Lunch at BLT Steak – Bistro Laurent Tourondel

I’ve always wanted to eat at a “famous chef” restaurant. I’ve seen a show about BLT steak on the food channel. BLT is short for the chef’s name – Bistro Laurent Tourondel.

This is the exterior of the restaurant. It’s faces the Hong Kong harbour. There’s usually cruise ships berthed right outside but the day we went there were none.

BLT is located at ground floor of Ocean Terminal which is next to the star ferry and the Marco Polo Hong Kong hotel.

We went there for lunch since they have a special lunch buffet for HK$138. The buffet included appetizers, a wide variety of fresh salads and dessert. Burgers or steak can be added for a fee.

You can enjoy the view of the Hong Kong harbour from the restaurant.

Buffet spread

Menu on the wall

The buffet was made up of mostly raw veggies and a few cooked appetizers. It looked like a light lunch selection but after trying most of the food you’ll really get full. Both the beef and salmon were very good.

GR. Steak Asian style & Salmon Citrus Nage

Arancini are fried risotto balls. Left-over risotto are formed around a piece of mozarella cheese into balls then breaded and fried. These weren’t very good. The arancini I made before tasted much better.

Arancini

The dressing for the caesar salad was a bit too sour for my taste. I loved the parmesan crisps on the salad but the not the flat cheesy croutons which were very, very hard.

Caesar Salad


Field Greens w/ Mustard Dressing


Baby Spinach w/ Bacon Vinaigrette


Chopped Salad w/ Oregano Dressing


5 Spiced Chicken Salad


Fritata
I loved the popovers specially with cheese. Too bad they weren’t hot. It was still yummy though.

popovers


Assorted Cheese


Roasted Beets


Cauliflowers


Penne Salad

I really liked the iceberg wedges which were cold and crisp and perfect with the blue cheese dressing.

Iceberg Salad w/ Blue Cheese Dressing


Fresh Fruits


Coffee Cake


Peach Almond Tart


NY Cheesecake


Brownies
I didn’t eat any dessert except for these chocolate chip cookies. They’re the best cookies I’ve ever eaten. I ate 2 at the restaurant and took home 3 more. If they sell it I would definitely buy them. The cookies were chewy and loaded with good quality chocolate and walnuts.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I ordered a wagyu burger with my buffet. I had to add HK$62 for the burger. It was good but not as good as the mini wagyu burgers at Inagiku. If I have another chance to eat at BLT steak again I’d stick to the buffet only. It was more than enough for me. I ate only half the burger and it really pushed my belly to the edge. I skipped dinner that night.

Wagyu Burger


Angus Beef Chart


BLT Steak’s Lunch Menu

BLT Steak
Shop G62, Ground Floor
Ocean Terminal
Kowloon, Hong Kong
telephone: (852) 2730 3508

Hours: 
Lunch served
11:30AM-6PM

Dinner served
6PM-11:30PM 

Lunch at Azabu Sabo

We had lunch at a new Japanese restaurant in Hankow road. Azabu Sabo (HK site in Chinese and Singapore site in English) is a casual dining Japanese restaurant which specializes in dessert and ice cream as well as traditional snacks and quick meals.

Azabu Sabo’s history from the Singapore site

A wall of fake plastic food samples greets you at the top of the escalator. I think their entire menu was represented there.

The interiors were clean and simple and reflected the casual dining theme.

This was the view from our table. The restaurant was right across the giant Adidas store on Peking road. It’s easy to find Azabu Sabo. Just look for the plastic food display on the street.

grilled eel & scrambled egg on rice HK$ 59.80

The udon dish was covered with bonito flakes. I guess that was the seafood part of the dish. It was very good. My only complaint was there was more beef than noodles. Weird complaint huh? Anyway the beef was sukiyaki cut and very tender so I didn’t really mind.


