PEPPER LUNCH PINOY FIESTA: SISIG AND LECHON!!

         I still remember the very first time I heard about Pepper lunch. My cousin, Kuya Paolo, sent me a facebook message that lead to the video demo of how to eat the Pepper Beef. I kept asking myself how something so seemingly simple could have me so mesmerized. 

        It was the simple things.. How the butter melted into the corn.. how the corn was gently mixed into the rice.. the soothing hiss of the meat on the sizzling plate, that really had me sold on the idea of Pepper Lunch, to the point that actually tasted it seemed more or less just semantics. But I was very much pleased that when I stood in that long line at Rockwell for my first taste, it surpassed my wildest expectations. 

      Since then, Pepper Lunch has opened several more branches across the country, adding more menu items along the way. Though they managed to incorporate popular flavors from around Asia, such as Curry, Teriyaki and Yakiniku to their dishes, one cuisine was glaringly missing from their lineup - Filipino.

     But that's all about to change, as Pepper lunch is launching the first two dishes of their new Pinoy Fiesta line on May 1!

     The first two dishes? Filipino favorites.. Sisig and Lechon!

TAKE A SEAT AT MESA FILIPINO MODERNE

        Whenever Richie and I go out to eat, it's always a toss up between Chinese, or American, or Chinese, or American. Yep. Chinese and American is Richie's most favorite cuisine as far as I'm concerned. And if you're and avid reader of this blog, you probably know that already. Needless to say, Filipino cuisine is usually at the bottom of our options. Not that we don't like it. I for one love Filipino cuisine! It's just that, if we're going out to eat, might as well something that we don't really have everyday.

        But don't get us wrong. We do eat out in Filipino restaurants. We have a few restaurants on the top of our heads that serve great Filipino dishes. And we just added Mesa to that list after we were invited to try their delicious dishes along with other blogger pals!

FILIPINO COMFORT FOOD.. NAMNAM STYLE!

       Late last year, during the "Sneak Eat" of BurgerBar to be exact, I bumped into Moment Group Co-Owner Jon Syjuco, a friend of mine since high school. Despite the burger madness that was going on, he graciously gave me a little tour of what was happening just a few feet below from us. Even though BurgerBar had yet to open its doors to the public, the Moment Group already had another ace up its sleeve, in the form of "Namnam, Filipino Comfort".  

        I will be the first to admit that outside of "Liempo", I've never been a huge fan of Filipino Cuisine. Which probably explains why I wasn't really too ecstatic about visiting Namnam Comfort Filipino restaurant at Greenbelt a month or so ago. I honestly had no expectations, and figured that it would be just another one of those Filipino restaurants that serves classic Pinoy food that we all know and love. 

       

        Little did I know that I would be walking into a restaurant that I now consider one of my favorites!

SMOKING HOT BarBQ: GLOBAL FILIPINO CUISINE AT GREENBELT 3!

             I'll admit that i'm not the biggest fan of Filipino Food. Whenever we go to a Pinoy resto, my default order is Inihaw na Liempo (Grilled Pork Belly) and i'm good to go! But I had an eerie feeling that Smokin' Hot BBQ, the new Filipino restaurant by The Bistro Group, would be definitely something worth checking out.

       Going to Smoking Hot BBQ was a little bit bittersweet for me because it meant having to finally come to terms with the closing of fish and co.'s Greenbelt Branch.. A personal favorite of mine. Imagine how I felt.. The restaurant that serves the best fish and chips in town is being replaced by another whose cuisine i'm not too fond of. Hurts, right? 

         Nevertheless I decided to put my faith in Chef Josh Boutwood, and trust that he would do amazing things with Filipino Food.

       And boy, was I right.

GERRY'S GRILL: FAMILY TIME PART II

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        My relationship with Gerry's Grill runs very deep. Gerry Apolinario, the man behind the food, has been a family friend since becoming college buddies with my cousin.  and a and it has been nice to watch his dream of creating the quintessential Filipino restaurant turn into a global empire.

       I got to tag along with my cousin and sister to one of the food tastings Gerry would hold when preparing the menu. I was also there on the very first day that Gerry's Grill opened their first branch along Tomas Morato, and watched the blessing and the ribbon cutting, etc. 

