Nov 21, 2010

ikea food hall

i have been obsessed with ikea since i was young. moving to kl gave me the thrill of going there. i was intrigued when i found out at that they have a food hall as well and i knew i had to try it.


got myself a baked salmon. well it's not overly great but it's good enough. it's very european in a sense that there are not much flavors or spices. it's alright i forgot how much this was since i've taken this ages ago.




but being a swede company, shouldn't one try swedish meatballs too? my friend and i both wanted the salmon so we got it but we also wanted to try the meatballs so we decided to share the smallest serving. the meatball was dry and doesn't have much flavor. it's so so.





honestly, food wasn't impressive. i wonder why people line up - the food hall is always packed with people. maybe just hungry shoppers who want to get a quick fix. however, ikea in malaysia is adjacent to a mall with lots of restos to choose from. all i can say is, it's really not to die for but trying it out wouldn't hurt as well.



ikea
ikano power center
petaling jaya, malaysia

Nov 13, 2010

brunch @ the 6750

so i was back in manila, and h&b were too. decided to meet up and wanted to have a marvelous lunch together, i had a couple of candidates but lolo dad's was the winner.

they have a lunch special at 800PHP (plus 10% service charge) and it includes the antipasto buffet (380PHP) we opted to get the entire set because we thought the antipasto would not suffice. boy we thought wrong.


so here's my first plate.


clockwise (foie gras and grissini, some turnip-carrot salad, prosciutto, scallop ceviche, smoked salmon with dill sauce, arthichokes and mushroom, squid and mussel with their own ceviche type dressing)

everything was delish, i couldn't believe it. with just my first plate, i knew that lolo dad's really keeps up with its reputation. we loved the foie gras i shared this small vessel with my friends because it was simply too rich perfectly paired with the crunchy grissini. and we also love the carrot - turnip salad.



second plate, some flat pastry dunno what it's called and a pastry cup which reminds me of the chicken ala king i used to eat when i was younger. the next item was actually a pie looking grilled layers of chicken, zucchini, eggplants and pimiento it was really good. some baby potatoes and goat's cheese with a fresh herb (i'm bad with herbs i'm not sure what this was) mild but with just the right sharpness..loved it.



was so intrigued by this antipasto that we had to try it. the dropper is balsamic vinegar, i loved this one, i hope i'll find out what this cheese was it's a blue hard cheese. the other one is feta with pimiento also good but the hard cheese really just hits a spot.



for the rest of the meal, we started of with soup of the day which is cream of mushroom, nothing spectacular except for the frothy cappuccino effect.




there's 3 choices of pizza, we got the creamed smoked salmon and the salami and prosciutto. oh the smoked salmon was love and you can see how thin and flaky the crust is but the toppings didn't over power it at all.




for pasta there's also 3 choices, we opted for tomato and mushrooms and garlic and anchovy. well for these ones nothing was really spectacular. actually the aglio y olio was too salty for me like the anchovy used was a bad brand or something and didn't have that garlicky taste.




just so you know, we all ordered one serving of the dishes above. by the time we were having pasta we couldn't finish them. then we asked the server if they could pack them for us. then we found out that the set lunch was also a buffet. then we looked into the menu and saw "limitless dishes" which means we can order any food item as much as we want but of course just like any other buffet you cannot take home your leftovers.

but because h and i were already eyeing the pig trotters with crispy intestines we had to order the entrees, so we ordered, two mains as well - the trotters and callos.



the callos was really nice, i actually liked the chorizo, it was tender and rightly seasoned. the callos has the right amount of sauce with perfectly tender tripe.



crispy intestines - you can only get back in manila so we were happy with it. the trotters had this grilled/flamed flavor which gave a nice touch to the dish.


for dessert, there's also 3 choices. when we ordered them, the server decided to give us all the 3 treats since they are small servings so we agreed. basil cheesecake which i didn't like, well for me basil is just meant to be savory. how i wish they just served it plain cheesecake which would have been perfect. profiteroles...liked them i love puff pastries and the chocolate mousse tarlet was just fine. i am not a fan of chocolate.




overall, it was a good meal. personally, i'd opt for the antipasto buffet because they have enough items to fill me up. i'd love to come back and have a feast with my friends again.




lolo dad's brasserie
6750 bldg
ayala avenue, makati