i love mochi!!!

ever since i've learned about dezato mochi balls, i wanted to try them even though i am not a chocolate lover. last year i went to the baker's dozen in rockwell just to get these, but failed to find their booth.

eventually, they opened a cafe in new manila but still failed to try it. having an hour window to get dessert before my next appointment, i dragged b from tomas morato to hemady st. which is pretty close by. from tomas morato turn right to e. rodriguez, and then turn right at dona hemady where the first stoplight is. then you will see dezato cafe on the right side. but park on the left side since there's a one side parking rule. you'll get overwhelmed since the road is pretty wide.

got a sampler first of bite size pieces which is actually good for two or more bites to check which are the good ones. i actually liked them all =) there's milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, green tea and white chocolate with walnut. all are my favorites well except for the white chocolate which is was not too fond of considering i love white chocolate.


all are dusted with cocoa except for green tea and the white chocolate which is covered with walnut. they are freshly made so you need to wait for a while for your orders to get ready but i think it's worth the wait. i asked them if we could refrigerate it and they said it will harden but you can soften it by bringing it out of the ref before eating them. so i was thinking that chilling would totally ruin the texture and consistency of the sticky rice. but no! after having it overnight in the ref, the mochi balls are still of the same consistency, the only thing that hardened was the filling. but still, the filling was good creamy and rich even though they've become solid in state. the green tea however tops my list because it's like white chocolate with hints of green tea... if you've eaten those mozart chocolate balls it's similar to the filling inside. really it's unbelievably good....you guys ought to try them i only remember the bite size price which is 65PHP for 4 pieces.




http://dezato.multiply.com

katre mediterranean cuisine

my short trip back home was packed with mostly errands. i didn't get to try out new places but since i had errands in the tomas morato area i thought of katre. b and i have been having misses on our food trips and i was hoping that this one will be different.


for starters we had, fried oysters (PHP 180). lightly breaded oysters deep fried to perfection. a bit oily but still good. served with beets-wasabi puree, honey mustard and chermoulah and harrisa garnished with fried onions. chermoulah is the pesto like dressing and harrisa is made of chilli peppers. liked this one. a good start for this meal.



we then ordered roast chicken with creamy pesto pasta (PHP 285). a well executed dish, flavorful and moist chicken. creamy but not too rich pasta...perfectly done if you ask me. i liked the crisp snowpeas which gave a contrast of textures.



we also got navarin of lamb with couscous (PHP 395). lamb stewed with morrocan spices and of course my favorite couscous. nice to eat a perfectly cooked couscous since i have been overcooking my couscous back in kl...stopped following the box directions hehe. anyway, back to the dish - tender and flavorful chunks of lamb with no gamey aftertaste.loved it!



and as if the perfect dishes were not enough, the house green tea with aloe was also good. it has hints of pandan and strips of aloe similar to gulaman. it was a great meal and we were happy with it. and to top it all, the total cost was a little over a thousand only. i highly recommend this place =). do take note that they have broken time so either come in during lunch or dinner time.




katre
dr. lazcano cor. tomas morato
quezon city

kl: dragon-i

dragon-i is famous for its xiao long bao and this is my first time to eat xiao long bao so i was pretty excited to try this famous shanghai specialty.

we got some stewed peanuts first. complimentary? not...i wonder why they do not ask you first and then you'll eventually find out you were charged for a small plate of peanuts. but they were good though.



got the famous xiao long bao for RM9. four pieces of dumplings stuffed in a thicker wrapper with soup inside. the relatively thick wrapper did not bother me, it was very soft not sure if the texture will remain the same if it got cold though. adding the black vinegar made the soup sweeter. i was really amazed since i was thinking about the vinegar dip from dong bei. with dong bei dumplings, the vinegar just complemented the meat filling, but with dragon-i's xiao long bao, it totally enhanced the flavor..really can't put it into words =).




of course got the usual yang chow. nothing fancy, we got better fried rice in manila and this one is really a small portion could feed two not starving individuals at RM16 a pop.





got breaded tofu (RM8). similar to solihiya, actually they are practically the same. so nothing unique or special about this but of course being tofu lovers we enjoyed this one.



got another best seller which is braised pork belly with beancurd leaves (RM23). a block of pork belly cooked until tender giving you that melt in your mouth texture. kept warm with a special serving dish that has a tealight in the bottom. this one is good and served with freshly made mantau. i'm actually not a pork lover but whenever i dine out i now make it a point to eat pork. i guess i'm just trying to deviate from my everyday fare of chicken dishes hehe.






and for drinks, i simply had to show this. i ordered sugarcane with chestnuts, sugarcane is common here but look at my glass. got all sorts of things like carrots, chopped sugarcane and something that looks like ginseng.




dragon-i is considered as one of the finer chinese restos in kl, it serves good food, provides efficient service and a great ambiance.


dragon-i
pavilion mall
bukit bintang, kuala lumpur

visit their website for other branches
dragon-i

j.co donuts

always wondered how great j.co donuts are because i always see a long queue. when kk arrived i thought it will smash j.co into pieces. but other than the hype created by krispy kreme's opening, j.co seems to hold its ground. so finally, i decided to try the donuts.



oreology, glazz, snow white, copa banana, why nut and cheese me up (not in the pic...devoured it before realizing i should take a photo).


cheese me up was good...maybe because i love cheese so much and the idea of a savory donut is just too hard to resist. think bagel but with a more soft pillowy bread. all of them tasted great well except for the copa banana which i eventually found the banana flavored custard weird. j.co donuts have a light dough and is not sweet at all. maybe the reason why anyone could finish half a dozen in one sitting. not that i did, which also made me realize that they are best eaten when fresh. i only ate one donut a day which made the latter ones more dry or should i say stale already. but the ones i ate earlier were really good.

so when in kl or indonesia (where the chain originated) grab some j.co donuts, you will not regret queing up for a long time.



j.co donuts
pavilion mall
bukit bintang, kuala lumpur

kl: rakuzen

japanese restos are ubiquitous in malaysia. and they all seem to serve good food. what i like about malaysia is the fact that food prices are not expensive even though they are a more progressive country than ours. so the other day i got another unagi and soft shell crab craving and decided to eat at rakuzen in chulan square. this is in the bukit bintang area just across the pavilion mall.

so here's what we got.




deep fried softshell crab. yummy! it's RM22 or around PHP260.




sushi tempura zen - is a bento set with sushi, tempura, chawan mushi and watermelon and dragon fruit slices (RM38).




unagi zen - this my bento set. huge unagi soft and delicate. loved it! the chawan mushi was also good with surprises underneath the bowl like mushrooms and chicken pieces. i think this one is a steal for RM30 or PHP390.


the dishes were executed well. good quality and great service , we even found a pinoy waiter there. the iced lemon tea could be skipped it's RM8, pretty steep for me but indeed it was made with fresh lemon more like a lemonade than an iced tea. if you end up shopping in the bukit bintang area and suddenly craves for japanese try this place out.


rakuzen japanese restaurant
block b lot 2a chulan square
jalan rajah chulan, kuala lumpur