Sunday, August 4, 2013

THE REAL DEAL



Finally some truth to tv commercial advertisements ! I’ve had my share of disappointments with regards to false advertising. Have you ever felt cheated on how a certain food advertisement is “so much” only to find out that when you order the real thing that you’ve been short changed? Well I’ve had. 



 THE ADVERTISEMENT

This time it’s different. I’ve been controlling myself on ordering the MsSpicy for months, as if it’s not hard enough to restrain myself , that my daughter has to regularly visit the joint – Happy Meal Toys ! So starting from the Minion craze to now the Smurf craze, I have no choice but to give in to my inner cravings.

Upon ordering Benz’s usual Happy Meal, I ordered myself a McSpicy ala Carte, yes no fries & drinks. I want to examine this sandwich on it’s own, no distractions from the side dishes. Upon opening the box, LO & Behold ! My face broke into a grin instantly, there in front of me was a sandwich bun, overwhelming with lettuce, mayo & CHICKEN FILLET ! Wow ! Finally ! The commercials are true ! I sank my teeth in to that luscious chicken, yes you heard me right, the chicken. The fillet was truly much bigger than the bun can handle, so before reaching the bread, you get a taste of the crispy spicy chicken fillet first. It wasn’t like the regular Mc Chciken wherein the fillet was a patty, this one was a deboned chicken ! The crunch followed by the succulent meat was enough to 


THE ACTUAL SANDWICH

make you smile despite the traffic hehe I couldn’t wait to get home to eat my take out you see. I wanted to enjoy it hot fresh out of the rack. It was truly a treat ! The bread was soft & warm, the lettuce fresh, & the dressing just right so not to overwhelm the chicken but to compliment it’s piquant deliciousness. YUMMY to the last bite. I think I was able to finish my sandwich in a couple of minutes LOL, and another plus – you don’t need a drink after eating this sandwich, cause unlike it’s other counterpart, the McSpicy is HOT just right ! I can’t wait till my daughter’s next happy meal. 

This happy Mc Donald experience was from Mc Donalds in Puregold Zabarte Mall, Novaliches.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Bonding in China



It’s been years since my siblings and I had some bonding time, so this weekend we decided WERE GOING TO HAVE IT ! 

Since my syobe was meeting a friend in need (nursing a broken heart) after lunch at Trinoma Mall, we agreed that it would be best to have lunch there as well. Being a chinoy family, of course nothing beats Chinese Food, specially if it comes with Yang Chow all you can LOL
We headed for the 2nd floor – Flavors of China here we come ! Despite the fact that nobody was celebrating their birthday, we still opted to order their Birthday Noodles. It was a meal on it’s own, Saucy noodles complete with a wide assortment of sea food like shrimp & squid. It also has pork & chicken cutlets. What did I tell you ? A meal on it’s own. We also ordered the Lemon Chicken, the all time Pe Family favorite, never absent
in our dining table whenever we go Chinese. Chicken fillet, breaded & fried just right, crisp even with the lemon sauce. The lemon sauce was sweet & sour complimenting each other together with the salty taste of the crisp chicken. Next on our table was the Beef Tenderloin. Other restos serves this in a sizzling plate, but here, they serve it on the usual cold plate. Its beef tenderloins cooked with a orangey sauce topped with onions galore. This one is sweet & salty, something like Bistek Tagalog yet, yes sweet. And then, the star of this lunch date – the Lechon Macau, there’s
nothing like the crunch of it’s scrumptious skin followed by juiciness of it’s meat. For dippings, it’s Hoisin sauce & not the usual liver sauce (Mang Tomas in a bottle) or the plain vinegar with chili & garlic. OOOPS before I forget, before digging in, we readied our tummys with a simple Corn & Crab soup, warm hearty soup to open up the taste buds to the feast following it. And lastly, let’s not forget the
accompaniment of this array of delectable viands, the Yang Chow Fried Rice ! Bottomless mind you LOL. As if the viands are not delectable enough but we just can’t have plain white rice, we got to go all the way ! The yang chow fried rice was stir fried perfectly with scrambled eggs, ham, sweet peas. It wasn’t oily, but just right, not soggy nor too dry, like I said fried perfectly !


