Mey Lin Chinese Cuisine
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 25, 2010
Mey Lin Chinese Cuisine
G/F Jupiter Place Building, 136 Jupiter St., Bel-Air, Makati City, Metro Manila
(02) 899-8999
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The lunch had been organized for weeks, postponed once, but finally we had it last Friday. It was a reunion of sorts for our DSS group, old & new. Though it was organized for quite some time, a lot of people didn’t make it. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great time. We very much enjoyed ourselves, although it could have been better if we were complete. Our first reunion was held in Mey Lin & we decided to do it again in the same venue.
Mey Lin has good food, has a private function room, and has good ambiance. The food is a bit pricey though. I’m not complaining coz their food is really good but I wish they could lower their price a bit so it can be a bit more affordable.
Here is what we ordered:
- Jelly Fish (Php 160), Century Egg (Php 60)
This jelly fish dish is really good. This has always been a favorite menu item to order whenever we visit Mey Lin. We can order century egg with it, 1 piece does cost 60 pesos though. Perfect appetizer for Chinese food.
- Siomai (Php 90)
It’s funny that we almost finished this dish even before the soy sauce, calamansi arrived hahaha! The siomai is cooked to perfection, meaty and has generous servings of each major ingredient. This is how siomai is supposed to be cooked, tender and moist on the inside, good firm texture, and also moist on the outside but not soggy.
- Sio Long Pao (Php 100)
I expected sio long pao to be juicy because it was that way when I went to China before. Mey Lin’s version was very dry but it still tasted good. Just not the way I expected it though.
- Fried Beancurd (Php 150)
This reminded me of another restaurant’s version of Tofu. This tasted just okay, nothing special or out of the ordinary, but still worth a try. Crispy tofu with Mey Lin’s own special sauce.
- Fried Intestines (Php 240)
Fried Intestines with vinegar is heaven!! My all-time Mey Lin favorite dish. No matter who I’m with, as long as we’re in Mey Lin, I make sure that we order this dish. It’s just too delicious to pass up.
- Broccoli with Beef (Php 260)
- Fish Fillet with Taoso (Php 270)
Great presentation. The fish tasted fresh too. Taoso is a great, great finish for this dish. Taoso is mashed soy bean, very crispy and tasted sooo good! Put in a container like that made it more yummier as it will always be hot.
- Dried String Beans (Php 190)
I always see this as a Chinese version of sitaw or string beans. It says dried but I never felt it was so. Another favorite menu item that I order every time I go to Chinese restaurants. There are only a few Chinese restaurants that serve this though, luckily, Mey Lin is one of them.
- Chicken Cubes with Dried Chili (Php 240)
- Lemon Chicken (Php 250)
This was really good! Chicken with lemon, a weird combination but it worked perfectly well. This is definitely a twist on the classic orange chicken that is more popularly made in other Chinese restaurants. The balance with this dish is of course the crispiness of the chicken along with the sauce. We even ordered another one as the first one was finished in just a few minutes and everyone just wanted more 🙂
- Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 210)
- Fried Rice with Salted Fish (Php 220)
- Lemonade (Php 80)
I kept raving about the lemonade while drinking. I think colleagues who were seated next to me was getting tired hearing me say how good the lemonade was. I also kept mentioning that they should make it a bottomless one. Mey Lin’s lemonade is just the best, it’s soooo good! You should order this drink when you visit the restaurant.
- Mango Sago (Php 90)
For me, the best Chinese dessert is the mango sago. I’m not sure how this was done but I think it’s mango puree/juice with tapioca. Served cold, very tasty.
You might be wondering that we ordered too much food hehehe 😛 but look at just how many we were… The rest of the pictures can be found on my Flickr. Yaiks! I’m really craving for Mey Lin now! Must resist!!!
Who is Yasmin Busran-Lao?
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 25, 2010
I went to the UCC venue last month to meet the 3 lady senatoriables of The Liberal Party (LP). Sonia Roco wasn’t able to go so we met with Risa Hontiveros & Yasmin Lao. I have already written an article about Risa Hontiveros and about her thoughts on the RH bill. However, I wondered who Yasmin Lao was though.
