Yoji and the Foodies

Mango season is over.

Hello, Avocado!

I had guacamole in mind but that takes a little more effort. It’s amazing how a sprinkle of sugar could result into a refreshingly sweet avocado snack.

(Many people would like milk on their avocado, but my tummy and milk don’t get along).

Nestle’s ad says it all.

When the Hap Chan Las Pinas branch was opened to the public a couple years back, it was always packed with diners for a good 2 months.  Back then, the only restaurants worth visiting are those that have long been established, like Pancake House and Max’s Fried Chicken. People waited in anticipation for Hap Chan because it was far better than Chowking and Joe Kuan. The 2 fast food chains are not in the same league.

Every month, we’d go on Chinese food eating spree and Hap Chan is almost always the choice because of proximity to our place. Of course, if we have time to spare, we would go straight to Luk Yuen in Alabang.

After watching Harrison Ford eat noodles in the movie Blade Runner, I suddenly wanted a bowl of wanton noodles. This went on for 2 days. The craving just won’t go away. One cool Saturday afternoon, we decided to give in and eat noodles. So off to Hap Chan we went.

The noodles that haunted my days and nights:

We were kidding ourselves when we said we’d eat noodles only.

Sweet and sour fish fillet. Separate sauce  (I know it’s weird, but I really don’t like mixing in the sauce).

The appetizer came in late, not because of poor service, but because the fish fillet was gone too soon and we still have rice *lol*

Spareribs. Soo good.

Tea and Pepsi to end the glutton fest.

The Don has always been on the lookout for best tasting Bulalo down south of Metro Manila. Unfortunately, he has not found one and as a result, completely stopped searching…at least in the south area.  I seriously believe that a good bulalo is the one made by grandpa and nothing can beat it. So unless it’s from a family recipe, it wouldn’t taste right.

However, I also think that he’s looking at the wrong places! In my first attempt at finding that elusive bulalo, I think I had far greater success.

I went to this place: Manoy & Cucuz Panciteria

It’s primarily a panciteria but as you can see from the picture, they offer Filipino all time favorites and more. I ordered my bulalo and waited for 30 minutes or so. I don’t understand why it had to take that long but I figured it had to do with their ordering queue system. During that long wait, the orders for delivery come and go; mostly pancit in bilao and crispy pata. There were also walk-in diners and they ordered pancit and barbecue. People in fancy cars also came to buy crispy pig heads. Business is brisk. Good for them.

I was convinced that the food is more than decent. I wish I could say the same thing about the sanitation. Perhaps the owners could make more efforts to keep things clean. You need to be there to gauge if the sanitation practices would be to your satisfaction.

Anyway, the bulalo was a big hit.  The Don was thrilled and swore to leave the bulalo hunting to my capable hands. The soup was good but I was happy with the bone marrow. When we were kids, the elders call it “utak”. So for 10 years or so, I believed it was brain. I don’t know why they called it “utak” back then. Even the brain wouldn’t have this kind of texture.

Looking at it makes my artery clog. Of course, you need to eat this when it’s very hot and with plenty of rice and some greens from the bulalo. Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain eat them roasted and with bread.

Give me chicken, pork, or fish and I won’t have any problem turning it into something delectable.

Give me beef and I would ask somebody else to cook it. I am a complete failure when it comes to cooking beef. At one point, I have completely ruined a steak dinner. Steak is expensive and I understand completely. It takes a certain level of expertise to make it work. I, admittedly, do not have that expertise.

I have watched Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver cook steak in less than 10 minutes. They make it look easy, but that doesn’t help me.  The good thing is that I never stopped trying.

I found an inexpensive “mini steak” cut. I figured it’s best for beef strips or for tapsilog.

With salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and butter, this is the first “decent” steak that I cooked.

It goes well with rice, but I really like the lumpy “mashed” potato.  I want it sooo lumpy that I just boiled the potatoes, cut them in quarters, and mash them up. I added salt and pepper to taste and then slather with butter or margarine.

There’s hope yet.

When funds are low, I go to convenience stores to buy snacks. This afternoon, I found myself inside Finds Convenience Store in Starmall Las Pinas. The store is adjacent to Figaro, which is my favorite “hangout” if I want to be alone (or if there’s no wifi at home). Instead of Figaro’s 125-peso Cappucino Frost, I held in my hand a 28-peso Nescafe “slurpee”. It was not bad. It was just too sweet for my liking. And instead of the 80-peso pudding with vanilla sauce, I had this:

I am not certain if this is from the Ilustrado restaurant in Intramuros. This site seems to confirm the affiliation. For only 35 pesos, this tiny cake could beat the dry and mostly uninspired desserts in some posh coffee shops. I wonder how much this cake costs if I were to order from the restaurant.

I don’t exactly know the name of the cake. It could be caramel or toffee nut, or both. All I remember is that it’s moist, it’s nutty, and I just love the crunchy bits. Most importantly, it is not too sweet.

I hope the good people of Pasteleria Ilustrado don’t increase the price. And I really hope this wasn’t just a dream.. or a fluke…

Steaks Unlimited is the newest food establishment to open in SM Center Las Pinas. Naturally, the curious bunch would flock to the place like a moth to a flame.  Fortunately, we did not get burnt.  This means the food is not bad. It’s just very uninspired.

The Bulalo Steak (pictured above) tastes pretty much the same as the T-Bone steak pictured below.

For 98 pesos (the Bulalo at 108), they seem to think that shoddy presentation would suffice. The food is good for its price and we’d probably come back to try other dishes. I’m looking forward to eating the grilled squid. It’s the next best thing to eating Paul the Octopus.

So, I was looking forward to eating a McMuffin Big Breakfast so I can slather strawberry jam and butter on two pieces of English muffins, which I will eat independently of the sausage and scrambled eggs (i.e. not as a sandwich). To my horror, I was given this:

Err, you can see the garlic rice, yeah?

No offense to the folks who eat rice with  everything. I just don’t think this is a good match. Not at all. I could have asked them to replace it, but it was too late. Where to put the strawberry jam now? Sheesh.

While stuck in traffic, I saw this:

Fish on a stick, anyone?  Tee-hee

I’m not a big fan of minced garlic or powdered garlic in a bottle because they just don’t taste fresh. That changed when I got hold of Lee Kum Kee freshly minced garlic.

The easiest dish to cook to “break in” this minced garlic is Chicken & Pork Adobo.

Kikkoman Soy sauce + Lee Kum Kee garlic seem to be a perfect match

Minced garlic – up close

Don’t forget the peppercorn

Slow cooking

Saute & Fry

Chicken  Adobo

Pork Adobo

My adobo tastes even better with the minced garlic. I’m so thrilled!