Shoot First Eat Later

Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp

If you’ve ever tried Cebu Best Mango Chocolate from Philippines Airlines and have been looking where to buy it you’ve come to the right place. We went to their store while we were in Cebu just to buy this elusive treat.

If you’ve never tried this delicious sliver of dried mango dipped in dark Belgian chocolate then you must try it. I never thought mango would go well with chocolate but it definitely a perfect combination.

If I’m not mistaken Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp in Salinas Drive is the only store where you can get the Mango Chocolate.

They also sell a few other food stuff like dried mango, dried pineapple and banana chips.

I didn’t buy the Mango Chocolate because 1 piece costs P25 and I know I can’t stop at eating just one. My friends bought a few boxes as presents for balikbayan guests.

A box of 12 pieces sells for P330 while 24 pieces will set you back P600.

Cebu Best Pasalubong atbp- Mango Chocolate

The store was quite big and had colorful murals but only a small counter was used for the food display.

I tried a small pack of these spicy peanuts with dried mango bits and ended up buying a whole bag that contained 20 small packs of peanuts. The 30 gram bag costs P15 each while a bigger 60 gram bag costs P30. I bought the small bag for portion control otherwise I would easily finish a big bag. That’s how much I loved it.

Spicy peanuts and dried mango bits was another strange combination that worked. I really liked the small peanuts that I find tastier than the more common bigger peanuts. The spice level was just right for me and and the little bits of dried mangoes provided a nice sweet and chewy touch.

Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp (across Golden Cowrie Native Restaurant)
Salinas Dr. Lahug, Cebu City
telephone: +6332-272-6217, 272-6218

In Manila you can order Cebu Best Mango Chocolate:
telephone: +632-632-2166 (for pick up in Pasig City)

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu

Anyone planning to go to Cebu has a major decision on where to stay. On my recent trip I stayed in the city at Marriott Hotel which was conveniently located next to Ayala Center. It was great for shopping and there were lots of dining options.

But if your objective is the beach for sun, sand and r&r then you have to stay in a resort on Mactan island.

By a wonderful coincidence my very good family friends were in Cebu at the same time I was and they invited to have lunch at Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu where they were staying.

I abandoned (their words) my college friends and took a cab to Mactan island. It was a Saturday and the traffic was light. My cab fare was P250 one way. It took about 30 minutes to get to the resort.

This was the main lobby of Mövenpick (formerly Hilton Hotel). When I left it was raining and windy and half of this area was wet.

I wasn’t really excited to eat lechon for lunch. I was more excited to see the presidential suite of the resort.

The suite had two bedrooms. This was the master bedroom.

The second bedroom had two twin beds and it’s own bathroom. There was another bathroom just off the living room. I liked the Tivoli Audio radio in the bedroom plus the little Toblerone chocolate given at turn down service.

This was the gorgeous view from the balcony of the suite.

Shangri-La Resort was next door.

My hosts were given a lechon from Cang’s lechon so we just ordered some garlic fried rice and green salad to go with it. I found the lechon just ok. Some parts were bland while other parts were really salty. The skin was also not consistent. Depending on the part of the pig the skin was either crunchy or not.

My coffee came with 2 pieces of Mövenpick chocolates.

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu
Punta Engano Mactan Island
6015 Cebu Philippines
telephone:+63 32 492 7777
E-mail:Resort.Cebu@moevenpick.com

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Dinner at Abuhan Tres

When we were at Ayala Center earlier I was surprised to see so many local and international restaurant chains from Manila. I voiced out my wish not to eat in any of them. I wanted to eat in a truly Cebuano restaurant. My wish was granted when we were brought to Abuhan Tres for dinner.

This restaurant is a favorite of Tes’ niece and her fiancé. They eat there at least once a week. They were already raving about the popular pochero even before we entered the restaurant.

We started with a very interesting salad with puso ng saging (banana blossom or bud), dills (dried anchovies), gata (coconut milk) and lemongrass.

puso sa saging P60

When they said pochero I had in mind a chicken and pork stew with saba (plantain bananas) in a tomato based sauce. But when the dish came out it was bulalo. It seemed in Cebu bulalo (beef shank with bone marrow) is called pochero.

I may be the only person in the Philippines who never eats bulalo with rice. For me I treat bulalo as soup and not as ulam (viand). The soup was very flavorful but I found it a tad salty.

pochero P365

Look at that gorgeous bone marrow. While everyone was busy eating the beef and soup with rice I delicately picked the the huge bone and banged in on my plate for the bone marrow to spill out. I got a spoonful of white rice and mixed it in the bone marrow. Wow heaven!!! And that’s how I eat my bulalo folks.

