Category Archives: food

Italy is Two Hours Away from Manila

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Being an urban dweller who presently works for a group of restaurants in Metro Manila, I never intended to look for it.  But I think I found the best Italian restaurant in the Philippines.  It is not located in Manila but can be found in Angeles, Pampanga.  Yes, the Pinoy palate capital of the Philippines is where the best Italian restaurant is located.

It’s simply called C’ Italian Dining.  They have the best and most unique pizza ever which they call Panizza.  A thin-crusted square hybrid pizza sliced in long rectangular cuts that would be best enjoyed if topped and rolled with fresh arugula and alfalfa sprouts.  The perfect harmony of flavors and textures of the dish was just like experiencing a great opera.  While eating my share of Panizza my bones were shouting “Bravo! Benissimo!!!” It’s no wonder we finished three whole pizzas in a matter of minutes!

panizza "milyonario"

panizza "kristina"

rolled panizza with arugula & alfalfa

It seems that the servers actually saved the best for last for they served us the best spinach ravioli and the unforgettable penne in chicken and parmesan cream sauce.  Both dishes were simply phenomenal.  The tastes were no longer mere flavors, but more of a lingering voice forever engraved in my mind.

spinach ravioli

penne in chicken & parmesan cream sauce

plates lining the wall are signed and written with rave reviews of popular celebrity patrons

Fattening, yes! But a small price to pay for such a delightful pleasure.  A bit of caution to all those who plan to drive all the way up to Pampanga and dine in this restaurant.  Be careful for you might get hooked, all your senses and even your soul will never forget the rich taste of C’ Italian Dining perfection.

Grabe! Kasing sarap ko ang pagkain doon!

Kuala Lumpur: It Grows In You

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I didn’t like Nasi Lemak Daging Rendang the first time I tasted it.  The taste was something unusual –   mixture of cardamom, karisik, tamarind pulp, turmeric, chili, galangal, lemongrass, ginger, cinnamon, star anise, whole peanuts, shallots, garlic and kaffir lime.  It was a spice filled experience!  But while digging into the food, adjustments and fine-tuning of my taste buds took 180 degrees turn so as to appreciate this Malaysian dish.  Until, I am left astounded that I have actually finished the whole dish and was craving for more.  It was a mind-boggling flavor that you would not like at first but learns to appreciate it later.  The palatal encounter would surprisingly grow in you.

This experience is basically similar to what I felt when I, Nengkoy and my sisters went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Because of a busy schedule, I never got the chance to check out the internet on where to go and what to do prior to staying for a long weekend in Kuala Lumpur.  I basically did not expect anything spectacular about Kuala Lumpur.  I just wanted to go there, spend a relaxing weekend and know what this bustling city has to offer.

True enough when we arrived and rode a cab at midnight going to our hotel, the feeling was not as thrilling.  It was unlike the electrifying feeling when I would usually arrive in other parts of the world.  I actually said to myself, “Okay, so this city is a little better than Metro Manila.  How I wish we went to another part of Asia.”

But as the days passed, I am astonished to learn the cosmopolitan ascendancy, cultural grace and inhabitant’s charm of KL.  Civilized eco-friendly urban planning is definitely evident.  My fondness about the city seems to grow! It’s like the longer you stay, the more mesmerized you will be.

On our last day, I admitted to have the wrong notion and impression about Kuala Lumpur.  There really are a lot of surprising things to see and do in KL.  Also, I acknowledge that it is very much ahead and better than Metro Manila (which is actually a poignant thought for my land of birth).

My stay in Kuala Lumpur is like eating Nasi Lemak Daging Rendang.  It’s full of spice, there are multitude of stuffs to offer and “it grows in you”.  I don’t just like it, I loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walang kuliglig sa KL!

Biting a Tasty Tongue at Café Adriatico

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I envy Virginia.  While having my lip-smacking Tamis Anghang Longganisa (Sweet & Spicy Filipino Sausage) served with fried rice for my lunch at Café Adriatico, I suddenly got envious with what Virginia (my voluptuous officemate) was having.  She was having the delicious looking Lengua Estofada (Ox Tongue Stew).  I failed to resist my supreme urge for I took a slice from her plate and bite it.

Definitely not just a slip of a tongue but the taste was sooo heavenly I want to repent!  Lengua Estofada is a dish that richly justifies that ox tongue is not only edible but also delicious.