I’ve never heard of Yasmin Lao before and so I had no idea where she comes from and what her credentials were. I sat there and waited for my turn to ask the lady senatorial candidate. I wanted to know what she has been fighting for and what she plans to do if she lands a position in the senate. She was wearing something to cover her hair and so I assumed that she’s a Muslim.
I asked her, “Can you tell us who you are and what you are fighting for?“. She smiled and answered very warmly.
I used to be a professor of psychology at Mindanao State University since 1988 until 1997 when I founded Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation (AMDF) but even then coming from a culture where early marriage and arranged marriages are rampant where you see young girls (bride) and grooms. I’m a witness and I’ve seen how, in terms of the right of the children to pursue their own full development particularly education and career. I’ve seen the impact to bright promising girls who dream of becoming somebody professional. then they get married at the age of 14 and then most of them if they do get pregnant immediately, get no schooling, they stop schooling. Then of course, no economic opportunity.
So I’ve seen the impact of that, particularly in women, and that’s where my advocacy for women’s right started, and how I’ve started questioning the culture and gender issues. So that has been my main advocacy, looking at the code of Muslim personal laws, looking at international laws, national laws, and see how these can work together on the advantage of women. For example, while the code of Muslim personal laws do not categorically state that what is provided for in the violence against women and children, where it’s a criminal offense. But women don’t know, Particularly among Muslim women, that there is a provision in the code of Muslim personal law that a woman can really ask for divorce, because divorce is allowed if there’s harm, if she’s put in harm.
So what we would do is that we would encourage Muslim women to use the code of Muslim personal law to file for if they want divorce then use the [separate Muslim law] for the criminal. So that’s an example of what I’m saying, how do we help women to maximize the available tools that they have for themselves.. that has been my advocacy and of course working among adolescents, Muslim women girls and boys on gender issues and reproductive health issues, and women political leaders on gender responsive governance.
And before I resigned, I’m working very closely among farmers and fisher folks on sustainability particularly natural farming and fishing and I’ve worked in the evacuation center and that’s what I’m very passionate about — peace and the peace process because I’ve seen the impact of the conflict among civilians particularly on women.
If you’ve covered or if you’ve visited evacuation centers pag may sunog or may bagyo, people stay in the evacuation centers, you’ve seen the conditions, it’s really inhuman, it lowers the human dignity much more for women when we have special needs — toilet, CR and all. When I was in the evacuation center, if you just flee and you only have your clothes on your body you don’t even have your underwear with you the more you will feel [the impact], and you stay in a room with strangers you don’t know. And of course, you need napkins, you need underwear which you don’t find in emergency kit that they give because our understanding in the evacuation center they need food, they need water and that’s it but then equally if not more than that is that when your own self concept and your own human dignity it adds up to the misery and the psychological impact. Kahit may pagkain diyan, if you feel like you’re depressed about the situation..
Read the rest of the article at Blogwatch.ph.
References:
Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOsG015C1yI
Pictures – http://www.flickr.com/photos/rochellesychua/sets/72157623671504606/
Burgoo American Bar and Restaurant
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 24, 2010
Burgoo American Bar & Restaurant
Robinsons Galleria, EDSA cor. Ortigas Ave., Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 633-6259
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My best friend from grade school and I make it a point to have a bonding session every now and then. Whether it’s going shopping, pigging out or just talking about anything under the sun, as long as we spend time together at least once a quarter. Earlier, we attended the All About Money Seminar. It finished around 1PM, and by then we were starving. As we were walking around to find a restaurant, we saw Burgoo American Bar and Restaurant. The girl gave us a coupon for a free grilled porkchop (amounts to Php295) as long we order any entree on their menu. We quickly decided to just dine in at Burgoo.
Then I remembered, my BPI credit card might have a promo with Burgoo. I asked the server and indeed they currently do have a promo. Apparently, the promo is a buy one take one (we just need to pay the entree that is of higher value). They do have a list of entrees that we can choose from though.
