell that?

When I nodded, she went, Torture!

This is how I felt when I looked at my food photos last night after a light sinigang dinner, and tonight as I research on Nasi Lemak.

Upon the invitation of Chef HK Tan, whose Pilipino I can understand better than his Singlish, bloggers Jenny Roxas, Myke Soon and Myke's girlfriend Nix Manalang Angeles and I are having lunch at Nasi Lemak.

So far, the most 'painful' dishes to read about are the cockles in the Char Kway Teow and Singapore BBQ Stingray, Kueh Pai Ti , the savory Carrot Cake, Pickled Chili and Oatmeal Prawns (?!)

I've seen cockles maybe in Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods and they seemed like the sort of thing that I would enjoy. I remember seeing cockles served maybe in London, in a plastic cup. I imagine the texture to be the crunchy version of teynga ng daga, which I do not like at all, but tasting like maybe squid.

Oh no! No more cockles?

The only time that I can remember having stingray was maybe in 2009, at Treehouse in UP. It was good, tasted like fish, only yummier. I think that it was served with gata.

The pickled chili reminds me of Papa John's pepperocino, which I enjoyed.

I've never had the rest.

I hope to have laksa this time, as my request for the dish was foiled at last Sunday's Banana Leaf Trinoma Prep graduation dinner. And ginger tea, which RKL, who often goes to Nasi Lemak, said was good.

Incidentally, Nasi Lemak is one of the few MSG-free restos in Metro Manila.

RKL also used to go to the defunct Nasi Lemak at Thompson Square on Morato.

Chef HK told me that he was looking for a 140-160-square-meter space in Rockwell or elsewhere in Makati, or in Podium for a restaurant.

I told him to consider Greenhills or elsewhere in San Juan, which he thought was Greenbelt.

The San Juan resto market is not competitive because the San Juan senior citizen is very staunchly parochial. She is not willing to go outside San Juan, even on Sundays, and the Tsinoys will only eat at Chinese restos like Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodle, which has changed its name; Gloria and Choi. EFY has a weekly tsia hwe (Eating Club) at either Gloriamaris or Choi Garden, with maybe Kopi Tiam. But EFY refuses to eat at Lugang, AYR doesn't like Kopi Tiam, and I don't like Annapolis, King Crab and Crystal Jade.

I'm tired of Mann Hann and North Park, ASUY's favorites.

There's an unused Crazy Horse resto on Ibanez with some parking, the former Kalde-Kaldero at P. Guevarra with lots of parking. I remember also there being a fine dining resto on a side street off Abad Santos that no one seems to have tried. There's Luna and another resto on Wilson that could be dying. I wouldn't recommend the Health Cube Building or Villa Ortigas as the parking is horrendous. Then there's Northeast Square on Connecticut. And how are C2, Miyake, Tian-Di and Annapolis doing?

I guess he won't consider E. Rodriguez, Sr. or New Manila--I'm thinking Blue Bacon and Green Eggs--since he moved out of Morato.

Photos: Steamed lapu-lapu and kiampeng at Gloriamaris. North Park Kopi Tiam noodles. You Jie Xiao Bao eggplant--the family never went back to You Jie. Mann Hann Theater Mall Tofu, Lumpia and sauce and Clam Soup takeout, the sauteed veggie dish is courtesy of our cook Caymen. North Park Leviste Braised Noodles with Szechuan Tan Tan Mien. Kopi Tiam view and noodles. Gloriamaris Greenhills noodles with sauce and siao long pao. Banana Leaf Trinoma roti. Thompson Square. QCSC Shabu-Shabu open from 6-10 pm Wednesdays to Sundays. R. Lapid's Wilson's heart attack in a bag: laman, I think.

Looking for the Best Restaurant in Maginhawa

2011-04-07T22:26:00.010+08:00

Since we're both in town while the rest of the clan will be out of town, RKL invited me to join him at either Fully Booked or Quezon Avenue. Since I'm picking up my clothes from Larry Aluning, we're going to National Bookstore, because National Quezon Avenue is supposed to be big and nice.

The last time I was in National Quezon Avenue, it was just ok. The memorable thing there was a Vietnamese restaurant at the back that served fish soup. The Vietnamese owner, who knew the regulars' usual orders, said that a big, strong guy mashes the fish to make the soup. I have not had anything like it since. The owner told us, as we watched Vietnamese shows, that Vietnam TV was getting progressive.

She said that she would go to the market everyday.

Thanks to AC for bringing me there. I'm sorry that this hole-in-the-wall is gone. Ok, I can come up with an estimate date for this. This was around 2000.

RKL said that he could treat me to something more regular, as in Morato--I was thinking Bagoong Club, or one of the 'weird'--his word--restos in Maginhawa.

He said that they had good black soup in a hole-in-a-wall run by artistas. He said that the resto could not manage the crowd that went.

The black soup sounds interesting, but why would I want to eat in a hole in a wall?

I checked out OAP and everything looks good!

How to choose one? Maybe the healthiest one?

AYL had mentioned that there was a great burger place in Maginhawa, that it was much better than Charlie's Grind and Grill's (sorry, no photos)'s, which my friend and I thought was good, simply good. We prefer the more complex taste of Hotshots burgers at their peak.

Then I saw Cerchio's sisig! Oh no! Bye bye healthy! Sisig is one of my favorite foods. The mention of brain makes it even more tempting. The best sisig I've had, from a Jollijeep on San Agustin, probably had brain in it. It was my only brain experience. Wawa ba?

If this turns out to be good, I'll also bring ADG here.

Gayuma ni Maria looks ordinary, but a date place idea for my friend JB, who spent P 1,200 for two at Texas Roadhouse Grill at Bonifacio High Street. He was happy with the quesadillas, crab salad, chicken and mushrooms and soup, but his budget was P 300 to P 500 per person.

Chicken Charlie is too mainstream to eat with someone who's adventurous, though I have been wanting to try Chicken Charlie Amoranto since my friend mentioned it to me. She said that her friend and her cousin told her that the Retiro version is way better than the Abad Santos versions, which I've tried twice, once courtesy of ED during the Christmas holidays and another time, when Maven 3's Meg Koh took out some for Claire and me to eat at Ristras.

Photos: The lingua was good but had a leftover taste. The drink was semi-healthy, expensive, good, not worth it maybe. With the exception of the Chicken Charlie chicken and the usual-good pickled radish, all photos are of Ristras.

Looking for the Best Restaurant in Trinoma

2011-03-31T20:33:00.053+08:00

After giving up on this blog because of the clone sites, I'm finally back here due to the prodding of Don Uy, who said, after seeing the new blog that I had set up, sayang naman yung following ng blog. Probably my biggest fan, Maven Secrets classmate Jinkee Umali, also had similar sentiments.

What really changed my mind was Don's brother's Mike's solution to the cloning problem. Through Don, Mike told me that I could use the clone traffic to my advantage. I could put links in my blog posts that refer to my other posts. Mike said that this will take months to remedy the problem. Heck, I gave up this blog for good. What's a few months?

First of all, Don said that the last site that I had accused of cloning had not really cloned me, that it had posted a link to my blog. I pointed out that a word-for-word post would make me the clone site, and would affect my Google rankings. At least that's what I understood from Anton Diaz of Maven Secrets.

If you want Don's help, you may email him at sterlingeuy@gmail.com.

Anyway...

We're going to Red Box Trinoma because I'm tired of Worldmusicroom and I'm not driving hehe.

We're singing from 4 to 6, the Joe Hour, at P 149 per head, no drinks or anything else, then dinner where?

My friend said that the best resto in Trinoma is Cyma. Gosh! It is the one restaurant that almost everyone loves that I like only a little. To top it all, it is not cheap.

I've been to the Shangri-La Plaza branch a couple of times. I've also been to the Greenbelt and Eastwood Mall branches.

The Greenbelt branch was so hot that Maven Secret 3's Meg Koh suggested that we eat outside, which was even hotter, but not as hot as the Eastwood Mall branch, where we dined al fresco cigarillo.

AYL also suggested that we go to the Boracay branch, and even though Butterfly said that the Boracay branch was the best one, we still went to other restos.

I've had Tzatziki at both Greenbelt and Eastwood branches. I wanted to order a different salad at Greenbelt, having had the Horiatiki Salata at Eastwood 16 days earlier, but Meg said that it was the best.

We also had Giant Shrimp with Dill and Ouzo, and the Cyma Lamb Chops. I wanted to order the smaller Shoulder Loin Chop, but Meg insisted on the Loin Rock Chop. We ended up with doggie bags. The best Cyma dish that I've had is the Kalamarakia.

I think that we had a watermelon frappe at Eastwood. It was ok.

I really want to go to Crustasia, but Anton's post is discouraging.

Like I told Carol of Carol's Texan 5 today, branches are not alike.

My mom used to be happy with the barbecue at Reyes Barbecue Theater Mall, but after tasting my friend's Bonifacio Stopover version, she didn't like the Theater Mall variety anymore.

I'm not so keen on Five Cows Resto and Ice Cream Bar, either, but this review was discouraging.

The other choices are Congo Grille, which was good at MOA,and the first defunct branch in Quezon City, where owner Melvin Esteban had given us discount cards when it opened; Chicken Bacolod; Super Bowl of China; and Pho Hoa.

Sizzling Pepper Steak is too ordinary.

Pepper Lunch post

Anton's other choices do not interest me.

PB Co. was nothing great and expensive. My friend and I had sesame burger--a little different, but not craveable, pb and j and pasta.

Toast Box is too simple. I can't imagine how it can be much better than Kopi Roti--I tried almost everything in their menu in two visits to the Kat and Morato branches, Roti Mum, and Ya Kun Kaya at NAIA.

They're all just toasts.

Crustasia

Photos: Astoria Plaza Boracay, Pepper Lunch Rockwell, Reyes Barbecue sotanghon soup, Pho Hoa Crustasia buffet dessert photo courtesy of MF, yummy noodle dish and so-so strawberry ice cream, Carol's Texan 5 pasta,function room, couch with magazines, washroom and Elba microwave oven.

Peanut Butter Company food styling by my friend.

Cloned Again

2011-03-06T02:59:00.002+08:00

I stopped writing in this blog because I was cloned.

Today, I found another site that cloned this blog again.

What is it about Chinoy Eater? Does it have a sign, 'Clone me?'

Reporting Clones to the FBI and the NBI

2010-11-08T22:21:00.004+08:00

As per Jayson Biadog's advice, I'm reporting the spam site to both the NBI and FBI.

Jayson's blog was hacked, so that he could not access his blogspot for a week. The viewer gets directed to another site instead of his blog.

After he reported the incident to the NBI and the FBI, his blog was back to normal.

Jinoe Gavan said that he decided not to report the spam site to DMCA because other spam sites might spring up too. He has taken some measures, which he said that he had detailed in an email he sent out to the Maven Secrets yahoo groups which I haven't read.

Atty. RRR has advised me that I own the copyright to my blog from inception, even though I did not register it.

After the spam site copied my last 19 posts, whenever I would search for my blog posts, the blogger index cloned version would surface instead of chinoyeater.blogspot.com.

387 P. Guevarra St.

2010-08-14T10:18:00.009+08:00

MA called me up this morning to ask me where 387 P. Guevarra is. I told him that this was the place that I was telling him about. I told him that maybe this is the spa place with outdoor fine dining that I had just mentioned to him maybe a week ago.

Is this a house? I asked him.

He said that it was a party, and yes, it could be the spa place.

I wondered how someone can just give the address of a long street like P. Guevarra and not give any additional instructions. I pass P. Guevarra all the time, but I don't know the exact addresses of Everything at Steak, Red Prawn or the corner of Luna Mencias.

He said that maybe the person who texted him didn't know the place, too.

Sure, but the host could at least say that it's Tian-Di.

Anyway, I sent him the Inquirer link, and told him how Tian and Di are pronounced in Mandarin, that they mean "heaven" and "earth," so it probably means heaven on earth.

When I saw the photo/s, I thought that it was in Europe. The .joBeat. map is wrong. First of all, from Ortigas, Wilson does not stop at P. Guevarra, but extends beyond Ahavia.

My friend, who plans to bring her ex there, told me that Wilson and P. Guevarra intersect twice, and Tian-Di is at the second intersection coming from North Park, past Cafe Ysabel. After the second intersection, it's near the Addition Hills sign and a preschool that I pass from Shaw going to O. Arellano.

According tothis, Tian-Di is right at the Golden Angels Montessori School! Did I get that right?

Sorry, no photos here. No luck uploading photos here today.

Ultimate Taste Test 4.0

2010-08-08T15:55:00.006+08:00

It's only today that I read Didi Paterno's email thanking us for going to UTT 4.0. She said that our suggestions for improvement are welcome.

First of all, I love how Teacher Anton Diaz labels his projects .0, as in Maven Secrets 2.0 (my batch) and 3.0 (my adopted batch).

It was our first time to go to an Ultimate Taste Test.

I was in Bonifacio Global City early for a client call. Incidentally, do you feel that so many offices are moving to BGC already? General Milling, law firms, IT companies, PhilPlans and PhilCare.

When I was done with the meeting, the friend I was going to UTT with, was not yet ready to meet me, so my client-friend said that I could hang out in her office.

Like other people I had told about the Ultimate Taste Test, my client was excited to go to UTT but it could not accommodate any more people.

And I'm glad that Ultimate Taste Test didn't accept any more people, because I felt that there were too many people already.

I met my friend in the Bonifacio Stopover area, as we didn't think that both of us could park in the NBC Tent area. She ended up parking at Bonifacio High Street, which she said was as almost far away from NBC Tent as Bonifacio Stopover!

