Entries Tagged 'The Fort' ↓

Texas Roadhouse Grill became one of my top choice in steak restaurants since I discovered their Bonifacio High Street branch back in April of 2008. Their grill menu is made of win and their steaks are imported from the US.

All the while, I didn’t know until a few weeks ago that they have an Ortigas branch at El Pueblo as far back as November 2007.

Anyhow, as I expected, dinner was awesome. I don’t really eat that much during dinner but this one is irresistable. It’s good that I was with friends to share the large servings. Allow me to share the three main stars of that night:

Shrimp and Salmon Skewer

Shrimp & Salmon Skewer

Three skewers of shrimp and salmon. Three medium shrimps and two chunks of salmon on each stick to be exact.

It’s good that the salmon was still juicy, despite being grilled; coz others fail at that.

Herbs and spices are visibly sprinkled on top. Texas rice, the sauce, and some veggies complete your serving of Shrimp Salmon Skewer.

Priced at P420 (US$9), it is also a ‘Sheriff’s Recommendation.’

Jesse James Sampler

Jesse James Sampler

Texas Road house Grill’s Jesse James Sampler is a combination of three starters : Chicken Tenders, Buffalo Wings, and Wild Cheese Fritters.

I love the cheesy-ness of the Wild Cheese Fritters, the other two are so-so. The serving size is not that much also since it’s just a starter and the three had to share plate space; not to mention the three types of dips/sauces occupying the middle area. :)  P375 (US$8).

The Great Ribeye

The Great Ribeye

This is it. It’s not called The Great Ribeye for nothing.

The Great Ribeye is a 10 oz. US ribeye steak seasoned with herbs and garlic. You have the option to have it cooked rare, medium rare, medium, medium well or well done. We had ours at medium well. The meat was so tender and juicy; but of course we already know this.

The chef generally advised to shy away from ordering well done steaks to be able appreciate the tenderness of the meat.

Texas Roadhouse Grill in El Pueblo, Ortigas

The large serving took the three of us to shared it and almost had leftovers. However, with a big size also comes a great price (it rhymes!). 🙂 P1100 (US$23.50) might sound expensive but the size and quality of the beef makes it worth it.

It also comes with a serving of mashed potato and veggies; another ‘Sheriff’s Recommendation.’

Texas Road house Grill in Ortigas is open daily from 11 am to 12 mn Sundays to Thursdays but until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays (Tel. nos. 635-6715 to 16).  The Bonifacio Global City branch in Taguig can be found at Bldg 1, Bonifacio High Street. They have the same operating schedule.  (Tel. nos. 856-1547 to 48).

It’s ‘yeehaw‘ time at Texas Roadhouse Grill. nomnomnom 🙂

Balut is a Philippine street fare which is rarely welcomed by foreign tastebuds, especially when they are oriented on what it is.

Philipine Balut

Balut is fertilized duck embryo, cooked, kept warm, and usually sold as street food.

The concept is generally a taboo in western countries but also available in other south east asian neighbors like Vietnam and Laos. A famous source of balut in the Philipines is Pateros where incubation and selection of the eggs are carefully done.

NomnomClub.com @ WordCamp Philippines 2009

Eating balut has also been featured in a number reality-TV series as part of daredevil tasks like Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor. It is also considered an aphrodesiac.

In a WordCamp Philippines 2009 conference held last Saturday, we had Beau Lebens and Seth Bindernagel as guests speakers from WordPress and Mozilla, respectively.

WordCamp Philippines 2009

On a gathering at the night after the wordcamp conference, a balut vendor passed by Whistlestop where we were having our dinner. And being foreigner and guests, we dared them to take on a balut-eating challenge. Seth was game and ready, although Beau needed a little more convincing.

The Japanese guy, also from Mozilla, was tough. He compared the probable experience to Japan’s serving of fish sperm. This totally deserves a completely separate blog (perhaps next time). 🙂

Seth Bindernagel

Anyhow, it was Autralia versus the USA with Seth on the right corner and Beau on the left. The Wordcamp organizers, volunteers, and friends taught them the step by step procedures as to how to eat a balut and proded them on in the process mentioning “don’t look” (at the embryo) so as not to visually discouraged them. LOL.

How To Eat A Balut

1. Lightly tap the tip of the egg shell on any hard surface just like a hard boiled egg. This is done with caution so as not to spill the young duck’s juice.
2. After a hole has been punctured, one could immediately sip the warm juice. The broth essence is full of protein.
3. Peel off the rest of the eggshells to reveal most parts of the yolk and the young chick.
4. Give it a dash of salt to enhance the flavor. The embryo is slightly moist as some of the juice still remains. This is perfect for the pinch of salt to mix with.
5. Eat while still warm. Swallowing it whole is possible but bite-after-bite is recommended. (do not forget to remove the “white part” which is hard and rubbery – this part is not eaten as it is hard to digest).
6. Congratulations! You have just proven that you are as tough as the Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor contestants! 🙂

Peel off the Balut Shells

Add a Pinch of Salt

Chew Away 🙂

With the recent interest in balut, the delicacy has found itself  served in different ways including as appetizers in restaurants, preserved in bottles, or cooked as adobo. Unsold balut in the streets are eventually fried and sold as a different delicacy alltogether.

Here’s a video of the “How To Eat Balut” incident.:

A good tip is to choose your balut young, with the embryo as undeveloped yet as possible. This means that the young chick is “not yet” a chick. Otherwise, you’ll feel some feathers/hair in your tongue or end up chewing out the balut‘s “beak“. Eeewww. LOL. 🙂 Nomnomnom.

Light finally shed on the drumbeat on the recent “Let There Be White,” today. It was Red Ribbon‘s newest cake – the White Forest.

Inspired from Black Forest

It was named so as it was inspired from the Black Forest Chocolate Cake of which Red Ribbon has been greatly known for and has become a classic cake through the years. With the release of the White Forest, it aims to tap the white chocolate lovers out there in a similar way.

The White Forest is a light combination of white chiffon layers and cherry bits filling. Covered with light cream all-over and held by sweet wedges of premium white chocolate, the White Forest is also adorned by whole red cherries on top.

It is one of the softest and lightest cake I have ever tasted. In Filipino, “Hindi siya mabigat.” (It is not heavy)

Unlike other cakes, the White Forest is both light and soft which does not overpower the meal you just had. A friend remarked that it does not have the “liquor after-taste” apparent in the Black Forest; which she liked.

White Forest - Red Ribbon

Price

A junior sized cake is priced at P335 while the regular one is at P560.

In summary, I think the White Forest is perfect for the white chocolate lovers out there; or simply those looking for a soft and light cake that would deliciously cater to their sweet desires. Nomnomnom. 🙂