Shoot First Eat Later

Mr. Moo’s Fresh Milk & Kesong Puti

After lunch in Tagaytay Highlands’ Golfer’s Lounge we headed back to Manila. We stopped by Mr. Moo’s to buy some milk, cheese and pastillas.

Mr. Moo’s is on the right side of the road on the way to the Sta. Rosa exit. You have to keep an eye for it.

Mr. Moo’s basically sold milk and cheese from 3 animals – cow, carabao and goat. It really depends on how adventurous you are on what kind to buy.

(click to enlarge)

soya milk

Almost all my friends bought cow’s milk except for Debbie who swore that the carabao milk was much tastier. Since their milk was fresh and didn’t go through UHT (ultra high temperature processing) the lone sales person diligently packed the bottles in large plastic bags filled with ice to survive the trip back to Manila.

They also bought pastillas de leche made from carabao’s milk. It came in several flavors- plain, langka, ube, cheese and buko pandan.

pastillas de leche

carabao milkshakes anyone?

products made from goat’s milk

Still not sure what milk or cheese to buy? They have a comparison of the different milk and cheese bassed on taste, texture and flavor. I couldn’t get a better picture because the sign was semi-blocked by a wall.

milk and cheese comparison chart (click to enlarge)

I can’t tell you how it tasted because I didn’t buy anything. I just didn’t feel like it at the time. But looking back I wish I bought a block of kesong puti and goat milk ricotta cheese. Kesong puti with pesto panini is just scrumptious.

Mr. Moo’s Fresh Milk & Kesong Puti
Tagaytay (0922) 8774085 or in Silang (0922) 8774083

The Highlands Golfer’s Lounge

For our last meal in Tagaytay before we headed back to Manila, we had lunch at Golfer’s Lounge inside Tagaytay Highlands clubhouse. The meal was Florence’s birthday treat to us.

Golfer’s Lounge was the open air, casual all-day dining restaurant of Tagaytay Highlands. They served mostly Filipino food with some international selections.

We naturally ordered tawilis which was fresh water sardines native to Batangas. You can eat the whole fish, bones and head included.

pritong tawilis P220

The bulalo came in a large bowl and we all got a generous cup each. It was quite flavorful but it’s far from the best in Tagaytay. For my foreign readers, bulalo is soup made from beef shank with bits of bone marrow floating in the surface. It’s one of the most popular dishes in Tagaytay but it can be found in Manila too.

bulalo ng Mahogany P580

I have a confession. I’ve never eaten sisig before this meal. Somehow eating pig’s ears, cheeks and liver never appealed to me. I don’t know what made me try this sisig but it was a revelation. I loved the salty, oily, crunchy mixture specially with rice. I think I ate half of an order. My friends tell me there are even better sisig out there. I can’t wait to try them. Where can I find the best sisig?

sisig Kapampangan P280

The kang kong was good, the over cooked and hard lechon wasn’t.

kang kong sa lechon P180

Sorry I don’t eat ampalaya (bitter gourd) but my friends wiped out this dish.

guisadong ampalaya sa hipon P180

The kare kare was just ordinary. I could hardly find any ox tail. Wishful thinking on my part. Well kare kare is supposed to be ox tail peanut stew right?

kare kare P280

Deep fried pork knuckles or crispy pata is our favorite Filipino dish and this was pretty good with crunchy skin and very tender meat.

crispy pata P680

The fried beef rib was the only leftover we had despite it’s small size. It was hard and overcooked. A big challenge to our teeth and jaws.

pinalutong na tadyang ng baka P280

Some of my friends shared some Filipino dessert. The ice cream was supposed to top the saba con hielo but they ran out of vanilla ice cream that’s why the ube ice cream was served separately.

