Cafe Mediterranean

Finally! Cafe Med has opened a branch in the mall nearest me, albeit in a "cursed" space....hehe. Service was a bit unorganized but that's okay since they only opened this week anyway. One thing that bothered me though is that they didn't have receipts yet.
Anyways, here are what we ordered for a very late lunch and an early dinner.

Kofta Php 90

I wasn't sure on how to eat this. So we just rolled them into little balls. Good but I'd probably try all the other appetizers in the menu first before I order this again.

Special Falafel Gyro in Wheat Php 125

It was good, but hard to eat. Falafel are fried mushed garbanzo beans which they had rolled into balls. It really is very messy to eat. Maybe next time I'll eat the falafel seperately from the wrap? I don't know.haha

Special Roast Beef Gyro in Regular Break Php 90

All that business about special and regular cna be confusing. Special gyros mean that you have pickles and fries (2 pcs!) in the wrap. Plus, you could get your gyro in regular bread (white pita) or special bread (wheat). Confusing for the order takers.hehehe.... This one was easier to bite into, but had less of that distinct Mediterranean taste that one would look for when eating here.

Cena

*Detailed description of the cakes to follow.


After dinner, we proceeded here for dessert and drinks. Their dessert menu looked delectable! I was however only able to try the following:

Lava Cake Php 160

Look at the presentation of this.

Lava Cake too Php 160

And compare that to this. Same cake, totally different presentation

Oreo Cheesecake Php 160

Yum as always. Oreo cheesecakes are always the safe order when not sure of what dessert to have.

Ultimate Cheesecake Php 160

ULTIMATE! Came with strawberry, mango and blueberry dips!

Toblerone Cheesecake Php 220

Of course it was good. A little too sweet though.

Nachos Php 290

Great presentation! It was good but not unique. Best thing about it I guess would have to be the nacho chips.

Cena has live performers sometimes. When we were there, the two performing were quite good and pleasing to listen to. Cena is located at Greenbelt 2.

Cafe Bola

Had post- Christmas dinner here. Service was a bit slow. Most great dishes are found in 
their blackboard by the kitchen instead of the menu.

Kesong Puti Carozza Php 90

Good but serving was really small. It was described as "fried carabao kesong puti with tomato sauce and fresh basil."

Adobo Flakes with Kesong Puti Php 140

It was good but I liked World Topps' version much more. Kesong puti is a great match though.

Dulong in Creamy Garlic Sauce Php 155

This was amazing! I love dulong based dips, when my mom tries to immitate those at home, they end up having a very fishy taste and a scent to match. This however was so creamy and refreshing you would not be able to tell there was fish in the sauce if you had a blind taste test on it!

Branches of Cafe Bola are in Greenbelt 3 and Cubao.
 

Congo Grill

Service was soooo bad. It was so hard to grab the waiters attention, it took them
forever to serve our food, give us our menu, tissue and bill! We actually went here 
because one of us wanted to have the Sizzling Pork Sisig which was supposed to be 
their specialty. But lo and behold! It was not available! They also didn't have any
iced tea anymore at the time we started eating but was available by the time we
finished! Not coming back! The food wasn't that impressive anyway...

Crispy Beef Tadyang Php 225

Nothing special. Serving was small.

Kare- Kare Php 245

I wasn't a fan of their peanut sauce. It was too thick. There was a generous amount of meat here however.

Chicken Sisig

Didn't get to taste this. 

Halo- Halo Php 100

Half serving only.

They don't impose service charge and all the menu prices include tax already, so yey me!

Ristorante Italiano Capricciosa

Capricciosa 

Most people think that the food here is expensive, when in truth it's not. It seems to be expensive but that's because they have HUGE servings. Their regular servings of pasta which they say is good for 2 people, can actually feed 3-4, provided they order several more dishes! They're serving sizes remind me most of that in New York. Though this is an Italian restaurant, it is owned by Japanese and so don't be surprised to see a lot of Japanese diners here. :) Really yummy and would visit them sometime real soon... :)

Seafood Pasta (tuna,calamari,mussels in tomato sauce) Php 310

This is not what I ordered and yet I enjoyed it much more than I did what I got. The sauce is a tad spicy but I love it since it masks the off (lansa) taste of seafood.

Mushroom Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce Php 310

This was yummy too. Lots of different kinds of fresh mushrooms in the dish. What I love about this, was that the pasta was well coated with the sauce.

