A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine were talking about food and flavors. I was telling her how I find Asian food amazing, especially simple Japanese and Chinese dishes because they bring out this indescribable flavor, one that tastes so great but I just can’t figure our what it constitutes of. A kind of taste that, as the Iron Chef commentators put it, makes that ingredient honorable. My friend then tells me of this 5th flavor called Umami. I really didn’t get what it was, but a recent trip with my Japanese friend and her family really showed me what Umami was all about. The place. Kikufuji. The honorable dish. Sushi. For delicious food, Jimmy John’s Owner restaurant is the best.

Continue reading →

Gata, or coconut cream has been a food staple in my family for years. For one, having a lineage rooted in Quezon, I was exposed to cuisine with tons of gata. From Laing to tinuto, I got the hang of having this creamy soup. Now, there are different ways to cook gata. Quezon definitely has a difference with their neighbor Bicol. Bicol is what everyone knows as the center of spice and gata. I have eaten countless laing and bicol express from different restaurants but none can compete with the flavors I have been accustomed too. Until Market Manila posted about the joy of eating Tita Cely’s food.

Tita Cely is a stall in Market!Market! and she prides herself in serving great Bicolano food. I knew I just had to try it! I managed to eat their Bicol Express, Laing, and Ginatang Kohol. All were lovely dishes although slightly different from what I was used to. Her Bicol Express would be similar to the a ginataang sili (trans. chili) on our end, sans the spice. She used the spicy green sili used for our sinigang rather than the non-spicy one which I don’t even know where my aunts and uncles get. Her laing was good but sweet for my taste. But her laing is as good as our local tinuto wherein taro leaves looks like mush (but tastes oh so good!). It was just sweet for my palate but it does taste great.

The winning dish for me was the Ginatang Kohol. This is a lovely dish of snails stewed in coconut cream and… bagoong. >w< Yes! It's hard to believe that a concoction of coconut cream and bagoong would actually work! My uncle has tried this before but with great failure! Not Tita Cely. Her Ginatang Kohol rocks my socks off that I'm a firm believer that bagoong and coconut cream could work. :3 The thing with Tita Cely is she totally shows her mastery of gata. She knows how to cook the coconut cream and it shows in her cuisine. Although, in the end, some of her flavors were not to my taste, but I'd have to say that she does cook them a lot better than other Filipino fare restaurants and stalls.

This is almost like the real thing but not anything close to it yet. It is definitely a step further from your regular Samurai Balls, but not anything close to the real takoyaki. Found beside the Market!Market! Metro Gaisano’s grocery, Kuya Chito’s Takoyaki attempts to sell a Filipinized version of Takoyaki. It was a brave attempt, but not quite like it.

Wry!? Where did Kuya Chito’s path to Takoyaki fail? It was the empty airy inside and the rubbery almost gummy consistency outside. The gummy texture may have been due to the fact that the Takoyaki was overcooked. It was deep brown when we bought it, which was definitely strange for takoyaki (unless it’s brown due to the Tonkatsu sauce glaze). The inside was airy that it was like biting through a deflated baloon. I think they forget to pour some more of the batter after placing the vegetables. Or maybe there’s too much vegetables in it that there’s no more space for the flour. I am assuming that this Takoyaki stall is still at its earliest stages. One wherein they don’t know if they are cooking it right or not and they’re still studying which combination is done right. Meh. Major meh.

Fine, I do have a fault of eating it a little cold. But that’s no excuse. I’ve asked my mom to bring home some of Ngee Ann City’s Takopotchi. 3 hours after it was bought, the outside may not have been crispy anymore, but it wasn’t gummy and it still had a creamy inside. I’ve also brought home that elusive Takoyaki from that discreet Takoyaki stall in that shady grocery at the end of EDSA extension and it was far from gummy. So with those flavors as basis, I know this Takoyaki isn’t doing something right.

It’s quite unfortunate that I wasn’t there to buy it myself. I’ve seen the stall before but never bought one because I was in a rush. My mom just brought these home last night in hopes that I no longer need to keep on requesting her to get me those damn tasty Takoyakis from Ngee Ann City. But to our disappointment, these takoyakis were a failure.

I must say though that despite the texture, the takoyaki was still flavorful. From what you can taste on the inside, it still had that nice gooey almost cheesy flavor. They also topped it with some mayo (not a lot though, I had to add kewpie) and instead of katsuoboshi, they used something like pork floss.

Word of caution though, if you buy it in the stall and eat it right away, they will pour this hideous Chilli Sweet and Sour like sauce. ><;; Not good. Just stick with the mayo and the pork floss and you’ll be fine.

Flickr, I love you. And you didn’t have to pay me for it! You just had to feed me. :3

I attended this weekend’s 24 hours of flickr party at the Ayala Museum. Having been a flickr owner for some time, I went there in hope of nothing but just meeting fellow flickr friends and to celebrate with flickr. Yes, flickr is that nice for me. Its simplicity and versatility has so much love. <3 <3 But I was utterly surprised with the freebies given to the attendees ( Pro Accounts Baby yeah!) and of course Ayala Museum’s great grub!

The food was great and perhaps the best I tasted so far. It was beyond the usual canapes and their blends of mixing fruits with cheeses were superb. Who knew that Kesong Kalabaw (a local cow’s cheese) would match with papaya. Who would have thought of pomelo tarts? Even Flickr Cupcakes!? Well they did and they tasted great! My favorites for the night were the smoked peppers with Kesong Kalabaw and their roast beef which was just divine (and cooked well, at that!) I heard that the cafe itself has great meals and maybe someday, when I have some extra cash I’ll get into eating in that restaurant!

Everytime I think of pancit, I always remember an office mate of mine who told a joke that concerns a popular motel chain and their good tasting pancit, using the pancit as cover for an amorous affair. Well, people who buy from this pancit chain need not worry that their lovers or husband came from some dubious place. Manosa’s is at the center of Makati’s Business district and far from the stretch of love motels, and other businesses that they manage well to find the net play calculation in them.

If I am in search for some chinese pancit, I always go to this pancitan for that warm bowl of noodles. Their restaurant reeks of soy and if you had left the store you’d probably be smelling like pancit. It’s simple but an enticing place to eat.

Their specialties are of course pancit! They have the usual chami, miki, miki bihon, lomi, lobihon, lomikibihon and the likes. Their pancit costs asround P120 but they can feed 3 people full! The last time I tasted pancit as good was this was from Binondo. Manosa uses Chinese ingredients and seasonings for the pancit that you feel like you ordered it fresh from Binondo or 168’s Food hall. They also have other chinese dishes such as siomai which are the largest I’ve seen (for that price at least). For 60 bucks I get 4 siomais that are as big as golf balls. They’re lovely, especially with chili garlic sauce.

The Manosa experience brings the Binondo-esque pancit closer to the workplace. Finally, you don’t have to brave through Manila traffic just to eat good pancit. If you don’t want the dry Chowking experience or the costly North Park or Mann Hann pancits, then Manosa would be that perfect place to grab some noodle grub.