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.

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.

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". 

WHO LET THE PIG OUT?!

It finally happened. I've eaten so much pork, I've transformed myself into a pig.

        During the Christmas break of 2009, a group of my friends from work, together with Rina and I, went on a road trip to Laguna, with the intent of going to Enchanted Kingdom. Given that it was the Christmas season, It should have been a no brainer: Theme Park + Christmas Vacation = Chaos. That trip eventually turned into our visit to Kanin Club, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. However, as I mentioned in that previous post, The signs for the restaurant "Pig Out" stuck clearly in my mind.

    I love the name, Pig Out. You instantly know it's all about the meat, and you can eat to your hearts content without being judged. In fact, I found it funny no other restaurant ever thought of using that name before, especially since it got my attention. I swore to Rina that she and I would eventually go back some day. Of course, since it was out of town, it wasn't really that easy to schedule an excursion to Laguna. 

       Funnily enough, roughly around one year to the fateful day that I saw that sign, Rina and I, together with my father in law, my sister and law Chaikka, and her irrepressible partner-in-crime, Don, had planned to visit our Aunt's vacation home in Batangas. I did a little research before I left, and I saw a dish that left me intrigued.. "Chicharon Fried Rice".

      Given that dish in mind, I thought it would be perfect time to make a little side trip to Pig Out.  (Pun intended)

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.