The Countdown is over: Yummy Eats happens... NOW!

Finally, the day has arrived! Let's all have a feast today at The Rockwell Tent!

With 50 concessionaires to choose from, Yummy Eats is the place to be for foodies! Aside from great food finds, there will be a series of cooking demos to help us aspiring (and frustrated) cooks to whip up delectable dishes!

I am personally excited to see my favorites Mochiko, The Fruit Garden, Pinkerton, and Pepita's Lechon.

The Chicken Across the Road: Smoper Chicken

Ever since Bon Chon became a hit here in Manila, several “twice fried” chicken restaurants appeared… practically everywhere. Which reminds me, there’s this place at SM North Edsa that I’ve been eying for some time now but I keep on forgetting. Let me stop myself now as I’m getting off topic.

On our way to a client presentation, my officemates A1 and A2 kidded that they want to have merienda (fine, late lunch). Our AE, C gamely said that she wants to eat too as she skipped lunch which sounded like lovely chimes to A1 and A2’s ears. Motivated, we were all energetic during the presentation.

 

After the presentation, A1 and A2 reminded C of her word and so like little kids, we looked for a restaurant. Actually, we didn’t look far as we just crossed the street and discovered…SMOPER CHICKEN.

Restaurant Discovery: 'Cue Modern Barbeque

Last Thursday was a breath of fresh air. I was almost out the whole day as I had a lunch out with F at Thai Dara, a client meeting at Chili’s, and dinner at one of the newest restaurants in town, 'Cue Modern Barbeque.

 

Thanks to Frannywanny and FCO, I managed to try out this new restaurant at The Fort. A and I arrived an hour late due to traffic, parking lot confusion, and getting lost. (A kept on mentioning that she was famished and I couldn’t really say the same as I was still quite stuffed with all of the food I had at Chili’s.)

 

Our gracious host, FCO welcomed us and brought us to our table and ordered for us. He told us to try the following: Crunchy Baby Squids (PHP265), Bone Marrow and Steak Tacos (PHP485), The ‘Cue Caesar Salad Bowl (Half PHP205, Whole PHP345), Chicken Chipotle Chorizo Pot Pie (PHP325), The Baby Back Ribs (Half Slab PHP645, Full Slab PHP1,185), and Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake (PHP245). For drinks, A wasn’t very adventurous so she opted to have Grapes n’ Ginger, without the ginger (PHP135) while I had Mango n’ Basil (PHP135).

 

Lunch Out Destination: Thai Dara

It has been a while since I last had a lunch out along Kapitolyo and it sure was refreshing to spend lunch outside the office. F asked me if I prefer to eat at Rub Ribs or Thai Dara and since I have not tried the latter, off we go to Thai Dara.

LUCKY! We managed to get a parking spot right in front of Thai Dara.

The little store sandwiched beside Mad Mark’s and Poco Deli sure has this homey feel to it. The small restaurant can accommodate perhaps a max of 20 people. It reminded me of this little dumpling place in Binondo. (Oh Chinatown, how I miss thee.)

Since F was not a newbie like me, I asked him which ones were his favorites and he mentioned several spicy dishes till he mentioned the Tamarind Fish (PHP239). It sounds promising so I gave it a shot. I also ordered a glass of Mint Lemonade (PHP55) simply because it sounds refreshing. F on the other hand was trying to avoid carbs thus ordered a Thai salad and some pork satay.  

 

It took them just a few minutes to prepare our meals (well, there was only one table occupied when we arrived) and it was a good thing since I was famished.

Figaro Figaro Figa... Milk Tea?

I learned something the hard way last Saturday—NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE SUMMER HEAT AND MOTHER NATURE’S MOOD SWINGS. I joined this amazing race type of activity last Saturday and since the weather seems fine, I decided to skip my trip to the office to get my trusty umbrella. WRONG. Before 4PM I was red as a tomato and my shoulders look like it was victimized by a mad makeup artist obsessed with blush on. To make things worse, we got caught in Mother Nature’s wrath while on a boat in NAVOTAS. I always tell myself that I will never join EVER AGAIN but for some reason, I find myself registering… yet again. *Darn my Dora the Explorer self!* Anyway, back to the “summer heat”, did you know that Figaro now serves milk tea? Well, they do.

