What I saw, what I did: Singapore Part 1

Our trip turned out to be nothing short of a blast. Three days later, everybody still experiencing Singapore withdrawal. :)

On the first day, the first thing we did after landing was hit a Kopi Tiam near our hotel. We couldn't have our fill of much-awaited dishes we've only heard or read about. To most it was hinanese chicken rice, to some it was laksa, while to me it was ice kachang and the banana fritters!

Everyone was satisfied with their meals. But the highlight was discovering Singapore's milo concoction! Maybe it was the addition of condensed milk, maybe they make a different formulation over there, but one thing's for sure: that first cup of iced milo started a habit of ordering it wherever we could, whenever we could!

We checked in at Hangout @ Mt. Emily's. It was helluva challenge to climb uphill with our luggage in tow, but we made it.

After an hour of freshening up and enjoying the A/C, we hit the streets for Sentosa. What struck me the most about Singapore was that everything is identical to Sydney. From the transportation, the educational system, to the multi-national people! I kept having deja vu. :P

We stopped by Lucky Plaza first to exchange money. On the way, I spotted an ice cream cart in front of Wisma selling a much read-about Singaporean novelty: ice cream sandwich!!

Of course I had to point it out to my friends, and suddenly everyone was hyped about it. My good friend Teddi bought us all ice cream sandwiches because she just celebrated her birthday. :)

The best flavor was Peppermint, but everyone ordered it so I got Mocha. I shared mine with Grace so I could have some Peppermint too. :p

Sweet tooth satiated, we went to Vivo City to get on a train to Sentosa. In terms of expectation, Sentosa would be at the bottom of my must-see list. I could've done without it to be honest. But maybe we were affected by the heat and the fact that almost everything is under construction. Boo!

We enjoyed riding the Luge and Skyride, however. We didn't expect it to be so much fun! We got tickets to ride both twice, and even bought the souvenir pictures! :)

The view was very beautiful at night. :) We went back to Vivo City for dinner, which will be on my next entry!!!

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Mien San reconstructed

It's all because of the rain. After posting about my craving for Mien San, I gave in and paid it a visit for dinner. I was surprised to discover that not only does it have a new signage, it has a new location as well!

It only transferred to the place right next to it, and the place's layout is still the same, but the difference in the ambiance is huge. It no longer looks and feels rusty, but contemporary yet still familiar.

I know I said I'm craving noodles, but noodles/pasta is too filling for me so I always avoid them and eat lots of the other things. :)

I ordered a bowl of hot Vegetable and Tofu Soup. For P88, I didn't expect it to come in this size. Mien San serves Taiwanese style cuisine, so the clear broths are flavored naturally with the ingredients making up the soup: vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, carrots, scallions and best of all, fried garlic. :)

I also ordered Spicy Dumplings P78 for 6 pieces. It came when we were almost finished with our bowls of soup, so that we were somewhat full already. It was still very much welcome, however. I like that it's as spicy as advertised. In fact, I'd be careful eating it while on a date, as it causes choking or coughing. Plus, a teary eyed date with flaming face is unlikely to be a pleasant sight. The dumpling is regular pork and vegetable variety. If I were to order this again, I'd ask the sauce to be served separately so that the dumplings wouldn't be swimming in oil. The sauce is also too sweet for my liking.

My companion ordered Beef Noodle Soup. I really liked the flavor. It tastes like instant noodles, but of course this one is authentic. Basically, it is beef brisket in noodle soup. Yummy! :)

The last dish ordered is regular Steamed Dumplings, made of cabbage and pork. I'm to blame for the excessive order; I thought the noodle soup wouldn't fill my companion, plus I expected the dumplings to come first.

Oh I wish it would rain every night...

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Mien San hao fan!

Location: Granada St., San Juan

I am so craving for hot noodles from this old Chinese restaurant. Although I often passed Granada St. on the way to Greenhills, I never took notice of this place until it got some publicity on on Facebook via a friend.

I always disregarded it because of its shabby appearance from outside. Now, however, I'm sure you'll be lured into the place easier because they just invested on a new, bright and huge signage.

The rainy season will surely fill this restaurant to the brim. The first time I went was still a summer night, and we barely got a table even though there were just two of us.

