Ang Sabaw. Bow.

I love soup. I’d have soup even in the middle of summer. I’d choose soup over dessert any most of the time. I don’t like it chilled. I like it hot. Very hot. Ika nga ng daddy ko, ‘yung “makapaso ngala-ngala”.

I also thought of blogging about soup so I can finally delete these images from my phone. :p

Ang sabaw. *bow*

image
{warms the tummy, makes me happy}

1 Squash Soup
Pizza Hut Bistro, Glorietta 4, Makati
100php something/bowl
Errr… well… it tasted like squash alright. It’s not as thick and flavorful as I hoped it would be. 😦 Made me miss the yummy goodness that is Murphy’s Pumpkin Soup. Too bad I don’t have a picture of it.

2 Crabmeat and Corn Soup
Floating Island Restaurant, Makati Medical Center
180php, good for 2
Slightly better than Knorr’s instant crab and corn soup. I liked that they drizzled some sesame oil. It gave it a delicious aroma and nutty flavor.

3 Tom Kha Gai
Soms Noodle House, Alger St., Poblacion, Makati
220php, good for 2
This is Thai chicken soup in coconut milk. You can taste the lemon grass and ginger. But I guess it’s this rhizome native to Thailand called galangal which tastes like ginger. This soup is best paired with Fried Tonto Fish. Haha. Tonto.

4 Pho Tai Gau
Vina Pho, Powerplant Mall, Rockwell, Makati
158php/bowl
This beef tenderloin with fat brisket noodle ftw! Firm noodles, excellent broth, and almost-melts-in-your-mouth meat! It’s comfort in a bowl! Writing about it makes me want a bowl right now. It’s good with the Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce.

5 Bulalo Espesyal
Bulalohan sa N.Ramirez, Galas, Quezon City
120php/bowl
This is the kind of bulalo that would make me travel to QC instead of Tagaytay. Well-seasoned broth and easy-to-get marrow. To those planning on going to Bulalohan sa N.Ramirez, there are two faces of the resto. One looks like a carinderia. One sorta looks like a resto. Don’t worry, the bulalo is the same.

image
{wow, sabaw!}

6 Wild Mushroom Cappuccino Soup
Momo Cafe, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati
175php/bowl
Earthy and frothy, satisfying and enjoyable. This is a must to get in Momo for mushroom soup lovers like me. And between this and their Herb Pumpkin Soup, this is the better choice.

7 Monggo Soup with Kangkong
Katvanria Eatery, St Paul Rd, San Antonio Village, Makati
35php/order
Ay grabe. Ka-sarap nito. May chicharon pa ‘yan. I love bringing this to the office to share with my colleagues. Hands down, this is my favorite ulam every Friday. I love this with paksiw na bangus belly. Ayayayayayay. Tapos may ice cold Coke. *tulo laway*

8 Hot and Sour Soup
Hao Hong Kong Diner, Jupiter St., Makati
98php/cup
True to its name, it’s indeed sour (duh) and spicy. It’s also thick and hearty. Best to have this after drinking Hao’s Spiked Margarita Tea with Shitake Mushrooms with Fried Cheese for pulutan. Click here for my entry about Hao Hong Kong Diner.

9 Hototay
Panciteria Lido, Marvin Plaza, Pasong Tamo, Makati
120php/good for 2
I had this last Mother’s Day because I couldn’t be with my mom. Eto kasi favorite soup ni Mama. I’m sure she’d also like this because ang daming sahog! 😛 I had this with the Drunken Lechon Macau, but I think it would have been better if I paired it with the 3 Cups Chicken–  which btw, for me, is the best dish of Lido.

10 Nido Soup
Gerry’s Grill, Glorietta 5, Makati
65php/cup
This no nonsense hot delight is my favorite pangpa-sober when I drink at Gerry’s. I also like to have this with their Adobong Beef Ribs and Kilawing Tanigue.

My top 3 are

Pho Tai Gau
Bulalo Espesyal
and
Hot and Sour Soup

Cheers to more bowls of soup! 😉

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listening to: David Gates – Goodbye Girl

DISTRITO: The Newest Foodie Happy Place in Makati!

