Ante-dinner Pancit Lucban Affair

a take-out food from Buddy's

Dieting is really tough when people around you tempts you with food you surely can't refuse. Yesterday, his mom brought home a box of Buddy's Pancit Lucban! Yes, indeed! It was in a box, like all other take-out food. No longer fo they serve them in bulky bilaos thus sparing them from too much foil and banana leaves!

We used to eat at Buddy's located in the open-air food plaza in Market!Market! when we visit the condo in BGC but I think it was only last year when they had opened a branch along Timog. We'd usually eat the pancit with a dozen on longganisa. Anyway, last night, we just had the pancit.

a hearty serving of pancit Lucban

Location: @home, take-out food from Buddy's

Food Ordered: Pancit Lucban

Cost: not sure

She says...

chomping on another spoonful of pancit!

This pancit from Buddy's is quite yummy. It really carries a different taste as compared to the usual pancit Canton or bihon that's traditionally served every birthday "for long life. Indeed Filipinos have such a number of beliefs and pamahiin. Going back to Buddy's pancit Lucban, it was tasty. The meat in it had bigger slices compared to the usual bits and pieces noted in commonly served pancit. It also had plenty of vegetables in it. It was really flavorful but quite oily at the same time. The pack came with vinegar and adding the vinegar into the pancit lessens the oily, greasy feeling on the palate. I really like this noodle treat. It's really something worth considering when planning the menu for my next birthday.

She rates:4/5

He says...

Buddy's restaurant has really great food and one of their specialty is the Pancit Lucban -- a noodle-type food with lots of toppings. This pancit has a lot of toppings and also varied in types. There are different vegetables and meat in it.

The oil and other seasoning give this food a very strong flavor. It's so strong that even old person can probably taste them.  If you're on a diet. This is not for you. The oil in this thing is so thick that the box it came with is soaked in it.

However, as delicious as this is, this is still not the best pancit out there.

He rates: 4.5/5

Amber's Golden Dinner Set

Imagine this: The rainy season has just (officially?) ended. The heavens have been kind to you and you were provided with a nice and warm weather for the week. What do you do?

Take a nice stroll outside and celebrate by eating out, of course!

And that's exactly what we did. Just conveniently located on the corner of Tomas Morato and Scout Castor streets in Quezon City, we took a small walk to this very simple looking establishment called Amber's Golden Bowl Restaurant. The place doesn't look so much like a typical restaurant in Tomas Morato but more of an upgraded carinderia (filipino. noun. a small food joint).

"Who needs interior designers if you have great food, right?"

The restaurant mostly caters to takeouts (or "To go" for Starbucks fans out there) that's why they only have an ordering counter and some bar stools lining the counter on the first floor. If you prefer to eat in, they have some seats on the second floor. The joint itself is open so you're treated to a bit of al fresco dining.

Alfresco dining - pinoy version

For this little excursion, we ordered the pork barbecue (for the meat) and the restaurant's famous pancit malabon (a noodle based food) and pichi-pichi (a local snack item) - the variant with the cheese. 

Don't be scared. That's just the cheese toppings.

She says...

Amber's Golden Bowl Restaurant reminds me of old chinese restaurants where we used to eat lomi and bihon. The area was not well ventilated. At 3 in the afternoon it was really humid. The barbequed pork tasted like its been prepared hours ago, not even a hint of getting reheated. Although, it did taste sweet and flavorful. The pancit malabon, which is one of their house specialties, had a full taste of atchuete, coconut milk and chicharon. It tasted nice but really the tastiest of all. The pitchi pitchi on the other hand was superb! It just had the right amount of sweetness, with a really soft almost jelly-like consistency and with an overload of grated cheese on top. This perhaps is the best pitchi pitchi that I've ever tasted.

Cool...ed?

She rates: pancit malabon-3.5/5, pork bbq-2.5/5, pitchi pitchi- 5/5

He says...

The pancit malabon tastes really good. Although it is not the best, it is one of the good ones (and I've tasted some really bad ones). Eating this with the egg slices, shrimp cuts and pork barbecue gives you a really satisfied feeling. Just thinking about sends shivers down my spine and a tongue drooling for more.