Beef thinly sliced with scallions (am not a beef person so I did not enjoy this)

Vegetable dumplings! :)

And the noodles, of course. :) The other dish above the noodle soup is fish. Very very tasty. :)

I wish I can go tonight. If only parking isn't such a hassle! Oh well there's the Shanghai Pulled Noodles place in Retiro if I'm really really craving for it. :)


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Mother's Day at Myron's Place

My brilliant Mother’s Day idea brought together four women on a double date: my mom and I and an aunt and my cousin. I was the youngest of the group, my cousin being married and a doctor. Since it was my idea, I got to choose the restaurant, and after much research and consultation with Munchpunch.com (really useful for checking restaurant menus-- just a shout out to guys out there), I went with Myron’s Place at Greenbelt 5. I am not fond of steak and neither is my mom, but I figured we could have a ball with their salads and fancy sounding seafood entrees.

The traffic going to Makati that night was one of the worst I experienced, especially since we took the alternate route already instead of EDSA. The reason was the meeting de avance happening at University of Makati by team Erap and co. We were forty minutes late for our 7 o’ clock reservation. On the road, I called ahead to ask if they could hold it for us, and they graciously did so, although it was partly because the place was far from being full even at the peak of dinner time and on a Friday night.

All of us were impressed with the service at Myron’s. The waiter in charge of our table was knowledgeable with the dishes, and made sensible recommendations. He was able to memorize the dishes we ordered too. Although it later got difficult to get the wait staff’s attention to refill our glasses of water, or to ask for another napkin, we were happy to be served courteously and gladly every time he came by.

The first thing on the table was a small complimentary plate of rye bread. This surprised me, as it became clear that the pictures of the complimentary bread I saw on one blog about MP was super close up shot. The rye bread was hot and soft, served with butter on the side. We did not finish it because my aunt refused to have any, saying she’ll only want more after having a slice. To me it could have been any type of bread colored brown. I know my rye bread, and it’s supposed to be dense and coarse.

Our soups came next. My cousin and I split Cream of Pumpkin soup, while my mom and aunt split something called Cappuccino of Mushroom soup. They were pretty good; although they had a tad too much heavy cream. The mushroom soup actually had some coffee taste in it, and came adorably in coffee cups. Razor thin slices of garlic bread yellowed with butter accompanied the soups.

Next came the Stockbroker’s Salad (roasted duck breast, US sea scallops, grilled prawn and pan fried foie gras), per the waiter’s recommendation. I’ve read about this one; it's supposed to be the star of salads. We were all disappointed with this dish. The prawns were not very fresh, and there wasn’t enough to go for everybody (it only had 3 prawns and 3 scallops, so one of us, i.e. me, didn’t get to taste everything). I didn't recognize the duck breast, and maybe I haven't eaten enough foie gras, but I can't say it was the best tasting salad I've had. I much prefer seafood tossed with salad greens with a good dose of lemon juice.

Our main entrees

We ordered steak in Franco’s cut (450g) and a seafood pasta main dish. My cousin wanted the steak done medium well. It came to our table looking beautiful, and with a side of sauces: peppercorn, mushroom and shiraz cabernet-shallot jus. We all loved the sweet-tangy contribution of the red wine reduction to the steak, which tasted well on its own by the way. Surprisingly, my mom ate the most steak! Way to go mom! I’m glad the dish satisfied her figuratively and literally. My favorite part of the steak was the whole roasted garlic that came with it. It was a good thing I didn't have anybody to kiss that night.

Juicy and perfectly medium-well steak

The pasta was also excellent, except it’s on the oily side. “It’s olive oil, so it’s healthy,” my cousin assured the older women. Well I’m not fooled. Too much oil is too much oil. I loved the mussels, salmon bits and the vegetables tossed in al dente spaghetti.

MP got everybody’s approval. We agreed that it has a nice ambiance for intimate conversations, and we liked the unobtrusive and pleasant staff, and even my mom couldn’t complain about the food. As my cousin said in her email sending me the pictures, “Sana maulit!”

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I wish Wendy's would try harder

Because I'm secretly rooting for it. My family used to frequent this fastfood restaurant every week, back when it had a salad bar. I can still remember how awesome the Bacon Mushroom Melt is, and of course the Frosty's!

