Category: Lifestyle

I’ve always wanted to try out Pino Resto Bar in Malingap street.  I remember when I first attempted to go there with friends a couple of months ago, we weren’t successful at getting a table.  I said to myself then that I would go back and ensure that we get to eat at Pino next time.

Good thing my church mate was very organized because he was able to reserve a table for the 8 of us last saturday.  Finally, I was able to sample the much-praised menu dishes in Pino Resto Bar.  The restaurant is owned by Chef Ed Bugia, Star Jose and PJ Lanot.  As I researched, Pino meant Filipino (Pili’PINO’) food and Pino (filipino term for ‘fine’ which means good).  In short, the restaurant promises to serve good Filipino food.  Well, I must say that I liked the food.  I appreciate the creativity of the chef on creating the dishes that they serve.  Imagine kare kare that has bagnet in it or tacos that has sisig in it – those are definitely something new and we, Pinoy foodies, would appreciate.

This is especially obvious as the place is always jam-packed with customers.

There’s an artistic vibe in Pino Resto Bar.  Art work, photographs and cute handwritten notes were hanging/plastered on the walls of the restaurant.

There were eight of us so we ordered almost every bestseller in Pino’s menu.  I was glad we did because I wouldn’t have blogged about Pino Resto Bar here if we ordered only 2-3 dishes.  So this can be of help to you if you want to have an idea how the dishes looked like in Pino.  I must say that the food did look delish but they also tasted just as good too!

• Pino Iced Tea (Php 80)

While we waited for our orders to arrive, we ordered a pitcher of Pino Resto Bar’s homemade iced tea.  One pitcher (Php 80) can fill 5 glasses (see photo above).  The iced tea is also available single-serve.  I liked Pino’s version of the tea, it reminded me of ‘Sunquick’ – not too sweet but super tasty!

• Buffalo Chicken Skin (Php 145)

My cholesterol level is very high but that didn’t stop me from ordering Pino’s new dish: Buffalo chicken skin.  As they say, the yummiest food are the deadliest of them all.  It is crispy chicken skin coated with special buffalo style sauce, served with bleu cheese dressing & celery sticks.  Delicious!  Order at your own risk!

• Mini Sisig Tacos (Php 215)

I love tacos but I’m used to eating those ones with beef.  However, I was curious as to how a sisig taco might taste like.  I actually loved it!  Pino was very generous in putting the ingredients in – pork sisig, lettuce, tomato salsa and the beautifully craved cheese on top.  The dish needed to be taken by the hand.  Forget about poise and image when you eat this 🙂

• Nori Cheese Sticks (Php 165)

Buttermilk cheese rolled in nori and wonton wrappers, served with pesto and strawberry sauce.

It is a unique way of recreating cheese sticks Filipino style.  The sauce was heavenly!

• Tempura Oysters & Pearls (Php 185)

Oysters fried with wasabi tempura batter, topped with lumpfish caviar, wasabi mayo and tempura sauce.

Two words: unique & appetizing!  When you’re at Pino Resto Bar, make sure you order this dish as one of your starters.

• Plain Rice (Php 20)/Bagoong Rice (Php 30)

The rice selection wasn’t in Pino’s menu.  The waiter enumerated all the rice dishes for us to choose.  We ordered plain rice.  We thought plain rice was best because we could taste the flavors of the different dishes that we ordered.  I, on the other hand, wanted to try out as much food as possible so I opted for the bagoong rice.

• Longganisa Rice (Php 35)

Most of my church mates ordered longganisa rice.  I tried it but I didn’t like it.  You can hardly taste the longganisa at all even if you can see bits of it in the rice.  Best to stick with either plain or bagoong rice if I may advise.

• Kalderetang Lengua (Php 415)

Lengua or beef tongue is a food item that is really high in fat but most people still prefer to order often.  Pino’s version is stewed, another way of cooking lengua (in contrast with the usual mushroom sauce).

• Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts (Php 365)

I’m not fond of chicken breasts.  If I may say, I prefer to eat just the chicken skin.  Even if this Bacon and Cheese-stuffed chicken breasts dish did look good, I didn’t bother getting a second serving.  If only I could taste the bacon better then I would have loved this.   Maybe the flavors of the bacon was overshadowed by the chicken and cheese.

