Trying Japanese Fusion at Mangetsu

It was a rainy Friday evening when my lovely friend, Nice,  invited us to Mangetsu on the eve of her birthday. Mangetsu is a chic Japanese fusion restaurant.

That evening,  I was late. I had to wait for the dear M so we could go together for dinner. Plus metro people, you know  what it means to get a cab on a Friday evening, yes? Horror. I had to surrender to a harassed Mom and a couple of shorts clad teenage girls at the cab drop off point. Plus, it was drizzling, etc and more excuses. :D

It's a good thing we still had some dinner left when we arrived. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at Mangetsu's doorstep were the colors of the place. Truly Japanese. Grays, beige, blacks and reds.  I felt like we were back in Tokyo ( we were there last November, remember?) I loved the feel of the place. So authentic. We were brought up to the second floor where the gang was waiting at a reserved area. Cool. Privacy!

When we got to the tables, I gushed on the dinnerware. Sigh... lovely.

I am particularly enamored by this pretty plate.

And check out the cutlery. They use this really tiny slotted spatula as serving spoon. 

The little bowl beside it is a condiment bowl. Cutie!

Wait.  Food. 

Sushi platter

Too bad I didn't have some of this. I'm trying to avoid raw fish as much as possible for health reasons. 

Oh, but I was really tempted.

Sukiyaki

This is a classic Japanese noodle soup with beef ,tofu, and leeks and lightly seasoned 

with soy sauce and mirin. It was okay. There's better somewhere. But kudos to the staff for reheating it for the latecomers like us. Service is good :)

Tori Karaage

Fried chicken. Good. This one was really tasty. And the prawn chips on the side was a hit!:)

Cheese Tofu Gratin




The piece de resistance. This is composed of tofu blocks swimming in a pool of spiced mozzarella cheese . I suspect the spice is nacho chips! It's soooo good, and when you get a block of tofu, the cheese stretches like forever! Ah, fusion! Oh, and check out the spatula again :) 


I wasn't there when they were ordering so I wasn't able to peek into the actual menu. But they do have a website. 


You will also enjoy their artworks. I did! I love Japanese art.
 It's so detailed, and yet simple. 
So calm, yet colorful. 

This is my Cinco de Mayo foodtrip because my friend's birthday falls on the 5th of May. 
Happy birthday again, Nice!

Shopping

My favorite form of shopping is at the grocery. :D It is where I am most relaxed. At other shopping areas, I can be quite tense... almost always afraid to make the wrong choices. But at the grocery-wow! I can be quite thorough and at the same time relaxed. :D

So anyway, I chanced upon Mr. Marketman and was inspired by his post on buying produce. I used to buy at Waltermart when we were still living at Pasong Tamo, until I discovered Landmark. I loved the wider selection, and cheaper products there. I still prefer this grocery for their vegetables and fruits. However- since we moved to Taguig, I frequent Market Market more. I have yet to compare the prices of the produce from here and the other groceries.

So, inspired by Marketman's post, the top 10 produce on my list would be:

1. Bananas

2. Garlic

3. Lettuce

4. Cucumber

5. Tomatoes

6. Ampalaya (Bitter gourd)

7. Apples

8. Carrots

9. Ginger

10. Sweet Peas

So, this is weekly top 10 produce. Sometimes, I sneak in some really good grapes or citrus or strawberries, or whatever is fresh and in season. For meat, I usually buy some ground lean beef and pork steak cuts and some good fish fillet if I can't find any other fresh fish. For the good-but-bad-stuff, I buy some corned beef or hotdogs for breakfast. For healthy breakfast fare staples, I try to stock up on organic eggs and rolled oats. I've learned to like the taste of organic eggs, although they do have a slightly game-y aftertaste. As for oatmeal, I never liked it any other way but the old-fashioned rolled oats type. Also, I buy only the 2kilo bags of organic rice which can last for 2 weeks, so I get a fresh bag every 2 weeks.

And that's what usually fills up the grocery cart. :) What's yours?

Burger in Japanese

I first read about Sango at Our Awesome Planet. It didn't interest me as much as when I saw the place itself, on our way home. It was near our building! That got me searching for Anton's post once again and realized we had to try it!

Sango is a Japanese themed fastfood restaurant with burgers as its specialty. It is tucked right at the ground floor of the Creek Side Mall in Legaspi Village, which is a stone's throw away from the famed Little Tokyo. I wasn't able to bring my camera, but good thing our mobile phones are rightfully equipped. I used Mark's phone in this post.

There were a lot to choose from the menu which was highly similar to a regular burger joint. except that there were Japanese subtitles in it, and Japanese variations. There were also a handful of salads and pastas on the menu, and colorful shakes and slushies. We ordered their bestsellers- The Sango Master Cheeseburger and the Yakiniku Rice Burger.

