pancit nanaman!

On most Sundays, I avoid Greenhills like the plague. The whole shopping center may be undergoing a facelift, but the place is still an urban planning nightmare. Traffic and parking sucks on weekends, and especially now that we’re heading into the freakin’ holidays.

So I was sort of pissed that our mother wanted to eat lunch at Casa Reyes, another offshoot from the Aristocrat family of restos (by my count, there’s Alex III, Serye, and Reyes BBQ). I was hungry, in no mood to argue, and even more ticked off to find the resto full.

That turned out to be a blessing in the sky(!) because I suddenly remembered that we hadn’t eaten at Sun Moon Garden in the longest time.

Sun Moon Garden has been in Greenhills since… forever. We used to eat there almost every Sunday when our church was actually in the shopping center. And Sun Moon isn’t actually a garden. It’s really in the basement of Shoppesville, right behind the row of ID photo booths, where I used to get my ID photos done back in the pre-digital age. (Nowadays, I just shoot myself.)

Anyway, Sun Moon is known for its pancit canton and that’s because it has the best pancit canton. Ever. And that’s coming from the guy who’s not very fond of noodles and pasta. Hold on, I’m not sure if it’s actually listed as Sun Moon Pancit Canton on the menu. Basta. It’s the one with tender noodles that’s not so thin, yet not so thick (medium?). It’s got this tasty brownish sauce that’s not too gooey. Also it’s got a mound of vegetables and seafood on it. Like a lot of the Chinese dishes that have come our way, it’s a meal in itself. The small-sized order was just right for the three of us.

For nostalgia’s sake, we also ordered my favorite Fried Shrimp Balls. It was deep fried to a golden, crispy outside, nice and soft inside finish. It’s served with a more-sweet-than-sour sauce, and should be eaten with that.

Our only mistake was ordering the Deep Fried Lapu Lapu with Oyster Sauce. The fish wasn’t fresh at all. It was also an expensive mistake, being the priciest dish among our orders. We should have gone with the Oriental Sizzling Beef (something like that) that every table except ours seemed to have.

Since it's located in the basement, and because it's a Chinese resto, don’t expect much ambiance. Here’s a photo of the interiors, in all its fluorescent-lit glory.


Small-sized orders are good for three, or a hungry two, and average around P200. Except for that lame Lapu Lapu dish which set us back around 400 bucks. Sun Moon Garden is located at the basement level of Shoppesville, Greenhills Shopping Center. Tel. no 721-0856.

The Frisspoint literal hole in the wall

For all its hoity-toity weekend market for expats reputation, Salcedo Village still has a humble panaderia sa kanto like any Philippine neighborhood.

Turning left into Herrera st., coming from Leviste, you may miss the piles of pan de sal peeping out the window. That would be Frisspoint, your 24-hour basic food source – pan, lugaw and Ricoa Flat Tops by the tingi. Syempre, there’s cellphone load too.

My favorite neighbors go there to fill their late-night crusty & crumbly pan de sal cravings. But as I like my pan de sal chewy & heavy, I find myself there to fill hankerings for lugaw instead.

Frisspoint’s lugaw is one of the best cheap, non-resto porridges I’ve tried – savory from chicken stock and generous with the ginger. A truly comforting and full-flavored lugaw, not some half-hearted attempt to squeeze out a quick buck from left-over rice.
Lugaw is 15pesos with a whole boiled egg, 10pesos without. Arroz Caldo is 25 with egg, 20 without. I usually go for the lugaw, as paltry chicken pieces in arroz caldo depress me.

Apart from the pan de sal and lugaw, the staples on their whiteboard menu are simple breads like monay and pan de coco. They also offer a variety of siomais for four pieces at 40pesos. At 10pesos for each average dumpling though, parang it’s not worth it. You might also chance upon their chocolate chip banana muffin. It used to be a real treat at 9pesos. But they upped the price to 18 (Hello!), suddenly making it not sulit for the size. Sayang.

This morning, they had taho. So I had a nostalgic 10peso breakfast on the go. I love panaderias sa kanto.

(The Frisspoint window peeps out of Makati Executive Tower, Herrera cor. Leviste Strts. Or the corner tangent to the Leviste KFC. Or in front of the building with a 711/Gloria Jean’s/BDO. And oh, don’t mistake it for Frisspoint restaurant.)