Here are what we ordered:
- Spinach Grilled Salmon (Php 495)
Grilled Norwegian salmon with spinach cream sauce. It was steaming hot when it was served. And it was noticeably appetizing to look at even at first look. It was obvious that it was going to be a good dish. My friend confirmed just how good it was! I watched her finish the dish hahaha!
It looked like it was perfectly grilled and that it kept its moistness which is important when you eat salmon. If you cook salmon too long, it becomes dry and flaky and loses its flavor. Judging by the way my friend ate it, it most certainly was cooked good. The compliment of mashed potato was just enough for this dish in my opinion. A healthy yet very sustainable dish.
- Shrimps & Ribs Platter (Php 595)
Served with french fries and corn on the cob (without the cob), the cajun shrimps & baby back ribs combination was just sooo tempting. You know I really was planning to order another menu item. But seeing the picture on the menu, it was just too delicious to pass up. I ended up ordering anyway. The baby back ribs was tender which is really important for ribs to be. The dish was okay, nothing to scream about, but was just the ordinary ribs that you could get anywhere. Although, I’ve had bad ribs before, so I always do appreciate it when it’s at least tender. The shrimps were good too, and all in all not a bad meal to get when you’re hungry, but nothing out of the ordinary either.
- Lemonade (Php 69)
This was a pretty weird lemonade drink. A bottomless one by the way. I usually drink a lot but there was a weird taste that I didn’t like. I asked for it to be replaced and when they did, it still tasted the same. I concluded that it might be the water that is causing it. Anyway, I drank it still 😛
- Hot Tea (Php 45)
One thing that I noticed was that their servers were very attentive. When we arrived, they immediately offered to give us the couch seat as there was one table who was already billing out. They gave the menu for us to choose what we wanted to order and they also offered to assist us with anything. I was pretty impressed. It was pretty consistent all throughout. Although, a service charge is already ncluded in the bill, we still opted to give an extra tip 🙂
This is us having our picture taken while waiting for the bill. The rest of the pictures can be found on my Flickr account.
Four Liberal Party Senatoriables on LP and Noynoy
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 23, 2010
The meeting with 4 Liberal Party (LP) Senatorial candidates definitely turned out to be one of the nicest interview sessions we had up to that point. Mainly because our 4 LP senatorial guests were very much warm & accommodating. Doctor Martin Bautista was so funny that it made the whole event very light & enjoyable.
We were not allowed to ask individual questions to each of the 4 LP senatoriables due to time constraints, so we were left with 1 generic question to ask Neric Acosta, Doctor Martin Bautista, TG Guingona III & Ruffy Biazon.
I already have a partial list of senatoriables to support for this upcoming May 2010 elections and most of them are from the Liberal Party. So I asked them the following question:
I support most Liberal Party senatoriables but I’m not convinced with your presidentiable. Can you tell us why you are running under Liberal Party & why you believe in Noynoy Aquino?
When I asked the question, I noticed their faces had lightened up. And it looked as if they were eager to answer the question that I had just asked of them. I could really feel the passion & their support for their Presidential standard bearer Noynoy Aquino when they answered (especially Neric Acosta).
Ruffy Biazon
# 7 in the ballot. Congressman Ruffy Biazon has served the lone disctrict of Muntinlupa City for the last three terms. His hands has touched many of the bills that has passed through Congress during his three terms. Not only has he been able to touch on these bills, but he has authored and co-authored many of these bills as well.
He has been part of many committees in congress, and has been at the forefront of such legislations as the Tobacco Regulation Act, The Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act, The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, The Cheaper Medicines Act, just to name a few.
Indeed with the many legislation that he has been a part or a main proponent of, he has even been cited by the Free Press Magazine as an Outstanding Congressman of the Philippines and the Philippine Graphic Magazine as one of the Top 100 Young Leaders of the country.
He continues to live up to his motto, “Do the right things and do things rightâ€, in his everyday life.
Why am I running with the LP?
