Stockmarket, Bonifacio High Street

I did not know that the restaurant, Stockmarket, is by Del Monte. The poor choice of name does not give off images of fresh produce on a platter. Instead, along with the architectural design, it makes you think of an uptight restaurant that serves pea-sized, insanely expensive artificial food for heartless finance moguls.

This fact becomes clear though with the racks of Del Monte canned products and fresh pineapples that greet you upon entering. The servers' uniform (green and khaki) also scream farm-fresh vegetables and healthy menu items. The interior design tried to achieve a country-kitchen feel, what with the white wooden furniture, mocha-colored seat cushions, walls with framed recipe pages and glasses with pineapple design lined up against them. Sadly, it failed in execution with the result of being torn between chic and modern, and homey and nostalgic.

Fortunately, the food was its saving grace, although it wouldn't hurt for Dole to give more value for customers' money. I mean, it IS Del Monte already.

I wanted a light dinner so I went for the berries-something-salad. Essentially, a salad made of lettuce, mango, grapes, strawberries, blue cheese and walnuts. The "berries" part was the sauce-- a puree of mixed berries which did not taste artificial and had just the right amount of sweetness. B liked it a lot. For the price though (Php295), they could've been more decent with the strawberry serving, as what I had in my giant plate was one tiny strawberry sliced into four.

I noticed how B likes to have pasta on weekend dates. I guess it's the romantic/traditional in him. His tomato-based pasta with salmon was light without sacrificing taste. The salmon was cooked and seasoned perfectly.

The Ice Cream Bar by FIC (Fruits in Ice Cream) has opened inside Stockmarket, so you can have your fix of fruity ice cream after dinner. But I can't think of anyone who'd want FRUIT ice cream after having a fruity meal already.

We had a satisfactory dinner at the Stockmarket. Next time, I will order the Pineapple Harvest Salad-- a salad arranged inside a cored pineapple-- which we spotted being brought to one of the tables. I look forward to coming back in the afternoon to experience the place and food in daylight. Perhaps I will appreciate the interior design better.

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Threesome at Tsumura

I remember every single date I've been with B's Granny. All in all, the three of us have gone out exactly six times. And of course, on each date, I'm the third wheel.

I'm sure B doesn't mean it, but he always chooses intimidating places. You know, where you actually have to talk while eating, and the servers purposely leave you alone to do just that. Not that I don't like talking to Granny; don't get me wrong, I adore her. She exudes fierceness in a good way. I just don't wish to see that fierceness in action, like, ever, so I tend to be meek around her. Meek becomes me, actually, but it is so so boring.

Oh yes, restaurant review.

On our third date as a threesome, B chose his family's favorite Japanese restaurant-- second to Kikufuji-- Tsumura, in Salcedo Village, Makati. When I first heard his raves about this place, I couldn't believe there's a Japanese restaurant on the second floor of the building I used to pass by on the way to work every morning. When I finally had the chance to try it, alas, I was no longer working in Makati.

My first impression of Tsumura was highly influenced by everything I had previously heard from B, although at first the modern interiors made me doubt its authenticity. But seeing Japanese families and several obviously loyal local customers arriving as dinner time rolled around put my mind at ease.

We didn't take a picture of every dish that came out, but here are a few that made it (and rightfully so):

This was among our appetizers, along with Assorted Sashimi and the ever-present California Mango Maki. The salad was light and refreshing-- a perfect opening for tastier, richer entrees, such as this one:

Usuyaki

This is one of my memorable dishes of 2009. Maybe it's because I seldom eat beef, so when I taste an exquisitely prepared beef dish, the eruption of flavors in my mouth is ten times more intense. Pictured above is mushrooms wrapped in thinly sliced beef. The sauce is just a little sweet and not as salty as most teriyaki dishes are in other restaurants. The combination of mushroom and beef results in a powerful punch of meatiness in contrasting textures: slippery soft shitaake bursting from juicy, chewy beef. As is my quirk when something is too good to eat, one piece took forever to finish on my plate. I kept sampling other things in between little bites. :)

We also ordered Dobinmushi, a clear seafood soup that comes in a clay pot. It has a roast taste and when drizzled with lemon juice, is a refreshing accompaniment to any dish. Granny ordered the Hamachi Head Shio Yakimono, which is grilled young yellowtail fish head, while I ordered the Sanma Shio Yakimono (mackerel). Hamachi is firmer and tastier than Sanma, so it is more expensive. Usuyaki is actually B's main dish.

Nothing still beats the humble fish I had over at Yamazaki, but the overall experience-- excellent food quality, attentive and smiling servers (with Japanese-speaking manager), clean interiors-- in Tsumura is worth coming back for and paying the extra penny(-ies). By comparison, Little Tokyo restaurants seem dirty with service that's below par for Japanese standards, but I guess that's their charm in the first place.

