Travelling overseas for a quick getaway has a lot of benefits ranging from just getting some alone time to total destressing. But did you know that business ideas also come from these very same vacation trips?
Basing on the name itself, Kusina Moderne is basically a restaurant serving modern, reinvented Filipino recipes that will surely take you down memory lane and tickle your taste for something new.
Tittos Latin BBQ and Brew has been feeding us with sinfully delicious Latin American-inspired food with a Filipino touch for quite some time now. Along with their success comes a new branch in Greenhills, which has the same, cheerful vibe as its first branch.
Liloan's Pride is a small store that started its success story from the ancient family recipe for a liempo that's juicy on the inside, and crunchy on the outside. The business has since expanded from the town of Liloan, Cebu, and has found its way to the heart of Metro Manila.
Christmas is just around the corner, and while we're all excited to go on our holiday vacations, there's this one thing we need to worry about ~ shopping for gifts! It's an annual dilemma we have to face before going on a break. Let me give you a little suggestion on where you can get a unique and delicious gift to give your friends, family, colleagues (and yes, even to your boss).
Most people are familiar with Paradise Dynasty for their legendary xiao long baos, not to mention the signature 8 flavor variant that became the talk of the town, but there's actually more to this restaurant, and that's what my sister and I went for on our visit.
Our favorite seafood restaurant has a new branch and a new baby in Makati!
Pasay City is quickly becoming a haven for food lovers in search for new restaurants to try. With the opening of several new malls in the area, choosing a place to have lunch at has never been easier. Let me walk you through one of the newest restaurant find in Met Live Mall.
Cara Mia has been giving us a taste of heaven with their delicious cakes and gelatos for 10 years now, and as a way of thanking their loyal customers, they came up with a new treat for us to enjoy.
If you're an employee working in one of the buildings in BGC, then you'll probably know the burden of going out for lunch every single day. It does not help that most of the restaurants in the area offer food at a steep price, so you either resort to having unhealthy fast-food, or cafeteria food for lunch (if your office has one).
It was a holiday, and like most holidays I've had in the past since my childhood, I had nowhere to go and nothing to do but to stay home. Lucky for me, my friend also didn't have somewhere she needs to be at, so we decided to do a little food crawl, starting with Easy, Tiger in BGC.
There’s no such thing as North or South to me for as long as food is concerned. I have traveled far north just to try out new restaurants, but I have rarely been far south for my foodventures, unless it’s something that’s really worth my time (and toll LOL)! So let me, a girl from the south, take you further South for a whole new gastronomic experience.
The last dining experience I've had with Okada did not out so great. Everything did not go as I expected, so when Zomato invited me to try another one of their restaurants, I was skeptic, but of course I wanted to give them another chance at redemption, and Okada sure knows how to bounce back from a defeat.
My friends and I and the BARK-ada (our dogs) like planning small days out together as a group. Nothing spectacular or huge. We just like going out and bonding with our furry friends, like that one time we went to Bark Central in Eastwood.
I’ve always seen Vietnamese cuisine as a really unique and delicious cuisine that has received less appreciation that it should in Metro Manila. What’s been getting all the attention for the past few years is Korean BBQ, which most people line up for for hours. But what if I told you that you can enjoy both the goodness of Vietnamese dishes and BBQ all in one place?
I don’t really drink alcoholic beverages, but I don’t regret coming to Bang! Bang! Bar, and you’ll find out why.
Nothing beats a good Italian feast with friends and family, and although we are inclined to discovering new ways to elevate every dish, it always feels comforting to have a taste of our classic favorites every now and then.
Let me take you to a trip down memory lane as we indulge in Italianni's best-kept secrets all over again at their new branch in S Maison.
Frito Misto P895
The Frito Misto, which is a basket of fried calamari, fish, shrimps, eggplant, and zucchini served with a trio of dips (marinara, pesto mayo, and honey mustard) makes a good starter. It's fresh, it's got the crunch, and it's got the variety that will make you want more.
