hopping on the goose station

b and i love sampling menus and since i'm back we ought to have one. there were two options and we chose the goose station by rob pengson and sunshine puey. it's not in the greater fort area it's better to go to the W building via kalayaan but whichever suits you would be fine. there's no outside parking but they have allotted slots in the basement, you just have to ask manong guard.

we opted for the signature menu at 2500 PHP which is an 8 course meal if i'm not mistaken. we split everything. here's our table setting...liked the red glasses which provide contrast with the white linens.

complimentary bread and butter - found it sad actually. lonely sliced piece of bread with butter served on a nice capiz dish.

foie cone - thin barquillos like cone stuffed with foie gras...not for the non foie gras lover

potato glass, truffle puff and savory macaron - for some amuse bouche my palate wasn't really amused.

caviar surprise - alaskan king crab in white asparagus flan with prawn jelly topped with caviar. the caviar gave a nice salty contrast to the creamy subtle flan....surprisingly they all worked together but too big for one person to finish.

eggs benedict - poached egg, hollandaise foam, truffle oil and bacon tuile. wished there was more tuile hehehe but also another so so dish...nothing really popped in my mouth. maybe it was a dish to cleanse the palate after the salty caviar surprise...but really nothing exciting.

beet garden - beets, orange, micro greens. the jelly beet roll and those two macaron looking beets are stuffed with a cream cheese filling which i loved because i love cream cheese...but other than that this dish didn't really amuse me.

foie gras terrine - topped with unagi which provided a nice contrast. wish there's more brioche because this was one is a bit too heavy. it's like eating chunks of foie gras.

fideua negra - squid ink fideos with roasted scallop and some aioli. unique dish nothing i've tried but still didn't give me an impression.

24 hour steak - short rib, truffle mashed potatoes with crisp onions. finally! something to rave about, the steak was perfectly cooked and the sides just pulled the entire dish together.

yogurt foam with granola mint and berries - liked this one, the yogurt wasn't too tart and simply because i am not a choco lover =).

chocolate candy bar - nice and rich chocolatey bar...perfect for the chocolate lovers.

after these we got another freebie macaron - it was a sweet and savory macaron if my memory serves me right.

so i guess, with what i've written you pretty much know what i think about this place. maybe it's just me because i've read good reviews of the place but this one doesn't make the cut. by far, aubergine still tops my list. i didn't have any ooooohs or aaaaaahs like my aubergine meal which simply tells me that the food isn't as awesome as i hoped for. there's an express set with is 5 course meal, which is consequently cheaper and i reckon is perfect for one person since the serving sizes are not huge.

the goose station

w building

the fort, global city

dining with mr jones

first culinary stop during my stay in manila, straight from the airport i had to sample mr jones' offerings. was thinking of getting the tapa overload and the superman burger with the hopes that my dad will be lured by these items to help me finish them, but then he said he wanted something light...oh no!!!

anyhoo here are the items we got...

blueberry granola shake (something like that) PHP250 the drink with the lowest calories i reckon, among the caloric shakes and malts...i so love this but you shouldn't finish it alone otherwise you will be full.

mr jones garden salad (PHP350) greens, walnuts, shaved cheese, eggs, a yummy crouton of some sort among many others and a red wine dressing (well i think it's red wine based since it's reddish but could be just balsamic too) healthy, light and yummy.

steak and eggs (PHP525) my tito ordered this, wow super heavy if you look at it. fluffy scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, steak with portobello mushrooms and this rich buttery sauce which i dunno what. loved them all but not really a fan of the steak though tender i deem it wasn't a good cut...i'm very critical with steak nowadays.

two dogs in a bed (PHP220) decided to get this instead because i also want something light. high grade dogs and flavored fries...nothing really to rave about though.

i would still have to try the tapa, the burger and the french toasts...i just need to make sure the ones i'm dining with are up for the challenge. the place is a bit cramped if you ask me and i didn't like the fact that there was a huge fly hanging around at the middle of our meal since we dined outside. anyway, the food is good...the outdoor seating i'm not really a fan of.

