Tikim28: Breakfast at Figaro's (Tomas Morato, Quezon City)

All-day breakfast food has been the norm of restaurants nowadays; if not norm it becomes a way to differentiate them from other food establishments. Take a look at Pancake House, Tapa King, Contis, Bannaple, Army Navy, and the like; what do they have in common? They all have Tapa and Longganisa/pork sausages in their menu.

If you happen to be a coffee fan and a breakfast eater, I suggest you try Figaro. They have all-day breakfast meals that comes garlic rice, an egg, some salsa vegetable, and either with brewed coffee or iced tea for the drink. Their Longanisa rice has become my favorite amongst the other restaurants that offer Longganisa. The sausage has the right proportion, is not too chubby, it doesn't have chunks when you bite it, and it doesn't have the sausage skin that I dont like seeing. It even tastes great when dipped in vinegar! Yummeh! Since I am not a coffee drinker, I pair this with icetea! But according to Evan, who is a coffee fan, the brewed coffee served in Figaro is better than Starbucks' and Seatles'! The brewed coffee in Figaro has that strong aroma and flavor of the Barako blend of Filipino beans 

Longganisa yum!

Zooming the sausages, don't forget to dip it with vinegar.

Taste: 3/5

Quality: 3.5/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Figaro

Website: http://www.figarocoffee.com/index.php

Twitter: https://twitter.com/figarocoffeeph

Tikim27: Authentic Katsu at Yabu (Megamall, Ortigas)

Whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant, there is always a katsu (chicken or pork) in their menu offering. When you order one, the katsu is usually included in a donburi set or a rice bowl meal. My observation from the usual katsudon is that the breaded pork cutlet becomes soggy from either the sauce or the raw egg that is served on top of the cutlet. I thought this was the way of eating katsu since almost all Japanese restaurants here in Manila serve it that way...not until Yabu! :)

Megamall Branch

Anime wall 

Yabu, just opened its first branch in Megamall around a month ago and they are claiming to be the first and only authentic katsu restaurant in the country Why so? They serve it differently. They have crispy katsu/cutlets on the outside and tender-y soft in the inside; that said Yabu claims you can slice their katsu with a chopsticks! Yes, the katsu they have are crisp simply because it is not smothered with sauce nor egg when they serve it. Instead, the customer makes the sauce thus making the experience interesting interactive between the food and the eater. I love making my katsu sauce, it makes waiting time enjoyable!

Grind the sesame seeds and pour katsu sauce

Finish product

On the table I ordered a Chicken and Seafood Katsu Set. This set includes chicken, 1 piece tiger prawn, squid, oyster, eggplant, and pepper, aside from the viands you have a miso soup, Japanese pickles, a bowl of Japanese rice, unlimited shredded cabbage as the salad, and a cup of fruits for dessert, all costing P425. Not bad because you'll feel so full when you finish the set.

Chicken and Seafood Katsu Set

Up close

Oh! you have 2 choices of salad dressings, one is the sesame and on the soy based dressing! I prefer the sesame dressing because of the roast-y taste it has. 

Yabu Table Condiments

Also ordered Chicken Katsu Curry Set that is served with Japanese rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles, and again unlimited shredded cabbage as the salad, and a cup of fruits for dessert, all costing P290. You can also adjust the hotness level of your curry; I like mine spicy so it's definitely hot! :) 

I totally like this!

Even if I am not a curry eater, I liked the Chicken Katsu Curry Set better. Why? You can make your katsu swim in curry sauce! and when you get tired of the curry taste, you can try dipping your cutlet with the katsu suace (it's free and it's a table condiment). 

Taste: 3.5/5

Quality: 4/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Yabu

2/F Mega Atrium, SM Megamall, 

Mandaluyong City

Contact: 576-3900

Website: www.yabuhouseofkatsu.com / 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yabuhouseofkatsu/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/yabuPH

Tikim26: Authentic Yedang (Ortigas, Mandaluyong)

I see alot of korean restaurants,groceries, and other korean-related establishments (face shop, etude house, missha...etc) popping up here and there there's one restaurant that stood out amongst the few known korean restaurants in Manila. Ye Dang, which means a "an official title name", is a shortened version of 예조당상(禮曹堂上). Ye Dang is a Korean BBQ restaurant which serves marinated meat [pork or beef] before grilling. They serve vegetables [take note: Yummy and healthy vegetables] in small plates as their appetizer. Do know that these veggie appetizers are refillable. My favorite appetizers include mini pancakes [동그랑땡(dong gu rang ddang)], the sweet sauced potatoes, and the garlic spinach [시금치(si gum chi] while Evan likes the kimchi [김치]. Thank you chloe for the Korean food names :) Aside from the appetizers, I also love the taste of their water; tastes like roasted rice which by the way, also smells so good!