I just wish WenPhil Corporation, the Philippine franchisee of Wendy's International, would make more effort to compete with other fastfood chains. I was shocked to discover that a "regular" fries looks like in Wendy's... see in the picture, the bottom of the box is shorter than the length of a male adult's thumb. The fries themselves are also very short.

Now click to see how Wendy's redeems itself...

Garden Fresh Salad

Well, as far as I know the salad ingredients are always crispy and consistent in size and amount. It's nice to know there's still a fastfood chain that has good salad.

Big Classic Single with Cheese

I like that the burgers are still wrapped in foil to keep their juiciness and freshness. It's also bigger than McDonald's burgers, with fresher vegetable ingredients. Look at the fat slices of tomatoes. It's a real classic alright, with pickles too. According to the one who ate it, this wins over Burger King's and consequently Micky D's. This is because Wendy's beef patties are not frozen (info taken from Wendy's website) so "there is no loss of flavor due to freezer burn."

That's great. But knock knock, WenPhil, wouldn't it be awesome if your Filipino customers also knew about this??!

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7-Elections

Why bother to vote when my candidate seems likely to lose anyway? That was my initial thinking. But now I'm determined to exercise my right to vote ESPECIALLY because Villar and Noynoy are ahead in the polls. Somehow, my vote for Gibo Teodoro will negate a vote for any of them. Just look at that Gibo Teodoro cup right there. Wouldn't you say he'd look good on money?!

The "7-Elections" marketing campaign of 7-11 is brilliant. Together with GMA 7 and MBC, these collectible cups with the presidentiables' faces is a way of keeping a pulse on the voting population.

So far, Noynoy Aquino has most cups sold in 7-11 stores nationwide, with Gibo Teodoro not far behind. Erap's Obama-looking cup looks so nice you'll want to buy it even if you're not a supporter, so that's probably why he's third. Let's be honest, his supporters don't seem to be the convenience store types. The rest of the ranking goes Manny Villar for fourth, then Eddie Villanueva and finally Dick Gordon.

The collectible cups are actually for Big Gulp fountain drinks, but after some pleading the store guy allowed us to some Slurpee goodness. Hehe. Now, not only do I have a cool souvenir, I also tasted the new Slurpee flavors, Mountain Dew Blast (in Erap cup) and Fuji Apple (Gibo). I liked the former better because it has some sour taste, whereas the Fuji Apple is all sweetness. Read more

California, Rolled and Twisted

Location: Il Terrazzo, Tomas Morato, Quezon City

Love Japanese food with a twist? Love California rolls?To me, the answer to both is no. California rolls are for the faint of heart, or those who can't stomach raw food on its own. And what about Japanese fusion food?? Maybe I haven't had enough of the authentic thing to be ready for the downgrade.

However on the day I stepped into Omakase last week, I made an exception to embrace both.

The colorful platter below is called the GDR platter (Php575). It has 8 pieces each of three kinds of sushi: Golden Blossom, Dynamite and Rising Sun.

I'll start with the Dynamite Roll, which I've read good stuff about. It's the one on the farthest side of the plate. It's an eel tempura maki with spicy salmon on mayonnaise and roe on top. I like it just because it's spicy. I also like the crunchy contribution of the eel tempura in the rice roll.

The Golden Blossom, on the left, is the regular California roll but with shrimp tempura inside. At first I thought it's good, but I realized it's only because of the crunchy shrimp tempura (I like a mixture of textures). Normally there's avocado, but either there was none or we couldn't taste it. We noticed that some parts of the roll were sneakily dipped in tempura, batter and crisped a bit.

Lastly, on the right is the row of Rising Sun maki. The roll is made of rice, nori, crabstick and cucumber inside, and topped with slivers of tuna and salmon sashimi, mango and spring onions. This was our least favorite. B noted that the sashimi was sliced with a poor knife, plus their paleness suggested they were not very fresh.


The GDR came with this dipping sauce made of Japanese mayo, soy sauce and sesame seeds. I think the effect would've been similar to oyster sauce, except more egg-y. I barely touched this, and B said it was sickening after a while.

