Kowloon House

Kowloon House has been a long time favorite of the family for fast and simple Chinese cuisine since the late seventies.  The restaurant's branch along West Avenue was the regular venue of choice for birthday celebrations and graduation parties.  Operated by the Ng family, the restaurant was sister to Aberdeen Court and Imperial Jade, and was the forerunner of inexpensive family-style lauriat set meals, which set a given price for certain food combinations for a table of 10 to 12 persons.  I haven't been to Kowloon House for some ten years now, and as I was about to visit the 9th Hi-Fi Exposition at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati, I parked at Park Square I car park, right where the Kowloon House dimsum counter is located.  My mouth started to water!  Their siopao was something that Vicky and I would eat late at night or early in the morning (this store used to operate 24/7) after a long night out of partying & clubbing.  I just had to go back--not bad at all, prices have been kept to reasonable levels, 2 pork asado siopaos cost me P60!  The buns were steamed well, and the asado flavoring was still based on the same old recipe that we had gotten used to.  Yes, here's a toast to good memories...

Greenwich Glazed Chicken

Logbook entry--Before the long All Soul's weekend, I was along Ayala Avenue in-between meetings, so I hurriedly popped into Greenwich Pizza just to have a fast lunch.  Greenwich is the pizza arm of the Jolibee group, but instead of pizza, the signboard advertising their honey-glazed crispy chicken caught my eye.  P89 for one piece, with rice and soda, which is just about the going fastfood price for such meals.  The drumstick I got was crispy on the outside, and honey-glazed as advertised--nothing more, nothing less.  I have it for a fast meal, but wouldn't rave about it.

Papz Lechon Manok

Vicky knew that the Callars would arrived in Ermita with hungry tummies from their long trip, so she decided to pick up lechon manok along Metropolitan Avenue in Makati for their late night dinner.  We couldn't find any our our regular choices, so we tried Papz Chicken.  The store didn't have much choices though, and only one chicken was cooked when we got there (you can see it at the top of the rotisserie in the picture above).  Each bird is priced like that of the store's competition (P189), and their version is served with their own concoction of toyo-mansi sauce made with siling labuyo for spice.  The chicken was stuffed with tanglad (lemon grass) leaves and the meat was quite tasty.  However, maybe because of probably the extended cooking time, I found the chicken on the dry side; it would have been better if they took the chicken off the hot charcoal once cooked.

World Chicken

World Chicken is one fast food chain that I see all the time but never try--I have always walked past their outlet at the Greenbelt 1, and somehow, I haven't found time to taste the food.  The other day, I found myself killing time in Makati; I wondered about the store and walked in for a late lunch.   They have a variety of pasta, sidings and sauces to choose from, and the mainstay is a grilled chicken breast cutlet.  I chose putanesca sauce over my spaghetti, and some mashed potatoes (hmm...carbo-loading day).  The mushroom gravy for the chicken was creamy and tasty, but I found the putanesca on the bland side.  My mental image of harlot's sauce is fiery--full of goodness from tomatoes, capers & olives, hot and spicy, and this was definitely a mediocre version.  The chicken was not bad, but for an average spend of P200, the place is probably not the dining spot of choice for the office crowd.  The wall coverings showed maps of Australia, and I wondered if the franchise came from Oz; upon inquiry, however, the concept was totally local.  Nice and clean dining seats; they have an inner area for quite dining and a corridor portion where one can have a direct view of the passers-by.

Battle Royale

This toss-up is a call that is quite hard to make.  We had to get some dinner for our visit to Oregon, and as we passed by N. Domingo in San Juan, we noticed that Sr. Pedro and Baliwag, two of the more famous lechon manok stalls, were competing side by side.  I just had to buy one chicken from each stall in order to compare!  Offhand, Sr. Pedro was priced more attractively at P189 per chicken, while Baliwag was the premium brand at P199 per chicken.  The Baliwag boys though, stressed that their chicken was slightly bigger, and maybe they were right.  As we got home, we found out that both birds were cooked tasty and juicy; I think that Sr. Pedro used a slightly sweeter marinade.  Baliwag relied on the typical sweet lechon sauce, and Sr. Pedro gives out a mix of soy sauce-cum-vinegar spiced up with a spicy siling labuyo.  Both birds had a wonderful inviting aroma!  At the end of the meal, Vicky and Monique think that Sr. Pedro has the edge, while I stick with Baliwag.  What sayest thou?

Country Style

That's a triple chocolate donut by Country Style pictured right there.  It's basically a chocolate donut, topped with a hard chocolate frost and filled with chocolate filling.  I was killing some time in Salcedo Village and my mouth watered at the sight of this Canadian donut franchise, which was located along Herrera St.  Cost me only P25 for the donut, and while at it, I was able to spend some 30 minutes working on my email.  At this rate, I'm going to grow sideways!

