Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Our visit to Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen was an accidental one.  We were supposed to eat at another restaurant but two of their branches had special parties and were closed to the public.  I didn’t bother going to a 3rd branch as I knew that we weren’t meant to eat at the restaurant.  I then noticed Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen across the street.  I told my friend let’s try this new restaurant out!

I’m just glad that Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen doesn’t close their doors during afternoons.  Most restaurants take a break from 2-6pm.  Since we were there for a late lunch, it was a relief that they are open throughout the day.

Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen is a typical Chinese restaurant.  I appreciate the music that they were playing that day – Chinese songs (old popular ones!).

There was also the roasting station at one corner of the restaurant.  We didn’t order any roasted stuff but we were totally satisfied with our food orders.  Everything was so delicious!  I shall keep Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen in my mind now if I’m craving for good Chinese food in Greenhills area.

We ordered quite a lot.  Sometimes I think that my blogging is influencing me to order quite a lot when I dine at a restaurant.  I always have this thought that I should be sharing at least more than 3 dishes or else, it won’t make sense for me to blog about the experience.  I must change that habit as I’m trying to lose weight too! 😛

In spite of the many orders, we still finished every single dish.  In all honesty, I loved everything (well, except for the drink :P).

• Mint Iced Tea (Php 65)

Eat Well’s Iced tea was made of brewed tea combined with calamansi and mint.  I think calamansi overpowered the whole drink itself.  I wasn’t able to taste the mint and the natural flavors of the tea were almost not distinguishable.

• Deep-fried Bean Curd in Spicy Salt (Php 155)

The actual dish was exactly the same as it was pictured in the restaurant’s menu.  The serving was generous and we were able to enjoy this dish as our appetizer.  The vinegar went very well with the bite-sized tofu too!

• Braised Pork with Chinese Sausage and Taro Rice (Php 165)

We tried this out as it looked different from the usual fried rice offerings in a Chinese restaurant.  As we tasted the dish, we noticed that it’s actually kiampung!  The only difference is that they put taro on top of the rice.  The fried rice was put in a dim sum container which really worked!  The ingredient that made this fried rice delicious is definitely the chinese sausage.  Yummy!

• Fried String Beans with Minced Pork (Php 230)

When I saw fried string beans in Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen’s menu, I knew I had to order it.  This has got to be my favorite chinese vegetable dish of all time!  I loved the sauce that the chef put into this dish.  Not sure what comprised the sauce but it was sweet and I loved it.  I noticed I was the one who finished this dish.  I can’t stop eating it even though I was already full!

• Steamed Fish Fillet with Minced Bean (Php 305)

Eat Well has a full menu of fish dishes.  They have fish in black bean sauce, fish in sweet & sour sauce and some other variants.  When I saw that they have steamed fish fillet with minced bean, the decision became easy.  Taoso (minced bean) is my ultimate favorite flavoring for fish fillet.  When I finally tried out the dish, I was completely satisfied!  The fish was meaty and there was enough taoso in every slice.  Yay!

• Chilled Almond Jelly with Mango Sago (Php 78)

A different twist to the usual mango sago dessert.  What Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen done is they used the almond jelly as a base (ala ‘taho’) and mango sago as the sauce.  It was pure genius and the combination worked pretty well!  You must try this especially if you love both almond jelly and mango sago.

• Masachi with White Chocolate (Php 108)

Another twist to the normal chinese dessert is this Masachi with White chocolate.  It’s like a union between Western and Asian cuisine.  Oh how I love that with every bite, the white chocolate just flows out.  It tasted so delicious and I couldn’t think of any restaurant that serves the same kind of dessert.  It was truly one of a kind.  Super duper appetizing!  A must order!

I felt it must be destiny that we weren’t able to eat at the restaurant that we were supposed to eat at.  Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen is a great foodie discovery!  I’ll surely be back soon! 🙂

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Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen
Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills, San Juan City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 722-8518

Last night, my friends and I decided to sing the night out.  I just got my voice back as I had colds and coughs for the past 2 weeks.  I was so psyched to sing and to celebrate for being well again! 😀

As of today, the best place to go to is Red Box Karaoke (now known as Red Box: Rock, Dine & Roll).  Red Box is conveniently located at the malls.  Yesterday, we decided to try out the newest Red Box branch at Eastwood City.  I loved how beautiful the place is designed.  They were pretty organized too plus the promos are very affordable and well-thought of.

