Entries Tagged 'Japanese' ↓

It’s Dad’s turn! After Mother’s Day last month, wives, children, and families are thinking of places this weekend where to spend time with their Dads on Father’s Day!

Aside from home, you may choose to catch the special offers by these restaurants specially for Father’s Day:

Corniche (in Diamond Hotel)

Corniche in Diamond Hotel will serve a Father’s Day special buffet called “Celebration of Filipino Flavors” by Chefs Roland and Jackie Laudico of Bistro Filipino at P1,588 net per person or P1,888 with unlimited beer, house wine or any standard drink of your choice.

22 Prime

Father’s Day brunch at 22 Prime will be a feast on cold appetizers, salads and soups, entrees, and Prime Rib Carving at P1,295+ per person, available from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Dads get special souvenir items like men’s fragrances from Hayden Paris Fragrances, gifts, products from Belo For Men, and selected men’s wear from Gold Toe.

Café d’Asie (The Bellevue Hotel)

Marriott Café (Marriott Hotel Manila)

Brunch or dinner seafood buffet with Asian and Western favorites, fresh seafood, carving station, and desserts at P2,000 net per person.

Dine at Marriott Café, Cru Steakhouse or The Lounge on Father’s Day and get a chance to take home a mini cooper and drive it to anywhere for three days.

 

Bizu Chocolate Cigars

Astralis (by Diamond Hotel)

Astralis in Power Plant Mall offers brunch buffet for P758 net per person featuring one signature dish plus salad and dessert buffets.

Dine in a group of 5 and Dad dines for free plus a surprise giveaway!

Bizu Chess Cake

Bizu Patisserie

Get free items upon purchase of Sugar-free Chocolate Cigars and Checkmate Cake in Bizu. The former is a premium handmade gourmet chocolate cigars made with sugar-free milk chocolate and croquantine wafers in a piano finished cigar box. The latter are made of layers of Almond Dacquoise, Italian Gianduja Ganache, Feulletine Wafer and Lime White Chocolate Mousseline.

Serye’s Cafe

Free gift for Dad when you dine in. You can also get a special Serye mug & Barako Coffee with P2,500 purchase

CAV

Free set menu for dads with a reservation for 6 or more persons in CAV.

Father's Day at CAV

Agave Mexican Cantina

Get a chance to win a free dinner for two or a bottle of wine in Agave Mexican Cantina. Father’s Day coloring pages for kids will also be given away.

Café d’Asie (The Bellevue Hotel)

Fathers get special gifts (Men’s Health and Top Gear magazines) from The Bellevue Hotel and Summit Media

What a huge set of choices, and there are more as restaurants take the opportunity in this family affair. Happy Father’s Day to your Dad wherever he may be!

In light of the Holy Week, which is much observed in the Catholic-dominated Philippines, here is a short list of restaurants’ non-meat lenten season specials:

• Marriott Cafe’s Ocean’s Surf Seafood Buffet
• Max’s Seafood Fest
• Figaro’s Kani Sandwich
• Yoshinoya’s Century Bangus Kabayaki

Have a solemn Holy Thursday and Good Friday ahead.

Century Bangus in Pack (available in groceries)

When Yoshinoya invited us to a bloggers’ dinner a few weeks ago to taste their newest addition to the menu, I did not expect much.

But when the Century Bangus Kabayaki was presented at Century Culinary Circle in Ortigas, I was pleasantly surprised.

Century Bangus Kabayaki

Specifically the belly part, the Century brand of bangus is lightly breaded and deep-fried. I also like the fact that the bangus belly serving is large enough, just right for the whole rice bowl.

Complementing the soft flesh of the bangus, it is glazed with a special Unagi-like kabayaki sauce which gives it the flavorful aroma and savory taste.

Kabayaki is the Japanese term that refers to filleted/deboned seafood dish dipped in a sweet soy-based sauce and grilled.

Yoshinoya Shrimp Katsu (left) & Century Bangus Kabayaki (right)

 

Yoshinoya Shrimp Katsu

Shrimp Katsu

The other dish is the Shrimp Katsu which is basically a deep-fried and breaded shrimp patty. The Shrimp Katsu pair I got comes with mixed vegetables and priced at P140. However, it came off too ordinary for me. I’d rather recommend you to get the Shrimp Katsu with Beef Bowl for just an additional P45 ( P185).

Yoshinoya Menu's Lenten Offerings

Back to Century Bangus Kabayaki

At P140, the Century Bangus Kabayaki meal comes with rice and bean sprouts. I always consume a minimal amount of rice as a personal weight-watch regimen. But with the Century Bangus Kabayaki, I was able to finish the whole bowl. 🙂

Tip: Although the bangus is deboned, it is not 100% boneless, eat it slowly and watch out for small bones. 🙂

Piolo Pascual & Century Bangus!

Piolo Pascual or not, I highly recommend this new Yoshinoya offering. 🙂 You have to try it soon because this will only last in Yoshonoya branches unitl mid-May 2011. Century Bangus Kabayaki is also fit for the upcoming Lenten season.

The Holy Week has traditionally started in the Philippines with Palm Sunday being yesterday. Here are Figaro‘s lenten special offerings for their customers to keep them satisfied without the guilt. 🙂

Kani Sandwich

Figaro’s Kani Sandwich is filled with yummy crab sticks and garnished with lettuce and tomatoes in potato bread. Although the bread quality could still be improved, I love the generous serving of crabsticks in between. More than that, it tastes really good and satisfying with the light mayo dressing packing ’em all together.

