Category: Restaurants

After I got invited to taste the Lenten offering of Yoshinoya, I couldn’t stop but feel uneasy.  I need to step foot inside a Yoshinoya Restaurant!  I was craving for beef bowl for the longest time.

It was heavenly when we entered the restaurant finally, I was excited to finally have my serving of Yoshinoya’s famous dish!

Yoshinoya must be my favorite Japanese fast food restaurant in Manila.  Come to think of it, are there any other?

I appreciate the beautiful interiors of Yoshinoya.  I find it adorable that fast food places here in the Philippines are investing their resources in making their restaurants look so much better.  They can actually compete already with normal restaurants.  Would you believe in the picture below that it was just a fastfood restaurant serving quick affordable Japanese food?

We were starving and I believe we ordered too much!  What the heck!  We still finished all our orders.  We had a complete meal with soup, appetizer, main dish, dessert and drink!

• Gyoza (Php 90)

As much as I enjoy gyoza, I felt that the price wasn’t fast food-ish.  Php90 for a 4-piece gyoza, too expensive 🙁

• Pork Tonkatsu Bento (Php 145)

You have a big appetite?  Then Yoshinoya’s bento is for you.  You can choose between tempura, mixed seafood, pork tonkatsu & Japanese fried chicken bentos.

My friend, however, has chosen Pork Tonkatsu.  Bento has rice, veggies & tofu included too!

• Beef Bowl (Php 99)

Beef Bowl was the sole reason why I kept going back to Yoshinoya.  Gee, I was so giddy when I was eating my order of beef bowl. hahaha!  I had to order for extra sauce (Php5) as it was the sauce that made the dish taste so magical.

• Beef Bowl Power Meal

Just in case you want a full meal then you can order the power meal.  It has red iced tea, beef bowl, miso soup and coffee jelly!  Yum yum!

I was able to satisfy my craving and it did affect my day.  So funny that if you get something you want, your day seems to be so complete right after.  So that was how my day went when I had my serving of Yoshinoya’s Beef bowl.  So happy… so jolly! 😀

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Yoshinoya
UG-F Unit 160a Building A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
(02) 632-1276

I’ve been hearing a lot about Banchetto.  So I was ecstatic when I knew that my friends and I would all be going that friday night.  I was ready to be awake all night long just to be able to experience what Banchetto Overnight Street Food Fiesta was like.

Even if we knew that Banchetto starts at 12 midnight, we still went as early as 10PM.  As expected, there weren’t any stalls yet.  Around 11PM, vendors were starting to setup one by one.  We walked around still just to get a feel of it.

I was so excited that I started taking pictures even if 90% of the stalls weren’t ready yet.  I was watching out for the barbeque/grilled dishes.  Look at the smile on my face below.

Just as I thought that we would be relaxed during the visit, I got the shock of my life when it turned midnight.  There were TOO MANY people!!!!  I can’t hardly move while walking around the stalls.  I felt that I was just being dragged along the crowd just to be able to proceed further.  They were that many.

Anywhere I look (left, right, front & back), there were people!  It was truly a street party of food AND people!

The front stairs of office buildings nearby Banchetto were jampacked too.  That was just 5-10% of the crowd of Banchetto.

Banchetto offers a wide selection of food items.  It was overwhelming actually.  I was watching over my weight so I was only able to sample a few but if I didn’t, I would have eaten so much.

See this mouthwatering barbeque?  They were Angus Beef skewers.  Who wouldn’t want one?  They were pretty affordable too!

My favorite would be the different barbeque dishes.  They have like so many of them but I decided to stick with Isaw & hotdogs.  Street food galore!!  You can be assured that the food are clean.  Prices are a bit higher than normal but still affordable and cheaper than in the malls.  The food are cooked fresh so you have to wait for a few minutes before it gets done.  I believe it’s all worth it.  Newly cooked food are the yummiest to eat 🙂

Banchetto also has stalls that sells rice dishes.  Very cheap at Php50-60!  If you are trying to have late dinner or heavy midnight snack, then this is for you!

This was one unique item, the mini tacos!  I said to myself that I’d go back to buy one set but due to the vast amount of food, I forgot!  I actually only remembered when I was reviewing the pics I took at Banchetto.  Oh well, there’s always next time.

There were pizza, pasta, lasagna too!  I wouldn’t wanna eat those as it can make your stomach full right away.  As it was my 1st visit in Banchetto, I wanted to eat light so I can eat MORE! 😀

You can buy cakes for take-out.  Just in case, you have family members who can’t get awake that late.  It would be such a nice surprise when they see you brought pasalubong for them.

