Shoot First Eat Later

Dinner at Freska Ilonggo Seafood and Inasal

It’s September, my birthday month. That means a lot of eating and treating different groups of friends from school and work. This is the first one. Our dinner at Freska was a joint treat among 3 birthday celebrants – me, Sergei and Kelly.

It was my first time to eat at Freska Ilonggo Seafood and Inasal restaurant at the Promenade in Greenhills.

Freska is at the 2nd floor of Promenade in between Burgoo and Las Paellas.

I’m not much of an oyster eater specially the raw kind. Sometimes I’ll try a baked oyster. But it’s not really my thing. Jay ordered the Oysters Rockefeller. Their version is light and not covered with a thick sauce like in most restaurants. The oysters were topped with some pesto, cheese and bacon and baked. I loved it specially with a generous squeeze of calamansi. It was very, very fresh. We ordered 2 servings and I ate 4-5. I’d go back just to eat the oysters. I liked it even more than Via Mare’s oysters.

oysters rockefeller P265

The scallops were soft and perfectly cooked. I’ve had fresh scallops in a 5 star restaurant in HK that was hard and rubbery. These scallops beat those by a mile. It would be easy to consume a whole plate of these by yourself.

grilled scallops w/ cheese, lemon butter
& garlic P188

I didn’t like their grilled squid. It was a bit undercooked which made the squid rubbery. I’d pass on this one.

inihaw na pusit P230

The grilled pork belly was just satisfactory. The servings were really small. So be sure to order more food.

grilled liempo (pork belly) P178

The binagoongang baboy and sugpo was a pleasant surprise. When I first saw the dish I thought the pork looked dry and petrified. When I ate it I was happy that it was very crunchy and the bagoong sauce was a little sweet and salty. This Ilonggo version used guinamos (Visayan bagoong) and it was definitely different from what we’re used to. We loved this dish and ordered 2 of it.

binagoongang baboy and sugpo P255
pork and shrimp cooked with Visayan bagoong

Freska is a good place to eat fresh seafood and Filipino food with a twist. It was a refreshing change from the usual Abe and Fely J that we frequent. Next time I’d stick to ordering more seafood though.

Freska Menu
appetizers, soup & vegetables, more seafood
house specialties, meat & poultry,
solo meals & family festival platters

Freska Ilonggo Seafood and Inasal
2nd Level Promenade
Greenhills, San Juan
telephone: 744-3446 / 0922-5550307

Dinner at Arya Persian Restaurant

Some of us amigas had dinner last Monday at Arya Persian restaurant at the Promenade at Greenhills Shopping Center. It’s one of our favorite places for Middle Eastern food.

partial amigas

For starters we ordered the Arya dip platter made up of Hummus, Motabal, Tzitziki, and Mirza Ghasemi. It came with a basket of pita bread.

Arya dip platter P245

lassi

All the dishes were served with an abundant amount of basmati rice and a couple of grilled tomatoes. Maksus is a combination of ground beef on one skewer and beef cubes in another skewer. Hmm I didn’t see this on the menu. Suki talaga si Deb!

maksus

Royal joojeh kabab are skewers of chicken breast marinated in safforn & yogurt. I tried a piece and found it very tasty but a bit dry.

royal joojeh kabab P365

Pat ordered the keema because she said it looked like arroz ala cubana or picadillo. She really liked it because she finished all of her rice plus 1/2 of mine.

keema P235

I ordered the lamb chops. I loved it! It was tender, full flavored and smokey. My only complaint was the slices were very thin. I only ate about 1/4 of my rice since there was no sauce. Well, that’s good news for my diet.

Arya shishlik P555

Beef koobideh is Elisa’s favorite dish in Arya. It’s made of seasoned ground beef that’s formed into skewers and grilled. Next time this is what I will order.

beef koobideh P355

garlic and chili sauce

All our orders came with grilled tomatoes which can be made into a salad by the waiter. We had extra special service that night since our tomato salads were made by the owner himself.

The tomato is first peeled then seasoned with freshly ground pepper and topped with yogurt garlic sauce and then mashed.

tomato salad

Dr. Shin Karami

For dessert we shared a fig orange cake. It was warm and super soft. Dr. Karami told us it was sweetened with ground dried white figs. I loved the cake. It was the perfect dessert for our meal.

Dr. Karami even brought out a container of figs to show us what it looked like. I never knew there were white figs. I’m only familiar with the fig newton kind. 🙂

dried white figs

Dr. Karami also served us cardamom tea in traditional colorful tea glasses.

They even have water pipes called ghalyun in Iran or shisha in our middle eastern countries. You can sit outside and smoke flavored tobacco to your heart’s content.

ghalyun or hookah or shisha

We had a very good and satisfying meal. Next time we plan to go to their newly opened branch at the Podium. Dr. Karami was very proud of all the authentic art work and decor in the Podium branch. We can’t wait to see it.

