Restaurant: Bagoong Club

Bagoong or Shrimp Paste is not really a favorite ingredient in a lot of cultures due to its smell and salty flavor. Here in the Philippines we have a club for it. Bagoong Club, located in Tomas Morato, is one of those new breed of restaurants who try to recreate your regular Filipino home-cooked dishes by tweaking one or two pieces of the recipe.

The place is obviously an old house that's been turned into a restaurant - it's like dining in your grandparent's place in the province with capiz windows and all wood furniture. The staff was very helpful with their menu and very attentive to the needs of their customers.

We first started off with their free radish and shrimp paste (pic below: lower left) which reminded me of those days in elementary/high school when we'd buy green mango/radish on a stick with bagoong from that sidewalk vendor right outside school.

We ordered Grilled Boneless Bangus (upper right) which was stuffed with diced onions and tomatoes and served with Bagoong Balayan. The fish was very flavorful with all the stuffing flavor but my husband thought that the bagoong was a little bit too salty. I added a few squirts of calamansi to the bagoong (just like how we do it at home) and he was totally turned. We also ordered Krispy't Kare-kare (upper left) which is basically Crispy Pata (deep fried pork leg) with kare-kare sauce (stew in peanut sauce - usually served with ox tail and tripe) and vegetables. During the meal, we couldn't stop raving about this dish and we both agreed that this is, so far, the best version of kare-kare we've tried - really flavorful sauce, perfectly cooked veggies and very good crispy pata.

We only had to pay a little over 600 pesos which was totally worth all the good flavor that we devoured. Bagoong may turn a few people off but I think that just like all the other ingredients, if it's cooked right and mixed with the right flavors, it can be really good. Bagoong Club knows how to do just that and we are definitely coming back to try out more!

Recipe: Today's Lunch

We've been so busy last week and I got sick for a few days so my husband and I ate out a lot. I've never felt more guilty about spending too much money on really unhealthy food delivery. Our Sundays are usually spent eating out but since we did most of that the past few days I decided to just stay home today and cook.

Today's Lunch : steamed rice + Gising gising + Bacon Liempo

I was inspired by Recipe's Gising gising. My team and I had lunch at their Trinoma branch a few weeks back and I really enjoyed their food, in particular their Gising gising. I didn't really know what Gising gising is until then and thank you Recipe for making me love a vegetable dish.

The Bacon Liempo was inspired by that grilled liempo dish they have at KKK. I wanted to try something fried since we don't have a grill so I thought it's gonna be a cross between Bacon and Lechon Kawali.

Gising Gising

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 whole onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, grated/minced
• 1/4 kg of ground pork
• salt
• pepper
• 1 1/2 cups of baguio beans, diced
• fish sauce
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 chicken stock
• 1 chili, diced

Directions:

• Heat oil in medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until onion is transparent.
• Add in the ground pork and season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook until pork turns white.
• Add the baguio beans and season with fish sauce.
• Pour the coconut milk and chicken stock. Add in the chili.
• Simmer for a few minutes (I wait for baguio beans to turn bright green and the sauce thickened) and adjust taste with salt and pepper.

Bacon Liempo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 kg liempo, sliced thinly (probably half of the usual grilled liempo slice)
• 1 tbsp oil

Directions:

• In a bowl combine vinegar, water, pepper, garlic and salt.
• Arrange the slices of liempo in a long, shallow dish. Pour the vinegar marinade and leave in the fridge overnight.
• Heat oil over high heat.
• Drain the excess liquid from the pork - I used a colander and patted the slices paper towel.
• Fry pork 3 minutes on each side or until color turns golden brown. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan.
• When done, remove from fire and transfer to a paper towel bed to remove excess oil.
• Serve immediately.

Restaurant: The Cookbook Kitchen

Another day in Eastwood, another day of trying out a different food place.

I don't really remember how I heard of The Cookbook Kitchen but I'm pretty sure I heard from somewhere that they serve good food. The chairs and lighting of the restaurant gave me an impression that it is a Chinese restaurant but yeah I was wrong. Their service is probably a 2.5 out of 5. Although they informed us that it would take 20 minutes to serve our order, I didn't think that the soup will be served together with our main dish so my main dish had to sit for a few minutes while I finish my soup. Their staff is pretty knowledgeable and prompt but some of them are not really very accommodating.

I ordered Cream of Tomato (lower right) for my soup. Although it's name said "cream", I really did not find the soup to be creamy enough. I thought that the flavors should have been balanced more because I tasted more sour flavor than anything else - the cheese on top helped a bit to neutralize the sourness of the soup.