By the time we arrived between 7 and 8 pm, there was a line that almost reached outside the NBC Tent.

I was with Tita Angie, who wanted to be given priority because she was a senior citizen. I didn't see a senior citizen's line, so I suggested that we line up like everyone else. She didn't budge, so I didn't, either.

Suggestion 1: Have a senior citizen's line.

We ended up lining up at the shortest line, which was not a ticket line. Was it an info line? I don't remember now. So we had to line up again. We later found out that the lines were alphabetical.

Suggestion 2: Post the lines at the entrance, something that I learned from Ateneo's registration.

The ushers, the boys of the MASED Foundation, the UTT beneficiary, was supposed to handle the crowd, but I don't think that they helped much.

As I encountered one issue after another, I could not help thinking how smooth Ateneo's registration has been, even during my time, when the tuition was unspeakable. People have tried to guess the tuition during my time, kept on guessing downwards, but I kept saying lower.

Suggestion 3: Get a member or ex-member of the Ateneo Reg Com (Registration Committee) to help with systems.

I also noticed that as people lined up to present their tickets and get their boxes (which served as plates) and rate sheets and San Miguel stubs, they would go back the way they came, creating two lines of people per group of letters, one going towards the table, and another going back.

Suggestion 4: Put the end of the lines near the entrance of the tasting area, so that people go into the tasting venue immediately, instead of creating more lines. I guess this is the logic of having Colegio San Agustin near the Arnaiz entrance. Instead of having cars going all over Dasmarinas Village creating traffic, the traffic is limited to a smaller area.

(To be continued)

Photos: Tita Angie with Rev. Father Arnold T. Eramiz, Parish Priest of St. Michael the Archangel Parish Church in BGC. He heads MASED, or Macario Arnold for Social Development.
Wency Cornejo, I think.

AM Top

2010-08-07T10:04:00.004+08:00

I tried to join Ayala Malls' A. M. Top promo, which is giving away P 5,000 gift certificates.

The mechanics said to register, login then vote. After registering, I didn't get any feedback from the site, saying that I'm registered, or to check my mail for the password, or anything like that. I logged in but was told that my password did not match my email address. I also clicked on "forgot password" but was told that my email address was not registered.

Has anyone tried registering? What am I doing wrong kaya?

Last day for voting is August 15.

Photos: Dexter Matilla eating special congee at David's Tea House Greenbelt 1. Not bad, but it had been better. April 20. Gelatississimo at Greenbelt 5 was great! We had pistachio, chocolate truffle and strawberry. January 10.

Cloned!

2010-07-24T21:53:00.008+08:00

A friend had pointed out that my previous post sounded like I didn't know who the Appetite Mag ed-in-chief is. I told her that if she were to click one of the hyperlinks, that the answer would come out.

The biggest blog ish for me today is that, like Arnold Schwarnegger's character in The Sixth Day, I've been cloned! Or am I the clone?

I have more content naman no!

I remember Anton Diaz posting a video on his Fb page about starving negative comments of oxygen, by ignoring them.

But I also remember takbo.ph Founder Jinoe Gavan complaining in Maven Secrets class that his content was duplicated in another site. Anton had suggested that Jinoe report the second-rate, trying hard Hello Kitty (EL quoting a local comedianne) to the proper authorities. I'm sorry now that I had not bothered to note the name of the power-that-be. The class had ended, my Acer was off, yada yada yada.

My google search turned up nada so far.

I clicked on "Report Abuse" in blogspot, and was told to report the dastardly act to the host of the content thief. How do you find out who the host is?

What happens after I post this? Does this post get cloned in the other site, too? Yup! Even the updates! Some kind of robotic thing! I'm amazed and disgusted at the same time!

It's kinda like the Goin' Bananas skit where a sexy girl poses in front of the mirror and Edgar Mortiz appears in the mirror, imitating her every move.

Note that the clone site claims copyright! The nerve!

BTW, I found out about the kapikat after MA showed me his Marty's Cracklings over Sky-pee, and said that the best Kettle Chips are not Dijon Honey but Buffalo Bleu. He thought that since I had not seen a lot of movies, that I wouldn't know food! Duh?! I told him that I was the Magellan of junk food in high school! I showed him links to my Marty's and Kettle posts, and stopped searching after I bumped into the Sixth Dayer.

Kettle Cheddar

On the bright side: Have I arrived now that I've been imitated, not equalled?

If you want to know if what you're reading is the clone or the original: my blog's address is chinoyeater.blogspot.com.

Photos: Chicharritos All-Rind Chicharron were taken last November 22, which makes them vintage i.e. pre-Ixus.

Appetite Mag editor-in-chief

2010-07-18T13:45:00.009+08:00

My friend MR invited me to lunch at their place. It just so happens that her brother-in-law is Executive Chef David Pardo de Ayala of Discovery Suites. When I told him that I contribute to Appetite Magazine, he said that both Discovery Suites and Appetite have the same owner, Jerry Tiu. He asked me who the editor-in-chief of Appetite is, is it Lorraine Belmonte? Annie Nisce?

In the Carnation Food Tour last November, Lorraine Belmonte announced the resignation of Associate Editor, Annie Nisce, who recruited me into Appetite. Around Christmas or January, my emails to the Editorial Assistants bounced back. It turned out that Lorraine Belmonte and the editorial assistants had resigned, and Annie was left.

The new Lorraine (as in the Adventures of the Old Christine :)) cooked lunch for us Appetite writers or would-be writers. I met Ms. Desiree Ching, Yvette Tan and Dorothy Ferreira, all with entertaining stories to tell.

Which brings me to the quiz question: who is Appetite Mag's editor-in-chief?

Incidentally, Chef David's daughter Sofia's birth was announced in Appetite, said Chef David's wife Nela.

Photos: Appetite Online, Celestial Media Services, 100 Pound Foodie. I took the Balai Isabel photos of the tree outside our balcony with my Acer cam last November 25.

Banawe Meeting

2010-07-05T19:22:00.014+08:00

What's a good place to meet in Banawe? If you ask Munch Punch, the answer is almost nothing.

Actually, I like Causeway the most, having been to the E. Rodriguez, Jr. branch, but I've heard something about it that makes me not want to go there. I don't remember my source, it's not fair to Causeway, but I'd still rather not go.

Maybe Alex III, even though I don't find it good value, and there's one on my doorstep.

North Park is another decent place to eat in the list. The last time I was there, c. 2000-01, I was on a weekday date in between meetings. My date was a Xavierian, and there were two other Xavierians in two other tables, both my batchmates, who I both dated--not at the same time, huh.

Is Wah Yuen still alive? No, says a deleted Gourmand Tales post. There's a dimsum place diagonally across it that HSU and I used to go to, after badmin at QCSC. The name escapes me now. It's a popular place, way better than Wah Yuen.

Bodhi's food is ok, too noisy, and an ISCAHM grad friend, MF, said that it's all extenders.

Manosa would also be noisy.

I don't know if Tasty Banawe is more like Binondo (crowded) or the defunct but classier Wilson branch.

I don't really feel like eating somewhere that's everywhere, the likes of Pizza Hut, Yellow Cab, Shakey's, Max's, Figaro, Teriyaki Boy. I don't really like anything in any of the pizza places, or Figaro. We just had California Maki and Kani Salad from Teriyaki Boy Promenade last Sunday. It is the bayang magiliw of our house.

Max's has an extensive menu, so I wouldn't mind going to Max's. Plus they have wifi! Pala! Max's na lang nga! At least Max's in Galleria and Shaw have wifi.

Tapa King is more of a guy tummy place, at least the Boni and San Juan branches were, and I don't like anything there.

So I turned to a trusted friend's blog and found Bok Lene. But is it a meeting place?

Serenitea San Juan was just ok, no washroom, almost no ambience.

Photos: June 4, Max's Tiendesitas. We ordered halo-halo good for one split into three. Their coffee came with the toughest, indissoluble biscotti or some other pastry. Brownie points for trying. I would still eat their biscotti on my next visit, but I might ask for another pastry instead. I don't know if they had wifi. EEEPH's 2008 forum says that Tiendesitas had wifi, but I seem to recall not getting a connection at Bistro Mateo, but that was last year.

Mag:net gives away free tickets

2010-07-03T19:58:00.008+08:00

Photos: bandscapes
Mag:net
Saw this on Fb:

"First 20 people to avail a Mag:net Classic dish after 10:00pm gets a FREE ticket of choice (first come first serve!)

Free tickets:
Noel Cabangon + Las Bungangeras (july 8, 2010)
Ony Carcamo + Kevin Becira (July 29, 2010)
Silly People’s Improv Theater [SPIT] (July 15, 2010)
Sipat Lawin Ensemble (July 22, 2010)
Rakenwa Productions : Nanaymo, Saranggola ni Pepe, Surpresa, and more (July 28, 2010)
Yosha (July 14, 2010)
Campusition Night: Extrapolation, Pascalene, Manila Vanilla, and more (July 30, 2010)"

What are Classic dishes? The least expensive ones, at P 269.50 each including service charge, are bihon-wrapped prawn tempura, and chok nut kare kareng liempo. The tempura sounds like a dish that's just different for the sake of. Now the liempo, that sounds interesting! See the menu photo for more details.

How much are tickets worth?

I would choose SPIT, if I could. Or the winner does not get to choose which ticket she gets?

Incidentally, Noel Cabangon was part of P-Noy's inauguration, and other recent events besides. AMYC said that she enjoyed a Noel Cabangon concert. I'm glad that he's in a more mainstream place. He's my second choice. Noel Cabangon wrote and sang "Tatsulok," but it was the Bamboo version that became famous. And made it a KTV gasgas song for someone I used to KTV with.

I'm sad that Mag:Net Bonifacio has closed down. Rock Drilon told me this online. The only time I was there was early September, for SPIT. It was full, so I guess it closed down because of rent issues?

Or was it an exceptional night?

Maybe if Mag:net were to announce their events early, they can get more people to go to their events?

Italianni's Open for Breakfast

2010-06-16T00:32:00.009+08:00

Since the Maven Secrets SEO seminar starts at 11 am, my Batch 3 classmate Meg Koh asked us if we wanted to have breakfast, at maybe Bizu or Starbucks. I'm bored with both, so I searched "breakfast Greenbelt" in "Makati" in MunchPunch and found Italianni's. I rejected the usual Coffee Bean, Delifrance, and the expensive restos.

Although, at P 500 a meal, Italianni's sounds expensive, the portions are huge. With sharing, it would be more like Starbucks rates. I hope to eat something more substantial than the bland Starbucks sandwich that I had at the Blue Wave branch a few months ago. Someone had complained that Italianni's has deteriorated, but with my great experience at Italianni's High Street, I'm willing to try their breakfast. Besides, how bad can it be compared to Starbucks and Bizu? Seattle's salmon is good, but I want to try something new.

MunchPunch had the address and phone number of Italianni's:

G/F Greenbelt 2, Estrella St., Ayala Center

Makati City, Metro Manila

(02) 728-0283

Photos from Italianni's: Cream Mushroom Crostinis, Classic Pizza,Spinach and Artichoke Formaggio,Mussels Lombardi,Herb Roasted Chicken.

Carte Blanche Buffet

2010-06-10T01:28:00.004+08:00

It seems that I'm more excited about the Carte Blanche assignment than the student! I have not heard a peep from him.

The real reason why I had the Carte Blanche buffet in the first place was that I had attended the first class without ordering a thing, and the waiters said that there was plenty of iced tea and kept bringing them to me.

Ganun kayo ha! Gagantihan ko kayo!

Maven Secrets classmate Cecile Tan said that her mom sold Makati Skyline and put up Carte Blanche with ex-Makati Skyline employees.

I suspect that the servers, but not the cook, moved over. Because the service is good. It takes a while to attract the attention of the servers, but they are always courteous and friendly without being too friendly, even though I forgot to pay twice. They just followed me to the classroom on the 3rd floor. I have repeatedly asked them to give me the bill as soon as I finish eating, as I am quite forgetful.

I have been to at least a couple of Makati Skyline-catered occasions, once at Maripaz's parents' place, and another an H and JC party. The food, especially the spinach appetizer, were pretty good. Budget might be different, though. The Anna's Catering that we ICAns dread because of their so-so lunches, can serve acceptable party food, which I tried at RA's party. Still, there is a taste level that you can get from Pho Hoa and Milky Way, for example, that I don't get from Carte Blanche.

Aside from lengua, the other outstanding dish that I've tried in Carte Blanche is the tokwat baboy. I don't remember having pork that sticky in tokwat baboy. It kinda reminds me of what our cook does with leftover lechon kawali. She chops up the kawali into 1" x 4" strips, sautees them with garlic, soy sauce and vinegar. The result is slightly sticky pork.

May 27 photos: Ok cream of mushroom soup. The sauteed mixed vegetables is a good reason to have the buffet, as the a la carte menu has limited veggies in it. The veggies are not oily or soggy, good enough for seconds, which I usually have. The fish fillet with saffron sauce is ok, better if it wasn't so salty. Lengua estofado, which Cecile said she will have repeated because of its popularity. The pandan cake is a waste of calories and my sugar allowance, as it is flat. Sugar is a separate issue for me because I'm watching my blood sugar. Boy Kuripot liked the pandan cake enough to eat two pieces, though.

Carte Blanche

2010-06-10T00:46:00.013+08:00

This post is urgent because Fatima student, Carte Blanche OJT jaycrys needs to submit photos for his class by Friday. Fatima is in Valenzuela, he said. His aunt, who lives near his place and Fatima, works in Carte Blanche. I saw jaycrys taking photos of Carte Blanche with his camera phone. I offered to email him my photos.

