Appetizers Archives - Page 2 of 5

Kimukatsu: Japan’s Favorite 25-Layered Tonkatsu

Just when we thought the katsu craze is over, Japan’s favorite 25-layered mille-feuille style tonkatsu finally arrives in Manila, giving Yabu: House of Katsu a run for their money! Kimukatsu opens their 5th international branch in the Philippines after their great success in Hawaii, California (2 branches), and South Korea.

Imagine our delight when we received an invite from Kimukatsu to try their famous tonkatsu. With our extreme love for Japanese food, how could we say no? 😀 We headed over to their Shangri-La branch for lunch and met with Kenji Komuro, Kimukatsu Philippines Director of Public Relations, who gave us a quick tour and a rundown of their menu.

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KFC Breakfast Buffet : Unlimited Favorites this July!

We know many of you would agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A hearty breakfast can kick-start your day. And this is exactly why KFC decided to bring back their breakfast offering. It’s all UNLIMITED! Hurry because KFC’s Breakfast Buffet is only offered all weekends of July (hopefully, they’ll extend it). 😀

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Where to Eat in Malabon : A Food Tour

Growing up in Navotas and then moving to Malabon almost a decade ago, my bro and I have always had easy access to really good food. This has shaped our lives, which is why we now have this unconditional loveÂ forÂ food and cooking.

Malabon, in particular, is known for hearty and flavorful dishes, so it’s no wonder that there are many hole-in-the-wall places here that would surprise you with their straightforwardly delicious food.

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with Dolors Kakanin (a staple in parties here), Pancit Malabon and Arny-Dading’s Peachy-Peachy. To be honest, we’ve been busy scouring the Metro for new restaurants that we haven’t finished discovering all the local and must-visit food places here in Malabon (we’ve already started since we were planning on a The Burp Society Malabon food tour).

After the successful Malabon Kulinarya Festival that we attended in 2012, we were more than glad to help out when we were contacted by Cleah (from the Office of the Mayor) about organizing a bloggers food tour in time forÂ the 400th anniversary of San Bartolome Church, one of the oldest churches here in the Philippines.

Early Sunday on Mother’s Day, we met our fellow bloggers at the city hall. Ken and I didn’t have breakfast since we knew we were going to be stuffed by the end of the tour. Well, ‘stuffed’ is an understatement. Let me just say that we all underestimated what Cleah and the participating food places had planned for us. 😀 Read on.

Update:Â We know there are many other places here in Malabon that we weren’t able to cover because we had limited time to go to all of them during the food tour.Â We’ll have a separate post to feature the rest of the ones thatÂ have been around for ages and other scrumptiousÂ dishes you can find here in Malabon. 🙂

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Celebrate the Best of Filipino Cuisine at Corniche of Diamond Hotel

There are but a few world class hotels in the Philippines that celebrate the culinary heritage of their host country. Diamond Hotel is one of those few, and they promote our rich cuisine by launching an annual Filipino Food Festival. This year, they have asked 3 of Manilaâ€™s most celebrated chefs to come aboard and showcase their prowess by reinventing all-time Pinoy favorites at The Best of Filipino Cuisine lunch and dinner buffet in Corniche RestaurantÂ from May 13â€“23, 2014.

FILIPINO CELEBRITY CHEFS + DIAMOND HOTEL EXECUTIVE CHEF

Filipino celebrity chefs Bruce Lim, Sau del Rosario and JP AngloÂ join Diamond Hotel’s Executive Chef Marko Rankel in celebrating the flavors of Filipino cuisine. We loved every twist they added to the dishes they prepared for this food festival. 🙂

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Eat Like a Viking at Vikings SM Megamall

If it’s not obvious yet, Ken and I love eat-all-you-can buffets. We’ve had our fair share of both good and mediocre buffet restaurants. As we eat our way through all of the buffet places here in the metro, our standards continue to heighten. But, really, it was all because of Vikings Luxury Buffet.

We first had dinner at their SM North Edsa branch a year ago on a weekday. We were amazed by the variety of dishes they were offering, and the best part is you can enjoy everything for only Php 688 during lunch time andÂ Php 888 for dinner and weekend/holiday lunch. There are other buffet restaurants that offer less quality selections for a higher price, so we were happy to see we’re getting much more than justÂ our money’s worth at Vikings.

Fast forward to last month, we were invited to dine in at Vikings new branch in SM Megamall, at the Mega Fashion Hall. We already loved their buffet in SM North Edsa, but this new location is pretty special. 🙂

With an abundant selection of dishes – from Filipino, Japanese and Chinese dishes, to generous servings of flavorful meats, and custom pizza and pasta – Vikings Luxury Buffet in SM Megamall will definitely satisfy your every craving. Let me start by telling you about the highlights of our lunches at their new branch at the Mega Fashion Hall – first was with family, and next was a generous invite extended to The Burp Society (post about our meet-up there soon on TBS’ blog!).