Hungry Juan

San Miguel Pure Foods recently came up with a ready-to-eat business concept called Hungry Juan which serves roasted Magnolia chicken.  I was at the Dela Rosa access road at lunchtime, and I made a beeline for their branch--I had only P100 in my wallet and I knew that I could afford the meals there.  I wasn't mistaken--the quarter chicken cost me P69 only, and this included half a salted egg!

I understand that a whole chicken is priced at P189, and they have 2 different kinds of flavor--inasal and sweet garlic (pictured above).  The chicken is tasty, and quite juicy to the bite.  The interiors are clean and the counter staff were quite ready to serve (I had my meal in less than a minute).  I understand that some operators of the Chooks-To-Go (the competition from Bounty Fresh), try to wage a pricing discount war whenever a Hungry Juan outlet opens nearby--it seems that competition is alive and well!

Kido Manga

It seems that the Japanese know how to put a distinct imprint on Western food--from pasta to pizza to burgers, I've seen a lot of Eastern variations that have enhanced the flavor and consistency of the aforesaid dishes.  Monique and I had merienda in Kido Manga at Robinson's Place Ermita, and we quickly learned that this was the fast food brand of the Karate Kid franchise.

We had a croquette and a burger, which came out after a reasonable wait under 10 minutes.  By itself, the burger was delicious, although the bacon croquette was a bit dry.  I was wondering however, why the brand was named Kido Manga?  I had expected the name to target kids that were addicted to Japanese manga (serialized comics), but there were no manga characters to visualize.  Maybe the name means something else?  Also, the only original Japanese items on the menu were the takoyaki balls (made from octopus or squid); sorry, but I didn't find a unique Japanese taste with the burger and the croquette--it was pretty much a regular burger and a regular croquette.

Meal spend would come to around P100 to P250 per head, depending on which snack you order.  They also have some shakes, but we we cautious about spoiling our dinner appetite that we decided not to have drinks with our meal.

Let's Toast

It's a pretty different combination--french toast with ham and sweet jelly, served with coleslaw on the side.  I thought that this Korean-style concoction by Let's Toast would be primarily salty with a tinge of sweetness from the jelly, but it turns out, only the coleslaw is salty, and the toast is definitely sweet (the saltiness of the ham is totally drowned out).  P65 for the combo; the store has a few stalls in Alabang and the Ortigas Center.

Ted's La Paz Batchoy

My first experience with the unique noodle dish of batchoy was when Gwammy took us to the La Paz Batchoy restaurant in Shoppesville mall in Greenhills in the late seventies.  We were immediately hooked!  The dish, shown below, is a combination of chopped pork organs (yes, it's high in uric acid but very yummy), beef brisket, pancit miki (thin noodles) and hard-boiled eggs, brought together in shrimp or chicken stock.  Crushed chicharon (pork cracklings), fried garlic and chopped green onions are oftentimes sprinkled on top to add flavor.  I understand that this was invented before WW2, and was initially served at the La Paz market in Iloilo.  Ted's La Paz Batchoy has been serving this since 1945, and the brand has found its way into Metro Manila malls (e.g. SM Fairview and Eastwood).

Monique and I took a quick merienda at Eastwood Mall, and we opted to have a bowl each.  The soup came in hot and we spent some time eating, as we ordered the big sizes--roughly P100 per bowl.

Mutsarap

We used to patronize the Pop-eye Chicken House when we were stationed in the Intramuros area back in the early eighties.  Their restaurant along T. Pinpin Street was easily accessible, and the chicken was always piping hot, succulent, and had a distinct Binondo zing to its flavor.  Little did we realize that the name of the store had already changed, and while passing Araneta Avenue, Vicky noticed the new signage bearing the Mutsarap brand, and we stopped to buy a couple of birds and a bilao of pancit canton.  Note that it's a small store, so if you drive fast, you might not even realize that it's there.  The easiest way is to look for the Arlington Memorial Chapels, and the outlet is right across the street from Arlington.  The prices are a bit more expensive than the regular roasted brands though, and each bird goes for P320.  Guaranteed yummy!

De Original Jamaican Pattie Shop

Monique probably munches on Jamaican patties once a week.  She loves their cheesy beef & mushroom combination, and is quite lucky that their patties are available at their school canteen.  I understand that there are several Jamaican pattie shops in town, but De Original Jamaican Pattie Shop was the first one that gained a following in the early nineties.  The patties always come very hot, and most of the flavors have a spicy zing to it!  Quite inexpensive, these patties can fill the hunger in your tummy at a wallet burn rate P50 each on the average.  Variety?  Yes--beef, chicken, extra tomatoes, extra cheese, extra chili!  Stalls are easy to find in a lot of malls around the metro, and in some of the bigger gasoline stations.  Their specialty pattie is called the Pinatubo pattie, and I guess the spice level of this one is way off the charts!