Maven Secrets Batch 3 has 6 pm buffet dinner at Carte Blanche, 5th floor, AIM ACCEED Building, before our class on the third floor at 7:30 pm.

I think that this class is closer than my batch, Batch 2, which would meet just for classes at AIM. Anton Diaz encouraged us to come at 6 to socialize, but it's different when food is involved.

People from previous batches could opt for the buffet or order a la carte. The buffet costs P 350 plus 12% VAT or P 392.

JU thinks that this is overpriced, given the quality of food. I really like variety so I had the buffet twice. I went a la carte thrice at Carte Blanche and ate elsewhere the rest of the time. I have attended seven classes.

The best dish that I've had at Carte Blanche is their lengua, which I had as part of the buffet.

If not for the socializing, I would not eat at Carte Blanche at all. I prefer to eat at Bacci, two blocks away, on Paseo de Roxas Avenue, between dela Rosa and Legazpi.

The first time that I had eaten at Carte Blanche was on a Saturday, during the lunch break of Batch 2's SEO class. I had laing, the worst laing that I've had in my life. Jhoey Hernandez of Batch 0 (?) and Rachel Diaz said that I should revisit it, as they think that it is good. I think that I'd rather have my laing at Bacolod Chicken Inasal in Greenhills, where my balikbayan friends had their first taste of it. They found it not so appealing to look at but delicious.

The Maven Secrets reunion laing was good, too.

April 21 photos: The dessert was ok, not memorable. The beef was tender because it was thinly sliced. The lemon was a saving grace, as I can't think of anything that I don't like with lemon. Boy Kuripot and NC really liked the fish, but our maid can cook better fish than this. It was too salty for my taste. Brownie points for being boneless.

Carte Blanche buffet

Haagen Dazs Eat All You Can

2010-06-09T01:16:00.005+08:00

I must have waited six years for this! I first saw this at Glorietta, which closed down. I then asked Eastwood when it was coming back. How much is one scoop? How many scoops before you break even?

When I took this photo, other mallers stopped to look at this wall, too.

Someone is going to make this a regular thing! Someone who used to eat 21 Coney Island scoops in one sitting!

Photo taken last Sunday.

McDonald's Cats Raffle

2010-05-22T11:22:00.005+08:00

Email from Munch Punch:

"Broadway's Cats is coming to Manila! Get a chance to enjoy these famed musical felines--for two and for free!

Every order worth at least P400 via mcdelivery.com.ph gives you a chance to win 2 tickets to Cats Musical. One winner of two tickets worth P3,500 each and one winner of two tickets worth P5,000 each will be electronically drawn daily!

For the weekly grand draw, a total of 16 tickets worth P7,000 each will be raffled off to 8 lucky winners!

So order your favorite McDonald's treat via www.mcdelivery.com.ph. Cats on Delivery will run from May 15 to June 7, 2010."

McDonald's Cats Promo

Photos taken last December 3 at the Pasong Tamo branch, with my Acer camera. My regular McDonald's meal, Crispy Chicken Meal, P 50.

Golden Fortune

2010-04-30T09:18:00.017+08:00

Email exchange between Maripaz and me:

"[Maripaz] wrote:

Well, my yaya is special and my kids call her Lola [Y].

It's Golden Fortune, not Golden Lotus (my mistake). My mom's friends pointed it out to us. Actually I told my mom we came all the way to Gandara just to eat the same food--fried pigeon, lechon macau (too fat), stuffed tofu (which was good), pata tim ([N] preferred eating the buns by themselves), pusik (whelk), garlic beef tenderloin, bamboo shells (too spicy), chicken/taro hotpot, mushroom/broccoli. Everything you can easily order at Greenhills!
Altho Gloria Maris would easily be P12k/table, here it was about P4k.

From: [chinoyeater]
To: [Maripaz]

Cool! Thanks,[Maripaz]. I've never heard of Golden Lotus. Takes someone like your mom to know this type of "insider" knowledge. How nice of your mom to take out your yaya. I notice that Pinoys to be kinder to their household help than we Tsinoys. Except Gg."

Pata tim with buns?

The most related photos in my inventory are:

My second time to go to Annapolis, now clean and with nicer interiors than when I went there for a baptismal when it was new. KKC treated us to lauriat, including yummy crab, last December 24, using my USB Video.
Green Maris, last January 3, the first photos taken with the low-batt, spanking-new Ixus. I went straight to Green Maris from V-Mall, where I picked up the camera. Too bad the Ixus died after I took only a few photos.
David's Tea House Greenbelt 1's David's congee, which was ok, not as great as their dimsum. I wish it had more fresh ingredients, rather than dried cuttlefish. The token piece of squid seemed fresh. There was also asado. It was nowhere near North Park Superior Congee. Next time I'll order the fish fillet congee.

Incidentally, it might interest Reyes Barbecue to know that their logo does not appear in the Delivery 21 ad in My Food Trip.

Elektra_08 agrees with Maripaz.

Banawe Meeting

Quiet, Well-lit , Free Wifi Place in San Juan

2010-04-29T19:50:00.015+08:00

Last Tuesday, Mike Abasolo wanted to go to a wifi place where he could write.

I asked Efren to suggest a place. She asked me how long I needed the wifi. When I told her about two hours, she said that she would be asleep by then. She was offering her house!

She suggested McDonald's.

Thinking that Mike might not have had dinner by then, I suggested Max's (I thought he said "Mac Access" one time, as everyone says "Max") to him.

We had gone to Max's Galleria last Saturday and Shaw last Sunday (!), and both branches had their own wifi, even though Galleria had its own wifi.

As it was 9:30 pm already, I realized that we couldn't go back to Max's Shaw, as it would probably close by 10 pm, like the Greenhills branch.

I had no luck with any of the Max's numbers. I couldn't find any of the three branches at the Max's site. I even tried to call other branches or their delivery line but it was past their delivery time.

I even asked Alex III if they had wifi. They didn't.

Days earlier, I had asked Alemberg Ang if Toscana was quiet, and if it had wifi. He said that it was a small place, so the sound level would depend on the diners, and that no, it didn't have wifi. He said that most malls have wifi now. What is he talking about? Only Megamall, Galleria and Rockwell have wifi. Greenhills, Shangri-La and the Ayala Malls don't have wifi. Podium's wifi is zero to close to useless.

Anyway, when he called me up, he thought that I was someone with the same first name. That rarely happens to me, as I have a unique name which shall-not-be-named.

Peri-Peri has wifi, but it is noisy. Same with Chili's. Both places are dark, too.

Even though Bizu has a wifi sign, I could not pick up their internet connection.

Flapjacks has wifi but the food is ok to lousy, and it's expensive! And the customers are goldfish! I had breakfast there the other year with HSU, and a car stopped to say hi to him!

How come Krispy Kreme can offer free wifi when customers can spend less than P 100 a pop, while Starbucks went from free to charging?

And I don't mean Coffee Bean and its minimum requirement, or Starbucks and its P 95 card. To think that both places don't have their own washrooms and the Promenade washroom is the pay type! Too much!

Quiet places Patisserie Caroline's, Big Momma, House of Mini's, Butchie's Recipes, close early. But maybe they can open late when there's a game at San Juan Arena?

Mike didn't want McDo, because they didn't have outlets. He said that Burger King has the most outlets, but E. Rod was too far. Hmm. Might be time to reopen BK in Greenhills, now that it has a premium burger. That I like.

So we ended up in Krispy Kreme. I had always gone to Krispy Kreme on a weekend, and there are hardly any seats. This time, we had our choice of seats. The place was almost full past, say, 10 pm. One gay in an all-gay table said that he used to have a 29" waistline, that his waistline now is 34. The washroom has improved from November, when it was flooded. It is borderline clean, not as smelly as Delifrance Insular.

Mike had regular donut. I told him that I wanted a cold chocolate drink, so he got me cookies and cream. It must have been very chocolatey I was up till 2 am!

Is there anything healthy to drink at Krispy Kreme? Maybe I'll have the bacon thing next time.

Krispy was quiet enough for conversation, but I was kinda wary of the matron in the next table about a foot away, who wasn't talking and was probably listening to us. Greenhills is probably the least private place for me.

Many years ago, we were talking in Watering Hole at Shang, at the defunct branch by the escalator. Someone I knew was listening to us. He told me days later that he heard our conversation!

On the way home, I pointed out Italianni's to Mike. He said that there's no wifi there. He lives in Manila, his office is in Makati, but he knows Greenhills more than I do! Must be the San Juan Arena factor.

Mike wishes that Ristras had wifi. What about Kopi Tiam, North Park and Smoke Daddy?

Krispy Kreme photos: c. November 15, 2009, Greenhills branch, with USB Video Device: Gg makes a peace sign; a customer uses her laptop. Last Tuesday, Greenhills, Canon: MA and the new concoction, cookies and cream. Today: Merienda at ICare. I like the box, as the doughnuts looks real.

Only to the Bonifacio Stopover branch

2010-04-25T01:24:00.009+08:00

Reyes Bonifacio-Bonifacio Stopover emailed me, in reaction to my saying that the Delivery 21 site does not specify the Reyes Barbecue branch:

"The site specifies the branch
Thanks!"

It does nga!

Dxter Matilla told me last week that his favorite is bangus belly at the Glorietta branch. He has never been to the Bonifacio Stopover branch.

Photos: My slogan, revised; longganisa and I can't make out what the other dish is, looks like pork chop (if it's pork chop, it's not available yet); burger?; this is supposed to be their sotanghon soup; a leafless tree is the backdrop of the grilled chicken ass sign.

Delivery from MOA to Trinoma

2010-04-09T22:26:00.006+08:00

Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover emailed me this link to Delivery 21, which is an extensive version of Taxi Take Out, which was limited in Makati when it was alive.

I noticed that the Reyes Barbecue indicated in the site does not specify which branches. I also noticed that the senior citizen's discount does not specify a cap which Mann Hann, Patisserie Caroline's and Kopi Tiam have.

Photos: I liked the tostadong squid, served with calamansi, eggplant and soy sauce. It was a bit rubbery because of the longer time that it was grilled, but Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover deemed it good enough to deliver, once chopped. RB-BS had refused to deliver squid before, but might consider chopping it if the customer would like, so it is still easy to eat when it reaches the diner. RB-BS is still using the tagline that I made for them.

Delivers to Bonifacio Stopover branch

Chinoy Eater in My Manila

2010-04-09T21:03:00.006+08:00

Thanks to Hilda for being irritated with me! Her blog has the best One Night Only photos that I've seen so far!

Hilda, I'm trying to remember how we met up again. Paz mentioned that you were working in Ateneo, I visited you, then emailed you about Alumni stuff then how did we learn about each other's blogs?

Hilda, you saw a lot of things! I just saw the food and Arnold Gamboa! I was so immersed in talking with you, Exie, Mrs. Martinez, and Mox, who I met in the Carnation Food Tour, and the Astoria execs!

I also realized, only after I got home, that I had not included the food name cards in my photos!

I remember that you liked a veggie dish the most because it was unique. Which one was it?

Hilda, I'm almost too ashamed to post my photos here, after seeing your photos!

I found the creme brulee a little too sweet. I like the curly crunchy part on top of it, after the sweetness. I remember that Exie got a second helping. I'm trying to recall where I had better creme brulee. Was it at Glass House in Malate, in the pre-blogging era?

I was surprised with how good the food was at Astoria Plaza. Maybe I was expecting something like the just-ok food at the Balai Isabel leg of the Carnation Food Tour.

The bun thing was unique, but I would have preferred the stuffing without the bun! The fish on toast (photo not in this blog post, maybe in a future one) was probably the best savory dish in terms of taste, but the most difficult to eat for me, so it's not something that I would get seconds of.

There was so much food variety for cocktails, I was still eating after the presentation was over. As usual. Half of it would have sufficed. I really appreciate the GC, but my suggestion to Astoria is to allot the budget for some of the dishes and the laptop bag to raffle off plane tickets, since my PAL ticket cost me only P 1,400+ roundtrip.

I wondered why, with all the space, why we were standing instead of sitting. I guess Astoria wanted to keep the party short. I was surprised that my legs held up throughout the affair.

Hilda, I only realized after reading your blog, that I don't seem to have a photo of you and Exie, or you and Boy Abunda!

Hilda, thanks, too, for going to One Night Only. I wouldn't mind inviting you to future events if you keep showing up!

What is Sibut?

2010-04-09T16:39:00.008+08:00

"What in the world is a sibut?" asks Thryza Navarrete, reacting to "Chicken Sibut."

Thryza, according to Heart and Hearth, it is a soup made of four Chinese herbs. I find it a bit bitter. It's usually black, but when we were kids, my mom would cook us the transparent version, which I could tolerate. It's supposed to have lots of vitamins, and my mom said that it would make me tall. Or did she?

Anyway, my mom is less than 5', I'm less than 5'1, and my dad is 5'8, or so he says.

I assure you, Thryza, you will not like it. You didn't like the tea in Teazann that I liked.

Remember when Faye and I told you that the best remedy for pasa (Is that a black-and-blue bruise in English?) is kong se tong?

We warned you that it smells bad. You went, like White Flower? I told you that White Flower is perfume to us Tsinoys!

I remember your telling me that you didn't want to eat veggies before. Well, we eat all sorts of bitter veggies at home, including one that my mom calls surot. I don't really mind eating it. I'm more turned off with soft veggies like patola.