mr. jones

greenbelt 5

pj: westlake dimsum buffet

was browsing through my daily dose of promotions when i saw that westlake offers RM48 for a dimsum buffet. i've read the reviews and i've not read anything bad so i dragged along tfc (pinoy officemates) to try out the buffet.

basically, the buffet has 2 parts, the dimsum menu which you order ala carte - yup everything is freshly made for you. and of course a couple of tables for appetizers, entrees and desserts.

so here's what i got.

buttered prawns, mango-crab salad and seabass??? i forgot the one at the back but it was a fish dish. everything was nice the salad was refreshing perfect for eating in between the fish and prawns. and then i saw this shooter, how could i resist??? the baby octopus shooter was nice, the jellyfish at the bottom was also good.

was lucky to chance upon the roasted duck that was freshly carved and brought out from the kitchen...tender and succulent, i really love duck - only when it's made well.




and the following items are the dimsum we ordered, which we all shared.

fried dumplings

fried scallops wrapped in bean curd me thinks...loved this one

raddish/carrot cake forgot which one with floss...totally forgettable

chee cheong fan...smooth, thin rice wrapper with stuffing which i forgot what...mildly seasoned it was nice too.

siew mai (yes siomai!) pinoy dimsum staple

hargau (yes hakao!) another pinoy dimsum staple :)

with some seafood items from the menu which are part of the buffet still.

seafood and bean curd dish

sweet and sour fish

salt and pepper shrimps

another shrimp dish...we were expecting another salt and pepper shrimp since we ordered again when the first batch ran out....but they gave us this and twas so "shrimpy" i think they used a bad batch of shrimps for this one.

egg tarts

for my desserts.

ginger flan or something like that...i love similar types of desserts - flan, creme brulee, panna cotta, i hope you get the picture. this one is smooth and silky but the ginger doesn't really suit my palate.

green tea custard/panna cotta topped with strawberry...i love green tea, i love strawberries so i picked this one. nothing spectacular though. basically just something sweet to end a very flavorful meal.

it was a good meal, despite some misses. overall, i was happy about it. however i was disappointed to find out that drinks are not included even tea, as far as i can remember it was clearly stated in the ad that drinks are included. so it ended up roughly 60rm for each person, which made me reconsider whether it is worth it. anyway, my friend paid using his amex and lo and behold we got 50% off woot woot. the food wasn't a disappointment but maybe you should bring a bigger appetite to make it worth your ringgit.



westlake chinese restaurant
sunway hotel resort and spa

pj: william's mamak

mamaks are basically food stalls that serve daily food fare in malaysia like teh tarik, roti canai, mee goreng, nasi goreng, etc. but william's is different, they serve western cuisine and traditional food fare served with a twist like naan with mozzarella cheese.

my friend has been raving about this that one night we decided to go. it's not in kl but in pj (petaling jaya) adjacent to kl. william's opens at 6pm onwards, usually mamak stalls are open 24 hrs. so off we go, the place was packed all the road side tables were full but we managed to find a spot. there's just several blackboards where you can see the menu and that's it. so here's what we got.

ribena lychee for drinks. this is famous here so we tried it, the mug is huge this is for two people. we actually saw them putting one can of lychee in one mug, that's how huge this was.

for pasta we got two choices.



seafood with olive oil pasta - very huge serving with lotsa seafood. not a true aglio y oglio if you know what i mean. do you see the sauce in this? too much liquid. surprisingly the arugula i very hate is not too peppery in this one so i liked it. nothing to rave about this is so so.



penne arrabiata special - we couldn't really understand the waiter so we just said yes. i wanted a true blue arrabiata that night...canned tomatoes...fresh basil..pepperoncino and here's what we got. a penne that doesn't have ridges and probably is a generic brand that's why it lacks the "bite", the sauce tastes like the tomato sos here which is the bottled ketchup, the pepperoncino was replaced by bell pepper but served with huge meatballs and beef milanese. totally dismal. i think we were just forced to it eat because it was such a waste.

