A Festive Meal at Shangri-La at the Fort's High Street Cafe

Shangri-La at the Fort is one of my favorite places in BGC. I'd often stay at its lounge cafe to have some work done while sipping my favorite tea. The hotel's other restaurants--Samba, Raging Bull and Canton Road--all serve excellent food as well! And a couple of months back, I was invited to try High Street Cafe.

Hello, High Street Cafe.

High Street Cafe is Shangri-La at the Fort's buffet restaurant and it has been known for its fresh seafood spread! If you're lucky, you might be able to see a huge whole tuna on display.

First Bite: Johnny Kahuku's Hawaiian Shrimp House

I first spotted Johnny Kahuku's Hawaiian Shrimp House in the South but never had the chance to visit as I had dinner plans elsewhere. But food gods want me to drop by this place and soon, I found myself in front of this colourful establishment’s North branch one Saturday afternoon. 

Hello, Johnny Kahuku's Hawaiian Shrimp House! 

It was like being transported to Hawaii as soon as you step foot inside the restaurant designed as a shrimp shack. The colorful wall decor, warm lights and wooden furniture are so inviting and cozy making it a nice place for family lunches or dinners or a nice catch up meal with friends. 

Johnny Kahuku is known for its seafood fare so we went with Tuna Ahi Poke (PHP365), Island Pride (PHP595, 6 pcs of shrimp | PHP645, 9 pcs of shrimp), Fiesta Paella (PHP899) and Tropical Chill (PHP285). 

First served was the tuna ahi poke bowl which was chilled ahi tuna drizzled with ginger shoyu sauce on top of rice. You may opt for brown rice for no additional cost. 

The tuna cubes were undeniably fresh. I loved the subtle sweet taste from the dressing which went so well with the Japanese rice. 

Weekend Getaway: Balay Dako by Antonio’s Chef Tony boy Escalante

I am a fan of Chef Antonio “Tony Boy” Escalante. Ever since he took pity on us and fed us steak during our event, I loved him. And when I heard that he has a new restaurant, I just have to visit.

Hello, Balay Dako!

The quaint ancestral looking green house is the new restaurant of Chef Tony Boy. The place is so charming and the view is beautiful. 

The mosquito net ruins it a bit but you could always go to the second floor’s al fresco area for the unobstructed view.

R’s family took the lead in ordering and they ordered a lot! They ordered Laing na Gabi at Tokwa (PHP280), Adobo (PHP435), Calamares Fritos (PHP350), Sizzling Bulalo na Baka (PHP920), Grilled Chicken (PHP320, half), Prawn Salad, Sinuteng Pusit (PHP535), and Turon con Tikoy at Ube (PHP160).  I also ordered Sago’t Gulaman (PHP140). I’m sure I missed a few more orders.

Pie Day: Lombardi’s

I love celebrating all those random “special” days. One of which is Pi/Pie/White Day. Celebrated every 14^th of March (3.14), I make sure that I do something on that day. And I did this year. But one thing I failed to do was to eat pizza. Since I must have pizza that weekend, I went to… Lombardi’s.

Hello, Lombardi’s!

I recall the last time I visited was around October of last year with a few college friends and we had pizza too! Lombardi’s pizzas never disappoint. This time, I wanted to try something different so we chose Vegetariana (PHP320). I also got a Crèma di Funghi (PHP190), Spaghetti Ai Frutti Di Mare (PHP440) and Pannacota Del Piemonte (PHP160).

The cream of mushroom was indeed creamy. I loved the slightly thick texture and the bits of mushroom for extra bite.

The Spaghetti Ai Frutti Di Mare, as before, had the delightful light taste. I also loved the different textures of the seafood—clams, prawns, mussels and squid.

First Bite: Planet Grapes

I’m a fan of Planet of the Apes and that’s probably why I’m so curious with Planet Grapes. I find it to be such a witty name and I’m a sucker for anything witty.

Hello, Planet Grapes!

It has been months since I discovered this place but the Alabang branch was a bit too far for me so I never had a chance to visit. But food gods love me so much that Planet Grapes’ newest branch is just a few blocks away from me—Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

Wine without the drama.

 

Planet Grapes somehow has a classy yet warm ambiance. The dishes too aren’t priced that steep though some dishes are slightly on the expensive side. We got the following: Kitayama Rib eye Steak (PHP1,195), Grilled Trio Prawns (PHP495) and PG Super Sisig (PHP210). For wine, we got Baby Bad Boy 2010 (PHP280 for 125 ml | PHP180 for 75 ml | PHP95 for 38 ml) and Pircas Negras Torrontes (PHP235 for 125 ml | PHP150 for 75 ml | PHP80 for 38 ml).

First served was the sisig. R and I got confused with the tomatoes as we never had sisig with tomatoes before. (I guess it is for the purpose of giving extra crunch?) Admittedly, it’s not the best sisig around but it was good. I just wish that it was crunchier.

The Pre-Birthday Lunch at Chefs' Quarter

It has always been a tradition for me to spend my birthday for at least three days. Spoiled, I know. But I just love love love birthdays. Most of my friends know that. There are even times when I’d resist sleeping just so I could be the first one to greet them (as I tend to be competitive even in the most bizarre things people do not even compete to be first). Note: I normally greet people privately unless I do not have their numbers. Given the chance, I’d send birthday cards instead of the usual “happy birthday” message via Facebook or SMS. It seems to be more personal and more sincere for me. Well, take it from a girl who fondly collects grocery receipts and Ferrero Rocher stickers.

I just love lunch dates with my dad. It makes me feel a lot closer to him even though all we talk about is work or how much he wanted to throw me to another country. Yes, that’s love.