I was really shocked when I saw lechon & sushi in one of the stalls hahaha!  The things businessmen can think of selling.  Since it’s in Banchetto, then it should be successful.  I have heard of stalls closing down because of poor sales.  Based on my observation during my visit, seems like they got the right formula already.

I’ll definitely be back as there were so much to try out!  I will make sure I try some more sinful dishes hehehe 😛

I know a lot of people have been going to Banchetto to eat Monster Burger.  Honestly, I wasn’t able to notice it while we were roaming around.  My friends told me that it’ll take at least an hour to get your own order.  I guess I have to make sure that when I go to Banchetto next time, I would order the monster burger first before anything else.  I took a picture of a man cooking burgers, not sure if this was the popular monster burger they were talking about though.

Another popular stall was the Hot Siz stall wherein 2 beautiful Korean ladies were selling barbeque dishes.  They were smiling all throughout and were striking poses when they saw cameras flashing at them.  They were soooo cute!  No wonder they never ran out of customers.

While everyone was going gaga on Korean stalls and monster burgers, my eyes were fixed on isaw.  Yes, isaw!  I was eating isaw all throughout and I just kept ordering and ordering till I can’t eat anymore.  They were pretty cheap at Php20-30 per piece.  There were large ones and small ones.  I prefer the bigger one but gee, just by blogging about it, I wanna drive to Banchetto and eat some more.  Unfortunately, it’s not friday today.

Banchetto is only open during friday midnight till saturday 11AM.  I’m so glad I finally visited the place.  Banchetto will definitely be one of my favorite places to go to during weekends.  I cannot wait to go back.  I cannot wait!

P.S.  Banchetto is currently closed but I’m positive it’ll be back soon.  If you’re like me and you wanna support Banchetto, then go over this link and show your love.

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Banchetto Overnight Street Food Fiesta
Along Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center, Metro Manila, Philippines
Friday Midnight till 11:00AM Saturday

Ever since our last high school reunion, I was able to catch up with one of my closest friends in high school, Michelle.  Since I was on vacation leave that time, we decided to meet up and bond over a good meal.  We went to the new Eastwood mall and had lunch at My Thai Kitchen.

I really like the ambiance of the place.  The interior was totally awesome!  I love how they made good use of space with those black drawers.  I also love the pink wallpapers plus the lighting of the restaurant.  I like the coziness of the place and the calming effect it had on us.

My Thai Kitchen serves Thailand food.  I guess with so many Thailand restaurants in the Metro, I wanted to find out what differentiates it from the rest.  Honestly, for me, all those restaurants are the same.  I guess, it’s just how they cooked the food, how the food tasted and how they designed their restaurant which makes them unique, popular & successful.

One thing is for sure.  When you’re in a Thai restaurant, expect food that are hot & spicy.  Thai cuisine is definitely known to use fresh herbs and spices plus the flavors of the dishes are a balance of spicy, sour, salty, sweet and bitter.

Here are the dishes that Michelle & I ordered:

• Tom Yam Goong (Php 225)

My Thai Kitchen’s Tom Yam Goong was one flavorful dish!  Very spicy too!  This popular Thai soup with shrimps in hot & sour soup was cooked with too much spices that every spoonful was delightfully tasty!  I was hoping that every time we get some serving, it will just refill itself hahaha!  Yeah I know, dreaming!

The chef really took to heart the # 1 rule in cooking Tom Yam Goong: never, never be bland.  They stayed true to what Tom Yam Goong should taste like: hot & sour.  Winner dish definitely!

• Pla Meuk Tort Gratiam Prik Thai (Php 280)

I’m not sure how they did it but this was one of the better stir-fried squid I have eaten.  It felt like a snack to me.  If I can borrow Pringles’ tagline “Once you pop, you can’t stop”, it can definitely be used in this dish.  We were eating this like there was no tomorrow.

• Gai Phat Bai Kraphrau (Php 235)

We weren’t planning to order this dish.  I was too curious though when I saw a picture of this dish in My Thai Kitchen’s menu.  I had to try it out.  It says it’s chicken with fried basil.  From the looks of it, it looked like ground chicken with chopped vegetable and fried basil.  I was ecstatic to try it out.  When the dish came, it tasted ordinary.  Not something we would order again but it was a unique dish.