Debbie was the only one to order the banana cue split and I’m so thankful to be sitting beside her. What a smart idea to combine caramelized bananas with ice cream and langka (jackfruit) to make a truly Filipino style banana split. It was soooooooooo good! The burnt caramel coating on the bananas were just perfect with the ice cream.

banana cue split P150

Bananas and langka cooked in syrup and served on top of crushed ice and doused with milk and topped with ice cream. A very refreshing dessert. But I’d rather eat fresh, sweet langka from Tagaytay.

saba and langka con hielo P150

These ducks were waiting for food to fall from the tables. Too bad they were far from our table or I would have thrown some fried beef to them.

Golfer’s Lounge menu

Thanks for the yummy lunch Florence! I’ll never forget my first sisig and the sinful banana cue split.

The Highlands Golfer’s Lounge
ground floor of the Highlands Golf Clubhouse
open daily, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Shoot First, Eat Later is now at Nokia’s Ovi store

Several years ago the only way to surf web sites was through computers. Today there are so many portable devices you can use. Almost everybody has a cellphone and if your phone is a compatible Nokia phone you can now access my blog.

Just go to Nokia’s Ovi store and send my free app to your cellphone. Now you can be updated with my new entries wherever you are. Even better is you can also search for restaurant telephone numbers or what food to order while you’re on the go.

Shoot First, Eat Later at Nokia Ovi store

Highlands China Palace

We couldn’t decide where to eat dinner and we were hungry so we went to Highlands China Palace right inside Tagaytay Highlands. It was a good decision.

Members of Tagaytay Highlands are very fortunate that they have a large Chinese restaurant that serves well cooked, authentic Chinese food in their backyard. I’m sure this restaurant is always full during weekends when most people go to Highlands.

Chinese restaurants usually give free peanuts or in Peking Garden’s case, spicy wonton crisps for snacks while waiting for your food. China Palace had a yummy mixture of fried peanuts, corn, green peas and broad beans. You can buy this in the supermarket. This super addicting snack has the unfortunate name of Ding Dong Mixed Nuts.

Ding Dong mixed nuts

Chinese style beef tenderloin

The eggplant was everybody’s favorite dish. It was so tasty from the bits of dried salted fish that flavored the eggplant and tender pacific clams. It went very well with the salted fish fried rice.

braised eggplant w/ pacific clams

How can you go wrong with crunchy noodles and fresh seafood sauce. The trick is to eat it quickly while the noodles are still in the half crunchy half soft stage.

fried noodles w/ seafood

salted fish fried rice

The crisp prawns needed just the quickest dip of salty Chinese bagoong. Mmmm.

crystal prawns w/ Chinese bagoong

I had already eaten half of my lettuce cup filled with a heaping serving of the minced pork thinking it was minced pigeon. It was just as good as the original minced pigeon version.

minced pork w/ lettuce

Thanks for the delicious and very satisfying dinner Deb!

Highlands China Palace
Tagaytay Highlands
Palace Drive
Tagaytay City, Cavite
Philippines
(046) 483-0818

Gong Cha Manila – Mall of Asia

Finally my favorite milk tea which I always drink in Hong Kong is finally here in Manila!

Gong Cha opens it’s first branch in the 1st floor of the Mall of Asia right next to Time Zone and near the bowling center.

This is the reason why Gong Cha’s milk tea tastes better than the others in my opinion. While other stores uses cream powder or plain milk for their teas, Gong Cha uses a special milk cream which floats on top of really strong, freshly brewed tea. The result is a creamy yet intense milk tea.

There are less variants here in Manila than in Hong Kong. Click here to see Hong Kong’s menu. Maybe in the future they will add more flavors and concoctions.

(click to enlarge)

I’m glad there are two sizes. I find the 500 ml size in Hong Kong to be too big and overwhelming. My favorite is the Gong Cha Milk Green Tea.

I hope they open a branch in Greenhills, Pasig or Makati so I don’t have to travel all the way to Manila for my milk tea fix.

