Admittedly, this entry is inspired by my irresponsibility of skipping breakfast for three consecutive weeks. Apparently the unhealthy practice seemed to have caused my often “quick-brain-cells” to have the “Skippy” performance.
Forgive me for my dysfunctional literacy in case my delineation of this subject is causing you to chortle as you read. How not feeding our inspiration emotionally affects us has the same idea about how our bodies react when we skip what can keep us stimulated, like food. The result is for us to become less and less productive every freaking day and I may not be the only one guilty of this.
I know I sound mawkish for saying such an off-the-ground topic, obviously we all go through some down time moment, but it doesn’t mean we’d just keep allowing it to ruin our emotional health. My hectic work tasks and schedules had been shitting my inspiration to write, I’m currently having difficulties on my grammar and vocabulary,(never healthy for a blogger!) As I tap my keyboard and staring blankly on my laptop, I knew my entire thinking function is oscillating. If there’s a progress, it is because I relied on my dictionary and my gut if I find it sounding odd.
How I am pushing to get my inspiration warmed up? Just by thinking how much it makes me happy seeing people viewing and liking my entries. Talk about food, where are my favorite noodles!!
I have noticed this restaurant seems pretty crowded almost every time I pass by. So, my friends and I decided to spend our Sunday meet up here. Chinese cuisine has a very wide range of dishes and I haven’t explored all of them.
Here’s my tastes buds verdict
1. Steamed Egg Cake:
Lovely sponge with the melt in the mouth factor! I love this fluffy eggy cake because it doesn’t break into bits when you slice it, this edible pillow just has the right sweetness.
2. Tonic Medlar and Osmanthus Cake:
Weird food is equals to scary- to-try, but thank god this dessert turns the impression the other way around. It tastes amazing as it looks. It’s a vibrant firm gelatin that has a unique sweet flavour. I am not a fan of raisins but it surely does its magic inside that collaborates so well with the entirety of this dessert’s character.
3. Baked Bun with BBQ Pork:
These cute wonder buns are fun to eat, the pretty gold-brown texture with its savory meat inside is just oozing with deliciousness!
4. Prawn Dumpling:
It doesn’t have a unique flavour but good thing it isn’t dry inside. It does taste like real prawn and not prawn-like. Great job for steaming it properly because it retains natural flavour.
5. Rice with Chicken, Sausage and Mushroom:
I honestly don’t understand the combination of chicken, sausage and mushroom because they are just too different from each other. But in my surprise, they seem to have good chemistry as a recipe. The semi-sweet sausage with the light sauced chicken with a touch of shiitake mushroom.
6. Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver:
If you just taste it in your brain, matching the individual characters of vermicelli and pig’s liver regardless of what sauce to use seems uninviting. But actually our assumptions are wrong because it is so good! I define it as a succulent and savory embodiment of both ingredients.
7. Wasabi Salad Prawn Dumpling:
Frying dumplings can be crucial because cooking it in high heat for too long can toughen the dough and you would find it annoying to chew. But this dumpling was cooked just right, crispy sides with easy to crunch shell :).
8. Pork Dumpling with Shrimp:
It tastes great the way a pork dumpling with shrimp should be. I’m glad it doesn’t taste like a solidified flour. So this cute dumplings passed the taste test.
9. Vermicelli Roll with BBq Pork:
Sadly, it looks so attractive compared to vermicelli roll with pig’s liver but it doesn’t taste better. I just find the sweetness of the BBQ pork overwhelming with its sweet sauce. I don’t appreciate the redundance of the flavour.
11. Pan Fried Carrot Cake:
I will judge this dish based on its traditional texture and flavour. Texture is moist but not soggy and it has just the right level of saltiness. I’m just not really a fan of a food combined with scallions, fish sauce and preserved salted radish. But I can’t say this is bad because others love it.
My friend ordered this Pork Ribs Rice and also the congee with lean pork, century egg and salted egg. Unfortunately I didn’t try it so I really can’t rate its taste.
They have a very refreshing Iced Tea and well mannered service crew, but if you are the impatient type. You won’t enjoy the pace of the service.
