It is a very rare occasion that family can come together for lunch. Good thing we still have girls in the debutante age so there's a reason why everyone goes to Manila.
We had lunch one sunday at Azuthai in Makati. Of course I could not disclose any price for the food since I did not pay a single centavo for everything we ate.
We started with the Crispy Catfish Salad. I love the right amount of sourness of the dressing and the fish remained crispy.
Next was the Spicy Pomelo Salad. This was just ok for me. I think the spices were a bit over powering.
I liked the Fried Rice that we ordered. It was well seasoned with just the right amount of meat and veggies in it and not greasy at all.
We also had the shrimp and eggplant rolls. This is a must try. Rightly seasoned eggplant with succulent fried shrimp in top.
The Tofu with veggies were very spicy. I did not expect the spice level of this one.
The Tom Yum was just right for me. The sourness was just right and not too spicy.
The red curry was really good. It has the right amount of sweetness and spicy kick to it. It comes with a cup of plain rice.
I got the Thai Iced Tea for my beverage. I found this one a bit too sweet.
Azuthai had a really nice ambiance for family meals. We enjoyed all our conversations while we were there.
My niece Isla was just the cutest. She was on a well-behaved mode that day.
I just overheard that the prices for the food were a bit pricey. Oh well, it was still good though.
Azuthai can be found in Pasay Road corner Makati Ave Makati.
I have always wanted to try Chocolate Fire after finding out they serve a whole variety of chocolate. This is the 2nd chocolate place I've been to and I might say some of those that they serve are quite unique.
I was able to convince my cousin Bibay that we try out this place. Their chocolate display is overwhelming and we can barely decide what to get.
We finally decided to get the Chili Dark Chocolate bark (125 PHP), The Large size Driscoll strawberry in dark chocolate (95 PHP) and the Pringle dipped in Dark Chocolate (15 PHP). Ok so it's really not obvious that we are dark chocolate fans.
The Chili bark was something unique to us. We liked the spicy kick of the chocolate. My only complain, I think the serving size is too small. For the dipped strawberry, you have to pick the very red ones to make sure they're sweet. I think it's also quite overpriced. We liked the contrast of the sweet and salty dipped pringle. It was something we can indulge on since it's not too pricey.
I find the ambiance of Chocolate Fire to be just ok. It looks like a perfect place to hang out with friends. I find it to dark though, hopefully they can adjust the lighting.
I would love to come back and try the other products they have. The sandwiches look good and the hot chocolate was recommended as well. It's a place that I can manage to afford on a payday though.
Chocolate Fire is located at Leviste st. Corner Rufino st. Salcedo Village Makati.
People may find this cheesy and probably out of character but as much as possible I try to celebrate my monthsaries with Marlon. My excuse is, its the time that we dont have to argue to go out and try a new restaurant especially that he is a home boy.
We decided to try out Nomnomnom in Quezon City since it's on our way to work. I like Nomnomnom the moment I entered because it has a nice and cozy ambiance especially that one cannot notice it from the street. You need to go through a small side gate just to get here.
The ambiance seemed to be Country inspired the I find the colors of light yellow on the walls to be quite relaxing with the accents of white plus the lighting made it more relaxing.
For our appetizer, we tried the Four Play (185 PHP). These are baked pita chips with Salsa, Hummus, Motabal and Roasted Garlic. I liked the Salsa and Roasted Garlic. The Motabal and Hummus were ok. Marlon was not a garlic person and not adventurous so he didn't liked the Roasted Garlic and Hummus. The pita chips made this dish healthy especially that it was baked to a crisp.
We tried their Lime Chicken with Alfredo Sauce (165 PHP) for our main course. I liked how the chicken was marinated well with Rosemary and grilled just right. Marlon really liked this. I think this one is best served with an oil based pasta.
We tried one of their pizza logs, the Malinomnom (240 PHP). The crust was soft and crisp and I liked that falvors of the tinapa and salted egg. Dont think this is too salty. For some reason, the flavors were not too overpowering. We didn't get to finish this though since it was a lot for the two of us.
For drinks we had the Cranberry Slush and the Apple Slush (65 PHP). I think they should serve this with a lot of ice. I may find it sort of refreshing but Marlon thinks this is too sweet and we had to ask for more ice since the bottom part was not cold.
Over all, I think Nomnomnom has a good set of healthy food to offer. For their rice meals, they could offer a choice to upgrade your rice to brown bread or brown rice for the more health conscious customers. This is a good place for a date or even for chatting with friends because of the cozy ambiance and the prices are very reasonable.