• Khau Pad Siam (Php 85)

Thai fried rice.  I wish I can describe it better but it was just plain fried rice.

• Fresh Fruit Juice (Php 110)

Fruit shakes were also available.  My friend has chosen green mango that day.

• Cha Yen (Php 95)

There’s something about Thai Milk Tea that I really like.  I don’t know how they make the Thai tea but I’m sure that it was condensed milk that they added.  Always one of my favorite drinks 🙂

• Khao Neaw Mamuang (Php 110)

Usually people would order crepe or halo halo.  But there’s just something about sticky rice that I like and My Thai Kitchen’s own version didn’t disappoint!  They served mangoes on top and ice cream on the side.  It was the perfect dessert to end a wonderful Thai meal 🙂

Yesterday, I was actually asking Michelle her feedback about My Thai Kitchen.  I wanted to get more inputs before I write this review.  She did mention that she liked the food a lot and would love to eat there again.  I, however, cannot say that it’ll be one of my fave Thai restaurants but the experience was nice.

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My Thai Kitchen
G/F Eastwood Mall Veranda, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 709-2127

I live nearby Tomas Morato area, that’s why I always go there to dine out or hang out with friends.  While I was driving through the street, the big bright sign of Sentosa Singaporean Chinese Restaurant caught my attention.  I said to myself that next time, I would try it.

When the opportunity came, I finally tried it.  I had too much writing duties that I failed to share my experience with you.  So right after my 2nd visit which was last week, I decided to combine both experiences in this post.  The food in Sentosa was just too good for me not to write a review about it.

The interiors are nice too!  I love the chandeliers which reminded me of several restaurants.  They somehow hired the same interior designer hahaha!  Anyway, I loved the atmosphere there and the place was pretty well-maintained too.  Servers were very friendly as well.

I also found out that Sentosa Restaurant was brought here by the same group who owns Penang Hill, Flavors of China & Tempura.  I knew then why I enjoyed Sentosa’s food because Flavors of China was actually one of my favorite hangout place near our office.  It was just sad that they had to close it down.

Back to Sentosa Singaporean Chinese Restaurant, after we placed our orders, we were given sweet nuts to munch on while we wait.  I had to control myself a bit and not finish the whole bowl as sweet stuff isn’t really good for our teeth.  But what the heck, it tasted great especially with the sesame seeds in there too!

As I said earlier, I’m combining my 2 visits in Sentosa right here in this post.  The ff. dishes were our orders:

• Bandung Rose Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearl (Php 90)

Milk tea are so popular nowadays that tea places are quickly matching up the number of coffee shops in the Metro.  I’ve been a tea person but it was my first time to try out a rose milk tea.  Gee, it was good!  If you go to Sentosa, make sure you try this Rose Milk Tea.  It wasn’t too sweet but tasted just right.  You can definitely taste the rose flavor in the drink.

• Chrysanthemum Iced Tea (Php 85)

Finally, a restaurant that serves bottomless Chrysanthemum drink!  A few of you may know that my ultimate favorite drink is Chrysanthemum!  I always have to go to Binondo just to be able to buy the powdered version of it so I can have my own chrysanthemum juice at home.  I hope I’m right but I think Sentosa’s version was fresh!  You can even see the flowers in the glass.  I can’t even remember how many glasses of chrysanthemum I drank during those 2 visits I was in Sentosa Restaurant.

• Roti Canai (Php 110)

Aha!  Roti!  Always a favorite dish to chump on while waiting for the main dishes.  I knew that Roti originated from India.  It’s basically a flat bread served with curry sauce.  Always eat this dish while it’s hot.  We enjoyed this and actually ordered for a 2nd round.  Yum!

• Tom Yum Goong (Php 240)

I’ve always thought that Tom Yum Goong is a Thailand dish but seeing this in a Singaporean restaurant menu made me think that it’s actually an Asian Dish.  Tom Yum Goong, as I usually describe it, a shrimp hot & sour soup, is always at the top of my list for soups.  I love the spiciness of the soup and also the combination of different flavors.  To top it all off, shrimps as the main ingredient made me love it more (I love shrimps!).

• Fried Radish Cake in XO Sauce (Php 95)

Usually, radish cake is being served in BIG rectangular shape.  I was soooo glad that Sentosa went on a different route and served it to us in bite-sized cubes!  It didn’t end there.  They went a step further by cooking it in a different way.  It worked tremendously.  I can confidently say that this was the best radish cake I’ve eaten upto this day.

