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

I was looking forward to the Lechon Degustacion at Pepita’s Kitchen.  I never knew that I would be eating so much food.  We ate a total of 15 courses!  Fifteen!  And that included 4 Lechon de leche!  It was too much wonderful food.  I had to stay awake for an hour because I cannot sleep with that state of stomach fullness.

I’m so glad that I attended Pepita’s Kitchen private dinner, or else I’d be drooling when I see or read the experience of the bloggers who went.

I arrived at the venue 7PM sharp.  I was greeted warmly by Dedet, owner of Pepita’s Kitchen.  Then I saw the beautiful arrangement of the dining table.  I was so ready to dive in but I had to wait for my dinner companions.  I was excited already!

I was in total awe with the bread that looked like a mini pig.  It was too cute!  The eyes of this cute lil pig is actually raisins!

The menu was put in each of the plates and there was a pig paper origami too!  I knew right there that we would be having so many lechon that night.  I had to make sure that I have enough space in my tummy for the food overload.

After 30 minutes, we were already complete.  Appetizers started to come in.  I was ecstatic!  Here’s what we had.  My attempt in sharing my experience at Pepita’s Kitchen.  Lechon Degustacion literally!

Appetizers

• Pinoy Pate & Pinoy Caviar with Crackers

The first course was the pinoy pate and pinoy caviar with crackers.  The owner didn’t tell us what comprised the spread yet as they wanted us to guess what they are.  We all made our guesses but we were all wrong! hehehe.

Pinoy Pate (the darker one) – balut & Wine pate.
Pinoy Caviar (the lighter one) – sautéed bihod or fish roe.

The pinoy pate was the clear winner.  I had to save my stomach space for the lechon though 😛

• Balut Salpicao

I love balut but I never dared to eat the chick inside.  However, I love the yellow part and the soup of the balut.  Whenever I saw restaurants putting a different twist to the balut, I ended up disappointed coz they didn’t enhance the natural flavors of the balut but changed it into a different one.  Pepita’s Kitchen’s Balut Salpicao surprised me!  They didn’t compromise the flavors of the balut but enhanced it by cooking it with olive oil and garlic.  It worked for me and I loved it!

• Rellenong Bulaklak

It’s sad that I was only able to eat one piece of Pepita’s Kitchen’s Rellenong Bulaklak.  It was one of the most delicious appetizer I have tried out.  I love that when you hold the toothpick and see the food, it actually looked like a mini-rat (I know I have weird imagination hehe:P).  What was it really?  The Rellenong bulaklak is pumpkin flower stuffed with native cheese & bagoong.  Truly unique but truly yummy!

Main Course: LECHON!

The star of the night was the Lechon!  Oink oink!

Pepita’s Kitchen’s Lechon has been available for quite some time but it was my first time to try it out.  Actually, their concept is so unique!  Imagine stuffing lechon with rice, mushrooms, meat and other food items.  I never thought it was possible!

The lechon was pugon-baked.  I still can’t figure out how Pepita’s Kitchen stuff the lechon.  It’s a big mystery to me.

What the heck, the lechon looked soooo good!  In spite of wanting to try out the lechon as soon as possible, I have to take at least one good picture with the lechon.

Stuffed Lechon is Pepita’s Kitchen’s style.  They made several variants of it.  There’s the Pinoy lechon, Chinese lechon, German lechon, French lechon, Hawaiian lechon and British lechon.  We tried out four of those lechon.  I can say that as of now, it’s the most unique and most delicious lechon I have eaten!

With Pepita’s Lechon de Leche, we are actually eating 2 meals in one — Lechon + international stuffing!

If I’m to describe the lechon, I can say that the skin was super crunchy, there wasn’t too much fat in the lechon plus the meat was so tender and most importantly, flavors were soooooo good!

Have a party planned soon?  I highly suggest you order the German lechon from Pepita’s Kitchen.  You won’t regret it!  You and your guests will have an awesome time sampling the dish for sure! 🙂  There are 2 sizes available for Pepita’s Lechon de Leche.  Depending on the number of guests you have, you can order either 7kg or the 12kg.