When I first ran for office in 2001, I was with the LDP. When the LDP broke up prior to the 2004 elections, I went to the only party that I saw that had a genuine ideology and was composed of people of good stature and integrity so I went to the LP. I’ve been with the LP ever since.
Why am I supporting Noynoy Aquino?
Well, he’s the only one who has been through the test of power. Among all the presidential candidates, not one of them has been tested on how they would handle power when it is in their hands. I’m referring to the presidential power, and we all know how a presidential son can abuse the power of his parent as a president. Noynoy has been through that and he has shown humility & integrity in spite of being in access to such power within this country. He has already passed it, I don’t want to take a gamble with the others. I want to support the guy who passed that crucial test.
People are questioning his competence. Well, it’s just unfortunate that people are relying on impressions. If you’ve been given a chance to work with Noynoy, you will know that he is competent. If you’ll browse through the records of congress, the transcripts of debates, plenary sessions, committee hearings, you will see his intelligent participation in congress. He acts as the fiscalizer. They challenge him with the number of bills that he has filed but why do we look up at Joker Arroyo with high respects? If we look at his track record in filing bills and passing laws, it’s also comparable to Noynoy’s. But Joker Arroyo is performing a role that was also within his responsibility as a legislator and so with Noynoy Aquino.
The difference of Noynoy with many other politicians is that when he speaks, he does not look at the camera to speak to. It is because he speaks to the record. He does not want fanfare. He does not want publicity because he just wants to work. I’ve seen it first-hand.
In this presidential election, we’ve been through 9 years of an el nino of integrity. We’re now looking for a spring of hope, a spring of character because competence is what will get you up there but it will be character which will make you stay there. A lot of competent people have gone up. They fell down badly because of character. As far as Noynoy is concerned, I’ve seen that he has character which would let him handle power worthy of our trust and competence. That’s why I support Noynoy.
TG Guingona III
#19 in the ballot. TG Guingona, despite being the son of the prominent Teofisto Guingona, Jr., the 13th vice president of the Philippines, has himself been able to make an impact in public service. He has had a great focus on economic development, and is pushing for the passage of HB No. 5255 establishing the Mindanao Economic Development Authority (MEDA).
Aside from his great focus on Mindanao, his legislative focus continues to also center on a variety of issues such as budget reform, education, health services, food and energy security too.
He has been a champion for good governance, and has been at the forefront as well in terms of Disaster Risk Reduction Management.
The question is why are you with Noynoy? it’s a shared experience. it’s personal for me. We grew up together.
Looking around the room. I see that most of you were not around when martial law was declared in 1972. Those times were terrible. People were being picked up, tortured and at that time, we had no recourse. Noynoy and I grew up together. His dad and my dad were picked up by the martial law authorities. In high school, I do remember distinctly when Fridays come, our classmates would go to parties. Noynoy and I would prepare to go somewhere else to visit our father. He would go to Fort Bonifacio to visit Ninoy Aquino while I would go to Camp Crame to visit my dad.
Sometime in 1978, we did challenge the dictatorship. They called an election, Batasang Pambansang Election. That’s where Ninoy Aquino formed the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN) to go against the dictatorship. In fact, that’s why we have the L sign. Hey guys, That’s not Liberal ah. It’s Lakas ng Bayan — LABAN. It goes all the way back to 1978 against the original fight against oppression. We see that now in the past 10 years that Gloria has been in power. She already tried to declare martial law in 2005. They did ask permission from the United states but the United States government told them “don’t do that, otherwise we wont support youâ€. They did not continue with martial law but we see it going there, we see oppression.
I grew up with Noynoy and I’ve seen him. We’ve been together in the fight against the oppression of martial law. It was a shared experience and it continued now as congressmen. In the impeachment, during the 2004, 2005, 2006 impeachment and in the battle against charter change.
