[Photo credits to Israel Vinuya of pixntoys.blogspot.com]

I’ve been browsing through my picture albums and found some photos with my former officemates in Lawson during a dinner meet up in Max’s Restaurant in SM Makati. By the way, we call ourselves Yumyum – Yummy Young Professionals, lol.

 

Max’s is not Max’s without their famous fried chicken. Besides, it’s “the house the fried chicken built”. This is definitely a Max’s staple order.

crispy skin, tender meat… (almost) perfect fried chicken!

 

Chicken Sisig…

 

Their Filipino style pancit canton is also something worth ordering. I sometimes substitute this to rice.

 

Chopseuy for side dish.

 

Now this is a new favorite – Sizzling Tofu. I never thought tofu can be really good, so irresistible.

tokwa to the next level

 

Max’s Restaurant is definitely one of my favorite Filipino restaurants of all time. Delicious food at very reasonable prices; such a classic.

So two weeks after our Boracay 2012 vacation, the gang decided to have a meet up and re-live our island memories. We just can’t get over with those happy and funny moments at Boracay. And since diet was finally over for us, we had dinner at Kanin Club in UP-Ayala Technohub.

some of the best sellers

 

From the name itself, Kanin Club’s specialty is rice. Tapos na ang low-carb diet so let’s start with the heavy Loaded Fried Rice.

the heavy hitter: fried rice with Chinese sausage, ham, green peas, pork, and topped with minced scrambled eggs, roasted garlic and spring onions

 

Bagoong Rice – argh, I don’t like vinegar-infused food. And since bagoong has vinegar, I didn’t try this. My friends like it though.

 

This is their best seller of them all, the dish that made Kanin Club famous – Crispy Dinuguan!

But because this has vinegar, I didn’t eat this too. Loser me, bleh
grabe, lugi na talaga ako nito ha

 

Pambawi sa nalugi – Lemon Chicken!

mmm… ok naman

 

Seafood Kare-kare…

this was really good; medyo bitin nga lang sa sauce

 

Lots of Boracay adventures that we talked about, especially the funny ones.

my super tried and tested high school friends – the Tictac Gang

 

Would I recommend Kanin Club? Even though I didn’t like most of their specialties, it wasn’t really their fault. Maarte lang talaga ako ‘coz I don’t like dishes with vinegar. Other than me, Tictac Gang really like Kanin Club especially the Crispy Dinuguan.

 

But what I really appreciate most in Kanin Club UP-Ayala Technohub branch? The staff’s honesty. After paying our bill, I accidentally left my credit card on the table and I just realized it the day after. I called them and the staff told me that they were actually about to notify my bank so I can be informed that my card was with them. When I got my card back, I decided not to replace it even though there was this risk that someone could have copied my card details. Months after, no unauthorized transaction was posted on my account statement; so I can say my card was carefully kept while on their possession. Kudos to Kanin Club staff!

Kanin Club UP-Ayala Technohub branch

[This is another flashback blog post; I was in blogging hiatus for a year]

 

One of the perks of having friends working abroad is that when they here in Manila for vacation, they tend to contact their friends for some sort of reunion. And the best part – their treat lol! For this round, we tried Recipes by Café Metro in Greenbelt.

 

For first timers and those who don’t know what to order, just tell the waiter “Tatlong Sikat” (Famous Three). This combination is their best seller which consists of General’s Chicken, Crispy Tilapia and Gising Gising.

 

We really like General’s Chicken. It’s like fried chicken strips and has this sweet sauce mixed with eggplant slices.

General’s Chicken – sarap papakin; I so like this!

 

Recipes was able to transform the simple fried tilapia to a must try. I even have a friend who has never eaten tilapia her entire life until she tried Recipe’s Crispy Tilapia.

at ang nice ng presentation/cuts ng Crispy Tilapia – ready for sharing na

 

Gising Gising is made of chopped green beans and ground pork cooked in gata (coconut milk). I’m not a fan but I can say it’s good naman; my friends really like it though.

 

Aside from the Tatlong Sikat, we also had Lechon Kawali with Kangkong.

 

All together now…

thanks Donni, Denden and Bhennie!! (kelan ulit? :p)

 

At ciempre, tuloy ang kwentuhan sa Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL). I had Ultimate Frappuccino  - ciempre libre ulit :D.

 

Ang sarap talaga nang libre!

I have been a usual visitor of Eastwood lately and the restaurants there are just killing my wallet. Well, thanks to my friend for introducing me to this place in Eastwood Cybermall which offers great tasting food at relatively affordable prices – Zuppa Café.

Again, the dishes are relatively affordable considering the big servings and the remarkable taste. I hate it that I can’t control myself eating here without rice, anlaki pa naman ng serving. E remember nagdi-diet ako!