• Red Wine Adobong Tadyang (Php 415)

This was basically beef short ribs cooked adobo style.  Another twist to the usual beef stew, reminded me of the famous Korean beef stew.  You should eat this as soon as it’s served as the ‘sebo’ or fat easily comes out once the dish gets cold.

• Kare-Kareng Bagnet (Php 565)

Last, but definitely not the least, is Pino Resto Bar’s specialty: Kare-kareng Bagnet.  It was pork belly from Ilocos served with peanut sauce.  I think bagnet chunks were cooked separately and then the peanut sauce was poured into it.  At first, I was looking for bagoong but apparently since the bagnet is already salty, there is no need for it.   Well, I had bagoong rice so it was a perfect combination at least for my palette.  A great dish and a successful one, I loved it!

Apart from the yummy Pinoy food served at Pino, the service is something to commend for as well.  Their servers were always ready to get our orders or any requests (like changing the temperature of the aircon as it was cold in the area that we were in) for that matter.

One thing that stuck in my mind was the beautiful wall art at the restaurant.  It was made by Wee Will Doodle and it did have several images inside it like people, music, art, street signs, the Pino name and so much more.  It definitely contributed to the artsy vibe of Pino Resto Bar.

We love taking photos and of course, we had to take it with the beautiful doodle art.

Pino Resto Bar is the second restaurant I tried out in the Teacher’s village.  I have yet to try out the other places there.  I’m eyeing on the Burger Project next which is owned by the same people behind Pino Resto Bar.  Since I liked Pino, I’m sure I’ll like it there as well. Let’s see.

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Pino Bar & Restaurant
#39 Malingap Street, Teachers Village, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63-2-441-1773

Meralco organized an intimate get-together a few weeks ago to share with us a bright idea: Switch to Induction Cooking.  The event was named as ‘Extra Jolt: An Energizing Evening with Meralco‘ and it was held at a secret location in Makati.

I loved how exciting the dinner was!  Apart from the educational side where I learned the advantages of Induction cooking, I appreciate the mysteriousness and the fun concept of the event.  I have been curious about Pinoy Eats World, and I’m just so glad that I was part of Meralco’s guest list.  I love how Pinoy Eats World conceptualized their guerrilla dinners.

Extra Jolt was hosted by Pinoy Eats World founder chef JJ Yulo and Ms. Universe 2012 3rd runner-up Shamcey Supsup.  Chef JJ Yulo introduced each dish to us as it was laid out in the table while beautiful Shamcey hosted the games wherein some of us could win an induction cooker.

The menu itself was so interesting that I took a few minutes reading and analyzing it, even imagining the food in my head. Imagine a menu with names like Meral Cow (a funny way to connect it to Meralco), Sea Nergy (energy?) and Meralco-Liflower soup!

The food was as good as how it was named.  Kudos to Chef Namee Jorolan of Pinoy Eats World who cooked most of dishes during that night.  I couldn’t forget about the sugared bacon and the fried chicken wings.  They were too delicious to even forget.  I wish to experience the food prepared by Pinoy Eats World again.

• Meralco Liflower Soup

Cauliflower soup with pine nuts and chives plus crispy bread w/ blue cheese topping.  A very simple presentation but the taste was definitely divine!

• Mysterio

I never imagined a caesar salad that has bagoong in it.  When we were asked to guess what the mysterious ingredient was, I couldn’t get it right!  The prize, an induction cooker, was awarded to Annalyn who correctly guessed the exact ingredient – bagoong balayan.

And yes, bagoong worked very well with our classic caesar salad.  I wished I had more of it!

• Tunay na Tunay

When this was served, I was a bit sad as I really don’t eat raw food.  I usually skip sashimi when I dine at Japanese restaurants.  In this case, I was set to skip the dish as well even if it looked delish.  However, my seatmates were enjoying the food too much that I ended up getting myself a piece of the seared tuna.  I put tons of ginger creams on it though just to escape the taste of the rawness of the tuna.  I loved the dish honestly but I knew it was raw so I didn’t get a second serving.

• Meral Cow

Meral Kow (cute name!) was composed of kitayama beef, wing beans and mashed potatoes.