Gasp, you can ask for extra bone marrow from the waiter. They skim it off the huge vats of pochero in the kitchen. If only they had Knorr or Maggi seasoning I would have eaten more bone marrow and rice with generous dashes of Knorr. Thank goodness they didn’t have it.

bone marrow

While the boiled pochero was just ok with me I fell in lust with the sizzling pochero. Now this was ULAM to me!! I just loved eating all the tender litid (beef tendon) with the super tasty gravy. I would never have imagined such a combination – boiled beef shank with American style gravy but it worked! We even ordered extra gravy.

sizzling pochero P410 extra gravy P35

I also enjoyed the cubed tangigue or tanigue (Spanish mackerel) sautéed in lots of garlic and olive oil. It’s a healthier and equally delicious alternative to the more common beef salpicao.

salpicao tangigue P185

But my most favorite dish that night was the fried lapu lapu in pepper sauce. The fish was perfectly fried to a tender crisp and the mildly spicy black pepper sauce was spot on. Outside a Chinese restaurant this was the best lapu lapu I have ever eaten. It was such a big hit with all of us we ordered a second fish. Too bad it didn’t taste as good as the first one.

lapu lapu in pepper sauce P325

sauteed vegetables with tofu P125

I was so shocked that the bill for 7 people was only P2,000 or less than $50 and we had two orders of lapu lapu. The Cebuanos in our table explained to me that they are known to demand good food at rock bottom prices. That’s just the way they are. I like the way they think. This was why I thought our merienda of fried food at Sunburst was expensive at P900 for four.

Abuhan Tres’ menu
house specialties, appetizers salad soup & vegetables
beef noodles & seafood, chicken pork mixto & rice
desserts beverages & shakes

Abuhan Tres
Unit 108 i2 Bldg. Asiatown I.T. Park, 6000 Cebu, Philippines
telephone: (+6332) 412-3025

Mon – Thu: 10:00 am – 2:00 am
Fri – Sat: 10:00 am – 5:00 am
Sun: 10:00 am – 12:00 am
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other Abuhan branches:
Abuhan Uno
F. Ramos St., Cebu City
telephone: (032) 253-1881

Abuhan Dos
176 F. Ramos Street, Cebu City (near Robinsons Mall)
telepphone : (032) 253-5774
Open 24 Hours

Merienda at Sunburst Fried Chicken

I was so hungry since I didn’t eat anything at the lounge in the airport. It was already 5:00 pm and we wanted something near and fast so we went to Ayala Center after dropping off our luggage at the Marriott Hotel.

Sunburst Fried Chicken was recommended by a friend who used to live in Cebu. She said I just had to try their fried chicken skin. So why not, coconut?

They managed to stay open since 1971 so it must be good.

The interiors looks nice enough for a casual dining restaurant. The floors were very greasy and slippery though.

The fried squid was very tender and quite flavorful although it had a very oily aftertaste. I don’t really know why we ordered fried calamares when we were going to order two more fried dishes.

calamares P238

My first comment was, “why top fried chicken skin with fried potato chips?” Not enough oil, fat and cholesterol? Anyway, the fried chicken skin was just as good as you can imagine. There’s nothing really better and more sinful than eating fried chicken skin. No need to fight over a little piece of skin on your chicken. No chicken to finish just to get to the best part. I loved, loved it but to be honest I couldn’t eat more than 3 pieces. I felt too guilty already.

chick’ n crackers regular P178

I’m not a big liver eater unless it’s in the form of pâté. But it was highly recommended so we ordered it. True enough it was good. There were even some gizzard mixed in.

liver P171

I still can’t believe my first meal in Cebu City was a fried food extravaganza.

fried food galore

The coleslaw was unlike any coleslaw I’ve ever tried. The cabbage was finely chopped, the dressing was watery and sweet. In short I didn’t like it. But oddly when eaten together with the fried chicken skin it tasted better. Somehow the two complemented each other.

coleslaw P89

Eric had the fried skin with chicken attached. He said it was just ok.

sunny solo ribkeel P99

Rizette had the healthiest choice.

pancit molo P70

This was probably our most expensive meal in Cebu considering it was just merienda. It was an unusual experience and one I don’t regret.

Welcome to Cebu!!! Let the eating begin.