When AJPS and I went to Trellis last Monday night, he was the first to comment that the ampalaya was a bit bitter. Our cook can cook ampalaya so that the bitterness is at a minimum. Still, when we ordered the saucy stuffed ampalaya, I had expected the bitterness, so I wouldn't have said anything if he didn't. To me the dish was ok naman, in my to-order-again list, if it were up to me.

A pointed out that ampalaya was good for you. I told him that the yummiest way to eat ampalaya for me was to eat the leaves along with monggo. He agreed.

I'm hungry, so this is the end of my post!

Photo: Trellis' famous sisig (good, but not worth going all the way to Matalino for), stuffed ampalaya and mango shake with cherry.

Quiet Places in Bonifacio Global City

2010-04-06T11:35:00.008+08:00

AMYC wanted to know where her group of ten can meet in either Serendra or Bonifacio High Street.

Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover suggested their resto, which has a function room, but A wanted either Serendra or High Street so it is findable. I told her that I had gone to Miss Desserts more than two years ago on a Saturday afternoon, because it was the only resto that passed MF's dessert menu read test.

RB said that all restos at Serendra and High Street are busy on a Saturday night.

A's group ended up on the second floor of A Different Bookstore. Why didn't I think of that!

*

Another quiet place: I went to Italianni's High Street on Black Saturday afternoon. I just wanted to grab some drinks and go home for dinner, but the drink choices were Figaro, Brothers Burger, Starbucks. Chudj wanted ice cream. What kind? Haagen Dazs, she said. We didn't see Haagen Dazs, buti na lang, as it is so expensive and overrated. I was also on sugar abstinence for Good Friday and Black Saturday, and did not want to be tempted.

Like A, I'm not an Italianni's fan but what brought me to the resto was the P 150 Bambino Pizza. Hey, at that price, even with charges--P 160+, it's cheaper than getting three drinks from Starbucks and company!

The menu had the usual expensive choices that Italianni's is known for. The Bambino pizza choices were Quattro Formaggio, Pepperoni and Margherita. We had Quattro Formaggio. Surprisingly good. Chudj wanted to order another one. Kids eat free at Italianni's and TGIFriday's on weekends. We had the so-so chicken popcorn, worth
P 200+, which our server recommended. Because Chudj cried, she got free strawberry Big Scoop ice cream, which we thought was even better than Haagen Dazs' strawberry, which tasted like preserve to me. FIC strawberry is still better, though.

When I told A about our Italianni's experience, she wanted to know if the pizza was big. I told her that there were four slices.

AJPS wants to know which branches carry the Pizza Bambino, and how long it will be available. He wants to go to Italianni's before he leaves this Saturday for his two-year contract in Singapore.

*

From Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover: "Was told by Mang Domeng they do this outdoor cleaning twice a week!"

Photo: new photos at RB-BS function room: butterscotch banana and sotanghon soup.

Reyes Barbecue Delivery Number

2010-04-05T10:49:00.006+08:00

Correction from Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover: The delivery number is 2121212.

Photo: Bonifacio Stopover grounds were being cleaned with soap last Holy Thursday. By the time I had taken the photo, the cleaning crew were on the rinsing stage. My friend and I were quite impressed! Have you seen outdoor grounds anywhere being cleaned with soap? A Landmark officer, whose family partly owns Landmark, told me more than a decade ago, that he saw McDonald's at Landmark being cleaned with soap every night after closing.

From MOA to Trinoma

Reyes Barbecue Delivers to Makati

2010-04-03T23:55:00.004+08:00

Email from Reyes Barbecue-Bonifacio Stopover:

"We can now deliver to Asian Eye.
Credit Cards are accepted via this number.

Check this link:

http://www.quickdelivery.ph/Delivery_Browse_menus.html"

RB-BS informed me last April Fool's/Holy Wednesday, that the delivery number is now 21212, as Quick Delivery delivers 2 every1.

Calls to the old number are redirected to the new one.

Photo: RB-BS' new bangus photo.

Thanks to RB-BS for lunch!

McDonald's Waives Minimum Delivery

2010-03-16T23:37:00.002+08:00

Got this email:

"Want food delivery just for you? You can now order your McDonald's favorites just for yourself.

There are no more minimum food purchase orders at McDelivery. Whether you're ordering your McDonald's favorites for yourself or an army, the delivery charge is fixed at only Php 40. No more 10% delivery fee.

Big Mac or small fries, no order's too tall. There's only one number to call 24/7: 8-McDO (or 8-6236) or log on to www.mcdelivery.com.ph.

McDelivery 24/7 is starting off in the following areas: Metro Manila; Antipolo; San Pedro, Laguna; Laguna Bel-Air; Tarlac; Lipa, Batangas; Cebu and Davao.

Any order, McDonald's delivers.

From your friends at MunchPunch"

Learned this from Efren, maybe a month ago, was it? Anyway, did she also mention an amount when the delivery is waived?

Pancit Delivery, Katipunan

2010-03-11T22:56:00.005+08:00

Regarding Efren's inquiry, I found Lola Idang's online, but the number indicated in the forum is no longer in service.

I tried to check with Red Ribbon Katipunan, but the 8-7777 number automated voice message said that it's open only from 9 am to 9 pm. The munchpunch menu lists the palabok at P 561 for 8-12 persons, 10% delivery charge inclusive.

Photos, c. December 12, 2009: luglog and sagut gulaman at Milkyway Greenhills, my favorite.

Red Ribbon, Jollibee and Goldilock's palaboks

Wake Food at dela Strada

2010-03-11T17:21:00.007+08:00

Our condolences to Efren, whose cousin Maribeth, whose mom is Pining, was murdered in Fairview. Efren asked me the name of the chicken dish in what she thought was Village Gourmet, but which I later found out is Village Pantry. Too bad I didn't name the chicken dish in my post.

She's also looking for a place that delivers pancit to dela Strada, pwera Malabon. I guess MPOO would be the expert on this.

My photos for this post were taken at mag:net cafe Bonifacio Global City, because there's a mag:net at Katipunan: tinapa rice with egg which my Canadian friends QM and CK liked the best, gambas with quesong puti that was good, a bit different but not great; the rare good sisig, surprisingly good because I normally don't like teynga. I still prefer the traditional sisig of Reyes Barbecue of Bonifacio Stopover, though. Photos taken by QM first week of September, pre-Ondoy.

Chicken Sibut

2010-03-10T13:53:00.008+08:00

February 7, 2010. I'm surprised that I haven't blogged about lunch or dinner at our house, which includes the yukky sibut, which I hardly touch--I could tolerate the transparent version when I was in high school maybe; our salad which includes yummy grapes, Unimart green ice, tomatoes, seaweed, honey mustard dressing.

I found this post that lists some Chinese herbs. Mb had given me a book on dysmenorrhea which listed some herbs. I had shown the list to my dad, who of course knew the Chinese, not the English names. It didn't occur to me then to use google--did it exist at the time? Yes, I remember that my mom used to buy native chicken--versus white leghorn--for soup. She would buy it from--Divisoria, was it?--where the owner would carry the chicken and know the weight before weighing it in the scale. After one demo, my mom would take the owner's word for the weight, without the chicken being weighed on the scale.

The Today Show (or was it Today Show Weekend?) recently--was it last week?--talked about how organic chicken is not more nutritious than the regular chicken, and also mentioned the price differences and the size of the organic chicken industry.

What is Sibut?

Two votes for Claire's Logo

2010-03-09T09:51:00.008+08:00

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 2:59 PM, [Efren] wrote me:

"Prefer the existing -- don't limit it to San Juan

your logo looks like pamangkin"

Thanks, Efren. That's two votes each for Claire's logo--you and LC, and new one--JTU and CM. I will change the logo according to the votes. Actually, both logos don't really look that much different to me.

I just want to have a niche, kase there are so many food bloggers out there, and my knowing San Juan seems to be unchartered territory for people like my dad and especially for people like Thryza, who is Taguig- and Makati-based.

For example, Shoot First Eat Later is a newer blog but she has 71 followers! I can't compete with her wonderful food shots! Plus she has traffic feed, blog rating, things that I don't know how to do yet.

I won't be limiting myself to blogging about San Juan, though. It would be like Henry limiting himself to shoes just because of the name Shoemart, or Kentucky Fried Chicken to just chicken. But they do have a lot of shoes and chicken. I'd like to do a lot of posts on San Juan, maybe more than the average food blogger.

Now that Shoemart and Kentucky are SM and KFC, maybe someday Chinoy Eater will be food tripping in SJ? :)

Ok, ok. What about "Eating in and out of San Juan?" It means that I eat in (home cooking, packaged food) and at San Juan, and out meaning restaurants and outside San Juan.

Haha! Chudj?

Would appreciate your counter feedback please, if you have any.

Chinoy Eater's New Logo

2010-03-09T03:23:00.011+08:00

Thanks to Mb Ting for revising Claire's original artwork! I love this new look even more! I took out my own text as Mb's new look is cleaner with the text that she put in. I've asked her to change the text to "Food tripping in San Juan." What do you think?

Thing is, I don't like noodles, and I can hardly use chopsticks.

Although I don't like eating fortune cookies, I have fortune cookie memories.

At JV's wedding, when my dad opened his fortune cookie, RKL said something about his stock investment growth. When AYL the derma opened hers, R went, You may not have beauty, but you can share it with others!

To which KKC said, Those are not fortune cookies, those are misfortune cookies!

I guess instead of chopsticks, noodles or fortune cookies, I would prefer crab, sweet chili sauce, broccoli, or Kettle Honey Dijon potato chips, photos of which are posted here. The photo is of steamed crab, I suppose, because the crab in gata was gone before I could take a photo. Now that's what I like even more than steamed crab, crab in gata!

Thanks again to Jhoey for encouraging me to define myself! Your comment helped me identify these images!

Kudos for the Chinoyeater Logo

2010-03-08T22:31:00.011+08:00

Email exchange between me and Shoot First, Eat Later:

"tagal na your blog. Just didn't expect it. kala ko kasi chinoyeater is a young guy. and your logo is huge and cute.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 10:09 PM, Chinoy Eater wrote:

Yup. Why wow?

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 4:44 AM, Leslie wrote:
wow you're chinoyeater pala! tama ba ako?"

Actually, this is not even my first blog, which started in 2006.

Why young? Because of the logo?

More email from Shoot First, Eat Later:

"I like your new logo much better now! Try to make it wider though to cover the width of the page. The measurement can be found at blogger's help page."

On Mar 9, 2010, at 12:01 PM, [Chinoy Eater] wrote:

Thanks, Leslie!

What do you mean? The logo's too big? I posted a new one na.

I appreciate feedback, a, especially from a successful blogger like you.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 6:51 PM, Leslie wrote:

You can resize your logo then upload to header again. So when viewers go to
your site di mabigla. My suggestion Lang :-)"

Incidentally, Leslie, do you liken yourself to a panda?

The two Chinoy Eater logos that Claire made

Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodle House

2010-03-07T23:16:00.006+08:00

The resto that I was referring to in Restaurants that are not Green Maris is Tao Yuan.

Incidentally, CM recommended Orchard Road because it is like Makansutra, another resto that my family and I have not been to.

I am happy to report that my dad asked me where I wanted to eat tonight, so one resto is off the To Eat with Family checklist. When I smiled and suggested >Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodle House, to my dad, he asked me where it is. When I said, Abad Santos, he commented that it was so far. I smiled again and started to say that it's near Wilson, but he realized by then that it was near Alex III.

My dad asked the driver to work overtime today, because of parking. I didn't know if the parking lot was guarded. When we got there, the parking lot was gone, a building being constructed on it.

So the driver parked the car on the side street near Serenitea, going to North Park.

When I told my sister the name of the resto, she knew that it was near Ristras. We arrived between 6:30 to 7. When they arrived around 7 pm, they got a parking slot in front of the resto. The guards seemed quite alert, directing people where to park.

My dad was pleasantly surprised that there were no parking places available, as it meant that the resto had a lot of patrons.

My mom and my sis liked the century egg, which my dad would have nothing to do with. The century egg was the only thing that we had two orders of. My mom also liked the chicken noodle soup, declaring the noodle different. My sis and I preferred the shrimp chow mein, as the noodle was more different than the chicken noodle, and it had zucchini, onions, peppers. The noodle dishes were a bit spicy. My sis wanted to take home a non-spicy special beef soup, but the waiter warned us that it was bland, so my sis decided on a braised beef soup, which she thought of ordering when a waiter mistakenly brought a dry (but saucy) braised beef to our table.

The sour beef tendon that Efren and I liked on my birthday was the least liked among everything we ordered tonight.

My sis said that everything else was ok naman.

We also had bean curd skin and seaweed, both of which were sour. My mom especially liked the seaweed.

My dad liked the steamed pork dumpling more than the deep fried lamb dumpling, because my dad preferred his dumplings sauteed, not deep fried. I agree with him about sauteeing. My sis preferred the lamb dumpling, as it was juicier. My pork dumpling seemed juicier. I remembered dipping the dumplings in the century egg or tendon sauce for added flavor, as the only dipping sauces were soy and chili.

We had a hard time divvying up the dishes, with repeated requests for spoons, chopsticks, forks.

My dad wants to go back.

I'm still waiting for Thryza or Efren to send me our photos.

