Our Super Dinner Date in Super Bowl of China

“Where should we dine?” – This is one question that always crop up whenever we have our dinner date. This is a difficult question because of so many restaurants to choose from.

The Question is on our minds one night until we caught Super Bowl’s 1-peso deal. There was a catch, however, because we have to order one main dish to avail of the promo. That was not a problem and we still chose to dine in Super Bowl.

Super Bowl of China obviously serves Chinese dishes so we already had an idea what to expect with their food. There are the usual noodles, dimsum, yang chow, and chicken. They all looked yummy in the menu but what got our mouth watering was a seafood dish sprinkled with what seemed like siling labuyo.

The staff of Super Bowl was generous enough to give us a bowl of chicharon while they’re preparing our food.

The Super Bowl branch that we dined in is in SM Megamall. The place has some Chinese elements fused with Western designs.

Our orders finally reached us after a few minutes of waiting. We ordered the cuttlefish with spicy salt:

We also took advantage of their promo so we ordered Stir Fried Beef with Oyster Sauce for just 1 peso.

We enjoyed our dinner date not only because I’m with My Beloved but also because of the great food. The cuttlefish looks scary because of the labuyo but it was not very spicy. I believe that Bicolanos will not get the kick that they want with this dish.

The beef dish also tasted good. The best part of this is that we only spent 1 peso for this dish.

The food was too much for the of us that we had to ask a Super Bowl staff to pack the leftover stir fried beef. Thus, my Super Bowl dining experience continued during breakfast the next morning.

All in all, we had a great dining experience in Super Bowl of China. The cuttlefish and the stir fried beef. Their staff was courteous and helpful with our “selfie”. We will definitely dine again especially if they have a repeat of the 1-peso promo.

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.
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Second Night in Puerto Princesa: Sisig Night at Kinabuch’s

Our trip to Puerto Princesa will never be complete without tingling our taste buds with any Palaweño delicacy. So, we shunned Jollibee and Mang Inasal and went to local restaurants to taste the pride of Puerto Princesa City.

For our first night, we dined at Haim Chicken Inato where we enjoyed the Palaweño-styled chicken inasal.

I wanted our next dinner date to be as good as our first, so I googled for the best restaurants in Puerto Princesa. I searched for a restaurant with good food but not heavy on the budget (we’re on a budget trip after all). TripAdvisor listed 77 restaurants in Puerto Princesa City and of the top 10, we chose Kinabuch’s Grill and Bar.

Kinabuch’s was crowded and almost all of the table were occupied. I guess being in the top 10 list of TripAdvisor drew this crowd. A staff immediately approached and brought us to a bar styled table with high stools.

I didn’t like the table assigned to us but I didn’t complain. We were here for the food so this was not a problem. Well, at least we got best view of the pool table. I wished, though, that Efren “Bata” Reyes was the one playing.

My Beloved Wife Lei wasn’t feeling well that night. She was exhausted of the all the snorkeling, beaching, and island hopping during our Honda Bay Tour. She’s even on the brink of a having a flu.

Since Lei didn’t want to eat anything, we just ordered one hot plate of Sizzling Seafood Sisig, two cups of rice and canned softdrinks.

I brought Lei to Kinabuch’s so that she could taste their famous crocodile dishes. I already tasted crocodile meat in Australia, which I enjoyed. I wanted to share that experience with her but she didn’t have the appetite for it.

Kinabuch’s offers three crocodile dishes: the Croc Adobado, Croc a la Bicol Express, and Croc Sisig. Each of them costs 345 pesos per order.

I also wanted to try their famous tamilok dishes then decided against it. Lei didn’t want to try tamilok and I also thought that I might not like it (and waste money on it). Tamilok is a kind of woodworm which is actually a relative of oysters and other shellfish. It is the most exotic food in Palawan.

Our Sizzling Seafood Sisig came after a few minutes of waiting. It was bon appétit for me but not for Lei. She just ate a portion of her rice and then gave them all to me.

It was a quick dinner for me. We paid the bill and then immediately returned to our hotel. My Beloved Wife needed to take a good rest.

In short, we didn’t enjoy our second dinner date in Puerto Princesa.