Wintermelon Frost with Classic Tea… my new favorite drink.

Drunk Before Noon: The Bread Bag Pandesal Bar

Multitasking to the nth level must be something most people learned in college. You think, talk, text, type, send emails, proofread presentations, and more all at the same time. YEAH! Today has been pretty much like it. Jumping from one meeting to another, I realized that I was meeting clients with such an unglamorous hairstyle, an extra messy bun that looked like a porcupine! Thankfully, lunch was not as crazy (though the topics were a bit… frightening). No connection, I know. :D

Hello again, The Bread Bag Pandesal Bar! I miss you. *blush* 

 

Since I am not fond of repeating what I have tried twice (unless I super duper love it), I decided to go for The Bread Bag’s bestseller Adobo Flakes (PHP122). I also saw that they serve house iced tea (PHP55) so I gave it a try as well.

Survive The Heat 101: Starbucks' Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino

April has been a crazy month and May is starting to get crazy as well. And I’m not even talking about the weather yet. Oh, speaking of the weather, what’s up with the intense heat??? It’s so hot that I feel like wearing tank tops all the time if only I have the body to flaunt it with. (If only I have the energy/time/inspiration to go to the gym. Excuses, excuses.) Since I can’t, I’ll stick with cool drinks.

 Hello, Starbucks! *waves frantically as it also serves as an instant fan*

 

After our short meeting with a venue sponsor for the yummiest event this year, we decided to hop to the next street and cool off at Starbucks as Frannywanny has some extra Starbucks GCs to spare. She recommended the new drink Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino (PHP165, Tall; PHP175, Grande; PHP185, Venti).

A Meeting To Remember: Borough

For some I-don’t-know-what-happened reason, I lost my appetite. And it was not just for a day or two but 3 weeks! This explains the fewer entries for the past months. But thanks to those green vitamins, the glutton is slowing coming back and craving for a lot of sweets! This entry though was about a lunch out that happened during my tummy’s-on-strike period. Then again, a glutton will always be a glutton.

Hello, Borough. *blush*

 

I have been eying this place since I read about it from several blog sites. One thing stood out, Mom’s Milk and Cookies (PHP170).

 

The food gods must really love me as just when I was in one of the gloomiest weeks of my life, there was a sudden change in plans for a lunch meeting. Instead of dining at Lulu at Rockwell, it was moved to Borough, the place my tummy wanted to visit for months. *lucky!*

YUMMY EATS COUNTDOWN: 19 days to go!

In just 19 days, one yummy event is about to happen at The Rockwell Tent. I’m now preparing my tummy for one day of chewing, gulping, and drooling.

I’m excited. After meeting most of the concessionaires for Yummy Eats 2012, I can’t help but dream of riding a time machine and fast forward to MAY 26, 2012.

 

I discovered new food favorites already while chatting with some of them while sampling their products. 

Nav Modern Thai Cuisine Revisited!

For some reason, I had this strong craving for vodka last Saturday. I thought that I hit jackpot when I saw several bottles of chocolate vodka in our pantry only to discover that it was long overdue to be thrown out. Since I was too lazy to go down, I decided to read a book instead. Yes, that did kill my craving… not. So come Sunday, when my friends and I decided to have dinner at Nav, I asked them if we could order at least one drink… and we did. [Note: I am not an alcoholic. I just needed a drink that weekend.]

Hello again NAV!

Nothing seemed to have changed since I last visited the restaurant way back July 2011. It still has the predominant green walls and the quirky clock which I now know came from Dimensione. The menu is still the same as well.

We decided to order the following dishes: Son-In-Law Eggs (PHP180), Shrimp rolls (PHP250), Crisped Catfish with Green Mangoes (PHP245), NAV’s Pad Thai (PHP280), and some NAV Kickers—Phuket (PHP220) for A, Bangkok (PHP220) for L, and Patpong (PHP220) for me.

 

First served was the Son-In-Law Eggs, hard boiled eggs in tamarind sauce. It sure was good. The soft eggs (ironic since it’s “hard” boiled eggs but anyway) went really well with the sauce.