A Sunday Lunch at SM Pampanga Foodcourt

Here we go.... as any normal catholic citizen would, after the Sunday mass, people would go to the malls or drop by fastfood centers. We opted to go to SM Pampanga to buy school shoes for the kids, among other things. What a way to charge up.... have a good meal which so much choices! Well, we picked up the Foodcourt and I was craving for a Sizzling Plate.

Before we went to the 2nd floor, we bought some California Maki from Tokyo Tokyo.

We ordered: Sizzling Porkchop, a meal with chuckwagon steak (burger) and chicken (I forgot the name) and surprisingly "Sizzling Kangkong". I grinned at my wife when I saw what was on our table. Here's what it all tasted like....

With the Sizzling Porkchop, it was a no-brainer. It was an easy satisfaction that would rival the Porterhouse or T-bone Steak. I mean the taste was its grilled best. And the gravy used complemented the yellow rice (it that StarRice? LOL!) and the buttered veggies. Nice....


Now the burger thingy with the chicken... Hmmm.... Errr... Ummm.... the burger seemed salty and it's not the gravy. I tasted the gravy separately that's why I know. It's with the burger mix. The chicken was somewhat dried due to overcooking and the side veggies was, forgive me for being true to my tongue, not good. Period. It tasted like it was prepared early morning and smelled that way too. huhuhuhu


So I turned my attention to the Sizzling Kangkong, and to my surprise, it was darn GOOD. It saved my usually remorseful taste buds from condemning the place. Heck, it was just a simple dish, right? But there is some sense of sweetness to the dish and the garlic bits were just right if not perfect. I ended up eating the whole dish.


With the full meal done, I was feeling okay and ready to go jogging, I mean shopping. Wait, there's still the Maki at the table. My wife was just finishing her plate and was ready to grab one. I had the first crack at the Japanese dish and..... .... .... .... ....


What happened to the Maki? Worse, is this Maki?

Sad to say, the usual sophisticated taste and feel of the dish went down. First, the rice lost its usual stickiness. The grains seem long and hard. I just hope this is not NFA rice for crying out load. When we usually eat Maki the rice is somewhat round and soft. Then the fish was like half it's usual serving and it appeared that the mango filing was used as an extender or trade off of some sort. Another knockdown, the Wasabi included in the box was like 2 pea sizes. It was weird, and I just thought that if the reason behind the drop in quality was the price, there should have been a disclaimer at the counter. We were robbed, if I may say.

And then I looked at the Kangkong plate and found two stems left. My wife smiled and knew what was on my mind.... If I were to wash down my taste bud revolt, I need to satisfy them. Slurp! Hmmm... yum.... oookay.... let's get going!

Toll House Nostalgia

Just last Saturday, my wife and I had a chance to drop by a known diner within Angeles City. Toll House was as I have remembered it as it has been almost a year since I last ate there.

We noticed that most of the waiters and waitresses are new, I told my wife that probably most of the originals may have already applied and found jobs abroad like in Canada and Dubai, where the food and dining industry is flourishing.

Nevertheless the ambience was the same and I noticed that since these servers are new, they are somewhat faster and more customer oriented (particularly with the requests e.g. toyo-mansi, pitcher of water, etc.).

Anyway, I again dared the challenge and ordered what I know as their specials. I ordered Baked Macaroni and my wife took the Fried Chicken Fillet. We noticed that the service was fast. Nice! Now the food.

Let's start with my order.... Baked Macaroni....


Uh huh.... Hmmmm.... Ummm... Yep! It tastes just as good as before. The cheese cream that rests on top of the macaroni was its usual buttermilk taste. Plus the meat sauce's still has its sweet and added mild tang to complement the small chunks of meat. The macaroni was cooked to my palatable favor. I would say it was "Delectable". Imagine finishing the whole serving just before you have your first sip of iced tea. Aaaaahhh....

Now for the Fried Chicken Fillet meal.... the most obvious thing about it is that the serving size gotten smaller. The chicken fillet... the rice.... no coleslaw!... and sniff.... the macaroni side dish was like two teaspoonful serving. LOL!


The crispiness and texture of the chicken was there (even with the small serving size). But the gravy seemed to be a little more salty than usual. The rice serving was lesser, and I was joking that either the one who prepared the meal overlooked it or the place was also affected with the rice shortage. hehehe. Nevertheless, the meal was still tasty and my wife was even able to finish her plate (that's a complement).