Gong Cha Philippines on Facebook

Gong Cha Manila branches:

Gong Cha Mall of Asia
Store EM170 SM MOA Entertainment Complex

Glorietta 4, 3F Food Choices

SM North Edsa at the Sky Garden

SM Mega Mall Level 2 Atrium

opening soon: Robinson’s Place Manila 3F Midtown Level

Chicharron ni Mang Juan

Two years after Oishi came out with the popular vegetarian chicharon, Marty’s Cracklin’, Jack n’ Jill finally came out with their own version which I got to try while we were in Tagaytay last March.

There were two variants, espesyal suka’t sili (special vinegar with chili) and sukang paombong (palm vinegar).

espesyal suka’t sili

This variant had a different vinegar flavor which was milder and wasn’t spicy at all.

sukang paombong

Of the two variants I liked the red one with special vinegar and chili more. The shape and texture was similar to Marty’s but there was a more intense vinegar flavor that packed a punch. I also liked the nice kick from the chili. It wasn’t too spicy, just right for me.

In my store I sell both Chicharron ni Mang Juan and Marty’s in all their variants. Each product has their own fans. Some think Marty’s salt and vinegar is too sour and prefer the plain salted while others look for a more sour veggie chicharon and buy Mang Juan’s suka’t sili. Marty’s recently came out with a spicy variant that burns my tongue. It’s so, so, spicy I can’t believe there are customers who love it. To each his own I guess.

Tagaytay Highlands

We were lucky that a good friend lent us their log cabin at Tagaytay Highlands for our overnight stay. After I saw how nice it was I wish we could have stayed another night.

I’ve stayed in another log cabin before and it looked pretty similar to this but with different room set ups.

The dining table was where we stayed most of the time.

The master bedroom was the only room located on the second floor.

It’s the only room with a jacuzzi tub and sauna room.

Yes a sauna in the bathroom. I’m sure that would be a wonderful treat on a cold night in Tagaytay.

This was the second bedroom on the ground floor. It had it’s own bathroom with a shower.

For me the best room in the house is this room. It’s not big but it had a special feature.

It opened into the porch.

During the day this was where we spent our time chatting and eating junk food. At night it was at the dining table. This was my favorite part of the log cabin.

This is the view from the porch. Everywhere you look there were tall pine trees. It felt like Christmas all year round.

This was the fourth bedroom just off the kitchen. It was small but it had it’s own bathroom.

My x-mini II linked with Elisa’s provided our music for the night.

The last time we went to Baguio everyone brought so much chips that we ended up bringing them home again. This was just some of the very restrained quantity of chips we had in Tagaytay.

This is the same group of friends that went to Baguio. Where next ladies?

After lunch at Antonio’s we decided to take a walk around Tagaytay Highland’s club house and take a lot of pictures of ourselves. What else? 😀

We weren’t able to ride the cable car due to the schedule.

Tagaytay Highlands was just a mere 90 minutes from Manila but the weather couldn’t be more different. It was already March when we were there but it was very windy and quite cool. The area was really beautiful and the landscaping was well done.

Birthday Lunch at Antonio’s in Tagaytay

Last March my friends and I decided to go to Tagaytay for an overnight stay. For our lunch Jennie volunteered to treat us at Antonio’s for her birthday. Aren’t we lucky?

The last time I was at Antonio’s was in June 2010 and I raved about the place and the food. That post became one of the most visited entries on my blog. To see more on the restaurant’s interiors and a more intensive description of the fabulous food click here.

I’ve never had a black roll before so I was quite eager to try it. It was colored with squid ink but it didn’t taste any different from a regular roll.

squid ink roll

There were seven of us for lunch but we ordered only 5 entrees and decided to share them. The restaurant kindly split 5 salads and soups into 7 servings. As before I loved the salad with generous bits of gorgonzola cheese complementing the bitter arugula and sweet raspberry vinaigrette.

Antonio’s farm fresh mesclun salad w/ raspberry vinaigrette

mushroom cappuccino

Prices of the main courses include the soup and salad above plus dessert, coffee or tea.