Sunburst Fried Chicken menu

Sunburst Fried Chicken
Level 2, The Terraces
Ayala Center
Cebu City
telephone: 232-2305, 233-9271, 233-9275

Cebu City Marriott Hotel

I wonder why I don’t go to Cebu more often since it was only an hour’s flight from Manila. My round trip plane ticket on PAL cost only P2,500. I think I should travel around the Philippines more.

My friend Tes goes to Cebu regularly to visit her brother. Her first tip to visitors to Cebu is upon exiting the airport, go across and up to departure area and take the taxi from there. It’s cheaper! Take the white taxi which has a flag down rate of P40. Our cab ride to the Marriott Hotel cost P200. If you take the yellow taxis outside the arrival area the flag down rate is P65-70.

Actually this taxi tip works for Manila’s Naia airport too. The taxi cabs from the departure area are much cheaper. I recently had to take the taxi from Naia airport to Greenhills, San Juan and paid only P150 since it was early in the morning and there was hardly any traffic. If I took the yellow taxi it would cost 30% more.

Check out the unique sitting area at the Mactan-Cebu International airport.

Cebu City Marriott Hotel

Tes insisted we stay at Marriott Hotel since it was conveniently located right next to Ayala Center. And I’m so, so glad we did.

Such hospitality!!

We had really comfy double beds. There was even a lounge chair in the room which I never got to sit on.

Here’s my roomie, Tes, posing for my blog.

The bathroom was a decent size and very clean.

I always take pictures of the hotel’s toiletries since I myself research the toiletries of the hotels I will stay in so I will know if I have to bring my own stuff or not. I like hotels that offer L’Occitane toiletries.

Rain shower heads seem to be the norm in hotels nowadays.

This is the view of Ayala Center from our room.

The Garden Cafe is where you have breakfast and buffet meals all throughout the day. Tes and I didn’t get breakfast with our room but our friends Eric and Rizette did. We joined them on our last day and sneaked a taste of the chicken tocino and longganisa. Both were so good!!

Garden Cafe

The pool wasn’t big but I loved the lounge chairs. There’s a single and a double size.

Barbecue by the pool

Fifteen minutes after we checked in we went to Ayala Center via this walkway from the hotel. A short five minute walk and we were in the middle of the mall.

It looked like your typical Ayala mall, open and green. Beautiful!!!

Tes, me, Eric and Rizette

Cebu City Marriott Hotel
Cardinal Rosales Avenue · Cebu City, 6000 Philippines
telephone: 63-32-4115800
sales: 63-32-4115800 ext. 8026
website

Philippine Airlines Domestic Lounge at Naia Terminal 2

A few months ago I went to Cebu with three of my college friends. Only one of us didn’t have a Mabuhay Elite card given by Allied Bank/PNB Mabuhay Miles credit card. That’s why even though we had economy class tickets we were able to go in the PAL’s lounge at the airport.

It was quite crowded. I guess a lot of people had the same cards too.

I kid you not. These were all different sandwiches!!! Can you guess what I ate? NOTHING!!! I’d rather use my carb cheats in Cebu than eat these mini buns.

At least they used stale looking croissants for one sandwich.

You can never go wrong with their fantastic arroz caldo (chicken porridge).

arroz caldo

All I had was coffee. I did take some sandwiches for Tes who we left outside the lounge.

After a quick snack we left the lounge to join Tes, in the middle, since she was all alone at the seating area near our gate.

Kouign Amann from Gourmet Finds

What is kouign amann? It probably sounds new to you since I’ve only seen them in one other place. In the US it’s starting to become popular too but not as widely available yet.

Kouign amann is (pronounced kween a-mon) is a Breton (from Brittany, France) cake. It is a round crusty cake, made with bread dough containing layers of butter and sugar folded in, similar in fashion to puff pastry albeit with fewer layers.

The resulting cake is slowly baked until the butter puffs up the dough (resulting in the layered aspect of it) and the sugar caramelizes. The name derives from the Breton words for cake (“kouign”) and butter (“amann”). Kouign-amann is a speciality of the town Douarnenez in Finistère, in the west of France, where it originated in around 1860. from Wikipedia

kouign amann – box of 6 P450

When it arrived in my house last Saturday morning I didn’t even bother to warm it up in the oven as advised. I took one bite and nearly swooned. The bread had a dense but flaky texture. The whole was moist like it was dipped in syrup but it wasn’t too sweet. I later realized it was so moist due to the large amount of French butter used. I could taste the difference with local butter. It gave the pastry such richness and sublime flavor not found when using local butter. French butter has a much higher fat content that’s why this pastry was so good.