We ordered both in their regular sizes.

YOU are TIME's Person of the Year

"Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you."

Yes.  All fo us who spend countless hours creating, sharing, reading, commention on stuff online as Person(s) of the Year. And I think that it was a great decision; and 'we' do deserve it. To congratulations to you!

 

Red Kimono 2

All you can order from a pre-set menu!!!  Php 495 only!!! We tried:

Layered Spinach and Tofu

A delight as always!

Crunch Ebi Maki

Not as 'different' as I thought.

California Maki

A classic rendered perfectly.

Salmon and Cream Cheese Maki


Mixed Tempura

Nothing to say...

Beef Kamameshi

It was a must to order one of these as part of the buffet.

Gyoza

Oh yummy! Their goyza had more veggies than pork. Yey me!

Chicken Teriyaki

This was my fave out of everything we ate that night! The skin was perfectly toasted and the meat was very tasty!

Grilled Miso Chicken

A bit too bland for me.

Pork Ribs Teriyaki

Didn't like this at all.

Shitake Mushroom Tepanyaki

This was great!!! A bit too salty thought, best if you eat it with rice na lang!

Chicken Teriyaki

Tasted raw and bland. Definitely not for me.

Chocolate Balls

A bot too chewy. Had some strawberry syrup inside.

Vanilla Ice Cream

I know it's just plain vanilla. But it was so refreshing and soothing to have this, after all of that!!!

Teriyaki Boy

For a quick dinner we got:

Teriyaki Boy Chicken Php 145

Good as always. I love that marinade. Good enough for two.

Nasu Abura Itame Php 58
 
Just to have a burst of flavor in our meal. :)

Disturbing Sushi

In the same Market Market contest, there was ADOBO SUSHI, KARE KARE SUSHI and SINIGANG SUSHI...Out of sheer curiosity, coz I knew it couldn't taste good, I tried the Kare kare and Sinigang.......yuck....

Sinigang Sushi

I think what they did here was cook the rice in sinigang (tamarind) broth then roll it with kangkong and some meat. The rice was NOT cooked well. It was mushy yet the rice was still left grainy...

Kare Kare Sushi

This one they cooked the rice with some azuete I think. They then rolled it with some pechay and some meat. yuck......








 

Puff Puffs

 As promised, here  is a sample pic of the Puff Puffs

Good Burger

I've been passing by this place for four years now and I've never really given 
it much notice until another blogger tried it out and told all of us in the blogging world how good it was. Last weekend, since we held a bazaar really close to where it is located, I decided to give it a try.
I got the margherita burger for Php 75 (quarter pound chicken patty) 
and boy was I impressed!This was really good! The cheese was so tasty!! They did not scrimp 
on any of the ingredients and so I did not mind waiting 15 minutes for it! 
My burger supposedly had roasted tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella and cheese sauce. And I could
all taste those ingredients in my burger, as a one whole flavorful explosion in my mouth! I'm trying some more of this tomorrow and I can't wait!!!



the cheese!!!

and everything else!

Puff Puffs!!

Puff Puffs Gourmet Toppings and Cream Filling. Visit Market Market's activity center in the ground floor and try the food kiosks there all student run and sponsored by Nestle. They'll be there until Dec.9, Saturday. So hurry now and go try...

Puff Puffs Gourmet Toppings and Cream Filling!!! They're basically creampuff pastry shells stuffed with heaping amounts of cream or chicken! They are sooo good and for only Php10, you're sure to get your money's worth! Their variants are:


Chicken and Seafood Puffs

• Japanes Teriyaki Chikendo
  
• Chinese Lemon Chicken
  
• American Stlye Chicken Salad
  
• Seafood Barbecue
  

Fruits and Cream Filled Puffs

• Yummy Vanilla Bean
  
• Lucky Irish Cream
  
• Chocolate Bananarama
  
• Classic Peach Pie
  
• Dark Chocolate Truffle
  
• Strawberries and Cream
  

So go ahead, try them all! If you'd like to order any of these, just comment me from here and I'll be sure to get them to you!

Pictures and detailed comments to follow........ For now, go try it out yourselves!!!
 