The seafood sampler included bite sized portions of scallop, prawn thermidor and Chilean sea bass. It’s probably just right for one but definitely not enough to share among seven people. Everything was delicious!

seafood sampler P1,600
Chilean sea bass, prawn thermidor, pan seared scallops

This was the same fish from the sampler but a whole portion. Still not big enough in my opinion but it was perfectly cooked and seasoned.

Chilean sea bass, foil baked w/ tomatoes, olives, parsley,
pine nuts & potatoes P1,650

The next three dishes were basically what we had on my first visit to Antonio’s. You know when you’ve eaten something really good in a restaurant you’re hesitant to try something new the next time you go back? I promise to order something totally different the next time I go back to Antonio’s. I feel that the meat dishes are more worth it than the seafood dishes.

grilled beef fillet wild mushroom & pumpkin sage risoni (instead of mashed potatoes) P1,900

duck leg confit, Grand Marnier beurre blanc P1,400

herbed roasted rack of lamb w/ cardamom beurre blanc P1,800

Last time I didn’t like the desserts we ordered. This time all the desserts were outstanding.

dark chocolate souffle w/ cardamom creme anglaise

My favorite was the creamy panna cotta topped with a tart lemon curd.

yogurt panna cotta w/ lemon curd

Most of us found the sorbets too tart but Deb loved them all.

watermelon calamansi, mango & guava sorbets

Felchin Maracaibo chocolate terrine w/ double cream & roasted pistachio

The grilled pineapple was another favorite of the group. The virgin coconut oil ice cream was rather unique too. It had a smoother mouth feel.

grilled sugar cinnamon pineapple w/ toffee cinnamon & virgin coconut oil ice cream

I don’t like fresh pears. It’s the grainy texture that puts me off. But somehow poaching a pear changes the texture and the pear absorbs the poaching liquid and I suddenly love pears. Don’t miss this dessert.

poached pear in port wine

As usual lunch was superb but I noticed the prices have increased. I included the updated menu below. I hope by the time I go back the prices are the same. Thanks again Jennie for lunch!

Antonio’s updated (price) menu

Dessert menu

View Larger Map

Antonio’s
Barangay Neogan
Tagaytay City, Cavite
Telephone: (046) 413 0975 or (046) 413 1054
Celphone: (0917) 899 2866
Email: antoniosfarm@yahoo.com
website

The Best Macarons in Manila

This picture looks nice and colorful but the macarons were awful. They were hard and dry. I had them in a restaurant in a 5 star hotel in Hong Kong.

Yesterday I featured Bar Dolci’s macarons. As I said before I’m not a big fan of macarons but I’ve eaten my share of them in Manila and abroad. I even paid HK$20 for small macarons from La Maison du Chocolat and I found them too soft although the flavor wasn’t bad.

My friend Chris gave me a box of macarons last Christmas and with one bite I knew I’ve tasted the best macarons in Manila.

Gourmet Finds’ macarons are homemade and available by order only. Each macaron cost P40 (cheaper than Bar Dolci’s) and are exquisite. The outer meringue has a crunchy bite and a chewy interior. The fillings were a bright and intense burst of flavor I’ve never found anywhere else.

you can see the ground pistachio in the pistachio macaron

It’s probably because the baker never uses artificial flavorings. All her ingredients are imported and she actually sources them when she goes abroad. A typical trip to Hong Kong would find her luggage filled with the best French butter, the best almonds and even the specific flour she prefers. She’s a perfectionist and refuses to compromise the quality of her products.

I don’t know her personally but I love her products so much I always recommend them to friends.

My favorite macaron flavor is the chocolate with Valrhona chocolate ganache filling. No ordinary buttercream filling here. It’s super dark, rich chocolate ganache baby! My next favorites are a tie between the lemon macaron with lemon mascarpone filling and the raspberry macaron with raspberry puree cream filling. Both are fruity, tart and just the right sweetness to bring oohs and aahs with every bite.

click to enlarge

The other product I’ve tried are her cannelés. The first time I tried cannelés, French pastry with a soft custard center and a dark caramelized crust, was at Edsa Shangri-la’s Heat. I don’t think they serve it anymore. Well you can try this super delicious pastry from Gourmet Finds. A box of 5 pieces cost P450. It’s not cheap but I guarantee you will get addicted to it. She calls it pocket creme brulee.

