First Bite: Banh Mi Kitchen

I have been eying Banh Mi Kitchen for a while now but it being in SM Megamall discourages me from trying it out. Just thinking about the horrific parking mayhem and the insane crowd make me cringe. So when I found out that they opened a kiosk in BGC Stopover, I jumped and twirled with glee!

Hello, Banh Mi Kitchen! 

It is hard to miss this wooden kiosk located at BGC Stopover ground floor near Jollibee and Bono Gelato. The warm hues and friendly staff sure lured us just like those Poke Stops. 

R and I got some gift certificates (for one regular banh mi and drink) from Foodgrammer.ph and I decided to use mine right away. I went with Wagyu Tapa banh mi (PHP189 | PHP129) and Iced Milk Tea (PHP60).

Restaurant Discovery: Grande Torino

Social media makes me fat. There, I said it. Every time I see a food post, I drool and I always end up asking the postee (is that even a term?) where he or she got that particular dish. Soon, I find myself sitting in the same restaurant giddily munching like there’s no end. And it happened again last weekend. Maybe I will lose weight if I stop checking Instagram and Facebook. Hmm… Nah. Even if I don’t check, I sense it. 

The stop of the day is courtesy of H’s Instagram post. Her caption made me so curious that I just have to change my plan of exploring Teachers Village to a Kapitolyo food trip. Luckily, J was okay with the sudden change (since we plan on having lunch at Blacksoup Café + Artspace). Sorry J for being a fickle-minded foodie.

Presenting… Grande Torino.

The place was a bit away from the bustling area of restaurants of Kapitolyo. You can surely miss this restaurant if you have no idea that there’s an Italian restaurant in this area as it is slightly hidden with only Smile Elephant Thai Restaurant as the other restaurant nearby.

If I recall it right, there was only one other table occupied when we arrived and it was lunch time on a Saturday. I guess the place is still yet to be discovered.

The friendly waitress guided us on what to order and we went with the following: Patè  di tonno (PHP65), 4 Stagoni (PHP490), Filetto (PHP350/100 grams with 300 grams as minimum order), and Green Apple Yoga juice (PHP120) while J had wine.

Service was rather quick. First served were our drinks and I was surprised (and felt rather dumb too) to find out that Italian Yoga Juice meant that the brand is Yoga and it came from Italy. I thought it was something preferred by yogis! The server gave me another glass, this time with water as she mentioned that the juice is too concentrated. It was fine with me though.

Next served was the appetizer. To be honest, the patè lacks taste. I coudn't taste the tuna and anchovies. In short, it was forgettable.

The angus beef tenderloin filet was served next and to our surprise, it was plated in a very simple manner. It made me wonder if that's how steaks should be served and I was just lack culture in my blood. (Will Yakult do the trick? Fine, it's a corny joke.)

Pinoy Food Master: Pepita’s Kitchen

I’ve been saying this for quite a lot already but I want to say it again. I love my job! I get to try new food, meet interesting people, and try more new food because of my work. I love love love it! 

Last Thursday, some of my officemates and I went to the lovely home of Dedet de la Fuente and tried her Pepita’s Kitchen Lechon Degustation. We arrived at around 7PM hungry and desiring lechon like never before. 

I heard that they have really good lechon as these were stuffed (yes, stuffed!). I never thought of having stuffed lechon as it alone was enough to get me stuffed.

We waited for a few more people from press and we started off with Pinoy Patè and Pinoy Caviar. It looked pretty ordinary but the taste of these two were just so addicting!

The Pinoy Patè was made of bihon. Who knew that bihon can be transformed into pate, and a good one at that? It had this grainy texture that went well with the crackers. It was not salty at all and was quite light. Quite a delightful appetizer.

 The Pinoy Caviar on the other hand was made of balut. It seemed to be a bit oilier and it tricked some to think that it was fish or liver.