Entries Tagged 'Chinese' ↓

What do you call the act of devouring food at the Ultimate Taste Test event? – ‘Ultimate Taste Testing’. 🙂

Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet, NomNom, & Tricie (R-L)

Ok, I made that up.

A week after the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0, people have been asking how many food stalls was I able to try. And when I answer 51, they seemed to be amazed and ask how I did it.

It’s simple actually.

If you approach it mathematically, ~50 stalls in 5 hours is equal to 10 stalls per hour or 6 minutes per food stall. Thinking about it, 6 minutes is already a good rate which includes taking photos, lining up, and asking  a little background about the food from the owners.

Here are some tips on how I was able to make it through 51 of the 55 food stalls in Ultimate Taste Test 6.0:

1) Skip Breakfast – this readies your tummy with maximize space available. 🙂

2) Come Early – I came 15 mins. ahead of time. There were only a handful of people and you’ve got the food suppliers pulling you by the arm just to try their delicacies. You’ll never feel unwanted. 🙂

Conquering 51 Food Stalls at the Ultimate Taste Test 6 (2011)

3) Relax, Don’t Panic – Eat in pace, one at a time. You’re not in a race. Get rid of the greedy mentality and trust the organizers that they prepared enough food for everyone and that you will not run out of food to taste.

4) Take a Sip after every food stall visit – this helps clear your palate for objective tasting of the next, and pushes down the previous. You can also bring a water bottle just in case the event lacks beverage suppliers.

Nomnomnom...

5) Eat in Line – when rush hour strikes, you might find yourself waiting in line specially if the stall is a blockbuster hit. This is the best time to eat your haul from the previous stall. By the time you’re finished, your’re in front of the line. Efficiency is key. 🙂

6) Bring an Eating Buddy – (preferably with the same level of appetite)  nothing beats peer support. If you see your friend eating along with you, you will be more determined. Although I came by myself, we didn’t fall short of having the other food bloggers around for company (and critique).

7) Strategize – being my third UTT, I already learned from my previous mistakes. I utilized a different strategy this time. For the first hour (11am-12nn), I just took photos. The title should actually be 51 Stalls in 4 Hours. 🙂

8 ) Alternate Main Dishes and Desserts – my first approach was from left to right, but there came a point when there was a series of dessert food stalls which overwhelmed even my sweet tooth. I decided to drop my sequence and just remember to go back to the ones I skipped.

6 Ultimate Finds from the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0

This was my alternate title for this article. But since a lot of food bloggers already came out with theirs days ago. I surmised mine was old news.

Anyhow, so here’s NomNom Club‘s Top 6 Ulitmate Finds from the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 last week:

Symphony of Flavors

6.)  Symphony of Flavors – Best Leche Flan Cheesecake ever! The goodness of Lech Flan and Cheesecake combined.

Carmen's Best - Holly's Milk and Ice Cream

5.)  Carmen’s Best – Using 100% fresh cow’s milk, I love the Salted Caramel Ice Cream.

Chef C's Paella

4.)  Chef C’s – I can’t remember if they served other dishes but I was extremely satisfied with their Paella De Andaluz.

Dek A Thai Authentic Cuisine

3.)  Dek A Thai Authentic Cuisine – The Popia and Thai Milk Tea were indeed authentic and very good. You’d want to dine in and ask for a full serving. 🙂

Luigi's

2.)  Luigi’s -  They almost made my top spot with their awesome Phillychangas and Chicken Cordon Bleu with Aligue Mayo. Yummy!

PinakBest

1.)  Pinakbest – Aptly named, Pinakbest was my pinaka-best pick with their Bagnet and Ilocos empanada. They also got the longest line.

But…but…I have  more recommendations! Allow me to give my next 6 as well:

Spring By Ha Yuan

7.)  Spring by Ha Yuan – Their Ka-Pao variants Pulled Pork, Beef Shortrib, and Monk’s Dream were a sight. I was only allowed to try one though – Beef Shortrib – and it was good!

Theo & Philo Artisan Chocolates

8.)  Theo & Philo Chocolate – these Artisan Chocolates come in interesting packages and chocolate flavors combined with the not-your-usual chocolate partners. 🙂

5 Loaves & 2 Fish

9.)  5 Loaves and 2 Fish – not sure if I should call it nachos or tortillas, but the baked chips were crunchy and the dips were interesting and flavorful

Chori Chori Burger Joint

10.)  Chori Chori Burger Joint – they got the Chori Burger taste from Boracay. You should try the Chori Burger with Egg.

The Sweet LIfe's 'Sweet Surrender'

11.)  The Sweet Life – You should try their “Sweet Surrender” which is a frozen soft meringue with custard and French Vanilla ice cream. It is held by a graham cracker crust.