My Dream Resto

2010-03-05T16:18:00.005+08:00

Gourmand Tales wants to know what my dream resto is. This is my reply, which I emailed to him:

"grabe! i love your question!

my resto will be like Secrets of the Masters. me dif chef every week, or every month, so the diners can expect a different menu each time they go. everyday is different. tapos yung talagang type ng diners, i'll ask the chefs to cook extra days. pero syempre these chefs have their own restos, so maybe the up-and-coming chefs, mga honor students ng ISCAHM siguro. tipong the talented chefs who don't have the funds to put up their own restos, o hindi nila type mag-manage ng resto, they just want to concentrate on their craft.

me locker sya for the special tools of each chef, like knives, melon baller ba yun? or the resto can provide for them, pati expensive coffee machine.

tapos kung me machine na binili ng resto, na hindi nagamit for six months, ise-sale o auction ko

mabilis kase akong magsawa e

maybe healthy, Asian pero masarap na start. like black chicken soup, or Seoul Seoul's ginseng soup na mas masarap pa. me shabu-shabu na malinis, relaxing, classy. to ensure freshness, the ingredients will not be a lot, but revolving. if the food is healthy but not good, it doesn't make it to the menu. there will be talks from nutritionists, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, endocrinologists, on which items on the menu are healthy, and at what quantities for which weight range.

i want a resto that charges about P 200 per person, in Makati CBD, where people can go for meetings, with wifi.

my dream resto will also have plants, waterfalls, animals, playground."

Photos are healthy but yummy lutong pambahay, I expect the chefs to come up with more creative dishes: turbo chicken and sauce, steamed crab, fish lumpia. 3ima's garden.

Reacting to Chinoy Eater's New Look

2010-02-25T15:44:00.006+08:00

Email from Efren: "Bakit paramg [sic] galit at hindi nasasarapan sa pagkain ang pic?" (referring to this logo)

Let me clarify, Efren. The left side of the artwork I posted here is the existing look that CM made. The one on the right is the proposed new look, that Mb came up with. The artwork that accompanies this post now is Mb's revision. We both don't know how to post the new look. Our batch tech guru Jinkee Umali has given us advice on how to do it:

"Kse your design will based [sic] on the template that you will get with wordpress if this can be accomodated [sic] or not...

If not, you will really customize everything...

Anyway, Anton knows about it....

Like for example, Ana choose a woo theme template from wordpress (http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=f0101) and assist her by changing the background and the avatar she have...

You can check http://sexandsensibilities.com/ for the new look...Again, this one is based on the template she got with wordpress...

Hope I make you understand what we mean..."

I've asked my Tech Partner Joy Uy to look into it.

Incidentally, CM likes the new look: "gusto ko siya parang mala asian food channel siya."

I'd like to thank CM again for making the existing look. It's easier to revise than to think of an original artwork from scratch. She has also been gracious enough to accept all the comments about her complimentary work.

BTW, doesn't the existing look like an existing logo of a Chinese resto or something? I saw one recently while I was driving, but I forget which one it is now.

How do you guys like "taking you on a food trip?" I think that I would like the artwork and text to convey what is unique about me, as in "The San Juan Tsinay Taste." Jhoey Hernandez, Pinoy Organics Founder, said that she liked the distinction between a Makati Chinay from a Binondo/Banawe Tsinay.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!

Big Mama's Place Writes Chinoy Eater

2010-02-25T15:25:00.004+08:00

I got this email:

"Hi. Thanks for dining at our restaurant! :) It's unfortunate that you were not able to enjoy our Chinese New Year buffet last February 14. Hope you could visit us this Sunday, as it will be the last Sunday with our anniversary month buffet offer. Would like to inform you that we have opened a 2nd floor to accommodate more diners every Sunday buffet. Do let me know that you are [who you are] so I can personally thank you for spreading the "buffet offfer" of Big Mama's Place! :)

Cheers!

PS. Please inform your friend that Big Mama's Place is closed every Monday. Thank you."

Well, I tried to persuade my parents to eat there again last Sunday, but they felt that Big Mama's had too few customers, not a good sign. My mom suggested that I go with my Big Mama's informant and companion, Efren. So it's bad to go to a resto with few customers, but ok for your daughter to go there?

Our family ended up in Green Maris. I plan to come up with a list of Restos That are Not Green Maris, post it on our ref, then here in Chinoy Eater.

Big Mama's, thanks for you email but I have no plans of introducing myself. I would like to be treated like an ordinary customer, unless you are planning to give away GCs (I'm a cheapo!). What I would like, is to be informed of anything new at your resto.

Chinoy Eater's New Look

2010-02-24T15:51:00.003+08:00

The existing and proposed looks of Chinoy Eater. This whole image is courtesy of Mb Ting. She also designed the proposed look. What do you think? JRU said that sana, we had used a template. How do you do that, Jinkee?

Clawdaddy ribs and crab lunch beats buffets

2010-02-22T06:10:00.009+08:00

Mynthe, thanks a lot for your detailed comment which I saw only now.

I never went to Kamay-Kainan, even though a classmate NOH went to the Greenhills branch, because of food poisoning rumors. The buffet price was so low for shellfish! The place is now occupied by Tangerine. NOH is now based in Canada. La lang.

But since you survived Kamay-Kainan, maybe it's a branch thing and I can still give it a try.

I've been to Cabalen Glorietta and Cainta a few times, and I find their buffets' ingredients and cooking are not as par as Kamayan's. The lechon, for one, is old, not crunchy, at all. The rest of the food tastes reheated. The only reasons why I go to Cabalen are because my client requested it or when I'm a guest. My cousin from HK, BK, though, loves the talong at Cabelen Glorietta.

I'm interested in trying Red Crab someday, because of my good experiences with Clawdaddy and Crustasia, and despite finding an insect in our food at Ray and Pete's Texas Smoke 'Em last October! Wait a minute, didn't we go to Red Crab at Podium before? The crab was pretty good (the other dish was good, too), so good that we wanted to go back and felt bad that it had closed down that we went to Crustasia Thai Shrimp House and Clawdaddy since they were sister restos. However, I find that buffet is not Crustasia's strong suit. It's just acceptable, nothing exciting, just something different from the usual Triple V buffets. I would only eat Crustasia buffet on a Friday like when I went there one time with a client, because the ambience is zooish at Shang restos on a Friday. We ate at the corridor area. Also, the buffet is way inexpensive compared to eating a a la carte, which is divine. CYdA said that just the crabs make the buffet worth it. I always loved crabs, whether cooked at home or in Gloria- or Green Maris (we went to Green Maris last night), but Crustasia's overcooked version is just ok. Ok, ok, come to think of it, around P 500 for buffet at Crustasia is worth it compared to eating a la carte which costs a few thousands per head. But it seems pricy compared to yummy oysters at Somethin' Fishy.

Better than all these buffets is Clawdaddy's P 1,000 ribs (no choice of cooking, but you can choose your sidings) and crab (your choice of cooking) lunch. Our intelligent and efficient server said that we two, Efren and I, were the only customers to not take home leftovers, because we finished everything! Efren claimed that I had eaten most of it, which she thought was funny since she's probably twice my size and I didn't object to her comment! I only wish that we had gotten more than one bucket, since the place was not even half full when we went on a Tuesday.

A la carte is way pricier but of course, good, with greater variety! I wouldn't mind going back for the ribs and crab lunch again, with a different crab dish.

Photos: Crustasia: turon, mango and another indistinguishable gelatin dessert, lumpia and salad Clawdaddy: bib on me, we chose broccoli and sweet potatoes in applesauce (I think) to go with our ribs.

Thanks to MF for the Crustasia photos.

Not Green Maris

More Chinese than Valentine

2010-02-20T23:39:00.006+08:00

Anton Diaz asked his readers in an email: "I'm curious, how did you spend this biggest weekend of the year?"

First of all, the biggest weekend of the year for me would be somewhere near New Year and Christmas.

Last February 14 was more Chinese New Year than Valentine's for me, with family lunch and dinner, and viewing about 4,000 wedding photos that gave 3ima, my mom and me headaches! :) It didn't help that I didn't know how to configure the slideshow speed, so it was running at a default of 5 seconds per photo. Using his phone calcu, LdA later computed the time it would take to view them, and came up with days! CYdA said that he was tired. I had too much of a headache then to do my own calculations. Days later, I came up with 4,000 photos x 5 seconds = 20,000 seconds. At 6,000 seconds, that would mean 100 minutes, or less than 400 minutes, or 333 minutes, or 5.55 hours, or 5 hours and 33.6 seconds. Actually, 3ima and my mom only looked at photos for about an hour or two. I finished viewing them after dinner, dreading L's calculation that I would be in our living room for days!

The photos took so much time we didn't have time to play Cranium, which KKC brought on my request, and left with us to play with someday. I thought of Cranium because of THR, who thinks that I must look like a ref after reading Chinoy Eater.

Unfortunately, I thought of taking photos only after we had eaten. My dad left San Juan for Farmers Market at around 4 am to buy crab. He told Uncle Arsenio that he goes to Farmer's earlier every year, just like the other shoppers.

I asked 3ima, who chose to sit next to me, if she was "ready," meaning, if she was prepared to eat crab. She had popped Claritin about twenty minutes before lunch, so I teased my dad if we were inviting her over, that we better have crab ready.

Photos: strawberry; honey mustard dressing, tomatoes, olives which I didn't like, thousand island dressing, strawberry, lettuce, crab, crab sauce; crab and strawberry; chicken tinola; fish-shaped tikoy from Uncle Arsenio, who said that we could eat the tikoy as it is, without cooking it. My dad said that fish means prosperity. C said that, according to her ma-in-law, that all tikoys nowadays can be eaten raw. Cooking it with egg was ok, too, he said. Chudj and I had it after dinner. It was rubbery, bland. Di bale, cute naman. And there's always the cooking solution.

Uncle Arsenio gave out two tiger statues to the kids. Robert commented that the statue looked like a mouse. Uncle Arsenio agreed.

To our surprise, Uncle Arsenio also gave us, kids and adults, ang pao. My dad later told us that it was Chinese tradition to give ang pao to the singles, and not the married ones. You mean, I asked my dad, even if you're single at 70, you still get ang pao? Yes, he went. AYR teased my dad, that since she didn't have kids, that my dad should give her ang pao.

I know, we had Western and Pinoy food for Chinese New Year. I really wouldn't mind having scallops, shrimp with sweet sauce or with peas and quail egg, sweet and sour pork or fish, spareribs, oyster cake next year. Well, if we had gone to Big Mama's...

The only Chinese thing we had, aside from crab, was my request, bamboo shells. Both the crabs and bamboo shells were sold out, lunch and dinner. The crabs were done two way, the usual way, and with with a little gata and curry. C said that the curry crabs were good, but it meant washing one's hands after eating them. When my dad told C to go on eating, she said that she had no plans of stopping. It was getting late, Chudj had school the next day, but C wanted to eat some more. My dad suggested that she bring some food home, which she refused to do.

The lunch conversation was about my classmate Germaine, who died of pneumonia. Her mom postponed her trip back home because Germaine had been sick for a month but too busy to see a doctor. Her mom felt that it was time for G to go to the hospital. G's UTI and another doctor said that she could go home. Her pneumonia doctor said she had to stay and use the bed pan. She refused to use the bed pan, walked to the washroom. When she got back to her bed, she had a heart attack and died. RKLdG told me this story.

3ima said that G's aunt had called her up, crying so hard that she couldn't talk about G much. I asked Germaine's brother Matthew to confirm their aunt's name, and he did.

On a lighter note, Robby said that when they went to a wine shop in New York, the salesman said that, for his father-in-law, he should get a wine that's worth at least $ 200. For his father, a $ 20 wine is ok. Robby surrendered his credit card to the salesman after that.

Big Mama's Place Buffet

2010-02-16T23:39:00.014+08:00

We interrupt regular programming to bring you this piece of news, which I learned from an email that Efren had forwarded to me.

I told my parents that it might be a good idea to celebrate Chinese New Year there. My mom thought that Big Mama's is too small. I thought that that's the great part, that we could reserve the whole place for the clan. She thought that since Big Mama's is probably not used to this volume of people, the service might not be great, so we had Chinese New Year lunch and dinner at home.

Efren and I went to Big Mama's once, and found the food good, inexpensive. The service was friendly and knowledgeable. There was only one other table of customers. When we arrived, there were no cars parked in front. A sign said that there was parking also available on the side street. Efren's driver took it to mean that parking was not allowed right in front of Big Mama's, so he parked across the street.

When Efren and I moved to Patisserie Caroline's for dessert, we saw the same customers there! I wonder if they followed us! :)

January 10 photos: Patisserie Caroline, including their calamansi dacquoise. Brought the cake to my Isang, where it got lukewarm reviews, like "not sweet." CMZ asked me where it was and said that she and PV have been trying to go to Big Mama's, but that it was always closed whenever they went. I faxed her Big Mama's flyer.

Caroline's

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test

2010-02-11T16:25:00.007+08:00

I got this email from my pulmonologist Dr. Gwen Agra:

“hi [Chinoy Eater]. your cbc and sgpt are ok, so you can continue taking the meds… which should be taken for about 4 months…

regarding your sugar… in as much as it is within normal (altho you said you took water beforehand?), your “average” as reflected by the HbAic is a little bit elevated… i think we should do an oral glucose tolerance test. i am sorry it is a bit inconvenient ha ( i had to do it twice when i was pregnant…) but that would really determine if you have a tendency to get an elevated blood sugar… if you pass with flying colors then i don’t think it should have any effect on your food blogging… “

After I checked out WebMd, I wasn’t scared anymore. It doesn’t sound painful, just not gourmet.

Anton Diaz had warned us in class that all food bloggers have diabetes or some other condition, so he said that he runs. That kinda woke me up, but not enough to do any kind of regular exercise alone.

Incidentally, Dr. Gwen Agra says that she knows that I'm well when I have a lot of blog posts. When I told her that I was nauseous, she teased me that I eat so much kase.

