THE REDEMPTION ZONG

                I've said it before and I'll say it again.. "The Pickiest Eater" is actually a collaboration of two people: Me and my wife Rina. We both love eating, but she handles all the photography, while I take care of the words. She loves going to these adventures together, and leaves the selection of where and what to eat all to me. During our last trip together at Nature Trails, I ordered her the Baked Fried Chicken, which she wasn't a fan of. I promised I would make it up to her on our next adventure.


          You have to understand that I take these food trips with Rina very seriously. I take pride in being able to study a  restaurant's menu, and figuring out which dish sounds the best for me (I often get calls in the middle of the day from friends saying "I'm here at *Name of Restaurant* what should I order?"). I really wanted to redeem myself for ordering that dish that she didn't like, so I decided to break out the big guns.


       On our way home from Nature Trails, I told Rina, "Next time we go out, I'm taking you to Zong". 

A LONG AWAITED TRIP TO CHELSEA MARKET

If I could turn back time.. 

         One of my favorite restaurants here in the metro is Mr. Jones, and that's primarily on  the strength of their amazing "Bacon and Eggs" dish. I know Mr. Jones' sister restaurant, "Momo Cafe", also has a bacon dish that I'm interested in trying. So basically what I'm trying to say is that Chef Sau Del Rosario and his Raintree restaurants know what to do with bacon. And because of that, they win a special place in my heart. 

       Because of that, it became my civic duty to purchase the Chelsea Market deal that Cash Cash Pinoy offered. It was pretty hard to resist.. Less than P500 for P1000 bucks worth of food? Considering Chelsea's prices and the amount of dishes I wanted to try,  It would be a crime against humanity for me to let a day go by without making the most of this promo.     

       So one fine Sunday morning, my beautiful wife and I visited yet another restaurant in Serendra (I plan to try 'em all) to see if Chelsea Market could live up to the awesomeness of Mr. Jones.

STEAK AND FRITES AT L'ENTRECOTE!

I have raised the flag and surrendered my appetite to L' Entrecote

             Some time last year, My boy Eric, one of my readers whose been following my site since it's early days (much appreciated, buddy!) sent me a message on Facebook suggesting me to try "L' Entrecote". I did a little research on it, and I could see exactly why he would think I would be interested in trying it out. 

      Just like its international namesakes, L' Entrecote is famous for its "Steak and Frites" (for you not familiar with the language, Frites is French for "French Fries".. wait.. so tecnically, shouldn't they call it just "fries" over there? Aaaanyway..). Since I have professed my love for meat and potatoes in the past, this was right up my alley.. except it came with a rather stiff price tag. Because I didn't want to have to sell a kidney just to eat some steak and fries,  "L' Entrecote" fell lower down my list of restaurants to try.. however the important thing was it was always on my list (I actually do have a list). 

      Then along came the group buying site Pakyaw.com.ph with an offer that I could not refuse. I actually had refrained from buying from Pakyaw in the past (I missed out on the Lolo Dad's and Momo Deals.. and now I'm sad.) because they didnt have Paypal yet, but when I saw the L' Entrecote deal, I whipped out my credit card said "Screw it". 

   One fine Saturday morning, armed with our Pakyaw Vouchers, Rina & I sped over to Burgos Circle for an early celebration of my very first Father's Day at  L' Entrecote. 

A RAINY VISIT TO ZAO VIETNAMESE BISTRO

Believe it or not, this was shot in the early afternoon, yet it was so dark..

      I'm going to do a magic trick for ya.. Quick! Think of the first Vietnamese Restaurant here in Manila that pops up into your brain! Lemme guess.. "Pho Hoa", right? Yeah, I thought so. If not, was it Pho Bac? or Pho 24? (If you thought up of any other restaurant, leave the name on my comment box please?) My point being, choices for Vietnamese food here in Manila aren't exactly easy to come by, unlike, say, Chinese or Japanese. 

    Zao Vietnamese Bistro was one of those restaurants that somehow flew under my radar. In fact, if it wasn't for their Barbecue Platter deal on Groupon Philippines, I wouldn't have even known they existed- Which is strange because, their two branches are located in Eastwood and Serendra - two places that I frequent quite often. 

