dinner with crocs

a long overdue post. krocodile grille is one of the those restos that my team in my previous company and i frequent. they have set meals that could actually feed twice the size for what they were intended for.

good value for money for a decent treat of filipino dishes. here's a couple of food items in their menu.

inihaw platter (300 PHP++) i believe that this is a "sulit" dish. you get a variety of grilled meats and seafoods. my favorites in the plate are the tender and flavorful grilled liempo and the catfish (i love hito).

kare-kare (300 PHP++) nothing fancy. straight forward classic dish not as "peanutty" as the home cooked one but definitely a couple of notches higher than other restos which serve kare kare with an instant mix. the meats are the traditional kare kare meats such as tripe.

lengua (200-300 PHP) a recent discovery, thick tender slices of lengua with gravy and garlic bits on top. i love lengua so i really enjoyed this dish.

baked tahong (200-300 PHP) this is one of their bestsellers. completely covered with a thick sauce, the mussels become flavorful but not completely overpowered by the herbed sauce on top.

perfect place for a get together of a huge crowd. prices are affordable and the servings are hefty. good value for money.

krocodile grille
3rd level greenbelt 3

tis the season for baked goodies

the baker's dozen at the powerplant mall is basically an annual baker's fair which features several baked products from various sellers. this year, it started as early as september. however, i've only found the time to go there just recently.

i had only 2 purpose - the dezato mochi balls and the costa brava caramel cake. however, i failed to get the mochi balls. they did not have a booth at the concourse level when we visited. i was only able to buy the caramel cake.

early in the week i got the chance to sample the caramel cake, however, i deem that it was too bland. i did not find the caramel taste in the icing. but i had to give it another try, maybe there was something wrong with the cake i tried. good thing i gave it another shot. the cake is moist and fluffy. very light. the caramel frosting is just right, not too sweet but you can still savor the caramel essence. perfect!!! now i just have to try estrel's to figure out which one best suits me.

my disappointment of not getting those mochi balls led me to ange's sweet life. i love the sweet surrender (frozen brazo) but the caramel cake was enough for that weekend. i resorted to the mini cupcakes so that my mom could try them out. she's my cupcake tasting buddy. whenever i buy cupcakes we would sit around the table and have a piece of each flavor. anyway, the mini cupcakes are good because it cuts back the calories.

unfortunately, the mini cupcakes disappointed me a lot. i could still remember the moist and fluffy satine (red velvet) i used to have. but now, the cupcakes were no near that. all of them appears to be dry. i never would have expected that the quality would change considering they were pricey.i dunno if the batch i got was simply bad or the mini cupcakes have a different quality than the regular sized ones but then that defeats the purpose of selling the mini cupcakes if they do not replicate the original taste and texture of the normal ones.

similarly, the much talked about cheesecake cookies didn't have that oomph. i was staring at my mom while munching on them, and i said what's special about these? they're like puto of some sort. really a miss on this one. oh well the caramel cake was the saving grace of my baker's dozen visit.

i ought to try other famous pastries this coming holiday season like karen young's goodies, the famous mango tortes and the list could go on but i am sure i will restrain myself for a sugar overload this upcoming holiday season.


baker's dozen
concourse level
powerplant mall
fri-sun

pho hoa

haven't blogged about one of my favorite restaurants. though i've said that zao has already beaten pho hoa especially on the fresh spring roll category, the ubiquity of the latter still makes it as one of my favorite places.

just had lunch here today and decided to take some pics.

a bowl of seafood pho. this is my initial favorite. but i have come to love the very light but flavorful meatball pho as well the one with tendons.



would not be complete without some beansprouts, lemon and thai basil. add some chopped chili too...for me i prefer using the siracha and hoisin that makes the broth perfect!



this is my first time to try out the stir fried curry noodle dish. i've gotten tired of my vermicelli bowl with grilled chicken diet. the dish was flavorful, lots of spices and ample ingredients. huge serving, i wasn't able to finish mine and i am a heavy eater. this one could be split into two and you could try other dishes or a side dish like fresh or fried spring rolls. love it!




