Archive for ‘daily grub’

August 10th, 2010

LA Cafe – I love dark places

interiors
We’ve been putting off eating in this place since forever, but we’ve always been so intrigued by another place that’s dark with the antique-like setting and interiors like Cafe Ysabel. Mig took me to Quezon City’s LA Cafe.

nice date place

This place has been around for maybe 10 years. My cousins live a few houses away from the place so I’ve been seeing it ever since it opened, but we haven’t really gone inside. It reminds me a lot of dad’s Gene’s Bistro which used to be in Morato.

mig and i

When we went inside, the white couches and low tables gave us the impression that this was a drinking place, or maybe they just opted to put us in a more private spot. It was so nice and cozy…and dark! I’ve always enjoyed dark places like these, where you sort of open your eyes bigger when the food comes and where all blemishes seem to melt away because of the lighting (this is exactly why many people should not go on blind dates here and make sure that you see your potential date first in bright, bright, fluorescent light! hehe). We were seated in a very nice and private corner, I loved the white rounded couch and low table. Suddenly it was cozy and informal.

he looks so lonely

Though I wasn’t really sure what to order, I noticed a giant brick oven by the entrance…so I guess the pizza is in! I think you can really roast a person in their oven with the size of it…the place makes your imagination wander into all sorts of areas you haven’t really thought about. I guess this is how prospective guests feel when I try to tell them that Cafe Ysabel, despite being dark and full of antiques, really is an informal place.

After seeing their menu, I had a few ideas on what I wanted to eat, but I also asked the waiter for the best-sellers and this is what he recommended that we actually picked:

chayo

Cha-yo or Vietnamese Spring Rolls (I was feeling a little hesitant about this since my standard for a good spring roll is the authentic stuff I was eating in Vietnam last year). Not really that great. The spring roll was stuffed with some crab and mushroom, the sauce was okay…I think this one is bar chow…you drink beer and eat this. You can’t expect authenticity on this one.

porkchop

Pork Chop – dry and salty. Thank God there was a tomato salsa which helped it juice up a bit, but even the salsa was salty. Thank God there were grilled bananas to help cut the salt. With the right salting and maybe a better marinade and cooking techinique, this would’ve been real good.

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August 8th, 2010

Left Over Grapes = Grape and Wine Jam

Because of my shoot the other day, I had a major surplus of different colored grapes and I didn’t think we could consume it in time. And so I made and impromptu home made grape jam. So this is what I used (approximations):

3 cups Grapes, cut in half, seeds removed
1 cup sugar
1/2 Tbsp gelatin, mixed in hot water
2 cups wine (left overs mostly)
3 tbsp honey (or more), i used our home-infused lavender honey
a dash of salt

1

Put the grapes and sugar in a non-stick pan and set it over medium heat. I used a wooden spoon to stir this occasionally till the fruit juices come out. You will notice that after the sugar has melted, the mixture will start getting watery.

2

Then I added the wine. And I let it simmer for a few minutes until the mixture reduces and the wine and juices have become syrupy.

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August 6th, 2010

Another Night at Cafe Breton

nice date place
This is a place that reminds me of my grand-uncle. I absolutely love the ambiance and of course…the crepes!

Our post-light dinner become second dinner when we hit Cafe Breton. It always feels so cozy despite the number of people who come in and out of this place.It’s almost like being in a playhouse. And is a wonderful date and talk place.

This time, I decided to try their savory crepes. If you’ve been reading my previous crepe crazy blog…I usually order only one thing — butter and sugar crepe with a little cream. This time I wanted something rich…a real mouthful. I couldn’t be more satisfied with the Veal Sausage, Cheese, Tomato and Egg Crepe. Oh my, I kind of knew that the items in that thing was for breakfast…but since I hardly eat breakfast, I was ready for second dinner! This is the video of how it’s done!

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May 20th, 2010

Kogi Korean in Eastwood Mall

inside kogi

For me the 2 best signs of a great Korean restaurant is 1) the number of *free* banchan (free refills show that these people have the authentic korean attitude since in Korean homes, banchan is always unlimited, it is a sign of a good host) and 2) the taste of their kimchi (oh man, what kind of well meaning korean can’t make a good batch of kimchi? it’s their national side dish and side dish, added and eaten with almost all their food proudly!)

