little tokyo: izakaya kikufuji

i was at a friend's house and we were watching a japanese drama entitled honey and clover. food was shown all through out that we suddenly got a jap fix craving. was supposed to try the nearby shinjuku when b said he'll join only to realize he was thinking about kikufuji. so we agreed to just go there. finally! as first timers, didn't know much about the menu and the waitress just gave us the lunch menu, after a while she gave us the ala carte menu because r was to order ebi tempura. hay naku! we already placed our orders and was set on them that browsing the ala carte menu will just be too toxic though i would have opted for the yakitori if it was available but she said only pork is available.


we only got two ala carte items which were both for r. she got the beef gyudon and tempura. the gyudon is a humongous beef bowl served with several side dishes since it's part of the lunch menu.

top (l-r): maguro and kani, cabbage and tomato with some vinaigrette
bottom (l-r): seaweed and ginger, cucumber

the ebi tempura came with one free eggplant tempura =).

the rest of us got the makonuchi which is the bento box. wanted to try a little bit of everything so opted for this one.

there are several items in the box. first one is the spicy squid with stir-fried veggies. liked the veggies especially the bacon...but didn't like the squid because it was cold. but i think that it's supposed to be cold, i am simply not a cold food fanatic.

mixed seafood furai. i wish this was just tempura. we got all types of furai such as ebi, tuna, a white fish fillet and asohos. the breading was on the heavy side for the ebi but it was beautifully prepared. if you try this one ask if it could be prepared tempura style.

the sashimi. love this one. the fish was fresh - sweet and tender. not really a fan of sashimi but i almost finished this one, b had to eat the rest still. i like the lato on top as well as the tamago which was sweet as well, just wondering why it's white and not yellow. perfect match with soy sauce heavily laden with wasabi .

grilled shake.though the grill marks show it's not overly cooked, i deem otherwise. the fish was a bit dry already. and considering that salmon is a fatty fish, this shouldn't be the case. anyway, everyone didn't seem to notice anything wrong with it. maybe it was just me.

aside from the side dishes, all the meals come with free miso soup. this one is the best. we were all raving about it. the best miso soup we have tried. b said it was because the nobu was high quality.

and to cap the meal you get a free iced coffee or fruit dessert. kikufuji has earned great reviews from foodies and with its clientele which are mostly japanese, so you'd say that they really serve authentic japanese food. next time, we're gonna opt for the ala carte items so that we can explore the japanese cuisine much further. next jap stop is probably not in little tokyo but somewhere really close. hope that's soon.

izakaya kikufuji
little tokyo
pasong tamo

the recipes of 10 filipinas

well not sure if the menu in cafe ten titas did come from 10 different women or it was just inspired by them. finally was able to try the place. just got two items and a bonus cake which you learn will how i got.

we got pancit luglug with a twist, they used fetuccini instead of the traditional rice noodles for pancit luglug. it was delish but it lacks ingredients the only stuff i could remember were egg and chicharon. the sauce tastes great except for its oily nature - too much anato oil. this is a hit, i just wish they'd put more toppings.

luglug fetuccini

bangus ala kiev

bangus ala kiev. got me interested when i saw it on lori's blog. this is definitely a miss. first, the sauce was watery. i'd expect the bechamel to be a bit thick to complement the crispy bangus roll. also, i deem the bacon is unnecessary. it reminded me of a friends recipe of tuna-bacon carbonara. what the? i also think they should have used quickmelt cheese, imagine a freshly fried bangus roll that has been cut with creamy melted cheese oozing out. wouldn't that be perfect? the dish just lacked the zing of some sort - probably needed an herb like parsley in it. btw, i just realized that this dish was more like chicken cordon bleu so i did a quick check and true enough it should have been called cordon bleu instead of ala kiev because chicken ala kiev is just chicken steak. anyway, aside from these, i discovered one of our bangus pieces was not fully cooked it still has the transparent part. i didn't have it returned to the kitchen because it's gonna take ages again. so we got a free dessert instead.

cafe ten titas
gateway mall
araneta center

green tea haven

i love green tea. when i learned about kozui i really wanted to try it. the only thing that hindered me from visiting the place is the lack of parking space. yep, i hate going to places wherein i'll get stressed out by parking.



last sunday, i finally got the chance to go there. it wasn't a busy day and since it's past lunch time i was thinking there were very few people in the place. the parking area was still tight but luckily i found a spot. we tried all the famous food items...meaning those i have read about already hehe.

takoyaki - first decent takoyaki i have tried. i love it.

chicken karaage wrap - i like the crunchiness of the chicken though it seems they cooked it in previously used oil thus the dark color of the chicken. the nori and dressing are refreshing not heavy for the saturated fat laden chicken pieces.

strawberry anmitsu - love the chewy dango balls. hated that the strawberry wasn't fresh, it was strawberry jelly.

i have yet to try to korichio (their frappes) skipped it because of the anmitsu...cutting back on the calories hehe. also, will try other anmitsu flavors.