   So on a gloomy Monday morning, Rina and I braved the rains and trooped over to Eastwood once again, to make sure we use our ZAO voucher before it expires!  

BURGER WARS EPISODE 3: MURRAY AND D'VINE

Say "Ahh"!

          The Beauty of these Group Buying sites like Groupon Philippines (www.beeconomic.com.ph) is that it gives you the courage to try restaurants that has always intimidated you with their price tag. One such restaurant for me is Murray & D'Vine. To be fair, I know that their prices aren't exorbitant when compared to other fine dining places and steak houses in the metro.. But for a Burger Joint.. It's a bit much. 

           But since I was armed with a Groupon voucher that gave me P500 off on all food and drinks (I only spent P250), I decided it was high time to see what the Forbes Park of Burger Joints had to offer, and how it would fare in the immortal gastronomic battle that is the Burger Wars.  

FRISCO FUSION AT HYPHY'S!

       I was surfing the net, minding my own business when I..umm..  "accidentally" ended up on the group buying site known as "Deal Grocer" (I'm really not an addict). As I mentioned from my previous Group Buying post, this was the same site that used a portion of my blog in their review of "Mochiko" (That statement is totally irrelevant to this post, but i just thought i'd mention it). I had never heard of the restaurant "Hyphy's" before (hell, I wasn't even sure how to pronounce it), but the name Bruce Lim did ring a bell with me (And not just because it sounded like Bruce Lee, either).

    The deal was "Pay P350 for P500 worth of food", so I thought it was worth a shot. Besides, I hadn't been to "The Veranda" in Robinson's Galleria yet, so I thought it would be nice to be able to drop by there for the first time in almost two years. 

    Hyphy's boasts of San Francisco inspired comfort food with a Filipino twist to it. Honestly though, at the moment, apart from "Rice-a-Roni" and Clam Chowder, I can't think of any other food that is associated with San Francisco, so i figured our trip to Hyphy's would be an interesting experience. 

SO-SO O'SONHO

Game on

         After getting the gender results from our trip to the doctor, Rina and I were so happy about hearing that our baby was healthy that we decided to treat our companions, Chaikka, Don, and my sister Raquel (Same people from our Yellow Cab breakfast) to lunch out at Eastwood. Since I had my trusty Voucher from Groupon Philippines for O'Sonho (I only paid P200 bucks for P400 worth of food!), that was pretty much the default choice (Hey we were paying so no complaining). A work friend of mine, Osh, had also mentioned this place to me in the past, as a suggestion for my next destination. Since she is also a notoriously Picky Eater herself, I instantly knew that there weren't going to be any vegetables involved in this food trip (which was totally fine by me).  

         I still remember the first time I noticed O'Sonho. Its right beside Cookbook Kitchen, and I didn't think twice when I passed by it at first, because I thought, for some reason, it was a Japanese Restaurant (I could imagine a Japanese man shouting out, "OSONHO!", like it meant "Delicious!" or something). A closer look revealed that it was actually a Portugese Fusion restaurant. 

        Since Spanish food is a family tradition, I have a high standard for it, and I imagined that Portuguese food wouldn't be very different, so I didn't feel any urgency to try O'Sonho out.

       Then on my way back, I passed by the place once again, and I saw their huge menu outside. There was one dish that totally caught my attention: Coffee Marinated Roast Pork. 

FEELING PHILY'S DINER!

Challenge accepted!

        Among my immediate family members, only my sister Raquel checks out my blog with any form of regularity. My Sister Rosemarie and my brother Ryan, do not at all. However, one time, Ryan DID stumble unto my blog when he asked me if I had eaten in Kogi Bulgogi before. He took a look at a few posts and his only comment was, i'm too "mainstream". 

      Yeah, to be honest, that's not something I can really contest. But what can I do? You hear about a place, then you wanna go check it out. It's not my fault if it's usually located in a mall or something. 

     So when Groupon Philippines had a promo for "Phily's Diner", a place I had never heard of before, I thought it would be a good opportunity to uncover another hidden gem. 