• Pinoy Lechon

This is most probably the deadliest combination ever!  Sisig and lechon but noone can ever resist this.  According to the owner, their Pinoy lechon is one of the best sellers.  That’s enough proof right?  Deadly but ooohh sooooo good! *burp*

• German Lechon

I never thought that I would prefer this over the other international stuffing.  German lechon is the only one without rice.  Instead of rice, Pepita’s Kitchen put potatoes.  Other ingredients were herbs and garlic.  I love the combination of flavors of the German lechon.  While the other lechon variants had the stuffing overpowering the lechon, this one made it clear that the lechon is still king!

• Chinese Lechon

Machang is a famous Chinese delicacy.  Pepita’s Chinese lechon has that machang inside!  The ingredients that put it all together in the stuffing were the herbs, chestnuts and mushrooms.  If you love chestnuts, you will love this lechon de leche chinese style.

• French Lechon

Most of us loved the German lechon but some of my dinner mates preferred this French Lechon.  This was our finale lechon.  I guess I was too full already that I couldn’t eat more of it.  This French lechon is stuffed with truffle rice.

Other Courses (Palate Cleansers, Side Dishes)

• Calamansi Sorbet

I’m a big fan of sherbet.  So this was a great way to take in between eating different international lechon.  I was starting to have too much of the lechon that I needed the break.  Good thing there was the Calamansi Sorbet 😀

• Sabachara

Banana is not my favorite fruit.  Achara is not a side dish that I’d like as well.  However, the unique combination of banana and achara works like a charm!  I never thought that 2 items that I don’t usually take individually would make me wanna eat over and over when combined.  This was a definite winner in my book!  I love how the dish was named too! — Sabachara (Saba + Achara).

• Pinoy Carbonara

Oh we couldn’t get enough of lechon!  Even the pasta has to have chicharon in it.  This pinoy-inspired carbonara is made of pasta, mushroom cheese sauce and chicharon.  We truly had a Lechon overload!

• Cholesterol Sweeper

We’ve eaten so much lechon!  I totally consciously tried to forget my diet.  It’s a good thing that Pepita’s Kitchen had something ready for us to sweep off the cholesterol from all the lechon goodness we’ve taken.  It’s called Cholesterol Sweeper and it’s a shot of an oatmeal!  If you know champorado, it tasted like it.

• Darna’s Surprise

It was a big surprise indeed as the name implied.  We were all pleasantly shocked at how good the shot is.  Darna’s surprise was created by the owner’s beautiful daughter.  She has a potential!  Imagine a cute teenager making such a beautiful alcoholic mix drink.  I must admit I don’t drink alcohol and I’m not a fan of cream but when I tasted Darna’s Surprise, I didn’t even feel the alcohol a bit and the cream was perfect!  We shall say it’s Pepita’s Kitchen’s version of butterbeer.

Desserts

• Pinoy Ice Cream

It was my first time to try out guava ice cream (which is one of the 2 flavors served to us).  However, I couldn’t help but rave about it.  The ice cream was so heavenly!  The taste of the fruit really came out in the ice cream.  It was so pure!

The pastillas ice cream was good too!  Similar to the guava flavor, the ice cream stayed true to its taste.  The pastillas ice cream was sweet and delicious.  Next time I crave for pastillas, I might go for the ice cream type instead.

• Dayap Cheesecake

I noticed that the desserts served to us are Filipino-inspired.  I wondered what famous Filipino ingredient would be used in the cheesecake.  Then I learned that the cheesecake was Dayap Cheesecake.  Dayap is our native lime.  I love the light flavors of the dayap which gives the cheesecake a refreshing taste.

Whew!!!  Each one of us surely tagged this dinner as one of the most memorable dinners ever!  How can we ever forget eating 4 different lechon plus 11 other courses in one sitting?  Thank you so much Pepita’s Kitchen!  I was practically sharing this experience with friends and colleagues the day after haha!

Pepita’s Kitchen will be offering private dining soon.  If I recall correctly, Dedet said that it’ll be ready in a month or so.  For now, they are accepting orders for lechon.  They do delivery as well through City Delivery.

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Pepita’s Kitchen
Magallanes, Makati City, Philippines
(02) 425-4605, +639178660662
pepitaskitchen@gmail.com