• Singaporean Hookien Noodles (Php 240)

I’ve never tried Hookien noodles.  I was glad we ordered this as I finally now understand what Hookien noodles is.  It was composed of 2 different type of noodles: egg & rice.  Prawn was the basic ingredients but squid, eggs, vegetables were tossed in the noodles too!  This was a different kind of dish but I definitely loved it!

• Kopi Walnut Spareribs (Php 280)

I’ve grown tired of salt & pepper spareribs and wanted to try something different.  Kopi Walnut Spareribs was our choice.  Now this dish was VERY sweet but also good.  I still prefer the traditional salt & pepper spareribs but kopi walnut spareribs is a nice alternative.

• Sauteed Broccoli with Scallop in XO Sauce (Php 240)

We need to order at least 1 vegetable so we have chosen the broccoli with scallops.  I’d choose this over chopsuey in a heartbeat.  Lots of ingredients mixed in this dish but they were a perfect combination.

• Singaporean Cereal Prawn (Php 395)

Whenever I’m in a Singaporean restaurant, I always make sure that I order cereal prawns.  If there’s a dish made in Singapore that I really like, it’s Cereal Prawns.  I have tried a lot of versions of this dish and I must say that Sentosa’s version is one of my favorites.  It has generous serving of the cereal which we really like considering after the prawns were consumed, we are still trying to eat the remaining cereals on the plate.  It tasted a bit sweet which made me to conclude that they also added some milk powder in the mixture.  Yumyum!  This dish has 5 pieces of prawns by the way.

• Sweet & Sour Pork (Php 240)

I usually order out of this world dishes from a restaurant that I fail to appreciate the usual dishes that is being served in a restaurant.  One of those classic dishes that I missed often is Sweet & Sour Pork.  When I saw this in the menu of Sentosa, I had to order it.  It had been a great long time since I last eaten one.  Sentosa’s sweet & sour pork didn’t disappoint.  Its sauce was just thick enough and its pork was crispy.  Just the two characteristics I look for in this favorite Chinese dish of ours.

• Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 220)

Plain rice is boring so we had to order fried rice.  Yang Chow fried rice is a popular Chinese fried rice that has barbecued pork, peas, eggs, shrimps & rice.  Nothing special for Sentosa’s version but I’m glad that it had enough to serve at least 4 of us.  A bit oily though.

• Singaporean Hainanese Boneless Chicken (Php 410)

Hainanese Chicken is becoming popular in our country.  Many restaurants offering this left and right.  I, then unconsciously, created an informal poll in my mind which one has the best Hainanese Chicken.  I might blog about it.  Right now, I would say that even though Sentosa serves delicious food, their Hainanese Chicken was just too expensive for my taste.

• Mango Pudding (Php 85)

Our meal won’t be complete without desserts.  Good thing during my 1st visit, we were about 6-7 people so we got to order quite a few to try out.  I was actually looking for Mango sago but Sentosa’s mango pudding was already the closest thing to it.  Do not forget to pour in the milk into the pudding.  It made the dessert more flavorful and delicious!

• Pisang Goreng (Php 95)

Singaporean version of fried banana but this was a bit sophisticated.  There was even ice cream on the side hehehe 😛  If you love sweet banana, you’ll love this dish.

• Ice Kachang (Php 95)

A popular dessert in Singapore.  It was like halo halo for us Filipinos but this time, it’s their version.  I noticed that  Sentosa’s Ice Kachang has grated ice with colored syrup then some more ingredients were added into the dessert.  Things like red beans, jelly, black gulaman and sweet corn.  Of course, there was vanilla ice cream on top.

Whew!  That was a lot of food!  Hope you are able to read upto this point 😛  To conclude , I shall say I now found one of the restaurants that I will frequently visit.  Their radish cake was really something!  I also loved the ambiance.

Since the restaurant is just near my place, it makes it convenient for me to go too!

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Sentosa Singaporean Chinese Restaurant
Thompson Square, 165 Tomas Morato St., Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

I wanted to try out Omakase in their Ayala Triangle Gardens branch but never got the chance to try it out.  Either my colleagues wanted to try some other restaurants or there were just too many people and we didn’t want to waste time in waiting.  However, I was glad that my friends invited me to join them for dinner, which was at Omakase!  It was their branch in Quezon City.  It was their branch in Il Terrazo to be exact.

