the LIST - must try!

here's my list of restos to go.

TAGAYTAY

sonya's

manno's greek taverna

buon giorno

BUFFET

red crab buffet

chinatown's best

GREENBELT

segafredo

pepato

people's palace

SM MOA

plato platina

tagaytay highlands stakhouse

SERENDRA/THE FORT

duo

mezzaluna

prince of jaipur

je suis gourmand

MAKATI

maurizio

cafe otello

azure cafe

som's - believe it or not haven't been there

la grotta

hossein's (has a branch at the fort)

nihonbashitei

gulliver's

ziggurat

la regalade

GATEWAY

mandarin oriental cafe

PODIUM

florabel's

BAKESHOP/PASTRIES/DESSERTS

fleur de lys

tony cuerva's mango torte

dulcelin's mango torte

the camara frozen brazo

my new love -- ZAO!

read ZAO on lori's blog and i knew i ought to try it. i love vietnamese food and zao met and even exceeded my expectations. here are the stuff we ate. i forgot to take a picture of the kangkong with tofu which was so great.simply love this place!


best fresh spring rolls by far...the peanut sauce was light i would think it was made with cassava starch the rice wrapper was a bit salty though




braised spare ribs (not sure about the name) it was tender but a stronger flavor is needed. more spices and salt would do the trick.


vietnamese fried chicken...spicy as in loads of flavors but it was not hot so don't worry.


zao vietnamese bistro
serendra
global city, taguig

a dose of bangkok

i have read about jatujak in anton's blog and i told myself i ought to try it since i love thai food. good thing is they opened a branch at the block which is closer to my house compared to the one in moa. i am still wondering why jatujak...even if they say that it was named after chatuchak - so does this mean that ch in thai is j? i have been in bangkok and never heard people say jatujak or maybe i just think that they said chatuchak instead of jatujak.

anyway, i ordered phad thai and sate chicken (chicken satay) and i must say that i was quite disappointed with my phad thai. i find it too saucy. though i enjoyed the satay. the chicken meat was tender. what's my verdict? i still love my muang thai. the flavors in muang thai are fresh and vibrant just like the ones in bangkok plus the prices are so affordable. i guess i'm just a phad thai lover that it is the end all and be all of a thai resto for me. phad thai is a must for my thai diet so i'm not sure if i'll have another jatujak outing.


ze phad thai


chicken satay

touristy as you can get

this is the last of my sf foodtrip entries. boudin is famous for their clam chowder and i ought to try it before i leave or else my sf trip will not be complete. we dined at the resto where you could get more than just the clam chowder and sourdough bread. the food is quiet pricey but they were worth it well not really something you will rave about but they were good. pam had fish and chips with anchor steam (sf beer) batter, salmon with brussels spouts (picked on jason's dish because i have never tried brussels sprouts) and mine was crab cakes (yum yum).


the famous clam chowder (mini serving only)


anchor steam battered fish and chips


seh-mon


crabcakes..the beans were so sweet

great friday dinner

i have been wanting to go to omakase ever since i read it at lori's blog. but for some reason i have not made the trip. once, when were all set to have dinner, we found out it was closed already (don't ask me why we were gonna have dinner at around 10pm).

last friday c and i had to go somewhere and we had to drop by a place before heading home. so i asked b where to go to and she said omakase. well, i had the same thing on mind. i was so excited since the place was not full when we got there and we got immediately seated. soon enough the place was jampacked...you simply know that it's a good resto. anyway, i had the jurrasic. but i know that it wasn't enough. so had to order something else. we got the seafood dumpling and squid teppan with matching garlic and plain rice. yes, c doesn't wanna share rice because we were starving by then and she thought we could finish one order of rice each plus the maki. of course she was wrong. half way to the meal we were already full. talk about being takaw mata. maybe we just overestimated our appetites. the meal was great and i couldn't say anything more.


the jurassic


squid teppan


seafood dumpling

the food network fan

i guess it's no surprise that i'm a food network viewer since i'm such a foodie. i love italian food so i always watch mario batalli. he had this special wherein he visited little italy in san francisco. i immediately e-mailed pam about it telling her to go visit little italy and try everything mario featured. but one thing that i can't forget in that episode was the meatball sandwich at this old cigar place.

so when i was in sf, i told pam we had to try it. i had to look for the resto's name in the internet and luckily i found it. the place is named mario's. pam also noticed the eggplant sandwich so what we did was order one of each and shared them. there's only one thing that disappointed me, the meatball sandwich did not look as full as it was on the tv. i'm not sure if i described it right but what i meant was the meatballs weren't that humongous as i remembered it. but it was definitely delish. here they are.


roasted eggplant with feta


the meatball sandwich

mario's bohemian cigar store cafe

566 columbus avenue

san francisco, california

east in the west

when people asked us what we ate in the us. we just said asian and some people found it ridiculous. the asian restos in the us are definitely great. our daily meals are usually vietnamese, chinese and japanese. one night we tried out thai/vietnamese food. my favorite dish would be the scallops because they were humongous. i also liked the vietnamese fresh spring rolls because their sauce was much tastier compared to my favorite pho hoa. here are the dishes we ate that night plus thai iced of course.


imperial and fresh spring rolls


pumpkin curry chicken


black bean scallops


grilled shrimps (we were actually shocked that it was served in a curry sauce)

unfortunately, this was the only asian meal we were able to capture. our favorite resto is ba vo which serves vietnamese cuisine and we usually go there for lunch. just one thing i noticed, it seems that chinese food in manila is much better i don't know if it's msg but i still love my north park among many others.