All 4 of us, my 2 siblings & daughter had a 2 hour fulfilling lunch before we called it quits. We just couldn’t eat another bite. And since our tummy is just smiling full, best next thing would be coffee to wash it down. All in all this excursion was already a success, even without the dessert, coz that my friend is for another story HEHE

Friday, August 2, 2013

Papa J's



It was already 10pm but a cousin of ours wanted to catch up, it’s been a while since we saw each other, unlike the usual coffee night cap, she wanted something to bite. We drove pass P. Tuazon in Cainta & saw a couple of Chinese Restos & Tapsi place, she didn’t like them. Then my sister suggested The Brick Road in Sta Lucia Mall. It use to have late night joints where young adults could hang out. We saw Papa John’s was still open. We immediately parked & asked the guard upto what time their serving, 11pm – just enough time ! We hurriedly went in & settled ourselves, the server gave us each a menu. 


There was so many options & flavors to choose from but since were in a hurry to order, we just opted for the set meal comprise of 1 pizza ( with 2 flavors), 2 pasta dishes, 2 potato wedges & root beer. The pasta choices were carbonara, spicy & Bolognese, we voted ALL CARBONARA. After a couple of minutes, the potato wedges were out, it was served with a tomato salsa on the side. Next was the Carbonara, smaller than the one in the photo we all agreed LOL but it will do since there was just 4 of us sharing it, Me & ben, my sis & cousin “atsi” Christine (older sister in Chinese), Benz is well satisfied chowing down on the potato wedges while waiting for the pizza.  For the pizza, we chose pepperoni, due to Benz’s request & Papa John’s house special. 
 
Good enough, the pizza was great ! The crust was crisp, not oily. It doesn’t have a floury taste. It was cooked just right, not burnt on the backside. The toppings were hefty, both on the cheese & the meat. We dug in, had some fast break story updates & was up & going by 11pm, talk about an hour of getting together. All in all the food experience was a delight, it cost Atsi Christine P1,500 , oh I forgot, the set meal was only P 999++ but she ordered some take outs for her daughter, Chicken drummets. I would say that the price is a bit high, but that’s pizza joints now a days.

A note : The staff of Papa John’s were very nice, despite being the last customer, they still served us with a smile. They didn’t hurry us to finish our meal. They were very accommodating, I think even the kitchen guys deserved a pat in the back. Thanks guys for really good service.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Old school dining



For todays excursion, we will be going to our favorite city, Pasig. Me & my hubby Ben stayed in Pasig City for a good 5 to 6 years. We loved it here, the streets are always clean, enforcers around even on holidays, and best of all your close to the malls LOL in our 6 years here, weekends (even week days) are always TO THE PODIUM in Ortigas and just a stone throw away is SM Mega Mall. Ah this is the life !

Ok let’s get back to business. The head of the family’s interview for today is somewhere near Ultra. Again, some good old memories {Flashback Mode}. We used to jog at the Oval for an hour every day before going to work, and on Sundays, we’d swim for an hour as well. Yes, we try to keep fit, you see despite my being a Foodie Fun Person, I am somewhat sick sniff sniff. But that’s for my other blog to marinate on.

We said our good lucks and headed for Jade Palace in Shaw Boulevard. Traffic was horrendous ! All directions none moving, good thing I’ve gathered enough intel thru the years of the back streets here. Still it took us a good 30 minutes to get there. Being it an halfway point from lunch to early dinner, 3:30PM was a good time. We were immediately parked upon arrival. Tables were available. We were seated on the table just across the display window of freshly made goodies, like Siopao, Buchi & Asado Roll. If you look further, you could see the cooks preparing meals. That’s 1 thing I love about this restaurant, it’s old school.

Benz ordered the very delectable looking Asado Roll, which comes in 2 pieces per order & the Beef Brisket Mami, thin noodles. Here, you have the option of having your mami either in thin noodles, like pancit or shanghai noodles, flat like fettucini.

We decided to just split the order cause it’s a lot, and some water on the side. It was delicious. The soup itself is warm and soothing you’d forget about the hustle & bustle of traffic outside. The beef brisket tender to the bite & the noodles made just right, not mushy or over cooked. The Asado Roll was delectable just the same, the Bun soft & warm, and when you bite into it juicy asado bits surprise your palate. Just 1 roll will make you full ! Roll & filling both fulfilling !

All in all our meal cost us only P183 pesos ! Our cheapest meal by far
amongst our food escapades ! And we are so full ! Ben called us to say he’s finish with his interview, but due to the guards incapability to assist him well we had to wait for 3 hours, for his barely 20 minutes interview. Good thing our tummys were happy LOL.