I ordered Walnut Crusted Fish with Mango-Ginger Sauce (upper left) for my main. Although the fish was cooked perfectly, I thought the walnut crust was too thick that it overpowered the flavor of the fish (there were several bites where it was all walnut that I could taste). Maybe they could have crushed the walnuts finer to lighten the crust of the fish. Good thing the mango-ginger sauce was packed with a lot of flavor. My husband ordered Parmesan Crusted White Fish (upper right). Again, the fish was cooked perfectly and it was very well flavored with herbs and spices. I just thought it was a little bit too oily and the thyme flavor was a little bit too strong at times.

Overall, the place is ok - good and clean resto, mediocre service and flavors that can be balanced better. I probably will come back to try out their other dishes but it's not really one of those places that I'd be too excited about trying again.

Restaurant: Momo Cafe

We've passed by Momo Cafe several times before in Eastwood but we've never really tried this place because it was a little bit unclear what type of food they serve. I really don't get much from Momo (if anyone knows please educated the uneducated here :)). So when my friend told me last week that Momo is quite good we finally decided to give it a try.

The place is very bright, very welcoming and laid back. It is that kind of place where you can sit and chat with your friends or family for hours while enjoying a great meal. Their staff provides excellent service - I don't think there was a ever a time we called for a server and got ignored. They were also able to answer all our questions regarding the items on their menu and everything (food, bill, water, etc.) was served at the appropriate time.

They first gave us a free plate of bread with a serving of cheese pimiento (lower left). The bread was pretty good - crispy crust and soft center. The cheese pimiento is very flavorful and tastes like it's homemade (Mommy, your cheese pimiento tastes the same! It's restaurant quality!). We ordered Herb Pumpkin Cream and Bacon Bits (upper left) for soup. Creaminess and thickness just at the right mark and the bacon bits added that perfect light saltiness to this savory soup.

My husband got the Mrs. Jones Tapa (upper right). I like how their tapa has that melt in your mouth texture and how every bite creates a little party of flavors - saltiness, light sweetness and just a little bit of bite. I got the Creamy Crabby Seafood Casserole and Rice (lower right). The plate was topped with mussels, squid rings and different kinds of fish which were all perfectly cooked. Underneath is the rice where all that creamy crabby goodness is. The texture of the rice is very close to that of paella and although I liked rice overall, I'd think that this would throw off some people with the rice coming across as overcooked or too creamy.

After a very bad dinner last night, Momo Cafe was able to turn things around and was able to provide us an overall good experience - comfortable ambiance, excellent service and good food. I don't think there's no reason not to give this place a thumb's up.

Restaurant: Crave Burger

Crave Burger just opened up in Congressional Ave. so when I craved for a burger earlier, I thought it would be a good time to try it out.

We ordered Onion Rings for our side dish and we were not really too enthused about it. We found the rings to be oily, too heavy on the batter and lacking in flavor. Even the dipping sauce that came with it didn't do the rings any better.

Both my husband and I got the Crave Ultimate Burger. Their burger patty is probably the thickest I've seen but on the downside it is a little bit small in diameter. I think their patty can use a little bit more seasoning for more flavor and can be cooked better for that good beef juice. Their bread is very thick that it overpowers the flavor of the already bland burger patty. I also hardly noticed the bacon in the burger, not much flavor and no crisp at all - my husband was even surprised when I told him that there's a bacon somewhere in there.

It is pretty obvious that I wasn't turned into a fan of this place. My husband who is pretty easy to please when it comes to food could only say "nothing special" at the end of the meal. They give a free key chain for every order of this burger but I think it's gonna take more than just a free key chain (probably better bread and patty) to make us crave for their burgers.

Recipe: Mango con Hielo

Mangoes are very popular in the Philippines. I myself am a big fan - I love them whether on their own or part of a meal recipe . Luckily, I grew up with free supplies of fresh mangoes coming from my father's farm so I had the chance to eat 1 to 2 whole mangoes per meal and be creative with our supply - Mango Jam, Ref Mango Cake and my favorite refreshing treat, Mango con Hielo.

I don't know if this can even be called a recipe cos it's too easy to make. Probably 10 minutes tops to prep and put together.

