We scheduled a dinner at Hapag in Makati a week before my best friend’s wedding to serve as part 1 of her bachelorette party and a catch up dinner as well between our trio.
I haven't been out of the house much since the pandemic struck in 2020, and I haven't tried discovering new restaurants or tried traveling to different cities. This trip to Tagaytay last weekend is the first in over a year, and I'm so ecstatic to share my memorable experience at Patio Elizabeth!
It's been a while since I last posted on my blog, but my first for 2021 is worth it!
Basing on the name itself, Kusina Moderne is basically a restaurant serving modern, reinvented Filipino recipes that will surely take you down memory lane and tickle your taste for something new.
Tittos Latin BBQ and Brew has been feeding us with sinfully delicious Latin American-inspired food with a Filipino touch for quite some time now. Along with their success comes a new branch in Greenhills, which has the same, cheerful vibe as its first branch.
Liloan's Pride is a small store that started its success story from the ancient family recipe for a liempo that's juicy on the inside, and crunchy on the outside. The business has since expanded from the town of Liloan, Cebu, and has found its way to the heart of Metro Manila.
Our favorite seafood restaurant has a new branch and a new baby in Makati!
I have been eating goto ever since I can recall. It's a well-known, go-to comfort food for us Filipinos. It's a pretty basic dish you can easily have when you want to, something I thought that practically tastes the same as every other goto there is. And so I was very impressed to discover a place that changed the way I feel about what I once thought as a plain, old, boring goto.
Ilonggo Food Company takes you on a gastronomic adventure to the Central Philippines as they let you taste what the Ilonggo cuisine has to offer. Combined with specialties from the other different regions in the country, their menu promises its customers the best of Filipino food.
The spacious and cozy restaurant, perfect for gatherings as huge as family reunions or as small as an intimate dinner with a special someone, is conveniently located at the ground floor of the Commercenter in BGC.
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| Tuna Kinilaw P280 |
Tuna kinilaw is a very common appetizer in the Filipino dining scene. It’s raw tuna cubes in vinegar and onions, black beans, and spices. It's not something I usually order, but it's one that helps stir up the appetite.
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| Sinuglaw P290 |
Sinuglaw is also a type of kinilaw, except that it had grilled liempo bits to go with the tuna. If I were to be asked, I would prefer to order the sinuglaw over the kinilaw just because I liked alternating the pork and the tuna. It sort of works as a palate cleanser for me.
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| Linagpang na Manok P375 |
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| Linagpang na Manok P375 |
It took us so many tries before we finally got to say the name of this dish right. It’s the first time we encountered it, and I didn’t think I’d like it with the way it was described to us. One thing you should know about the linagpang na manok is it’s charred before cooked in the soup, which gives the soup its smokey and bitter flavor. I was expecting it to be really bitter, like burnt bitter, but I was surprised that it did not taste like that at all. It was delicious and really unique - like nothing I’ve had before.
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| Batchoy P240 |
We are no stranger to the famous Ilonggo batchoy - a noodle soup with beef, pork, liver, and chicharon bits. It’s perfect for the rainy weather we’re having!
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| Kansi P385 |
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| Kansi P385 |
The kansi was described to us as the combination of nilaga and sinigang. But what makes their kansi different is the fact that it gets its sour flavor from the batuan fruit, not the tamarind fruit we usually use. I also loved its insanely tender braised beef! Hats off to the chef!
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| Porbidang Kangkong P195 |
The porbidang kangkong is just kangkong cooked in a mildly spicy coconut milk sauce. It's got a bit of a kick and crunch. It's not really that unique but it's still something you'll want on the table.
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| Ginamos nga Manok P295 |
Ginamos is a fermented shrimp paste popular in the Ilonggo cuisine that's similar to what we know as bagoong. The ginamos nga manok is half a chicken marinated in this fermented shrimp paste and other spices and cooked in a charcoal oven. Being familiar with what bagoong tastes like, I was a bit skeptic about how this dish would turn out (I was assuming it would be salty), but in the end it's one of the dishes I really came to appreciate as it was unexpectedly great! It's really moist chicken with super thin skin, and the flavor of the ginamos was just incomparable to the bagoong I grew up knowing. Where has this ginamos been all my life?!