Arya menu
soups & salads, cold & hot maze,
beef, chicken, lamb

Arya Persian Restaurant
Unit L-9 Promenade Mall
Greenhills, San Juan
telephone: 584-6266

Podium Mall
Adb Ave. Ortigas Center
Pasig City
telephone: 571-3962

2nd level Robinson’s Manila
(Midtown Wing)
Pedro Gil cor. Adriatico Sts.,
Ermita, Manila
telephone: 567-3800

Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Sausage and Spinach

I bought this giant jar of sun dried tomatoes from Costco last year and it’s been sitting in my pantry waiting to be opened. I finally opened it last Monday to make sun dried tomato pesto for a pasta dish I was going to make for lunch. Rochelle and co. were coming to the house for lunch and this was the fastest and easiest dish I could make with the ingredients I had on hand.

I got this recipe from the free Betty Cocker mobile cookbook app in my iPhone.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, undrained
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor. Do not use a blender.
2. Cover and process for about 3 minutes or until smooth. Makes 1 1/3 cup.

I made mine chunkier. I also plan to add 1-2 T of tomato paste next time I make this to give the pesto a richer color and a deeper favor.

sun dried tomato pesto

I had a package of 4 small Italian garlic sausages (Santi’s brand) I bought in Unimart. I also had a box of frozen spinach in the freezer. So I decided to make a pasta dish with the sausage, spinach, sun dried tomato pesto and left over fetttucine pasta. As usual I made it freestyle which means no recipe and quantity of ingredients. The recipe below is an approximation of what I used. Please feel free to alter the ingredients to suit your taste.

Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Sausage and Spinach
1/2 cup or more sun dried tomato pesto (see recipe above)
4 Italian garlic sausages or other kinds (each one about 4″ in length)
10 oz. frozen spinach
250 grams fettucine or any other pasta
1/4 cup garlic, minced
olive oil

1. Thaw spinach and squeeze out excess liquid. Set aside.
2. Slice sausages and fry in pan til brown. Discard excess oil.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the minced garlic. Saute til lightly browned. Add spinach, sausages and pesto. You can also add some red pepper flakes for more heat. Turn off heat when the mixture is thoroughly mixed.

4. Boil water and add 2 T of rock salt. When the water is boiling add the pasta. Check for doneness at 8 minutes. It should be al dente after 1 or 2 minutes.

5. When the pasta is cooked do not drain the water. Simply transfer the pasta to the pan where your sausage mixture is. Mix pasta and sausage well. If it’s a bit dry add some pasta water to the dish. Mix well. Transfer to a serving dish.

I suggest putting more pesto and parmesan cheese on the table so guests can add more to their pasta if they want. I really liked this dish. The pesto was a bit mild but you can taste the pine nuts and parmesan cheese. The addition of spinach was also a good idea. It added more nutrition and texture to the dish. I think my guests liked it since they left the bowl empty.

It’s really hard to prepare a meal while taking pictures. There’s the risk of touching my camera with oily hands. Or I might burn the garlic while I was taking pictures. That’s why I have so few pictures that made it to this entry. I have to do more planning next time so I can take pictures before cooking.

Best Chocolate Cake at Classic Confections

It’s all Jeanne’s fault. She had to let me try the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten in my life. When I saw the box labeled Classic Confections I knew I had to see their store and check out their other cakes.

The chance came last Sunday when we ate at Tapella which was also at Greenbelt 5. After dinner we searched for the elusive cake shop.

I was shocked to find it right beside Fely J in Greenbelt 5. I’ve seen that cake shop so many times but I’ve never eaten there. Usually after dinner at Fely J we’d have dessert at Restaurante Pia y Damaso. It must be because Classic Confections has very limited seating and is always full. We still didn’t get to eat in the restaurant that night because they were about to close already.

They also sell cans of cookies and other goodies displayed on the wall shelves.

This is THE cake. Nono’s Chocolate Oblivion is the BEST chocolate cake in the Philippines if not the world! Yes I love it that much. It tastes more like a giant truffle than a cake. It’s rich, dark and not too sweet. It’s so creamy and it has sweet crunchy walnut praline bits on the outside. You can only eat a small piece of this cake in one sitting. But you will surely be satisfied even with a bite.

Even sitting in the refrigerator for a week this cake is as good as the first day. You may ask me why it stayed a week in my ref it was so good? Because I allow myself to eat only 2 spoonfuls a day. I even stashed some in the freezer for emergencies! Please trust me. Run to Greenbelt 5 and try it for yourself.