The furnitures are so simple, almost Zen like in theme. There were Japanese posters and magazines all around, including posters of their bestsellers which I really really liked. In one corner, was a bulletin board full of printouts of blogs featuring their restaurant. Cool! :) Everything was nice but the smell. The whole place smelled of pungent food, in an enclosed and tightly air-conditioned space. Not very good ventilation.

Now let's go back to the food:

I lost my receipt, so I'll be relying on good ol' Munch Punch for the rates.
This is the Sango Master Cheese Burger at P128.
Not bad. Actually good. The fries were also yummy.

This is the Yakiniku Rice Burger at P109. I admit, I thought this would be another expensive version of something I had eaten before in the country's top fastfood joint.
But I am happy to inform you that it was not. The rice patties were sticky and good, the lettuce fresh, and the soft, thin strips of beef in teriyaki sauce... good, good, good!

Burp. Reasonably priced, double burp :)

Seeing Seryna Again

On Mark's birthday, he wanted to eat at Seryna. But because it was also Mother's Day at that time, we weren't able to get a table. Hence the week after, when his sister came over to Manila, we tried our luck again, and lucky we were!

We wanted to try their set meals or Gozen at P320 per set...

Sister-in-law got the Tonkatsu Gozen or the breaded pork set

Mark is a seafood fan, so he got the Kaisen Gozen, an assortment of sashimi.
There was a lot going on in there. It was truly a feast.

While I, an averred beef lover, got the Sukiyaki Gozen....

Yumminess!

there was even some miso soup to warm the tummy.

and of course, japanese rice is always a winner!

I was quite surprised with the potato salad side dish.
I didn't know this would be part of a regular japanese meal,
but it was truly yummy!
Cold and tasty!


Excuse me, but I was quite amused with the rest room.
I guess, it is essential for a good restaurant to have an equally enjoyable restroom.

Have a good week ahead!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

... or Kung Hei Fat Choi or however else you greet Happy New Year in Chinese. :) And because of this, I am posting our latest Chinese food venture. This is not so recent though.

We ate at Luk Yuen after a grueling half day drive from Baguio last December. And because we loved our Chinese soup adventure in the City of Pines (hmmm, on second thought.. I should post that too! Next time!), we wanted to be comforted by some hot, soothing chinese soup after our drive.

Luk Yuen was the nearest one from home, a 5 minute drive to the Magallanes Subdivision food arcade. It was a big place. The food was okay. But for soup, we only ordered Corn Soup.

Pork Siomai P100

Steamed Shrimp Dimsum P90

Spareribs/Chicken Feet P140
Mark liked it. Hehe. Men.

This was my order- fried fish fillets with black bean sauce.
Surprisingly better than I expected. :)


The food, and place was alright. Chinese food is so ingrained in the Filipino system so much so that it has become easy for us to like. Although personally, I've tried better.

A Happy Breakfast Treat

First off, Happy New Year blogging world!

I know it's a late greeting, the first month of the year is almost ending (well, not yet really!). When Gracie asked where my posts have gone... I told her I've been doing people picture posts a lot lately, so my food posts had to wait a while.

But even then, I haven't stopped with my food trips.. oh no, definitely not. The past holiday season should have all of us binge-ing against our doctor's orders. And I'm pretty sure everyone's resolutions are to diet and lose weight. Haha! Good luck to all of us!

Kidding aside, before we went home to Cdo, Mark and I met up with his favorite cousin Lennie who is now based in Australia. She came home for the holidays and when we met up with her in the morning, she treated us to a hearty breakfast at Flapjacks.

Flapjacks is this brightly lit relatively new restaurant in the Greenbelt 2 strip, right beside Italianni's. Their space is not really very big, but the service was okay. I will not be able to post the prices or the exact names of each dish, because I was not able to get the receipt/journal . I can tell you though that the food was good. It's worth another try.

Further, I would also like to say that I am featuring breakfast fare for my first post of the year- it being the first meal of every day. Enjoy the shots and see you around!

Everything was good, but I really recommend their French Toast.
I so loved it!:)

My Favorite Steak Restaurant

Set atop Greenbelt 3 and overlooking the Greenbelt compound, we have found our favorite steak restaurant. Not only that, we love its location and its view... plus the Spanish mosaics on the wall.
Gaudi for me, is one of the best restaurants in town. Not only is their steak the yummiest, and their paella the best (well at least until I get to taste Senor Alba's), their service is really great!
Simply put, we just love Gaudi!!

We first had our Gaudi experience around 2 years ago. Since then, we've been just salivating over the thought of their Chuleton Villagodio- hands down my favorite steak dish. On this particular evening, we shared these treasures with Mark's Papa and sister. Let me show you what I'm talking about.

This is their bread- a big basketful of goodness.

