First Bite: Dokkebi Korean BBQ

The Korean food scene in Quezon City is insane. Maginhawa alone has Korean food joints left and right. Same is true in Banawe where the famous Samgyupsalamat has a branch and other players like Seoulgyupsal and Mokja can be found. Even Romantic Baboy is opening soon in the area. And one new player in town is Dokkebi Korean BBQ.

Hello, Dokkebi Korean BBQ. 

Located along N.S. Amoranto, you'd easily spot Dokkebi with its big signage and corner location. It is also on Waze so it won't be hard to find this new samgyupsal place. 

Summer Barbecue Party: The Plaza

The summer heat this year is unbelievably insane! We are now hitting highs of 37 degrees Celsius and that's even different from what we're actually feeling which is about 5 degrees higher. But one thing that could make the sweltering weather bearable is The Plaza Catering's mouthwatering barbecue spread!

Hello, The Plaza. 

The Plaza is known as one of the most reputable catering services in the metro. Having hosted the likes of Pope Paul VI, U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as well as local stars like Vilma Santos and Susan Roces, it wasn't surprising that The Plaza turned into a household name. And over 50 years later, its brand is a strong as ever. 

Second Bite: Black Olive Cerveceria

Food never fails to make me smile. Whenever I feel down, I eat. (Sometimes a lot.) And last week, R was not in his best mood so I figured food could make him smile. Or grin.

Hello, Black Olive!

It has been a while since my last visit but nothing much has changed.

I also ordered an apple flavored iced tea and it was… so-so.

We got there around 7 p.m. so it wasn’t packed with hungry yuppies just yet. R got the Black Fettuccini (PHP510) while I chose the Risotto Verde (PHP605). We also got Black Olive’s Barbeque Pork Riblets (PHP280).

Love at First Bite: Hot Star Large Fried Chicken

I have heard a lot of good reviews about a Taiwanese fried chicken place a few months ago but I was never motivated to go as fried chicken is just fried chicken for me. Nothing special. But I guess I was destined to cross paths with this establishment when V recommended that we have dinner here last Sunday.

Hello, Hot Star Large Fried Chicken.

The restaurant is on the second floor of the building with Engine 46 at the ground floor. The place isn’t that big but spacious enough to accommodate more than 10 groups of hungry diners (mostly students on weekdays).

The food is pretty affordable too! The Original Large Fried Chicken and the Crispy Large Fried Chicken are priced at PHP110 while BBQ Large Fried Chicken is at PHP125. Just add PHP35 and you get a cup of rice and drink. V and V2 got Almond Ice Crush while I chose Black Gulaman.

I loved my drink! Though I wasn’t allowed to drink anything cold yet, I still drank it. It was yummy! It was like Black Gulaman shake! I had a few sips of almond and as a person not fond of the Almond Jelly dessert, I didn’t like the drink either.

We were amazed with the size of the chicken. It was huge (but flat). After giving V and V2 a bit of mine, I started munching on my Crispy Large Fried Chicken. I’m not so sure if I was just hungry but the chicken was pretty good. The skin was seasoned well and it sure was crispy. It was slightly buttery.

Weekend (Endless) Eating: Eastwood Cafe's Weekend Family Buffet

Stay-cation is becoming a trend nowadays. With the intense heat, hardly anyone has the energy to roam around under the scorching heat. Things to do with the family have been limited to the comforts of the home but let’s give mom a break and head to Eastwood Richmonde Hotel for a family buffet. 

 

Eastwood Café of Eastwood Richmonde Hotel started to offer Weekend Family Buffet for a friendly price of PHP880 for adults, PHP440 for children age 6 to 12 years old, and FREE for kids 5 years old and below. With that price alone, it’s already pretty tempting but here’s a nice touch to it, they have a special nook for kids to play after eating. 

There’s also a very charming sweets station that is very eye catching. 

I started my buffet adventure with the salad station. They had a good mix of Filipino-style salads and the usual lettuce, carrot, tomato over Thousand Island dressing salad. 

 

Restaurant Love: Mesa Filipino Moderne

We hate Tuesdays. It’s the day our car is coding meaning we have to leave the house past 7 if we want to eat out. But my mom just got a surprise birthday gift, our car went *kapoot* while it was parked in a mall. In the end, my grandma, sister and I have to take a cab to meet the birthday girl. We arrived around 7:30 p.m. and very famished.