Mochi Mochi

It doesn't look like much. But Magnolia's sesame ice cream mochi can do great things. Like cure PMS. Significantly promoting world peace.

It's made up of refreshing black sesame ice cream wrapped in translucent glutinous goo. Kaladkarin says it tastes like espasol.

It's good, really. I just can't seem to describe it appetizingly. Maybe I don't want to. Because I want it all to myself.



Magnolia Mochi is also available in ube flavor. But the sesame is much much better. P12 at Rustan's Supermarket, P15 at Mini Stop.

Yogurt Yum. Lets eat and be friends forever.

That's what I would expect to read on a Korean yogurt label. Instead, it says "La Ciel." Made in the Philippines but managed by Koreans. Which still doesn't explain the European sounding brand name. But who cares. Their yogurt is unarguably yummy and creamy. 2 flavors so far--strawberry and blueberry. P100 for a 500g bottle. Bit pricy pero sulit sizewise. Thank you Sandaraland!

Available at Kang's grocery, in front of Salcedo Park, and Happy Kitchen (or something). Basta yung 24-hour Korean convenience store along the road behind Caltex J.Vargas, Ortigas. Run and catch it for happy tummy love.

Hopiaaa!

Try Marby's Dice Hopia, available at Mini Stop in packs of 6 for P32 (I think). Soft, moist and filling. Heads up though, the word is spreading and isa or dalawang packs na lang usually yung naaabutan ko. Goes well with Mini Stop's Nescafe Freeze (better when not yet frozen, with a little added low fat milk) and Chow King's milk tea (without the nata de coco-esque jelly).

early morning delight

I looooove hotel breakfast buffets. But not because of the fresh-from-the-oven buttery croissants, rich but fluffy omelets or endless assortment of ham and sausages. I've learned that focus is key. Especially if the company outing tour bus is leaving in 15mins.

The Marco Polo Hotel in Beijing has yummy yogurt. Rich, creamy and not funky-tasting. Alas, I don't remember what brand it was. I'm not even sure if the label was in English. But it was good enough for my roommate and I to risk lactose-intolerant repercussions in the land of squatty-potties. (By the way, the yogurt in Vietnam is also very good. At may caramel flavor! Gasp! Yummm.)

I like to embellish my yogurt with chunks of mango and honeydew melon. Then I generously sprinkle cornflakes and rice crispies, drizzle a little syrup, and dig in. Mmmmm.

Back home, I make do with Nestle's Mango Yogurt (Not the 0% fat one. Bring on the fat! In yogurt, at least.). Mini-buhos ng plain cornflakes, and solb na me.

Yamazaki

Just because you appreciate fine (read: "expensive") Japanese food doesn't mean that hearty rice meals no longer hold any appeal. Just a few meters away from Seryna is Yamazaki, a grocery cum diner where you can find Japanese folks hunched over a bowl of ramen chopsticks in one hand and some manga in the other. This place is relatively cheap, fast, and quite satisfying. There's no sashimi on the menu but if you insist on ordering some, they'll source it from Kikufuji just around the corner. We've tried the gyoza, the katsu curry rice, and the saba rice - all under Php 180.00. Draft beer is pretty cheap, at around Php 30.00 a mug. And for dessert, just cross over to the grocery and get some yummy mochi ice cream balls.

Super Seryna

I think I'm getting more and more picky when it comes to Japanese food. It used to be that I could eat just any old piece of raw fish. I still can, actually but I've learned to appreciate the finer stuff.

What's great about Seryna is that each piece of sashimi I've tried so far has been fresh beyond reproach. I also enjoyed the Tako-su (octopus and seaweed in vinegar), sushi platter, assorted yakimono, and the kaizen. Sitting at the sushi bar, I could see that there were many dishes that I didn't recognize, and that got me really excited. And if there's an item that you don't see on the menu, just ask for it and they'll probably whip it up. Oh, and I heard they have fresh wasabi.

Seryna is located along the outside perimeter of Little Tokyo. It's clean, nicely decorated, and a bit expensive. A meal for one can cost around Php 1,200.00. But if you go lunchtime, you can get these really filling rice or noodle meals for just Php 250.00.