Eat My GF (Garlic Fries)

12.)  Eat My GF – Aside from the interesting name, it’s basically Garlic French Fries at it’s best.

An additional special mention would be  Chef Bruce Lim’s Chef Table’s Buco Pie Martini for its creativeness. 🙂

Chef's Table Buco Pandan Martini

For more photos of the other exhibitors, check out the photo albums in our NomNom Club Facebook fanpage.

Ultimate Taste Test 6

And those are my 13 Top Picks form the recent Ultimate Taste Test 6 and how I made it through 51 of them in 5 hours. See you next year! 🙂

Kenny Rogers Roasters invited NomNomClub over to one of their branches before the Holy Week to try out their new Hainanese Chicken offering and frozen yoghurt.

Going Hainanese

Yes, you read that right. Food chain Kenny Rogers Roasters is giving it’s customers a break from their usual offering. From rotisserie chicken, they’re now serving Hainanese Chicken! It’s stil chicken, nonetheless.

Singaporean Hainanese Chicken

For a Singaporean food lover like me, this piqued my curiosity. Kenny’s Hainanese Chicken was served with the traditional soup and a set of three sauces namely ginger, dark-sweet soy, and chili.

The sauces were good but I was surprised that the chicken itself was a combination of white and dark meat; and with bones.

In Singapore where Hainanese Chicken is at the level of a national dish, they only serve white meat; and with barely any bones.

Dark Meat & Bones

It’s good that the chicken meat was tender though. The rice was also commendable and aromatic as it should be but the soup was too salty and needs improvement.

Kenny’s management clarified that this was part of their differentiation from the usual and ‘making it their own’. A serving of the 1/4 poached chicken is priced at P185.

Frozen Yoghurt FTW!

KRR Frozen Yoghurt while working on NomNomClub.com

Staying true to Kenny Rogers Roasters mission of providing healthy food, adding frozen yoghurt to their menu is a natural choice.

Something I’ve been expecting since they have yoghurt smoothies.

I arrived hours early in their event so I stayed in the public area and ordered their new frozen yoghurt.

I didn’t know they’ll have us try this one that night as well because the invitation only showed Hainanese Chicken.

🙂

Kenny Rogers Roasters Frozen Yoghurt

Anyway, so I had one while working online. I just had the plain one to appreciate the yoghurt itself without the fancies…and I liked it!

The quality and texture of the yoghurt was at par with the expensive ones we have around. I mentioned this aspect of pricing because I think this is their strongest point compared to other frozen yogurts. Starting only at P35, you could have a small sized plain yogurt. The biggie size is P55.

Graham (left); Mixed Fruit (right)

Yoghurt Add-Ons

The add-ons come with every P10 addition to the yoghurt base. For now, they have only 4 add-ons namely: Mango, Mixed Fruits, Brownie bits, and Grahams.

Needless to say, I tried all four that night to be able to compare all of them. The fruit-based ones are expectedly refreshing.

Aside from the fact that it’s cheapest among the four, I think they had grahams for the crunchy texture it provides. However, the grahams I got might have been crushed too much that most of it is in powdered form that can make the yoghurt rough and course to the taste and in the mouth. I’d suggest that they don’t crush it that much.

From the four that I have tried, I think the best combination is the fruity Mango and the chewy Brownie bits. Their contrast in texture, softness and taste was a perfect highlight to the tangy-sweet yoghurt. It is the best yoghurt for me in the aspect of taste vis-a-vis price point.

Frozen Yoghurt - Mango + Brownie Bits

Phil Younghusband of Team Azkals & Triathele Mica Tantuico

At the latter part of the program, the gathering lighted up when they introduced Kenny Rogers Roasters’ new sporty endorsers in the persons of Philippine Football Team Azkals starplayer Phil Younghusband together with professional triathele Mica Tantuico. James Younghusband and surfer Lorraine Lapus complete the line-up but they were not able to attend that night.

Kenny Rogers Roasters Hainanese Chicken

In conclusion, the Hainanese Chicken was a so-so and needs more development. On the other hand, their price busting frozen yoghurt is highly recommended by NomNom. I am already excited for the new add-ons I heard Kenny Rogers Roasters will be coming out with soon!

Steak Buffet

I got the chance to dine with some of the best food bloggers in Metro Manila a few weeks ago. It was a steak night dinner buffet at Diamond Hotel‘s Corniche.

Diamond Hotel Philippines offers choice cut steaks for its customers every Thursday night. Labeled as Corniche’s Savoring Steak Nights, the dinner buffet offers a variety of steaks such as the US Striploin Steak, US Rib Eye Steak, US Hanger Steak, Beef Tenderloin Steak and  Roasted US Prime Rib.

