Tikim 64:Back to back with Toribox and Eat My GF (Little Baguio, San Juan)

I feel like celebrating today because my internship hours is finished and I can finally process my diploma! For this occasion, I ate 2 things that I really like: Katsu and Potatoes! If you know where Serenitea in Greenhills area is, you'll notice that the street has been offering more hole-in-the-wall choices than before! One of the newest addition is Toribox Cafe!

Toribox Cafe

Toribox cafe has really nice interiors and it gives some sort of Japanese vibe with its comfortable seating and wall decors. This is actually a good date place because its quaint and "hidden"! You'll have a chance to have a great talk over katsu and coffee!

Comfortable seating

Wall furnishing

They have a nice menu where it has pictures for easier ordering! I immediately ordered their frozen ice-tea 'coz I was so thirsty when I got there. Oh! I can't help but feature their condiments organizer...I really like the garden feel of it! I hope they put on a katsu sauce bottle in there and Japanese chili powder so it would complete the idea of a Japanese Katsu cafe.

Their menu

Frozen brewed Iced tea P65.00

Toribox's condiment organizer

For the main course, I ended up ordering a cheese chicken katsu! Katsu sauce is served on the side and I suggest you try eating it with the sauce! The dish is okay, just need more cheese to it or even better have some actual cheese sauce because this is just a fried chicken fillet with Quickmelt on top of it.

Cheese chicken Katsu P195.00

Up close

My date, Evan, got a Mapo Katsu! It has spicy tofu (tokwa) with minced pork. Reminds me of curry! Evan, a tofu lover noticed that their tofu isn't soft like the white ones in Miso soups. I suggest they use the Japanese tofu not tokwa to again be authentic in their Japanese cuisine.

Mapo Katsu chicken P195.00

After dinner, I was craving for some french fries and what a great way to end the night than eat garlic fries! hahaha Just need to eat a strong mint to remove garlic breath! (LoL). Walk a few steps from Toribox, and you'll see Eat my GF!

Eat my GF!

The theme inside the restaurant is very sporty with orange dominating the furniture color. I think it'll be a nice hang-out place for guys!

Baseball sporty feel

Choose from their burgers to hotdogs to their various take on garlic fries! I always order a large virgin chips for P195.00 when I pass by the area, unfortunately I was very excited to eat the chips that I forgot to take a picture! Well, it's for you to find out!

Menu

The celebration night was a success! I get happy when I eat my favorites :) If you are a kastu fan, head over to Toribox! You'll be carried away with their nice ambiance that's friendly to the wallet; a suggested date place for me!  And for french fries lovers, I am happy to give a shout out to Eat my GF!

Toribox
Quality: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 5/5

Eat my GF

Quality: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5

Tori box  and Eat my GF

403 F.Calderob St; Corner J.Abad St; little Baguio San Juan

Tikim49: Chicken at Brown's (Gilmore, San Juan)

There's a country feeling with the design of the restaurant; it's small restaurant that can house around 15-17 people. They resto doesn't have the fast food feeling with plastic chairs and usually dirty floors, Brown's has chill music and courteous waiters! 

Brown's

The place can fit around 18 people max. Custom tables and bench like chairs at different lengths create the non-boxy feeling. The restuarant also made use of their wall...a chalk board menu is written on it...a really great idea for a menu plus it's more environmental friendly!

Inside the restaurant

If you have eye-problems and are used to the individual menu, their take-out flier has the same stuff written on the broad.

Brown's menu

Brown's Menu

So what is Brown's all known for? Check out what Me and Evan ordered...

1/4 chicken with rice,1 choice of side 125

Up close

Of course, I like chicken so I ordered 1/4 chicken with 1 side dish for me! Their chicken is tender and juicy; tastes like it was marinated with honey and pepper. This is good 'coz I like both honey and chicken! Their chicken doesn't have any gravy but they have a soy sauce on the table in case you want it to be salty.  I Just hope they have some kind of gravy or have a Brown's specialty  sauce to make it more unique but then again the marinate was delish! Oh before I forget, the potatoes were awesome, the parmesan sprinkles on the potatoes were generous (this is good coz some restaurants serve parmesan potatoes that has very little parmesan sprinkles).

Gourmet Tapa 155

Up close with Gourmet Tapa 155

Evan ordered their Gourmet Tapa, not sure how this became "gourmet" but it tastes pretty normal like the tapa served in Pancake house. 

Student promo

Final say? Go for the chicken! I really like their marinade and the modern country feel of their restaurant! I also found out that they have a student discount during Mondays-Fridays (school days)! Hooray for students, 10% off for you; more reason to munch on their chicken!