Chooks To Go

Bounty Fresh chicken pretty much upstaged their prime competitor Magnolia with the launch of their Chooks To Go brand of roasted chicken in food stands all over the metropolis a couple of years back.  Their advertising pitch is based on the premise that their roasted chicken tastes great even without sauce, which is a pretty accurate assessment if you ask me.  Meat is soft and juicy, and the flavor blend is  slightly peppery, with only a tinge of sweetness.  Monique and I were in Unimart, and since Vicky decided not to cook much, we bought a couple of birds for dinner.  Not bad for P195 per chicken--it came hot and neatly packed in tinfoil.  The aroma of the roast filled the car, and as we drove home, Monique was even tempted to start off with a drumstick in the car!

Davao Tuna Grill

Found myself alone for lunch last week in Makati, and I chanced upon the Davao Tuna Grill at the Dela Rosa carpark.  The restaurant brings in fresh tuna from Mindanao on a regular basis, and the tuna belly meal that I got was reasonably priced at P120.  Tuna was fresh, tasty, and grilled right.  I found out that they also had other viands--chicken inasal, crispy pork belly among others--but I just had to order the specialty of the house.

Pita Stop Shawarma

Shawarma was first introduced to me by Gwammy in the early seventies.  If I recall right, there was a stall right next to the check-out counters in Unimart that we patronized on a regular basis.  Ever since then, I've been hooked on the snack, and when I passed by the Pita Stop shawarma stall in Robinson's Ermita, I just couldn't resist buying one, which was reasonably priced at P55, complete with garlic yogurt sauce.  As with most fastfood stalls, don't expect gourmet-quality meat, but the essence was there.

Good Ah!

Years ago, in the early eighties, I would have classified Good Ah! as a carinderia, but today, the lugaw (rice porridge) and goto (tripe porridge) shop is already a fastfood outlet, with shops located in various malls in Metro Manila.  We used to go to their open-air shop along Annapolis St., and we'd spend the wee hours of the morning shaking off our drunken stupor with their hot and steamy arroz caldo (chicken porridge).  Those were great times, and we'd love the way their calamansi came pressed and bottled.  No nonsense, no frills food, generous serving portions, quite great for midnight snacking.  Cheap, as in really cheap.

Today, prices are still cheap, and when Monique and I went over to have a snack at their Eastwood branch, I found that the good old favorites were still on the menu, and was delighted to find out that our spending tab came to less than P100 per head.  When the orders came, I was a bit disappointed.  My verdict is that the commercialized expansion has detracted from the taste and quantity--as you can see above, the serving portions were budget size, and the our orders of tokwa't baboy and lumpiang Shanghai were pretty pathetic.  Times truly have changed, but oh well, c'est la vie....

Bugong

Bugong's Roasted Chicken is one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall eating places in Makati.  Located along the ground floor of the Valero carpark, this store opened a few years ago, and quickly gained my patronage for fast and tasty roasted chicken.  The quarter chicken with rice combo which I had for lunch today costs only P77, truly worth the price as the chicken is packed with lots of flavor--hot, tender, well-timed roast that keeps the juices inside. Most people queue for take-outs, but I always take a seat at those four aluminum chairs shown above.  Even without air-conditioning, I still enjoy the street-side ambiance and the delightful aroma of roasted chicken! 

The store also has fried chicken and other chicken styles like teriyaki, but these don't interest me as much as the roasted chicken.  If I remember correctly, the regular chicken size goes for P230 while the jumbo chicken goes for P290.  When I buy whole chicken, however, I don't have it chopped, as the juices run out; I prefer to chop the chicken on the table.  The whole chicken makes for nicer presentation too!

Yummy Roast

I was in SM Manila last weekend, and as it was nearly lunchtime, I popped into Yummy Roast at the ground floor.  The restaurant was new to me--the logo and the print ads looked quite inviting, and I thought I'd give it a try.  Their meals came with a glass of iced tea and unlimited rice, and I signed up for the P99 chicken leg-thigh disk pictured above.  Not bad, but not great either.  I felt that the chicken was a bit small; it was  cooked dry and the flavor was a bit on the bland side.  The sauce, though, had a redeeming flavor.

Oliver's

Queuing for the Avengers movie, we had lots of time to kill.  Vicky decided to have a quick lunch at Oliver's Super Sandwiches, which was conveniently located at the entrance to the movie houses.   Having had heavy brekky, the Callars boys shared a roast beef sandwich while Monique and Angela shared a ham sandwich.  Vicky chose the kani (crab flakes) sandwich which she shared with me.  I am truly a fan of deli sandwiches, and I like my sandwiches stuffed, and that means every bite glistens with gustatory overload!  Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, onions, sour cream, cheese--whatever comes to mind, I'd like to find in my deli sandwich!  The selection at Oliver's covers the usual range, from beef, pork, chicken, tuna, turkey and other gourmet combinations that make for an interesting deli bar.

The chain started off in Hong Kong in the late eighties, and I understand that aside from Hong Kong, the only other stores are in the Philippines.  Sandwiches are around P200 each, pretty reasonable since you can pick it up in an instant, and don't have to stock up on deli items in the fridge (I enjoy layering midnight snack deli sandwiches by myself though).  What I found lacking was the availability of drink choices--they only carried fruit juices and at the time we had lunch, they only had mango in stock.

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!