Azabu pan-fried udon w/ seafood & beef
HK$79.80

I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the page in the menu where the next 3 dishes were on. So I don’t have their prices and I’m just guessing the names. They were all very good. I remember the prices ranged from HK$30-45 for these small dishes.

beef wrapped in asparagus


fried eel rolls


vegetable pumpkin balls

The dessert was mostly ice with syrup. It didn’t even taste like green tea. It’s not my kind of dessert. It was refreshing though but it’s not something I would order again. At least we got to try the dessert which made them famous.

green tea slush w/ red bean paste HK$ 39.80
I’m not a big fan of the types of desserts offered at Azabu Sabo. I would go back just for the food. The food was good and the prices were reasonable.

Azabu Sabo Hong Kong Menu
(the dessert came first in their menu)
sweet potato, kakigori, sundae,
tempura, don, ramen, udon, pinpin noodle,
set, syphon coffee, iced drinks, ice cream float,
healthy tomato series, autumn select set

Azabu Sabo

Shop No. 16, 1/F, Hong Kong Pacific Centre
28 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
telephone: 2736 5006

G/F Knutsford Steps No.12,
Miramar Shopping Centre,
132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
telephone: 2377 3780

Shop F3, 5 & 7 Fashion Walk
19 Great George St.
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
telephone: 2882 1582

Dinner at Hak Ka Hut

Our first dinner in Hong Kong was at the Hakka Hut located at Oterprise Square in TST where Friday’s and Outback steak house are.

Hakka cuisine originated in southeastern China, mainly Guangdong and Fujian provinces. There are several Hakka restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia but this is the first one I’ve seen in Hong Kong.

The interiors were pleasant and very casual.

I found their melamine plates with cut outs for the chopsticks really cute.

We started with the clear chicken soup which was extremely flavorful. It tasted like it was cooked for days.

clear chicken soup

These were the contents of the soup. Notice the pork? I think the secret to good chicken soup is the addition of pork. Of course there was also lots of secret herbs and spices added.

The conch was just average. Some were quite tough. The tofu underneath was good though.

pan fried sliced conch w/ beancurd HK$60

The baked chicken with savory sauce is their specialty. It’s tasted like very salty steamed chicken. It was good with rice. It’s one of the best Hainanese chicken I’ve ever eaten in Hong Kong.

baked chicken w/ savory sauce Hk$60/half
These were the sauces for the chicken. The left one is a soy-vinegar combination. The one on the right is my favorite. It was made with sesame oil and ginger. The one on the bottom was your regular chili sauce.

steamed rice

The menu said these were called Hakka pastries. The waitress said it was made up of sweet and savory pastries. She said she didn’t like the savory ones but we couldn’t order just the sweet pastries. We decided to try it since it was their specialty.

Hakka pastries

This brown sticky thing was the sweet pastry. At first bite it tasted like soil. It was very sticky and chewy and it had a sweet, nutty filling. After I got over the taste of soil it wasn’t that bad. I acutally managed to finish a piece. But I wouldn’t order this again.

The white one was the savory pastry. Boy was the waitress right. After one bite I didn’t bother finishing it. I can’t describe the taste but it was yucky.

We went back another night to try more of their specialties. We ordered my favorite dish stewed pork belly with preserved vegetables. You really need to eat rice with this dish. Also make sure to remove the fat layer. It’s another salty and delicious dish.

pork belly with preserved vegetables Hk$62


scrambled eggs w/ crabmeat & vermicelli $58


beancurd w/ minced pork


poached fresh mushrooms w/ baby vegetables
in rich soup $50

For dessert we had the traditional Chinese hot sweet soups in almond and black sesame flavors.

hot almond soup & black sesame soup

Hak Ka Hut Menu
specialties, vegetables, seafood, dimsum

Hak Ka Hut serves decent food at average prices. The standouts were the baked chicken and stewed pork with preserved vegetables. The other dishes were just average. It’s definitely no Choi Garden. Give it a try so you can taste genuine Hakka cuisine.

Hak Ka Hut
3/F, Oterprise Square 26 Nathan Rd,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
telephone: 2369 3822

Philippine Airlines food Mla-Hkg-Mla

I just recently came back from a trip to Hong Kong. As usual I took PAL since it’s my favorite airline. Yes it is! Well mainly because all my mileage from credit cards is with Pal so I have no choice but to take PAL. On this flight I took business class using up only 25,000 miles round trip.