We availed of the prime time promo (Php 499/person) that includes free room use from 7pm to 12 midnight.  As soon as we entered the room, we immediately entered songs that we liked to sing.  Everything is computerized.  We were actually asking for a songbook but we were told that it’s not available anymore as they have automated everything.

I’m impressed as to how updated Red Box is.  Some of the more popular songs this month are already available in the database.  Newer songs have clearer videos too!

I wasn’t planning to eat dinner at Red Box.  All I wanted was to sing.  However, my friends were hungry so we ordered some food.  In all honesty, I wasn’t planning to blog about our experience.  But upon seeing the food, I was surprised.  I immediately took out my camera and started taking pictures.  I knew then that I needed to share with you how delicious and how presentable Red Box dishes were.

Red Box is not just a karaoke place but it serves awesome food!

• Sushilicious (Php 425)

Red Box has a menu booklet solely for their sushi offerings.  We tried their bestseller, Sushilicious, that has the ff. ingredients – Salmon, Unagi, Melted Cheese, Avocado and Shrimp Tempura.  The sushi was truly sushi-delicious!  Red Box obviously named it right!  It was packed with my favorite sushi ingredients.  You must try this if you love sushi.

• Crispy Calamares (Php 295)

Another surprise for me was Red Box’ Crispy Calamares.  The dish was highly recommended by the server.  We took his advice and ordered it.  I’m so glad we listened.  Their calamares has a different twist considering that they also included crispy wanton wrapper as siding.

• Sisig (Php 295)

I loved the taste of the sisig.  I think the green chili and mayonnaise gave the dish character.  Or maybe some other secret ingredients contributed to the nice flavor of the dish.  Whatever it is, I liked Red Box’ version of our favorite sisig.

• Lechon Kawali with Fried Tofu (Php 295)

Presentation of this Lechon Kawali and Tofu dish was just made of total awesomeness!  I never thought that Red Box didn’t just improve their karaoke services but also their food!  I was in total shock.

The lechon kawali was pretty tasty too.  I do wish they provide more servings of the meat though.  Maybe change the glass to a bigger one?

The tofu was nice but I feel that the serving wasn’t enough for all of us.  I hope they add more tofu next time.  It was super ‘bitin’ especially for a tofu lover like me.

• Garlic Rice (Php 45)

With beautiful dishes like sisig, lechon kawali and tofu, it wouldn’t be complete without garlic rice.

• Hot Tea (Php 95)/Brewed Coffee (Php 95)

I was shocked when I saw the hot tea in a Coffee Bean cup then we discovered that Red Box has partnered with Coffee Bean apparently.  I do hope they offer the other products that Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has.  As of now, there’s only hot tea and brewed coffee.

After eating so many yummy and good-looking dishes at Red Box, it made me change my perception of the karaoke bar.  I can now confidently go to Red Box with an empty stomach as I already know that the place serves awesome food.

We will surely be back!  It’ll probably be at the same branch in Eastwood Mall. 🙂

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Red Box: Rock, Dine & Roll
4th Level, Eastwood Mall, Eastwood City Cyberpark, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 355-7921

The first ever international franchise of The Cheese Steak Shop is luckily from our very own country, the Philippines.  It took franchise owner, Margaret “Mai” Uy, 22 years (!) to bring in the popular restaurant chain from Northern California, U.S.A. here.  That’s a pretty long time!  There must be something about The Cheese Steak Shop that made the Filipino franchise owner so patient in waiting for the opportunity to come.

The Cheese Steak Shop is a well-known restaurant chain in Northern California that makes the tasty original Philadelphia style cheese steak sandwich.  It was opened by Keith Layton (a Philadelphia native) in 1982 when he relocated to San Francisco, California.  Keith missed cheese steak sandwiches that he decided to open his own cheese steak restaurant.  The Cheese Steak Shop was an instant success.  People appreciated having a restaurant that served authentic cheese steak sandwiches. Due to its success, 9 more stores were opened by 1996.