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| Chicken Inasal P295 |
A specialty from Bacolod that us here in Metro Manila have come to love, the chicken inasal is chicken marinated in vinegar, garlic, and other spices, grilled and served with atsara. Sorry, but they don't have chicken oil in here (that I know of)! But from the taste of the chicken they served, I didn't think it was necessary (that or I’m just not really into chicken oil ✌🏻)
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| Pompano |
I don't have the price for the pompano because it's a new dish they're looking to offer in September, but just to give a short description about it, it's a not-so-cheap fish wrapped in lemongrass before grilled, so you can really get the flavor of the tanglad in there. It's best to eat with soy sauce and calamansi as a dip.
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| Chicharon Rice P210 |
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| Sisig Rice P220 |
For the rice, we had both the chicharon and sisig rice. While the two did not have much of a difference in taste, I prefer the sisig rice because I felt like it complemented the mains very well. It added flavors to the mains without overpowering them.
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| Mais Con Hielo P165 |
I used to love mais con hielo, until there came a time when I'd gladly pick corn on the cob over it. It's actually been awhile since I had one, but I kinda forgot why I hated the dessert after having some on my visit. The sweet corn didn't feel like something so bad with milk after all.
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| Halo-Halo P199 |
I was really looking forward to the halo-halo, but sadly, it didn't make much of an impact. I wish it was sweeter than it was. More sugar or milk could've made it better.
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| Leche Flan P90 |
If the halo-halo lacked sweetness, the lechen flan, on the other hand, kind of made up for it. It was sweet, but it did me a favor since I am a sweet tooth (so probably not good for those who are not). I also loved that it was not airy at all. It was so dense and thick to a point that it sort of sticks on your teeth, a consistency I really liked.
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| Tsoknut Frost P150 |
If you feel like reminiscing your childhood, then the tsoknut frost would be a good choice. You can definitely identify based on its taste that it's made of chocnut, even without knowing what it was. It's pure chocnut, and perhaps a little more chocolate that made it really really sweet. Just make sure you drink it alternately with water, as it can make your throat sore a bit (from all the sweetness).
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| Fruit Shakes |
Of course, it's not Filipino food without fruit shakes. They also have a sugarcane juice I am hoping to try next time.
My Scores:
Pricing - 4/5
Service - 4/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Taste - 4/5
Taste - 4/5
Hungry for more,
Address: G/F Commercenter Bldg., 4th Ave corner 31st St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Operating Hours: 11am to 10pm (Mon-Sat) 11am to 9pm (Sun)
Contact: (63) 917 827 4264
Facebook: @ilonggofoodco
(Date of Visit: August 24, 2019)
Buy One Dish, Get One at 50% Off at Tres
Tres cuisine is the latest culinary project of Chef Ed Quimzon. The restaurant offers no-fail Filipino dishes, both classic and revamped to include a bit of a twist. It has two branches, but the one I've been to is conveniently located in the middle of the bustling city of Makati.
Seafood is one thing my family loves to indulge in on special occasions, but not without all the hassle. It takes us so much time just to get to the seaside area, park our car, go to the market for our seafood, have it cooked, and then eat. Not only that, but our biggest problem is agreeing on how we would like each item to be cooked, since we all have our own favorites, and the cooking charge is always by the kilo.
Crispy Pata, one of the bestsellers of TRES, is soaked in a secret marinade and fried twice for that double delicious crispy crackling goodness. The meat is tender and steeped with flavor. It is served with thinly sliced sweet potato crisps and a sweet and spicy soy sauce and vinegar dip.
Mazu Seafood Restaurant is one of the restaurants housed in what I call the "better dampa", Seascape Village beside Sofitel Manila. It's located at the seaside area, which has a perfect view of the sea and a perfect feel of the sea breeze should you wish you dine outdoors.
Pops n' Pebs is a simple concept located inside Courtyard 453 that serves home style Filipino and Spanish cuisines.
I live near Moonwalk. I am very familiar about Joliant Restaurant, although I haven't really paid much attention to it. It's hard to take it seriously because of how unbelievably cheap their offerings are, so you can't really blame me. But last Saturday, I was able to set aside my doubts, walk inside their restaurant and ultimately, try their food.
Courtyard 453 is the newest food destination at Greenhills, San Juan. The name came from the concept "Food Courtyard" where you can take a gastronomic adventure with 5 different cuisines all in the same venue. It is an upscale version of a food hall or food park and involves a pay-as-you-order system, but they have waiters ready to assist you to your tables.
There are a lot of restaurants to have dinner in around SM Mall of Asia, but choosing just one of them proves to be insanely difficult. I don't remember how I came up with the decision to meet my friend at Cafe Mary Grace, but she got so excited when I suggested it, and so did I!