Zuppa Café
3F Eastwood Cybermall, Eastwood City
(02) 687-3171

Young professionals of corporate offices just love food deliveries during special occasions in the office. Be it a birthday, regularization, promotion or even an employee's last day, food treat is automatic. Weeks ago, the team's July birthday girls Jufi and Kaye were thinking of ordering some food for the team. Contrary to what's expected, they didn't order the usual Amber's, Pizza Hut, Yellow Cab or other pancit bilao or monster pizza out there. Nagpa-cater sila! And no, it's not that expensive.

The birthday girls probably realized that it's time to try something different. CCME Homemade Foodstuff offers catering services at affordable prices. You can order food from them and have it delivered right at your doorsteps/office. I think this is a very good alternative to the usual pasta and pizza treats in the office.

What the birthday girls ordered:
Beef Kaldereta / Caldereta (P700) - this is the house specialty and one of the best sellers. I ate a lot of this. The meat comes to the point that the chunks are literally torn apart which I prefer as it shows how tender it is. This is the first dished that has been wiped out.

Lumpiang Shanghai (P450) - I believe this is around 80 pieces per order. Taste is just good but I appreciate that the rolls have enough meat inside and doesn't consist of just thick over rolled wrappers.

Chicken Lollipop (P580) - around 40pcs per order. Masarap papakin 'to plus gravy.

Buko Pandan (P360) - Save room for dessert. I like their Buko Pandan because it's not overly sweet (remember, I'm diet conscious). The buko is also quite generous and, unlike others, hindi eto dinaan sa gulaman.

And there's a free plate of puto.

CCME Homemade Foodstuff is based in Quezon City but they do deliver to other nearby cities and provincial towns (as mentioned on their website). The delivery charge here in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City is P150, cheap considering the distance! The food is generally above average and the prices are reasonable. I also like to emphasize the quite generous servings. Around 15 persons kaming kumain at may natira pa, hindi sa hindi masarap, pero dahil malaman ang servings. I (We) highly recommend this as an alternative to the common spaghetti, pancit and pizza that we order in the office for delivery.

Thanks Jufi and Kaye for this lunch treat! Nakatipid ako sa supposed to be Friday lunch out :).

[Photos taken using my rusty but trusty N82]

CCME Homemade Foodstuff
Email: info@homemadefoodstuff.com
Phone #: 928-2765, 929-9598, 926-6031, 926-6029; 410-7228, 410-4521
Fax #: 415-3841
Mobile #: 0921-9646220 ; 0920-4615445; 0906-3562274
Address: 111 Dr. Lazcano St., Q.C. near cor. T. Morato, JBJ's Burger Joint, Maybank & Bank of Commerce
Homepage: www.homemadefoodstuff.com

Giligan’s Island Restaurant and Bar is one of the most famous restaurants for young professionals like us. Food here is not super spectacular but reasonable enough for its price that makes it a top team building/bonding spot in the metro.

Probably the dish that made them famous – Sizzling Pork Sisig. A visit to Giligan’s is not complete without this. Look around and you’ll find every single group to have this on the table. Giligan’s Sizzling Pork Sisig is so crispy that you’ll hardly notice the fat on it. It is mixed with the crunchy on the mouth green bell pepper and onion and topped with mayonnaise which enhances the flavor. This is definitely Giligan’s must try; but of course, try it at your own health risk. Remember, it’s baboy and very fatty.

Bottomless Iced Tea for drinks. Giligan’s uses Lipton brand and it tastes really good. But for this branch/visit, it’s a bleh!

Giligan’s Mango Float is well prepared and we used to order it every time we dine here. But we skipped it, we needed to reserve room for more food for the pica-pica while watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in IMAX 3D later that night :D.

When eating halo-halo, do you consume the leche flan on top first or do you mix it with the rest of the ingredients? It's very tempting to eat the topping right away, isn't it? Razon's has provided a suggestion on the proper way of eating halo-halo and their philosophy behind it. I'll share with you in a moment :)

After we went on the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark, we had our lunch at Razon's in San Fernando, Pampanga. It's actually Raymond (or Raymund?) Razon's Halo-Halo, this is different from Razon's of Guagua which is abundant in Manila; although the owners are of the same family root.
Note: Don't be confused - On this post, "Raymond Razon's" refers to the Razon in San Fernando where we ate; while "Razon's of Guagua " is the chain abundant in Manila.

We ordered Sisig, Dinuguan and Pancit Luglug for the main course. Everything is average except for the sisig which is not as mataba (fatty) compare to its counterparts.

Now for dessert, of course it's halo-halo and according to Razon's...