To let you know how much I loved the kouign amann, I received 6 pieces and ate 1 piece stretched out the whole day. I shared one with my friends who came to the house for dessert after our dinner out. The other four pieces are individually and tightly wrapped in foil and stored in the freezer for future emergencies. I didn’t have enough self control not to eat the rest so I hid them.

That’s one of my eccentricities. The more I like something the more I want to keep it in the freezer for future consumption. Just like my chocolate peanut butter chip cookies from Levain sitting in the freezer waiting for just the right time for me to eat them.

If you want to try this truly delectable, super buttery pastry you need to order it 4 days in advance.

New Products of Gourmet Finds
The Best French Macarons in Manila

Gourmet Finds menu (click to enlarge)

Check out her new DCs or Doughnut-Croissants!!! I love the salted caramel best. (post coming soon)

Gourmet Finds
cellphone: (0921) 762-2240
pick up is at Narra Ave. Forbes Park, Makati
email: gourmetfinds@yahoo.com
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Panfried Tofu With Spicy Sauce

Here’s a simple Korean recipe for tofu. Whenever I need a recipe for Korean food the first place I look is Maangchi’s site.

A friend told me about Maangchi. She’s very, very popular on Youtube and she even has her own podcast on iTunes and I’ve subscribed to it and have downloaded several videos. This is the first recipe of hers I’ve tried and it was very good. I plan to try more of her recipes soon.

I bought the red pepper powder and firm tofu in a Korean store. I’m sure it’s available in most stores. If not I think any red pepper flakes will do. This brand I bought was very mild. I doubled the quantity in my recipe. It’s up to your taste on how much you want to put so I suggest you start with 1 teaspoon and add accordingly.

Next time I will buy better tofu from The Tofu Store.

Add all the ingredients in a small bowl. Taste it and you can adjust the sweetness or spice level.

Dry the tofu on paper towels. If you have time you can put the whole block of tofu in between a clean dish cloth and top it with a weighted plate in the refrigerator to take out more liquid. The tofu will be crisper when you fry it since there is less water left.

Fry the tofu in some hot oil. Lower the temperature right after putting the tofu in the oil.

I liked it really brown (tostado) and I blotted out as much oil as I could.

This was how I ate it as part of my Cohen diet. It was really delicious with a side of baby bok choy and fresh mushrooms. Before Cohen dieters write to me, I know some of the ingredients in the sauce are not allowed but this was my little cheat. 😀

You can also eat the tofu with beef and rice. It’s a simple and impressive side dish.

Here’s Maangchi’s video on this recipe. There is another recipe for tofu on the video and on her website. I plan to try that too.

Panfried tofu with spicy sauce (adapted from Maangchi)
(Dubu buchim yangnyumjang)

Half package of tofu (about 10 oz or 280 grams)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp Korean red pepper powder (hot pepper flakes)
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 green onion, chopped (I didn’t have any so I omitted it)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tsp sesame oil
roasted sesame seeds

1. Slice the tofu into ¼ inch thick pieces. Blot dry with a paper towel or two.

2. Heat a pan with 1 to 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Add the tofu and lower the heat. Cook over low heat about 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Flip the tofu and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer fried tofu to paper towels to remove excess oil.

3. Combine all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds and spoon the sauce on the tofu. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top of the sauce just before serving.

Maanghi’s website
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iTunes podcast

8 Reasons Why I Like Bulgogi Brothers

Korean food is one of my favorite cuisines. The food is generally very, very flavorful. Their food can be sweet and salty or spicy to burning hot. There’s something for everyone.

Imagine my delight to finally get to eat at Bulgogi Brothers in Alabang Town Center right after attending the blessing of Chatime. Bulgogi Brothers is a Korean franchise with it’s first branch at Greenbelt 5 in Makati.

Let me tell you upfront I LIKED my experience at Bulgogi Brothers. Here are the reasons why.

1. The restaurant didn’t smell like barbecue and we left without smelling like barbecue. They had a great exhaust system.

2. They had a simple and straightforward 2 page menu with all time favorites and some new ones. I find it terribly confusing to go through 10-20 paged menus in some Korean restaurants. I was just disappointed that there wasn’t any pajeon (Korean style pancake) in the menu.