Wifi in Makati

2010-02-09T12:08:00.007+08:00

Below are the edited email exchanges between (yes, between, not among :)) my classmates and me:

"Chinoy Eater:

show details 7:51 PM (16 hours ago)

Chili's Greenbelt sounds great, because it has clean washrooms. We can share one order, since we eat like mice. Except me. :) Easier for G to join us. Wetamenet. I just realized that Chili's tends to be dark and noisy at night, di ba?

Kung pumalya man sa Chili's, we can hop to one of two Via Mares siguro, since I saw online na me wifi sila.

I've tried Seattle's Best Valero's laptop plus direct-connection internet, for minimum purchase of P 250. I suppose that the place would have wifi, as I see diners with laptops there. Washroom is so-so.

Figaro Palanca has wifi most of the time, sometimes it is down. Haven't tried it. No washroom yata, building washroom siguro. There's a Figaro in Greenbelt din, same building as Red Box.

Starbucks Greenbelt 1 has no wifi. I just went there last month. Baka you need to purchase a card, I didn't check.

My client used the Delifrance Insular wifi. She said that the connection was cut off before the allotted time, but it was close. Mga one hour yata, no minimum purchase, I think. She just had brewed coffee So-so CR, not as clean as when I blogged about it here. Dito na lang since tried and tested na?

I'm going to 88 Corporate later, I can ask the Figaro there, but won't have time to test it, though.

Sorry, I've only tried wifi in Megamall (Cocktales, none in the department store), Podium (better in one floor than the other, but not as consistent as Megamall), Greenhills (Peri-Peri, Segafredo).

On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 6:33 AM, DdlR wrote:

Feb 10 sounds great. Chilli's at Tomas Morato has a good wifi. There is a chilli's branch in greenbelt one too. I guess they should also have a good wifi.

--- On Sat, 2/6/10, AS wrote:

Dear All,

Met with J earlier and we both missed all of you and are thus proposing a Maven Pressure Group meet up on [date, time]

Each person is asked to bring their laptop and internet connection as the main purpose of the meeting is to ask and share info on:

1. how to install feedburners
2. how to install google analytics
3. favorite plug-ins etc

Can anyone suggest a place with a good wifi connection for those who don't have portable broadbands?

Thanks,
AS"

After this email exchange, I spoke with DR, who suggested Starbucks Insular, where his friend tried the free wifi. DR also said that the Seattle's Best Valero's free wifi for every P 250 purchase is good only for thirty minutes, whether you use their laptop or not.

I was walking on Salcedo St. when I chanced upon the 12-year-old Caffe Ago-go's free wifi sign. It opens until midnight, and has an LCD projector. I asked a cute guy who was going in if he has tried the Caffe Ago-go wifi. He said that he hadn't. When I visted Caffe Ago-go yesterday, the crew was very friendly and said that they accept reservations. I was introduced to the crew member who had been there from the beginning. I teased them back to say that yes, the crew member did look like he had been there for twelve years. My guess was that Caffe Ago-go was about ten years old.

The menu that was handed to me said that videoke is free! Caffe Ago-go's number is 892-17-43.

Photos: Vietnamese coffee (like!) and iced tea at Cocktales. Yummy and light oriental shrimp salad, and red grape frappe (good) at Delifrance AIM-ACCEED.

Breakfast in San Juan, Metro Manila

2010-02-07T19:40:00.020+08:00

Aside from the restos listed in munchpunch, what are the restos in San Juan where you can have a good breakfast?

I have only blogged here about Cafe Ysabel and Flapjacks here. I didn't like Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Bizu, and they were expensive to boot.

She thought of Cafe Ysabel since she knew that I liked it, but I wanted to try a new place. So I suggested Las Paellas to RKLdG. She said that we can meet after the kids are dropped off at ICA.

She thought that meeting in Promenade would be a good idea, as there are bound to be a lot of breakfast places open because of the taichi and qi gong groups, which she suggested I try joining these groups, as I said that I was visual like her. By that, I meant that I prefer reading to hearing words, but I'm one of the least visual persons I know. Can't you tell from my photos?

My sister's father-in-law is in the group that does either qi gong or taichi in front of Fitness First. I'm really not a follower, so no aero (I tried it, lost the inches, and never went back), swimming (I can swim the four strokes and life-save), yoga (tried it once; beautiful for the first half hour) for me. I tried playing basketball with one basket and varsity members of DLSU and a girl from UP who could also play, so of course, that didn't work out. I tried roller- and ice-skating, but I couldn't balance. Walking combined with a little jogging is ok with JTU and Nexie the beagle, because of the conversation. Tennis serves are difficult, but otherwise, the little tennis that I played was a bit enjoyable. The squash ball's low bounce frustrates me. R teased me about running a marathon, which is of course out of the question for me. So the only sports left for me are badmin and pingpong.

I tried to call Las Paellas and Xocolat, at around 7:30 pm today, using the munchpunch numbers, but both were not answered after 11 rings. So do I trust munchpunch's listed hours, that Las Paellas opens at 11? For breakfast? I remember that Las Paellas stopped serving breakfast. R thinks that the whole floor has become a parking lot. I think that she was thinking of Connecticut Carpark

Munchpunch's list is not alphabetical, and includes Cara Mia Gelateria. So far I have not heard of Cara Mia serving breakfast.

Munchpunch's list is a breakfast list, because when I searched for "San Juan," the list was longer. The breakfast list excludes Gloriamarises, the sis resto Green Maris, Le Ching which would sound good if it had a washroom, Max's which Efren said serves good breakfast, Segafredo, UCC. And I seem to recall, from my visit there last December, that Alex III is now open for breakfast.

I wonder if Bangus is open for breakfast. I seem to recall that Casa Reyes is open for breakfast only on weekends.

Photos taken with JTU's guidance, at Greenhills West, including Jefferson St. Now that's fun, photography as a walking exercise, although it's not much of an exercise!

Related Posts:

Casa Reyes
mango cake
frozen brazo

Gloriamaris Wilson

Cafe Ysabel
lengua
longganisa and tortang talong

Banawe Meeting

Searching for Maki

2010-02-02T08:38:00.012+08:00

AYR got maki from Manosa, because maki is one of RR's favorite dishes. A asked me if Manosa Valencia was ok. I thought that she meant Masuki on Ortigas Avenue. I told her that I had heard from Efren something about it. Was it a cleanliness issue? AYR said that she'll just boil it twice. Anyway, before I accuse anyone of anything, I emailed Efren, who said that she didn't say anything against Masuki, just Chowking UN, where she did have a cleanliness ish.

Actually, Caymen can cook yummy maki, so maybe she can cook it when RR's coming over for dinner.

I googled "maki," and Jap restos pop up.

So I googled "maki mi" places in San Juan where A regularly goes to, Kalookan where A works, Alabang where R works, and Cavite, where A and R live. Even Quezon City, Pasig and Mandaluyong, since they're on her way to and from home and work.

For Quezon City, Maki Haus keeps propping up.

Actually, my favorite maki is the defunct Green Patio's.

Little Store is ok for Gg and me, but R does not go there anymore because it's not as clean as he would like.

I vaguely remember taking home maki from Manosa, when it was less than a year old, maybe in the late 90s. It was good for me. My dad didn't think that it was anything special. Thanks to DSU for craving about the Binondo Manosa, for more than ten years. The Manosa review is about a month old, too.

My research also yielded Ha Yuan on Mother Ignacia or West Avenue and Maxim's. The person who introduced me to Ha Yuan was the late Lilibeth "Beth" then Gacayan. We went to Landmark food court, and that was good! Good value too! I think that that's my favorite!

According to ClicktheCity, Ha Yuan has only Mother Ignacia and Tutuban branches.

Tsikot.yehey also mentions Han Pao. I used to go, by choice (sometimes it's the group's choice) to their Banawe branch almost every Sunday after badminton, for about a year, more than five years ago. I couldn't find their menu online.

I also tried to check out
North Park Alabang, since it has an extensive menu, but found no maki there. I couldn't find the menu of Kopi Tiam online.

My mom bought maki from one of her two favorite takeout restos (the other being Teriyaki Boy), Mann Hann Promenade. It was malansa.

A said that she has tried Mann Hann's maki, and agreed with me that it was inferior. She said that R's fave is really Mr. Cook's Garden (did I get the name right?) on Araneta Avenue, near where R works, but that he wanted a clean place.

I wonder about President, Mr. Choi's and Hap/Haf Chang, too.

Since I thought that A was referring to Masuki, I googled Masuki:

Tsikot

Masuki Ortigas

Banawe Meeting

Somethin' Fishy

2010-01-24T22:27:00.011+08:00

TG, how do you undo boldface? And how do you add photos from Flickr? I read the online Help instructions but could not figure them out.

Without understanding why, I just took Anton Diaz's advice and posted my photos in Flickr. Now I can't post them here. Thankfully, all the Somethin' Fishy photos are on the same page.

According to munchpunch.com, Somethin' Fishy's buffet price is P 345 for dinner, but doesn't say how much Sunday buffet costs. I lucked out with myfoodtrip, too.

From munchpunch.com, I learned that Somethin' Fishy is open 24 hours, so I called up 421-21-21 at 11:01 pm. I also got the number from munchpunch. The man who answered said that he was the cashier (I asked him for his name, which he didn't give me) and told me that the Sunday buffet price is P 395 for food, excluding drinks. After asking someone else, he told me that they can accommodate 400 guests.

July 18 Photos: furniture and P 60 Vietnamese coffee, both of which I really like, at Cocktales.
October 11 Photos: ok carbonara with their free fruit dessert, the latter a big surprise and more the star of the meal than the carbonara. I would order a la carte next time, though, since I've tried the free dessert and the complimentary tea tastes funny.

All photos were taken with my Acer Aspire One webcam.

Ortigas Center Food Tour

2010-01-23T17:27:00.041+08:00

A classmate organized some talks, including one from a classmate-Love Doctor at the Podium this Saturday. I'd like to propose to my classmates that I take them on a food and drink tour after the talk. Yummy, fattiest, P 50 (? if I remember correctly, this was years ago, though) sisig and P 8 gulaman at St. Francis Square, San Francisco Coffee (it turns out that there's a multinational San Francisco Coffee, although it's not the one we have here) ice cream coffee, Sebastian's ice cream. At Megamall, we can go to Sukhothai (I couldn't find it in the SM Megamall site, I think that it has changed its name), Mey Lin, Red Mango, Cocktales for wifi ambience, inexpensive Chef Choi at Megamall. I think that it was at Chef Choi where we ordered fried chicken with veggies. It was a small serving, but good value. The place was not bad-looking, a comfortable, spacious, quiet enough experience for the price.

Photos: Caymen cooked dried mushrooms, fish semi-fillet, onion, cauliflower, corn and tauhu. Too bad the bean curd was sour, but the rest of the dish was still good. Also: Arroz caldo, lumpia shanghai and sopas at Somethin' Fishy where JTU treated me for breakfast buffet this month. As in Unimart Coffee Shop and Via Mare, the arroz caldo was one of my favorites. JTU had wanted to eat a la carte as she had been to Dad's and another buffet the day before. I challenged her to eat a la carte after looking at the buffet! She reasoned out that she could eat a la carte portions at these prices. My dad wanted to know if there was parking: Cybermall, City Walks 1 and 2, Eastwood Mall, outdoor parking. He also wanted to know how much lunch buffet costs on Sundays and how big the resto is. Maybe I can answer his questions in a future post. I would have taken more photos if not for a supervisor stopping me. Is it really like that at buffets? The only time in four years that I've been stopped from taking photos was at Chinatown's Best Food. Anton Diaz also experienced this at a Chinoy-owned resto.

I explained to the super that it was for my blog, internet. He gave me a blank look. A waiter later told me that his super wanted to know why the former didn't stop me from taking photos. The waiter explained that it was free advertising, that he would read about how the diners enjoyed themselves at Somethin' Fishy. I told the waiter that restos would invite me to try their food so I could write about them. The waiter said that I should have told their super, and asked me if I had taken my fill of photos. I said yes, even though this was not true. I paraphrased what Anton Diaz had told us in class. I told him that it's not easy to offer their quality, quantity, service and ambience at their prices, as it has not been duplicated all these years.

I mean, you don't need photos to duplicate the simple dishes, the chafing dishes, set-up.

I tried not to be in the way of other diners. I would move whenever a diner was about to get food. It might not have helped that I did not know how to use the Ixus then, as JTU pointed out that I would move the camera close to my subject instead of adjusting the zoom.

I guess I could be more patient with explanations. I tried to go online, to show the super my blog, but Somethin' Fishy did not have access.

AYL commented that Somethin' Fishy's buffet was oily. Like JTU, she also said that there were no veggies. This surprised CYdA: veggies for breakfast?

Fried kamote, pancit do not count as veggies to them. J didn't want to eat the saba because it looked overcooked, which I liked better than saba on the soft side.

Bathroom was borderline clean.

Via Mare

Via Mare Landmark at Trinoma

Via Mare guinomis

Unimart tokwat baboy

Kamayan

Cafe Ysabel

Sisig posts:

Reyes Barbecue

Sidebar Cafe

Restos near JAKA?

2010-01-22T17:11:00.031+08:00

SK and I have a 6 pm meeting with DRB, who works at JAKA Bldg. I thought of meeting her at Swagat Indian Cuisine.

Any other suggestions? We need a well-lit resto. Happy Cream Puff? Starbucks Enterprise?

Photos: Vietnamese coffee and iced tea at Cocktales, pulvoron prize that AUY got from myfoodtrip.