      Even back then, I knew that Gerry's Grill would be success.. However, I had no idea that it would become the food industry power it is today.

      Last December, Rina and I decided to take out her dad and sister out for a nice family dinner. I realized that despite the special place Gerry's Grill has, I haven't done a blog post about it yet apart press releases.

    Taking into consideration my father-in-law's strong love for Filipino food (It was his idea to drive up to Pamana in Tagaytay just for some Bulalo), It was the perfect time to pay Gerry's Grill a visit! 

VISITING CHEF TATUNG AT ACACIA ESTATES

       I'll be the first person to admit that my palate is strongly influenced by the Western Hemisphere. I'm a guy that looks for Burgers and pizza over Caldereta and Mechado. I lived in the United States when I was around three years old, and moved back here to the Philippines when I was six, and I still remember the first thing I ate when I got back here was, Believe it or not.. Spam. 

       That's because I took a look at all these strange looking meats drenched in sauces, all with different colors and thinking to myself, "What a strange country I'm living in". 

       My Yaya then made me try the wonder that is Liempo, which I instantly loved. From there, she slowly broke me in to more exotic local dishes, which not coincidentally, were predominantly meat based.  

      Through the years, my appreciation for the food of my homeland has grown exponentially, but I still wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of Filipino Cuisine.

      One lunch at Chef Tatung's changed all that. 

THE BETRAYAL AT RESTORANTE PIA Y DAMASO

What devious plan am I concocting with this piece of Crocodile Meat?

           During my years as a resident of Makati, Rina and I made a trip to Greenbelt a weekly tradition. Admittedly, Restaurante Pia y Damaso was a restaurant that wasn't quick to catch my attention, because I thought it was a Spanish Restaurant. As I've mentioned in the past, I have a high standard for that Spanish food, because my mother's side of the family is extremely adept at coming up with restaurant quality dishes from Spain. 

       In a classic case of my calculus teacher being totally right about my attention span, had I read their signages further, I would have seen that their tagline is "Subversive Filipino Cuisine". 

QUICK DELIVERY FROM NIPA HUT & MOTOYORI!

      Have you ever tried ordering from Quick Delivery yet? Funnily enough, even though I have a collection of their menu books, I had never gotten around to ordering from them yet. Which is weird because the roster of restaurants under the Quick Delivery banner is quite impressive. I’m usually stuck with the usual suspects when it comes to delivery.. McDonald’s, KFC, Shakey’s and Pizza Hut.

            Last Sunday afternoon,  I had tried ordering from Nipa Hut via Quick Delivery. The customer service attendant that received my call was very efficient and helpful. And after basically taking my entire order, you can imagine how embarrassed she was when she had to tell me that Nipa Hut is actually closed on Sundays, despite the fact it says in the Quick Delivery Online Menu that they’re open, but with delivery hours from 11Am to 3pm. She was very apologetic and was more than willing to find me a restaurant which was open on Sunday, but Rina and I decided to just find something to eat at home.

 Last Friday night, Just before I went on my way home from work, (This was around 9:30 in the evening, in the pouring rain), I realized I hadn’t had dinner yet. Being the sweet and sensitive husband I am, I knew it was a tad bit too late to have my wife Rina prepare me something to eat, so from the car, I decided to give Nipa Hut and Quick Delivery a try once again.

PAMANA: FAMILY TIME AT TAGAYTAY

      I'm sure everyone has heard horror stories about having terrible in laws.. Well, I'm very blessed because mine are awesome. As you may have noticed, my sister in law Chaikka and her boyfriend Don, appear a lot in my blog because we love spending time with them. And ever since she and my dad in law moved into our village, we make it a point that Rain visits him as much as she can. Rina's dad is really cool, and has the most infectious laugh. We get along great because he's really easy to talk to and you feel you can tell him anything. 

     The very second Rina's dad found out the doctor gave Baby Rain the Go Signal to take Rain on out of town trips, he immediately scheduled a day for him to take all of us to Tagaytay. He wasn't going to miss the chance to be the one to take Rain on her first out of town excursion! 