Tsumura is a must visit Japanese restaurant in my book.

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Hong Kong chow (Junk Food con't)

One of the street foods in HK I love. People really line up for this. It's like a bed of eggnogs served in a paper bag. You eat it by peeling the "eggs" one at a time. It tastes like thin pancake that's crunchy when hot and hollow inside. If you let it cool a bit, it gets the texture of a soft biscuit.

It's a filling, neat snack to have in the afternoon on the go. But I can also imagine having this for breakfast with some jam :)

Aside from this, the stall also sells waffles, curry fish balls and various beverages like sugar cane juice and coconut milk. This is very popular in Causeway Bay.

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Hong Kong chow

My recent visit to Hong Kong was less shopping and more food trip compared to 2008. Here are some of me and my family's chows in busy busy Hong Kong, where people are hungry 24/7.

Chinese food

Our hosts in Hong Kong threw lauriat for us practically every meal. Here in Manila, I try to avoid going to parties because I'm so tired of the usual Chinese fare during weddings, birthdays and everything in between. It's a different story in Hong Kong though. Everybody knows Hong Kong is not only a shopping mecca, but a foodie's dream too. The best Chinese chefs are either in Hong Kong or in Macau. Sometimes, they're not found in restaurants but in some grimy, cramped side-street eatery in front of which people would line up to get inside.

Of all the restaurants dined in, no two same entrees were cooked identically. The abundance of exotic and ocean-fresh seafoods like this giant abalone (below), not the mention the variety of mushrooms, vegetables and meat imaginatively prepared, made each meal feel like a luxurious food adventure.

By the way, this dish was served during the wedding we attended. I took a picture because my mom said it's very expensive. :p

... and I took a picture of the one above because I thought it's beautiful. Look how green the broccoli is!

After hours of walking and shopping, the best thing to do in Hong Kong is find a small eatery for authentic Chinese snacks! We noticed an especially tiny restaurant at the market that was always full everytime we passed it. My mom wanted to settle on buying pastry in one of the ubiquitous bakeshops Bread Talk style that seems to be the 'in' thing now. I convinced her to try the canteen instead.

Like most eateries in Hong Kong, the canteen has a stand outside where passersby can grab soy milk, various buns, or sticky rice to go. There were two women attending customers. Both can't understand either fookien or Mandarin, so we had to do our best with hand gestures. Good thing they have pictures of the menu on the walls. The tables inside are meant for two people, but four of us squished together in one. The result is a road block in the teeny eatery, but I figured if people were determined to eat, they wouldn't mind.

On to the food!

Below is fried buns with vegetable and meat inside. I only had a bite and gave the rest away because it was too oily. If you don't mind the grease though, this steaming bun is tasty and filling for an afternoon snack.

The egg on the plate is what my aunt says is called "tea egg," which I take to mean egg cooked in tea. It's supposed to be tastier then ordinary boiled egg, but I didn't try it. The way the eggs are cooked is shown below. That pot is outside the canteen.

The eatery's specialty is soy bean curd or taho. For an additional $3, the regular taho can be made special with toppings like sweet potato, red beans, jelly or fruits. We chose the basic one for $5 a cup. We weren't given the dark syrup usually poured over taho, also called arnibal, which is mainly sugar. Instead there was a jar of orange sugar and a pitcher of orange liquid on the table for the taho. The orange liquid is diluted sugar, so you can put whichever you prefer. A small amount of sugar was enough for the entire cup. I'd like to know what the sugar is called. Although the bean curd wasn't as soft and silky as we expected, it was delicious and refreshing.

I would've taken more "real food" pictures, but every dish was great anyway and some situations made it too embarrassing.

Junk food

When we weren't eating banquet meals, we were eating burgers and other junk food. Hehe. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Lamb burger set meal at ThreeSixty, Elements Shopping Mall

I forgot that I don't like lamb or goat burger when I ordered this. It's a lebanese take on burger, but I didn't like the dressing which is akin to hummus. I like my mustard and pickles and sometimes even tomato sauce in my burger. It was nothing compared to the Big N' Tasty burger I tried in McDonald's there, which I can't wait to write about.

Swedish meatballs at Ikea Bistro

I enjoyed this one, although basically they reminded me of Jollibee's burger steak in balls instead of patty-style. The sauces are cranberry and some mushroom-cheese gravy.

Finally, dessert! At the Hong Kong 44th Brands and Products Expo at Victoria Park, my dad and I had our very first durian ice cream. We couldn't resist because everyone--young and old-- was walking around with a huge ice cream cone in hand.