In 2002, the Cheese Steak Shop started selling franchises which resulted to 18 more restaurants opened (including the one in the Philippines!).  With a total of 28 restaurants, The Cheese Steak Shop must have a yummy original Philadelphia style cheese steak sandwich that makes it so successful through the years.

I was totally excited when I was invited to The Cheese Steak Shop located at the Pasay Road in Makati City.  The first thing I noticed when I entered the restaurant was the tagline ‘Caution! May be Habit Forming!‘ plastered on the wall.  I thought this must be true as the owner, Margaret Uy, didn’t give up bringing in The Cheese Steak Shop to the Philippines.

The event is mainly a webinar that featured the author of The Great Philly Cheese Steak Book, Carolyn Wyman.  She presented what Philly Cheesesteak is all about.  I thought that considering Ms. Wyman took time to accept the invitation of Cheese Steak Shop to present, that pretty much confirmed the cheese steak sandwiches offered in The Cheese Steak Shop are good!

While we listen to the webinar, we were served with The Cheese Steak Shop’s specialties.  Oh my, there was so much food and I didn’t not know how to finish the food in front of us.  I was truly overwhelmed but I was very glad.  The food didn’t disappoint and I’ll surely recommend this restaurant to people who are on the lookout for authentic cheese steak sandwiches.

Sides

• Garlic Steak Fries (Php 135)

There are 2 sizes available – Regular (Php 99) and Large (Php 135).  I super appreciate fries that are cooked with real potatoes and this just didn’t disappoint at all.  I also loved the way it tasted.  The Garlic fries was very well presented too.  I like to use fork in eating the fries though.

• Onion Rings (Php 180)

Just like the fries, onion rings are also available in 2 sizes: Regular (Php 120) and large (Php 180).  You can opt to get sauces to complement the onion rings.  There are Heinz-branded dispensers in the restaurant – ranch dressing, yellow mustard and tomato ketchup.  You’ll love the dispensers!  We were actually all wishing we could bring them home!  Check it out when you visit The Cheese Steak Shop.

Drinks

• Soda (Regular Php 40, Large Php 55)

The best drink to pair with cheese steak sandwiches is beer.  However, I don’t drink alcohol so root beer was the next best choice 🙂

Premium Cheese Steaks

The Cheese Steak Shop makes original Philadelphia style cheese steak sandwiches, combining prime cut beef, grilled onions and cheese packed on 7″, 10″ and 15″ rolls and topped with hot and sweet peppers.  I was blown away with the generous serving of the ingredients.  Looking at the sandwiches made me wanna just grab the sandwiches and have a bite.

The restaurant only uses Amoroso’s bread rolls which are imported all the way from a bakery in Philadelphia.
Wow!  They are really dead serious in bringing us the complete authentic Philly cheesesteak experience.

We tried several variants of the cheese steak sandwiches.  Be warned as you’ll surely get hungry as you read on 😛

• Pepperoni (7″-Php 320, 10″-Php 520, 15″-Php 850)

Cheese steak with Pepperoni and pizza sauce.  If you love pizza, I bet you will love this variant.

• Hoagie  (7″-Php 515, 10″-Php 485, 15″-Php 750)

Cheese steak with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and mayonnaise.

• Western (7″-Php 320, 10″-Php 520, 15″-Php 850)

cheese steak with bacon, barbecue sauce and onion rings.  I would say this has got to be the tastiest among the variants.  I guess it must be the combination of bacon and onions.

• Bacon (7″-Php 320, 10″-Php 520, 15″-Php 850)

If bacon is your thing, then you should order the bacon variant.  We shall say that this has got to be your favorite comfort cheese steak sandwich.

• Spinach (7″-Php 320, 10″-Php 520, 15″-Php 850)

I thought Western was the best among the ones we tried.  However, Spinach cheese steak sandwich was served to us just a few minutes before the event ended.  I immediately became a convert.  In my opinion, the most delicious we tried out that night is the spinach which has spinach and mushrooms.  It was super tasty and yummy!  Puuuurfffect! 😀

The Cheese Steak Shop’s marketing strategy is to increase customer awareness through quality sandwiches, delicious ingredients and good customer service.  The restaurant believes that the best form of advertising is by “word of mouth” from satisfied customers.  I guess that should already include me as I liked the sandwiches that we tried out.  The price is a bit steep for me though so I don’t think I’ll be back as often as I could.