As usual the food was excellent. No I wasn’t just hungry. It was really, really good!


lunch menu Mla-Hkg

The mixed seafood salad was delicious. The shrimp, scallop and mussel were all fresh and well cooked.

I chose the western specialty which was chicken breast with morel farce. I didn’t know what farce was but I took a chance. I love chicken breast but I’m normally hesitant to order it on the plane because it usually is hard and dry. Surprisingly the chicken wrapped in pastry was tender and juicy. The sauce was also exquisite.
chicken breast with morel farce

dinner menu Hkg-Mla

For dinner I chose the Asian specialty of grilled sea bass with red curry sauce. Fish is a dish I avoid on planes as it is often hard and often not fresh. But I didn’t have any option since I don’t like prawns or pork tenderloin. I was so shocked to find the fish restaurant quality. It was a thick cut of sea bass that was perfectly grilled. It was melt in your mouth tender. My only complain was there wasn’t enough curry sauce. The crab rice wasn’t that good though. It tasted like colored rice only.

smoked tuna salad

grilled sea bass w/ red curry sauce & crab rice

The panna cotta was good but not the greatest. They should have flavored the panna cotta with mango instead of leaving it plain and topping it with sour mangoes. Nevertheless not bad for airplane food.

mango panna cotta

Watch out in the coming days for more features and pictures of Hong Kong restaurants.

7% – Life lessons from a 90 yr. old woman

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”

01. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
02. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
03. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
04. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
05. Pay off your credit cards every month.
06. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
07. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
08. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
09. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past, so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness, but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”.
26. Always choose life.
27 Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

It’s estimated 93% won’t forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will, forward this with the title ‘7%’. I’m in the 7%. Remember that I will always share my spoon with you! Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.

Lunch Buffet at Inagiku Japanese restaurant

I’ve already featured Inagiku before but the pictures I took then were awful. I think they’re better now.
Inagiku at Makati Shangri-la has the one of the best Japanese buffets in town but they only have it on weekends.

They definitely have the best selection of sushi I’ve ever eaten. I only eat cooked sushi and they had a lot of those and they were very unique. It was challenging to take pictures of the sushi because it was always out of stock. People there ate a lot of sushi and the chefs can’t keep up.

This was my favorite sushi. It’s called spicy tuna burger. It’s a piece of seared tuna on top of sushi rice and topped with some mayonnaise and cheese which was broiled quickly to melt.

I didn’t eat any of the salads or cold appetizers below. I wanted to save space in my tummy for the sushi and 1 item in the main course. Read on to find out what it was.

Japanese potato salad

Inagiku salad with special dressing and toppings

These were the main course selections. I only had interest in one item.


shrimp balls


salmon in miso

There were different types of meat and seafood you can choose and they will cook it on the teppanyaki table for you. I didn’t eat any of these either. They were very popular with the other diners.

steak


chicken


prawns


tuna


sea bass

udon station

mixed vegetables

fried salmon w/ cheese

These were the best food in the buffet – mini hamburgers! I’m declaring these the best burgers in Manila. It wipes out any burgers I’ve written about. These burgers were thick, juicy and most of all they taste like little nuggets of steak. As I’ve written over and over a good burger for me is one that is made with great quality beef that you can truly taste with every bite. It’s not about the sauce, toppings, cheese and definitely any extenders or fancy spices. These definitely fit the bill. I initially got a piece to try. I wasn’t expecting anything fancy. The first bite blew me away. I immediately told everyone in our group to get try the burgers. Everyone agreed with me that they were incredible.

giant tuna head

sukiyaki

Dessert Japanese style

coffee jelly

These are pictures of what I actually ate. I didn’t have pictures of the shrimp sushi below but these were always out of stock too. They were deadly delicious.
Notice the one burger and 3 kinds of fish? I was trying to eat healthy. The salmon on the left was too sweet, the fried one in the middle was hard and cold so I just ate the one on the right. After I ate my burger I immediately went back for more!
Here’s 3 more burgers. I think I went back for 2 more. I hope they have burgers again the next time I go back to Inagiku. I will just eat sushi and burgers for lunch.