This is the highlight of our meal, the Uni Tempura (Php200+). The soft and slimy uni is perfect with the crunchy nori deep-fried in tempura batter. I ate the okra also. :) This dish is quite pricey but worth trying

Omakase's fresh take on california rolls--incorporating a crunchy element in the mushy maki--obviously makes it a hit among the locals. I haven't read a bad review of Omakase online, and when we went at 130PM, the place was still packed with people of all ages. The creativity put into the maki makes you wonder about the other things on the menu, but honestly, the bad service (waiters ignoring us, forgetting to provide dipping sauces, failing to give water and refill our glasses) could make you think twice.
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Buffalo's Wings N' Things

Location: Ortigas Home Depot, Pasig City

Did you think my favorite restaurant companion and I have stopped squandering money on food wherever it can be found in Metro Manila? Think again. This is the story of two people coming from Greenhills going all the way to Home Depot for these unhealthy but oh-so-fingerlickin'-gimme -two more baskets please-buffalo wings, only to find out a week later that Buffalo's Wings n' Things already has a branch in Greenhills.

Well, we consoled ourselves on the fact that we may have saved on gas, but we wouldn't have had the rowdy, perpetually Saturday Night atmosphere of Home Depot.

I discovered the place three days ago, and as soon as B came home from Boracay, I requested that we come back since he hasn't tried it.

For starters, we ordered the Twin Dogs (Php135). I don't know what I was expecting for a price like that, but I was definitely disappointed at the dogs which are the size of Yao Ming's middle finger. Although they were packed and are probably the beef kind, they were overcooked, making them hard to chew. The buns were too thick for the dogs.

Enough of the Things and on to the Wings!

B and I have a different opinion on spice. I think it gives food a kick; the best kind burns your tongue and leaves you feeling like someone just injected a tub of silicone on your lips. He doesn't care for spicy food, just as he doesn't like vinegar, as they "ruin the food's natural flavor."

Good thing Buffalo's Wings n' Things offer different levels of spiciness on the wings' sauce, and if you're sharing a pound (8-12 pcs), you can ask for it split into two sauces. He got the New York's Finest, which is mildly spicy. I had the level 3 of spice, just a chicken next to the ultimate which is Nuclear, called Firehouse Classic. If you've absolutely got no balls and probably has the genes of Elton John, go for non-spicy sauces which I don't even know because I never looked at them.

You can have dips with your wings; B had the popular Blue Cheese, while I had a Salsa, both Php35. The salsa turned out to be a dumb idea, because while I loved the hotness it added to my wings, the thick sauce of the wings and the thin, tomatoey liquid in my salsa didn't go together.

The difference between the New York's Finest and the Firehouse Classic isn't just on the amount of kick. The New York's Finest sauce is sweeter, with some creaminess that hints of cheese. The Firehouse Classic sauce leans more to sour and salty.What I like about the wings here is the crispiness of the wings despite the sauce. Normally, we take away the skin when eating fried chicken, but here the skin is the main event, and that's why after that night I told myself I won't be seeing those bright orange skinned babies for a while.

Trivia: Look at the logos below.

Buffalo's Wings N' Things

Buffalo Wings-N-Things, Portland

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Dessert at the Pen

Location: Manila Peninsula Hotel, Makati City

I don't like the Pen, thanks to memories of my high school graduation ball which was held there. But being there a second time, I noticed that it is quite beautiful after all. I love the sunburst sculpture on the four-storey high ceiling by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. I can stare at it the whole day. In fact, I'd like to have one installed in my future house.

After a superb dinner at Umu, B and I headed to the Pen for desserts. As expected, the prices were exorbitant, but the ambiance and the food presentation justify why.

Creamy creme brulee for him

Lovely pineapple carpaccio for me

Our desserts are from the non-ice cream specialties of the Pen Lobby. The hotel now serves a whole range of Selecta ice cream fanfare, from indulgent chocolate to tropical fruit flavors. They are priced from Php400 to Php650.

My dessert is about Php350. At first I thought I could've easily created the dish in my kitchen (if I had known what it was in the first place). But then I wouldn't be savoring it bathed in flattering warm light with live piano music in the background.

I still prefer kicking back at Sofitel's poolside bar with a cold Erdinger, but it was a different, rather childlike way of capping off nice date. Next time, maybe instead of being selfish B and I can share one ice cream dessert.

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