Entries Tagged 'Casual' ↓

I first ate at Panciteira Lido early this year at their SM Fairview branch. I wasn’t aware then of its other branches.

Chami Special

The first one I tried was their evidently signature dish – Pugon-Roasted Asado – which was prominently displayed in their restaurant walls.

The Chami Special (pancit) had an almost equal billing but I only took the pugon-roasted asado for take-out. Chami is their best seller in the pansit category.

When I reached home, I was no less than satisfied as the pork loin was roasted in a pugon, (old-fashioned brick oven) marinated with secret ingredients and aromatic flavors concocted by Panciteris Lido’s first chef – Chef Lido – more than 70 years ago. The pugon-roasted pork asado came with a sweet sauce complementing the roasted aroma.

Steamed Fish Fillet

The Pugon-Roasted Asado is truly something unique, not only among Chinese restaurants, but all local restaurants here in the Philippines. The closest I could think of is Raviolli Bistro‘s pugon pizza and Pan De Manila‘s pugon pandesal. 🙂 But those are wheat-based products so baking it in pugon is not a surprising option.

I never got the chance to get back to SM Fairview since then.

But a few days ago, I found out that they also had a branch in Capitol Towers along E.Rodrigues avenue in Quezon City (across Trinity College).

This time, I tired more dishes including Steamed Fish-Fillet in soy sauce (P255), Chami Special (petit-P112), Drunken Lechon Macau (P257), Shrimp Balls (P275), Poached Tofu (P105), and of course, 1/4 kilo of Pugon Roasted Asado (P267).

Shrimp Balls

Syphon-Filtered Coffee

The meal was capped with Panciteria Lido’s very own syphon-filtered coffee; a full bodied cup of coffee which they introduced since 1994.

Poached Tofu

Coming from a Chinese family, the Chinese cuisine was  a familiar taste. All the above mentioned dishes were outstanding especially the Shrimp Balls, the crispy Drunken Lechon Macau, and of course the signature pugon roasted asado pork. Only the poached tofu needs more improvement. In fairness, selecting tofu from the market and cooking them is quite tricky. You should be able to maintain its soft texture through proper storage and careful cooking.

Panciteria Lido E.Rod Branch

I also got to know that the E/Rodriguez branch only had a small space because the bulk of its sales come from deliveries. Business seem to be good indeed with brisk orders from both dine-in customers and loyal clients who orders kilos and kilos of pugon roasted pork asado and prefer to eat them in the comfort of their homes.

As a natural consequence, Panciteria Lido is in the road to expansion as they have a new upcoming branch in BF Homes Paranaque that is due to open by August 08, 2010.

They have also opened up their system to franchising. In fact, the aforementioned Paranaque branch is a franchise.

The typical branch similar to the one in E.Rodrigues can be estimated at 4 million in franchise investment including all kitchen equipments and total store construction.

It’s a well-priced investment since all is taken care of from equipments to construction and design. With an estimated 3-year return on investment, you just have to find a jackpot location for your intended Panciteria Lido franchise. 🙂

Panciteria Lido

Panciteria Lido also delivers within the 1.5km radius with a minimum purchase of P300. For your Pugon-roasted asado, call 414-5436 (Panciteria Lido Delivery Telephone Number).

It’s D-Day today, Dad’s Day! And with the fathers on mind, Melo’s Steakhouse has prepared something special for the man of the house – Steak Ala Dad.

Melo's Steak Ala Dad

Known initially to be the first restaurant to serve certified Angus Beef in the Philippines, Melo’s now also features Wagyu beef. And speaking of Wagyu, Steak Ala Dad is Melo’s latest creation to commemorate all the fathers for their hard work and sacrifices. I’ve tried it myself a few days ago in Melo’s Makati and the steak is soft and luscious just as what I expected from Melo’s. Although it’s my first time in Makati, I have tried Melo’s in Quezon City near ABS-CBN.