As the foodie in the family, I was tasked to look for a place to eat in SM Megamall. (I wanted to go to Shangri-La hoping to see another new restaurant but my mom insisted we dine at Megamall. The birthday girl wins!) I suggested Kichitora since they have never tried dining there before but my grandmother wasn’t in the mood for ramen (actually, is never in the mood for ramen as she only eats tempura and chicken teriyaki, two dishes not available there). So we moved a little bit and ended up at Mesa.

 

The place was a bit crowded given it was a Tuesday night. We were lucky though to get one of those tables with couches. Yeah! <3

I was slightly grumpy around this time as I was really really hungry and one thing I do not like is feeling hungry. So I immediately ordered the following: Talong Salad (PHP80), Sisig in a Pouch (PHP190), Inihaw Sampler (PHP725), and Crispy Leche Flan (PHP70).

Restaurant Love: Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

Ribs… what’s not to love? Soft meat, lovely sauce, dirty fingers… bliss. And where can we try out one of the best tasting ribs? Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que! 

It was a tiring day as we just flew back to California from New York and it was one gloomy Thursday. N and I were quite hungry and decided to have lunch out. Since I haven’t visited Lucille’s yet and N was craving for meat, we drove to the popular ribs place.

Hello, Lucille’s!

It has this diner feel and it is pretty charming!

 

We decided to go for a BBQ Lunch Platter with a combination of St. Louis spare ribs, tri tip, one quarter smoked chicken ($15.99) and ordered a salad and mashed potatoes on the side. N also ordered the Lucille’s BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich ($13.49).

While waiting, we were given complimentary bread which I recall Frannywanny raving about. It was sweet bread to my surprise. I was expecting the typical bland bread with butter so this was a pleasant surprise. I guess it is to prepare the taste buds to the savory ribs.

The salad was your typical greens so let me focus more on the “meat”.

Happy Lunch: Maui Style Hawaiian BBQ

I remember the first time I explored L.A. alone was the day I shopped my heart out. I got a free ride from G going to Americana (one of my favorite places), then I went straight to Forever 21 and H&M in search for thicker clothes. After a while I decided to go to Galleria and visited Cotton On, another Forever 21, and The Body Shop. It took me a while before I realized that I missed lunch time. So with paper bags in tow, I went straight to Galleria’s food court to grab a meal. I remember that the meal was around $10 and it was HUGE. I had a hard time finishing it. So when N1 and I went to Citadel with N2 and S, I made sure that the meal we’ll order will be for sharing.

It’s shopping time again. Funny how most people tend to be on extreme shopping mode whenever their vacation is about to end. It happens to me every time and I spent a lot of time in Walmart buying chocolates.

It was past noon when we decided to have lunch and headed to the food area of the outlet. We spotted Maui Style Hawaiian BBQ and since they offer heavy meals, we went in. (Oh rice, why are you so attractive?)

There's rice there somewhere.

N1 and I ordered the Beef and Chicken meal ($7.49) for sharing while N2 and S ordered a meal each—beef and shrimp combo and beef and Maui Crunch Roll.

Rub at First Sight: Rub Ribs & BBQ

Ribs. Who doesn’t love them? Even those on a diet cannot resist the big slab of oh so good meat with overflowing barbeque sauce. I could testify. I momentarily forgot my diet--at least for a good 2 hours.

 

Finally, Rub Ribs! I’ve been hearing a lot of good reviews about this place. I know three colleagues who could not stop raving about it and I just have to try it. Actually, the reason why we had a “rib lunch out” today was because of my colleague’s addiction to the place.

The place was quite small and parking was a bit difficult that we had to park on the other side of the street. The place also has another side business—SMILE intervention center.

We were all very hungry so we ordered within 2 minutes. I ordered the Singles—half slab with one side dish (I ordered Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes) and plain rice (PHP190), an additional side dish of Buttered Vegetables (PHP65) Soup of the Day—Cream of Potato Soup (PHP100), and Fried Oreos with Vanilla Ice Cream (PHP140).