The waiter will bring tempura to your table. I’m not really fond of shrimp tempura so I asked for fish and sweet potato tempura only.

fish tempura


sweet potato tempura
Of course I had dessert. I love the fruit in jelly inside the orange skin. I also love their coffee jelly and the new citrus jelly.

It was a wonderful lunch since it wasn’t at Choi Garden again. I also loved discovering the best burgers in Manila. I hope they have it as a regular item in their weekend buffet.
Inagiku
Makati Shangri-la Hotel
Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue
Makati City 1200 Philippines
telephone: (63 2) 813 8888
for reservations: 840 0884

P1,732.00  net per head

Birthday Dinner at Choi Garden

It’s unbelievable but I ate at Choi Garden at lunch and dinner on my birthday! At lunch I treated our office staff but at dinner I was a guest. My birthday happens to fall on the same day as uncle E  so it was his birthday dinner I attended. The food we ate at dinner was far from the from the food we had at lunch in terms of price and choices.

dinner menu

We started with cold cuts – roast pork, soy chicken, sliced beef, cucumbers.

cold cuts

The special treat for dinner was the whole Australian abalone per person. It was really, really tender and flavorful.

Australian abalone

Next was this giant live lobster.

The lobster was cooked in the Chinese way with superior sauce. The sauce was very rich and buttery. The lobster despite it’s size was soft and succulent.


lobster in superior sauce


wintermelon soup w/ crabmeat & dried scallops


Peking duck

The leftover duck was cut up into pieces, seasoned and fried again. It wasn’t on the menu but they decided to do it for us. It was sooooo good to eat the spicy and tasty bones of the duck. Some pieces had more meat than others but either way it was still good.

fried duck bones


polunchay w/ 2 kinds of eggs


birthday misua

The beautiful caramel birthday cake was from Estrel’s in Quezon City. Estrel’s is well known for their caramel cake.

I brought this lemon torte from Classic Confections.They’re now my favorite cake source.
I love the crunchy meringue layers and the tangy lemon curd. It was a refreshing change from chocolate cakes.

We had the same cake shop in mind. Their family in turn gave me Nono’s chocolate oblivion cake. This in my book is the best chocolate cake in Manila.

As usual the food was excellent. It was a dinner worthy of the celebrant’s special day.
Choi Garden Menu
Choi Garden Seafood and Shark’s Fin Restaurant
12 Annapolis St.
cor. Purdue St.
San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 727-6042
Estrel’s Caramel Cakes
54 Scout Tobias Corner Scout Limbaga
Laging Handa, QC
telephone: 372-2965

Classic Confections
2/F of Greenbelt 5
Makati City
telephone: 746-2773, 490-7896

4/F 87 West Capitol Drive,
Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City
telephone: 729-9243; 0917-524-5892 




Birthday Lunch at Choi Garden

There’s a tradition in our small office that the birthday celebrant brings food to the office on their birthday. This year everyone requested that I treat them at Choi Garden restaurant since they keep seeing the food on my blog. So their wish is my command.

I ordered all my favorites since I knew they would like it. I forgot to take pictures of the fried rice and hot and sour soup. As if rice and noodles weren’t enough carbs they also wanted to try the fried man tao.

efu noodles

pepper beef ribs
I wanted to try the fried golden mushrooms because I remember eating them at Annapolis Seafood restaurant and they were delicious. Too bad at Choi’s they were horrible. All you taste is the flour batter coating the mushrooms. In the other restaurant they fried the mushrooms straight without the batter so you can taste the flavor of the crisp mushrooms.

salt & pepper fried golden mushroom

The spareribs was everyone’s hands down favorite. It went so fast this is the only picture I was able to take.

salt & pepper spareribs

I also ordered the hot prawn and chicken salad. It was amazingly crisp but a tad too sweet for my taste. It could have been super yummy if not for it being too sweet. No one else complained so I guess they liked it too. I’ll definitely order this again but I’ll be sure to tell them lessen the condensed milk.

hot prawn & chicken salad

My candle blowing skills were pathetic! I couldn’t even blow out a single candle. It took me 4 tries.