Kinabuch’s Sizzling Seafood Sisig tasted good but there’s nothing stellar about it. I guess I’m just comparing it with the other sisigs that I tasted in restaurants outside of Puerto Princesa. With its outdoor ambience and pool tables, I believe that Kinabuch’s is one of the best place in Puerto Princesa for beer and night outs.

We spent a total of 345 pesos for this dinner date. Our meal composed of the sizzling seafood sisig (230 pesos), garlic rice (30 pesos), plain rice (15 pesos), and two canned softdrinks (70 pesos). This not expensive and I believe that we got what we paid for.
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An Open Letter to Karate Kid: Where’s My Unli Rice?

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Dear Karate Kid,

First of all, I wanted to say that I intended this to be a normal blog post about your shop. My Beloved Wife Lei and I dined at your place in Lucky Chinatown Mall two or three weeks ago and we had no problem with anything. We actually enjoyed your Beef Teppanyaki and veggie meal. In fact, we availed of the one-time refill of rice and red iced tea.

What prompted me to write this open letter is the great loss that I felt when I read the receipt of our meal:

It said: “Beef Teppanyaki w/ unliric D”

It is clear as the clearest bottled water. We can get unlimited servings of rice from the meal that we bought.

I felt so devastated. Imagine how much calories those unlimited rice will add to my belly.

But don’t worry Karate Kid. We didn’t push the issue to your crew. I don’t want them to feel devastated as I was.

My only request is that I get more rice the next time I visit your restaurant. Don’t worry, I only eat up to 4 cups of rice.

Thank you very much and I am hoping for your quick action.

Regards,

Ishmael F. Ahab
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Mr. Kimbob on a Rush

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We were looking for a good place to eat when we noticed a large crowd in front of a store at the food court. That store was Mr. Kim Bob, another Korean (or Korean inspired) restaurant.

Curious with the hoopla, we ordered two of their beef Bibimbob.

What we got is a rice meal on a sizzling plate. For 99 pesos per plate, we got a cup of rice, sunny-side-up egg, fried beef meat, toge (bean sprouts), and other veggies. There is also kimchi since Mr. Kimbob is a Korean restaurant.

Lei wants gulaman, so, ordered palamig from Jose’s Goto.

Mr. Kimbob’s Bibimbob is fine. Our only complaint with our meal is that the rice is not well-cooked. I think that Mr. Kimbob’s crew rushed the rice because of the large volume of orders. That is understandable but Mr. Kimbob should understand that some customers are unforgiving when it comes to their food.

I actually liked their Bibimbob. My hot plate is empty after a few spoonfuls.

I might eat again at Mr. Kimbob. I do hope, though, that their rice is perfect next time.

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This is a blog series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.

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A Failed Attempt in Cooking Dinengdeng

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Overstaying vegetables are one of our usual home problems. Some vegetables take more than a week in the fridge because we either don’t have the time to cook them or they’re just too many.

Upon opening the fridge one day, I noticed that we have ampalaya (bitter gourd), talong (eggplant), sitaw (string beans), and takway. Their freshness is gone and they will be sent to the trash can if they stayed longer in the fridge. Throwing these veggies means throwing away hard-earned money, so I decided to salvage them.

After a bit of Google search, I discovered this popular Ilocano dish: dinengdeng.

Photo by :Thepacificconoisseur / en.wikipedia

Dinengdeng is just a mixture of veggies and bagoong. Cooking this dish is very easy. It is the perfect dish for our overstaying veggies.

Ingredients for Dinengdeng

Talong
Sitaw
Ampalaya
Takway
Tomatoes (3 pcs)
Onion (1 pc)
Salt
Magic Sarap
Bagoong Isda
Pork (bite-size and fried)

How I Cooked Dinengdeng

1. The first thing that I did is to cut the ampalaya, talong, sitaw, and takway to bite-sized slices. I then sliced the sibuyas into two and quartered the tomatoes.

2. I boiled the water in a pot and then placed the tomatoes and the onion. I then added the bagoong isda. I let the mixture simmer for a while. The scum forming at the sides of the pot were promptly removed.