      Basically, "Daddy Cool" as he wants Baby Rain to call him when she grows up (I told you he was pretty awesome), just wanted something simple.. Find a place to hang and enjoy the view of Taal Volcano, and afterwards, have a great meal. Naturally all of them looked at me for the best place to eat, so I had to do a little research, with Tagaytay being an unfamiliar area to me. I asked Rina's dad if he had a certain cuisine in mind, and he said, "Anywhere... just as long as there's Bulalo!".

     Bulalo. Of course. A Tagaytay staple. 

      So I was thinking, when you're in Tagaytay, and you're looking for a unique dining experience with your family, where should you go? 

      "Pamana" became the obvious answer. 

THE CHIC-BOY MADNESS

           The weeks before Rina gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Renee' Amelie aka Rain, we would have to go for her check ups with her doctor in QC. Naturally, we would eat out immediately after, which is how we ended up going to "Kanzhu Hand Pulled Noodles" (I'm still craving for their Lamb Dumplings) and "Size Matters" (I still need to try their "Breakfast In Bed" with an English Muffin). We usually head out to QC by 8am so we can be at the Doc's office by around 9am. It gets really packed, so we try to make it a point to get there as early as possible, just to make sure our lunch plans don't get hassled. Unfortunately during this trip, the doctor texted Rina after we had left already, saying that it would be best for us to get to her office by 12noon instead of 9am, throwing a monkey wrench in our lunch plans. 


      Instead, to pass the time, we decided to visit my grandfather who happens to live in QC as well. We then decided to head off to the doctor's office by 11:30, to get there, "Early". Unfortunately, all her other patients were thinking the same thing, so technically we were already late. The receptionist told us we would be waiting for roughly around an hour and a half or so, and advised us to get some lunch nearby and wait for her text. 


     With my growling stomach starting to alarm the other patients in the room, we headed downstairs where we saw the huge sign directly in front of our doctor's building.. "Chic-Boy". 

AIDA'S CHICKEN: BACOLOD'S BEST AT MAKATI CINEMA SQUARE!

        As I mentioned in some of my previous posts, moving our office to Arnaiz Avenue brought along the challenge of finding decent and affordable spots to eat, after leaving the comfort of Palanca street.. Our home for Four years. Good thing there were a few of the old reliables nearby, such as Max's, Pancake House, and The Old Spaghetti House, but apart from that, I found some fantastic places out of the ordinary, such as Kitch Cafe and Ukkokei Ramen Ron. 

   What I haven't told you about, was the very first place I had lunch at during my first day at my new office, which was a restaurant at the lower floor of Makati Cinema Square, called "Aida's Chicken".

  I never told you guys about it because of two reasons: The first being I hated what I ordered, and the second is because I forgot to take pictures, mainly because my camera phone was crappy back then (Thank you Samsung for bringing to the world the Galaxy S2!).

   For my first meal there with my giant Joel and his CG team, I ordered the Adobong Pata rice meal (P145), and I didn't like it at all. In fact, I hated it so much, I ended up stepping out and ordering from one of those 25 Peso Siomai stall in front of them, and eating it with my rice instead. 

   So after that experience, everytime someone from the office would rave about Aida's Chicken, I would continue to be baffled. One time my office mate Naomi asked if I wanted to go with them to Aida's Chicken for lunch, and I politely declined, saying I didn't like the food. She said it was easily among the best Chicken Inasal she had ever tried. I told her I didn't try their inasal, I tried their Adobong Pata. 

   So she said, "Eh sira ka pala eh. Pupunta ka sa Aida's Chicken, di mo titikman yung chicken nila? Kaya nga CHICKEN nakalagay sa pangalan ng restaurant nila, di ba? Kala ko pa naman, "Blogger" ka?". (I'm sure the people who personally know Naomi can actually hear her in their heads saying this to me as they read it.)

  For those who don't speak tagalog, she basically called me an idiot for not trying their chicken inasal dish, which is why the place has the word "CHICKEN" in their name in the first place. She ended her statement with, "I thought you were supposed to be a "Blogger". 

  So there I was, standing there, humbled by my office mate who questioned my capacity as a food blogger.. but the funny part about it was, she was totally right. 

  So the next time Naomi and the rest of the gang asked if I wanted to go with them to Aida's she was pretty surprised when I simply replied, "Game". 