Basically, I ran out of titles to use for this food review lol. But hey! This is my page, so what? I enjoyed their food otherwise, I won’t be writing this! I went to David’s Tea House at the Venue Mall, in Makati Ave, Poblacion, Makati because I wanted to use the vouchers given to me by Zomato. ♥
……And it was worth it! The food is great :).
Ranking time!
1. Saute Squid with Broccoli Flower
TEXTURE! TEXTURE! TEXTURE! One particular word that suits this wholesome food, “FRESH.” Broccoli is one of the dense veggies with slight bitterness when raw but can be awfully soggy when overcooked, this one was done really well. Isn’t it tastier to feel its tender-crisp crunching into tiny bits in your mouth? The squid was tender and chewable and impressively retained its squidly flavor which is why this is my TOP ONE so far with the 3 meals I tasted.
2. David’s Special Noodles
Yum! The major ingredients I compliment are: The texture of the noodles is great! You can tell how it glides into the bowl as it joins the tender beef and I like how tasty that thin fat layer on the beef because it wasn’t oily. I didn’t feel the oil sticking on my lips and you won’t see the oil on the surface of the soup. Thumbs up!
3. Almond with Lychee and Black Gulaman
Nothing describes it better than being a “happy drink,” there’s a difference between the “sugary” sweet and the “natural” sweet flavour of the lychee combined with almond jelly. It has same level of sweetness as the black gulaman, the black gulaman is very obvious and that’s how it should be! This Asian fruity is simple yet refreshing, or should I say SIMPLY REFRESHING? 🙂
4. Assorted Dimsum Platter
Nicely laid on a bamboo steamer, actually there’s only one item that made me love this dimsum platter, it was that jelly like chives dumpling. I love the shiny exterior and its wobbly texture was very enjoyable. It got me excited and I almost want to just look at it than eat it..It looks so cute! It was slightly transparent that you can see the green stuff inside that actually has a nice light flavor of chives. haha!
5. Asado Congee
The congee taste nice but I can’t say it’s the best among all the congee I have tried, it is a mild and bland rice porridge but it is meant to be like that since it is sided with well cooked and flavored meat slices. By the way, the size and quantity of the meat slices were enough for the portion of the thick rice porridge :).
The dining area is very comfortable because it is clean, spacious and I love the high fixed glass windows, you can see the outside while you are enjoying your food. They also have pretty nice ceiling lamps that accents well with the wholesome colour of the walls. And look at the stylish ceiling! The best part is – it isn’t hard to find the place because it is right on the street of Makati avenue.
These American dudes and dudettes just made my day, to see them react on the texture, taste and the presentation of the Filipino street food totally entertained me. Thumbs up for the gutsy American ladies who ate it like a pro! particularly the Barbecued Chicken Intestines, the two guys on the video just can’t take it but the lady in the middle is pretty adventurous and she still grabbed a bite!
The Chicken Intestines when cooked isn’t really that bad at all, as long as it has been cleaned properly. It takes a bit more effort to squeeze out the contents inside under a running water, but the effort is all worth it! I enjoy it deep-fried or grilled, especially when paired with a spicy vinaigrette or a thick homemade barbecue sauce. Looking at it is weird because you can’t imagine intestines threaded on a stick but IT IS CHICKEN intestines! WE mostly enjoy this on a drinking spree (reminds me of my previous post Filipino Beach Bonfire Party: What I Miss From The Good Old Days 1 .)
My friend and I went to SM Megamall today, just to buy our necessities but after 4 hours of touring around the Mall our stomachs begin to growl. And seriously, it was embarrassing to be in the middle of the crowd with our tummies gurgling for food. So, anyway, we went to Shakeys because we are familiar of their menu and we craved for pizza, unfortunately the place was crowded and we don’t have the patience to wait anymore for a vacant table. Next to Shakeys is the Luk Yen Chinese restaurant, I am not a fan of chinese food but we felt like our intestines are about to deflate. We thought, the place looks neat and comfortable why not try it? So, we hopped inside.
