Bedazzling Dinner

My co-workers have been inviting me to have dinner at a place that bears name that's truly intriguing, Gayuma ni Maria. I was never able to join them but I did tell him about it and had him oblige to soon check out the place.

We were on our way home from a unit viewing when we decided to finally have dinner there at Gayuma ni Maria. Indeed it's a resto that's truly tough to locate. Apart from the not so visible sign age from afar, the resto is located in a village lined with houses and this too appears like one. That night we hadn't found our way.

Today, we decided to have lunch there instead since the resto does open at around 10am however a meeting came up that we had to forgo. Good thing though was that we were able to find the place. The biggest landmark there is the SaveMore shop in the corner. If you're coming from EDSA, you would need to turn right at the SaveMore shop. Once you see the Sr. Pedro Lechon Manok stall, you're already close by. When you see a pink house, congratulations! You have finally found Gayuma ni Maria.

Since we had missed out on our opportunity to have lunch there, we decided to drop by for an early dinner treat. Finally, we were able to dine here.

The resto is not really grand looking. The lights are dimmed. I find the curtains dividing the tables that lines that side of the resto really cute. Indeed fit for a date night. The pink walls perhaps was chosen to give that love potion aura as their name suggest. Caution though, this is not a child-friendly place for that nice Sunday family lunch despite the truly chocolatey menu. A corner is lined with articles... toys, costumes, and the like to help you express your sexuality.

Tuliro, a nacho salad

Moving on, we had a an intriguing nachos, "Tuliro;" a chocolate-covered dory called, "Once you get black, you'll never come back" and an order of 'Rack Me Baby" with mashed potatoes on the side. We just had bottomless glasses of Royal for our drinks. Despite the interesting dessert line-up, our tummies could no longer accommodate them.

Choco-coated dory with rice and taro fries siding

She says....

'Tuliro' was a really yummy nacho salad. It minded me of fresh garden and fruit salad with natural yogurt dressing plus a twist of cheesiness and the crispy nacho toppings. It was really yummy!

'Once you get black, you'll never come back, was a really nice and unique dish. The fish was coated with chocolate (not the oozing type) as though the batter was made of chocolate. It had a nice caramel-ish sauce. A serving of this dish was actually too much for us both.

The 'Rack me baby' was comme ci, comme Ça. Not sure if we were just so full or it was just really as ordinary as it can be.

Overall dining experience was pleasant. It was quiet, not much people there, maybe because it was still early when we ate there (around 5pm).

She rates: 4.5/5 Tuliro; 4/5 Once You get black, you'll never come back; 3/5 Rack me baby.

Rack me baby (back ribs) with bar-be-que sauce

He says...

I never thought that a hippie-looking place would produce foods with wonderful tastes. The Nachos, despite looking like any old nachos you order every week, has something very different in its taste. I think it had some fruits in it which could account for the weird but pleasant taste.

The chocolate covered fish was also good but I could barely taste the chocolate. The fish in it was fresh and the cream included gave it a more juice taste.

The ribs was also very good. It had some spike in its taste that sent some alert signals in my brain. The meat was very soft (almost as soft as Rak's) and the sauce was just right.

Although, I may not have enjoyed the meal the way I should because I *may* have eaten a lot.

He rates: 5/5 for all 3.

A Really Confusing Dinner

this place I think, used to be a car repair shop

ChickBoy is not a boy who has a lot of chicks (girls) or neither is it a half boy and half chick (again, girl). This is actually the name of the restaurant. They rode on the name's loaded meaning to probably try to jump start their business' notoriety and therefore it's popularity.

We've been passing by this restaurant for quite sometime now since it's very close to our home. We just never really got to going in because of 1) the parking is always full, 2) restaurants that use puns are usually cheap and disgusting, and 3) the restaurant was formerly a car repair shop (if I remember correctly). This time we got a parking (sort of) and I was feeling curious.

Their specialties are chicken (Chick) and pig or baboy (Boy) in Filipino but they also have seafoods and vegetables. This restaurant also offers liquor which suggests that this is a sort of hangout place for drinkers on a Friday night.

For this visit we tried their Lechon meal, calamares fritos, eggplant and, the ever present, iced tea.

not so 'fatty' lechon bits

Location: ChickBoy, Timog Ave., Quezon City

Food Ordered and Cost: Lechon Meal P99, Calamares Fritos P150, 

Eggplant P25, Iced Tea (bottomless) P35

He says...

side-street calamares tastes even better :( 

I was a bit panicked when ordering because there was so many food and Anne was already pressuring me to pick an order so I ended up choosing the calamares fritos. The calameres itself was cooked well and the quality of the squid was excellent because it didn't feel like I was eating rubber but calamares is usually complimented by its sauce. This wasn't. We were given mayonnaise for dip. It's disgusting.