3. I threw in the talong, sitaw, ampalaya, takway, and the fried pork. I let it simmer until the veggies are cooked.

4. I then added Magic Sarap and salt until it tastes OK.

5. I finally served it hot for dinner.

My Cookery Result

My dinengdeng tasted very bitter. Even Lei made the same remark. It’s so bitter that she didn’t eat it. The taste is not surprising because I placed 1 and a half amplaya in this dish.

I had no choice but to eat it all of it. I think I finished eating my dinengdeng after three meals. The sad part is that ampalaya is my most hated vegetable. I think eating this dinengdeng was my punishment for cooking so badly.

My consolation is that ampalaya is known to be good against diabetes.

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.
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Rocha's Puto & Kutsinta

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Puto and kutsinta are two of the popular type of rice cakes in the Philippines. Puto is the spongy type of rice cake while kutsinta is sticky and usually partnered with grated coconut meat. Puto comes in differrent colors, shapes, and sizes while kutsinta are usually shaped circular and red in color.

I'm posting about these two Pinoy delicacies because of My Beloved Wife Lei's pasalubong: a box of Rocha's Puto and Kutsinta.

Lei told me that she bought Rocha's Puto and Kutsinta from an office mate who sells these goodies for extra income. She bought it for 140 pesos but it's actual price is lower.

If I remembered it right, a box contains 25 pieces of puto and 25 pieces of kutsinta.

There's no grated coconut but that's OK since Rocha's kutsinta tastes good even without it.

I like the puto more than the kutsinta. The puto has cheese on top, which made it special.

I couldn't stop myself from popping these puto and kutsinta into my mouth. Lei even have to warn me from eating all of these.

These puto and kutsinta are good, especially during breakfast.

If you want to taste Rocha's puto and kutsinta, I suggest that you drop by their shops Barangay Sto. Niño and Barangay Sta. Elena in Marikina City or in Laguna Bel Air, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Call 941-1519 for inquiries.

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.

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Finally, About BonChon

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Koreans have been invading the Philippines for many years now. They'd invaded Philippine TV with their dramas (my favorite of which are Jumong and Dae Jang Geum). Hordes of Korean nationals come to the Philippines to learn English or visit our beaches. The Philippines food industry was invaded as well and BonChon was one Korean restaurant that led the invasion.

When Filipinos talk about fried chicken, the most mentioned restaurant is Jollibee then followed maybe by McDonalds or KFC. It was a tough battle for BonChon but it managed to make Filipinos (or at least Metro Manilans) go gaga over its fried chicken.

BonChon's fried chicken is a good respite from the fried chicken of Jollibee. Although, there was a time that BonChon's chicken tasted like its frozen for many days in the freezer.

Many people are crazy about BonChon chicken but, for me and My Beloved Wife Lei, our favorite is the BonChon calamari partnered with their special sauce.

BonChon calamari with fried shrimp.

The calamari and the shrimp tastes good while it's hot. And yes, BonChon serves their meals straight from the kitchen.

BonChon special sauce.

Lei likes the BonChon special sauce. We usually order and extra of it because it's container is too darn small.

BonChon wants me to diet whenever I dine at their place because their rice is also small. Filipino diners who are “makanin” (wants to eat plenty of rice) are warned.

I notice the cleanliness in the many BonChon branches that we visited. This is another plus point for BonChon because I like eating in clean restaurants, especially if they're inside a mall.

BonChon Liberty Shaw.

Because of their yummy calamari, I am sure that Lei will have another BonChon craving. I guess that BonChon will be a part of our list of “go-to” restaurants for a very long time.

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.

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I Cooked Adobong Atay ng Manok

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Pregnant women, especially those in the early weeks of pregnancy, are demanding when it comes to food. Some men that their wives asked them to search for a specific kind of fruit that is very hard to find in the palengke (local market). My Beloved Wife Lei had the same quirk, though not of the exaggerated kind.

One morning, Lei asked me to cook adobong atay ng manok (chicken liver in soy sauce). I immediately ran to the palengke to buy one-half kilo of chicken liver and heart. Aside from the chicken, I prepared the following ingredients:

Bawang (garlic) – 5 teeth
Onion – 1 piece
7 spoons of soy sauce
3 spoons of vinegar
Laurel leaves
Paminta (pepper) – buo

Ingredients for adobong atay ng manok.