Other appetizers you could go for are the liver pate P395 and the romano chicken caesar salad P595.
Country Rigatoni Pasta P695
Their country rigatoni pasta, made with al dente rigatoni pasta, Italian sausage, chicken, pancetta, cannelini beans, vegetables, and parmesan butter, is a light but meaty choice for carbs.
Salmon Pesto Linguini P645
It's my first time to try the salmon pesto linguini (and I can't believe I haven't until now) but I quickly fell in love with it! It's made with tomatoes, parmesan, and pesto cream. What I loved about it was the perfect balance between the pesto and cream. The cream wasn't too heavy and the basil in the pesto wasn't too strong. The chopped parsley added to the accent of flavors the sauce brought. And finally, huge chunks of nicely cooked salmon to top this incredibly delicious dish off.
Poached Salmon P795
If you feel like skipping the carbs, then the poached salmon is something you may want to consider. It's a huge slab of salmon served on a bed of herbed potatoes, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, and red sauce that's got a bit of a kick.
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake
Blueberry Cheesecake
My Scores:
Pricing - 3/5
Service - 4/5
Ambiance - 3.5/5
Taste - 4/5
Taste - 4/5
Hungry for more,
Address: G/F S Maison at Conrad Hotel, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City
Operating Hours: 11am to 10pm daily
Facebook: @ItaliannisPH
(Date of Visit: October 8, 2019)
Twenty-Four Bakeshop is the brainchild of a young entrepreneur and passionate baker. What once started as an online bakeshop selling cupcakes, macarons, and cookies has now grown into a brand deserving of invading one of the busiest districts in Metro Manila!
I have been eating goto ever since I can recall. It's a well-known, go-to comfort food for us Filipinos. It's a pretty basic dish you can easily have when you want to, something I thought that practically tastes the same as every other goto there is. And so I was very impressed to discover a place that changed the way I feel about what I once thought as a plain, old, boring goto.
Mr. Tea is a tea shop founded in the Philippines in 2017. It first opened in the city of Pasay, offering a combination of traditional and modern tea culture and techniques to cater to a diverse set of customers with varying preferences.
In this fast-paced environment we are currently living in, we tend to focus on what needs to be done that we forget what matters most. Taking a breather seems impossible, and even a simple search for a quick and healthy bite seems daunting.
Ilonggo Food Company takes you on a gastronomic adventure to the Central Philippines as they let you taste what the Ilonggo cuisine has to offer. Combined with specialties from the other different regions in the country, their menu promises its customers the best of Filipino food.
The spacious and cozy restaurant, perfect for gatherings as huge as family reunions or as small as an intimate dinner with a special someone, is conveniently located at the ground floor of the Commercenter in BGC.
 |
| Tuna Kinilaw P280 |
Tuna kinilaw is a very common appetizer in the Filipino dining scene. It’s raw tuna cubes in vinegar and onions, black beans, and spices. It's not something I usually order, but it's one that helps stir up the appetite.
 |
| Sinuglaw P290 |
Sinuglaw is also a type of kinilaw, except that it had grilled liempo bits to go with the tuna. If I were to be asked, I would prefer to order the sinuglaw over the kinilaw just because I liked alternating the pork and the tuna. It sort of works as a palate cleanser for me.
 |
| Linagpang na Manok P375 |
 |
| Linagpang na Manok P375 |
It took us so many tries before we finally got to say the name of this dish right. It’s the first time we encountered it, and I didn’t think I’d like it with the way it was described to us. One thing you should know about the linagpang na manok is it’s charred before cooked in the soup, which gives the soup its smokey and bitter flavor. I was expecting it to be really bitter, like burnt bitter, but I was surprised that it did not taste like that at all. It was delicious and really unique - like nothing I’ve had before.
 |
| Batchoy P240 |
We are no stranger to the famous Ilonggo batchoy - a noodle soup with beef, pork, liver, and chicharon bits. It’s perfect for the rainy weather we’re having!