I had gotten a cocoa at Cocktales along with the main dish, which made my meal less expensive than their packaged meals. It turned out bad, so I replaced the cocoa with the more expensive mango sago since they don't do refunds. Is it my fault that their cocoa was spoiled? Shouldn't I get a free drink? In the end, my bill was higher than their packaged meal. I only realized this boo-boo as I write this. I keep going back to Cocktales because their staff is very nice, not perfect, the place is quiet, it's near the Exhibit Hall and PLDT where I often went. I wish it on any place there are coffee shops e.g. Salcedo Village. One time, there was a brownout at home and I had a BIR deadline so I kept on going back to Cocktales. I ordered a couple of items for a stay of more than three hours. I even used their phone--was it Bayantel?--to make calls because there was no Globe signal there after Ondoy! I was jahe after a while, so I would go near the escalator to make calls.

I was really surprised to read online that Cocktales is owned by Fruitas, because there's a world of quality difference between the two.

One time when I was at Cocktales, an Italiana (?) (Aetang Ilokana?--a term that I got from an Italiana herself, not discriminatory, as I like Bianca Gonzales!) woman with an American boyfriend maybe a couple of decades her senior (I don't mean to sound judgmental!) told her friend that she didn't have load anymore, that's why she had not been in touch. She wanted to put down the phone quickly before her boyfriend arrived. I really didn't mean to eavesdrop, she was a few tables away, but she was yelling into the phone. It's that quiet in Cocktales!

Nangtsimis pa ako!

I was happy with what I ordered, maybe a Vietnamese coffee. Then Ms. Italiana said of her order, Mmm.

I agree with the perceptive clickthecity review that Cocktales has a mostly female clientele! I rarely see men there! And yes, I also love the quirky glasses and menu book!

I look forward to trying the board games that the clickthecity review mentioned.

Cocktales is a happy experience! Move over, Starbucks, Delifrance, Seattle's Best, even San Francisco Coffee!

When I went there for lunch with Gg, I think that she found the prices too high and she was not impressed with the fruity dessert. She had wanted to treat me for her October bday, but since it was close to my November bday, she asked me who was treating. When she told me how much money she had, which was lower than our total bill, I said that it's my turn to treat!

I agree with happyfoodies, the sago was undercooked, the fruity containers were eye candy! And Cocktales does listen to its customers, as it now offers spiked drinks!

AUY had emailed myfoodtrip for a Friday pickup of their prize, since JTU could not make it a few days earlier, the date when the pulvoron would be available. Leslie of myfoodtrip suggested the Monday after, so that it would be with another batch, that the polvoron would not taste good a few days old. I insisted on Friday, since JTU would be back in Vancouver by Monday. After all, doesn't polvoron have sugar and doesn't an Eastwood office have airconditioning? I asked JTU. Yes, she went.

ASUY had joined the contest only because AJPS had worked there. I turned out that he has relocated to Makati!

So much thanks to JTU, who didn't need to go to Eastwood, especially since she had been there this trip.

Leslie had suggested to AUY that she tell her friends about the promo, as there was another round. I decided to wait until I've tried it before telling everyone. Well, it looks prettier than it tastes. JTU only wanted the plain polvoron, no nuts for her, so she didn't get any. It turned out that there was a guide on the side on which shape was what. I liked coffee and regular, but less than the ordinary pulvoron you can get at Goldilocks and most anywhere else. Sponge Bobert bit into the rose-flavored one then left the rest for her mom. CYdA and I didn't like lavender at all. C said something like eating perfume.

Next time, myfoodtrip offers an unknown prize, be forewarned. Their P 1,000 prize is much better.

Cameras: Acer Aspire One for Cocktales, Canon Ixus 100 IS for the pulvoron.

Starbucks pressed coffee

Ortigas food tour

Seattle's Best Javakula

Delifrance posts:

mushroom soup, water with lemonade

Ladies' room which has become smelly since this post

Seattle's Best javakula and Delifrance water with lemons

Errata: Upo with Chicken

2010-01-18T11:25:00.010+08:00

Email from MPOO, on the Upo and Carrots post: "Will try making it at home."

Incidentally, I had said in the Upo and Carrots post that the upo was mixed with tinapa. Meya and Caymen said that the upo was mixed with chicken, as are the celery and carrots.

This recipe uses tomatoes.

Without my asking her to do so, Caymen eventually made the yummier upo with shrimp that I mentioned in the Upo and Carrots post.

Photos: lettuce sauteed with garlic, sigarilyas with shrimp.

Celery and Carrots

2010-01-14T14:19:00.012+08:00

ADG, reacting to this post: "Now i understand what u meant by : DID u read my blog...u mean all these foodstuff photos and comments uv been sending me IS your blog?"

Some home cooking veggy photos for EO, who I mentioned in atchara and Feeling Veggyish: yummy sauteed celery with carrots (November 22) and upo with tinapa, which I like fine, but I prefer my upo with shrimp.

Tita Angie's Atchara

2010-01-13T14:17:00.014+08:00

Thanks to AZ for the atchara. I hope that you can come up with prices soon so I can buy them for, say, my Uncle, who can only appreciate healthy things.

I slathered the atchara onto meatballs and other fried food. As before, it was neither too sweet or sour. I like it! Not exactly the veggie I can eat on its own when I'm suddenly hungry, but still, I'm glad that it's there. This post is for Eloisa, who I mention in Feeling Veggyish.

Experimented with different settings of the new Canon Ixus 100 IS hehe.

This papaya recipe doesn't have a photo. I would willingly send my photos over, but I'm too lazy to login at the site, especially after Anton Diaz told us that it should be easy to post comments at blogs. Tita Angie's is made of singkamas (turnip) and carrots.

January 10 photos include Tita Angie's packaging. I like the bottle with the bronze cap, which, I just notice now, has ampalaya (bitter gourd). The see-through, spidey bag stuffed with colored, feminine paper is lovely.

The Red One

2010-01-12T20:43:00.003+08:00

ADG: "Definitely, i like the red too. (as if i read ur blog)....pero the icing on the cake is the XIAO LONG PAO!!! YUMMMYYY!"

What do you mean, "as if i read ur blog?" You read just part of the blog post?

Chinoy Eater Logos!

2010-01-12T19:57:00.009+08:00

Thank you, Claire Maspinas, for surprising me with my logos! JTU and DDSdlR liked them! This blog is turning two, and to shift from no logo with cataract- and glaucoma-grade photos to having cute logos is crossing the border! J, D and TG like the red version, so it will go to the header. The olive green one becomes my Profile Photo.

Claire asked me what my blog was, accessed it there and then. We ended close to 5 pm, and by evening, I was surprised to find two logos in an email! She explained that the food in the logo is xiao lung pao, a food that I like.

Claire has agreed to some revisions based on Jhoey Hernandez and my feedback, but I can't wait anymore! These look pretty good to me na! I can always change the logos down the road when Claire is not too terribly busy. Besides, these logos certainly beat the status quo!

Sioti Hershey wanted to know what I was doing with a food blog, wasn't I working on another site for Maven?

Google Image-searched "Chinoy Eater" and got this.

The next post is also about the logo.

Goldilocks Mango Sago

2010-01-10T09:13:00.012+08:00

Many thanks for TG, for teaching me how to fix my hyperlink problem. It turns out that my links had two "http://"s in succession. Duh! I can't imagine someone like me knowing how to do something as cool as that!

G, would you like to choose the next post? Drinks or food? Under drinks, I can feature chocolate and Cocktales. Under food, I can talk about Annapolis, atchara, Clawdaddy, and egg. I'm only posting eight choices, something that I learned from Rich and Jay's online series.

Maybe one of these days, when I have something interesting to write about, and have no photos, then I can test TG's theory that text is viewed. Having said that, I guess photos attract another group of readers.

Incidentally, I have not mentioned that ED cooked the prawns, after seeing the recipe at the frozen seafood place in San Juan where she had bought them. I think she said something about boiling them in wine. This is an achievement for her, having not cooked for decades. Maybe she can inspire even me to cook. Prawn photo here.

Photos: my dad's favorite coffee, Culinary Exchange Jamaican blend, and Goldilock's mango sago.

I find Culinary Exchange coffee a bit sour. When I told CM that I love the Starbucks coffee that was served to me at her office, she also said that she finds coffee elsewhere too sour. My dad can't pick up this sour taste.

I had originally planned to be early to meet JM at BBQ Chicken, to hand over her order of stuffed chicken. But some other things came up (like Christmas traffic at dela Rosa!), and instead of being early, I was late instead. She wanted to meet me at Pancake so we can just transfer the chickens from my car to her cab. Since I was late, she let go of the cab and its temperamental driver. Apologetic for the inconvenience, I offered to wait with her for her cab, which she refused. Insistent, we tried the Sen. Gil Puyat and Makati sides. No luck. I offered to bring her home, since she just lived in Makati. She found her house out of the way, but I insisted. When we went to the Jupiter side, she said, one last try, and found a cab!

I decided that I wanted a drink, and not at Pancake prices. Was also in the mood for something light. Went to Goldilocks even though a Scrabble association president had agreed with me, that it's not a clean resto. She was referring to a Quezon City branch. I've been to Shaw and the defunct Times Plaza branches, both involving insect encounters. At Times Plaza, I had a roach leg in my halo-halo or mais con hielo. When I had it changed, I still got a roach leg, gave up without telling anyone in the resto then never went back.

This time, part of the dirty spring coming from the guard's podium was on my table. But no, no insects. I steeled myself for the inevitable exazh sweetness that one gets from fastfood. To my surprise, it was a bit sour, the sago a bit undercooked, just a little less enjoyable than the chilly mango sago at, say, a Gloriamaris. Congrats, Goldilocks!

This is the chinoyeater debut of the newly-purchased Canon Ixus 100 IS. Can you tell which photos were taken with the Ixus? Thanks to Anton Diaz, Gg and JTU for the back-and-forth advice.

Answer: I took the coffee shots with the Ixus, and mango sago with the Acer.

Chinoy Eater in My Food Trip

2010-01-09T10:03:00.013+08:00

I tried to look up the latest My Food Trip promo, and saw that this blog was listed here.

I was flattered to see that Chinoy Eater was sixth from my teacher Anton Diaz's blog, OAP, then realized that the blog listing was alphabetical. My Food Trip even went out of its way to do a write-up, although I would prefer my own blog description, which I am reposting here so My Food Trip can easily and hopefully cut and paste:

Not all restaurants in the same chain are alike! Reviews of restaurants in Metro Manila, mostly in San Juan and Makati, and also in the Morato and Ortigas Center areas. The 2008 and 2009 best lists have Sebastian's ice cream, Silk, Clawdaddy, and Crustasia Thai Shrimp House. Also talks about home cooking.

I yahoo searched Chinoy Eater and found that, aside from the main page, that this is the top result.

Photos: At 3ima's bday party: kinurat, lamb and "dessert soup", shrimp. At Efren's house: Fit 'n Right blueberry-grape, acceptable to me, considering the flavor, as it is not as strong as Welch's.

More 3ima photos: dessert table, salad and pulvoron, pancit, chicken with blue cheese sauce, Lolo Puti's morcon and Alex III barbecue

Yes to La Cibeles

2010-01-07T12:00:00.005+08:00

From ADG:

"All This talking of food from you and im salivating like the dog that Pavlov conditioned to do so at every ring of the bell...With you, its seeing in my inbox email from 22loy and there i go....YES, i agree, LA CIBELES was the best and i do miss the profiteroles ....Hmmmmm Slurp slurp slurping away...."

ADG, which profiteroles are you talking about? Tweety Bird? Thanks, ADG! Here's to more Pavlov moments in 2010! Very familiar with Pavlov, having been a Psych major for one sem, and being a behaviorist--practicing its principles on our niece!

Meanwhile, I'm posting a photo of 3ima's bday party last December 19: watermelon, Cathedral's window, Angel's Kitchen banana cream pie.

I hope to post more photos in succeeding posts, when it is technically easier to do so.

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2010/01/dearly-departed-food-i-miss.html

Restaurant Equipment for Sale

2010-01-07T11:19:00.004+08:00

Email from my Maven classmate Jinkee:

Hi to all.

Hope you can assist me with this.

My auntie is selling her restaurant equipments for only P 65k and still negotiable. The orginal price was almost P 160,000.00. All must go and must buy in package!

This is already a bargain price to those who like to start their own business.

I have attached some the pictures of the equipments and the list of equipments for sale with their original price.

Most of them are still brand new which was use less than a year in a fast food store at Isetann Recto.

Reason for Selling: She will be migrating abroad.

You can contact us directly if you are interested.

Jinkee Umali, 0919-3953606, jrumali@yahoo.com

Ollie Yutoc, floryutoc@yahoo.com, Tel No. 514-6144, 0917-5345947

http://www.alibaba.com/member/prefixengg.html

Dearly Departed: Food I Miss

2010-01-06T15:34:00.010+08:00

MPOO, Sweet Haven and Little House were better than Sugarhouse and Red Ribbon now, but not better than Sugarhouse in its heydays. The Tweety Bird profiteroles were really a class on its own. M, I regret not having given them to you. My mom said that the owner was a man who made them himself.

When I mentioned Tweety Bird profiteroles in a defunct blog, a stranger posted a comment that she hadn't heard them mentioned in decades!

I also miss the bibingka sold in White Plains. It moved to GSIS/SSS in Makati (?) because of the rule about not having any commercial establishments in White Plains. I wonder if the bibingka at White Plains now is this same bibingka? On its last day, I brought it to AFC, who wanted to know where I got it from.