Tel.: 894-3855. It's right across Plaza Fair/McDonalds.

best thing since sliced bread

If a flavored potato chip got together with french bread and had a child, it would taste like Oishi's Bread Pan. Mmmmm... sarap! Comes in two flavors-- Toasted Garlic and Cheese & Onion. Seriously addicting. Also good to use in salads in lieu of croutons.



Available at 7eleven and Mini Stop at P8 for a 50g pack.

Grub Love

Want relatively fancy food at not so fancy prices? Check out Grub Club, tucked away at the 2nd floor of RCBC plaza, past 7eleven and Tapa King. Good bets are the grilled porkloin, pictured below, pork/chicken cheesewraps and grilled tomato basil and cheese panini.



But what I find exceptional about this place, aside from their art directed dishes and eager-to-please crew, are their desserts. They have the moistest carrot cake in the universe! And when I'm having a bad day, nothing cheers me up faster than their moist chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Mmmmmm... Except maybe the Devil's Food Cake at Chocolate Kiss Cafe in UP. But that's another post altogether.

Expect to spend P70-150 for meals and P50 for desserts.


Photo and logo courtesy of Grub Club manager Lee, who is straight and has a pretty girlfriend, much to the chagrin of the gay Makati yuppie community. Hehe. Peace, Lee! Please don't spike my food next time I eat there.

The Anti-Bollywood

Note: This is filet minion's post. It was misfiled under my name.

Bollywood Greenbelt 3 is the newest place-to-be that depicts the gaudy but chic, brightly cheerful yet mysteriously romantic, very exotic and almost erotic-- transporting you to an entirely different country south of Asia where not even high society fear to tread despite the possibility of rubbing elbows with the "untouchables."

I think “The Guru” triggered the Bollywood fascination among non-Indians, albeit not a full-fledged Bollywood flick (meaning, not produced in Bombay and starring the hottest Bollywood stars, not Hollywood hotties Heather Graham and Marissa Tomei with some homegrown American as leading man who can still copy perfectly his ancestral sing-song accent). Ever since then, I had been awaiting in anticipation the next Bollywood movie sensation. Strangely, one would wonder what makes Bollywood films so engaging when they are all so "formulaic": 1) always with silly song and choreographed dance numbers interspersed in dialogues; 2) boy-meets-girl and once you are led to believe that the fairytale romance is blossoming, some conflict will spring forth out of nowhere (or should I say, from the river Ganges); 3) but the cheesy plot must always finish with a happy ending (where, everyone, of course, MUST erupt into song and dance for the nth time). Quite reminiscent of typical 80s pinoy flicks actually, but I never did find ours amusing. How can I love Bollywood flicks and at the same time despise anything produced by Mother Lily?!? Am I just being unfair to the likes of Romnick and Sheryl when I immediately brand any movie featuring pinoy loveteams baduy?!

I digress. I have nothing against Bollywood in GB3. I practically fell in love with the whole ambience when I first dined there. It’s just that we must never forget that India, albeit overtaking us in outsourcing and is the new Silicon Valley of Asia, is still an impoverished country, so their food, no matter how exotic it looks or smells, can never cost even 1/18 of how much it is priced in Bollywood.

So lo and behold when my eyes serendipitously gazed upon this sign while the cab I was taking detoured from traffic and took a side street near Kamagong/ Pasong Tamo. It looked like the most enticing, most bogchinoypi-able hole-in-the-wall joint! So the next day, we scoured the area for about an hour in broad daylight just to trace it, and I was not the slightest bit disappointed when we found our unicorn. I entered to check their menu, and true enough, it seemed more appetizing with a delightful array of mutton, curry, basmati, etc. I think what piqued my curiosity the most was when the boy who was guarding the place during the day said: “uh mam, sigurado kayong gusto nyo kumain dito?” "Oo, bakit naman hinde?," I replied. To which he answered, “Ah kase mam, kayo lang po ang unang pinoy na makakakain dito, wawarningan ko lang po kayo na gabi-gabi po kase [Indian] o arabo.” Move over Bollywood, welcome to Mumbai, India!