Add to that other entrees with free flowing red wine for only Php 2,285 nett per person from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. This is inclusive of 10% service charge and local government tax.

5 Plates - 5 Rounds @ Corniche Buffet

I was only able to try the striploin, tenderloin, and prime rib. As expected, the meats were fork-tender and juicy, coming from Diamond Hotel.  However, I have observed that steak grill was only about a meter wide and can handle a limited number of steaks at a time. As per experience, there were only three us by the counter and the grill was already full (partially because we had multiple orders each 🙂 ). Maybe Corniche can improve on that, specially when customers flock in.

Seafood Buffet

More Entrees

I also enjoyed the other dishes at Corniche such as the seafood choices, salad selections, and Asian, Western, Japanese, and Indian cuisines prepared by culinary experts headed by Executive Chef Nickolai Stoyanov with general manager Vanessa Ledesma Suatengco.

Other International Cuisine Buffet @ Diamond Hotel

Diamond Hotel Philippines - Corniche Buffet

Barbequed Shrimp w/ Kumpati

A New Discovery – the Kumpati

I discovered an interesting stove as well. As per the cook at the Indian counter, it’s called a ‘kumpati.’

A kumpati is a traditional earthen cooking stove like a palayok, but much larger almost like a ‘banga‘. The traditional ones use charcoal and firewood to cook food but the one in Diamond Hotel is of course, electric.

Kumpati Indian Stove

Corniche uses it to “charcoal barbeque” some of the food like the tandoori chicken and  the grilled shrimp in the photo. They also use it to heat and toast the tasty Naan bread. Yum yum!

On Cheeses

I also saw a table of varied cheeses in different color and textures like Sage Derby, Iberico, Fontina, and Brie. I did not try any of them though as I am illiterate when it comes to cheese appreciation. 😛

Table of Cheeses (lower right side)

Desserts

I love their dessert choices though. There was much to choose from and I was able to try only less than half. Maybe I’ll try the other half in my next visit.

Lastly, it was glad to finally meet Lori Baltazar of DesertComsFirst.com. Also with us were prominent food bloggers Spanky, Ivan Man Dy, and Jane Chua, among others.

Corniche Desserts

Lori Baltazar & NomNom (right); Jane Chua & Ivan Man Dy (left)

Corniche Buffet Restaurant, Diamon Hotel

Corniche is located at Diamond Hotel’s lobby level with a 650 square meter space that can accommodate up to 200+ persons within a chic environment and contemporary overtones. However, I believe they can have more lights on the food. But I think the elegant interior necessitates the ambiance to be dim. With that in mind, they could have mini spotlights efficiently installed on focus entrees, at the least (or maybe I’m just used to other hotel buffet restaurants which are well-lighted). 🙂

I like the pocket-seating layout throughout Corniche providing spatial privacy for intimate groups. They also have a grand bird chandelier at the center and full height windows which offers a view of the garden and water features on one side.

Corniche Buffet @ Diamond Hotel PH

For reservations:
Corniche
Diamond Hotel Philippines
Roxas Boulevard, cor. Dr. J Quintos St., Manila.
Tel. 528-3000 / 305-3000
E-mail bizcenter@diamondhotel.com
Website: www.diamondhotel.com.

It’s a Thursday! Steak night tonight, Anyone?

I haven’t visited Mercato Centrale (the day market) since it started, but I was able to check out Midnight Mercato first with other blogger friends last weekend. This is defiintely for night people like me who can’t wake up early on weekend mornings. 🙂

Chilled/Hot Taho by Tahooo!

It was also the launching night of Midnight Mercato at the Bonifacio Global City last Friday so there was a simple opening ceremony, ribbon-cutting, guests, and the likes.

Briefly to the unaware, Midnight Mercato is a weekend late night food bazaar where foodies and barkadas can hanging out and enjoy great food you can’t easily find otherwise. You can feast on a wide array of food choices from gourmet selections to ‘lutong bahay‘ (home cooked) dishes; even sosyal street food and balut included. Add to that acoustic musical performances by Rock Ed – all in an air-conditioned ‘kubol.’ Yes, that is Tagalog for ‘tent’ (as fellow blogger Alex shared).

Here are some food trip photos I’m sharing from:

Buy 1 take 1 Sausages @ P150 and Chips To Go Booth (similar to Potato Loops)

Monster Burger & the Monster Burger Challenge (finish it in 4 minutes and it's FREE!)

Nutsylicious have different kinds of nuts including walnuts and pistachios!