the only saving grace to this meal was the mozzarella naan which was love. unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of that. the servings are huge no doubt about that perfect for groups and i could totally see why this is a favorite after gimik hangout. probably at around 3am after going to the bars people would want food other than the typical mamak fare and william's would definitely give you other options. but for an italian craving...i would never go back to this place. yes, the servings are huge but the price is similar to other fine dining italian restos and you'd get better quality so why sacrifice that. still an interesting place to eat at. i'd go back for the ginormous ribena lychee and some mozzarella naan.

william's

ss 26/9

taman mayang, petaling jaya

at the back of the shoplots across the kelana kaya lrt station

kl: pappa rich

oh gheez it's been a long time since i blogged. i've been pretty busy =). i decided to write a post on pappa rich, my current favorite kopi tiam. kopi tiams are basically coffee shops that serve local fare other than coffee and toasted bread. so here's the stuff i've eaten recently not in one visit of course.

teh ais with coffee jelly - signs of western influences i guess. teh ais is cold teh tarik (milk tea) and now they offer it with coffee jelly...yummy

char kway teow - a staple food item, flat rice noodles with cockles, prawns, bean sprouts and garlic chives. i like this version compared to the hawker ones. well it's just because this one looks clean and fresh but of course it doesn't have the bbq/charcoal flavor which a good ckt should have. compared to madam kwan's this one is better because it's less oily but the noodles are a bit overcooked. madam kwan's on the other hand, have more ingredients.

pappa rich chicken chop - chicken chops are famous here served fried with sides of fries or in this case fried rice and egg. finally decided to try this because my friend kept saying this is close to jollibee's chicken joy. well it sorta was except for the peppery gravy.

the number one kopi tiam in kl is old town, famous for their white coffee and their kaya toast. i thought i already blogged about it but apparently i haven't. i'll make one soon, i hope. anyway, people are saying that pappa rich is gaining popularity and i guess it's because the menu is more extensive than good ol' old town but i guess it really depends on what you're craving for. for pinoys in kl, try the chicken chop when craving for chicken joy. for pinoys visiting kl, if you don't have time for hawker fare and the long line at madam kwan's is not worth the wait then you might opt to get your ckt at pappa rich.

pappa rich

the gardens, midvalley

http://www.papparich.com.my/

kl: xenri d'river terrace

i honestly thought i have no more pics to upload. i haven't been eating at new places and pretty much lazy to take photos anymore...i wonder why? anyway, i just realized i still have a couple more and might be taking more photos soon.

was stumped thinking where we will have our team dinner. yes, i'm the expat and my team lead asked me to find the place. well i've eaten at more places than most of the locals have so i have built a reputation at the office. after much scouring in the net, my teammate found xenri d' river terrace which is just a couple of minutes away from the office - the reason this place was chosen. they serve fresh seafood flown in from japan. the place was nice especially the private dining areas. you have to cross a kois pond to reach the dinig area.

yeap, they have a kois pond in between dining rooms. as seen in the pic above. anyway, here's what we got.


edamame for appetizers...not really a fan. boss's wife ordered this :).

spider roll??? this one has softshell crab.

don't know which roll but has tempura inside if i'm not mistaken with avocado on top.

the sushi boat...the wait staff decided on this. don't be deceived this occupied our entire table and to think that in a group of 8 only 5 will eat. lots of sashimi, some fish roe, and my first time to try uni which was not really bad.

seaweed tempura for my vegetarian teammate.

mixed tempura for the rest of us.

baked oysters with mayo??? yeah don't they know about bechamel...seriously even white pizza here uses mayo.

MY boss's favorite...UK boss was initially grossed out but after trying it...he just fell in love with it too. he finished it off hehe...unagi is heart....really heart.

seafood udon - the UK boss liked this one too.

some scallops that was simmering above a charcoal filled mini burner.

sizzling tofu for my vegetarian teammate, didn't try this one they said it was good too.

everything was delish so i will not comment on each food item anymore. since there was too much sashimi, the leftovers were turned into tempura. it was really nice that they can be flexible with that. our bill came up around 1200RM if i'm not mistaken and that's around 17K PHP we got sake but that's only 200RM.

xenri d' river terrace

wisma elken (across pearl point)

jalan klang lama

kuala lumpur