Meatlovers Archives - Page 2 of 3

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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We’re Torn Over SPAM Tocino

There is no doubt we love SPAM. We’ve tried almost all of their variants available at the grocery, with the original and the one with bacon topping our list. So when we saw a post on Facebook about SPAM Tocino, we thought it was some kind of April Fools’ day joke. 😀

I didn’t take it seriously UNTIL I decided to check out SPAM’s official Facebook page and saw the post above. I did mention it to Ken and he said he saw some people saying it was based on Mexican Tocino. Still, I was curious. He LOVES tocino, and I do too. And we love SPAM, so we just had to find out how this new variant tastes like.

We learned it was available at Robinsons Supermarket. We first checked the one at Victory Mall in Monumento – nada. We finally found it after a few days at the new Robinsons Supermarket here in Malabon. Though we wanted to know if we’ll like this, it took us a few more days before we decided to give it a taste.

The SPAM itself was a li’l wet compared to the original variant, so it slid smoothly out of the can. You can also smell that the sauce that surrounds it is sweet. When I started slicing the meat, I saw that the color was slightly yellowish (as you can see in the photo below). By this time, I was already excited to fry them up to get the crisp we wanted.

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What to Look For in Great Ribs

Ribs are unfortunately overlooked in a lot of foodie circles. They can be a very diverse dish, but most tend to associate them with less-refined or lower-quality food. There’s absolutely no reason this has to be true, however, if you know where to look. Rib City, located on the web at ribcityutah.com and in person in Salt Lake City, is a great example of a rib place that takes things to the next level. If you’d like to give great ribs a shot, the following is what you need to look for to find the best.

BBQ Ribs

First, always go with barbecued ribs. Barbecuing ribs has a very different result as compared to baking them. Baking ribs is great at home; it can soften up the meat and lead it to nearly fall off the bone. However, this isn’t what you want to look for in restaurant ribs. You want to look for barbecued ribs specifically because these create a very different consistency. This will produce firmer meat that shreds when bitten into, as well as a crispy skin. This is great for actually experiencing the flavor of the sauces, rubs and other things offered on them.

Ken's BBQ Ribs

Ken’s BBQ Ribs – recipe soon here! 🙂

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OZEN Japanese Food Haven in Malabon Serves the Best Takoyaki We’ve Ever Had!

Thereâ€™s this small Japanese hole-in-the-wall food stop near our house that we usually see jam-packed with customers at night. We really had no plans at all of trying the place, since weâ€™ve had authentic Japanese fare from topnotch restaurants and hotels in Manila (Yabang naman! 😀 ) and weâ€™re quite sure that the place will be nothing less than a disappointment. But it was until we met a fellow foodie who raved about how awesome their Takoyaki was that we finally decided to pay OZEN Japanese Food in Malabon a visit.

Our first try was a total disaster, service-wise. They had 3 groups of families that were dining in, so we had to wait over an hour to finally get our food. We ordered three sets of Takoyaki â€” two to-go and one for dining in because we wanted to take a quality photo of their Takoyaki for the blog. I didnâ€™t get my hopes up, since my first encounter with a mall-bought Takoyaki was totally unremarkable.

I picked up a piece and took a small bite. My eyes widened in amazement, and from then I knew that itâ€™s the best Takoyaki Iâ€™ve ever had my whole life! Well, I exaggerated a bit there. 😀 It took us a couple of balls to finally establish how delicious their Takoyaki was. It was so good that we came back the next day â€“ in the afternoon this time – so we didnâ€™t have to battle a crowd of patrons to get our food.

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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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Beef Pochero Recipe

As you might already know, our nanay is an excellent cook that’s why we’ve been eating very well at home since we were little kids because she can whip up a delicious meal even with a meager budget during the time when she was the only breadwinner in our family (which was almost 20 years of my life, that’s why we love her so much 🙂 ). Her specialties are too many to mention, but there are some dishes that really stand out for me. Two of which are her Kare-Kare (we already shared the recipe here!) and Beef Pochero.