They got me an almond sans rival from Sugarhouse. It was one of my favorite cakes in Sugarhouse. The meringue layers were very crisp and the sliced almonds were abundant.


almond sans rival


Choi Garden Menu
abalone, shark’s fin soup, seafood
roasts & vegetables, meat, chef’s recommendation

Choi Garden Seafood and Shark’s Fin Restaurant
12 Annapolis St.
cor. Purdue St.
San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 727-6042

Where to eat?

Where to eat? That’s the question my friends always ask me. Here are the links to the restaurants I’ve eaten at compiled by location and type.

PHILIPPINES

Where to eat in San Juan/Greenhills?
Amici (various locations)
Angel’s Kitchen
Annapolis Seafood Palace
Arya Persian Restaurant
Bangus
Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodle House
Bizu Patisserie
C2 Classic Cuisine 2
Cafe Ysabel
Capricciosa
Cara Mia
Choi Garden – Hot Pot
Choi Garden Sharksfin and Seafood restaurant (a la carte)
Choi Garden Sharksfin and Seafood restaurant (lauriat and my favorite dishes)
Choi Garden – Sunday Lunch 
Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao
Dinner at Choi Garden
Classic Savory Chicken (various locations)
Freska Ilonggo Seafood and Inasal
Gloria Maris
Goodburgers (various locations)
Green Maris Hot Pot
J. Abad Santos st. restaurants
Jollibee
Mann Hann (various locations) 2
Mr. Sunmoon Seafood House
NY Pizza
Ristras Mexican Grill
ThaiDara
The Frazzled Cook

Where to eat in Pasig/Ortigas area?
Cafe Juanita
California Pizza Kitchen (various locations)
Charlie’s Grind and Grill
Eat and Go
Gumbo
H.K. Choi 2
Hotshots Burgers
Mey Lin Pot and Noodle (various locations)
Minato Korean and Japanese Restaurant
North Park Noodle House (various locations)
Red Mango frozen yogurt (various locations)
Sango Burger Master (various locations)
Yedang Korean BBQ 2

Where to eat in Makati?
Aubergine part 2, 3
Azuthai
Cav Wine Shop and Cafe
Chef Laudico Bistro Filipino
Chef’s Table by Chef Bruce Lim
Chelsea Market and Cafe
El Cirkulo
Elbert’s Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Fely J
Je Suis Gourmand part 2
Kashmir
Kaya Korean Restaurant
Korea Garden Restaurant
La Nuova Pasteleria
La Regalade
Lolo Dad’s Brasserie
Lorenzo’s Way
Lu Restaurant
M Cafe
Malacca
Mi Piace
Paul Calvin’s Deli
People’s Palace
Seryna & Little Tokyo
Spasso Italian Tapas & Wine Bar
Tapella
UCC Park Cafe
Via Mare (various locations)
Yakiniku Sakura restaurant
Yakiniku Senri

Where to eat in Quezon City?
145 Fahrenheit
Asian Twist Fusion Restaurant
Bagoong Club
Bellini’s Italian Restaurant
Peking Garden part 2
Romulo Cafe
Shantung Restaurant
Toast Box

Where to eat in Malate?
Lili, Hyatt Manila
Tao Yuan
The Century Seafood Restaurant 2, 3

Where to eat in Binondo?
Crepe de Chine

Where to eat in Pampanga?
C’ Italian Dining

Where to eat in Pasay City?
Golden Bay Restaurant part 2

Where to eat in Tagaytay?
Antonio’s
Bag of Beans
Fling Frozen Yogurt

Where to eat buffet in Manila?
Cafe on the Ridge (International buffet at Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay)
Benjarong & Tosca (Thai and Italian buffet at Dusit Thai Hotel)
Basix (International buffet at Dusit Thai Hotel)
Umu (Japanese buffet at Dusit Thai Hotel)
Heat (International buffet at Edsa Shangri-La)
Inagiku (Japanese buffet at Shangri-La Manila)
Paseo Uno (International buffet at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel)