So really, why will we vote for Noynoy? Kase ng tinatanong nila, anong nagawa mo? Ang tanong talaga , anong ipinaglaban mo? Nung panahon na kailangan tumayo, sino yung tumayo? Nung kailangan magsalita, sino nagsalita? Who paid the price? Noynoy Aquino was there. He was there in 1978 with his father. He was there during the congress of 2004 all the way to 2007. There was no blind ambition on the part of Noynoy to become president. As you’ve said, he did not want to become president originally so there is no hidden agenda, no blind ambition to become the most powerful of this land. I think this person is a person who has his heart in the right place. Ako mismo, si TG Guingona. I can vouch for him. I grew up with the person. We fought against the oppression of martial law and we fought against the oppression of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Siya nanindigan, siya ay lumaban. Kaya ako para kay Noynoy Aquino, all the way.
Read the rest of the article at Blogwatch.PH.
References:
Videos – http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4A3BC2A4B1B62F0A
Pictures – http://www.flickr.com/photos/rochellesychua/sets/72157623761251790/
Tempura Japanese Grill
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 21, 2010
Tempura Japanese Grill
1 Juno St. cor. Makati Ave., Makati City, Metro Manila
(02) 899-1365
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It was a get together that was planned for weeks. Funny though that some of us were late (including me hehehe!). Tempura Japanese Grill is located at Makati avenue and is near our office. It took us quite a time to order. We ended up ordering when everyone was already present. It did seem as though like we had the menu memorized hahaha!
One thing that I really appreciate is that Tempura Japanese Grill has ample parking space plus the restaurant is big enough to cater to a lot of dining guests. The place has such a wonderful ambiance that you could probably sit there for hours without feeling any pressure. The food is delicious too! I also love their new menu items especially Wasabi Tempura (yum!).
We ordered the ff.:
- Ebi Bacon Maki (Php 230)
Shrimp, winter mushroom & asparagus wrapped in bacon with Tempura’s special sauce. Hayy, this is truly heaven! I used to order the asupara maki w/c is asparagus wrapped in bacon but this innovation is just wow! Shrimps, asparagus & bacon in 1 menu item. My 3 favorite foods served as appetizer! I enjoyed this dish a lot!
- Mixed Maki (Php 180)
California maki, tamago maki, kani maki & tekka maki. If you wanna have a taste of everything, then you should order this. California maki still is my favorite among the rest though.
- Karufuru Salad (Php 155)
A fruity salad indeed! Mandarin oranges, apple, grapes with lettuce & fruit infused vinaigrette. Good for people who are on a diet (I think I should be telling myself that hahaha!). I wasn’t able to taste this though, but maybe I should next time 🙂
- Gohan (Php 35)/ Chahan (Php 48)
- Gomoku Chahan (Php 60)
the difference between this rice and chahan is that this includes mixed seafoods, but there’s not much difference in taste though.
- Tofu Steak (Php 150)
This has always been my favorite item to order from the menu. Tofu, shitake mushrooms & ground pork with steak sauce. Very tasty & healthy too!
- Ebi Wasabi Tempura (Php 399)
I’ve been raving about this dish. But do take note, you don’t need to add the wasabi into your sauce coz the tempura has wasabi all over it! Prawns deep fried in crispy batter with wasabi, it’s such a great innovation! Kudos to the one who created the recipe.
- Spareribs Sansho Yaki (Php 245)
This is another menu item that is very unique. Spareribs Teriyaki – it’s spareribs cooked Japanese style! It was delicious! We all loved it! I believe from all the japanese restaurants out there, only Tempura serves this.
- Tori Teriyaki (Php 195)
We didn’t order this at first but my friend Hai ended up ordering it. It’s the ever famous chicken teriyaki… If you’re curious, it’s basically chicken (leg portion) that has been marinated and grilled. But it’s moist, cooked well, and the teriyaki sauce tops it off quite nicely. Delicious!
- Brewed Lemon Iced Tea (Php 60)
Once in a while, we need to go out for lunches like these, because of not only the food but because of the very meaningful conversations.. I loved conversations like what we had here at Tempura Japanese Grill coz it brings out whatever is in our hearts. Though how deep the topics are, if my friends are with me, then taking pictures will always be part of it