Since Ken and I have been helping her with finances at home, we can now request for a repeat of some of her dishes as long as we provide the budget. 😀 Most of the time, though, she’ll just do it because she enjoys seeing us devouring (yes, that’s the appropriate word) her dishes. Now, she has another reason to cook her wonderful dishes – she loves sharing her recipes here on our food blog! Yay for all of us! 😀

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Burger King BK Stacks and Chicken Crisp Fillet

With all the burger shops opening all over the Metro, ranging from affordable to really pricey, it’s good to know that there’s one place you can easily go to when you need a burger fix – a place familiar and you know won’t disappoint. I’m talking about Burger King.

Burger King was our go-to place for burgers from way back and so we trust them to always deliver, with their 100% flame-grilled beef burgers. Ken and I always order Burger King’s Whopper. When they came out over a month ago with the BK Stacks burgers, we just had to go and try it. They also sent us gift certificates, which was perfect timing. 😉

When you order the BK Stacks, you have the option to pick how many patties you want – 1, 2, 3 or 4. Obviously, Ken was more than willing to take on the 4-patty King Stacks burger, I got the next one in line – the Chief with 3 patties. Our nanay wanted the Chief, but she went for the next best thing – 2 patties, the Boss. 😀 We took home the Dude with 1 patty.

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Zoricho: Putting a Spotlight on Philippine Sausages

One late afternoon, my friend and I got out of work early (a rare feat when you’re working in the hotel industry), so we decided to hang out and grab a bite. We went to this restaurant and started ordering, but a few minutes in, the server approached our table and apologized since all the food we ordered were unavailable. Frustrated and really hungry, we beelined to Zoricho, just across the diner we were previously in.

It’s a good thing I just got my pay check that day, so I wasn’t intimidated much by their chic and upscale-looking interior. 😀 Here are photos of their restaurant in Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas that I grabbed from Gianne‘s blog since I didn’t have a decent camera at that time.

If I only had Php 500 in my wallet, I wouldn’t even dare steal a peek inside. 😀 But don’t be fooled, the dishes on their menu are actually affordable. My friend had been craving for lasagna, so just imagine her delight when she saw one on the menu.

A classic done tastefully, Zoricho Lasagna (Php 250), with a twist of Zoricho meat sauce, was surprisingly good. The serving size was more than enough for one person (10 points for that!).Â The dish had a good play in flavor and texture, with its refreshing hint of herbs, the tanginess from the tomatoes, and the pork Zoricho bits that added a good crunch.

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Dimsum Break : Steamed Rice Craving, Satisfied!

I wrote about how excited I was that Dimsum Break is opening a branch in SM North Edsa last year, and I was desperate to finally have a taste of their Steamed Rice again after years of longing for it since I moved back here in 2009 after my 1-year stay in Cebu. Days after their opening in October 2012 (I know, this post is a year late), I dragged my nanay to their first branch at SM Annex and ordered away.

Cebu may be known for many delicious food, but I’m willing to bet that Steamed Rice is on the list of dishes that Cebuanos, or anyone who has lived or even visited Cebu, are craving for when they go anywhere else.

Dimsum Break is the self-service, fast food restaurant of Harbour City Dimsum House, one of the popular Chinese restaurants in Cebu. I’ve dined in both restaurants there and the quality of the dim sum and Steamed Fried Rice are well-kept, so I know they’d make sure to maintain the quality even here in Manila.

So, Steamed Fried Rice, or simply Steamed Rice, is like your typical rice topping dish – rice topped with a savory mix of their ‘secret’ rich sauce, peas, shrimp and pork. The sauce is what makes this rice bowl so irresistible. We’ve tried making them at home – check out Mai’s Steamed Rice recipe – but we have yet to finally uncover the formula of Dimsum Break or Harbour City’s Steamed Rice.

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