This is a sample of their menu, it actually looks neat because of the white and chinese bamboo tree design, I also like the symbols before the dish names which tells you if it has the iced-tea included or not. My friend and I tried the Chinese bento simply because the picture looks so inviting, the food nicely arranged in a square shape container. Plus, it has the iced-tea included in the price of 280 pesos. I chose the B3 (Fish Fillet in Sweet & Sour Sauce,) and my friend chose the B1 (boneless chicken in lemon sauce.) The waiter noted down our orders and immediately informed us that it will take 10-15 minutes for our orders to be served, we just said “ok,” anyway, we are comfortably seated. The waiter was very quick to serve us 2 glasses of water, a complimentary green-tea in a tea pot and crispy chips that tastes like thin crackers in a small platter which we emptied in seconds! (At least we had something to fill-in our stomachs while waiting. THUMBS UP!)
A sample look of the Chinese Bento.
I enjoyed the fish fillet, it was cooked well. Soft and easy to bite . The fried rice is also good, not too oily and the saltiness was just right. The quail egg siomai has an “OK” flavor, it isn’t as moist as other good siomais I have tried but I like the idea of a quail egg inside a siomai. And Oh! I don’t have the picture, but the stuffed eggplant tastes amazing! The sauce is soooooo good. THUMBS UP for that! The B1 has the chicken but I haven’t tried it yet.
Even though the fish fillet impressed my taste buds and the quail egg siomai was OK, I am disappointed with the E-fu vegetable noodles. The color of the noodles is as boring as it tastes. It looks a bit soggy, it tastes overcooked and it just lacked flavor. It does not have that garlicky with soy sauce and vegetable broth flavor.
What I really find cute is the dessert they named “Snowballs,” it is made of sticky rice or glutinous rice coated with chopped coconut and it has purple yam filling! The sweetness is moderate and it is gooey! See the other picture below.
Overall, I give the B1/B3 chinese bento an average score of 7, I still haven’t tried their other menus and I am excited to try their congee and wanton noodles! Sorry about the quality of the pictures Lol. Next time I’ll use a better camera :). Enjoy Foodies!
Simplicity at its finest! Most Filipinos are wooed by the western pastries, from muffins, cupcakes, pies to fancy cakes. This time let’s introduce the Philippine sweet cuisine to those who are curious enough to take a peak on some of the Filipino confections that I believe many of the munchies from the west side of the world would surely enjoy. We Filipinos are simple so we also have simple and enticing cuisine.
Pictures above is what we call Sapin-Sapin, it is made of glutinous rice flour that can be shaped, condensed, layered and be in different colours similar to Mochi of Japan and Tteok of Korea. There’s no wonder why there’s a resemblance, because rice is prevalent in all Asian countries and we Asians share many ethnic cultures, including the cooking methods. All Asian countries has its own excellent glutinous rice and coconut sweet course cuisine. Mochi and Tteok tastes almost the same as Sapin-Sapin, it only differs on the level of stickiness and both comes in fancier shapes and designs than Sapin-sapin. This is one of the must-try delicacies in the Philippines.
Who could go wrong with this tropical frozen delight? The pictures above shows the Halo-halo which means in Filipino language “mixed together,” well, you can see the bunch of edible stuff smacked on top of each other in a large glass bowl or a long cocktail glass – for added tropical feel, serve it in a coconut shell! Halo-halo has a crazy concept of mixing whatever sweets from kidney beans, jello, purple yam, jackfruit strips, rice krispies, leche flan, fruits, ice cream, corn cereal flakes and whatever you can think of adding. All of these are piled atop of or under shaved ice, then poured with evaporated milk.
This Asian version of custard candy is the easiest to make among all the Filipino desserts I know, this was our school project when I was just 8 years old! Yema maybe simple because it’s just egg yolks and condensed milk, but it never fails to give Filipino kiddos the milky smile of joy :). This gooey candy is so versatile many designs of it were created and it even collaborates well with other pastries. I saw some excellently decorated yemas that look like edible gems!
The epitome of the classic Filipino dessert, Suman comes in different types and nowadays many have made many versions of it, some fancy Filipino restaurants serves this with such artistic presentation that you wouldn’t believe a simple Suman could look expensive. They have different flavours, textures and even the way they are wrapped in banana leaves. This tasty treat could be with twirled cocoa chocolate or what we call tablea or purely tablea-based, they can also be in purple yam flavour or the original coconut with a hint of ginger. The texture depends on the kind of Suman, they can be made with something other than rice like cassava.
