breakfast at spiral

got a freebie stay at sofitel and of course what made me excited was the chance to finally eat at spiral. so here's what i had for breakfast during 2009's year end.

needed some high dosage of caffeine so i opted for brewed coffee. each guest gets to have a coffee press for their coffee. they change it when you request for a hotter cup of java. nice touch isn't it? we also got ourselves a bread basket, which i think is a total waste since the breads are also available on the floor and too much of them gets uneaten anyway. forgot to take a picture of that though.

my first plate got dimsum and soup. dimsum was so so so...not even at par with the ones i had at le meridien. liked the soup though you can choose veggies and seafoods and other stuff, a choice of broth and can opt to have noodles as well. had a tom yum broth. i liked it.

my so called continental plate...maybe it's pinoy-american plate hehe. had tapa which was nice, longganisa and sausage were ok, bacon was crispy and my traditional pepper-mushroom-cheese omelette (i always get this at hotel breakfasts) a croissant which was not flaky at all and some veggie sticks.

was craving for nuts, cheese and grapes but there were no grapes i had to settle for a pancake instead hehe. loved the pecans i only liked one of the cheeses here and i forgot which one i think it was the second one from the left...creamy and sharp and doesn't have that bitter taste. as for the pancakes...it's like pillsbury and i hate pillsbury...it has this crumbly texture aargh! i'd rather have mcdo or jollibee pancakes anytime.

vanilla yogurt with peaches and pecans which was mostly consumed by my mom...she can't whip herself up with a nice bowl of yogurt ;).

fruit platter nicely made by one the wait staff for my mom, isn't my mom a darling? hehehe naah the wait staff asked her if she wanted anything so she requested for fruit platters (yes with an s, for my mom and tita) and they happily brought two of these at our table.

for a free breakfast spread at a hotel, this was definitely a good bonus. wide array of cuisines, they even had indian and italian which i didn't try. i liked the unique items like several selection of cheeses and nuts or maybe because i was just craving for them and freshly made yogurt. but if i had to cough out more than a thousand to get this breakfast, i'd rather not. the food wasn't superb. you expect hotel grade quality in the breads, breakfast items like the pancakes and even the dimsum was lousy. it wasn't as extraordinary as i thought it would be. maybe i'd have to try lunch or dinner to see how it really fares against the other buffets in town.

p.s. our room was great though, had hermes for toiletries and a huge lcd tv. loved it!

spiral

sofitel hotel

ccp complex, manila

charlie's grind and grill

been wanting to go to charlie's and finally made the time to go there. good american/western food is always welcome especially when you've been eating everything asian.

first, black angus burger. nothing special if you ask me, i barely remember it so i reckon it was just ordinary. the fries were nice though.

philly cheesteak, this one i loved. flavorful and tender beef slices, i could probably finish one whole by myself.

buffalo wings, it was ok nothing to really rave about. liked the blue cheese dip.

we came in past lunch time already around 1pm i think and service was terrible. yes it was so slow, we had to wait for i don't how long but it took a long time and we had to follow up several times considering we could see a lot of burgers being prepared and i felt like despite the place being full, the orders were still manageable. if i was in restaurant city i'll be having my thumbs down. parking is also difficult. would i go out of my way to come back? maybe not. it was just too much of a hassle for burgers, sandwiches and buffalo wings you can get else where.

charlie's grind and grill

east kapitolyo drive, pasig city

my japanese comfort food: teriyaki boy

had a couple of quick errands at the mall and i couldn't decide on where to eat and then i saw one of my favorite casual dining places. nice interiors, definitely a different teriyaki boy than what i'm used to. i'm not sure if the other branches have had overhauls or this one was an exception being a fairly new branch at the new sm annex which i love btw except for the crazy escalator layout...too tiring lah!

ebi tempura - crunchy and freshly made...a tad oily but still a treat.

during my last visit they have a new menu of special rolls well not a unique fare since we've been used to all these types of rolls in other restos. this is the dynamite roll...wow...really a dynamite eventually had to scrape off the rice and just ate the tuna pieces which is what i actually paid for anyway.

take out your white hat

finally, after years i get to try white hat. made an extra effort to get these since i am in a mission the find the best froyo in town...well it's subjective right? but for me this is the best i've tried by far. creamy and smooth with the right blend of sweetness and tartness...still reminds you that you are eating yogurt in a creamy goodie way. got mine with mochi and strawberries...two of my favorite things. loved it.