Where to eat dessert? buy cakes? bread?
Arny ♥ Dading’s Peachy Peachy
Angels Kitchen
Cake2Go
Bellini’s Orange Cake
Bibingka and Pastillas
Bizu Patisserie
Cara Mia
Cakes and Bakes
Classic Confections
Halo Halo
Hungrypac Cakes and Crinkles
Karen’s Kitchen
Lartizan Boulangerie Française
La Tasca Bibingkang Malagkit
Puto and Kutsinta
Putong Ube
Red Mango
Sans Rival
Sugarhouse pt. 2
Taho
The Ice Cream Bar by FIC
Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt
Vargas Kitchen Butter Cake
Yoh-gurt Froz

HONG KONG

Where to eat in Hong Kong? (cheap to mid range)
Arirang Korean Restaurant
Azabu Sabo
Bistro on the Mile 2(International buffet at Holiday Inn Golden Mile)
BLT Steak
Cafe de Coral (best milk tea)
Cafe Key West
Chuk Yuen (best dimsum and seafood) part 2, 3
Delicious Kitchen 2
East Ocean
Gyu Jin Shabu Shabu & Sukiyaki
Hakka Hut
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
Chiu Fat Porridge Noodle Restaurant (cheapest, yummy noodle soup)
Hang Fa Lau (cheap and good desserts)
Hang Heung (best noodles, roast meats, congee) part 2, 3
Honeymoon Dessert
House of Jasmine
Jimmy’s Kitchen
Little Mermaid Bakery
Macau Chinese restaurant
Moon Chiew (in Whampoa Garden)
Pak Loh Chiu Chow restaurant dim sum
Pho24
Praise House Congee & Noodle Cuisine
Pokka Cafe (coffee and Japanese fusion)
Spring Deer (best Peking food, Peking duck)
Te Quick Pasta & Herb Tea
The China Club
Wu Kong (Shanghai food) part 2
Super Star Seafood restaurant
Sweet Dynasty
Yakiniku Gyukura
Yu Joy Hot Pot

Where to eat in Hong Kong? (5 star price and quality)
Caprice part 2, 3, 4
Grissini (best Italian Sunday buffet)
Harbourside (best overall buffet) part 2, 3
Hutong (best, expensive Chinese food)
L’ Atelier de Joel Robuchon (best, expensive set lunch) part 2, 3, 4
Lung King Heen
Nobu
Petrus part 2
Spoon (French fine dining w/ awesome Sunday buffet) part 2

MACAO

Where to eat in Macao?
456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine
Bambu
Portugese fastfood

SINGAPORE

Where to eat in Singapore?
Cafebiz+ (Breakfast buffet at Traders Hotel)
Din Tai Fung
Crystal Jade
Killiney Kopitiam (at Changi Airport)
Siam Kitchen
The Line (International buffet at Shangri-la hotel)
Thye Hong

TAIPEI

Where to eat in Taipei?
Chiate Bakery
Din Tai Fung
Shanghai Dumplings
Shin Yeh
Taipei 101 food court
Wasabi
World Soybean Magnate

AUSTRALIA

Where to eat in Perth?
Jade Restaurant
Valentino
James St. Kitchen
Restaurants in Fremantle
Sorrento

Where to eat in Margaret River?
Blue Ginger
Chow Cuisine To Go
Kappadokia Kebabs
Margaret River Fish & Chips
Sea Gardens
Settlers Tavern
Wild Thyme
Woody Nook Winery

USA

Where to eat in San Francisco?
Anchor and Hope 
Bi-Rite Creamery and Bakeshop
Bocadillos
Dottie’s True Blue Cafe
Gott’s Roadside
Jody Maroni’s Sausage SandwichesLevel III at JW Marriott Hotel
Marlowe
Limon Peruvian RotisseriePizzeria Delfina 
Salt House
Tartine Bakery and Cafe