Drool worthy

Their famous pichi-pichi is famous for a reason -- it is the best pichi-pichi I've tasted in my life! This pichi-pichi itself is very soft and yet solid. It's soft enough to chew easily without stressing your jaws but solid enough to not stick on to your mouth. There are no hard residues (from the cooking process) anywhere in the pichi-pichi which is quite common on other pichi-pichi I've eaten. The cheese only adds more flavor to an already delectable chow. Being a meat lover, I partnered that again with the barbecue and, like in the movie Ratatouille, my whole childhood play right before my eyes.

He rates: 5/5 for this combo!

P.S. They have a site! Check it out HERE!

Alain's Exploits: The Tea Bar

V-Mall (formerly Vira Mall) in Greenhills (or GH, as I call it) is not exactly known for its food choices. It's the place to go if you're looking for affordable clothes and gadget--- that is if you're a good haggler.

They do have a food court and some food shops scattered all over the mall. Since I usually go there for my gadget fix and was sorta hungry and curious, I decided to try one of the food shops I often pass by on my rounds: The Tea Bar.

The Tea Bar is a comfy enough place. It has warm lighting which is inviting and relaxing, this is specially good for eating. The chairs are soft (at least the one I sat on) and the tables were clean as should all restaurants be.

The only unusual thing about the place was the strong smell of tea. I'm saying unusual because I can't decide if it's pleasant or awful.

Their menu book looks tattered from old use and was very weird to hold and look at so I just ordered two things just to get rid of it. First is the basket of chicken.

The pieces were a bit smaller than I'm used to but there were 6 pieces so it's forgivable. The taste is.. meh. Not a very exciting taste.

The Earl Grey Iced Tea on the other hand is very good. I was a bit surprised to be served with an Iced Earl Grey when I'm used to it being hot but they did good with it. The taste of this drink is very strong but not like strong-tasting iced tea of other food shops. The strong taste here doesn't come from too much sugar, like other shops, but from the strong tea flavor. This is probably the only real iced tea I've had.

Rating:

Service: 4/5

Place: 3.5/5

Chicken: 2.5/5

Iced Tea: 4.5/5

Siomai @Siomai House

siomai with chili and garlic on top @Siomai House

It was quite a busy day for us, travelling to and fro from one office to another. The day was literally jam-packed with a load of activities that we realized it was already about 1pm when we reached SM Megamall. We headed to the basement for the needed recopying of ID photos. While awaiting for the photos to be done, we dropped by the food court where we decided to gobble up an order of steamed Chinese dimsum or what we commonly know as, siomai from Siomai House.

It's been a while since we ate a couple of these shrimp and pork dumplings with garlic and chilis on top plus a quirt of calamansi. Alongside, we had a bottle of buko water from Louie's.

Location: Siomai House/ Louie's Buko Juice, SM Megamall Foodcourt

Food Ordered: Pork and Shrimp Siomai/ Bottled Buko Juice

Cost: Siomai: P30 per 4 pieces, Buko Water (500ml): P42

She says...

I still like how it tasted. The food texture was just right. It was flavorful. Unlike other siomai's out there, I can still feel and taste the meat. Not much extender. The size is still the same although they did raise the price from then P25 to now P30 per order of 4 pieces of this dimsum delight. The buko juice complements the taste of the siomai although I don't find it to be fresh (guess 'coz it's been bottled up already.) Fresh buko juice has a certain sweetness this bottled one missed out. But, it was truly a satisfying treat.

She rates: 4/5 for the siomai @Siomai House and 3/5 for Louie's Buko Juice

He says...

A year or two ago, a quick snack at Siomai House was my favorite thing to do when strolling at SM Megamall. Their siomai has a good strong taste that you can really feel once it touches your tongue. I always partner this up with a bottle of Buko Juice to counter the strong flavor.

I don't know what's changed but that strong taste I love about Siomai House's siomai is gone. It was replaced by a gentler flavor that reminds you of tranquility. It's not my taste but it is still yummy.

Although the buko juice never changed. Still the same old watered-down buko juice that I enjoy.

He rates: 4/5 for the food and 4/5 for the buko juice.