Arabian Night Food Fest (Part3)

is that a Jordanian flag?

Eating at Shawarma Snack house perhaps wouldn't be complete without getting to taste their shawarma. Thus, as finale to this 3 part series, we shall be scrutinizing the food where this resto has been named after... shawarma.They serve 2 variants, the chicken and the beef... but we tried out the beef.     

beef-filled pita wrap

Location: Shawarma Snack House

Food Ordered: Beef Shawarma

Cost: about P100

She says...

beef pita wrap

This was truly a beef shawarma! I could taste the beef, although it was not well roasted. More of like boiled beef. It was soft in consistency. Quite flavorful but not really intense. There weren't much other filling, just a few onion slices but I couldn't really discern if there were cabbage added into it. Had it not been for the garlic and chili sauces,  this would have been a plain-tasting dish. Although, it did taste better than your regular food stall shawarma.

She rates: 4/5

He says...

I hate unground beef because they're usually very hard to chew. This shawarma has this and plenty of it (more than most shawarma makers care to give). Surprisingly it wasn't that difficult to eat.  After eating this food item, I finally accepted the fact that this restaurant prepares its food way better than the other restaurants. Now if it only had some salted fries in it and it would be perfect. Yes, there is such a food item as Shawarma with Fries. I've tasted it before.

He rates: 4.5/5

A Burger to Crave For

Crave Burger Combo 1

We were in BGC to settle some things at a condo and do some clean up when we got hungry. Not much options there but we did saw a small stall right behind the corner, Crave Burgers. We ordered their classic combo meal which contains a burger, skinny fries, and a red iced tea or blue lemonade of your choice. We had the drinks upsized for P10 additional. The offered free delivery service with no extra charge since our unit was nearby.

the burger @Crave

the skinny fries @Crave

Location: Crave Burger, Bonifacio Global City

Food Ordered: Combo 1= single patty crave burger, skinny fries, red iced tea

Cost: P190 (additional P10 for upsizing the drinks to 16 oz.)

She says...

The burger was huge. It had to be, since this is quite expensive for a  burger. The beef patty  was grilled, didn't experience dripping oil as I ate it although some parts were not well done. It was flavorful and the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh. The didn't put mayo or anything on it but you have the option to  add them to your liking. Included in their pack was 3 small cups, one containing mayo, the other ketchup, and the last one had mustard. The skinny fries were large slices of fried potato pieces. Real potato, that is. It wasn't oily either. The red iced tea went well with the burger. The meal was really heavy on the tummy, it made me so sleepy after consuming the meal.

She rate: 4/5

He says...

This thing is humongous! Being a person raised on local burgers, I'm still amazed by how big some burgers can be. This is probably due to its American origin -- they are huge people. Crave burger is one of the big ones I've seen locally and we just ordered the single patty version.

The burger was tasty enough. The people at Crave Burgers are kind enough to give us different types of sauce unlike they typical, ketchup from other stores. I suppose that's to be expected if the burger costs that much. You can choose which sauces suit your taste or you do it pinoy way and just put it all there. Eating the burger with the fries was great. It adds that much needed saltiness to the burger.

My order came with red tea. It was delicious and with just the right sweetness but it wasn't on the level of a certain "japanese" unlimited rice fastfood shop.

He rates: 4/5

Japinoy Lunch @Pinoydon

Pork Katsu @Pinoydon

We were at Podium when we decided to grab a late lunch at Pinoydon, a resto at the 4th floor near the cinemas which serves pinoy foods with a japanese twist, or was it the other way around? We had Pork Katsu, Bistek Teppanyaki, and Pinoydon Fried Chicken with supposedly terriyaki mayo sauce but they had served it with gravy thus I had to ask for the terriyaki mayo sauce which they did produce eventually.

Bistek Teppanyaki @Pinoydon

Pinoydon Fried Chicken @Pinoydon

Location: Pinoydon, Podium

Food Ordered: Pork Katsu, Bistek Teppanyaki, and Pinoydon Fried Chicken

Cost: Pork Katsu-P115; Bistek Teppanyaki-P120; Pinoydon Fried Chicken-P140

Is this the beef steakI've been longing for?

She says...

the place was quite, conducive to eating. The serving size was just the usual small portions. Customer service was poor. Even though there wasn't any other customers, we had to call twice to have our order taken. it was furthermore displeasing when she (the waitress) had to make a side comment which was within hearing distance when I asked for the terriyaki mayo sauce for their chicken karaage despite the fact that it was stated in their menu that they're serving the chicken with such sauce. As for their food, it was not so remarkable. The pork katsu had a more than acceptable taste, although the side dish of vegetable salad was not so delightful as it had ketchup-mayo as dressing. The bistek teppanyaki had a watered-down taste. The beef itself was tasteless. The sauce was like sweet soy sauce with a whole load of water. Didn't really taste nice. The chicken... geez... poor tasting fried chicken. It didn't even have even just a slight hint of crispiness. Guess, I should say, I'm not going back to this poor excuse for a resto.

She rates: Pork Katsu 2/5; Bistek Teppanyaki 1/5, Chicken 0.5/5

He says...

We often overrate food when we're very hungry when we eat them. Not for these foods. They tasted so bland and watered-down I might as well have eaten at home. We ordered 3 just so we have a second and third opinion. I would never return for any more.

He rates: 1/5 for all dishes

Anne's Laboratory: Rhum Ribs

I saw I pack of short ribs lying around at the fridge for almost a week now thus I though it might be nice to cook something up. I've always like eating ribs as I find the meat really succulent. Just the thought of it makes me hungry. I'm not really sure how but the thought of cooking up rum ribs just stuck to my thoughts in a repetitive rhythms... that is, I just can't stop thinking about it.

So where did I begin? I searched online for recipes of rum ribs but I found them to be really complicated. I also do not have grilling equipment making it impossible to cook up rum ribs as their recipes have shown. So what I did is checked out all the ribs recipes and came up with my own version of rum ribs.

Ingredients:

1kilo short ribs

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/4 cup dark rhum

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 can (439g) pineapple tidbits

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp cornstarch

dash of black pepper

Directions:

1. In large pot, boil ribs in low fire until tender.

2. Mix ketchup, soy sauce, chili sauce, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and dark rum. Warm mixture but do not let it boil.

3. Place juice from pineapple tidbits in a bowl. Add in cornstarch and dissolve.

4. Add juice and cornstarch mixture to sauce mixture. Keep on low fire until mixture thickens.

5. Place tendered ribs in a pan. Add in the pineapple tidbits. Cover with sauce mixture.

6. Bake in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

She says....

This recipe reminds me of steak we had at Rack's. The sauce turned out to be really spicy hot. It you want a milder flavor, you can lessen the amount of chili sauce you add to the mixture. Happy cooking!

He says...

YUMMY! It is surprisingly similar in taste to my favorite steak house's specialty sauce. Only spicier. The sauce has a very full taste and not watered-down like most that are commercially available. Considering that the sauce itself was handmade by Anne. This is probably Anne's best cooking yet. Time will tell if and when she's gonna be able top this one on her next experiments.

The only problem I had with this dish is the use of Beef (it's the only meat available at that time). There are too much ligaments (the rubbery stuff) between the bones and the meat making it harder to separate the juice bits. Maybe pork would have been better..