Yedang 

I had eaten here for about 5 times already and on my latest visit I noticed they did some improvements :). They already installed extra ventilations (electric fans) to prevent smoke from clogging the restaurant. This made the place unfoggy and clearer to the eyes. 2nd, they added new appetizers like their green salad and dilis. What is great abour these appetizers is that you csn ask for a refill! 3rd, their yedang beef special is now sliced into pieces (better than cooking the wahoke thing)  which made eating it easier.

               Before: Appetizers                       After: More to taste

On the table we ordered the following...
The Yedang Special Angus beef [P600.00] is a must try, tasty and blends well with the sauce. The beef they now served are again sliced into smaller pieces, plus points for convenience! Evan usually wraps the cooked beef in cabbage and puts chili sauce with it while I like it partnered with rice.

Before: The beef was rolled



After: The beef sliced into bite size pieces! :) Yey

How to eat

Also ordered their Usamgyup, Grill beef belly [P300.00]; Dak Kui, Grill chicken which I thought has some chili marinated with it. If you can't take the spiciness of the chicken, I suggest you eat it together with the vegetables from the appetizers!  

Usamgyup

Dak Gui

Can't miss the Dolsot Bibimbap, vegetable hash rice in hot stone bowl [P280.00] I always make sure I order this, it is actually a mea in itself. It has veggies and meat that reminds me of fried rice! :) Don't forget to mix the egg with the rice while it's hot or it will be a fried egg yoke.

Dolsot Bibimbap

Taste: 4/5

Quality: 4/5 

Ambiance: 3.5/5

Ye Dang
88 Meralco Avenue, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Contact: 636-1461

Tikim25: Urameshi-ya at Little Tokyo (Makati City)

Looking for authentic Japanese food? Go to Makati’s “Little Japan Town” and rediscover your the real taste of Japanese food! Little Tokyo has been around for quite a long time but because of its far location from Quezon City; I seldom come here. But let me assure you that every visit makes me feel that I am in Japan --- ambiance and food! =)

 

Little Tokyo at night

On my recent visit, Evan and I decided to try Urameshi-ya. It is the Japanese restaurant that has some charcoal being prepared outside its restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant you might hear some Japanese men talking in their native language; the television turned on to a Japanese baseball channel; and see that the dining tables are small and square-ish with space underneath the table for your legs. 

On the table, Evan and I went for the beef set menu. We really couldn’t understand the menu since it’s in Japanese, so we had it translated by the waitress. It is good that the waitress understands or has memorized the menu options [plus good service points =)]. 

Japanese menu that I don't understand. Ask help from the waitress

By the way, if you have eaten in other Little Tokyo restaurants, don’t hesitate to ask the server that you want to cross order from the other establishments, they’ll gladly get you a menu from your requested establishment and take your order! It’s so nice that you can cross-order because each restaurant has a specialty. Cross-ordering allows you to hit 2 birds in 1 stone! Yay for convenience :D and restaurants helping each other :D Since I love okonomiyaki, we asked for Kagura's menu. I went for ordering the modern ebi tama, which has shrimp, egg, and noodles. 

Kagura restaurant: Modern Ebi Tama P280

The set menu includes salad, kimchi, 1 half-sized Japanese rice, 4 selection of different meat, fruits for dessert…I like their salad, it has a unique sauce that’s quite addicting! No comment for kimchi but Evan liked it! As for the sauce, all I can say is "yum.." it adds some kick to the meat and its not that spicy!

Yummy salad, kimchi, and the yakiniku sauce

I love their thinly sized beef dipped with the sauce [yakiniku sauce, garlic, chili paste, brownish sauce] they provide.  The server too is very respectful and accommodating in cooking the food for us; I don’t remember my food being offered to be cooked last year when I went there.

Omakase set menu includes the following

Ready to eat!

I will really recommend my friends here looking for great authentic Japanese food. Sometimes the size of the restaurant doesn’t really matter at all. What is I think important is its unique taste and offereings that sets them apart from other “Filipinized Japanese food”

Taste: 5/5

Ambiance: 4/5 

Service:  4/5

Little Tokyo

2277 Between Pasong Tamo and Amorsolo Street,

Beside Makati Cineme Square, Makati City

Contact: 819-5008/ 819-5009

***I found a website with directions on how to get to Little Tokyo. click here

Tikim 24: A Japanese kind of burger at Sango (Tomas Morato, Quezon City)

By now, you have seen or have eaten in Sango Shangrilla Mall or in Rockwell Power Plant. The origami that decorated their restaurants in the said branches are still a unique feature in their newly opened branch in Tomas Morato, Quezon City. We then found out that they closed their Shangrilla branch due to construction of the bridge connecting the One condominium and the mall.