 |
| Kansi P385 |
 |
| Kansi P385 |
The kansi was described to us as the combination of nilaga and sinigang. But what makes their kansi different is the fact that it gets its sour flavor from the batuan fruit, not the tamarind fruit we usually use. I also loved its insanely tender braised beef! Hats off to the chef!
 |
| Porbidang Kangkong P195 |
The porbidang kangkong is just kangkong cooked in a mildly spicy coconut milk sauce. It's got a bit of a kick and crunch. It's not really that unique but it's still something you'll want on the table.
 |
| Ginamos nga Manok P295 |
Ginamos is a fermented shrimp paste popular in the Ilonggo cuisine that's similar to what we know as bagoong. The ginamos nga manok is half a chicken marinated in this fermented shrimp paste and other spices and cooked in a charcoal oven. Being familiar with what bagoong tastes like, I was a bit skeptic about how this dish would turn out (I was assuming it would be salty), but in the end it's one of the dishes I really came to appreciate as it was unexpectedly great! It's really moist chicken with super thin skin, and the flavor of the ginamos was just incomparable to the bagoong I grew up knowing. Where has this ginamos been all my life?!
 |
| Chicken Inasal P295 |
A specialty from Bacolod that us here in Metro Manila have come to love, the chicken inasal is chicken marinated in vinegar, garlic, and other spices, grilled and served with atsara. Sorry, but they don't have chicken oil in here (that I know of)! But from the taste of the chicken they served, I didn't think it was necessary (that or I’m just not really into chicken oil ✌🏻)
 |
| Pompano |
I don't have the price for the pompano because it's a new dish they're looking to offer in September, but just to give a short description about it, it's a not-so-cheap fish wrapped in lemongrass before grilled, so you can really get the flavor of the tanglad in there. It's best to eat with soy sauce and calamansi as a dip.
 |
| Chicharon Rice P210 |
 |
| Sisig Rice P220 |
For the rice, we had both the chicharon and sisig rice. While the two did not have much of a difference in taste, I prefer the sisig rice because I felt like it complemented the mains very well. It added flavors to the mains without overpowering them.
 |
| Mais Con Hielo P165 |
I used to love mais con hielo, until there came a time when I'd gladly pick corn on the cob over it. It's actually been awhile since I had one, but I kinda forgot why I hated the dessert after having some on my visit. The sweet corn didn't feel like something so bad with milk after all.
 |
| Halo-Halo P199 |
I was really looking forward to the halo-halo, but sadly, it didn't make much of an impact. I wish it was sweeter than it was. More sugar or milk could've made it better.
 |
| Leche Flan P90 |
If the halo-halo lacked sweetness, the lechen flan, on the other hand, kind of made up for it. It was sweet, but it did me a favor since I am a sweet tooth (so probably not good for those who are not). I also loved that it was not airy at all. It was so dense and thick to a point that it sort of sticks on your teeth, a consistency I really liked.
 |
| Tsoknut Frost P150 |
If you feel like reminiscing your childhood, then the tsoknut frost would be a good choice. You can definitely identify based on its taste that it's made of chocnut, even without knowing what it was. It's pure chocnut, and perhaps a little more chocolate that made it really really sweet. Just make sure you drink it alternately with water, as it can make your throat sore a bit (from all the sweetness).
 |
| Fruit Shakes |
Of course, it's not Filipino food without fruit shakes. They also have a sugarcane juice I am hoping to try next time.
My Scores:
Pricing - 4/5
Service - 4/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Taste - 4/5
Taste - 4/5
Hungry for more,
Address: G/F Commercenter Bldg., 4th Ave corner 31st St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Operating Hours: 11am to 10pm (Mon-Sat) 11am to 9pm (Sun)
Contact: (63) 917 827 4264
Facebook: @ilonggofoodco
(Date of Visit: August 24, 2019)
