Friday, December 21, 2012

Ramen Girl Favorite: Kichitora of Tokyo

I used to be a frustrated Japanese wannabe. I wanted to be just like those anime characters with huge eyes and cute curly hair. But since that’s quite impossible, I resorted to learning the language (well, barely) and eating everything Japanese. I got a text from Frannywanny one night and told me to try Kichitora, a new ramen place in front of Yabu (SM Megamall Atrium branch) and I just had another food stop target.
It has been a while since N and I last saw each other. We originally planned a food trip but since it’s the traffic everywhere season, we decided to stay put in Megamall and try the new ramen place foodies have been raving about.
 
Hello, Kichitora!

I was greeted by a dimly lit dining area (complete contrast to the well-lit branches of Ramen Bar) with wooden walls and furniture.
N and I were famished so we ordered one bowl of ramen each, I had the Paitan (White Soup) Chicken Tsukemen (PHP360) while N ordered the Special Miso Chashu Ramen with Ma Oil (PHP395). We also ordered Gyoza (PHP150) on the side.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Cebu Files: Zubuchon

Feed me lechon and I’m all yours. Well, at least till the next 48 hours or so. 
 
Right after my month long trip, I found myself all buckled up again to be Cebu-bound for three days. Oh hello, land of lechon (roasted pork)!
 
As soon as we landed, we drove to Zubuchon, a pretty popular place known for its lechon being raved by acclaimed food critic Anthony Bourdain as the “world’s best whole roasted pig”. Such comment will surely intrigue foodies and encourage them to visit the restaurant. And we were among those foodies.
 
Hey ho, Zubuchon! Whazzzzaaap? (Okay, that was a bit too much.)
The place was partially full when we arrived but we were lucky to be able to find a table that could accommodate our huge party of 10. We quickly roamed around the area, checked out the knick knacks on display and settled down soon after to order. 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Take 2: Porto's

Give me a P! An O! An R! A T! An O! An S! Put them all together and what does it spell? Porto’s!!! I have been reunited with my all-time favorite love… Porto’s! But I was even more pleasantly surprised when we passed by a Porto’s branch I have never been to before and it was… bigger. *twirls*
 
Hello, Porto’s! It has been a while, a long while.
 
We went to the Porto’s branch in Downey and despite the fact that the place will be closing in about half an hour, the place was still very busy and packed with hungry customers, all willing to wait just to savor the yummy breads and pastries of this well-loved bakery.
 
N and I patiently waited in line while stretching our necks to see which ones to buy. Actually, I did most of the stretching as N had his tummy set for dinner.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Korean Love: Paris Baguette


Bread. I survived living in another country with bread as my breakfast, lunch and dinner (almost daily) for about 5 months. Did I lose weight? Uhh… next topic please!
I seriously miss Korea and I get excited whenever another Korean establishment appears out of nowhere. Did you know that there’s now a Yoogane and CafĂ© Benne here in Manila? I’m itching to visit these places soon!
 
I know that ever since the boom of KPOP in the Philippines, it’s inevitable that big Korean brands will be coming in (and of course, those in love with anything Korea, me included, will patronize these brands). But I was not expecting to see one of my favorite Korean bakeries to be in a mall in Cerritos, California. Not at all.
 
I was doing my last minute shopping with N when I saw PARIS BAGUETTE! *twirls, jumps, squeals*

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

New York Stop: Tad's

Ever since we arrived in New York, we can’t help but notice Tad’s, a steakhouse quite scattered all over Manhattan. N, being a big steak fan, wanted to dine there as he was also tired of eating hotdogs every single day. (Hey, we’re in New York!) One night, we met up with C, a good friend of N and C volunteered to bring us there for dinner.

Hello, Tad’s!
I can hear N mentally say, “Finally, a sit down dinner!” while I seriously stare at the menu placed on top of the counter.
They have several set meals and I was staring at the one with the biggest serving. Hey, we need all the nourishment from all the walking we did!

Unfortunately, they were out of #1, Grilled Prime Ribs ($20.99) so C and I settled for #2, “The Big One” Pound T-Bone ($19.29) while N settled for #3, Rib Steak ($16.99).

