Piadina

I always love eating at Piadina.





Before they have set meals that has pasta with grilled mozzarella and piadina. And sometimes in their stall in Glorietta 4  (Food Choices), they also serve it with breaded chicken or pork.

Now though, they don't have that kind of set meals anymore (haven't check the one in Glorietta, only the one in Robinsons Ermita). They only offer pasta of the day with piadina and pasta and piadina (both without grilled mozzarella).

The change in menu came with a change in price too. Their Carbonara (my favorite pasta in piadina) is now even more expensive than the personal  size serving of CPK's Garlic Cream Fettuccine. How about that?

They were also not that flexible anymore. Before you can have the pasta of the day replace with your choice of pasta for a price, but now they don't allow that too.

But since I was craving for their Italian Sausage Piadina, I ordered one.



An order now comes with their soup of the day. That day it was Cream of Mushroom Soup.



The soup wasn't that good. It was thin and bland. The piadina too wasn't as good as before. I don't know what happened. Still, I'll give them another shot, though this time I'll order from their stall at the Food Choices (Glorietta). Hopefully they still offer the Bologna Set - with your choice of pasta, piadina, half grilled mozzarella and iced tea.



Happy Eating!


Update: their express outlet inside Glorietta Food Choices is now closed :-(

Tony Roma's Memphis Ribs and Southwestern Chicken

The next day I was back again at Tony Roma's, though this time I was not solo, I was with a friend.

As we know that an order is big, plus that they serve bread and butter, we didn't order any soup or appetizer, we went straight to the main course.



My friend wanted the Red Hots Ribs, as he loves spicy food, but upon the suggestion of the server that the Memphis Ribs were spicier, he ordered that instead.



He had it with coleslaw and rice.

When his order arrived, he was very disappointed with his spicy expectation. The ribs weren't spicy at all. They were just sweet and not as good as their Carolina Honeys. The only spice you'll taste was the chili powder sprinkled on top.

While I had the Southwestern Chicken, that's served on a bed of rice and with tomato salsa.



For my two side dishes I chose the corn on the cob and baked potato.



I like the chicken with melted cheese on top, the yellow rice, the tomato salsa, the corn on the cob, the baked potato.  Basically I love everything on my plate.

For drinks we just had Iced Water with Lemon.



Happy Eating!

Alone in Tony Roma's

It's my first time to dine solo at Tony Roma's. I was so tired from the commute from the hospital to the mall, that I wanted to treat myself to a full meal.




For drinks I had the Green Mango Shake, for appetizer/soup, I ordered the Baked Potato Soup instead of the soup of the day that was Chicken and Corn. My main course was the Marinated Boneless Breast of Chicken. According to the server, it's the most ordered chicken dish. And was better than their catch of the day, Grilled Salmon, that was my second choice, first was the Southwestern Chicken.

The Baked Potato Soup was thick and rich. I could stop at just that. There were just two things I didn't like in the soup. First, that most of the potatoes were not bite-sized. It would take 2-3 bites just to finish one. And second that the bacon bits they used tasted like chicharon.




I really liked the Marinated Boneless Breast of Chicken. It was light but very tasty. And was very good paired with rice and coleslaw.



I asked for the Green Mango Shake to be served last, as I don't want to combine a hot soup with a cold shake.



The Green Mango Shake was very sweet and devoid of the sourness of green mango, that I even thought they served me the wrong shake.

For my midnight snack, I ordered Chicken Philly Sandwich to go.



Happy Eating!

Italiannis Classico and Smoked Salmon Pizza

I so wanted to try the Fettuccine Tartufo of Italiannis, but since my friend was on a diet (forever) and doesn't want to order anything for himself, I just ordered a pizza that can be shared by two and not the fettuccine that's only good for one. I thought that by doing so, my friend would be obliged to eat, as I can't finish the pizza alone.

I chose to have two flavors on the pizza - Classico and Smoked Salmon.

classico - Italian sausage, mushrooms and peppers with mozzarella and romano cheese

smoked salmon - gorgonzola dill cream sauce topped with smoked salmon and white onions

I have tried the Classico before and like it, but the Classico that evening was very bland, that no amount of salt or pepper can do a miracle. While the gorgonzola was the only thing I like on the Smoked Salmon.

My friend also had the Watermelon Shake, which he said was very sweet.

Happy Eating!

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Eggs Benedict

After our late dinner of pizza at Italiannis, and a few hours of videoke, it was now time for a midnight snack.
Since it was past midnight, our restaurant choices had dwindled. Aside from the open 24-hour choices like Chowking and Yellow Cab, there were Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. But since I've tried almost everything in Starbucks, I chose to have our late snack in CBTL (coffee bean and tea leaf) instead.

I ordered the Eggs Benedict while my friend had the Caramel Cream Tea Latte.




* an order comes with coffee or tea - I chose the Japanese Cherry Tea

I didn't like my eggs benedict that much, as the bechamel sauce was not only miniscule but was also very thick that it sticks like glue. The muffin too was very chewy (makunat). In the end I just ate the ham and egg and left the muffin untouched.