The Cheese Steak shop caters to the upper B and A market and provides lunch and dinner to customers for dine-in, take-out and delivery.

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The Cheese Steak Shop
G/F The E-Hotel Makati, 906 A. Arnaiz Ave., San Lorenzo Village, Makati City, Philippines
(02) 555-0235

It’s always nice to visit a restaurant especially if there are renowned guest chefs around.  In relation to this, Jasmine Restaurant located at the 2/F of New World Hotel brings us Cantonese cuisine from guest chefs Wong Kam Chung and Chef Ng Wing Fu.  The two chefs came all the way from Shanghai to present us their signature dishes.  This limited offering from September 19 to October 1, 2011 is called Shanghai Surprise.

Chef Wong Kam Chung (center in photo) has 23 years of experience in the Chinese kitchen and specializes in Cantonese cuisine.  He’s currently the executive chef at YUE 1525 restaurant in New World Shanghai Hotel.  Chef Wong has been creating Cantonese cuisine across Europe and Asia.  Wow, that’s like more than two decades!

Chef Ng Wing Fu (right in photo), on the other hand, is a dim sum chef!  Also from Shanghai, he specializes in dim sum such as steamed vegetable dumplings with lobster and mango roll with wagyu beef.  I’ll share more of those delectable dim sum later on in this post.

While most of the people dining between September 19 and October 1, 2011 will be sampling dishes from the two guest chefs, you can of course still order your favorite dishes from Jasmine Restaurant’s Head Chef Choi Wingki (left in photo).

I was excited to be surprised with delicious Cantonese food at my first visit at the Jasmine Restaurant in the New World Hotel.  The name Shanghai Surprise just made me feel like I’m going to a different country.  I might not be traveling to Shanghai anytime soon but at least, I get to feel what it’s like to be there by tasting actual food that are being served there.

As I entered the place, I wasn’t surprised as to how cozy and nice Jasmine restaurant is.  What do we expect?  It’s in New World Hotel! 🙂  The restaurant specializes in Cantonese cuisine.  I’m glad they brought us two chefs from YUE 1525 restaurant so we can sample their cantonese dishes too.  According to the marketing executive we talked to, they might be including some dishes in Shanghai Surprise permanently in Jasmine Restaurant’s menu.  Well, I really hope so as I liked the dim sum created by Chef Ng Wing Fu very very much!

I was very early in the venue.  My foodie companions were still on their way to Jasmine Restaurant so I took a tour of the restaurant.  They actually have several private rooms available!

If you have meetings or small party with friends, you can actually just reserve a private room at New World Hotel’s Jasmine Restaurant.  If I remember correctly, they have a group menu for 8 pax at around Php 8,000+.

I might be talking too much so I’ll go straight to what this blog post is all about — Shanghai Surprise at New World Hotel’s Jasmine Restaurant.

We were first served complimentary nuts.  The snack was very unique.  The peanuts were boiled in tea (yes, tea!).  It was yummy!  I think I was able to finish one small cup by myself (shhh!) 😛

I have to tell you that the pictures of the food in this post might not be the actual serving in the restaurant.  As I was invited for a press dinner, the chefs prepared food that was enough for the number of attendees.

Appetizers

• Radish and Carrot in Sour Sauce (Php 300)

I love carrots and I love radish!  I wonder what kind of sauce was put here but the flavor worked really well in the dish.

• Lotus Roots stuffed with Glutinous Rice (Php 480)

The Lotus Roots was sweet!  I actually welcome this appetizer dish considering sweet food are being served often as dessert.

• Wine by Manny O.

You can pair your food with Manny O. wines.  I’m not fond of wines but my dinner companions had tasting serving of this.  There are three volumes available: tasting 50ml at Php 150, glass 150ml at Php 350 and bottle 750ml at Php 1,550.

Dimsum

• Steamed Shanghainese Pork Dumpling, Goose Liver (Php 250/piece)

I loved the presentation of the Shanghainese pork dumpling!  Dimsum is usually served in a big container with 8 pieces of dumplings.  However, Jasmine Restaurant served this individually and it looked so good!  The yummy flavorful soup inside the dumpling that we usually see in authentic Shanghai dumplings was there too!