At P179, it is served with a salad  of lettuce and ripe tomatoes on the side (again) which is different from the one with the crab sticks to further compliment the filling.

Figaro Chili Sardine Angel Hair Pasta

Chili Sardine Angel Hair Pasta

The chili is actually light, which is good for me. Figaro’s Angel Hair Pasta is mixed with Spanish sardines sauteed in garlic, olive oil, dried chili flakes, onions and black olives. Tossed in angel hair pasta., it is further garnished with finely-chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese. All the  ingredients and its flavors make the whole serving a little complicated to the taste but they all blend well together for that sophisticated taste.

“The saltiness of the fish melts with the sour and salty taste of the black olives exploding in flavors of the spices, onions, garlic and chili flakes,” says an article I read. At P180, it is served with 2 toast bread on the side and a choice of beverage from Figaro coffee or the new Figaro’s Summer Frosts.

Figaro Kani Sandwich

However, in the end, I’m not really a fan of Sardines so  I still prefer the Kani Sandwich. 🙂 Both are shareable enough with the Kani sandwich being served as a pair of triangular slices.

Figaro is going “Light for Life” with their Lenten special snacks that is Kani Sandwich and Chili Sardine Angel Hair Pasta.

It was my first time at Rai Rai Ken weeks ago. And one doesn’t go there without trying their ramen. 🙂

Rai Rai Ken

It was dinner time and I ordered Rai Rai’s Ramen Chasyu (Roast Pork). it was neatly served (photo above) in a big bowl.

It is a soy sauce based soup with slices of well, roast pork, a hard-boiled egg, and some vegetables. It was a good one. You’d know in the taste that it was an authentically prepared Japanese ramen. I came to know that authentic ramen is not easy to create as the soup alone takes hours to prepare. At P180, it is a filling and satisfactory meal.

Mixed Seafood Ramen

On the other hand, my friends had the Gomoku or the ‘mixed seafood‘ ramen which is composed of mixed seafood and also topped with egg and mixed vegetables.

My friend said it was also good and had generous servings of seafoods like shrimp, kani, and squid. Perhaps I will try that next time.

Rai Rai Ken Gyoza

To complement our meals, we had some sumptuous Gyoza and Jurassic Maki. The Jurassic Maki (P195) is like an inside-out roll with Ebi Tempura, salmon skin, kani stick, and ebikko, molded with mayonaisee and topped with an eel slice.

It tasted as good as it looked. 🙂

Jurassic Maki

Mango Shake

Rai Rai Ken Makati

I also had a cold mango shake to contrast my hot soup at the latter part. It’s highly recommended as well for its smooth-creamy texture.

We dined at their two-floor branch in Makati near our place (SM Hypermarket near  South Super Highway-Buendia corner). Rai Rai Ken is definitely worth going to for authentic Japanese ramen.

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.

Marriott Café comes up with another deliciously themed buffet – the Ocean’s Surf! It’s a seafood buffet with a wide spread of ocean treasures that’s sure to fill your Friday and Saturday nights at Marriott Hotel Manila.

Drunken Shrimp

At a conservative estimate, I think I had about 8 different shrimp dishes in that single night last weekend.

This seafood buffet included the classic drunken shrimp, fried drunken shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp skewers, Thai-style Shrimp kebab, shrimp salad, ‘Suahe‘, Shrimp & Oyster, and Seafood Risotto – whew! (I think I missed one) 🙂

They also had a drink called ‘Ocean Deep‘ which is a combination of blue lemonade with soda.

Crabs

Ocean's Surf Shrimp

Salmon & Shrimp Salad

The Drunken Shrimp was courtesy of Chef Brammer who hand-picked the live shrimps direct from the aquarium into the cooking pan, added the liquor, shook the mongkok, and added the spices.

Chef Brammer of Marriott Cafe

Of course there were other seafood dishes including a gigantic Fried Lapu-lapu, Rock Lobsters, Tempura, Salmon, and other fish dishes.

Sinigang na Salmon

Recommendations

Aside from the fresh and delectable shrimps, the Sinigang na Salmon caught my palate’s fancy.

I suggest you grill the lobster against eating it as it is. This could remove possible unlikely aftertaste.

The Shrimp & Seafood Risotto is also highly recommended that night. The sticky risotto mixes well with the creatures of the sea. 🙂

Rock Lobsters

Thai-style Shrimp Skewers

Salmon & Crabs

Seafood Risotto

You could also have a seafood-break once in a while with other preparations such as Roast Beef, pasta, pizza (which had seafood flavors as well), fruits, and desserts among others.

Roast Beef & Fruits Buffet

My 4-servings of plates excluding dessert

More Seafood...Giant Fried Lapu-Lapu & Tempura

finally... desserts 🙂

Lastly, buffet dining is always better as a group activity. 🙂 It’s always better to indulge with your relatives, friends, or loved ones. It’s something you don’t do alone or just in a pair.

Enjoying Marriott's Seafood Buffet - Ocean's Surf!

Marriott Cafe in Marriott Hotel Manila is open everyday from 6:30am to 11:00 pm. The Ocean’s Surf Seafood Buffet is available Fridays and Saturdays at P1,750 nett (adults) and Php875 (children). Children 12 years and below get in half the price, 6 years old and below get in for free.

For inquiries and reservations on Marriott‘s Ocean’s Surf Seafood Buffet, check out their website at http://mariott.com/mnlap or call (632) 988-999.