“We came up with our own Fathers’ Day Special which is certified to make the man of the house melt,” shared Melo’s Marketing Manager Carolina Santiago Macasaet, daughter of owner Carmelo L. Santiago, known as “Melo”.

Personally, I appreciate Melo’s personalized service in making sure that the steaks served in our tables were carefully cooked and grilled according to our liking. You can have your steak cooked in any level but I suggest you have them medium rare to have the firm surface while maintaining the soft meat inside. The Wagyu tenderloin is wrapped in bacon and sits on a serving of mash potato, some vegetables including carrots and asparagus, and mushroom porcini sauce.

Melo's Father's Day Special - Steak Ala Dad

Watch out as we’ll be featuring more of Melo’s new Wagyu variants soon. Subscribe and be updated!

Melo's Jupiter in Makati

So in case you’re browsing for a good place to treat dad on his special day, give him a taste of Steak Ala Dad which is in line with Melo’s expertise of the tastiest steaks, and perhaps follow it with Red Ribbon‘s Father’s Day Cake as well for a sweet finish. 🙂

Don’t have a gift for Dad yet for this weekend’s upcoming Father’s Day?

Red Ribbon Father's Day Cake

Does daddy have a sweet tooth? Even if not, Father’s Day might just be the best excuse for you to get you cake fix! Red Ribbon releases their Father’s Day Cake starting tomorrow!

From June 18 to June 20, delight your Dad with a specially designed Father’s Day cake from Red Ribbon at P550. Decorated like Dad’s polo shirt, the 8″ chocolate cake is wrapped in fondant icing made extra special. 🙂

In a recent Jollibee Breakfast Joys breakout party, Jollibee introduced their new Sausage and Egg Pandesal with a surprise performance involving the members of the media.

Jollibee Breakfast Joys Breakout with Bloggers Arpee, Ryan and Eric

Jollibee Sausage and Egg Pandesal

It came as a surprise when fellow morning diners and strangers begun standing up, singing, and dancing. This was followed by media practitioners from print and TV. Then suddenly, fellow bloggers Eric, Arpee, and Ryan who were with us at the table, also broke out into a song and dance number.

Jollibee Breakfast Meal

The Jollibee Sausage & Egg Pandesal I was holding almost fell of my hand. However, naturally, I had to put it down for a while as my blogger instincts kicked-in and powered up my camera – I took pictures and a video of the once-in-a-lifetime chance to record a song and dance number by some of the most prominent food bloggers in the country. 🙂

Here’s the short video of fun and celebration :)  :

Jollibbe Breakfast Joys Breakout Event

And yes, the new Sausage and Egg Pandesal is Jollibee‘s morning breakfast answer to McDonald‘s Sausage McMuffin with Egg. 🙂

By good fortune and friend Rowena, I recently had a satisfying lunch at 22 Prime in Discovery Suites at Ortigas, Pasig.

22 Prime Wines

I was ecstatic when the invitation came as I am aware of 22 Prime‘s reputation including a recent distinction including the recent Gold Spot Awards recognizing Manila’s Best Restaurants which I also covered. 22 Prime won in the Best Steak House category, as they also did the previous year.

The star of the day was 22 Prime’s Australian Tomahawk Chop.

It all begun when Discovery Corporate Chef – Chef David Pardo de Ayala, presented the Tomahawk Chop in its raw form and enormity – including the extra-large rib bone (in photo).

“Wow, that’s what we’re having for lunch in a while!” I said in my mind. 🙂

Australian Tomahawk Chop

It’s a 1 kilogram 6-star tenderplus Australian Beef Rib Eye Steak. You don’t actually order it by ‘serving‘ since each individual will have varying capacity to consume the Grilled Tomahawk Chop. But I say, on the average, you could share it with 4 of your other friends. 🙂

Chef David Pardo de Ayala

Chef David adds that meat should be prepared in room temparature before cooking.

This helps the cook have more control on the cooking temparature and hence achieve the desired browning of the outside meat.

When asked about his secret, “It’s all about the meat – quality, sourcing, and how it’s prepared“.