Nomnomnom may be located at E. Rodriguez cor Tomas Morato Quezon City. It is in the same building as Sabroso Lechon and World Class Persian.
P.S. Since this is a month late...Happy 8th Marlon!
There's one comfort food that I find in Iloilo and it's siopao. In Manila we have the choices of asado or bola-bola most of the time. I think siopaos in Iloilo are closer to my heart since the fillings are generous.
I really made sure we drop by Roberto's in JM Basa. I don't really care of people says its dirty. I just want good siopao. I ordered the King Siopao (55 PHP) with Chicken Adobo, Chinese Ham, Chorizo and Egg inside. Marlon got the limited edition Queen Siopao (65 PHP) with has Bacon and really huge it can fill an entire plate.
Roberto's siopao bread is very soft to the bite and the different flavors of the filling will explode in your mouth. Mamonluk's siopao in Quezon ave comes to a close second for me but Roberto's has a softer bread. Being able to order the Queen siopao though needs very good timing. It is not always served, only at certain times until supplies last.
Roberto's can be found along JM Basa (near Freedom Grandstand).
We saw a new addition in the Smallville Complex while going on a night out in Iloilo. Still looking for a good Mexican Place in the city, we tried Mexican Cantina across MO2.
We tried their cocktails in 500ml containers at 195 PHP each. We tried the Margarita and the Kaktus Wayanz. The Margarita was really strong and I didn't like it. I only had a few sips and got tipsy. The juice used was too strong as well. We loved the Kaktus Wayanz with all the sliced cucumbers. It was very refreshing and gives you just the right amount of alcohol kick.
We tried the Beef Burrito and Beef Taquitos at 125 PHP each. Do you want to know what is the difference between these two? It's just the way it was folded. The Burrito was folded twice while the taquito was just flipped over. They had the exact fillings of grilled beef and roasted veggies. The beef was well season and I like the play of flavors from the roasted veggies. They should have heated the tortilla though, I found it very starchy. Do burritos need to have rice inside? Food presentation needs more color as well. Maybe they can add some salsa on the side and a lime wedge?
I'm not a fan with the food. Everything was out of stock when we visited. I hope the improve on this. I'll come back for the drinks though.
Mexican Cantina may be found in Smallville Complex, Diversion Road Iloilo City.
Marlon is just a big talaba lover. I once saw him finish an entire batya of talaba. And it was a big batya. While we were in Iloilo we made sure that we can have all the talaba we want since those in Manila are really expensive.
We had a long drive to Oton just to get to Allan's. It was like a really long drive since I was driving and they say I'm a creepy driver.
Parking was a bit of a challenge since you have to parallel park on the street. Don't ask how I did it.
We got an order of their Pantat (Hito) for 70 PHP. Not really worth blogging about. We just needed something to fill out stomach.
The oysters were really good. We had several orders of steamed talaba (35 PHP). Even if it's rainy season, the talaba was still meaty.
The baked talaba is a different story. They bake it with milk and garlic. Each order costs 55 PHP. This was really good. Very tasty with the toasted garlic but was a bit mild with the powdered milk. Careful about eating too much of this one though. I had a bad tummy the day after from eating too much.
The talaba is really worth the drive.
Allan's talabahn may be found in Oton town.
I had to catch up with my Iloilo series since I'll be going around Iloilo again and Bacolod too. So, a month ago while I was there, we had a nice afternoon snack at Dulgies (the branch along Diversion road with Ted's Lapaz Batchoy). Dulgies is sharing the same spot with Ted's but it's going to all about cakes this time.
I haven't seen any bakery in Iloilo as promising as Dulgies. The cakes were innovative and simply divine. Their cake display looks amazing.
Rica was disappointed though that they did not have her favorite at that time, the Tres Leches. I heard it was so good you'll forget your name. Guess I have a mission in Iloilo when I get back, make sure I try this out. She had the Blueberry Cheesecake, it was ok.
My sister Titit had the Caramel Pecan Cheesecake. The caramel pecan topping was not overpowering and the cheesecake was really tender. What I liked about it is that it is not the no-bake cheesecake type and it's really soft and well...cheese levels were just right.
I had the chocolate-hazelnut cake. It was ok and but not too sweet. I liked the Ferero on top though.
The cakes were not expensive at all. It was about 75-100 PHP and it is really worth it.
Overall I find Dulgies to be very promising. I highly recommend that they explore further in what other products they can serve. I think it will have a better ambiance though if it will be separate from Ted's. Not sure about the Valeria branch though. We didn't go there because I'll have a hard time with parking. Can anyone share their Valeria branch experience?
