Sunday Lunch at Papa John's

My lemming for Papa John's started when I found out that the first PJ's PH was open at Robinson's Galleria. I constantly asked my parents to take the whole family there, but they didn't like the thought that it was at Galleria. Fast forward to January. I checked the website for the nth time, and lo and behold! The top banner said that the Greenhills branch was finally open! We just had to make the out-of-the-way-trip to eat there.

Calzone's: Chicken & Mushroom and Pepperoni & Mushroom

Papa John's prides itself with using the freshest ingredients. All the button mushrooms I tasted were fresh, and not canned. The service was okay too, for a newly opened restaurant. The waitstaff were friendly, but I guess they could work on efficiency as they go on. The time it took for the food to come out was painstakingly long, which was why we were famished by the time the first dish touched the table.

Cheesesticks with garlic sauce

We ordered Cheesesticks, which came with garlic sauce. It's more like a little 6 inch cheese pizza cut into strips. The garlic sauce gave a nice flavor contrast with the cheesy pizza. This was an appetizer, but sadly, it came after a few of the other dishes came out. Something I did not particularly like nor hate was the Chicken baked rice. It had chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes on top of pepper rice. It was okay, and it's something I think my brother could pull off on his own. Another gripe I had was that the serving was too small. I also ordered the calzone's on the menu, Chicken & Mushroom and Pepperoni & Mushroom.  Both were good, but I liked the Chicken one better because the Pepperoni's taste was kinda off. Finally, we had a large, All the Meats pizza, which came with two garlic sauces and a pepperoncini. We didn't want the bugger of a pepper, so we asked if it could be changed to a garlic sauce instead. Good thing they agreed. (Only the calzone's and cheese sticks are pictured, because we wolfed everything down before I remembered to take photos. We were starving because it took a long time for the food to come out.)

All in all, it was okay. I wasn't particularly wow-ed by the whole experience. The food was good, but not amazing as I hoped it would be. It still pales in comparison to my US Papa John's experience, but I still like the fact that they used all fresh ingredients. Hopefully, they can bring the service up a notch, which will make dining there better. We had to follow up our orders and other requests numerous times. I'll still go back and give it another shot at a later date, so that Mics could go and try it out too.

Sango! The Burger Master

Last Sunday, Mics and I went to Shangri-La with plans to watch Green Hornet. Unfortunately, with the unforeseen traffic along EDSA(and on a Sunday!), we got to the mall a few minutes too late to watch the movie at the 4pm-ish time slot. My stomach started grumbling so M said that we should stop for a snack before going around.

Yakiniku Rice Burger with Large Fries

 We both chose to order the Yakiniku Rice Burger, P145. I've had it before, and M was rather jealous so he copied me. While I only had the burger, M had the works. He ordered Large Fries, P75, which are thick cut potato fries with skin on. There was nothing special about it, just fresh, hot potato, lightly salted. This was served with Del Monte tomato ketchup packets. We haven't tried the Master Fries yet, and I'm kinda torn because it looks kinda good but the price point is just too high. Will have to try it one of these days.

Burger, Fries and Large Strawberry Soda

M liked the Strawberry Soda, P70, the first time he tried it at the Rockwell Branch. For some reason, I wasn't drawn to it the first time, so I didn't order any soda. I just sipped a bit from M's drink and nursed my water for the rest of my meal. The Strawberry Soda is a bright pink and slushy, since instead of ice cubes, it's served with crushed ice. The slice of lemon is a nice touch, as it adds some fresh flavor to the otherwise too-sweet drink.

What the other side of the Yakiniku Rice Burger looks like, after two bites. Bummer.

Now, onto the burger. Yakiniku meat and fresh lettuce leaves sandwiched in between two hot rice buns, slathered with flavorful sauce. Yummy? Sure is! A few gripes, though. Although the top side of the burger looks bountiful, turn it over and the bottom part has no lettuce and lacks meat. I now eat it upside down, because otherwise, I'd be left with just rice and some sauce. The yakiniku meat is cut into huge pieces. I say huge, because when you take a bite, a large portion of meat gets pulled out too. Eat it right side up and the last few bites you'll get will be of rice and rice alone. I wish they would cut it up into smaller bites. Maybe I should request that next time.

All in all, I like Sango! I really like the Yakiniku Rice Burger, since it's so flavorful and delicious. Needless to say, I'll be back.  Next time, I might try a different burger or one of their donburi. 

Sango! The Burger Master is located at the 6th level of Shangri-La Mall. There are branches in Rockwell and Creekside Mall as well. 

HK Food Post: Whole Roasted Suckling Pig

During my Hong Kong-Macau-Hong Kong trip, I was able to sample high-class Cantonese and Macanese lauriat spreads. (By Philippine standards at least; over there it was considered poh tong or "regular" set menu.) At two dinners, one in each Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the appetizers featured was Whole Roasted Suckling Pig. 