pho hoa
sm north
trinoma
megamall
paseo center

fantastic sausages

our tagaytay trip didn't have a specific game plan. went there ahead of everyone else but had to wait for them still. by the time they arrived, they weren't hungry because they just had breakfast while we were famished.

p suggested a "light" but filling meal at a sausage place he doesn't know where. he was able to try it out before as a take out. so we had to go back and forth aguinaldo highway to look for it. the only clue was the shell gas station. and when we were about to eat somewhere else, we spotted the place. small place right before the shell gas station and how could have we missed the huge sausage outside???



they have a house special called bamse...it looks like a jumbo hotdog. i got the surf and turf meal which originally has the sausage and bun with mashed potato and a southwest salad. i had my mashed potato replaced with fries instead. here it is.



ordered onion ketchup on the side for an extra kick as suggested by p. at an extra cost it made my fries much better. the bamse is perfect. it looks like hotdog but the flavor is different and the skin is perfect. dunno how i should put it but it gives you the perfect bite. it's firm and tender....gives you that perfect "snap."



the southwest west coast  salad is creamy crabstick salad. kaya pala surf and turf...hehe. it was good. i like the mayo...creamy, i wonder what brand they used and the peas and carrots provided extra texture. as i've said, the original meal is served with mashed potato. from what i've learned the bamse is usually eaten with everything on it. so the mashed potato and southwest west coast salad were piled on top of the sausage sandwich.

they offer other sausages like kielbasa and hungarian which my other friends tried and they said they were equally good. the prices are affordable. the surf and turf meal costs PHP180 i think. so if you find yourself in tagaytay and wanted to get a quick fix but doesn't want the usual pinoy fare you might wanna try this out.


toby and tony's fanstastic sausages
aguinaldo hi-way, tagaytay
right before the shell station

seattle's best

this post is a perfect upper for my indolent blogging behavior. i just haven't gotten enough groove to write again. in the meantime, i'd like to share some photos from my favorite coffee place - sbc or seattle's best coffee, even its acronym is similar to starbucks.

i like sbc's blend because it's sweeter, though i noticed the greenbelt branch to have a much sweeter blend than the usual. my favorite drink is javanilla which has now evolved to several variants and not just the plain old rich javanilla which i deem was packed with vanilla ice cream making it uber yummy.

they have rich and great tasting pastries. i shared these with some friends. we had black forest which had a decadent chocolate frosting and a dense but not too rich cheesecake which is a perfect match to our drinks.






and just recently, i had latte and look at the designs they made on top...dunno if this is normal for lattes or they made it as such to differentiate the syrup added. but for a coffee shop chain i wouldn't expect such presentation.






seattle's best
greenbelt 3
eastwood
katipunan

yaku

this place has been in the podium for quite a long time now. i knew it was owned by jason webb who is one of my favorite dlsu pointguards. but still, i wasn't able to find enough reason to dine here. until recently, since i've read quite a number of reviews.


we got some freebie green tea.

yaku platter PHP 180++ (negima, okra, uzura, asparamaki, butabara, gindara) - if you can't decide what you want to get. you can opt for the yaku platter which has several items. it has chicken, okra, quail eggs, asparagus wrapped in bacon/beef not sure on that one, pork belly and gindara with a spicy radish sauce on top.

uzra bacon (PHP90++) - yummy!!! quail eggs wrapped in bacon...cholesterol overload. the soft egg and tender bacon is a perfect match but be forewarned that it's too rich.

rebaa (PHP70++) - chicken liver. nothing fancy it's just good ol chicken liver with a hint of a sweet bbq sauce.

seafood teppanyaki (PHP 260++) - has a sweet sauce. not fit for those who are not keen on sweet food. the presentation is a miss. it's just a hodge podge of seafoods on a sizzling plate. also, the squid rings are so thin that you wouldn't think it's squid. not aesthetically appealing but a promising dish.

it has a nice ambiance, affordable food - a perfect place to hangout post shopping.

yaku
the podium

royce' in manila

for the royce' lovers out there. finally, they're opening a store in rockwell this november.

got the news from chuvaness