So that night we trooped to Curry Kebab Place with our P200 wine in tow (no corkage fee of course!) And true enough there were at least 20 boisterous Indians drinking who were silenced into stupor at the sight of two pinoys, one korean and one white man in their erstwhile virginal resto. I thought we were violating the exclusivity rule of their private enclave, but they happened to be very much accommodating and even offered us their leftover Johnnie Walker.

The inside is very bare, like a cafeteria but airconditioned. They asked if we wanted to stay in a separate room, but we decided to be amongst the Indians hoping to get a better rate.

The 35 peso for two big samosas were yummy! So were the aloo wadi, the various paneer dishes, and the Mutton served ten ways. The servings for sharing were reasonably sized. For P120 bucks this was a steal.

By the end of the night we were a bit tipsy and asked the men who seemed like the owners why the Bollywood MTV was on mute. Finding out that we didn’t at all mind, is what started the festivities. The next thing we knew, tables were set aside so we could bellydance the night away to the sounds of Ice, Ice Baby remixed Hindi style. Of course, we (the only ladies) were each partnered with the elderly Indians. One stout and another incredibly skeletal.

Then they started treating our white male company to beers (SMLs are dirt cheap P27), and as the night dragged on, Stout dancing partner invited us all to proceed to “the real Bollywood” (his treat) where his son is a DJ and he is part-owner. We politely declined as strutting our stuff at one venue is enough excitement for a night.

My conclusion: if you want true-blue Indian food and the whole Bollywood experience, with your own booze too boot, then go to Curry Kebab on a Friday/Saturday night. If you want to pay 12% EVAT and 10% service charge over and above the exorbitantly priced tamely-spiced but aesthetically presented Indian food, and are hopeful for the remote chance of getting your left shoulder featured in Yaparrazzi, head to Bollywood GB3.

Curry Kebab is located along Estrella Street, off Pasong Tamo and is open until at least 12 midnight. If you want your food Indian-spicy, you must specify so beforehand, as the chef graciously takes the initiative of tempering the spice for non-Indians.

Nameless Pakistani Carinderia

There's this strange place along Angel Linao in Manila. It has no sign out front, no aircon, and no menu. You choose from the food items scribbled on a grungy piece of cardboard posted on the wall. Dine amongst the inebriated barangay tanods - beer costs around P25. The curry is pretty good and the chapatis are steaming hot. Kebabs come hand-rolled and unskewered.

After dinner, dessert comes in the form of videoke. Choose from English, Tagalog, and Bollywood hits and make sure you bring enough P5 coins to drop in the machine. If you're a pretty girl, bask in drunken and soulful serenade of one of tanods. The serenade really did happen, by the way.

have your cake and eat it too

Check out the chocolate cake at the bakery section of Robinsons Supermarkets. It's moist and fudgy but surprisingly light. Seriously, it defies the laws of cakery! It's so light that you can eat a fourth of it and not feel sick. Well, maybe a little sick. But it's soooo worth it. Especially since a whole cake costs only P385.

Yakiniku Senri

Something that always bothers me about tabletop grilling is the distinctive ulam smell that sticks to your clothes. No matter how well ventilated the dining area is, the smoke from the grill has to pass through you before diffusing into the atmosphere.

This doesn't happen at Senri, where their hi-tech tabletop grills suck the smoke as soon as fat meets fire. I woke up this morning and smelled the shirt I wore to dinner last night and any bad smell there was didn't come from the restaurant. I think it's those bentesingko sized holes that ring the interior of the grill that work the magic.

We've eaten in Senri only a few times and it's been good so far. You can't go wrong with the Karubi (beef), which I think is a safe first order. Also good is the Sangyu (pork) - it comes with lettuce, garlic, and siling pangsigang. I can't help but feel that I'm in a Korean restaurant with a Japanese feel. Karubi = Kalbi, Sangyu = Samgyupsal. Our current favorite is the Solty Tong (salty beef tongue) or its variation with Welsch green onion.


Senri also has very fresh draft beer. It's cheap, at P42 for about half a liter. The kitschy muscular mugs are kinda cool too. Just go visit to see what I mean. Oh, and for the month of September, each table gets a bottle of (Korean) Jinro soju for free. Mix it with some lemon or calamansi for a nice, refreshing drink.


The service isn't all that good though. While eager, the staff has a hard time answering questions. But this is forgivable, since they opened only last July.