Then there was The Must of Tita Lola, a sandwich with this block of something in it. Was it a combination of cheese and embutido? I think that the bread was like compressed with the other ingredients, but not like Wowful. Sorry, my memory is fuzzy. It was on Amorsolo. Was it Ash Creek or Mile Long? I shared it with my mom, who said that it was good nga. Her order was not good at all.

I also miss Sugarnut's marjolaine. This and a few other cakes are made by only three owners. The rest are made by employees.

My favorite cake of all is the fruit omelet from the Unson family. I tried to call up their cook many years ago, to ask for the price, but I never got an answer. Jaime Unson tells me that this is just for friends. It is brazo de mercedes stuffed with fruits in season e.g. kiwi, mango, so you'll know what the fruits are inside only after you slice it.

It is dense, heavy, and you need to order two at a time.

When I gave it to MTT, her family loved it. She gave one to her client, who also raved about it.

M's husband said that it was good, the first time for M to hear her Tsinoy husband say so.

When I sent over marjolaine to MTT's, her mom was excited, thinking that it must be good.

I told M that the fruit omelet is Miss Universe, and that the marjolaine is first runner-up. The first runner-up is important because in case Miss Universe cannot perform her role, the first runner-up becomes Miss Universe.

M's sis-in-law then went to Makati to look for marjolaine, frantically called up M, who in turn called me up.

At Sugarhouse's peak, it carried good marjolaine. And come to think of it, Red Ribbon's marjolaine is the only one that I like since Jollibee took over. But Sugarnut's marjolaine is still the best.

The other Sugarnut cake that we agents frequently ordered was Le Concorde, probably one of those cakes with secret recipes.

I had a colleague whose sugar was so high, eating Sugarnut's apple pie led to a medical emergency. Or two.

A former waiter of Sugarnut told me that their cakes are sold from a house in Dasmarinas Village. I was told that I could just knock on the door. I never made this attempt.

Now doesn't this look great?:

http://www.ayushveda.com/tipson/chocolate-profiteroles/

Calling my ISCAHM grad friends! Can't you make profiteroles for public ocnsumption?

Beard Papa, although good, can't compare! In its earlier days, Dulcinea was almost as good as Beard Papa. Which reminds me of La Cibeles, similar to Dulcinea, with less ambience and softdrink with ice crystals in the bottle. I remember seeing Paeng Nepomuceno at the Cubao branch when he was at his bowling peak.

Photos: Cara Mela AIM (not there anymore) dark chocolate ice cream--yummy!, Joanne's Kitchen's just-ok cupcakes, heated banana cake baked in a bundt pan, good but not addicting, which Perry served me at their house. Thanks to Perry for introducing Cara Mela to me! And pre-Macondray Amici!

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2010/01/red-ribbon-worth-calories.htmlm

Red Ribbon: Worth the Calories?

2010-01-05T12:01:00.013+08:00

Where do you go to get a cake at 10 in the evening? Efren got a Red Ribbon mango cake in Greenhills. By the time she had bought it, there was no need for it.

She asked me if it was worth the calories. I told her that I have not met a Red Ribbon cake that I like this year.

Photos: Casa Reyes frozen brazo, the yummy EDSA Shang chocolatey cake, dessert table at 3ima's belated party, which includes Cathedral's Window, watermelon which I liked and Angel's Kitchen banana cream pie. I liked the pie fine, probably the only Angel's Kitchen thing that I've ever liked. I've tried their savory pies and their famous mango cake. ADG said that the banana portion tasted like Gerber's. I disagree with her. Speaking of ADG, you've changed! You used to not want to read any of my blog posts. Is this your New Year's resolution?

Anyway, 3ima said that they're trying to veer away from sweets, that the cakes that day came from Chinabank and Metrobank. I teased her that she must have tons of money, for them to think of her on her bday!

BTW, I'd like to retract what I said about Sugarhouse strawberry shortcake. I tried it again, and it had the jammy taste. My starting point is the original Sugarhouse strawberry shortcake. As Pretty Woman would say, you can't change me back.

Sugarhouse this year is still better than, say, the other year, but I still won't eat their strawberry shortcake again, the way it is now. To cut down on prices, Sugarhouse can come up with a cake with a smaller diameter.

Incidentally, at our New Year's party, AYR brought up our family's hands-down favorite, the much-missed Tweety Bird profiteroles! Tweety Bird, please come back! As a service to society!

Also as a service to society, Burger King can come up with whole cakes, too.

Mentions Jack's Loft, Cheesecake, Etc., both of which are so-so to me:

http://seaprincess72.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/20-yummiest-cakes-in-town/

Sea Princess also mentions Goodies' tiramisu. It's good, but the mochamisu was the hit of my bday party kuno years ago.

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2008/10/red-ribbon-brownie.html

January 10 update: I mention this post in my myfoodtrip post.

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2008/08/red-ribbon.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2010/01/sugarhouse-is-back.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-of-2009.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-food-of-2008.html

Sugarhouse is Back

2010-01-02T13:08:00.009+08:00

At first, I thought that the V-Mall branch is really different, as my experience last December 29 was good. JTU wanted a salad, and I wanted a callos. Then she gave in, because she didn't want to eat both a salad and callos, so we shared a callos with rice. The callos was too salty for me, but it was ok for JTU. Still, it was a much better dish than my Glorietta experience. We were in Sugarhouse because she had her brother's printer fixed up with continuous ink upstairs. She didn't want to go far. Luckily, Sugarhouse had almond sans rival when we went.

On another day, we had knocked on Max's and Rack's, which had no sans rival. Goodies had no stock of it that day. I didn't even bother with Cheesecake Etc., as nothing there was good when I went one time. The Casa Reyes waiter agreed with J, that their sans rival was not the buttery one with nuts, it was a pseudo one.

The sans rival was good, brittle, not too buttery, the nuts crunchy and not bitter.

Anyway, ED pointed out that, don't all the cakes come from one commissary? I theorized that maybe the cakes in Marikina were old.

Then ED said that she was surprised that this year's shortcake was pink, not white like last year. Then I realized that last year's shortcake was not good, as it tasted like strawberry jam. If I wanted jam, I could just eat jam. I don't need to buy an expensive cake, with all its affiliate calories.

Photos: Casa Reyes crunchy chicken adobo, and turon a la mode, that I hope to talk about in a future post.

Here's the post on my disappointing experience with Sugarhouse:

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2008/11/sugarhouse.html

http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-275795.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2010/01/balanced-diet.html

Not Green Maris

A Balanced Diet

2010-01-01T18:09:00.014+08:00

Thanks to EO who said that I have a cool blog and that her favorite post is "Feeling Veggyish." Thanks to your comment, EO, I reread the post and edited out some repetitions. EO said that she liked the post the most because she's a vegetable person.

At the bienvenida that wasn't, Kuku Boy went back for sitaw with tsa tsay, and salad.

At our New Year's Eve party yesterday, PZ also went back to the buffet table for salad. AMYC pointed out that the grapes were good. PZ and someone else thought that they were olives and did not get any. He went back for the grapes. I'm still waiting for Alexis' photos. She had agreed to take photos of the food.

But my food life has not been exclusively healthy. The first food on the buffet yesterday was Ahia Tony's Sugarhouse strawberry shortcake. As I was hungry, I ate a slice. The guilt of presenting a sliced cake did not stop me. I figured that by the time I took out the cake, that the buffet would be in full swing, and the cake would look as cut into as most of the dishes.

The cake was moist and good. ED pointed out that there were real strawberries.

What's happening to Sugarhouse?

I had given up on it after MTT said that the cakes in Sugarhouse Theatre Mall were old. I had also gone to the Glorietta branch for an unremarkable, expensive lunch. Then RSFDS and I tried the cakes at SM Marikina. Nothing was good.

Then JTU and I go to Sugarhouse V-Mall this week because she wanted to eat sans rival. It was good, and so was our callos. I hope to post the photos here in a subsequent post.

AYR told CA to just get three crabs, which my dad and CA did, along with prawns and lapu-lapu, at Farmers at around 4 am. My dad said that when he would go to Farmers, he had to wait thirty minutes for it to open. Now he goes earlier and yet there are so many people.

When my dad and CA arrive with their crabs, etc., Meya goes, three crabs? Four crabs won't even be enough for you guys i.e. my parents and me, what more for everyone else?

So they went back and got three more, or one more kilo. CA said that the six crabs cost P 3,000+.

Still, I knew from eating at 3ima's that six crabs for sixteen adults wasn't enough. When crab was served at a party at her house, I did not get to eat any. There should at least be one claw per person. Last night, there were no claws left, so I had only the sauce, which got me itchy in the hands. But this will not deter me! I get used to eating crabs.

Tonight, we had three claws plus plus, to both my dad and my surprise. CA said that they were out last night, then said that she reserved the crabs for us, and that they were salty, anyway. Huh?

Anyway, yesterday, since my dad and CA were going to Farmers anyway, I texted my dad to get scallops, because CA cooks them well. He left his cellphone at home.

I hope to blog more about our New Year's party when I get the photos.

Anyway, speaking of sitaw, my mom said that someone thought that there was ground pork in the sitaw dish that we brought to the 3ima bday party. And Sakim thought that the cookbook would say that the proper veggie to use is Baguio beans, not sitaw. Anyway, we brought one Pyrex and by the time Uncle Arsenio and Aunty Mary came in, there was only tsa tsay left. My dad said that most people mistake tsa tsay for si tsuan tsay.

The post here talks about the harmlessness of MSG:

http://www.filipino-food-lovers.com/?p=55

AMYC gets Chinese resto syndrome, so I brought her to a Jap resto--non-existent now--one time when we were in Binondo.

3ima also reacts to vetsin.

The most violent reaction comes from NG. MSG is like Kryptonite to him, as it can make an in-patient out of him. ADG forewarns Gloriamaris, etc., about putting MSG in their food. The other acceptable resto for ADG is Italianni's.

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/feeling-veggyish.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/3imas-bday-4-jap-dressing.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/pancit-pancit-everywhere.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/chicken-with-blue-cheese-dip.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/pre-christmas-dinner.html

3ima's Bday 4: Jap Dressing

2009-12-30T11:09:00.008+08:00

Steven Spielberg may stop after the second sequel, but I'm stopping only after this post, as I've run out of 3ima bday photos.

The Jap dressing got mixed reviews. I didn't pick up the taste at all. Atsi Pilar said that the Jap sesame dressing was out of stock. Reminds me of the Family Feud question around Christmastime: what becomes out of stock every Christmas?

The pulvoron are wrapped in Japanese paper. When I opened one to photograph it, Atsi Aissa said that I'm so matiyaga.

I didn't touch the Red Ribbon cake anymore, as I've had it before. I've also not met any Red Ribbon cake e.g. Red Velvet that I liked since shortly before Jollibee took over.

Related post: myfoodtrip

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/pancit-pancit-everywhere.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/chicken-with-blue-cheese-dip.html

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/pre-christmas-dinner.html

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesesaladdressing/Japanese_Salad_Dressing.htm

Pancit, Pancit Everywhere

2009-12-27T22:24:00.004+08:00

This is Part 3 of 3ima's bday dinner. Atsi Aileen brought the pasta. Kuku Boy wanted to know why there were so many noodle dishes, and pointed out that we didn't coordinate.

For New Year's over in our house, our cook wants to make spaghetti and sotanghon. I suggested to her that she ditch one noodle dish.

Kuku Boy made lamb, served with gravy and mint jelly, which got good reviews.

Related post: myfoodtrip

http://chinoyeater.blogspot.com/2009/12/chicken-with-blue-cheese-dip.html

Chicken with Blue Cheese Dip

2009-12-26T18:31:00.005+08:00

More photos from 3ima's bday, namely, calamansi for the pancit, morcon, polvoron,and another pancit.

Related post: myfoodtrip

myfoodtrip pulvoron

Pre-Christmas Dinner

2009-12-25T13:15:00.006+08:00

This post is for Ahia Nono, who called up at 3 am his time to greet 3ima belated happy birthday. Why would he call up at 3 am when it's belated? Hehehe. Anyway, the party was moved to December 19 to coincide with Mimi's homecoming, but she was delayed by a snowstorm and had to come home from Japan via Korea. Like driving in Metro Manila. 3ima wanted to move the party yet again, but Kuku Boy said, tuloy na. Atsi Aissa had already told Ahia Nono that I had taken photos of the food, so here goes.

We had Alex III barbecue that night. Atsi Exal, the Jose Abad Santos takeout queen (Mann Hann oyster cake, Serendipitea) said that it wasn't Alex because Alex doesn's foil its sticks. Well, it was. A few nights after, my mom brought home Reyes Barbecue Promenade barbecue, which was better than Alex that night. Could it be that Reyes was still hot when I had it and Alex was not?

The Serrano chicken with blue cheese was the yummiest dish for me. At first, someone thought that it was the blue cheese that was smelly. It was the floral arrangement from Kaw Sim Kwa (dog/heart/kidney)Pao, which was exchanged with an odorless item with KSK's permission.

The hit of the evening was kinurat vinegar now available at S&R: strong, slightly spicy, not so sour. I used it as an excuse to go back and get more prawns.

Dr. Ayalin brought a fruity soupy dessert. Although it was in the dessert area, my mom mistook it for soup. I did not have any room for it or Lolo's Christmas staple, morcon.

Ahia Boy noted that there was no coordination, as there were three noodle dishes. I liked the one with black squid. We also brought Ants Climbing the Hill for Atsi Aissa, who insisted that my debt had not been paid. I owed her for betting that Adam Lambert would win yata. Or was it something else?

Related post: myfoodtrip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engracia_Cruz-Reyes