My friend also didn't like his drink. He said it tasted like a wood coffee stirrer.

Happy Eating!

Pepper Lunch Vanilla Crepe ala Mode

I have eaten at Pepper Lunch countless of times, but it was my first time to try their Vanilla Crepe ala Mode.



I like the light vanilla cream in between the crepes. It made the crepe less sinful.



I was not a fan of the ice cream that day though, as it melted too easily. It was like a shake even before I took a spoonful. Must be because of the temperature that day inside their store. It was very hot, and the heat from the plates were not helping.

Happy Eating!

Bon Vivant Babes in the Sea-ty

Yesterday I bought a lot of food to take home.

French Baker Tuna Puff

-not that good and not enough fillings

Bon Vivant Babes in the Sea-ty (minus the shrimp)

- I love pairing this with KFC's chicken and coleslaw. While my husband loves his paired with Hen Lin's siomai

Pringles Multi Grain Cheesy Cheddar

- tasty and sort of healthy

Mr Jones Biscuits with Gravy

- always good

Happy Eating!

Cibo

I have tried many of their food items, but not their pizza and pasta. So I was always curious as to how they tasted.

After Bulgogi Brothers and Pepper Lunch, I needed something to bring home for dinner. First on my list was the salmon pasta of Cibo. I was just hesitant on buying an order and not liking it, that I did not only think twice on buying. But I told myself, I wouldn't know how good or bad it is unless I try. So I went inside and order a personal size Farfalle alla Norvegese ( pasta with smoked salmon, cream and capers) and Pattate Fritti to go.



I was very excited to try them at home.

When I opened the pasta box, my first impression was that it was very dry. I then thought that maybe it just looked dry but wasn't. But it was really a very dry pasta. When I tasted it, it wasn't only dry but also bland. It lacked sauce and taste. And the salmon was too few for the pasta. It looked like a garnish than part of the pasta. I thought that adding Parmesan cheese (I have a stock at home) would help, but it didn't. In the end I just threw it out as it was a waste of calories. It was as if I was just eating plain farfalle pasta.




The Pattate Fritti or potato chips that comes with their homemade mayo dip were good. It just always cloy me every time I have more than 3 chips. I don't know why.



Happy Eating!

Contis with Family

We went out for a mini birthday celebration for my nephew.  We already celebrated it at home, but we needed an extension, rather a reason to eat and shop.

Since there were not much restaurants in Trinoma, and there were a lot of people that Sunday afternoon, we just settled at Contis.

We waited for almost 30 minutes for a table.

We ordered the following:

Baked Salmon - served with paella rice


This was a rich dish. The salmon was topped with a creamy cheese crust, that was very salty.


Parmesan Crusted Fish Fillet - served with almond pilaf

This was good.

Seafood au Gratin

- not enough seafood and sauce

Molo Soup

- salty, but was okay

Mango Royale Salad

- the lettuce were crisp, the mangoes were soury-sweet, and there were an overload of dressing


Sinigang na Salmon sa Miso (forgot to take a photo)
- good according to my brother-in-law

Roast Beef

- also good according to my brother

Iced Tea 


Lemonade

 - too sweet


Green Mango Shake

- not that sour, almost bland

Turtle Pie

- chocolate and cream overload

Mango Bravo

- liked the chocolate and cashew part. The rest, especially the meringue I can do without. It almost tasted old and it was also cream overload.


Happy Eating!

Bulgogi Brothers

I met up with a friend to watch what to expect. But since it was already lunch time, we decided to have lunch first.

We both wanted to try Bulgogi Brothers, so deciding on where to eat was a breeze. But deciding on what to order took a long time.




As I just ate at Maru a few days back, I still remembered how full of "litid" (ligament) their prime rib was, that ordering another prime rib, now at bulgogi, made me think more than twice. Added to that, that two servers told us that it does have a lot of fat. We then focused on the Seoul-style bulgogi, only to be told that it's not barbecued but a broth style bulgogi.

Another server came to us a few minutes after, telling us that the prime beef shortribs are not full of fat, but are lean. A complete opposite of what the two other servers told us.

We decided to trust that server and ordered the Prime Beef Shortribs.

As soon as you are seated, you will be served a mini platter of complimentary corn, quail eggs and sweet potato, and one pot each person of their tea of the day. That saturday it was corn tea.




Our beef order came in shortly. It's served with 4 side dishes (kimchi, eggplant, pickled veggies and spinach salad). We both liked the pickled veggies among the sides. Thinly-sliced potatoes and onions were grilled by the server with the beef. Even if she was grilling on our table there was not much smoke from the grill. It was as if she's not grilling at all. They definitely have good ventilation, which was a far cry from pepper lunch (we ate there after).











The beef tasted good, the rice too was good. As we were both meat-eaters, an order that was good for 2-3 people, was not enough for us, that we ordered Dubu Steak.




The steak took more than 10 minutes to come. It has glass noodles and beef on top. The steak too tasted good. Not salty nor too sweet, but just right.



For our drinks we both had Citrus Mint. Not as citrusy as we would have liked but was still good.



Happy Eating!