After all the photos, it’s my tummy’s turn. So I got an authentic shawarma (P75) from a Mediterranean-looking guy whose booth I forgot, three Mochiko mochi ice cream, and  some Takoyaki balls.

Mochiko Mochi Ice Cream @ P70

Mochiko had a very long line and was out of stock before 12midnight. That speaks for itself. 🙂

I also had a set of Armenian Lavosh Chips with Pesto Mozarella Cheese dip (P145) from the stall with a witty name of ‘5 loaves and 2 Fishes.’

Armenian Lavosh Chips (right); Claypot Chicken Rice (left)

Big Bob's Quarter Pounder Burgers

I also got a bottle of Raw Honey and Organic Gourmet Rice from ‘Fresh Start‘. They’re quite pricey actually but I know mom would love the brown rice while I use the honey as sugar substitute in my morning milk (there goes the revelation). 🙂

Fresh Start Organic Gourmet Rice (Brown Rice P200) & Raw Honey (P300)

There were a number of media outfits and got to spot some celebrities including Mara’s Mom in ‘Mara Clara‘ , Ashlee Gosengfiao, Sarah Meier (I think), Mercato Centrale guy RJ Ledesma, and others. I also spotted Anton Diaz and wife Rachel at the Human Nature booth.

Rachel @ Human Nature booth (right); Mexican Kitchen (left)

Balut (Duck Embryo)

I wanted to try so much more but I can only take in so much having come from a full dinner at Rai-Rai Ken a few minutes before going to Mercato Centrale.

There were also other food finds which caught NomNom’s fancy and instantly became a favorite.

Watch out for that post coming out next week including my predictable Mochiko review. 🙂

It was a haven of grilled food, hamburgers, and suasages outside the Midnight Mercato Tent.

Moreover, I got some tips from foodie friends and is looking forward to try the following in my next visits:

Off Beat Burger‘s Krispy Kreme Burger,  Ravioli’s of Natalia,  and the Angus Beef Tapa Rice Toppings, among others.

Krispy Kreme Burger

I also got news from Antin Diaz’s blog that Bale Dutung will start tonight @ Midnight Mercato! I’ll have to wait a little longer though as I will be going to Thunderbird’s Resort in Rizal tonight and I’ll be at the Pyromusical competition in SM Mall of Asia tomorrow.

Check out more about Midnight Mercato and Mercato Centrale here.

Midnight Mercato Tent, Tables, and Interiors

Midnight Mercato happens every Fridays and Saturdays at Bonifacio Global City from 11pm to 3am the next day. They are located at the corner of 31st and 9th streets (vacant lots between Serendra and STI Fort). Mercato Centrale day market continues Saturday and Sunday 7am to 2pm.

Also known as sticky rice cake or pudding, cooking ‘tikoy‘ has been deeply embedded in the Chinese-Filipino culture in the Philippines, especially in the season of Chinese New Year.

Serving ‘tikoy‘ represents prosperity in Chinese belief that is why it is associated with the Chinese New Year. It serves good hope and a better life for the upcoming new year.

It is also said to enhance family bonding for the whole year hence the ”stickiness” of the rice cake. Therefore , whether you are Chinese or otherwise, receiving a ‘tikoy‘ as gift is said to be ‘good luck.’ The Chinese New Year this year will be on February 3, 2011. If you haven’t received one yet, you can buy one for yourself at Polland like how I featured their heart-shaped tikoy last year. Or you can simply cook one for yourself and your family. 🙂

Cooking & Preparing Your Tikoy for the Chinese New Year

How to Cook Tikoy

1. Crack and beat egg yolks in a bowl.  A whole large-sized tikoy needs about 20 beaten egg yolks with albumen. For creamier preparations, use only the egg yolks, do not include the albumen (egg white); but you have to double the number of eggyolks.

2. Heat your pan with 1/4 cup cooking oil.

3. preferably beforehand, slice the tikoy into small 1 inch by 2 inches rectangles at about 1 centimeter thick. While doing this, start to heat your pan.

4. Dip the tikoy slices into your preparation of beaten egg yolks.

5. Place the tikoy one slice at a time in the pan if the oil temparature is already hot enough. Do not put a tikoy slice on top of another.

6. Cook each batch by about 2 minutes each side or until the egg coating has turned golden brown.

7. Take the tikoy from the pan.

Tip: My personal style is placing the tikoy in a plate with table napkin or clean, tough tissue paper where I could initially place the tikoy for some oil to settle and transfer. This makes your tikoy serving less sinful.

Now you know how to cook your tikoy in case you receive or buy one. Enjoy the upcoming Chinese New Year NomNom Club! 🙂