I have to say, at first lick you wouldn't like it because of the strong durian flavor. But at least it's not a rip off right? So you go and take a second lick, just because the cone is huge and after all, the pale yellow color is still appealing. And then surprisingly, it gets better as you continue to eat it. The creaminess of milk was a good match to neutralize the foul odor of the fruit, and together the flavor is exotic, rich and not too sweet for ice cream.

Here's a picture of my dad in front of the stall at the expo. Some fruit flavors are made into ice cream on the spot with frozen fruit pieces. The durian flavor is the most expensive though, which I'm sure added to people's hesitation. I'm glad we tried it because it was one of my most memorable experiences during the trip. If it wasn't so expensive, I'll even sell it in the Philippines!

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Chinese food galore at Shang Palace

Location: Makati Shangri La

Before I left for Hong Kong last December, B's grandmother invited B and I for a pre-New Year lunch since I wouldn't be around on the actual celebration. We went there without a reservation, and considering it was a Sunday, we were lucky to get a table. According to our server, only one family is responsible for filling almost the entire place that day. We guessed they must be a regular in the hotel restaurant.

What can I say about the dining experience? Everything was fantastic, from the interiors to the service which was attentive, courteous and quick. The food was superb--authentic and far from the hodgepodge cooking of some Chinese-claiming restaurants in Manila. While we weren't able to take a picture of everything, we managed to capture some of the more presentable dishes.

This is rice cooked in soy sauce with minced vegetables and meat, wrapped in yam leaves. I don't know exactly what it's called and what ingredients are in it but I'm guessing you can eat this on its own, like kiampong or the Chinese version of paella.

Eat the rice with this fried prawns in orange sauce though and you'll find yourself going for seconds and third servings. This is seriously very good, but you can't eat it without at least plain steamed rice as the sweet flavor is too strong. There's a nice size of prawn inside that's meaty, tender and gently flavored to offset the sweet and sour sauce.

The winner of them all! Fried gindara in some light soy sauce. It took me forever to finish my fillet because I wanted it to last forever, and at the time our rice hasn't arrived. I was also afraid that if I ate it quickly, I'd want another one, and there was only one for each. Like the prawns, this is best eaten with plain rice. The restaurant manager recommended this dish, and although it's pricey (Php300 each), we were glad to have listened to her. The fish is crunchy without being too oily, with the meat flaky but not dry. I could've been sighing with every bite.

Other dishes that aren't pictured are ravioli soup (clear soup with mushroom and pork ravioli) and beef stew in special chef stock (Chinese version of corned beef in stock, with vegetables). The experience reminds me of the saying, "When you feel hungry, follow the Chinese; they will surely go where food is good."

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Chocolate Kiss Cafe, Sct. Tobias QC branch

Location: Quezon City

This is one of my restaurant review backlogs from last year. Back in college, I had to be in UP on Saturday mornings to be with Special Olympic athletes as part of my duties as a member of the Ateneo Special Education Society. The grounds where we'd jog and do exercises with the special children was behind UP's Bahay ng Alumni, so by lunch time, my orgmates and I could usually be found in Chocolate Kiss rewarding ourselves. Most people would say that the restaurant is more ideal for a romantic date though, and I'd have to agree as it's quite pricey for a normal uni student's allowance. Plus, its ambiance is conducive for quiet talks over cakes and coffee.

Chocolate Kiss is a combination of Italian and Filipino restaurant. Aside from the chocolate cake, it is famous for its iced tea which is real tea with honey. I have good memories of dining in the restaurant, but not because of the food per se. It's more of the place being a venue for once-a-week splurge impulses or whenever there's a special occasion. After college, I forgot about the restaurant until I saw a branch near Tomas Morato last year. One night after work, I decided to visit it out of nostalgia.

The interior is not as nice as the one in UP. There were only a few customers at the time despite it being the peak of dinner hour. If I remember correctly, the menu in UP's Chocolate Kiss is comprised of entrees that are more foreign. In this branch, the menu is locally inclined, including rice toppings like the ones shown below.

Tapa with rice and fried egg

Adobo flakes with rice and fried egg

I have nothing special to say about the food, except that it doesn't justify the prices. I was disappointed with Chocolate Kiss for adopting these dishes which I think murders its entire appeal. Then again, not everyone knows about the original Chocolate Kiss in UP. It can just as well be yet another Filipino restaurant-cafe indistinguishable from others in Quezon City. To make matters worse for Chocolate Kiss, my companion and I both felt we could've had the same dishes in Banapple, Il Terrazo, and enjoyed more while paying less. For desert, we ordered the angel--or was it devil?--cake (first picture) which was chocolate chifon cake thickly topped with sugar icing.

Though I don't recommend this restaurant, I'll still go back to the original branch if only for an afternoon date over iced tea, in a quiet corner by the window where I can see the blue sky and grassy field, and reminisce about simpler days long gone.

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