keeping it cool at red mango

tired with all the window shopping i decided to take a break. the red mango at greenbelt 3 has a very nice location. you can sit outside on comfy couches overlooking greenbelt, it was a perfect afternoon with the cool breeze that was relaxing for a tiresome shopper like me.

fancy curvy white bowls and small stainless steel flat spoons are probably the trademarks of this froyo chain. i was looking forward to a nice bowl of froyo with my favorite strawberries...until my jaw dropped at the counter when i heard that they don't have strawberries. so i verified, you don't have strawberries now or you really don't have strawberries? they don't have strawberries!!! how can that be possible???

i found myself clueless because strawberry is the first thing that comes to my mind on about almost everything. so i opted for grapes because earlier that day i was craving for grapes to match my cheeses and nuts at sofitel but there was none. i asked them what would be perfect to pair with grapes and they said blueberries...eh??? canned blueberries is all they have and i really think it was not a perfect match. so i just decided to just get the fresh looking watermelon. the toppings were fresh and the froyo has a smooth texture. there's enough tartness in the froyo but somehow i find it too light. it wasn't as creamy as the ones i've had in other places. i reckon that for those who don't like yogurt that much, this would be the perfect froyo. smooth and very light - less creamy and less tart. but for me, i honestly don't like how light it was. i would rather choose the more tart but heavier/creamier californiaberry. well i still have one more froyo place to check so watch out on what my verdict is on that one.

red mango

greenbelt 3

trinoma

eastwood

kanin club

i can probably say that this is the best meal i've had back in manila. always wanted to eat at kanin club but it's way down south, good thing they opened a branch at the ayala technohub...how convenient! here's the stuff we got.

sinigang na sinangag or sinangag na sinigang, this dish really confuses me, i can't remember which is which. basically fried rice which is based on sinigang a filipino sour soup dish. there are pork belly slices underneath the tower of crispy kangkong. i loved this dish!!!!

crispy dinuguan, crispy pork pieces cooked in blood stew. another sure winner! perfect with plain rice, yes you need plain rice to appreciate this more.

binukadkad na tilapia, a not so unique dish. you can find a similar dish in other restos and i think others to this better. a very straight forward way of preparing tilapia butterflied and then deep fried so you can't go wrong with this as well if you want a fried fish dish.

the meal was great, had them with good friends so nothing can go better than that. i cannot list down the prices coz i didn't pay for it ;). but they are definitely affordable, i don't think a dish went beyond PHP300. good and affordable filipino food with a twist.

kanin club

ayala technohub, qc

westgate mall

sta. rosa

agave mexican cantina

before everything else, i would like to greet everyone a belated happy new year =). here's to an amazing and abundant year ahead of us.

i was on holidays in manila for two weeks and boy it felt good to be back. well it's good that i can gear away from all my household chores and happy that someone else is doing my laundry and ironing ;). as soon as i landed i had myself a palabok-chicken joy meal, i had to pass on jolly spaghetti this time around. a couple of hours later, i started ticking off my must try list.

first stop was agave. read a lot of good reviews and since i have been craving for mexican food this was the perfect choice. the nearest to me was at the sky garden at sm north edsa. here are the items we got.

queso fundido (PHP 300++) supposed to be a mexican version of a spinach artichoke dip. this one has melted cheese, chorizo, spinach and artichoke with grilled bread, fried flour tortilla and corn chips. i was pretty disappointed with this. the artichoke was chewy, the cheese doesn't have the silky melted texture i was thinking similar to chilli's skillet queso. if you check out the online menu the platter has blue corn chips which i didn't get. i liked the grilled flavor of the bread but somehow something was off the oil didn't look that appealing considering it just looks like plain vegetable oil doused over the bread...think minola basted on your bread...aaack!

do you still remember miggy's? they serve good chimichagas which is my mom's favorite. however, it was far from agave's chimichanga (PHP300++). agave's version is rolled and it was not plain meat inside, loads of rice if you ask me. it was mexican rice with chicken pieces and that was it. i didn't even notice the cheese. though i liked the crisp tortilla and the salsa and sour cream on top. i really wish it had more chicken inside. if you remember miggy's their chimichangas are stuffed with cheese, corn and chicken as plain as that. you'd really be stuffed with all the protein. and not being a rice lover this added to my displeasure.

not only was i disappointed with the dishes, which probably were just misses but the service was uber slow. and this was around a time that only 3-4 tables were occupied. the meal wasn't that bad but i really expected more. maybe my orders were just misses. anyway, i would still try it again but maybe at a different branch.

agave mexican cantina

sky garden sm north