Category: Food

Kalye Juan
CKB Center, Tomas Morato corner Scout Rallos, Quezon City, Philippines

Just near Timog circle lies Kalye Juan, a Filipino restaurant that is open until wee hours.   I just got off a weekly late-night conference call and I haven’t eaten dinner.  So as not to rush closing time, this place was perfect for dinner.

With the tagline “Pagkaing Pinoy.. Mga Paborito ni Juan Dela Cruz”, you already know that everything is sooo pinoy.  I was just too hungry that I wanted to order almost everything I saw on the menu ahhaha!  But I know I can’t, so we just ordered 2 dishes, 1 fried rice and drinks!  Ended up sooooooo full but satisfied!

We ordered the ff.:

• Sisig sa Kalye (Php 150)

Typical Filipino dish: chopped grilled pork with fresh onions, chicken liver & fresh chili pepper.  Nothing special IMHO.  We requested it to be toasted more.  I do think that it’s not something we will remember Kalye Juan for.

• Adobong Kangkong (Php 110)

This one was just cooked perfectly!  It was very tasty.  I especially liked that they chopped the kangkong stems into smaller ones w/c made it easier to eat.  The shrimps were the perfect topping for the dish w/ garlic.

• Bagoong Rice (Php 110)

I don’t know if I was too hungry or what but I think I like Kalye Juan’s version of bagoong rice over Thailand restaurants’ version of it.  Every piece of rice bit tasted like bagoong & w/ onion leeks combined, it was just heaven!  I loved eating this w/ adobong kangkong.

• Guinilu sa Kalye (Php 50)

I was like saying this phrase over and over during dinner “this drink is just delicious… ang sarap!”.    Indeed it was.  This is Kalye Juan’s Guinilu.  It is a must order!!  It’s crushed ice w/ condensed milk, jelly & sago.  Wow!  It was just yummy!  One comment for the owners, please change the straw to a bigger one 😉

Two straight days of pigging out! hahaha!  I’m really so full!  I can’t even breathe well because I feel that food is already upto my throat :P:P  It’s beginning to be a habit.  I have to stop this!!

Pig-out pictures here.

Arya Persian Restaurant
Unit L-9 Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan City, Manila
(02) 994-4879

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After reading Fran’s blog post about Arya, I wasn’t able to resist and ended up craving for Arya Persian Restaurant.  I’ve been contemplating about it the whole afternoon.  I asked my friend if we could just eat at Arya instead of our previously agreed upon restaurant to visit.

It was not my 1st time to eat at Arya’s.  I loved their beef koobideh a lot.  That was what I  intended to order! 😛

Here are what we ordered:

• Arya Yogurt Smoothie (Php 95)

I’m not really fond of yogurt so obviously this was not my order 😛  My friend said the drink had some after taste.  Anyway, I took a sip and I felt it was a bit sweet & sour.  I think yogurt lovers will like this.  Guess I don’t have the right to judge this drink as I’m not a yogurt lover.

• Tamarind Smoothie (Php 95)

I love love love tamarind especially the individually-wrapped thailand tamarind!  This however was a drink.  Wow!  It had quite a strong taste!  I must say this is a good one though I don’t think I would drink any more of it.  One glass was enough for a day.

• Basket of Bread (Php 70)

A mix of Barbary & Pita bread.

• Shahi Hummus (Php 235)

This was a combination of Shish (Beef) & dip!  You can choose from 2 dips: Hummus or Motabal.  Hummus is Chick peas while Motabal is eggplant dip.  The one shown above was a Hummus.  Best to order bread to go with it.

• Beef Koobideh (Php 355 + Php 20)

Last but not the least, my favoriteee (wait for it…..) Beef Koobideh!!!! :D:D:D
Skewers of ground beef seasoned w/ spices & onion served with either basmati rice, jasmine rice or persian bread.  If you choose rice, you’ll need to pay extra Php20.
The taste was just superb!  This is such a comfort food!  No words could ever explain how delicious it was! hayyy! yummy!

Before I forget, the sauce that would be best for this dish is smashed tomato seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic sauce & hot sauce.  I asked the server to help me prepare it.  Here is a video of it:

Their prices aren’t cheap.  A person will have to spend around 400-500 per meal.  But believe me, it would be worth it!  The food is just delicious!!!  I was able to forget all the stress because of the good food 🙂

Service was superb as well.  The owner was there to entertain the customers as well.  He just briefly said hi to us coz he was talking to the foreigner guests so I wasn’t able to ask him anything.  I didn’t mind.  I was too busy eating my yummy order anyway 😛

More yummy pics here.

Honestly, as I type this post, I still feel bloated! hahhaha that’s how full I am! 😀

重順川菜餐廳
台北市羅斯福路三段三一六巷八弄三之二號
886 (02) 3684549

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My mom wanted to show me the cheap movie house in Taipei.  Before we went for a visit, we satisfied our stomach first :P:P  Mom said that there was a restaurant nearby w/c served super delicious food.  So we went there.

The first thing I noticed was that the people there were ssooooo accommodating.  The owners were taking care of his customers himself.  He kept asking us how the food was, if we want anything else, etc. etc.  Service was just superb!

We ordered the ff.:

• Vegetable (80NT)

I just love vegetable.  I especially love the ones that are cooked in garlic with not much sauce.  This dish we ordered was just perfect!

• Mapo Tofu (100NT)

Tofu is my ultimate favorite food (see last post)!  I’d still enjoy it whatever way it was cooked.  This restaurant’s mapo tofu is yummy!  The chili sauce, servings of tofu, pepper and other spices were done evenly.

• Steamed Fish (180NT)

I don’t know what they put on top but it was just soooo good!  The fish still had bones so I had to spend some time removing them before I could truly enjoy the dish.  It was fresh and I really loved the crunchy thingy on top 😛

• Rice (10NT)

10NT per person 🙂

• Soup (Free)

Free soup for all guests plus complimentary tea as well.

From all the restaurants I’ve tried during my Taipei trip, this is definitely the most delicious & most affordable.  I tried those very expensive restaurants but it doesn’t compare to this.  Super duper yummy to the max and super cheap if I may say.

Look at how happy I was at that time 😛

The rest of the pictures here.