This was the first "Pig" we had in Macau. These lovely things are probably first cousins of the lechon we have here in the Philippines. But they aren't served in the same manner; not those chopped, yummy blocks of juicy meat, (icky fat) and crispy skin. This Chinese-style roasted pigs are presented in such a cute way; cherries for eyes with slices of mouth-watering, crunchy, flavorful skin, accompanied by little flour tortillas and hoisin sauce for more flavor. Instead of wrapping it up like peking duck, you get a tortilla, slather on some hoisin, and top it off with the crispy skin like a bite-sized Chinese pizza you eat with your chopsticks.

This is the poor fellow we had in Hong Kong. We were all too hungry to wait for a piggy photo-op before digging in. This little piggy was much more interesting simply because it had light bulbs that were actually lit up with batteries when it was served. If my memory serves me right, I believe the Macanese pig was more delicious that this one. The Cantonese pig had a thicker layer of fat, which I promptly removed before chowing down. On another note, our server in Macau was better trained and more courteous. She was able to slice the noodles with quick flicks of her wrist, using only her chopsticks! The lady in HK was a bit more, unrefined, if I may say. 

This has got to be my favorite dish in the entire lauriat spread. If you have the chance to try this anywhere, please do! Since you'll be able to eat only two to three pieces if you're in a table of twelve, forget you diet for a bit and indulge in the porky goodness :)

I was Gone...

And now I'm back! I've been gone for a few days, and I'd like to say that my experience has been both extra hectic and super exciting at the same time. Highlights include:

1. New (and old) beauty stuff!
2. Was bitched at by my aunt and getting major major pissed off (resulting to my Twitter status: Bitch, stop chewing me out and mind your own fucking business. Clean up your own shit and fuck off.)
3. A few clothes
4. Getting hustled from one restaurant to another, getting my face stuffed with so much food from morning 'til midnight (Yummy!!)
5. Seeing so many drunk Cantonese and Macanese, and getting suffocated by cigarette smoke
6. EDIT: No online access for those days nearly killed me. I had like, 2 hours of internet use. The whole time I was there.
7. A new baby!

I will be making more posts about these soon. I'll try not to rant about my aunt anymore, seeing that one day, I hopefully will not have to deal with her anymore. Negativity out, good and beautiful things in!

My Dad's Birthday Cake

My Dad celebrated his birthday more than a week ago on August 1st. That day, I was at my Dad's workplace for a part time job. Mum was at home with the two furballs. She phoned me and asked what size Mango Torte we should buy, since Dad requested Dulcelin's frozen delight the night before. I eagerly replied, "The larger one!" So she got the larger one. I got another phone call half an hour later. It was Mum again, and she was fussing about how the huge torte would not fit any of our freezers. "Not even the Fisher & Paykel one?" "Nope!" So we decided that Mum should butcher the poor, lovely thing so that it would not melt into an unrecognizable glob by the time we got home.

After dinner, I prepped the birthday cake. Since it was all cut up, how were we supposed to present it to Dad? I randomly got one of the nicer slices and put it on a plate. And since the tiny, frozen peaks of whipped cream could not support a candle, I got a tea light and lit that up instead. Voila! It was pretty funny, kinda like how some restaurants serve the birthday celebrant a sliver of cake. I'm glad Dad was somewhat amused! So we sang happy birthday, and I was the one who got to eat the Mango Torte. Milo and Coco had a little taste too.

Before Mum chopped it up

The blown birthday tea light and the still frozen slice of heaven/Mango Torte

Buy One Take One on Yoshinoya's Katsudon Bowls!

Yoshinoya does it again! Here's another buy one take one deal, this time on their Katsudon! Just print the coupon below and you're all set :)

Mechanics:

1. Present coupon upon ordering
2. Valid for dine in and take out only
3. One coupon per transaction only
4. Not valid with any other promo
5. Promo period: August 1, 2010 - September 30, 2010
6. Valid on all branches

Credit http://boy-kuripot.blogspot.com

Buy One Take One on Yoshinoya's Beef Misono Bowls!

Here's another food post! Hungry people unite! :D This one has been under my radar a bit,  sorry for the late post.

You need to present coupons for this. They were given out weeks ago, but you can print the image above and that would suffice. 

Mechanics:

1. Present coupon upon ordering
2. Valid for dine in and take out only
3. One coupon per transaction only
4. Not valid with any other promo
5. Promo period: June 7, 2010 - July 31, 2010
6. Valid on all branches

T.G.I. Friday's Chicken Fingers for only P99!

Another "sale alert" for the foodies!

Only one order per person
Not valid for take out
No need for coupons

Chicken All-You-Can at Max's

This is the glutton's version of a sale alert! 

Terms and Conditions:

• Chicken will be served in quarter pieces
• Chicken parts will be served based on availability
• Add P39 to avail of bottomless Pepsi softdrinks
• Promo is from June 17 to July 17, 2010 & from 6PM to 10PM only
• Promo valid for dine-in only. Not valid for take-out, delivery, bulk orders and functions
• Cannot be combined with other promos and discounts
• No sharing, no left-overs
• Chicken will be served after each piece has been consumed