Here’s how I cooked adobong atay ng manok:

1. I prepared the ingredients by slicing the sibuyas and bawang

2. Sauté sibuyas and bawang until the latter become golden brown.

3. Place the atay and puso ng manok and sauté for 3 minutes.

4. Add the paminta and laurel leaves.

5. Pour 7 spoons of soy sauce and 3 spoons of vinegar. Let it simmer until the vinegar and soy sauce mixture is almost gone.

Cooking adobong atay ng manok is easy and I think that I did fairly well on this one.

Unfortunately, Lei didn’t like it. She said that she didn’t like the smell. So, I am the one who ate all of the atay and puso ng manok.
 

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You just finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.

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I Cooked Tinolang Bangus

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This Sunday, My Beloved Wife asked me to cook for lunch. She requested that I cook a dish that is masabaw (soupy). I suggested sopas, nilagang baboy (boiled pork), sinigang, fish paksiw, but she didn’t want any of it. In the end, she said that she wanted tolang (or tinolang) bangus.

When I was in Davao for the first time, a friend said that we’ll be eating tinola for dinner. I expected that I’ll be eating chicken but what I got is fish. For the Tagalogs, tinola means tinolang manok. I didn’t expect that the Visayans also use fish for their tinola.

Now, let’s cook tinolang bangus. Here are the ingredients:

Kamatis (tomatoes)
Medium-sized bangus (milkfish)
Hugas bigas
Sibuyas (onion)
Luya (ginger)
Malunggay
Salt

How I “Cooked” Tinolang Bangus

1. Remove the malunggay leaves from the stalk. This is the most boring part of this cookery. I suggest that you watch the conyo teens (YouTube video below) while doing this.

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2. Slice the kamatis and sibuyas into four. 3. Slice bangus into 4 pieces. (Tip: you can ask the vendor to do this when you buy the bangus). 4. Pour the hugas bigas into the pot. Place the bangus, sibuyas, and kamatis. Bring the mixture to boil. 5. Place the luya when the mixture started to boil.
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6. Let it simmer for a while. Add water if you notice if most of the hugas bigas had evaporated. 7. Place the salt according to your taste. 8. Place the malunggay leaves and leave it simmering for a minute. Voila! Now my tinolang bangus is done.
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I admit that I didn’t cook this dish alone. My Beloved Wife assisted me. Well, she’s a better cook than me.

Come, let’s eat.

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You finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.
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What My Beloved Wife Brought Home

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My Beloved Wife just came back from their one-day company outing in Laiya Aplaya (Batangas). Unfortunately, their company didn't allow My Beloved Wife and her office mate to bring their families. So, I was left alone in the house for the first time.

To soothe my “sadness” for being left behind, My Beloved Wife brought home not one but two pasalubong.

She brought home two boxes from Melgian's Sweets.

My Beloved Wife said that they bought the pasalubong in Calamba.

The small box contains espasol.

Espasol is a kakanin made from rice flour and grated coconut. What's notable is the white powder at its top.

My Beloved Wife instantly liked Melgian's espasol. It has plenty of grated coconuts, quite different from the espasol being sold by hawkers at the bus stops. At the price of 75 pesos, it is should be expected that Melgian's espasol should be better than the common espasol. Well, we are not disappointed.

A knife after knife of yummy espasol.

The big box contains the common pasalubong in the area of Batangas and Laguna. The always special buko pie!

This buko pie costs 150 pesos.

No. I haven't tasted it yet. I am not allowed to eat this because My Beloved Wife said that we will bring this box today to My Mom as her pasalubong for Mother's Day.

I do hope that this buko pie does not disappoint. I will give you the update once we go back home.

Melgian's Sweets can be found in Halang, Calamba, Laguna.
Contact them at telephone nos. (049) 834-6641 and (049) 834-0696.

Oh by the way, before end this post, let me say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers who are reading this blog. You are all awesome. Keep up the good work. The fate of humankind depends on all of you.

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You finished reading a Foodie Sunday post. This a blog post series where I post about our foodie adventures. Expect to read about food; from homecook meals. to street food. to fine dining, to fast food, even the weird edible things.
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