Maybe next time we drop by we'll also try on their other available meals. And oh, don't forget to buy the cupcakes!

Have you tried Kalamay Duman?

After an afternoon powernap, I urged my wife to drop by Susie's Delicacies as I was suddenly craving for pancit palabok. We got up and the kids and drove down to Dau to get a merienda munch.

Actually, what was on my mind was not just to eat palabok but to again have a taste of the new "Kalamay Duman". We went to the original Susie's store in Angeles and found out about it. However the first time I tasted it, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. Thinking that it might be caused by the kalamay being a new trest, I vowed that I would have a repeat to validate my gustatory theory....


I knew the smell especially the taste of the special green rice since I grew up having it as an afternoon treat. Well not that frequent, but at least I could still recall every flavor. I remember my grandma would buy 2 servings of duman from peddlers within the Holy Rosary Church compound after mass. So that experience I used to test Susie's experiment...

Alas, it confirmed my initial theory. It was sad to admit that the flavor of the green rice was lost. That particular aroma and taste, it was not there! After repeated tasting and scavenging the delicacy, I think I found the reason why....




The kalamay was probably mixed with heavy coconut milk and the oil of the "Latik" (fried coconut milk) was just too much and overpowered the delicate aroma and flavor of the duman. It was in fact "Kalamay" and intended to be that way. Not special.


I hope someone out there could use this observation to create a unique recipe that would allow the Duman to shine. If so, I definitely would like to try it. I'd give you my honest to goodness feedback for free. Deal?

So in the end, I just savored the palabok to ease my dissatisfaction... hmmmm nice chicaron chunks. hehehe

I had my fill for the day.....

A sip at Seattle's Best

Had an opportunity to grab some coffee prior to my trip back home after a gruelling night shift at PBComm1. I had enough burgers and sandwiches and I urged my boss to drop by Seattle's Best to try out their coffee. To be honest, this is my first time to taste one of their concoction and it swirled this idea of logging it in my blog after wards.

I ordered a Javanilla milkshake and a corned beef pandesal to satisfy my breakfast needs. Poured in some cinnamon and nutmeg (i like adding those to my coffee, be it hot or cold) and stirred the cream down to smoothen the mixture.

The pandesal was okay. I just wished that there really was corned beef in there as there was hardly any. I guess that was the price to pay to eat in Makati's busy district. Either that or I got used to me helping myself with a good serving. Hehehe

Now the milkshake: First sip... Second.... 3rd.... 4th... Yup, consistent taste... coffee was there... However, I was looking for a defining words to give justice to the coffee and only found "tastes like Starbucks". I know, I know.... fanatics might word me down on this, but I am entitled to my own opinion especially if it comes from my senses, right? Sorry, but that came immediately on my mind after multiple sips. I was trying to find a different taste and was disappointed to have found none.

What was great though is that the WiFi connection was free. After finishing my weak pandesal, I enjoyed sipping my iced coffee while browsing the net. Too I wasn't able to log to blogger immediately as my service came. It would have been a real time treat to read this comment after finishing my drink.

Price for the Javanilla drink was P145 and the darn pandesal was P60. Might be good for you. But once I get back home, I'll just enjoy my Mocha Frappe and Donut from Starbucks. I could save around P10-20 with the same level of pleasure. Hehehehe

taste test.... taste test...

Hi! Are you hungry? Did you eat already? Well I was about 30 minutes ago and had a decent meal at our canteen. It was nothing grand nor to salivate for.

It was plain old canteen food. Heck, with 40 bucks in my pocket and the rising cost of transportation, I would keep my usual "critique-al" taste buds from complaining. Huhuhuhu.... Still a few more days before pay day so I could again be on a food trip.

Anyway, I started this blog after seeing some on the Internet and thought, "Hey, I could also do that!" And with a knack for munching and savoring the different flavors, aroma and texture.... heck, someday I can be like Jeffrey Steingarten of the Iron Chef fame. Darn, I envy him for tasting good food for free and even get paid for it.

Oh well, in my world... I'll feed you with my thoughts and my reactions to the different delicacies available.... whatever that I choose.... "straight to the smucker" feedback.

hehe.... grumble..... grumble....