Sango at Tomas Moraro

Me and Evan always order the yakiniku rice burger in Sango's Shangrilla branch whenever we want to take a fast dinner. On the table, Evan ordered the same thing but note that the rice burgers they serve in Tomas Morato are in SUMO size!!! I wish they have a variety of sizes because some can't finish a large sized burger. This can also give them their unique selling point as this can give more options to the customer; allowing him to try other flavors by ordering with smaller sized alternatives.

Rice burger menu

Yakiniku Rice Burger

Out of curiosity, I decided to try on somerhing new. I then ordered their chili hotdog. On their menu, it didnt look so big but I got overwhelmed with its size when it arrived on the table. It wasn't that spicy though but I have to give credit to the sidedish it came with- fries was awesome! Ü For our drinks, Evan ordered a honeydew melon soda. He liked the fact that there's an establishment that serves fruit sodas which you can rarely find in Manila restaurants (which serve Coke, Pepsi, and the like). I also like Sango's milk tea, it was smooth, not too sweet, and fragrant to drink! Give it a try when you're eating in Sango :p

Chili Hotdog

Honeydew melon soda and milk tea

Taste: 3/5
Quality: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5
Sango
G/f unit 1A, 186 Tomas Morato,
Corner Scout de Guia, Q.C.
Contact number: 0922-8852773
Website: www.sango.com.ph

: www.facebook.com/sangoburger

Tikim23: Share Tea now in Town (Wilson, San Juan)

A review by guest blogger, Pam See :)

Milktea is obviously a hot trend in the foodie community here in Manila, and adding to the growing collection of milk tea places is Sharetea. Hailing from Taiwan, this place also offers a variety of milk tea flavors- the classics, fruit based, yakult based, cream based, and even ice cream floats. You also get to adjust the level of sugar and the amount of ice according to your preference. The place doesn't offer side dishes aside from its drinks, but maybe because it's still in the soft opening stage. Let's see later on. 

Share Tea

Share Tea Menu

Since Cha is sick, I'm filling-in for her. :p Being a fan of taro, I decided to try that one out. Regular Taro Pearl Milk Tea, less ice, 50% sugar (Php 90). Evan ordered a Large Okinawa Pearl Milk Tea, no ice, 0% sugar, extra pudding (Php 100+15)

Okinawa Milk Tea and Taro Pearl

We both think that the tea wasn't strong enough, both tasted watery considering the fact that we have lessened the ice and the sweetness level. There was a generous amount of tapioca balls in our milk teas though, but I think those tapiocas were too rubbery in texture for my taste. I'm not sure how Sharetea will make itself stand apart from the rest of the milk tea places in the vicinity. It's not exactly the ideal hangout place as compared to Teatap, and you can pretty much get the same drinks in Serenitea which is only one street away. Oh but Sharetea do have the rocksalt cheese in its menu which really hyped up Happy Lemon before. Well, whatever the case may be, at least people have another milk tea place to choose upon.

Taste: 2/5

Price: 3/5

Ambiance: 2/5

Share Tea

P.Guevarra Street, corner Wilson Street, 

San Juan, Metro Manila

Website:http://www.facebook.com/ShareTeaPhilippines 

Tikim22: From Balkan Express with Love (San Juan)

When I first heard about Balkan Express from Spot.ph; I wondered what cuisine do they serve. All I know is that it is something I haven’t tried. Due to lack of geographic knowedge, I had a minor boo-boo in a short conversation I had with the owner, Marko Batricevic.I accidentally asked “Oh, you are Siberian?” Don’t make the same mistake as I did, so here is a little background about the Balkans.

According to WorldAtlas.com, the Balkan peninsula is in the southeastern part of Europe.  It includes the countries of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia [not Siberia, hehehe], Slovenia, and Turkey. One of the cuisines in the Balkan peninsula is Serbian cooking.Serbia food recipes have roots from Greek and Croatian cooking and it is known to be nutritious, spicy, and tasty.

Balkan Express

Owner is taking orders

Balkan Express Menu Board

For Europeans who miss this cuisine and for those who want to try something new, the Balkan Express in San Juan is available to experience the said characteristics of Balkan food. The place is cozy, it actually reminds me of Everything At Steak. In short, this is a comfort food restaurant!

Inside Balkan Express

On the table, we ordered the following. Taste-wise the Goulash was yummy! Evan loved the soup, tender beef and a hint of spice!Chicken batak (grilled chicken fillet with mozza). The combination is just right although I'd prefer if there will be a special sauce that goes with the chicken to just have taste variations (ex. like adding some spicy herbs on the side). 

