Chili's

Eddie and Nini were in town, so we hied off to the Tomas Morato branch of Chili's for Texas-style dinner with Kong, the families of Annella and Mikaela.  This restaurant gives out large servings, such that an order for one can actually be shared.

Potato wedges topped with  chili sauce, favorite appetizer of the kids

Seared salmon, which was tender and still juicy!

Beef salpicao, a pleasant surprise--tender, juicy and with lots of garlic

Baby back ribs--supposed to be the house specialty, but this time a bit dry...

Fish & chips, which the kids enjoyed

Tri-flavored fajitas--beef, chicken and shrimps!

All in all, we wound up with a spend of around P700 per head.  The interiors of the restaurant haven't changed much from the last time I saw it, and has the leisurely ambience typically found in branches of the American eating chains--LCD panels, lots of memorabilia and plenty of eye-catching logos. 

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Had a meeting with an old colleague at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop along Ayala Avenue, and was quite surprised that aside from the usual coffee & tea concoctions, the shop was also selling coffee brewing machines together with the roasted bean capsules--it's called the CBTL System.  Just when I thought that this market was dominated by Nespresso and Nestle Dolce Vita, I find an easy to locate alternative!  The coffee shop started in 1963 in California, and has made its own niche in the Philippines with its easy-going ambience and pleasant staff.  It's a good place to relax and chit-chat with friends and colleagues, a snack will cost you something like P200 in total.

Kelly Rutherford

Monique just loves watching reruns of Gossip Girl, and having seen a lot of episodes, I must say that I am quite fascinated with actress Kelly Rutherford, who plays Lily Van der Woodsen, the mother to the character of Blake Lively, on the TV show.  I understand that she is also a bag designer, and is an active philanthropist.   Always looking elegant, acting serene and standing statuesque, I give this lady two thumbs up!

See's

Vicky received a box of See's peanut covered chocolate bars and we had a good time dipping our fingers in the box.  This was crunchy and tasted akin to the Roca butternut creations, although slightly larger in size.  In all honesty, I haven't been too fond of See's chocolates--I find them definitely too sweet for my taste--but this chocolate candy was not bad at all.

Kanzhu

Monique, Vicky and I found ourselves stuck for lunch at the San Juan area, and we opted to try the Kanzhu noodle shop along Jose Abad Santos St.  It was a strange thing to look for hot noodles soup on a hot summer day, but the Chinese food craving brought about by our HK trip must have had lingering effects on our system!  The restaurant was formerly occupied by the Beijing hand-pulled noodle shop, and because of the similarity in product, we thought it was still owned by the same group, albeit branded differently.  It turns out the the restaurant is a different altogether, and the food attendant was quick to point out that they had a wider menu offering than the previous building tenant.

We had a bowl of noodles each, and I quite liked their dry noodles with stewed lamb.  As expected, noodles were freshly made and were cooked al dente, firm but still gooey to the bite.  We also had a variety of dimsum items to fill in our hunger--Ha Kaw, radish cakes, and chicken feet (unfortunately this was a bit too sweet for my taste), and in addition, Monique and Vicky each had a tall glass of bubble tea!  We spent some P350 per head, and we came out of the restaurants with smiles on our faces!

Paton's

Mikaela and Annella have been so busy with the renovation of Kong Kong's study room, and it was a welcome treat when Erica came over with some chocolate treats from Sydney--Paton's chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  This candy is usually associated with Hawaii, and it was interesting how the marketing folks at Paton's chose to put a Koala bear at the cover of their box in order to instantly differentiate the two competing products.  The chocolate was creamy and had just the right amount of sugar, and I'd say that the quality was on par with produced by the Hawaiians.  Great for mid-afternoon snack!

Hap Chan

My cousin Munchie scheduled a clan meeting over lunch at the Hap Chan Chinese restaurant along President's Avenue in BF Homes Sucat.  It's been ages since I last walked in a Hap Chan restaurant, and the last time I went to one, I was disappointed because the air conditioning was bad.  This time, however, we were there at 10am, and had the place all to ourselves.  Since there were 8 of us, we ordered a lot of food--roasted asado for starters, fish maw soup, crispy fried chicken, steamed fish in garlic, beef Ho Fan noodles, squid rings, Yang Chow fried rice, taho (sweet soy bean jelly) and mango sago (cassava pearls) for dessert.  Unfortunately, since we were busy discussion some business matters, I had no opportunity to take pictures of the sumptuous treats.  All in all, around P500 per head, which was quite amazing, since we were able to take home lots of excess food.  Food was hot and tasty, interiors were clean and spacious, but service though was a bit slow--I had to ask the waiters to clear used plates several times before they did so.

Hero Sausages

I was going around the Cash & Carry Mall in Makati when I chanced upon the Hero Sausage stall at the ground floor fastfood court.  This was the first time that I had seen this sausage cart brand, but Annella informs me that apparently, this brand has been around for quite some time now.  I had a regular beef & pork sausage sandwich, reasonably priced at P38, but what drew my attention was that they also had "Dundee" sausages made from crocodile meat, which was priced much higher at P98 each.  I learned that crocodile meat is quite expensive at P800 per kilo (tastes much like chicken) and I realized that they would manage to make a profit only by selling the Dundee sausage at a much higher price!