The beef was seared that the middle was obviously raw.  It was cooked though in a way that the outside of the beef was cooked really quickly at high temperature.  I sighed when I saw the dish, it was once again raw and I don’t eat raw food.  I ended up eating the wing beans and mashed potatoes which were so yummy!  I wish I’ll be braver in the future to try out raw food.  Let’s see.

• Electric Cute

My favorite of the night was electric cute – chicken wings with cilantro.  Just by the looks of it, it was pretty telling that the food was delicious and must be eaten ASAP!  It was mouth-watering and I couldn’t wait for all of us to finish taking pictures of it!  It looked so good that I felt it was a disgrace not to take a piece of it quickly.

The chicken wings were flavorful as expected.  I must say though, I couldn’t taste the dip provided.  I even took a spoonful of the sauce just to find out what it was.  I’m very picky with chicken and this has got to be one of my favorites!  I wish Pinoy Eats World would sell their chicken wings w/ cilantro as I will definitely buy one!  I don’t mind eating the whole dish by myself!

• Sea Nergy

We had prawns served with basil and lots of garlic!  I appreciate that Pinoy Eats World not just cook and prepare food nicely but they also choose the best ingredients for their dishes.  This particular prawn dish had the freshest ingredient and we can really tell when we eat them.

• Sweetness

Last, but definitely not the least, was Pinoy Eats World special dessert: Chocolate Bananas.  While the bananas were the main attraction in the dish, I was eyeing the sugared bacon.  I actually asked my seat mates if any of them don’t eat bacon as I would happily eat their share 😛

I had a fun time with Meralco and Pinoy Eats World.  It was also nice to see mommy Jane at the event.

Pinoy Eats World do organize food tours, theme dinners and guerrilla dinners.  I was so lucky to have experienced one!  Their food was unique and delicious plus their staff were so accommodating and friendly.

Thanks to Meralco for giving us the opportunity to eat good food and to learn about Induction cooking & thanks to Pinoy Eats World for the beautiful exciting dinner that you have prepared!

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Pinoy Eats World
Food tours.. Guerilla Dinners.. Theme Dinners.. {f.}+Art Dinners
+639178044433
info@pinoyeatsworld.com

It all started with a tweet, “Any suggestions for a restaurant to try out in Tomas Morato, QC area?”.  A tweep suggested that we try out H Cuisine which is just near Tomas Morato circle and is around the corner of the first street.  She added that we should order their famous beef belly.

I followed her advice and texted my girl friends that we’d be having lunch at H Cuisine.  They all agreed and coincidentally, all of us never tried the restaurant.  We were all excited to try H Cuisine out!  I mean, why would they name their Angus Beef Belly with ‘Most Awesome’?  That’s totally a very strong statement and I’m not sure anyone would like to add the ‘Most Awesome’ words to their menu or even as their restaurant tagline if it wasn’t any good.

My first impression when I arrived at the restaurant was the challenge of finding a parking space.  Good thing we ate on a weekend.  The warehouse in front of the restaurant was closed so we were allowed to park in the driveway.

H Cuisine is a small restaurant.  I was actually expecting a fine dining type of place but apparently, H Cuisine is just a simple cozy restaurant with two floors.  The second floor is mostly for big groups and private functions/parties.  We stayed on the first floor.  There was a family who reserved the second floor so I didn’t bother going up to take pictures.

By looking at the articles, photos and chalkboard hanging on the walls of the restaurant, it was pretty obvious that H Cuisine’s Most Awesome Beef Belly is their pride and glory.

The chalkboard got my attention.  Apparently, H Cuisine also sells their Angus Beef Belly frozen for customers to bring home and prepare.  One kilogram pack can serve 6-8 people and cost about Php 1,300.  The Angus beef belly was pre-sliced already and include the demiglace gravy (500mL) and reheating instructions.  I guess with so much fat in that meat, there’ll be no need for oil to cook/heat it.

Chef Hannah Herrera-Bagatsing was the person behind H Cuisine.  I heard that H cuisine is a well-known caterer that became so successful that they ended up opening a restaurant.

Stef and I ordered food already and didn’t wait for everyone to arrive.  Good thing that when our orders came, our other friends arrived so it was good timing for us 😛

• H Cuisine Beverages

I always try to drink fresh juices as much as possible.  I do want to lose weight but I can’t change drastically so I do baby steps starting with healthy drinks!  I ordered H Cuisine’s fresh dalandan juice (Php 88) while my other friends ordered big raspberry iced tea (Php 78).  I love that they served it in big glasses.