Nono’s Chocolate Oblivion P995

cheesecake P1300

Meline’s Chocolate Cake P595

assorted bars and cupcakes

opera torte P105
coconut cake P160
tiramisu P175

banana cream pie P155
cheesecake P195
cheesecake oblivion P215

We bought the mini lemon torte and Meline’s chocolate cake and ate it for dessert after lunch on Monday. The lemon torte was very good but it wasn’t as tart or as crunchy as Roshan’s. It was ok but I like Roshan’s better. The chocolate cake was the standard chocolate layer cake with frosting so I passed on that one.

Jeanne said the banana cream pie and mocha sansrival were also very good. My friend Marie Anne or Tisay agreed that the sansrival was very crunchy, creamy and not too sweet. I have to try that next time.

double chocolate mousse P175
lemon torte P185
mocha sansrival P185

rum cake P135

Thanks again Jeanne for sharing this treasure with me!

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

The Jackson 5 in Manila, 1976

The Jackson 5 came to Manila in February 1976 for a series of concerts called Love Jive, held at the Folk Arts Theater and the Araneta Coliseum. They performed on six consecutive days. To promote their concerts they guested in the TV show called Student Canteen hosted by Eddie Ilarde, Bobby Ledesma and Coney Reyes. Thanks to Arlene and Rochelle for emailing me these pictures.

Tito, Jackie, and Michael with Connie Reyes, Eddie Ilarde, and Bobby Ledesma

Marlon, Michael, and Randy with Connie, Eddie, and Bobby

Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Michael, and Randy with Connie

Michael sang “one day in your life”

Dinner at Tapella Restaurant

Last weekend has been good for my blog but very bad for my diet. Last night the same group who ate at Yedang decided to eat out again. I suggested Tapella in Greenbelt 5 since I love paella and wanted to try their manchego paella. I didn’t know Tapella was owned by Gaudi.

The place was small but had simple and pleasing interiors.

We ordered the chorizo stewed in red wine. It was a very small order. There were 5 of us and we barely got to eat 2 pieces each. It was very good and salty. We asked for bread to dip into the flavorful oil and wine sauce. They charge for bread too. A bread basket with 6 tiny slices of toasted baguette and 1 hard ciabatta costs P60. Too bad I didn’t get a picture of it.

Chorizo al Vino
chorizo stewed in red wine P245

This is half an order of soup. We had it split into two bowls. It had a very strong seafood taste which was a bit overwhelming.

Sopa de Mariscos
hearty seafood chowder P120

These tiny sticks of ham and cheese were just ok. Nothing great. We couldn’t even taste the cheese. It was very insignificant in it’s contribution to assuaging our hunger. My suggestion? Order something else.

serrano ham & cheese in phyllo pastry P110

The paella pans were probably 10″ in diameter and serves 2 people. The paella negra was good. It could do with a little more flavor though. It was served with aoli and lemon wedges.

black squid paella P520

Rochelle’s son enjoying the paella.

Everyone liked the black paella better than the manchego paella. It wasn’t really bad but it was just ordinary. There was hardly any taste of manchego cheese. It tasted just like rice cooked in chicken broth.

manchego cheese, chicken, asparagus &
shrimp paella P500

We saw the other table eating this so we ordered it too. It’s angus beef brought to your table pre-cooked a little. They bring out a chafing dish burner and put a plate on top.

You cook the beef to the wellness you desire. The beef was tender and good. You’re given a dish of salt to season the steak. For me that’s all you really need if your beef is good. What I didn’t like about this whole thing was that the chafing dish burner wasn’t enough to cook the beef. It took a long time just to get the red out of the meat. Chris wanted to let the fat brown up a bit before she eats it. I told her she’d have to wait til the next day for the fat to even sizzle a bit.

Chuleton Villagodio
grilled angus beef 750 g P2,065

The beef came with 2 side dishes -potatoes and red pepper.

potatoes in olive oil

red pepper

The bill for 4 adults and a child was P3,900. We didn’t order any drinks except for a lemonade. No dessert or coffee either.

Tapella by Gaudi
G/F Greenbelt 5, Legaspi St.,
Legaspi Village Makati City,
Metro Manila
telephone: 757-2710

Yedang Korean Restaurant again

I’ve been on a diet for a week now. I only ate a small chicken pie for breakfast and a pb&j sandwich for lunch today. By 5 pm I was so hungry already. I was about to cook dinner when Rochelle called and asked if I wanted to eat at Yedang Korean restaurant. I immediately said yes. I really liked the food at Yedang when we ate there last July.

Tonight Warren took charge in ordering. I even enjoyed the food more this time around. As usual he ordered too much but we still managed to finish almost everything. I made up all the calories I saved during the day with dinner tonight. At least I didn’t overeat.