A GOOD DAY FOR GOOD EARTH

Life is good :)

           Having lived in Makati for two years, I used to frequent Greenbelt a lot (hence the large amount of Makati (17) and  Greenbelt (7) posts in my blog) so i was a little bit surprised when I saw a Groupon deal for "Good Earth" in Greenbelt 3. For the life of my, I couldn't recall ever seeing a Good Earth restaurant there. A few friends of mine that I had asked said they think they recall seeing a restaurant of that name there, but wasn't entirely sure. 


       The name "Good Earth" though rang some bells, because it's a Chinese restaurant, and for some reason, names of Chinese restaurants seem to stick in the inner recesses of my brain. At any rate, I thought it was a great opportunity to try the place, and with a deal like P199 for a Chinese food Buffet? That's a pretty hard deal to pass up. 

SURF'S UP AT SUNRISE BUCKETS!

I got my own Buckets!

                 Amidst the (admittedly well deserved) hype of Bon Chon Chicken and Manang's Chicken, another restaurant that specializes in Chicken Wings seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. And if you think Sunshine Buckets is just one of those run of the mill chicken wing places you pass by on the street corner, you should be ashamed of yourself..

       Because I promise you, it's so much more than that.

A QUICK STOP AT ELBERT'S CHEESE STEAK

Is it fair that she's four months along the way, and I STILL look more pregnant than she does? 

          I was minding my own business, whilst surfing the net, when Rina's friend, Zee begins raving on facebook about a deal she got from the group buying site "Twangoo,com", for the famous Elbert's Cheese Steak Sandwiches. I've actually tried this already before, but that was around two or so years ago, so I was more than willing to get my Cheese Steak on once again.  


        The awesome Twangoo Deal I got gave me P600 bucks worth of food for only P300, so not only was I planning to pig out, but I was planning to pig out as a happy man that just saved P300 bucks (or so I thought).

GROUP BUYING: I'M NOT AN ADDICT.. THAT'S A LIE

     Ok.. first off, before I start sounding defensive, as food blogger, you need to understand that I'm not earning a single cent from this my site, therefore everything you see before you is the work of pure passion. That being said, I'm also not exactly Mr. Moneybags like Warren Buffet either, (although I have to admit, that is an awesome last name). Don't get me wrong.. I do make a decent living, especially since we try to live within our means. I don't have very many fancy gadgets and all that. I never had a PSP, my cell phone is two years old (and i found out if I sell it in greenbelt, I can get a measly P3,500 for it), and I drive Rina's old (but still servicable) 1994 Lancer. The only jewelry you'll find on me is my wedding ring, which is fine because I really have a strong dislike for wearing watches and necklaces. 




       It's a good thing eating out once a week has been part of our budget for quite sometime now, but with a baby on the way and a house to maintain, I won't lie to you, It's not always easy. But here's the thing.. My blog makes me happy.. it's my therapy.. my escape from the stress of the Real World, so I'm not giving it up, no matter what. If I need to start blogging about BBQ stands in my village streets, I'd probably do that (but I hope it will never come to that) Sure, I may slowed down a bit with the posts to stretch it out, and post perhaps once a week to keep up, but to me, that's fine. (I used to post thrice a week, then I changed it to twice a week, and no I'm down to once a week, but that's more because of time constraints and sheer laziness than anything else)


      For a few years now, I set at least one day of the weekend for what I call a "Rina Day" (I take Rina out on a date).And since my beautiful wife loves to chronicle our food adventures, "Rina day" is actually one of the factors that helped me get started with my blog in the first place. 


    Some time in October, Rina's friend, Zee (A fellow foodie that has given Rina and I numerous suggestions for places to go check out.. and they've all so far been awesome), alerted Rina about the website Cash Cash Pinoy (www.cashcashpinoy.com). Cash Cash Pinoy is a "Group Buying" site, that has become popular here and in the States. I actually first heard about it on "The Today Show", and was pleased to see that there was one here as well. 

    Rina saw they had a deal for the legendary Spiral Buffet at Sofitel, and she 

really couldn't resist. With a deal like "Pay only P1,160 instead of P2,320 (50% discount), I couldn't really blame her. I bought a couple of those vouchers, and we eventually used them for our "Mr. Myfoodtrip" celebration. 

    After that, I was hooked.