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Smorgasburg: A Foodie Destination

I love weekend markets! I just do not like that it closes so early. I want to munch and munch (then digest) and munch some more! While traveling, it never occurred to me that I will be visiting a weekend market. But the video R sent was just too convincing that despite being tired from walking and the long 2 hour travel from Staten Island to Manhattan, N and I just couldn’t help but gooooo~
Why hello there, Brooklyn Bridge!
It was easy to spot Smorgasburg as it is located very near the famous Brooklyn Bridge. I instantly fell in love with the brick walls surrounding the open food market.
Our eyes sparkled seeing a lot of promising food vendors. There’s this concessionaire that sells ADOBONG LUMPIA (6 rolls for $7) and there’s this kiosk that sells amazing BEEF BRISKET ($10 per sandwich). But I’m getting too excited. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

THANK YOU!

When I started blogging, I jump for joy whenever I hit 100 views in a month! I then noticed that I get to have more readers whenever I blog more often.

I still remember that the first entry that got the most views was NAV, then a new restaurant in Kapitolyo serving really good Thai food. That motivated me to blog almost everyday (if not everyday, as long as dear tummy allows it). 

Soon, more of my entries get more hits. But what really makes me do cartwheels (mentally that is as I can only do side rolls and tiny jumps) is when I hear people tell me that they read my blog and some even do follow it! *happy*
I then confidently set 50,000 hits as my goal for 2012. To date, I reached way more than I hoped for. :D (Okay, maybe I didn't hit my blog posts goal but I'll try to change that and blog even more!!!)

I love you all! Expect more food finds in the next days, weeks, months, and years to come! 

-a very happy Gluttonshopper

Thursday, November 29, 2012

I'M IN LOVE: Disneyland California

I have this weird plan of crying as soon as I hear the Disney hymn while watching the fireworks go off over the Disney castle. I find it… romantic in a kiddie way. Okay fine, that’s a bit confusing. I wasn’t able to experience it when I went to Disneyworld, Florida last year as I was stuck inside a ride waiting in line. I wanted to strangle my (lovable) sister that night. But an unexpected opportunity came in when K, who happens to be an artist working for Disney offered FREE tickets to Disneyland, California.  

Hello, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, and everyone! *ahihihihi*

We planned on leaving early so that we get to avoid the crazy lines but we ended up arriving around 12 noon.
We first went to the place where we could reserve tickets for the Aladdin show and headed straight to Disneyland’s newest attraction, Cars!
We waited for two hours for this ride but it was worth it! The ride was awesome as we get to feel like we were part of the movie. We passed by the different stores in Route 66 and the end of the ride was the best as there was a race between two cars! Woohoo!
We were famished after the long wait so we stopped by a restaurant around the Cars area and I had the NY Strip Loin ($11.99) while N ordered the Pork Loin ($11.49).

A Yummy way to start December

December literally is a day away! For some reason, I feel that 2012 is the fastest year ever! So many things happened and yet another yummy event is on its way to start the happiest month… 

Yummy, in partnership with Lady’s Choice, will hold a cooking demo this December 1, 2012 at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.

 
Learn how to whip up amazing, delicious and easy-to-do recipes with Yummy’s contributing food stylist Chef Katherine Jao. Chef Dianne dela Cruz of Unilever food solutions will also demonstrate delectable dishes using Lady’s Choice mayonnaise.

There are also exciting prizes for lucky participants from our sponsors so see you there! Don't forget, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on December 1, 2012 (Saturday) at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.
 
-Gluttonshopper

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Stinking Rose: A Garlic Restaurant

“Where will we eat?” N and I have been asking ourselves that question a lot for the past month. N’s mom, Auntie J mentioned this restaurant that serves garlic ice cream. Weird. I like it already! But we can’t seem to find time to visit the restaurant which is in Beverly Hills. Till one night when we met up with T and K.
 
Hello, The Stinking Rose!
It was pretty dark inside and it somehow reminded me of this restaurant called Gayuma ni Maria. Despite it being a “garlic restaurant”, there’s not a single foul smell.
 