And so the Grilled Tomahawk Chop was finally served.

It came sliced with a casserole of baby vegetables and a bowl of Caesar Salad of which 22 Prime is also famous for.

Grilled Tomahawk Chop with Vegetables and Caesar Salad

Verse 1 by Brookland Valley

As expected, the beef rib eye steak was juicy and its prime cut meat, tender.

The sides and the Caesar Salad are also commendable.

At P4800, this specialty menu is paired with a bottle of Verse 1 Cabernet Sauvignon wine by Brookland Valley to complete the meal.

22 Prime in Discovery Suites

Get your power lunch or filling dinner of the Grilled Tomahawk Chop as this is only available starting today, June 1 until June 15, 2010.

22 Prime is located at the 22nd Floor of Discovery Suites. For reservations, call 683-8222.

East for Eastwood, that is. About a month ago, I found myself with some friends trying out the new Korean restaurant in Eastwood City Libis, Quezon City – Kogi Bulgogi.

Kogi Bulgogi Appetizers

They are conveniently located at the second floor of the new Eastwood Mall. Because of our large group, we had to dine alfresco. From the outside, the interior looks simple but stylish and cozy.

Now, the food. We started with the traditional Korean complimentary appetizers consisting of potato slices, crispy dilis, string beans, vegetables, and of course – Kimchi.

We had the pan fried Korean Tofu Steak and California Roll for appetizers. The fresh crabsticks, mango, cucumber strips and rice rolled in fish roe packs the California rolls.

Tofu Steak

California Roll

Japchae Noodles

Japchae Noodles (stir fried vermicelli) with beef and mixed vegetables came next. Japchae noodles never fail me as I love the soft noodles made flavorful with the spices.

The main dishes came in droves with Chicken Kalbi, Bulgogi, and Kimchi Rice served at the same time. There was an instant rush of desire to indulge but we had to restrain ourselves and take some photos first (blogger’s nature).

Chicken Kalbi is a set of grilled spicy chicken thighs accompanied by three sauce variants (which I cannot remember anymore 🙂 ) while Bulgogi is marinated beef with mushrooms. The owner also mentioned that the beef they use are all imported US Prime.

Chicken Kalbi

Bulgogi

The stir-fried Kimchi Rice came with pickled cabbage, white radish, and cucumber flavored with garlic, green onion and chili pepper.

Dulsot Bibimbap

The highlight of the dinner for me would be the Dulsot Bibimbap (Beef with raw egg). Bibimbap is steamed rice with beef, seasoned vegetables, and egg served in a heated stone pot.

The dish is served with ingredients neatly placed separately within the bowl. The traditional prepration is to stir-mix all the ingredients inside the bowl and pour the raw egg while it is smoking hot. This will lightly coook the egg which mixes well with all the ingredients (top photo).

After dinner, as the usual me, I was already anticipating dessert. However, my seatmate Rowena enlightened me that traditional Korean cuisines are not actually fond of the usual sweet desserts we Filipinos are used to. They are usually limited to simple servings of mixed fruits. With this, I managed my expectation and realized that this is the reason their menu is not fond of desserts.

Kogi Bulgogi Eastwood City

Expect the possibility of some changes in their menu as they were only about a month in operations when we dined in (which makes two months as of this writing). The serving sizes are also good for two to three persons only. We failed in this area as there were five of us in the table. It’s good that there were a number of dishes.

Overall, it was a good Korean dinner at Kogi Bulgogi highlighted by the Bibimbap. 🙂

I was recently invited by a friend to try out Angel’s Pizza Pasta in their Ortigas-Pasig branch at CityGolf Plaza , Julia Vargas Ortigas Center corner meralco Avenue beside Ortigas Home Depot.

It was a simple and homey pizza store with enough space for about 20 dine-in customers. My friend also mentioned that Angel’s Pizza * Pasta * Combo‘s owners were previous franchisers of the Domino’s Pizza we were familiar with a few years back.