IN THE COMFORT OF PENPEN

Choose your weapon of artery destruction

     

             I was talking to a colleague of mine about my blog, and he was giving me his feedback on what I've done so far. As much as he enjoys my blog, he said, if he personally prefers more "Hole in the wall" type places that not many people know about - as opposed to the highly commercialized places that i've been going to. I realized he had a valid point. Although I do have a post or two that have taken me out of my comfort zone, maybe it would be a good idea for me to check out places that aren't always located in malls. (I hate finding parking, so sue me)    

         I dug deep into the recesses of my brain for a place that could fit exactly that bill. I had a few candidates, and finally settled on a place. But then, just before I was about to tell Rina, where we were going to go, she interjects, "Maybe we should go to a place that serves comfort food?"


          And there it was. The sign I had been looking for. Rina was looking for Comfort food, why not take her to the one place I know that offers exactly that. PenPen Restaurant.

          With a slogan like "Comfort Food Araw Araw", I know we were going to go to the right place. Not to mention, I don't think it gets much "Holer in the Waller" than that! (I made that term up just now)

THE FIRST RULE OF THE KANIN CLUB..

        During the Christmas vacation, Rina and I planned to go with a few friends from my work to Enchanted Kingdom. Believe it or not, my buddy Mark had never been there yet at that time, and it ended becoming a running joke between us. (No matter what he has achieved, it didn't mean anything cuz he still hasn't been to Enchanted Kingdom) Mark felt it was finally time to rectify that situation, and so we all planned a trip to Laguna so he could finally feel the magic of the Country's premiere amusement park. 

       Unfortunately, fate had a cruel game to play with my poor friend. Upon entering the gates of EK, we quickly realized that this was not going to happen today. The lines for ticket admissions were ridiculously long, and based on the sign boards outside, each ride would entail a minimum of three hours of waiting in line. We realized that it wasn't the ideal way to spend our free day, so the gang decided to head off to Tagaytay instead for a road trip. 

     Of course, since I was part of the group, the so-called "Road Trip" instantly became a "Food Trip" :)

       To everyone, it was a no-brainer. If you're hungry, and you're in Laguna, you go to Kanin Club. I heard about the place before, but it didn't really interest me because I heard the star of their menu is the "Crispy Dinuguan". I haven't heard a single bad review about it, but still.. I don't eat dinuguan. Nothing personal to people who do, but the Picky Eater in me just thinks that eating pigs blood is a waste of stomach space. Why eat that when you can eat something like BBQ or Liempo? hehe

      We saw signs for a newly opened restaurant called "Pig Out" and that seriously caught my attention, but alas, I could not thwart the will of the majority - so it was off to Kanin Club we went.

WHEN IN CEBU - GOLDEN COWRIE: HUKAD

I think, "Hukad" is Visaya for rice scooper thingy

            I consider myself an "Honorary Cebuano" because I lived there for such a long time. I started school there at Grade Three, and finished high school there. I never really did get the hang of the dialect, but I still know enough to get by. Since I was living there in the late 80's and early 90's, living in Cebu was really like you were living in the province. (When people ask me "Lumaki ka ba sa Cebu?", I answer with "Sa Cebu ako HINDI lumaki") There wasn't cable television yet back than, and there sure as hell wasn't internet. Even regular TV was one week delayed! There weren't any Malls yet either, so there were actually only two Movie Theaters in Uptown Cebu worth going to, Belvic and Century 21. When Gaisano Country Mall and SM Cebu opened in my senior year of high school, that pretty much marked the modernization of the city. Looking back at it though, I had so much fun growing up there, I never felt I was missing out on anything.

        One of my first memories of Cebu was my dad taking me to the restaurant known as "Golden Cowrie". I remember it so well because I had honestly thought it was a carenderia or something to that effect.. small holes in the wall that my dad seems to love. It wasn't air-conditioned and the flooring was made of stones laid out on the ground. Plus we had to eat in plates that sorta looked like small baskets with a banana leaf laid on top. I'm not being elitist, or anything like that - But as I child, this was my first experience of full blown Filipino dining. And it was the very first time I could actually remember eating the food that would be a huge part of my becoming the (fat) man I am today - Liempo.

        And I honestly couldn't have asked for a better experience.