 

Since it was a day before my birthday, I get to decide where to eat (without any violent reaction from his end). I decided to go for Chefs' Quarter, the restaurant we dined in during his birthday. He seemed fairly happy when we last visited that place.

Restaurant Favorite: Pho Hoa

I love Pho Hoa, its chicken dishes, marinated prawns, spring rolls, tenderloin beef, crepe, and their sweet vinegar dip. Now, let me share with you my love affair with this restaurant.

Vietnamese food? Why?

That was my first reaction when my mom told me to try this restaurant. I was quite iffy since I have never tried Vietnamese food… ever (before).

I then read through the menu and I was surprised that not everything sounded so foreign to me. They have grilled meat, several chicken dishes, soup, salad, and even desserts such as crepes. I remember that I was fond of chicken when I was young so I ordered Grilled Chicken with Fried Spring Rolls (which I thought was just like your ordinary lumpia). I was surprised though that they served it with vinegar… sweet vinegar. And that was the start of our wonderful love story.

Years later, I have tried several other [non-spicy] dishes and I would say that I’d still go back for more. My must-orders though are the Fried Rice Paper Roll with Pork and Vermicelli (PHP127) and the Tenderloin Beef with Rice (PHP295). And that was what my mom brought home for me for dinner one happy Tuesday night.  

Fried Spring Rolls freshly removed from the take-out container

The Fried Spring Rolls were still the crispy and scrumptious rolls I remember. You could taste the pork in every bite. It wasn’t as oily as well. It was not the type that will make your lips shine and blind people when the light hits it. Plus dipping it in the sweet vinegar brought out the savory flavors of the stuffing of the roll.

Weekend Restaurant Love: Simply Thai

Food Warrior Eating Challenge training day 2 (training day 1 was held at Sambo Kojin)

I needed to train my stomach to eat more these days for an eating contest I will be participating in this coming Saturday.  Since I hardly go out during the weekdays (as I lead a life of home-office-home from Monday to Friday), I try to maximize my weekends by checking out restaurants I have never been to or haven’t had the chance to blog about. This time, I have my eyes on Simply Thai and I decided to visit it last Sunday with a friend.

We went there around 1pm and there were only a few diners. I guess it was because it was already past lunch time.

I tried to recall what Executive Chef Cecille Chang Ysmael made us try during the intimate dinner she held a few months ago. The dish I remembered was the Crispy Catfish (PHP320) and the Caramelized Squid (PHP295). Since the two were pretty similar, we decided to stick to the Crispy Catfish.  

We thoroughly read the menu and looked for non-spicy dishes and we finally ordered Mieng Kham (PHP220), Silom Shrimps (PHP325), Phad Thai (PHP320) and an order of Thai Green Milk Tea and Thai Milk Tea (PHP120 each). My friend and I agreed not to order desserts as we plan to check its neighbor Max Brenner that same afternoon but we came across Simply Thai’s Nest (PHP240) and the description said that it is a MUST TRY sooooo (you already know what we did). Yes, we are easy to convince as long as it is food-related.

The drinks arrived fast and we were excited to try it.

The Thai Green Milk Tea was too sweet for me. It had a subtle avocado taste (was that the reason why it was green?) mixed with condense milk and jasmine. I wasn’t able to (or should I say couldn’t?) finish it. Tsk.

I prefer the Thai Milk Tea as it had a stronger tea flavor (yet was still undeniably “milk” tea). Also, it wasn’t as sweet as the other one. I didn’t order it because of the color as it looked like curry to me. But I hoped that I ordered that instead. (To be honest, I was waiting for my friend to swap drinks with me but it didn’t happen.)

Finally, the dishes arrived.

The first one to arrive was the Mieng Kham. We were quite clueless as to how to eat it. Since there were leaves, we assumed that we had to wrap the prawns, lemongrass, coconut, chili and peanuts in Thai betel leaves.

I removed the chili before eating it as I saw my friend cry because the chili was too spicy.

It was zesty. It was definitely different from those I have tried before. I checked betel leaves out and I found out that it is often used as palate cleanser. I’d say it truly is a must order as a starter.

The next dish served was the Phad Thai.

It was cutely wrapped in an egg net (which made me think if it really has a purpose or if it was just for aesthetic purposes only). What I loved about it was that it was not the salty, oily type. It was just right. The noodles were cooked well and the small side dishes (peanuts, bean sprouts, and lime) brought out the rich flavor of it. It was love.

The Silom Shrimps on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment if you’re after authentic Thai food.

It was your typical pan seared prawns. The lemongrass and tamarind taste as very very subtle.

Now for the Crispy Catfish…

It was the crispy catfish that I remember. It was neither oily nor salty. It was well-seasoned. However, it seemed to be a bit dry this time. It needed to be eaten with the green mango-apple salad to make it easier to swallow (well, water or any beverage works too). Nonetheless, I still love it and will definitely order it again when I visit Simply Thai.

We were still enjoying the four dishes when our dessert arrived. We felt that the servers were in a hurry. I was not really sure why. The server approached us and asked if there was something else that we would like to order as they were about to close their kitchen. (Ehhhh?) One server also started to sweep the floor. (Uhm, can’t you wait till we’re done?)

Anyway, back to the dessert…

The dessert was adorable. The ice cream really looked like an egg. My friend and I just had to have our photos taken with it. As for the taste, it was truly coconut ice cream resting on shredded sweet potato and taro. The sweet potato taste was stronger though (but you could see the bits of taro if you look closely). The coconut ice cream was rich in flavor and the “nest” and caramel (yes, the brown liquid on the plate was caramel) went well together. It was a bit heavy though (probably because of the “nest”).

Nice ambiance, good food, fairly priced items…  I just hope that the servers will let me take my time to enjoy my meal on my next visit.

Simply Thai is located at the Ground floor of Greenbelt 5, Makati City.