kozui
tomas morato

shabu shabu at zhu

finally had the chance to eat at zhu. i was with my parents and knowing that my dad is a fanatic of chinese cuisine, zhu was the perfect place.

we just got a couple of items. we could not miss our staple hakao, thin skin with chunks of shrimps and round carrots at the bottom. it was presented in a rectangular clear vessel which was quite refreshing but reminds me of candle holders hehe.



also got steamed garlic fish because when my mom is around, fish also becomes a staple. perfectly cooked fish on top of some good quality tofu, rightly seasoned sauce and lots and lots of garlic.



and the star of the meal - shabu shabu. i chose the sate soup for the broth. then we got the combination platter good for 2, which i think should be good for 4 people (if you'll order other items).



the thing that got me interested in zhu's shabu shabu are the sauces. they have several sauces for dipping. the waitress helped us in mixing the sauces, she was the one who combined everything for us.



my verdict? the broth is nothing special, so i keep on thinking why they charge too much for it, 120PHP to be exact. the platter items where substantive. i think they are worth it. as for the sauces, nothing really stood out. they were all mixed together, the soy sauce, peanut sauce, sate sauce and other what have yous but it didn't exactly made the meal. with that, i don't think it's worth the trouble of going to the fort just to get your shabu shabu fix. but i find the dining experience pleasurable because of the food quality and the ambiance is nothing like your typical chinese resto plus the servers are very attentive. so when craving for chinese and you are in the fort area, zhu should be on top of your list.



zhu
32nd street
fort bonifacio

bohol: bohol beach club

this is the best place for me, because i was finally able to eat a non-rice meal hehe. i love their menu items because it offers a wide array of dishes and not just the usual filipino food. i was happy with my triple decker aka clubhouse sandwich because the fries were too crisp - the way i like them. this also came with fresh watermelon slices. loved it.


each and everyone of us were happy with the stuff we ordered. below are the other stuff we got.


grilled sugpo

grilled squid

and the rest of the guys got halo halo as well (skipped this one, i was too full).




bohol beach club
bolod beach, panglao, bohol

bohol: alona kew resort

i read somewhere about the restos in alona beach. it's on the other side of panglao. we had a pit stop here because our boat had technical difficulties so we opted to eat here. i only remembered one place and unfortunately it only opens at night. so we opted for the alona kew resort resto.

can you guess what this is?

it's supposed to be pasta milanese. but the truth is it's breaded pork chop on top of spaghetti noodles topped with heated del monte sauce. i was craving for italian and this is what i got? damn i was too dismayed at 165PHP i'd savor jolly spaghetti anytime.

here are the other food items we got. there was nothing to rave about except for jol's steamed snapper.






these were the only things we were happy about.fresh fruit shakes.




alona kew resort
alona beach, panglao,bohol

bohol: dumaluan resto

we got to the resort early evening so we had no choice but dine at their resto. here are the stuff we got for dinner.


calamares - so so. would have been more tender and fresh. the batter wasn't impressive either


bistek tagalog - didn't try this one they said it was too chewy



another chili chicken dish - i like the spiciness but i've thought of other ways on how this could have been improved


steamed black lapu-lapu - this was a great dish. the fish was fresh and cooked right. the sauce was well seasoned.


bam-i - i also liked this dish. it was well seasoned. the ingredients were cooked right, the veggies were crisp and the meat and seafood were tender.


this wasn't a horrific dinner since i had a couple of favorites. up next is the worst meal we ever had.


dumaluan resort restaurant
bolod beach, panglao, bohol

cebu: golden cowrie

i finally had the chance to go somewhere in the philippines aside from my usual luzon destinations. so this is my first post on my cebu-bohol vacation.

we were totally clueless on our day trip in cebu. we did not plan ahead on what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to eat. i wanted to try this famous bbq place in cebu but i have no idea where that is. we asked the hotel and they gave a couple of restos to try.

still dumbfounded by dinner time, we were all thinking might as well try a korean resto because they are everywhere. then we were advised by the taxi driver to go to salinas drive where a lot of great restos were. so when we got there we were just cruising along the street when i saw golden cowrie and remembered it was on the list we got from the hotel (which i left in the room btw hehe). they serve good ol' filipino food.

minutes after we arrived the place was jampacked with a long waiting line. so i guess this is really a good place to eat at. the best thing other than the quality of food, are the prices, they were so affordable and you cannot beat the unlimited rice scooped out of wooden buckets with a coconut shell ladle. here are "some" of the food items we got.


baked scallops - cheesy and garlicky yummy!



cebu lechon - still as flavorful as it should be. bad thing is the skin wasn't crisp at all :(


sweet chilli chicken - same as recipe's general chicken


budbud with chocolate - all along i thought budbud is made out of a particular grain...but no it's just suman pala.

we ordered other food items, pictures of which are not worth sharing hehe. but they all tasted great. good thing we had a lovely dinner to remember in cebu.



golden cowrie
salinas drive
lahug, cebu