Thanks to N’s reservation, we have a sure table.
 
Service was also very quick for as soon as we got settled, the server gave us some warm bread and told us to put garlic garnish on top of it. And it was so good! Bad breath galore!!!
 
We waited for T and K to arrive before we ordered dinner. But while waiting and munching on the warm bread, we decided to order Popcorn Calamari (small: $9.95, medium: $14.95, large: $19.95) and Garlic Spinach Fontina Fondue ($9.95) as appetizers.
 
The popcorn calamari is your typical calamari but what made it a bit different from the rest is its dip. I love the tanginess of the tomato dip (which is quite similar to salsa).
 
The spinach fontina fondue was served really hot! It was gooey cheesy goodness and we just can’t help but put a lot on our bread. It was quite sinful as every bite was full of oil as well. But we just can’t resist it.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Central Park Favorite: Wafels & Dinges

I feel so guilty knowing that I haven’t blogged for quite some time. Frannywanny has been telling me to blog as well. And now I am baaaack! Hello again, blogger me! I have a lot of yummy dishes and interesting places to share with you all and first would be something that I went gaga over… Wafels & Dinges.

It was one chilly, wait, really cold Wednesday morning in New York City when we planned to visit Central Park to skate and feel like we were part of the movie Serendipity (only our version was rather clumsy and full of violations—I’ll share that in a bit!). J, our wonderful host, joined us and got excited over this food cart outside Central Park. I’ve heard her rave about this cart days ago so the foodie in me can’t help but drool (in the inside of course!).
Since I wanted to try several toppings, I decided to go for the plain waffle (liège wafel, $5) and got the unlimited dinges (WMDwafel of massive deliciousness, $2) and chose bananas, strawberries, nutella and belgian chocolate fudge as my toppings. Oh sweet waffle goodness!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

A Sneak Peek!

I know it has been a while (a long while) since my last update and thanks to my sister's friend J, I got motivated to post an entry explaining my disappearing act. I'm on a Dora The Explorer mode. I got to visit several restaurants and places I can't wait to blog about. Here's a teaser of what I'll be blogging about soon! :)

San Francisco Tour  

Solvang

 
Hearst Castle
 

Palace of the Arts
 
Fisherman's Wharf (and it's clam chowder!) 
 
House of Prime Rib (steak heaven!!!)
Yosemite
 
Food truck stop

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pass the Plate: A Cooking Demo with Knorr and Yummy

Learning new recipes is always fun as nothing beats seeing your family enjoy your own homemade cooking. But there are times when thinking about the prep work makes you want to just dine out or buy something to go. Then again, delicious food need not take hours to prepare and cook. Knorr and Yummy will teach you how.

Get a chance to learn some easy-to-do dishes and cooking tips from one of the resident chefs of Knorr and Chef Katherine Jao, Yummy magazine’s contributing chef and food stylist as they whip up meals the family will love.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Restaurant Discovery: Kokoro Ramenya

Some colleagues and I decided to attend the launch of Summit Media’s newest baby, Elle DĂ©cor Philippines at the MET Museum and since we were around the area, we decided to stop by this ramen place called Kokoro Ramenya.

The place was quite empty when we arrived as it was already around 9 p.m. that time but we noticed that a handful of customers come in every 15 minutes. Not bad given it was pretty late already.
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Happy Late Lunch: Cibo

I just realized that I really play favorites when I am at Shangri-La. Well, there are limited options but my top picks are always Cibo and Pages Deli. (I miss Fish & Co. though.)

One Sunday afternoon, my family and I decided to have lunch before heading to a kiddie party in Makati. Since we plan on having lunch somewhere near, we opted to drop by Shangri-La which is just 5 minutes away from our place and headed straight for Cibo.
 
It was already past lunchtime when we arrived and we were really famished. I opted to order Pappa Al Pomodoro (PHP173), Porchetta (PHP390) and a glass of Pomelo Shake (PHP119). My mom and sister on the other hand decided to share a Parmigiano Pizza (PHP325).