• Loaded Taco Salad (Php 188)

When the taco salad was served to us, my immediate reaction was, “wow!”.  Wow in the sense that it was truly loaded!  There were lettuce, nachos, salsa, beef, grated cheese and aioli in it.  It tasted delicious and I really liked it.  I think we were satisfied with H Cuisine’s loaded taco salad considering that we finished it immediately after it was served.  I think it won’t taste as good if we left it for over 30minutes in the table – the sauce could have soaked the tacos completely and without the crunchiness, the salad won’t be that delectable.

• Pumpkin Soup (Php 108)

My friend ordered the soup of the day which was pumpkin soup.  It was served hot with garlic bread.  It seemed that this is one of the bestsellers in H Cuisine as it was homemade (fresh ingredients & no artificial flavors perhaps).

• Tofu Steak with Sweet Shitake Sauce (Php 168)

I ordered tofu just for the sake of it.  I love tofu and whenever I see that item in any restaurant’s menu, I will always order.  H Cuisine’s was cooked Japanese style- soft tofu and katsuoboshi on top served with sweet mushroom sauce.   I felt it was nothing special though.

• Oven Braised Herbed Chicken (Php 188)

I was too anxious on the angus beef belly that I failed to taste our order of oven braised chicken!  When I finally remembered it, the plate was already empty, hahaha!  The order came with a cup of H. Rice (Php 48), which can be ordered separately too.  The meat was poured with roasted garlic sauce.  It definitely looked yummy!  I’ll see if I get to try it the next time I go to H Cuisine.

• Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly (Php 428)

The server put a tea light candle on the table which basically meant that our order of most awesome angus beef belly was coming!  I was too excited, wondering how it might taste like.  The candle was meant to keep the Angus beef belly warm which I totally understand because beef belly are full of fats.  When it gets cold, it won’t be a good sight to see & to eat (i.e., greasy)!

Beef Belly on the table and my eyes just went big!  H Cuisine’s beef belly was definitely mouth-watering!  I immediately took one piece and ate it.  The meat was soft, tender and super flavorful.  I didn’t bother eating the side dishes (string beans, corn and carrots).  The Angus beef belly was more than enough for me to enjoy and finish.  The gravy was a perfect match and I asked for additional sauce!  Boy, we even ordered the same dish again as it wasn’t enough for the 5 of us.  Actually, I think our friend Janella wasn’t able to try it as we finished both orders before she arrived.

After having tried H Cuisine’s most awesome angus beef belly, I now believe that the dish does indeed deserve that title.  I, however, think that it won’t taste as good if we didn’t eat it with the gravy.  It was a perfect combination.

The secret they say was how chef Hannah cooked the dish.  She marinated the beef belly and slow-roasted it for 12 hours!  Wow!  Those long hours must be worth it as we customers, are completely satisfied with the food.  The dish can be ordered single with rice (Php 288) or sharing for 2-3pax without rice (Php 428).

• Decadent Chocolate Cake (Php 88)

I’m not a fan of chocolates so I won’t say anything to describe it.  You be the judge.  Look at the photo! 🙂

We all had a good first impression of H Cuisine.  For me, it was really all about their Angus Beef Belly.  I now understand what the letter ‘H’ in ‘H Cuisine’ is… H = Home of the Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly.

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H Cuisine
64 Scout Rallos St. Near Tomas Morato Quezon City, Quezon City, Philippines
+63-2-4130347

My mom loves to dine at Cafe Monaco.  I remember when she was still here in the Philippines, she would go there every single week just to have her share of Kimchichige, pita pockets or daing na bangus.  Since she was so addicted to the food, I was influenced and ended up loving Cafe Monaco too!

It wasn’t too long till I became friends with the owner of the restaurant.  She’s Sofia, a Korean who moved here in Manila and she’s definitely a charmer.  In fact, I see her mingling with her customers every single time.  It felt like all her customers are already her friends.  I guess that’s one of the secrets why Cafe Monaco is very successful in Banawe avenue.  Topnotch customer service plus the warmness and the hospitality of the owner herself!  Of course, the food was delicious too!  (more on that later).