Recently an Aussie expat living in Manila wrote to me asking where he can find good croissants in Manila. I suggested he try the croissants of Gourmet Finds. After a few days he sent me this email: “Just wanted to say, we got our cheesecakes, macarons and croissants from Gourmet Finds which you recommended, and they were superb, thank you very much, you’ve made a group of expats very happy.”

There are many other suppliers of macarons in Manila and I haven’t tried them all but so far for me this is the best. Trust me on this guys. Try her macarons and tell me if I’m right. Don’t blame me if you can’t stop eating them!!

If she doesn’t reply to your text or call right away she must be out of the country. Tell her Leslie sent you. I hope she remembers me.

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

Dessert at Bar Dolci

My 3 young cousins, the J brothers, invited me to dinner at Azuthai and I treated them to dessert at Bar Dolci.

They bought a coupon from Deal Grocer worth P2,000 for a complete Thai dinner for 4 at Azuthai. I didn’t take pictures anymore since the food was pretty much the same as what I featured here. There were about 6-7 dishes but the portions were just enough for 4 instead of their regular serving portions. It was really a good deal. We were all so full but still had room for dessert. So we headed to the popular Burgos Circle at The Fort where Bar Dolci was located.

Bar Dolci was my kind of bar. Instead of alcohol it sold gelato, macarons and other snacks.

gelato

There was so many interesting flavors and I tried 7 of them from the green tea, ferrero, Thai tea, salted caramel, choco peanut, cappuccino and in the end it was the extra dark chocolate that floored me. It was really rich, dark and bitter chocolate that I’ve never found in any gelato in Manila. Most are too sweet or milky.

An innovation were alcoholic cocktail gelato popsicles. We tried the Tequila Rose, Chocolate Cointreau and Guinness Beer.

cocktail gelato popsicles P130

They served Conlins coffee which Jay said was pretty good. I’ve bought their coffee beans from the supermarket and am quite satisfied with the ones I’ve tried.

They also sold some savory snacks which I would have tried if I didn’t already have dinner. I wonder if the scones and Gruyere pouf were authentic.

scones – choice of basil & olives, bacon & cheese or caramelized onion P120

Gruyere poufs w/ marinara dip P150

mushroom w/ garlic crumble P250

This is the password for their wifi. (unless they changed it already)

chocolate dipped caramel polvoron P70

I wish I bought some jellies since I love these kinds of sweets.

fruit jellies 8 pcs P100

macarons P50

We bought all the flavors to try.

buy 7 macarons and get 1 free

I told my cousin to get me a scoop of extra dark gelato and they could choose the two other flavors. I was surprised that they picked the white chocolate wasabi which was shocking to my taste buds. It was an acquired taste. The pistachio was a better choice. I loved, loved my extra dark chocolate gelato.

white chocolate wasabi & dark chocolate &
pistachio gelato P200 for 3 scoops

I’m not a big fan of macarons but I’ve tried some really good ones and some mediocre. Bar Dolci’s macarons were quite disappointing. They all tasted the same. The flavors were very mild and the texture of the meringue wasn’t as crunchy and chewy as I liked.

The alcoholic gelato had very faint taste and aroma of the liqueurs used. I liked the push up container used.

chocolate Cointreau cocktail gelato popsicle P130

Guinness beer cocktail gelato popsicle

Of all the things I tried at Bar Dolci I would go back for their gelato. I want to try their savory snacks too. I would skip the macarons though. Tomorrow I will tell you where you can order the best macarons you can buy in Manila.

Bar Dolci
F133 Forbeswood Heights
Forbestown Road, Corner Burgos Circle,
Bonifacio Global City
telephone: (632) 846-8245