Senri is along Pasay Road, across Dusit and beside some girlie bar. They're open until 1230 am, and they'll kick you out if you overstay.

Rainy Day Comfort Food

This rainy Monday afternoon, our office lunch/merienda lady brought over steaming hot champorado. It wan't as chocolaty as I wanted but a P5 plateful of tuyo more than made up for what it lacked in richness. La lang. Cheap thrill for the day.

Pirate M&M's

Ahoy there, chocolate lovers! M&M's released their Pirate Pearls to go with their Pirates of the Caribbean promo. The candies come in light pastel colors- baby blue, pink, yellow, and white. And if you look closely, you'll notice that instead of the usual m, sometimes you'll find a skull, ship or hook on them. Best of all, they're WHITE CHOCOLATE inside!!! Homaygad! Hoard bago maubusan!

Available at supermarkets and departments stores. I'll check kung meron sa Mini Stop and 7-eleven when I go for my Mine Shine break.

what I've been hoarding lately...

Ever on the look out for cold milk tea, I was happy to find out from karabau that you could get a perfectly good bottle of milk tea from the 7-11 at the corner. It's called Mine Shine and it's the best cold milk tea I've had since Wan Chai stopped serving theirs. It's no poor substitute either.

Mine Shine seems to have gotten the perfect milk tea mix right. The milk isn't too sweet as to overpower the subtle black tea flavor.

On their nice, classy, blue bottle, they've got the label, "Finest Quality Milk Tea." I'm inclined to believe it.

P36 bucks at 711. Gilmore's 711 carries it. And so does the Mini Stop near Salcedo Park.

Grill and Beer It

Aackk! Over a month since the last post!

I just don't understand why many of us, if given the choice, would prefer a bottle of San Miguel to a nice fresh mug of San Miguel Draft. Draft is meant to be consumed soon after kegging while a bottle of beer can be drunk even a couple of years after bottling. Now what does that tell us? Draft beer is fresher probably has less preservatives (I don't know if this is true and, while I'm generally curious, I am not about to do any extensive Marketman-esque research. We love you, Marketman!).

Which brings us to Yakiniku Heijyoen. First brought to the "team's" attention by filet minion, this Japanese restaurant serves free beer. I can actually end the post right here but I'll be nice and say a bit more.

On Sundays, you can drink all the draft beer you want. It's not buy one take one, or buy one take two, or buy a bucket of six for P100. It's simply order one, and another, and another, and another, and *burp* another. You don't have to pay for a single beer.

Their food menu seems to be designed with the beer drinker in mind. They have a decent selection of what I would classify as Japanese pica-pica. Each dish comes in a small bowl: uni is P50, edamame is P50, kimuchi is P50.

But the ultimate pulutan is the yakiniku. While not as good in quality as Sakura's, it is decent. I'd go with just the thinly sliced beef tongue, lightly sear it on the tabletop grill, and dip it in some lemon juice. It's cheap, at P200 per plate so if you order that and have four beers, its as if you ate for free! Have five or more beers at parang kumita ka pa!

For those who prefer bottled beer, they do serve San Miguel Pale and Light, but you'd have to pay for it. Why, oh why?

So go and get wasted at 2277 Pasong Tamo, Makati. Right beside Kikufuji. Tel. 888-2288.

The Mutant North Park In Cubao

Some sort of mutant North Park sprung up in our neighborhood in last couple of months. It’s called North Park Kopi Tiam and I’ve always wanted to check it out. I finally got to do that, when I had dinner there with my dad last night.

Just in case you think that it’s just the modern-Asian architecture and interiors that makes it distinct from the other NP branches, they have a very… interesting menu. While its menu still keeps some of the usual NP mainstays like lechon macau, salted garlic squid and congee, the rest of it is mostly made up of Japanese and Korean dishes. That’s sort of interesting since aren’t the Japanese and Koreans… historical enemies? Anyway.

While waiting for my dad to get there, I started off with an asado roll and cold milk tea. You can hardly go wrong with an asado roll but theirs was huge but had a lot of air inside. I was expecting something better and honest from an old reliable like North Park. But I was even more disappointed with their cold milk tea. The best cold milk tea used to be at the Wan Chai resto along Meralco Ave, but they’ve phased that out and I’ve been searching for a replacement. So far, masarap pa yung cold milk tea ng Chowking. In hindsight, I think the cold milk tea at North Park Kopi Tiam lacked that sort of sweet syrup that goes with restos that make you mix your own iced tea. Maybe they forgot to give it, maybe I should have asked for it.

