mesa

i'm getting lazy blogging about food, i might result to photoblogs soon. here's a dinner i had at mesa. filipino dishes with a twist. to be honest, i was not impressed at all. we all loved the sizzling tofu but it seems like the rest was mediocre. friendly prices for its location at GB5 if i remember correctly not a dish went beyond 300PHP if it did it fell into the lower 300 plus range. no exact prices for this one, i think i lost it back in manila.

duck confit with basil fried rice? something like that. i know it has duck and basil.

laing friend rice

bistek bangus belly

sweet and spicy seafoods? apologies i really forgot the names. maybe because it was a forgettable dinner.

sizzling tofu

ostrich salpicao, chose this because of its novelty. true enough the reviews are right, ostrich meat is quite tough. go for the traditional salpicao or better yet wagyu salpicao.

as i've said prices are affordable, food ain't that mind blowing. if you'd want an affordable resto to eat at GB5 i would recommend john and yoko or good ol' reliable chilli's.

mesa

greenbelt 5

a chinese new year and valentines date with the king

some friends were visiting from manila, we went to hat yai, thailand over the weekend and came back today. after our foodtrips in thailand we were bound for a great chinese new year and valentines feast at restoran king crab. here's what we got. nothing to rant about everything was superb and very much affordable so just feast your eyes.

four veggie belacan - string beans, lima beans, eggplants and winged beans stir fried with belacan a shrimp-chilli paste (17RM)

squid with salted egg, standard squid dish in malaysia. great with their green chilli sauce it was such a perfect pair (RM20)

mantou, fried bread (RM4) perfect accompaniment for certain crab dishes so you can soak it up with the yummy sauces.

hot sour chilli crab (RM61), more like sweet and sour, you know those bottled squid balls sauces, tastes similar to that but a couple of notches higher because it's freshly made and has egg too...similar to singaporean chilli crab but not really.

creamy butter crab (RM61) yes got 2 crab dishes and there were only four of us. this was my favorite, creamy and cheesy and everything nice. the curry leaves gave a nice kick and as the dish cooled down the spiciness starts to settle in making it a super yummy dish.

the place was busy and packed but good thing service was quite fast and i don't think quality was sacrificed. could be a must try when you visit malaysia. just take the kelana jaya line and you'll be led to it, do take note that they have broken time. opens up only during lunch hours and dinner time.

restoran king crab

103-105 jalan ss2/2

taman mewah jaya, petaling jaya

(across the kelana jaya lrt station)

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.