Mango con Hielo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• sugar (or honey if your prefer)
• ice
• 1 whole ripe mango, diced

Directions:

• In a small bowl combine the milk and sugar. Adjust sugar according to taste and how sweet your mango is.
• Put equal amounts of ice in each of the serving bowl.
• Put equal amounts of mango slices in each of the serving bowl.
• Pour in the milk syrup
• Serves 2

Restaurant: Buddy's

Buddy's offers dishes that are originally from Lucban, Quezon - most popular are Longanisang Lucban (Filipino sausage) and Pancit Lucban (stir fry noodles). From the outside, the place looks so festive that it is impossible to miss it along Timog Avenue. Both the facade and the interior of the restaurant give you that Pahiyas Festival feeling - a popular yearly event in Lucban.

An order of their Pancit Lucban (lower left) is good for 2-3 persons. I'd say flavor and texture-wise it is closest to the more popular Pancit Canton but the noodles are a little bit crispier and the ingredients are a wee bit different. To further bring out the flavor, you may want to add a splash of vinegar that Buddy's provide.

Longanisang Lucban (mid center) is another version of Filipino sausage. Compared to the more popular sausage in the country, Longanisang Lucban is redder, saltier and drier. Both versions are good but they serve different tastes. The fried rice was obviously cooked in the sausage fat since it's almost as red as the sausage. Although it doesn't really help my diet, a little fat for more flavor doesn't really hurt right?

Places like Buddy's pretty much describe how food is in the Philippines - they may all look like they're the same dish, but each province seems to have their own little twist to each recipe and the versions from Lucban, Quezon are pretty yum.

Restaurant: Cara Mia

4 ladies full from dinner...where else to go after? Dessert place, of course. Gelateria! Cara Mia! :)

I can be pretty biased when it comes to desserts so I'm just gonna keep it simple:

• Banana Blast (upper left) - your banana split in cake form - nothing special but I thought it was still pretty good.
• Mango Tango (upper right) - if you are familiar with ref cake then you'll know how this one tastes like.
• Mango Sansrival (lower left) - I was surprised that this one is a bit sour and I thought it didn't really taste like mango. Til now, I'm still trying to figure out what fruit it tastes like.
• Choco Sansrival (lower right) - this is probably my favorite. It was difficult to explain how good this was so just hit Cara Mia and have one. :)

We thought that if you are gonna consume their desserts in the gelateria, it would be cheaper to get a slice of cake and share it with someone since they are pretty generous with their slices rather than get a scoop of their gelato. But then again, who would want to share really good dessert, right?

Restaurant: Wee Nam Kee

We wanted to see what's over at Ayala Triangle so we decided to have our dinner at Wee Nam Kee - this place that serves Hainanese Chicken Rice.

I thought the food in general was ok but I don't think it's something I would crave for a lot. The Fish Fillet and Beancurd with Tausi (lower right) did not really offer anything special; it tasted much like your typical Chinese dish and I thought it could probably still improve its flavor.

I liked the Sambal Kangkong (not in picture) but my friend thought it tasted much like Chowking's Kangkong with Bagoong - I agreed with her but I thought Wee Nam Kee's version is cooked better and is wee bit spicier which adds a little surprise in each bite.

The main star of course is the Hainanese Chicken Rice. We all ordered our chickens steamed so I'm not really qualified to give a review of the roasted version. Also, I'm not qualified to compare it to the original version in Singapore since I've never been there. So being the uneducated person that I am, I thought it had good flavor and I enjoyed how perfectly the sauce complements the flavor of the chicken. That was until I got to the middle part of the chicken where it was still cold and it seemed undercooked. Was it supposed to be cooked that way? If it was then I really won't too excited to try out the original.

Overall, the place, the food and the price were ok but I just hope they had better quality control.

Recipe: Korean Beef Stew

A friend of mine brought this one time during a potluck dinner and I knew that I just had to immediately ask her for the recipe. Thanks again Mommy Lorie for giving us this recipe! It's sweet, salty and a bit spicy - perfect recipe for something to be cooked over and over and over.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

Ingredients:

• 1 kg stewing beef with bones
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 whole onion
• Large piece of ginger (2-thumbs ginger)
• 3-4 chili peppers
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup of dark soy sauce
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• Salt
• 12-15 stalks of onion leaves
• 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

• Place the beef in a casserole. Cover with water. Place over high heat and before the water starts to boil, remove the scum that floats on the surface.
• Add the whole garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers and bay leaf.
• Pour in the soy sauce and stir in the sugar.
• Simmer gently for two hours or until the meat is very tender.
• Halfway through the cooking, taste the broth and add salt.
• Toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a small frying pan and set over med-low heat. Shake pan often for even toasting.
• Slice onion leaves finely
• Place 2-3 pieces of beef individually and ladle plenty of broth over them. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and onion leaves