I even became more envious (guilty actually) when I remembered that the meal she is having is part of Café Adriatico’s Good To Dine Promo.  As part of its worthy campaign, the restaurant donates portion of its sales of Lengua Estofada dish to the UP-PGH Cancer Institute which provides care to indigent cancer stricken Filipinos.

Parang ako ang dilang yan… Masarap.

Clarifying Oilyness

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Dry skin is a sign of aging.  Thank goodness I got super oily skin.  It’s so oily I’m sometimes worried that Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron or Saudi Aramco wants to install oil rigs to harvest liquid petroleum hydrocarbon from my face.  I sometimes want to enlist myself in the Guinness Book of World Record for having the face with the most sensational and over-productive sebaceous glands!

My tremendously oily skin is attributed from a deep-seated source.  Its Nengkoy’s (my mom) bizarre food cravings when my astonishingly gorgeous cells were rapidly multiplying inside her womb.  She craved for “kakang gata” (pure coconut milk)!   Nengkoy claim, profess and testify that she would love drinking kakang gata straight from a bowl.

Here in the Philippines, pregnant women’s weird food cravings (or “paglilihi” in Filipino) are a big deal.  We have this notion, regardless of whether such belief has scientific basis or not, that what a pregnant woman craves somehow has an effect on the developing child inside the womb.  It’s like the precursor and fundamental backbone of the child’s DNA mutations and chromosomal translocations.

Because of such craving with unexplained correlation to a child’s appearance, I am the offspring with the lightest complexion among Nengkoy’s children as attributed to the color of coconut milk.  However, as we all know coconut oil is extracted from coconut milk.  And in my specific case, the DNA malformation of Nengkoy’s funky pregnancy cravings happened to have localized right on my face.

Due to this, I learned to accept the fact that I never failed to include the oil blotter film, oil-controller-facial-wash and facial toner for oily skin in my grocery list.  And having a dry skin is the least of my worries.

Buti na lang ‘di sa bao, bunot o bukayo.

Just Like Cake

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mango tres leches of cafe adriatico

Can anyone be unhappy while eating cake?  Like instinct, we have all craved for cake in our happiest moments.  People actually serve cake when they’re happy. Why is it so? Because life is a cycle of pain and bad memories or perhaps like the bitter-sweetness of life, we try to make our joys even sweeter.

Like instinct also, we feel joy and the sweetness of life when precious people are around us.  Just like being served with cake.  So be still and open your eyes.  Look around you so you may realize that you are not actually sad and lonely.  Just like being surrounded with cake.  You’re surrounded by people who make you happy.  These perhaps are the same people that help you in realizing that life is a piece of cake.  You may not know, but maybe, you’re the most precious cake for somebody.

Here’s a slice of thought from a genius but defunct Pinoy band…

“There’s a fruitcake in everybody

There’s a fruitcake in everyone

There are b-sides to every story

If you decide to have some fun

Just take a bite, it’s alright

Taste the taste that sent all mothers giggling in sheer delight

Take a bite, it’s alright

A little lovin’ and some fruit to bake

Life is a piece of cake”

Tinapay? Puto? Mamon? Ano ba Tagalog ng keyk?

Call of the Flesh

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I am weak.  That’s true.

I am weak in defying temptations.

But I try my best to be strong.

I am fighting hard, refusing to accept the call of the flesh.

I know I can. I knew I can. But…

When Beth (an officemate) showed me her M&M chocolates, I was astounded.  It’s of a unique powder-blue colored coating!  It’s the Spring Selection variant.  I failed to control my urge to ask for some! And some more! And some more!!!

Diyosko, nanghihina ang tuhod ko. Ang sarap!

Liliw: Immortal Tsinelas & Sinantol Pasta

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Second time is as fascinating as the first.  This is what I felt when I got the opportunity to walk the narrow streets of Liliw Laguna for the second time.  The place is a paradise for shoes and tsinelas (slippers) lovers.  Too bad my subsequent visit to Liliw was just a stopover and there was only limited time to go gaga over footwear.  The diversity and assortment of footgear available in Liliw can rival the traditional shoe-making capital Marikina.

With only short time allotted, I was able to cover a number of stores with a thought framework “if the shoe fits, buy it!”  I bought myself two pairs of leather-made immortal tsinelas at only 190 pesos each.  I consider it immortal because it takes like a lifetime before these Liliw-made footgear-s would tear off.

