Ice cream!

It's Chinese New Year today but I'm going to make a quick post about Japanese ice cream! Have you had Japanese ice cream? There is a quaint Japanese grocery store in Little Tokyo that sells five types of ice cream. I just had to try the red bean or azuki flavored ice cream sandwich, as seen in the pictures below.

Hokkaido Azuki Monaka by Lotte

Vanilla Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich by Morinaga

Among the deserts being sold in the frozen section is shaved ice with azuki in a cute cup. It comes in three flavors: milk, green tea and regular ice. If you're opting for something lighter than ice cream, that's definitely for you. The goods are pricey though, ranging from P78 to P90. If you want more selection, go to a Korean grocery instead. Their ice cream are really REALLY good. Prices aren't bad too, starting at P38 for a popsicle stick.

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Have you heard of Bizu?

Location: Greenhills Promenade

Of course you've heard of Bizu. If you haven't you must be living under a rock. Or you don't care for desert. Either way, it's a shame.

I was never tempted to enter a Bizu establishment because I'm not one to indulge on cakes. I always felt the place is too extravagant to visit without a special occasion, and of course I'm too cheap. The special occasion arrived yesterday, and without planning it I found myself inside the bright, homey interior of Bizu Patisserie's branch in Greenhills. I was surprised to know that Bizu is open until 2:00AM on Fridays and Saturdays, and with good reason as I found out soon enough.

We arrived at Bizu past 10:00PM. The original plan was to head straight for desert, but I haven't had dinner so I decided to order an appetizer.

Hors d ' Oeuvres Sampler

The Hors d'Oeuvres Sampler consists of mushroom duxelle in vol-au-vent, prawn cakes, caramelized apples and brie croute and grilled feta, olives and cherry tomato skewer. We were also served complimentary bread basket, but it was dry, as though the same bread had been served since morning. Mushroom duxelle in vol-what? means coin shaped croissant topped with creamed mushrooms. I could taste a little sweetness and overwhelming butter in the cream. Not being a fan of cream-based dishes, I appreciated the prawn cakes which is crab cakes but made of shrimp and went well the tomato-herb salsa. The caramelized apple is apple chutney on top of brie and toasted pastry. It was too sweet and I couldn't taste the brie. My favorite was the tomato skewer with olive and feta-- simple and all natural.

We waited a while before asking for our cakes to be taken out. It was SO hard to choose! We ne picked 3: one fruit-based, one chocolate-based and guilt-free, and a third tried and tested concoction as a fallback. While letting the appetite build up, I observed the crowd that filled Bizu that night. At past 10:30PM, almost all the customers were just beginning to have dinner! Next to our table, a Chinese man over his fifties was on a date with his late twenty something daughter. They had just ordered burgers which were heartily consumed as soon as the huge plates landed on their table. The servings were very generous; each order comes with salad and fries on the side. At another table not far rom us, a group of rowdy friends aged 30-40 were enjoying their steaks. A few minutes later, a couple came in and started ordering main entrees! I felt sorry for the chef at the back. Either those people's body clocks are seriously screwed or it's their cheat day. I guessed it was the latter, and as our cakes arrived, I totally empathized with them.

Mango Chiboust

The Mango Chiboust is just a fancy name for mango cheesecake. I appreciated the art though, and the mangoes were perfectly sweet.

Naomi

My choice. Naomi is a sugarless and fourless cake made of sugarless milk & dark chocolate mousse between layers of chocolate cake sprayed with cocoa liqueur. Texture is very silky, taste is chocolatey but not too sweet. You can even tell there's liqueur. Seriously very good!

Amour

Something tried and tested to serve as our fallback. And isn't the name fitting too? Amour is a creation made of valrhona orange chocolate mousse in between layers of crème brulee and brownie. The thing that holds it up is white chocolate. I thought it's some plastic material you need to take out before eating. The brulee has a hint of orange, and the brownie is akin to fruitcake. When it starts getting too sweet, eat the dark chocolate bits on top of the cake.

I'd give the service 3 out of 5 stars. Kudos are in order for the pretty design of the cakes. Unfortunately for Bizu, I'm not a fan of fancy food names. A mango cheesecake is a mango cheesecake. There's only one thing left for me to come back for in Bizu-- the macaroons. Tell me what's so special about them!

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Have you heard of Seoul Barbecue?

Location: Libis

I was introduced to this place by my boss in 2007, when we opened iHooked Katipunan. I had such a good experience that I never forgot it and vowed to come back. Finally, I was able to last Saturday after my Korean class.

Dol Kim - Seaweed snack from Korean language teacher

Seoul Barbecue is special because it is the only place that has Yeongyangsotbap.

Yeongyangsotbap

Yeongyangsotbap means rice cooked in a stone pot with healthy ingredients. Actually, the one in Seoul Barbecue's menu might have been Ogokbap, but Yeongyangsotbap is more likely. The rice is cooked with fresh ginseng, jujube, shiitake mushrooms and gingko nuts. After the rice is cooked, remove it from the pot and eat it with any pot stew soup. There will be burnt rice encrusting the bottom of the stone pot. The waitress will add water to the pot, cover it and the remaining rice will cook again for 2 minutes. Then you can enjoy roasted rice, and even drink the water which will taste like roasted rice tea. Mashisseoyo! Delicious!

On my first visit, I remember being given a hot towel before the meal and using metal chopsticks. The plates are now plastic (I can even tell where they were bought), the chopsticks disposable and the wait staff below satisfactory. I have a feeling the recession has something to do with this, but in any case, it is still attracting all sorts of crowd from Koreans to Filipino barkadas. The restaurant owner, a Korean woman in her 40s, is always ready to give guests a smile whether you are a Korean or a local. Then again, maybe she thought I was Korean.

In Makati Ave., there are hordes of Korean restaurants, some of them holes in the wall offering authentic cuisine at cheap prices. But Filipinos are discouraged from exploring the Korean restaurants there because the servers tend to prioritize them Koreans, not to mention some don't have English menu. Compared to Little Tokyo where Filipinos (and other nationals) are as common as Japanese expats, maybe Little Korea is alienating.

I love the complimentary pineapple and cinnamon drink that Korean restaurants (Kaya, Seoul Barbecue and Ara, anyway) give for desert. Seoul Barbecue doesn't serve the cinnamon drink anymore.

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Have you heard of Kenny's Roast and Grill?

Location: G/F Rockwell

It's the place to go if you are a health or diet freak. It looks like a spin-off of Kenny Rogers' Roasters, which is why upon seeing the sign, you ask yourself, did Kenny modernize its image? The posh or just feeling posh people probably pass by and say, "Ang cheap, Kenny??" But actually it's a separate entity created no doubt by a Kenny Roger's Roaster franchisee. Smart, huh? Ass, yes, but smart still. That way he doesn't need to pay royalties but he gets the Kenny Rogers market, plus converts with its "health-conscious" concept.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Apple and Cinnamon siding

The waitress actually asked me whether I wanted dark or white meat. It originally comes with potato chips which are freshly sliced, but ask and you'll find out it can be replaced with other side dishes. I chose apple and cinnamon, which was surprisingly good eaten with the chicken, but bad on its own.

Grilled Pork Chop with Mashed Potatoes

The pork chop was very tender. They put salt sparingly to let you adjust it yourself. Mashed potatoes were very creamy. I didn't dig the apple sauce though. I like my pork chop with ketchup, carinderia style!

Prices range from P150 - 250. To me, the price is fair even though I can make grilled chicken at home, just for the value of having a healthy option. We all know how hard that is when dining out. Feeling full yet guiltless is priceless.

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