Because it took me almost a year to experience Mercato Centrale, I vowed (naks, how serious) that the same thing will not happen to me with Distrito. And so I attended its opening night last Friday, November 25. 🙂

Distrito is located at the Amorsolo Open Parking lot (beside Makati Med). It has food, fashion and wellness stalls but I did not see much of the last 2 in their first night of business. There were lots of food stalls that serve tacos, steaks, bibingka, dimsum, cakes, pizza and other omnomnoms but only a few that sell clothes and accessories. I actually did not notice any wellness stalls but because Ms. Cory Quirino was there, I assumed that there was one. After all, she is the queen of the World of Wellness!

Distrito opens at 9pm and closes at 3am, Wednesdays-Fridays. Shani, Vlad and I got there even before 9 and we were surprised that there were already a lot of people. Took around 15minutes before we found seats. To my left were call center looking folks. I work in a call center/BPO so trust me, I know my kind. Hehe! It’s also very likely because Distrito is very near contact centers such as People Support, Convergys and Sykes. Our company, ePerformax is 10 minutes away. To my right were college kids who prolly go to La Salle, UA&P or Endurun (or the likes). I just based my guess on how they spoke– in semi-maarte English. Semi lang. If it’s super, you know na from what school! :p I kid!!!!

Ok. Food. The orig plan was to buy from the Filipino-Mexican food truck because ever since I heard about Manila Machine from Jun Belen, I’ve always wanted to eat at a sosyal version of a Jolly Jeep! But I dunno. I didn’t feel like having a burrito or taco that night so I went around twice thrice before I deciding on pizza! And macaron for dessert! (And be a PG [patay gutom] and get some of Shani’s dimsum and Vlad’s bibingka!)

The Fire Escape Pizza Burger. I wasn’t also in the mood to eat pizza, but I liked the idea of eating something as rich and sinful as Offbeat’s Krispy Kreme Burger. Their pizzaburger I chose was The Rookie with 3 cheeses (I think, one of which was feta). I was asked if I wanted it spicy and I said, just a little. The spiciness was perfect with the cheeses. Don’t let the look of the pizzaburger fool you. It’s not a light meal. The pattie’s thick and heavy. It’s also juicy and flavorful. I didn’t really count much on this pizzaburger to wow me but it did! Kudos to the guys who started off with this as their thesis. Overheard one of them saying this to another customer! I think I’ll try the one with the mushrooms next time!

Empire Macarons. There were around 10 flavors to choose from and I chose the one with the prettiest c0lor. LEMON! That and I really like lemon! 😀 This one’s not bad at all for 35php. The texture is great and melts in your mouth. The lemon-y taste isn’t so strong too. I think it will be perfect with milk tea or black coffee or I don’t know… just not with a buco-pandan drink! Haha, I know ‘coz that’s what I had with it! :)) Other flavors of Empire Macaron according to their website are: Cookies and Cream, Chili Chocolate (ohmigosh I have to get some of these), Candied Rose and Salted Caramel.

The Taiwanese dimsums that Shani had were ok, but a little too salty. :\ Shani couldn’t finish hers so I gladly gobbled the leftovers. 😀 Buti na lang, mahilig ako sa sodium! :))

I can’t remember the name of this minced pork rice something in a Chinese take out box that Vlad bought. It’s also from the stall that they got the deep fried kuchay dumplings. Verdict: it’s ok for a hundred bucks.

The bibingka. The ricecake (small one for 65php) that Vlad waited for 15minutes was not cooked well. When I cut it, some batter oozed out. But I still liked it because the sweetness was just right. And well, the uncooked mix didn’t give me a tummy ache anyway. :p

We stayed for a bit and listened to an acoustic duo play alternative songs such as DMB’s Crash Into Me and Duncan Sheik’s Barely Breathing. More people were at Distrito by this time. Even when I got home and checked my Facebook, at least a dozen of my friends updates were about their trip to Distrito. 🙂

I’ve already told them this in person but I want to repeat it here just because.

Mr. Anton Diaz and Mr. RJ Ledesma, congratulations and thank you for Distrito. You guys are one more step close to your goal of making us all fat. 😀

—–

listening to: Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing

Bagnet and Fete

8065 Bagnet is just a 5minute-walk from where I live and it took me almost 2 years to eat there. No particular reason for the delay. Baka, it was just meant to be. Hehe!

Anyway, Joko and I, before heading to Fete de la Musique, went to the hole in the wall alledgedly serving rave-worthy Ilocano deep-fried pork belly dishes.