An ideal Filipino province, Liliw is clean, organized, peaceful and tourist-friendly.  Aside from the amazing footwear, there is another bonanza I struck in this place.  It is a Tagalog delicacy that I believe can only be found in the Philippines.  It’s called Sinantol.  It is a dish out from the velvety skinned tropical fruit santol in which the pulp is grated and squeezed off its juice cooked with coconut milk, red chili pepper and bagoong alamang (salty shrimp paste).

Sinantol is commonly eaten with other Pinoy viands and hot steamed rice.  However, since I hardly store rice grains in my house, I instead mixed the Sinantol with cooked spaghetti pasta.  It was awesome!  My taste buds wanted to grow its own taste buds so as to relish the heavenly flavor in my palate.  Thanks to the absence of any rice grain in my house because I was able to put together one amazing gourmet sensation! Yum yum!!

Sarap tikman at tapakan…

Fried Patupat

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Neil Hubert, a friend’s friend is on his way to Pangasinan for a short vacation.  With a thick face that I usually possess, I requested my friend to tell Neil Hubert to bring me “Patupat” when he goes back to Manila.

 I grew up eating patupat because my father is a native of Mapandan, Pangasinan.  This Manila-rare-find delicacy, which has yet to be as popular as that of Piaya of Iloilo and Otap of Cebu, is made from sticky rice and wrapped by an intricate weaving of coconut leaves.  I know that the authentic patupat is cooked in boiling and sticky sugarcane juice placed in talyasi (big iron cooking pot) and not just from boiling water with brown sugar.  I know this because I personally witnessed cigarette-puffing Aunt Nena cooking this native delicacy in her backyard during one of my childhood summer vacations in Mapandan.

 I remember during my childhood when my relatives from Pangasinan would bring tons of this brown sticky treat in our house in Pasay.  It’s so plenty that we could not finish it in one seating.  Nengkoy would usually put the rest inside the ref.  However, when it is chilled the quality and endowment of the patupat is not as good. 

 But out of Nengkoy’s culinary ingenuity, she would fry those chilled left-over patupat and would actually improve it in all its full gourmet glory!  Like an apocalyptic conception the cold, days-old and left-over patupat when fried is delightfully crispy on the outside yet heavenly soft and chewy on the inside.    

 Anak ng patupat! Tulo laway na ko!

I’m a Glazed Donut

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After having dinner at Nengkoy’s house tonight and driven back to my crib by the Clamor family, I suddenly had the craving to eat a piece of donut.  My deranged faculty and taste buds just suddenly wants a bite or two of a donut.  I even wondered on what type of donut would I like to devour. 

However, it is too late for me to go out just to satisfy this ridiculous craving.  That is why I settled on browsing the internet on what type of donut would I be. 

Surprisingly, according to Blogthings (after answering a few preposterous and ill-conceived questions), I am a…

GLAZED DONUT : )

Okay, you know that you’re plain – and you’re cool with that. 

You prefer not to let anything distract you from your sweetness.

Your appeal is understated yet universal.  Everyone digs you.

And in a pinch, you’ll probably get eaten.

Sabi ko na nga ba, masarap ako eh! Mwahaha!!!

Vietnamese Lafang

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After having been to Vietnam, I was no longer surprised when I watched and learned that there is no Vietnamese representative/contestant in the first Asian edition of The Biggest Looser, a TV reality show featured in AXN channel.

Vietnam is vegetable-infested.  Almost all the meals we consumed during our stay in Vietnam contained huge amounts of vegetables.  It could be an ingredient in the main dish, the salad, the sidings or merely humungous beddings to stylize a dish presentation.  It was even served during breakfast!  It feels like eating a forest!  After mass consumption of Vietnamese dishes these greens would vine out of my nostrils.

During our 3-day stay in Vietnam, never did I saw a single soul with fat obese body.  The tour guide commissioned to bring us to the outskirts of Saigon (particularly in Cu Chi Viet Cong Camp and Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh) explained that this is because their food is mainly composed of products from the botanical kingdom.  He even informed us that there has yet to have a McDonalds chain in their country.

I adore Vietnam and I have nothing against those herbaceous plants, but I personally prefer eating slaughtered animals.  My taste buds prefer those zoological vein blocking fats and cholesterol.  One advantage though (as observed by Karengkeng) of eating these veggies during our Vietnam adventure was that our poop for those days were less stinky.

Bahay kubo… at sa paligid ligid ay puno ng bacon.