I wasn’t surprised when Cafe Monaco opened its second branch at Ortigas Avenue in San Juan.  The Banawe branch is nearer to my house, but I wanted to check out the Ortigas branch anyway, at least to support the owner.

The Ortigas branch is definitely bigger than the Banawe branch (approximately twice as much space!).  Business is doing good as I saw several people dining at the restaurant when we visited.  However, I think a lot of people still don’t know about the new branch so here I am, sharing the good news!  If you live in San Juan area, you don’t have to drive to Banawe avenue anymore when you’re craving for Cafe Monaco’s specialties 🙂

I noticed something on the wall when we were dining at Cafe Monaco in Ortigas.  I didn’t see it in their other branch but I was curious what it was so I asked Sofia.  She told me that it’s a verse in the Bible..  Psalm 23:1 which says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

I really feel happy whenever I see establishments showing signs that God is in their lives.  Coincidentally, I was with my friends from the church then 😛

While we waited for our orders to arrive, we were given Kimchi and radish as appetizer.  Kimchi, a favorite Korean food, is a vegetable made with napa cabbage fermented in ginger, garlic, scallions and chili pepper.  I’m not really fond of Kimchi but I loved the radish!

We were eight in our group.  We had been planning to dine at Cafe Monaco.  I really wanted to blog about it so we tried to order differently.  Every single item we ordered tasted so good, just as expected!  There’s really no difference on the menu between the two branches of Cafe Monaco.  It’s just the location so take your pick.

• Mushroom Soup (Php 170)

My church friends were raving about the mushroom soup since we’re on the rightmost side of our long table, I decided to share it with them.  I must agree that it was flavorful yet a bit spicy.  The good thing was this.  The spiciness was just right (at least for me).  I have in mind that when rainy days come, I would drop by Cafe Monaco to order the mushroom soup.

• Kimchichige (Php 170)

Kimchichigue is my mom’s favorite!  This is always part of her order whenever she would visit Cafe Monaco.  I can’t eat it though as it’s just too spicy for my taste.  I remember when I tried it out before, I was sweating like crazy! hahaha!  I guess that was the point 😛

• Bibimpop (Php 140)

Bibimpop is another Cafe Monaco bestseller!  Everyone just loved to order this!  Well, why not?  The price is only Php140 for a huge serving of this beautiful Korean signature dish.  In order to enjoy Bibimpop, you have to mix the ingredients altogether.  If you’re afraid of spicy food, then you have to request in advance for the chili paste to be served separately.

• Daing na Bangus (Php 210)

The first time I tried the bangus in Cafe Monaco, I was shocked as to how big the fish was!  You cannot eat this by yourself!  I think the fish was from Dagupan (I’m not sure).  This was sooooo good!  If I’m hungry, I would definitely order this alone without rice.  I dip the fish in vinegar but Cafe Monaco also serves mayonnaise with it.

• Curry Beef Rice (Php 150)

• Gyu Nikuyakidon (Php 150)

Bibimpop is Cafe Monaco’s bestseller.  For me though, when it comes to rice toppings, my fave has got to be Gyu Nikuyakidon.  It’s basically beef with egg and rice.  I love the sweet flavor of the beef, so tasty!

• Fruit Shakes (Php 65)

I never fail to order fruit shakes in Cafe Monaco because I saw how they prepared it.  They were generous with the servings and I don’t feel like drinking water with their fruit shakes.  You have to be a bit patient though if you’re in a big group or if there are a lot of people ordering shakes.  They only have one blending machine but not to worry, it’ll worth the wait 🙂

• Halo Halo (Php 150)

The most unique Halo Halo has got to be the one by Cafe Monaco.  Theirs is a combination of different fruits with red bean, chocolate powder and ice cream.  If I have to choose between the numerous types of Halo Halo available here in Metro Manila, my choice would be Cafe Monaco’s version.  Delicious, refreshing and uber fresh!

Cafe Monaco for me, is like a hidden gem in the Metro.  Not a lot of people know about it but once they discover the restaurant, they would definitely go back often.

I’ve been a loyal customer of Cafe Monaco since year 2002.  I never blogged about it until now.  I have to stop keeping secrets and inform people about this restaurant that serves good food and a place I always frequent to.

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Cafe Monaco
368 Sekai Center, Ortigas Center, San Juan City, Philippines