Because in Korean culture the banchan is a must for every meal. They are side dishes that should be eaten with the food.
Kimchi is an integral part of Korean cuisine. It is made up of fermented vegetables and chili paste.

banchan

Anyway without further ado, what we had at kogi:

crispy shrimps

Spicy crispy shrimp:
The shrimp was salty crisp but not so spicy, even if we told them to make it ultra-spicy. I ate mine with shells and all just to stress the point that this was crispy shrimp. Flavor wise, it had the korean components. Crispness was almost about to get disappointing, but we ate it quick enough that we still reached that “before it gets soft” point.

chicken kalbi

Chicken kalbi:
It had a sweetish barbeque sauce and is eaten with plum sauce and bean dip. Lettuce is the only kind of veggie in the platter, no garlic, no chili and of course, no ketnip. Quite disappointing. But it tasted okay.

Staff is helpful friendly and our banchan is refilled only twice, since the portions are so tiny you kind of try not to eat the side dishes too quickly. Refills over two, we were told, will be charged (geez).

it looks so big in this picture

Bibimbap looks so festive because of the huge pot that comes into your table. But the serving is quite small. It doesn’t have kimchi in the mixture (I knew I should’ve saved my free banchan for this one!). It’s just a bunch of sauteed and steamed veggies, arranged on a cup of rice with about  1/4 cup of cooked ground meat. Well at least there was a tiny rice crust at the bottom from the heat of the pot it was in. Topped with an egg and gojuchang, a spicy korean paste used i lots of korean dishes. Usually a bibimbap would use sliced meat along with some kimchi.

bibimbap

Flavor is still pretty good. Not yet too filipinized or economized but the ingredients are pretty much scarce. Variety of ingredients in the dishes we ate versus some of the authentic places we’ve gone to is a far cry. But what can you really expect from a mall setting considering the soaring prices of rent CUSA and percentage. Still the food was affordable even if they sacrificed serving size and variety of ingredients (this meaning they opted to remove the lovely extra ingredients to a dish). It was affordable on a per dish basis, but you feel that their servings are quite small.

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May 19th, 2010

Hunan Cuisine in Camia’s Street’s Hidden Restaurant

camia street yunan cuisine

Don’t you love immigrants who share their country’s culinary prowess? Deep within the winding roads of Guadalupe viejo, lies an unnamed “eatery” by immigrants who specialize in Yunan cuisine. So what is Yunan cuisine exactly? Most foodies know Yunan ham, of course, the prized canned salty ham. I haven’t got much of a clue to be honest, since I’ve never been to mainland China.

This place is so secret, they don’t have a sign. Instead they have a midea air conditioner condenser outside their place and frosted glass and a “wanted waitress” at the door. The place itself was hard to find, but it was easy to find the street. From Rockwell, go into Hidalgo drive and go straight into Guadalupe viejo and turn left at Camia street, right after the Barangay Hall.

ordering

Inside was pretty spartan, but there were lots of people eating. Oh yeah, they don’t have ice in this place so we had to take a short trip to Rockwell to grab a bag. I don’t want to sound like a jerk here but ice is a must for even the smallest decent eating place here in the Philippines. Their drinks weren’t cold either. But anyway, I wasn’t here to drink. I’m hoping they could add that to their repertoire.

inside

Without further ado, Camia Street Hunan Cuisine:

duck with bay leaf and herbs

Hot pot duck with bay leaf and chili:
The duck has been slowly deep fried, like a confit. I’ve never seen so much bay leaves in one dish in my life. This was my intro to Yunan cuisine. It was very smokey aside from spicy, and the bay leaf gave such an aromatic finish to the crispy fried duck. It seems that they have roasted the herbs before putting the oil and the duck. Mmmm, as the oils came out of the herbs while roasting, the oil absorbed it all when it was time to add the duck. It was quite salty, but the good kind of salty. The kind that makes you want to eat lots of rice.

ziran beef

Ziran beef with cumin and sesame seed:
I’ve seen this done in Dong Bei, one time great, and the other time, a total let down. But this was also good. The cumin was very prominent and the addition of sesame seeds gave it a beautiful nutty flavor.

fried rice with beef

Fried rice with beef:
Delicious and moist, it had the smokey after taste of the same herb mixture they used in the duck (or maybe they used the same pan for cooking the crispy duck).

string beans with chili

String beans with chili: The beans were again, very smokey. Like it was cooked in some sort of herb mix, with lots of roasted chilies. It gave the beans a rather “soft with a big flavor punch” appeal.

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