Both of us decided on getting from the budget meal section. All budget meals come with rice and soup. The soup was plain broth with some pechay baguio, and maybe some magic because Joko kept on saying how good it was, hehe. Didn’t get to mind the soup, because I was too busy texting Eunice about what’s happening in Fete. That time, Cynthia Alexander was on stage. Tsk.

This was Joko’s Bagnet meal of choice: Original Bagnet with rice (plain upgraded to bagoong) and manggang hilaw and bagoong. 100php for the Original Bagnet meal. Cannot remember how much Joko had to add for the rice upgrade. Sola iced tea for 45php. 

105php for my Bagnet Sisig Meal and 25php for my Coke 12oz

Both of us were satisfied with our meals. The bagnet’s meat  was flavorul and not tough at all, the skin was very crunchy. I didn’t even need to get a dipping sauce of soy sauce-calamansi-chili for the sisig. It was cooked and seasoned perfectly.

Their other dishes seem golden, too. Now, if I don’t feel like getting food from Phines, Katvanria or Mang Rudy’s, I will get my lazy ass and hungry tummy to the next street and probably get their Kare Kareng Bagnet and Tortang Talong. Or their Steamed Fish in Spicy Gata (yesss they have fish and chicken dishes as well!!!). And I will have their Frozen Buco Pandan. 

And wait! Another good thing about 8065 bagnet is that they have free wi-fi! 😉 So you can easily update your Twitter, FB and Foursquare where you are and what you’re eating! :p I know, I did!

Needless to say, the trip to 8065 was a win.

Fail for the 2011 Fete.

It was hellish to get to the 7 stages because they were contained in restobars (Keg, Scarlet, Craft, Amber, Draft, Katsu, and Trio). Joko and our other friends, after skating went to Craft for the Franco set. Much as I wanted to catch the band, I opted to drink at Roadhouse with Jeeves after swearing that I will see Franco in a more pleasant venue. The only stage where I got to reminisce the joys of oldskool Fete was the one held at Arts in the City. I enjoyed the performances of Escola de Samba de Manila  and Merzhine as much as I enjoyed staying in the airconditioned VIP area faaaaaaaarrr from the not-so-fun crowd of mostly artsy yuppies and some pretentious kids.

—–

Thanks to Joko for the pics! 🙂

—–

Bagnet 8065
8065 Estrella St.,
San Antonio Village,
Makati
Tel. No. 5196511
Open Mon-Thu, Sat: 11am – 12mn; Fri & Sun: 11am – 1am

—–

listening to: Milburn – Cheshire Cat Smile

Come in hungry. Walk out happy.

I was intrigued by this burger-burrito joint when I saw an ex become a fan of it in Facebook. Odd name, I thought, sort of reminded me of the (in)famous Ninja Burger with the tagline: Ninja Burger bring happy life, healthy life. Guaranteed, or we commit seppuku.

AnywayJoko and I had dinner in Army Navy and here are some of the food we had.


Vegetable Burrito with salsa and lime
Yummy! Like Joko said, “You wouldn’t miss meat.”


Freedom Fries
Winner! Think Twister Fries gone crunchy!


Classic Burger with extra cheese
Delicious, but I’ve tasted better. Yaaay for the juicy pattie. No yay for the close to nil smoky factor. :\ Eh bakit ba, gusto ko ng carcinogens.


Strawberry Milkshake
A little more than ok. Check for the just-right sweetness aka hindi ako na-uta. X for the superpale color. Sorry, visual eater ako. Ano daw? Hehe.


Libertea
Really good frothy iced tea. Tastes like the real thing. Joko said. Whatever that means. :p

Other blog-worthy (says me, of course) of Army Navy…


Oooh… metal. Lots of metal.


Signs. Pretty. Joko in her naaaliw/nagpapacute/distracted mode.


Me, having a mouthful… of meat. Errr… burger.


I agree. Mission accomplished.

Need to go back there and deal with the Bully Boy Burger with triple quarter-pound beef patties. I am not to be bullied by anyone! Or anything!!!!

:p

*BURP*

—–

Army Navy, Dela Rosa
Retail Space 1B, Dela Rosa Tower 1, Solaris Bldg. Dela Rosa
Makati City
(02) 836-3333

—–

listening to: Rihanna – Rude Boy

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