Sacrificial Lamb (two times)

It's our sportsfest in school this week, and to avoid being branded a hypocrite, and 
since it was my last year, I decided to join a game....After much thought, I signed up
for dodgeball. We adapted the style from the dodgeball movie (which I have yet to see)
and not the  one we used to play in grade school wherein there was only one ball being passed around and one team enclosed the other team in a square where theywere all inside,
ready to be hit.
That day came, and I participated, I think I helped more by cheering when I wasn't in the round 
than actually playing the game. Anyway, what's important is that we won. The following day, we were supposed to play the championships. I already said that I couldn't because I had a class on the time the championship round was to be played.
Well, come my exam, I finished it in like 20 minutes (and I took my time na with that ha!) when it was supposed to be for 90 minutes... 
Anyway, I was glad because at the very least I could watch the championship game.
When I got there, they hadn't started yet. Worst of all, our team had no players!
So many people signed up, but hardly anyone showed up!
As a last resort, they asked me to play.

Problem 1: I was wearing a skirt, brand new ballet flats and was not wearing our team color.
In the end, I had to borrow my friend's shirt and jogging pants which were really too big and long for me and anothers friend's rubber shoes.
Problem 2: I had a party to attend to that night and though I didn't mind being late, I didn't want to show up sweaty and smelly.
Problem 3: I was obviously not good at playing the game. I was probably my team's weakest link!! But rather than forfeiting the game, I decided to play anyway.

Ahhh..... It's so painful to relive those moments.....

So this is what happened. My team played well for about 5 minutes, in all that time, all I did was pass a stray ball to a member of my team so that they could be the ones to throw the ball and have a better chance of hitting anybody... My job in those five minutes was just to 'assist.'
I have NO idea what happened when suddenly I was the only remaining player for our team! ME! To add to the pressure, I had all five balls with me and there were still three of them from the opposing team!!! PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE!!!!!! What I did at first was stroll around, taking my time. I sudden;y had a fan's club! Everybody was cheering my name. I knew my team was counting on me! PRESSURE PRESSURE!!!!
Eventually, I had to throw a ball to the opponents and once I did, one throw back to my side and I was hit!!!! hard!!!!! If this wasn't bad enough, it happened two times!!!!!
Oh the shame and the horror!!!!! wah.....
Worst part is, I don't want to show my face anymore in school because
I was so embarassed!!! hehehehe....
After losing that game, I was told that it was nonbearing to our chances of winning 1st place....
In the next game, with another opponent, what I did then was have myself hit first among all my team members so that I could be out at once and they would be pressured to aim harder....hahaha....Well, it may be the easy way out, but I think it worked because we won 1st place in dodgeball! yey us!

Today may have been the most embarrassing day of my Ateneo life but I had so much fun! Best of all, we won!

Cantina 2

If you want quick quick quiiiick service and yet don't want your usual burgers and fries, 
then hed on over to Cantina! They've got great quality food! Real goeey cheese, genuine nachos and outstanding burritos!

Gordito Porkchop Php163

The porkchop marinade was great! It was so tempting to just lick it all off from the porkchop!hahahahahaha...... There were two chops, so the better for us all!

World Topps

Best place to have a great meal when you're famished and on a rush. Most rice toppings here are from Php90-125. 

Crispy Adobo Flakes Php90

BEST MEAL YOUR HUNDRED PESO CAN BUY. One order is so filling, they have a very denerous serving for this one! And I love how truly crispy the flakes are. It's so yummy to munch on, you could forget all about the rice! As far as I'm concerned, they serve the best adobo flakes in town; needless to say I've been an adobo flakes fanatic for a very long time now. So I should know...


Chinese Spicy Pork Php105

This was spicy enough for me. :) The pork was lean and tender. It was well marinated and quite filling too. You should try this if you want to have some change from your usual meals.


I've long been going to this place, specifically the branch along Katipunan Road across Ateneo. I can say with confidence that I have yet to try anything that was disappointing or non-filling from here. 

Starbucks This Holiday Season

Jalapeno Cheese Roll Php 55

This was too plain for the price it came for. I don't think the jalapeno and the cheese were a good match. I wouldn't try it again.

Chocolate Cream Frappe

This was much too sweet for me... I probably wouldn't get it again.

Espresso Frappe

After the rhumba frappe, my personal fave was discontinued, I have finally found my new holy grail frappe drink.It isn't as bitter as most espresso drinks. T
he whipped cream was a great balance to the dark taste of the espresso.