Goulash: Beef Stew

Up close with goulash

Chicken Batak: Grilled Boneless Chicken stuffed with mozzarella

Wasn't able to order this, but the owner allowed me to take a picture of his dinner.The stuffed Pljeskavica, a house specialty, will be on my next order the next time I come here. 

Stuffed Pljeskavica: Stuffed Cheeseburger

French fries for me! nothing really special with the fires. A special dip would be great to differentiate their fries from other. maybe some mozzarella? or some mixed herbs! :)

French Fries for me

Taste: 3.5/5

Price:4 /5

Ambiance:3/5

Balkan Express

87 Jose Abad Santos St. corner Mons St.
Little Baguio, City of San Juan
Telephone: 3300945
owners name: Marko Batricevic

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Balkan-Express/119350124782536

Tikim21: Beef Overload at Bulgogi Brothers (Greenbelt5, Makati City)

The Philippines has become a haven for South Koreans. Throughout the years we received influx of South Koreans in the country for reasons of a better education on English literacy. Indeed the Philippine tourism received quite a boost from them, and of course, the Korean culture will despite the norm of having foreigners get assimilated into the Filipino culture. It is then inevitable that their cuisine will surely follow and I have no complaints from my taste buds.

Introducing, the famous food chain all the way from South Korea, The Bulgogi Brothers! From the Korean word "bulgogi", the first thing that came to mind is indeed beef, and lots and lots of beef! Though bulgogi simple means marinated beef, it can also be used on pork and chickens.

From initial looks, I find it typical for a mall-type restaurant to be small, crowded and noisy. Since the restaurant is only a week old when we decided to give it a try, as expected, queuing up is necessary. The only good thing is that the receptionist offered to simply notify us on our mobile when the tables are ready. I guess we had more time to stroll around the mall. Because of this, I was never a big fan of these mall-types restaurant but nonetheless I will proceed. We all know that the bottom line would always be the taste of the food and everything else is secondary.

Typical for a Korean BBQ, you are given the choice to have the food cooked in the kitchen or right in front of you. The latter was chosen to have the authentic feel of Korean bulgogi.

The order is the Bulgogi Brothers Special! Their bestseller! Good enough for 2-3 persons. An additional Bibimbap would have been a delight but I feared that the order may be too much for 2 people to eat, so I took a pass on the Bibimbap.

Although we noticed that the "special" is simply a combination of Unyang and Gwangyang style. If you pay attention carefully you would gotten more when ordered separately. I guess we got carried away and our stomachs got the better of us from all the waiting.

Immediately after completing our order, we were served with free Korean corn tea and appetizers (corn, sweet potato and quail eggs) to get the appetite going. These can be ordered as many times as you like.

The side dishes then followed (spicy spinach salad, white kimchi and kang kong). I would've preferred the spicy kimchi but the staff mentioned an additional charge is needed. What a loss!

The food is then served and will be cooked right in front of you. It was a bit unfortunate though that the staff insisted to cook on our behalf. It would have been nice to cook our own meal. I guess it may be an effort for them to maintain the taste of the food than to have customers themselves ruin the whole experience.

On to the cooking, the food was actually cooked by a Korean trainer all the way from Bulgogi Brothers headquarters in South Korea. The Unyang Style went first along with the onions for seasoning. I love how they shaped the patties into a heart.

Before

After

The patties were actually delish, a different experience on bulgogi than the other korean restaurants around. It was unfortunate though that the staff had to leave us after to cook for another customer due to high number of people eating at the restaurant. This is bad since we prefer a variety of food served on the table and we were forced to wait for the staff to return in order to start cooking the Gwangyang style. We were then forced to call another staff to start cooking the other bulgogi as we were waiting far too long for the chef to return.

Before

After

By the time the Gwangyang bulgogi was cooked, despite it looking scrumptious, we had lost our appetite already. The dish is actually delicious but no much different than the other Korean restaurants has to offer. We also heard that the liquor pairing was great, but I guess alcohol is not really our cup of tea.

The verdict: Bulgogi brothers offered a different experience on the whole bulgogi food from Korea. The appetizers were a good start, the side dishes were great with a minor exception on the white kimchi. The spinach salad does deserves a mention. The patties were delicious, a different offer from other restaurants but the traditional Gwangyang bulgogi offered no difference from other Korean food houses. By no means am I saying that the food taste bad, but I stand my ground on saying that mall-types restaurant puts quite a premium on their food prices that other restaurants can offer for lesser value and equal taste.

Rating: 3/5


Bulgogi Brothers
3rd/F Greenbelt 5, Makati.