Bulgogi Brothers Manila menu

3. They had appetizers which I found uncommon and yummy. First up was boiled sweet, sweet potatoes and quail eggs. I’ve never had this in any Korean restaurant I’ve eaten at in Manila, Hong Kong or the USA.

sweet potatoes and quail eggs

Another appetizer I really liked was the mashed pumpkin salad. Other Koreans served mashed potatoes or potato salad. These were a healthier and sweeter option.

4. I’ve never ever had free bottomless salad in any Korean restaurant either. I’ve stopped eating white rice completely and it’s specially hard to resist rice in a Korean restaurant. I was perfectly happy and satisfied to eat my bulgogi beef with the salad. The dressing was a sweet and mildly spicy sauce that perfectly complemented the beef.

salad

5. Hot Bori cha (barley tea) was free and bottomless too. They had different kinds of daily teas. My only gripe was the barley tea was a bit diluted. It wasn’t as strong and potent as the one I had at Yabu:The House of Katsu. But hey, it’s free so I didn’t complain. Maybe the Korean version tastes different from the Japanese barley tea?

Korean bori cha (barley tea)

6. I simply loved the crispy tofu with sweetish teriyaki sauce and topped with beef and bland bean sprouts. The best way to eat is to take a piece of tofu and top it with a little beef and bean sprouts. The combination of textures and flavors was just divine. On my next visit I want to eat a whole order as my meal.

dubu steak P395

7. They have portions perfect for family style sharing. There were 11 of us in our party and we ordered 3 Bulgogi Brothers special since the menu said each order was good for 2-3 people. Either my friends were light eaters or they were wrong since we had a lot of leftovers. Two orders would have sufficed since we ordered other food items too.

Bulgogi Brothers special P1,495

8. If you don’t want to cook the beef yourself on the tabletop grill they can cook it for you. This minimizes your chances of smelling like barbecue too.

I was surprised that one of the meat was actually beef burgers Korean style.

unyang style bulgogi

The burgers were just ok but when dipped in the brown and red sauce it became awesome burgers. They were specially good eaten with the salad.

Another pleasant and delicious surprise were the thinly sliced pan fried sweet potatoes that came with the mini burgers.

The thinly sliced beef bulgogi was perfectly seasoned in my opinion and didn’t need any sauce at all.

gwangyang style bulgogi

My not so likes are:

1. The kimchi tofu stew had a mildly spiced tomato based soup with firm tofu. It wasn’t bad at all but it was a poor comparison to the one I had in Virginia where there was more than double the quantity of soft silken tofu in a more flavorful broth.

kimchi jjigae P395

2. The galijim or braised short rib’s to share portion was ridiculously expensive for such a small serving. The menu said it was good for 3-4 people but there was only a small amount of beef and more bones.

The beef was tender but lost it’s meaty flavor probably from the long cooking time. The sweet sauce couldn’t make up for the lack of flavor. Of all the food we ordered this was the only dish I wouldn’t order again.

galbijim (braised short ribs) P1,495

3. A bowl of rice cost P75. It’s good that the Bulgogi Brothers special came with a couple of bowls of rice already so we only had to order 3 extra bowls. I heard it was good though. But honestly, P75? Oh yeah, canned soda cost P75 too. I’ll stick to the free tea.

4. It cost P926 per person for our lunch. Quite pricey but we had lots of leftovers. If we skipped the galbijim the bill would be a more reasonable P650 per person.

Would I go back? Definitely!!!!

Bulgogi Brothers
Lower Ground Level, Alabang Town Center
Alabang-Zapote Road, Alabang Muntinlupa
Metro Manila, Philippines
telephone: 919-6840

3rd Level, Greenbelt 5,
Paseo de Roxas cor. Legaspi St.,
Ayala Center, Makati City
telephone: 621-6216, 621-5289

Chatime Alabang Town Center

I can’t remember the last time I went to Alabang. It was probably years ago to attend the birthday party of my good friend’s twins. A few months ago I went to Alabang to attend the grand opening of my friend’s branch of Chatime.

Chatime was at Alabang Town Center’s really nice new wing.

There were some snacks from French Baker too!

Free milk tea for everyone :D.

I discovered a new favorite, Grapefruit Green Tea. Strong green tea with a touch of sweet and tart grapefruit juice. So nice and refreshing.

Grapefruit Green Tea

If you live in the South there’s a new Chatime for you to enjoy milk tea. Go to my friend’s store ok? Thanks!!!

Chatime Philippines menu

Chatime
2nd Level, New Wing, Alabang Town Center
Alabang-Zapote Road, Alabang
Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines

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