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A Luxurious Lunch at Spiral in Sofitel Manila

Our family loves eating at buffets. It all began when our Nanay finally decided that she’s too old to throw grand parties at home. We can’t blame her though. She painstakingly handles everything from planning, shopping, cooking, and even cleaning up. Since then, buffets have become our go-to place when we’re celebrating something special. We’ve tried a number of buffet places like Yakimix, CafÃ© Jeepney, Seoul Garden, 7 Corners of Crowne Plaza, F Restaurant at F1 Hotel and our recent favorite, Viking’s. But one place we’re dying to try is Spiral at Sofitel Manila. We were supposed to celebrate our nanay’s birthday at their restaurant earlier this year, but she had something else in mind.

The New Spiral

After the devastation Typhoon Pedring had caused, Spiral had to close for 13 months as it went under an $11-million renovation. They took inspiration from the Filipinos’ resilience and viewed all that has happened as a blessing in disguise. They were given a clean slate and a chance to start all over again. And as the saying goes â€” “When you’re down, there’s no way to go but up.” Boy, did Spiral soar high! The old Spiral was already great, but the new one definitely blew all competition out of the water!

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Have a Merry Cremas with Alaska Crema!

All year round, especially during the cold months of December and January, we find ourselves longing for some good ol’ comfort food. But not just any kind of comfort food, we crave for something rich, hearty, delectable and, most of the time, creamy. That’s why, they say, calories don’t count during the holidays. 😉

We were invited as judges at the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood last month. Good thing it was a Sunday so Ken and I were able to go together.

We know, from personal experience, that there’s a wide range of dishes you can prepare using Alaska Crema all-purpose cream. We knew there’ll be a ton of desserts and pastries there, but we were really hoping to see more savory dishes. There were only a few who did. Thankfully, they were all quite successful with their dishes too along with the food purveyors who served desserts.

With that said, let’s begin with our top favorites from the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood. These might help you with recipe ideas for your celebrations or any holiday, especially for Noche Buena and Media Noche.

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Bohol Bee Farm : a Foodie Haven

When we planned to travel to Bohol back in 2012 for our birthdays, Ken kept on insisting that we pick Bohol Bee Farm for our accommodation. He told me nonstop about how good their food was and that I’ll love our stay there. He was 100% spot on!

What we love most about Bohol Bee Farm is they continue to stay true to what they are all about. They boast of using organic ingredients in preparing their dishes, which means no fertilizers, pesticides or anything harmful were used in their farming. Most of them are produced from their own farms, and right there at Bohol Bee Farm (read about our tour on Travelsilog -soon!). They highly support organic farming and, in turn, has given jobs to Boholanos, especially with their livelihood projects at the farm.

Since they were also planting their own herbs and vegetables, you can taste the freshness of the ingredients. And the food wasn’t just healthful, but quite good too.

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NACI Comfort Food at Bonifacio Global City

If there’s one thing we all (yes, including you!) have in common, it’s our love for pure, unadulterated comfort food. The difference lies on where we find that sense of satisfaction. It could be your nanay’s home-cooked meals, or simply from a restaurant that means business when it comes to comfort food (no pun intended). And we recently discovered one that takes it seriously, they had to add it to their name – NACI Comfort Food.

NACI Comfort Food is a family-owned restaurant located at Bonifacio Global City. We were invited to have a taste of some of their dishes, including their Kid-friendly Meals. Though they’re hours away from our home, we thought it’ll be a perfect time to revisit BGC. The restaurant was initially located at Greenhills, and they later on moved to BGC.

We got to meet Nadine (daughter of Lovely Rivero) and Natasha. They told us a little bit about their restaurant. We initially thought the name was an abbreviation or something, but we later found out that the name “Naci” actually means “rice” in Kapampangan. The menu, however, at NACI Comfort Food is not merely inspired by Kapampangan cuisine, but a fusion of various flavors. Some of the dishes at Naci Comfort Food were even concoctions of the late Chef Ed Quimson. They also have a Cohen-friendly menu. Continue reading NACI Comfort Food at Bonifacio Global City

A Lovely Staycation at F1 Hotel Manila

If there’s one thing Ken, our nanay and I have in common, it’s how hard we work and how dedicated we could get with our jobs. Some may consider us (slightly) workaholic, but we do enjoy what we do. However, from time to time, we forget to give ourselves a break to rejuvenate. That’s why F1 Hotel Manila‘s invitation for a staycation couldn’t be any more timely.

A short staycation is sometimes all one needs to unwind and forget, at least for a little while, the stress of every day life. Ken and I were actually planning on staycationing at F1 Hotel before they invited us ’cause we wanted to stay there and eat at some of the restaurants in BGC since the area is too far from our home (like 2-3 hours travel time… ugh).

We learned when we arrived that they were introducing us to their holiday offerings. We were excited to find out what F Restaurant has to offer this year since we had a very tasty dinner buffet from awhile back. F is the restaurant of F1 Hotel Manila and they have an all-day buffet here (breakfast, lunch and dinner). We’ll show you all the food we enjoyed in a bit, but before that, let me tell you about our staycation experience.

First, a group photo of all the bloggers and their loved ones who were there with us.

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