(L-R chapchee, shrimp pajion, yasai itame)

Anyway, we got the following:

Chapchee - Korean sotanghon with beef and veggies. Spicy enough, and I like the subtle sesame seasoning.
Shrimp pajion – Korean pancake with shrimps and onion leeks. A bit too sour for my tastes, but hey, it’s probably authentic Korean flavoring for all I know.
Yasai itame – Which is Japan’s version of chopsuey. The vegetables were crunchy, and I liked it that the spiciness of the dish took time to fully develop on my palate.

Those were just all to share between my dad and I. For myself, I got khalbi (a.k.a. Korean beef stew). I have this thing for sesame (flavoring, seeds, etc) so if I have that, I’m good to go. My only issue with their khalbi is that I felt it had more litid (cartilage?) than it had beef.

Another thing that makes North Park Kopi Tiam different is that they have baked good and pastries. Aside from that airy asado roll, they have bola bola and cheese cornbeef rolls too. They have cookies, brownies, banana loafs and mamons. They also have a much longer dessert menu. In fact, they have cakes. My dad and I settled on their Moist Chocolate cake, which was definitely moist, and very, very good. It’s a family thing, the sweet tooth.

Looking at the menu, it feels like North Park wanted to serve every Japanese and Korean comfort dish imaginable, and decided to come out with a coffee shop (which is what kopi tiam means, said the waitress when she had to hazard a guess). Sounds confusing? A bit. But that’s what you get when you combine food from ancient and historical enemies. I’m still slightly hung up on that.

I’ve almost forgotten to say that, at North Park Kopi Tiam, they have steak. They serve porterhouse and rib eye cuts. They also have an Angus Charbroiled Burger, which I have to remember for when it’s a burger sort of day for me.

North Park Kopi Tiam is at No. 3 C. Benitez St., Barangay Horseshoe, Cubao, QC. They deliver from 1oAM-10PM. 722-7946 and 722-7948.

Best Rockwell resto yet

Well, it isn't really IN Rockwell. Just ober-da-bakod, actually. From Kalayaan, past Grilla, along the small eskinita with the iron-grilled fence separating the fancy from the not-so-fancy, you'll find SOMS-- arguably the best restaurant in the area. Oh, and it isn't really a restaurant either. More like a semi-upscale carinderia. 'Upscale' because they have waiters (and, I hear, a pretty waitress), incandescent lighting (or at least lightbulbs), and really good Thai food. How good, you ask? So good that tables are almost always full during dinnertime, and it is not uncommon to see Volvos, BMWs, and the occasional Porshe pulling up to get take-out.

Must-tries are the Thai milk tea, catfish salad and their assortment of curries. Red, if you like it hot, green, if not. I've never been a curry person. In fact, if you asked me a few years ago what my top 10 dreaded dishes/food items were, curry would be right at the top of my list. Next to durian, of course. And adobong paniki. But back to the curry at SOMS. I don't know what exactly is good about it, but if I had to hazard a guess (Naks! I've always wanted to say that.), it'd be the sauce. It's flavorful enough so that you can pour it over rice and eat it kain-karpintero style, but mild enough that you don't feel the need to use extra-strength deodorant after your meal. Also good, albeit not extraordinarily so, are the Pad Thai, spring rolls, and bagoong rice.

What makes SOMS so special, what endears it to me the most, is its prices. I took 10 of my friends there last month and our bill totaled P1020. I kid you not. With their dishes priced at P60-P80, with their perfect-for-hot-summer-nights cold milk tea, it is, hands down, my favorite restaurant of the moment.

There is also something to be said about their charming eat-along-the-road-under-naked-light-bulbs set-up. As you lean back on your monoblock chair, enjoying the cheap but yummy fare, don't worry about alikabok. Spice of life, I say. Something to be savored. Every now and then. Preferably at SOMS.

SOMS is open everyday, from 9am to 11pm. Try to go before 9pm, before they run out of milk tea.