The Hunger Games

It looks like Jennifer Lawrence is the new It girl for me, as she plays young archer Katniss Everdeen so well.  We took Monique and the Callars to watch the hit movie The Hunger Games over at the Cash and Carry Mall, and I am now a certified Jennifer Lawrence fan!  I think she'll be making hit movie after hit movie over the next few years, and I hope she will continue on starring in the next two installments of this Suzanne Collins trilogy.  Go buy tickets to the movie and enjoy it yourself!

Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop (IFC)

Our last day in Hong Kong was spent at the IFC mall, where the airline express check-in counters are located.  I first saw Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop when I went around the mall a few days before and the smell of the noodle soup had me smiling from ear to ear.  Luckily, we were seated immediately when we arrived.  We had the beef tendon noodle soup and Monique and I were very happy!

Of course, being the congee lover that she is, Vicky wanted to try their congee, which was also quite flavorful.  We also had various dimsum items and dry noodles to complete the meal.  Everything was served fast, within 5 minutes from the time we gave the order!  A good fast meal at around P400 per head.  We were then ready for our express train journey to the airport!

Ocean Empire

After a tiring day at the Kowloon side, we arrived at the Rosedale at around 8pm, and after resting a bit, we decided to have congee for dinner at Ocean Empire, which was near the Indonesian quarters.  We had a couple for variety--congee with seafood and with pork, plus twisted rice sheets (I think that locally, this is called bicho bicho).

We spent around P350 per head.  I wasn't too impressed with the flavor though.  From the outside looking in, we saw the hot cauldrons of steaming congee, and it looked so appetizing, but somehow, the taste wasn't as great as we expected.

Paisano's

Tsim Sha Tsui is such an enjoyable place to shop that one can forget about time whilst moving around the district, and the biggest reminder that time has passed would be the aching soles of your feet.  By 5pm, we simply had to sit down, and we found Paisano's pizza parlor on a street perpendicular to Nathan Road.  Not bad at all, Monique and I had a pizza slice (P170) all to ourselves.  Simple yet delicious!

Hainan Shaoye

Our first day in Hong Kong was devoted to Admiralty, the second day was for Causeway Bay, and on the third, we roamed around Central; truly, we had our fill of Hong Kong Island.  We reserved Kowloon side for the fourth day--Tsim Sha Tsui!  The memories of our childhood trips to Hong Kong came rushing in: And the exhilaration was quite sublime--The Peninsual, Mody Road, the Marco Polo Hotel, the Silver Cord, Carnarvon, The Sheraton, Cameron, Granville!  We had lunch at the Ocean Terminal, and I must say that it is in a pretty much better shape today than it was in 2007, when we last saw it.  Nicely renovated, I was impressed.  Hainan Shaoye, a Singaporean style restaurant that we first saw at the World Trade Center in Causeway Bay was the restaurant of our choice.  We had a very nice ocean view from out table, was right beside the window.

I was a bit disappointed at the Hainanese Chicken meal; I had expected something of above average quality, but their version wasn't really much of a show stopper.  The pork stew was, however, on a different level, tender morsels, probably slow-cooked, and the sauce was slightly sweet, slightly tangy, just perfect!

We also ordered Hokkien mee, some tofu with mushrooms and a delicious pork slab topped with roe.  The noodles was quite bland, but the other dishes were well worth the risk.  All in all, we spent some P700 per head.

It was good to realize that some of the mainstays we visited some 30 years ago were still around--for example, Toys R Us was still at the very end of the mall.  We strolled around the connecting mall area under the Marco Polo hotel block, and I marveled at how most of the shops have changed.  I remember that the family had stayed once at the Omni Prince and another time at the Hongkong Hotel, and as such, Mikaela, Erica, Anita and I knew the mall layout like the back of our hands.  Later on, Vicky and I would also stay at these hotels, and that time it was more fashionable to stay at the Tsim Sha Tsui area (shopping was better at Kowloon side).  I really love going around in Hong Kong--first, the weather is just right; second, the food is great; and third, you can find everything that you could possibly want!  Lemme see now--I had better check on Vicky, she's looking at the Chinese Jade pendants... OMG!

Ceiling at the Marco Polo Gateway Mall

Pantry

After that wonderful and filling Japanese noodle treat, we had to bide our time around the Fashion Walk area, our tummies just too full for us to go back to the hotel immediately.  As we strolled, we found the Pantry, which carried some yummy breads, pastries and cookies.  Obviously, we couldn't help ourselves and bought a whole lot of stuff for the following day's breakfast!

Jika Udon

From Central, we got back to our hotel almost 9pm so it was nearing 10pm that we got to have dinner.  We found Jika Udon, a Japanese noodle house near the Park Lane Hotel run by the Taste of Japan group.  It was near closing time, and the receptionist warned us that the last orders were being processed in 30 minutes.  We knew we could make the time, as we were hungry again.  The restaurant interiors were chic and inviting!

Food was very flavorful.  We started off with a tomato based beef udon, followed by a creamy chicken and mushroom udon, and lastly by a Japanese wagyu burger with a simple udon side dish.  We also ordered special mushrooms and scallops, in order to truly feel the authentic fare.

Not bad for something like P500 per head.  Great ambiance, good food, and lovable company!  We were out by just after 10:30pm, and we were so full that we had to walk around the adjacent restaurant row to allow our food to digest.