Where to eat in Virginia?
Coastal Flats
Central Michel Richard
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chutzpah Deli
Pitango Gelato
The Counter
The Original Pancake House
Whole Foods Market
Willie’s Smoked Carolina BBQ

Where to eat in Virginia Beach?
Pelons Baja Grill
Pocahontas Pancakes & Waffle Shop

Where to eat in Williamsburg?
Peking Restaurant

Lunch at Golden Bay Restaurant

Last Sunday we tried out the newest Chinese restaurant in town. We heard the huge restaurant was built by investors from China to a tune of P350M.

This is the view from the back. From edsa turn left on Pres. Diosdado Macapagal highway and go towards S&R. Just before reaching S&R make a U-turn and you will immediately see the big green and white building below.

We went on the 1st day they opened. Talk about eager beavers.

The restaurant can seat a maximum of 2,500 people. The restaurant is split into 3 floors. The ground floor is made up of some function rooms and the main dining area. The second floor is the banquet hall and has 45 tables and can accomodate up to 200 tables. It’s perfect for big weddings. The third floor has more function rooms. Each room has it’s own lcd tv for videoke.

This was our room. The room where we stayed for 4 hours last Sunday. Yes it took us 4 hours to finish lunch. The kitchen was in chaos and it took a very long time for the food to come out. Sometimes up to half an hour in between courses. Thank goodness the food more than made up for the bad service.

The overall decor was made me feel like I was eating in China. There were a lot of prints and colors that shout ‘rich and expensive’ but not ‘chic and elegant’.

our set menu

We ordered some har kaw or shrimp dumplings for the kids. They immediately proclaimed the ones at Choi’s was better.

har kaw or shrimp dumplings

The food didn’t come out in the order written on the menu. It came out and we ate. Whatever came out we didn’t care. We were hungry. The soup was very, very flavorful. It was a great start so far.

shell meat & black chicken soup

The king prawns were tiny but very sweet and perfectly cooked. It was a simple and perfect dish. Just prawns, lots of garlic and some soy sauce.

steamed king prawns with garlic

The fish was perfectly cooked too! Nothing fancy here. Just the regular way of serving steamed lapu lapu with soy sauce, sesame oil and lots of green onions.

steamed lapu lapu

A whole dry scalloped embedded in the middle of a ring of raddish and topped with sauteed lettuce. Everyone loved this except me. The scallops got stuck in my teeth.

whole dried scallop ring

The appetizer finally makes an appearance. Some roast duck, roast pork, soy chicken, jelly fish and century eggs.

b.b.q. combination


steamed crab with egg white

Definitely not the best Peking duck. Go to Peking Garden for that.

peking duck

I don’t eat misua because I don’t like soft, mushy noodles. But these were firm and good. Or maybe I was just hungry from waiting for the food. But it really was good.

traditional Fookien misua

The remaining duck was transformed into a second dish. Chopped duck with minced bamboo shoot and other ingredients and served with lettuce cups and hoisin sauce.

minced duck meat w/ lettuce

Asides from the usual butchi for dessert, a sticky sweet potato mochi like dessert filled with yellow monggo was also served. I loved it so much.

2 varieties of Chinese pastry


sweet potato pastry

Overall the food was very promising. They gave us a 30% discount for opening day promo. We had to pay cash since their credit card terminals weren’t installed yet. It’s a good thing we had enough cash with us. I think this will be a popular wedding destination in the future. They have a big parking lot which was filled to capacity. When there’s a wedding the parking lot will surely be lacking.

Golden Bay Restaurant Menu
abalone & shark’s fin, soup,
chef’s recommendation
poultry, rice & noodles,
HK bbq & Chow Zhou “Lu Shui”
dim sum

Golden Bay Fresh Seafood Restaurant
Lots 3 & 4 Super Block A
Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Blvd.
Pasay City
telephone: 556-7525; 994-2959
goldenbay.marketing@gmail.com