Taste: 4/5
Quality: 4/5
Service: 4/5

Brown's Gourmet Chicken
Address: 2 Granda St. Corner Valencia,
               Quezon City
Contact: 408-5282
Website: www.facebook.com/BrownsGourmet

Tikim40: Toki Q the Rotating BBQ (Wilson, Greenhills)

I pass by Wilson and P. Gueverra Street quite often; then I noticed this small cake shop become Toki Q, yakitori specialty restaurant.The restaurant opened a few weeks ago and since I often pass by it; I decided to give it a try!

Rotating BBQ Toki

The restaurant can house around 10 people max. The right half of Toki Q is dedicated to the kitchen and order counter while the left half of the space is for dine-in customers. I don't have anything against small restaurants...it's just that I find it warm inside even with 2 split type airconditioner.

Orders here

Dine-in area

While waiting for the food to be served, I saw a machine behind the counter. I inquired about it and it is actually their machine in cooking yakitoris. They just put the stick in it and it goes around the machine for its deep frying process. With their cooking machine, it just says that their barbecue will not be overlooked or even undercooked. Their yakitoris are cooked just right that is made possible by the machine.
Since the machine is their unique selling point, I wondered if it's better to put the small kitchen (with the cooking machine) in the middle of the restaurant to showcase their rotating machine with chairs around it. Another idea is removing the food display, which is usually empty, then placing of the rotating machine instead.

Rotating BBQ Machine

I like that yakotoris are made affordable. When you order a combo, you get unlimited rice! The rice that was served when I visited was quite dry. I hope they'll have Japanese rice that are soft to eat since Toki Q (yakitori) has a Japanese origin.

Menu

Me and my bestfriend ordered combo 2 which comprise of 4 sticks (chicken ball, pork ball,chicken fillet, and pork belly). When you add P39.00 you'll have a soup and drink; affordable! I decided to try more bbq sticks. I ordered 2 asparagus wrapped pork and 2 chicken wings to taste. I find the chicken wings hard to eat :(

Combo2 with unlimited rice P110.00

Asparagus wrapped pork P28.00 and Chicken wings P45.00

Taste: 2.5/5

Quality: 2.5/5

Ambiance: 3/5

Toki

Address: P. Guevarra corner Wilson Street,

San Juan, Metro Manila

Contact: 425-9867

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

Tikim31: Comfort food+Sweet tooth=Naci (Greenhills, San Juan)

If you have passing by Conneticut street, you might notice the newest restaurant in the area.  Naci opened its doors last ---, and it been blogged and published already! One late night, I decided to have a 10 pm dinner due to a heavy lunch. Evan and I drove around Greenhills area and found out that the restaurants are in their last order/some even closing up! I saw the big sign of Naci and asked the guard if it's open,.. yes it is! They are usually open until past midnight until 1:00-2:00am during Monday-Saturday! Plus points for those who want to unwind from work and for those who like to eat midnight snacks! :)

Naci Comfort Food & Dessert Bar

Inside

On the table... 

Shrimps on Toast (P190)

For appetizer, I ordered Shrimps on Toast, minced white shrimp with chopped pork and veggies served with tomato salsa cheese sauce and spicy tomato dip. An okay dish but I honestly find that the dish lacks meat (shrimp and pork). A shout out to the salsa dip, it's good!

Trio of Potato (P180)

A sampler of potato fries, wedges, chips with cheesy Mexican beef and tomato catsup. A very sinful plate --- all kinds of deep fried potato! This one definitely needs more cheese, mayo, and ground beef to achieve a nacho feel.

Nadine's Adobo Cannelloni (P280)

Classic flakes adobo rolled in a pasta topped with bechamel laced with adobo sauce in mozzarella. This was my first time to eat cannelloni and I like it! The adobo sauce and generously filled mozzarella is a great match! Just wished that it was served with more bread

3pcs Grilled Prawns with Tangy Semisweet Garlic Glaze (P290)

This reminds me of my mom's cooking. It tastes the same but my mom cooks the prawns half-shelled and with more cheese and garlic on top! My take with this dish... I find the prawns bland  but when dipped in sauce it tasted better. 

Cookies to taste

Lastly, for those who have a sweet tooth, the restaurant generously offers cookie bits of different flavors for appetizer/dessert. It works for Naci because they are reinforcing their "dessert bar" title, and who knows a bite of those of cookies may lure a customer to order cakes, cupcakes, and cookie bags! Naci also has a selection of cupcakes which range from red velvet to chocolate lava. I bought a greentea 

cupcake from Naci for my best friend and she liked it! 

The dessert bar will greet you at the entrance

These look so cute!

Oh they also have special events like a ballroom day on Thursdays. I haven't been to this event yet but do let me know if it is fun! 

Retro Thursday in Naci

Taste: 3/5

Quality: 2.5/5

Ambiance: 3/5

Naci Comfort Food & Dessert Bar

2/F, Fox Square Building, 53 Connecticut Street,

Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila

Telephone: 726-7266

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