The next 6 dishes are the free appetizers that are automatically given to each table.

sweet peanuts

sweet new potatoes

spicy bamboo shoots

beansprouts

kimchi

sweet dilis/anchovies

Warren ordered only 3 meat dishes to be grilled. 1 beef, 1 pork and 1 chicken. All were good but the beef was my favorite.

grill sweet beef ribs (Kalbi) P300

grill chicken (dak-Kui) P250

grill pork spare ribs P250

Take a piece of grilled meat and put it on the shiso leaf, add some rice and sauce. Roll it up and eat it. That’s what the server taught us to do. The shiso leaf was really delicious. I didn’t bother with the ordinary lettuce.

shiso leaf and lettuce

spicy pan fried squid w/ vegetables P300

The pajeon or seafood pancake was our favorite. It’s just like the Chinese oyster pancake but this used mixed seafood and some ground beef. It tasted like an omelette but with a stickier texture.

Pajon – seafood w/ green onion pancake P300

noodles with chop suey (Japchae) P300

I liked the bibimbap too. It wasn’t spicy. It tasted just like fried rice.

Dolsot Bibimbap P250

vegetable hash rice in stone pot bowl

bibimbap

We all loved the ginseng chicken soup. It was perfect for tonight’s rainy weather. It had soft rice in the soup. It was like arroz caldo but with more soup than rice. The broth was very flavorful and the chicken very tender. It was a bit expensive though.

ginseng chicken soup P600

Yedang Menu
grill meats 1, 2, meat dishes,
soups & stews 1, 2, drinks

Yedang Korean BBQ Restaurant

88 Meralco Ave., Pasig City

telephone: 636-1461

Jollibee Chicken Barbecue

I saw this sign outside Jollibee Greenhills right across V-mall. That means Jollibee new product is out. After all the ads teasing us, today we learn it’s Jollibee Chicken Barbecue, a welcome addition for the health conscious eaters who think there are no healthy options in fastfood restaurants.

The menu board is full of chicken barbecue images.

Jollibee chicken joy is their best selling product and is truly worthy of that status. It’s really the best fried chicken ever imho. With the addition of the chicken barbecue I wonder how much will it eat into the sales of chicken joy. Or will they co-exist and happily satisfy the fried and barbecued chicken market?

Jollibee chicken barbecue poster

Whenever I go to a barbecue restaurant I always order pork barbecue because the chicken is usually hard and dry. Jollibee’s chicken barbecue was unbelievably moist and juicy. I loved the taste. It had the right amount of sweetness and smokiness. It was way better than Alex III or Reyes Barbecue.

I didn’t care for the java rice which was bland. The sauce wasn’t java sauce but tasted like real barbecue sauce. I like it but I wouldn’t pour it over my rice like I do with the java sauce of Alex III. The chicken really didn’t need any sauce because it was already very flavorful.

2 pieces of chicken barbecue with java rice and barbecue sauce costs P119 and P139 for the value meal (w/ regular drink). Atchara is also available for an extra P5.

2 pcs. Jollibee chicken barbecue

This is definitely going to be another blockbuster product for Jollibee. 1 piece of chicken barbecue with java rice and barbecue sauce costs P69 and P89 for the value meal (w/ regular drink).

Not all branches have this product as of this entry. Check your nearest branch if they have it or just go to Jollibee Greenhills right after your shopping at the tiangge or Vmall.

Jollibee Greenhills Carpark 2
Unit 3 Ground Floor,
Greenhills Shopping Center
Carpark 2 San Juan M.M.
telephone: 726-6119; 724-9546

Business Hours: 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM

Services:

Party
Express Delivery
Breakfast

Dinner at Choi Garden

We had a special dinner at Choi Garden last Saturday to welcome the 2 grandsons of our host who came home for a short vacation and a break from their studies in the US. Naturally we had to let them try our favorite Chinese restaurant, Choi Garden.

Some of the dishes here were also featured here.

crispy lechon and roast pork

It was our first time to try this soup. It was fabulous! It was neither too hot nor too sour. It was just plain good.

hot and sour soup

This beef ribs dish is becoming a staple in our menu.

pepper beef ribs

I always thought Peking Garden had the best Peking duck in Manila. After eating Choi’s Peking duck I’ve changed my mind. This duck is more flavorful and more moist. My only complaint was the duck wrapper which hardened very quickly after a few minutes. It was good but you have to eat it very fast or just order more wrappers since what comes with the duck wasn’t enough.

Peking Duck

These are the duck’s bones from the Peking duck which were seasoned re-fried. If I wasn’t already so full I would have munched on a lot of these uber yummy and juicy bones. (buto pa lang ulam na!) Can someone translate that nicely for our foreign readers?