Plato de Ibericos (P415.00)
The appetizer, an assortment of tapas and cheese.

Some buttered potatoes

Roasted pimientoes

Aaaaaah...
The Arros con Marisco (P700)!
This blurry picture contains mouthfuls of yummy saffron flavored rice. So much better than other paellas in town (again, until I try Senor Alba's).

Here comes the piece de resistance.. tadaah!
Blurry pictures (I was shaking with excitement, sorry!) of The Chuleton Villagodio.

Chuleton de Villagodio (P2597/1.06)
Perfect cuts of super tender Angus Beef , sprinkled with coarse sea salt, ....

... and grilled on a stone plate set on top of a tiny gas burner.

The blurry pictures doesn't stop me from remembering
how mouthwatering this experience was!

The Chuleton Villagodio is an experience worth having, albeit a very expensive one.
The order is charged per kilogram and there are different cuts of the meat. The servers will kindly show you a plateful of the raw version before they pre-cook it , so you can choose which ones you prefer (then you can have a chance of ordering the smaller, and maybe less expensive cuts, yay!).


And because Mark's sister was with us, it seemed fitting to order dessert with her around!
We wanted to try all their desserts, so we ordered the ....

Detodunpocu- a dessert sampler. What a big load of sweetness!

Oh, hello there my lovely choux!

The Chocolate mousse was also good!

Amici Again

It's always a happy eating experience at Amici! For this particular Friday, our friends Joan and Aldrie were nearby and were craving for Amici's pizza and gelato. We were so glad we didn't eat there the night before.

With two friends to share dinner with, we got to sample two pasta dishes and one pizza. Three dishes may seem sad for two men and two women with hearty appetites, but you know how the carbs puff up inside the tummy afterwards.

We ordered the following:

The Montanara (P180)
The vegetable pasta looked very interesting with the creamy tomato sauce. It was good, but not as good as the next pasta dish....

This one was a winner- The Salmone with Penne Pasta (P195). It seemed ordinary, but the salmon made the tomato sauce really yummy with the cheese. Very seductive pasta.

The Shrimp Pesto Genovese (P310)

Well, aside from the Salmone, this one was the regular champion. We always order this pizza whenever we go to Amici. The thin, crisp, wood-baked dough is not swimming in oil nor tomato sauce. It had just the right amount of shrimps and pesto. Yumminess.

Pistachio and Blueberry

And because Joan was with me to indulge in gelato, we ordered these treats. The shocking green one was Pistachio, while I suggested she order my favorite Blueberry.

Loved it all!:)

Cupcakes Sighted

I got my wish! I was craving for pretty cupcakes a few months ago, but all I could find were those online based homebakers who'd sell only one flavor for a dozen or less. No assorted ones or per piece buys. I don't have anyone else yet to share these sweets in the house, other than my husband. And to order at least 6 or 12 pieces would be too much and too expensive, not to mention unhealthy (hehe).

So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this stall at the Glorietta food court. I read about Frostings before in a very popular blog, but I thought these were to be found only within the Rustan's premises. It was very nice to see the stall at the Foodcourt looking so pretty like this,

Aren't they so pretty?

There were many flavors at different prices. Their cheapest cupcake was tagged at P35. Not cheap, but not that bad. Each cupcake is served in a pretty little dome for take-out. We tried the Lemon Meringue (P35).

Lemon Meringue

The cake base was very light like chiffon, but dense enough to hold the yummy frosting on top. The frosting was toasted meringue, and I liked it. It was a little too sweet for me, especially with the red raspberry shaped milk chocolate (or was it fondant?) on top, but it was okay. I haven't tried the other flavors yet. Maybe next time I'll try the Ube cupcake ;)

Power Breakfast

After our usual Saturday walk/jog, my Mark wanted to splurge on Italianni's for breakfast. He was gushing over their breakfast sets and the orange juice. The magic words for me were "orange juice. " ;)

So off we went in our jogging gear... at Italianni's Greenbelt 3. I think we were the first customers of the day, and it was nice to have the place all to ourselves.

Orange Juice
Nothing really special about this. In fact, it was a little sour. Must be from a concentrate.
We ordered The Eggs Benedict with Adobo, and the Filipino breakfast set.

The Filipino breakfast set
- omelet, garlic rice, corned beef, longganisa and watermelon wedges..whew!

The fruit dessert of the Filipino Breakfast set

Longganisa- good!

Now, for the eggs benedict with adobo flakes

This is a super eggy-dish!

cheesy, buttery fatty. hehe

This was a yummy dish, but it was too big and eggy for one person. Definitely not a breakfast for those who are conscious of their cholesterol and salt intake. I also think that service needed a little more warmth and improvement, after the price that we paid for this meal.

I think we needed to do more jogging after this .... ;)