We arrived around 9pm but we had to wait for several minutes as the restaurant was jam-packed.  We were seated around 9:20pm.  I loved the interior of Omakase.  They used a combination of red, black and white colors which was really pleasing to the eyes.  I believe Japanese love the color red & black right?

We didn’t waste time and immediately ordered our chosen dishes in the menu.  We were starving as it was past dinner time.  We hoped to stay for long as we wanted to catch up with what has been happening in our lives.

We ordered the following:

• Omakase Salad (Php 140)

My friend Tere was bragging about Omakase Salad.  She kept saying that this will always be part of her order whenever she visit Omakase.  I wondered why.  When I got to taste it, I kinda understood why.  Omakase Salad is a different kind of salad.  It composed of Japanese crabsticks, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and ebiko.  I do think that the secret ingredient in this delicious dish was the special mayo dressing which I couldn’t figure out how it was done.

• Miso Soup (Php 45)

As expected, my friends ordered Miso soup.  I’ve chosen a different variant of soup as I’ve grown tired of Miso soup hahaha.  Well, nothing special there.  Just plain old Miso soup that had tofu, wakame & spring onions.

• Omakase Soup (Php 70)

There must be a reason why they put their restaurant’s name in a dish.  It must be original and it must be good!  Though miso soup was everyone’s favorite, I didn’t follow my friends’ orders and went with Omakase soup.  It was a great decision!  I actually loved the soup!  I also let siobs Tere try it and she said it was good!  Well, yeah, it was a bit expensive but hey, the taste and bigger serving of the soup is more than enough.  Basically, Omakase soup was a thick clear soup with egg, crabsticks & wakame.  Best if you finish this soup while it’s hot! 🙂  Yummy!

• California Crunch (Php 170)

My friend was about to order the ever-famous california maki but I stopped her immediately.  I really grew tired of the same old california maki.  I suggested if we could order California Crunch instead which was also california maki but deep-fried.  At least, there’s a kick to our usual California Maki.  Inside the fried maki were crabstick, mango, cucumber, japanese mayo & ebiko.

• Tofu Steak (Php 210)

This dish was pure genius!  My perception of tofu steak was breaded Japanese tofu served in a sizzling dish.  I was pleasantly surprised when Omakase’s Tofy steak was served.  It was a generous serving of Japanese tofu wrapped with beef.  It tasted wonderful!  You must try this too!

• Unagi Kabayaki (Php 330)

Grilled eel at its finest.  I rarely order eel as the price is really a bit steep considering the premium put into unagi.  But whenever I get to try one, I really appreciate its unique taste and flavors.  I can actually eat this dish alone with plain rice.  It can already fulfill both my taste buds and stomach 😀

• Katsudon (Php 170)

I remember I mentioned this in a post that we tend to always have Katsudon in our table whenever we dine at a Japanese restaurant.  Funny that upon our next visit, we indeed have Katsudon in our table haha!  There wasn’t anything special with this dish.  Same recipe with all other Japanese food places.  It was pork cooked in sauce with egg, onions and scallions.  I grew tired of this dish that I ended up not appreciating it 😛

• Fried Rice Cup (Php 60)

I used to dislike the fried rice dishes served in a non-traditional Japanese restaurant.  It usually felt like rice with certain topping but still tasted like plain rice.  I’m glad Omakase’s version wasn’t like that.  Even though, it wasn’t something I would order again.  I ordered the cup size but they also have the bowl size (Php 230) which is good for sharing.

• Panama Orange (Php 60)

It says Panama Orange in the menu but I think it was flavored iced tea.  I never knew that the orange iced tea tasted so good.  I ordered the bottomless one which was only Php10 higher than the price of a glass.  There was also another flavor called wild raspberry but I felt it was common already.  I wish I had more refills but we arrived late and was only able to eat for 30 minutes and it was almost closing time.

As much as I liked the food in Omakase, I was VERY disappointed with their service.  As early as 9:30pm, they asked for last orders even if our orders have just arrived as we were seated around that time.  To my dismay, they were already cleaning up the sushi bar and closing all the lights that doesn’t have customers in it.  We were still eating that time and it made us feel that we were being shooed away even if not told verbally.

They were lifting the chairs too.  We had to quickly finish our food and leave.  They really followed their 10pm closing time.  As I understand it, they should still be accepting customers at 10pm right?  Maybe, my understanding is really wrong about this thing.  Anyone who want to clear this up?

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Omakase Japanese Cuisine
Il Terrazzo, Scout Madrinan, Tomas Morato, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 332-4115