The lechon on the other hand was great! It tasted like it came from a freshly roasted pig unlike most grilled or roasted pork meat I've tasted so far. It was well matched by the sauce -- a semi-sticky mix of I-don't-know-what-but-I-like-it. It's the best lechon I've tasted ever and I regret not ordering two of this.

I did't taste the eggplant because it didn't look inviting so only Anne ate it (also because it was her order). The iced tea was very regular and no different from the ones you can make at home with ready to mix iced tea.

He rates: 5/5 lechon; 2/5 calamares; 3/5 iced tea.

he says this tastes like 'sock soup', I beg to disagree

She says...

I like how fast they served the orders. It was really amazing. If you're so hungry I guess this is the place for you. Apart from that I think they do offer unlimited rice (something which we didn't avail as "we're on a diet").

As for the food we ordered, the lechon was really yummy. I like how flavorful the roasted pork meat tasted. It also had an easy to chew-on consistency which is a major plus factor. I initially thought I would need a vinegar-garlic-salt combo for the dip but then when I tried out their sticky and clear looking sauce, it was perfect! It had the right amount of vinegar and condiments that truly made the lechon even more yummy.

pure sugar iced tea, no need for dessert!

The other food we ordered we really disappointing though. The calamari was soft, crunch and easy to chew but it merely tasted like fried flour. Even with the mayo siding, the taste did not improve.

The eggplant with bagoong on the side was alright. I looked boiled but it appeared oily. They didn't use fresh eggplant. I know this because the eggplant's texture was really rubbery.... really awful.

The free soup on the other hand was tasty. It was just a simple meat broth that reminded me of the soup my mom prepares when I'm sick.

Lastly, I really don't like their iced tea. It's so sweet. It had too much sugar in it.

She rates:  5/5 lechon, 2/5 eggplant ,  1/5 calamari,  2.5/5 iced tea

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!

In The Company Of The Fishes

It was the first day of showing for the second part of Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows (a.k.a. HP7) and we took the last schedule for the show. We were both hungry so we decided to return to one of our favorite food shops in Trinoma -- Fish & Co.

This restaurant's specialty is, you guessed it, fishes and sea foods. Although they also offer pork and other meat based food in their menu, don't expect too much from them because they're really all about fishes. Which is why we tried two items: one of fish and another of pig. Another way to look at it is: one of specialty and one of experiment.

Location: Fish & Co, top floor,TriNoMa Mall

Food Ordered: New York Fish and Chips, Barbecue Pork Ribs ("Just for me" size)

Cost: 441.96 each (VAT Excluded)

She says...
Fish & Co.'s New York Fish and Chips have always been our favorite. I personally loved the parmesan cheese that is in every bite of this treat. The outer shell was crispy but it's amazingly soft and juicy in the inside. The blend of tartar sauce, pickles and garlic plus the squirt of lemon juice enhances the taste even more.

The fries siding is just your usual fried potato but with a less salty taste. Not sure though if it has lesser sodium content.

The barbequed pork ribs on the other hand was not so pleasing. The meat itself was bland. It tasted like boiled meat without even a hint of salt in it. Dipping it in their bar-be-que sauce gives it an average taste that appears notably to have had too much Worcestershire sauce added into it. Just maybe not my type. The seafood rice siding on the other hand was like jave rice, plain tasting, purely turmeric I guess. t didn't have a hint of seafood in it. All you can notice is the overload of red and green bell peppers.

She rates: NY Fish and Chips 5/5, Bar-be-que Pork Ribs 2/5,  Seafood Rice 2.5/5
He says...

As I said above, this is one of our favorite places to go to in Trinoma Mall. Their specialty here are their fish and chips, which they have three variants, and we found, through repeated visits, that the most favorable (for us) is their New York Fish and Chips. It has the taste of Parmesan Cheese all over it. The taste is still mild but you can remedy that by adding some of their special dip. You control the proportions of the dip's ingredients are but however you want to do it, it has the same taste but only differ in intensity.

Also, as said above, pork is not their specialty so I didn't expect much but their pork was still delicious anyway. It still had that flavor that could almost rival some very good steak houses but it has some flaws. The flavor isn't as full and the meat isn't as soft.

He rates: 5/5 New York Fish and Chips. 4/5 BBQ Pork Ribs