• Steamed Scallops, Bean Curd (Php 420)

I loved every bit of the Steamed scallops and bean curd dim sum.  How I wish I can eat more.  I was hoping I could get one more serving of this but I had to try out the other dishes too.  It’s a mystery to me how the chef was able to incorporate all the ingredients into the roll.  I loved the sauce too!

• Wagyu Beef with Mango Roll (Php 320)

I enjoyed every dim sum served to us but the wagyu beef with mango roll has got to be the best one!  Who would ever thought that a popular western dish like wagyu can pass up as a chinese dim sum?  It surely did!  Yummyyyyyyyyy!

• Steamed Lobster and Vegetable Dumplings (Php 320)

When the steamed lobster and vegetable dumplings was served in our table, I asked what it was.  The waiter said the whole name of the dish but there was one word that really stood out and it’s lobster!  For me, as long as there’s lobster in the dish, it’s gonna be a definite winner!  I wasn’t disappointed.  It was indeed a delicious dumpling!

Main Dishes

• Shanghainese Chicken Curry in Clay Pot (Php 600)

This has got to be Chef Wong’s famous signature dish.  I realized that after taking so much pictures of the food, I actually forgot to taste the Shanghainese Chicken Curry.  Now, I just wanna blame myself for not having eaten Chef Wong’s must-try dish.  Yaiks!

• Steamed Sea Garoupa, Soya Bean in Lotus Leaf (Php 220 per 100 grams)

Looking at the finished dish, you can already see the awesome technique the chef has in cooking.  The presentation was awesome too.

• Wok-fried Fillet of Beef, Wasabi Sauce (Php 780)

I love wok-fried beef.  Unfortunately, I find the dish too salty for my taste.  My companions were telling me that it should be eaten with rice.  I passed up on rice as I was trying to diet.  I guess, I should have listened to them coz I saw how they appreciated the dish.

• Steamed Mantis with Egg White (Php 1,180)

That was mantis swimming in egg white.  I was hesitant at first to get egg whites but the combination actually worked!  It tasted much like lobsters.  Super good! 🙂

• Pan-fried Razor Clams (Php 780)

Another salty dish in my book.  My seat mates totally disagreed with me as they were eating this nonstop.  The Pan-fried Razor Clams was actually the main dish that the group quickly finished.  Just a piece of advice, eat this with rice (you’ll appreciate this way better).

• Assorted Seafood, Rice and Soup (Php 1,380)

I noticed that the rice in this assorted seafood, rice and soup was crispy rice!  The rice wasn’t cooked together with the soup.  The waiters were putting the rice in the soup upon serving.  It wasn’t congee at all but among all the main dishes, this was my favorite.  All the ingredients have the right volume, nothing is overpowering the other.  The different flavors of seafood together with the vegetables and rice worked too!

Dessert

• Coconut Pudding, Osmanthus and Bird’s Nest (Php 680)

Bird’s nest, definitely an expensive food ingredient.  I was carefully tasting each slice of this coconut pudding.  I appreciate that it wasn’t too sweet and you can definitely taste the richness of the coconut in the dessert.

• Oolong Tea Creme Brûlée (Php 400)

It’s a first time that I have heard of a creme brûlée flavored with tea!  And it actually worked!  It’s funny as I’ve always thought that only vanilla flavoring can make this successful.  Apparently, oolong tea blends very well with the flavors of the caramel!  The end product didn’t taste too sweet.  Here’s what we can truly consider as a Chinese type of creme brûlée!

I feel lucky enough to be invited to taste the wonderful creations of renowned Chef Wong and Chef Ng.  If you like what you saw in this post, then you better head to New World Hotel Makati and dine at Jasmine Restaurant.  The Shanghai Surprise only runs till October 1, 2011.  Don’t miss the opportunity to try out Cantonese dishes from Shanghai! 🙂

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Shanghai Surprise
Jasmine Restaurant, 2/F New World Hotel, Esperanza Street corner Makati Avenue, Makati City 1228, Philippines
(02) 811-6888