They offer 11 variants of original hand-tossed pizza in Medium, Family and Big Family sizes with price range from P249 to P555.

We tried out a number of pizza from their menu including Tuna Pesto and the flagship Extra Feast; but two variants caught my attention well.

Angel's Double

First was the Angel’s Double Cheesy Melt. Angel’s Double are double-decker thin crust pizzas with literally two kinds of pizza on top of the other for a standard Big Family size (P599 ).

Tthe Angel’s Double Cheesy Melt consists of Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese on top and a spread of pepperoni between the 2 thin crusts. This reminded me of what I sometimes do with my pizza – having two slices and making a sandwich out of them; although this time with two different flavors 🙂

Angel's Double Cheesy Melt

As far as I know, this is the only pizza chain which offers this style of pizza preparation. The other two Angel’s Doubles flavors are BBQ and Cheesy Burger.  You could also order three extra sauces namely: sour cream, cheddar and tangy tomato.

Second to surprise me was the Angel’s Style hand-tossed pizza. It has the usual pizza toppings such as Mozzarella cheese and onion (mushroom too) but what sets it apart are the chicken chunks in barbecue sauce! Yummy! To put it plainly and direct to the point, NomNom recommends this for the pizza lovers with discriminating palates. 🙂 I so love it!

Angel's Style

The Angel’s Style pizza is available in size choices of 14“, 12 Slices(₱555), 12“, 8 Slices(₱435), 9“, 6 Slices(₱315).

My imagination wishes for an Angel’s Doubles of Angel’s Style – that would be a truly doubly amazing combination!

Angel's Style with Chicken Barbecue and Angel's Double

As of this writing, my fingers are itching to call their delivery hotline  922-22-22, but I know there’s none near me; yet. However, they have  branches in Makati, Kalayaan QC, Pasig, Sucat Paranaque, Fairview, Recto, Malate, UN Avenue, and Dagupan.

Most of their stores are for take-out only with a few dine-in stores  like the branch where I had my pizza in Ortigas (I also hope they can fix the air conditioning system immediately).

Angel's Pizza * Pasta * Combo

Angel’s Pizza Corp Stores PROMOS
Buy 1 Take 1 Promo
(DI – dine in;  TO– take out; DE – delivery)

Makati Store
10am-1pm DI TO DE
12mid to 3am DI TO only

Kalayaan Store
10am to 1pm DI TO DE

Fairview Store
All day dine-in/take-out only —Buy BF free BF
10am to 1pm DI TO DE

Pasig Store
10am-1pm DI TO DE
10pm-12mid DI TO DE

Sucat
10am-1pm DI TO DE
10pm-12mid DI TO DE

Recto
10am to 1pm DI TO DE

Malate
All day B1T1-DI TO DE

SM Advantage Card, Prestige, BDO Rewards cardholders & Boardwalk members get 20% discount on every pizza purchase or get free Medium Pizza for every purchase of Big Family Pizza in Angel’s Pizza Pasta Combo.

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The Philippine national weather agency recently announced that the Philippines will experience a lengthened summer extending from May to end of June.

Figaro Summer Frost Peach Lychee Sunrise

This means that the 38 or so degrees Celsius temperature everyday would most likely to be experienced up to next month.

Thank goodness that in this country, drink coolers abound. One such to be sought for is Figaro‘s Summer Frost line of icy cool drinks to quench that heat-drenched throat.

Figaro Summer Frost Summer Beverages

Figaro‘s Summer Frost is a mix of finely blended ice for that smooth refreshing gulp that comes in three varieties namely Watermelon Grape Breeze, Green Apple Cucumber Whirl, and Peach Lychee Sunrise.

Having tried all those three, my favorite is the sweet Watermelon Grape Breeze with grape skin fiber. Peach Lychee comes next with the strong lychee flavor and finally the Green Apple Cucumber.

Try one now as Figaro‘s summer quencher Summer Frost is available only until June 22, 2010 at P125 each.