This definitely gives me the zing that makes my heart “whoosh” with joy! It tastes as yummy as it looks, thank you BOHOL for creating such an icy-licious dessert that completes every Filipino parties. The vibrant green colour that contrasts well with the coconut strips and milky thick juice is because of the screwpine or pandan flavoured gelatin. There are optional additions on buko pandan dessert, for pearl shakes some add rice flakes or cheese bits.
Kalamay with Latik or Biko with Latik! Anything with Latik gives the rice cake a delicious kick! My 2nd favorite after the leche flan. the pictures may look like just a simple glutinous rice cake but that shiny brown caramel topping that melts on top of the sticky rice is what makes this rice cake a stand out dessert. Latik is a coconut residue that transfigures from oil to syrup when cooked with brown sugar. This condiment not only has a distinct sweetness it also has an inviting smell, I always beg my mom to cook this for me every time I go visit them back in my hometown 🙂 .
This delicacy originated in Rome but then became a much more popular recipe shared by Latin America and Spain. I consider this sweet course as the most sinful confection in the Filipino dessert cuisine. The mouthwatering, milky-licious leche flan is tough to resist, its soft and creamy texture and even its simple presentation has that inexplicable appeal. OMG! this succulent Filipino dessert melts in your mouth and will bring out the kid in you 🙂 ( at least that’s what I feel when I eat this.) If you are wondering what separates this flan from the flans of other countries is we don’t add vanilla extract or heavy cream.
My mother’s all time favorite, the gluey Pichi-pichi!! This sticky grated cassava comes in different shapes and in different colours too. The original recipe uses just the grated coconut meat as a coating but many Filipinos now are adding grated cheese too that gives this classic dessert a twist – just the way I like it! Yum yum!
The counterpart of banana cue! I personally choose ginanggang over banana cue. The difference of the two skewered cardaba bananas (besides the funny name lol) is the cooking procedure. Banana cue is deep-fried and in the process of frying, brown sugar is added for continuous mixing until the banana is coated with caramelized brown sugar. The last part is skewering the finished product in a bamboo stick For ginanggang however, the cardaba banana is already skewered before placing it on a charcoal barbecue grill. The cooking method is barbecuing the unripe cardaba banana until the outer surface is lightly singed. When it’s cooked brush it with margarine and sprinkle it with white sugar before serving it. While Banana cue is popular in Luzon region, Ginanggang is popular in Visayan and Mindanao regions, I grew up eating this local snack back in my home town Davao City, and will remain one of the best snacks you should try 🙂 .
Ice candy! The idea of the existence of this ice cream substitute is satisfying the cravings for a frozen dessert without causing tears to your wallet. Ice creams aren’t cheap and not all people especially those with very limited budget would want to spend 150 philippine for a sherbet. Ice candies are easy to make and very affordable, all you need to prepare is a can of condensed milk, any type of fruits or even just the milk alone or the local chocolate TABLEA, coconut juice and sugar. Some would improvise it by using other dairy products such as all purpose cream and yogurt.
Oh yeah!Ube halaya! Who would think an ugly root crop could become a source of a toothsome treat? One or 3 spoons of this isn’t enough to satisfy your taste buds when you try this awesome purple goody. The best part is, it’s easy to make. All you need are boiled and mashed ube, condensed milk, butter, evaporated milk, vanilla extract and sugar. A good blend of these ingredients under low-heat results this delectable Filipino sweetness!
If Spain have Brazo De Gitano, Philippines have Brazo De Mercedes, I find it strange why a swiss roll is named in Spanish when it’s not even originated in either countries. Anyway, Swiss roll is a sponge cake while brazo de mercedes is a meringue made out of egg whites baked, laid flat topped with custard filling then rolled. Just look at that fluffy white stuff with that thick chewy custard filling and you can already imagine how delicious it is!
All these great images are not my own, so feel free to visit the websites that are indicated on each picture, they have the recipes of these delicacies. 🙂
Travelingmind2anywhere 