Dimsum Break : Finally in SM North Edsa!

Update: Dimsum Break at SM North Edsa Annex is FINALLY open! Read our review here.

One thing most of you don’t know about me is that I lived in Cebu for about a year. Sure, there are many dishes and food places that anyone traveling there shouldn’t miss like Taboan (best place to buy pasalubong like danggit and dried squid) and Sutukil near the Mactan Shrine (Dampa-style restaurants). But, there’s one specific dish that I have been longing to have a taste of again and that’s Steamed Rice, Cebu style. So, I was frantic when I learned that Dimsum Break from Cebu is opening a branch here in Manila – at SM North Edsa! 😀

(Photo from Dimsum Break’s Facebook page)

When I moved back here, I have been longing for another taste of their Steamed Rice. In a desperate move, I beggedÂ Mai, one of the contributors in this food blog, a pure Cebuana, to come up and share a recipe for Cebu style Steamed Rice that she made here at home. The flavors are close to the actual dish from Cebu, but there’s something missing. Still, the recipe did satisfy our craving.

You might be wondering what the heck this Steamed Rice dish is. Don’t take it literally. It’s not just plain steamed rice. It’s a mix of many ingredients and with just one small bowl, it can fill you up because of the combination of the rice, the sauce, peas, the shrimp and pork (or beef). It’s so good that it’s one of the things I deeply miss about Cebu. 😀 If you’d like to try making at home, check out Mai’s Steamed Rice recipe.

Anyway, going back to Cebu. There are 2 popular restaurants there where you can order Steamed Rice. One is Harbour City Dimsum House, which is my favorite spot. Here’s a REALLY OLD and LOUSY photo of our lunch there one weekend (taken back in 2008, I think, and I didn’t know better 😀 ):

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Binulo Restaurant : A Foodie Haven in Pampanga

Pampanga is dubbed as the Culinary Capital of the Philippines. No doubt about it, they truly deserve the title for every time I hear “Pampanga,” two of their most popular fare always come to mind – pork sisig and, my ultimate favorite, pork tocino. But stopping over at Binulo Restaurant in Clark, Pampanga for dinner after our short stay in Baguio proved that Capampangan cuisine has more delectable food to offer.

Binulo Restaurant is a single-storey establishment, but yet it’s quite roomy, and the tables are adequately spaced, providing guests more room for movement. The name of the restaurant is actually taken after a cooking method of the native Aeta, which uses bamboo or “bulo” as the cooking vessel for their food.

The first thing that landed on our table was a basket of Pititian with Atchara (Php 185). It’s the Kapampangan (or Capampangan) version of chicharon or fried pork rinds (if you love Cebu’s chicharon from Carcar, you will definitely love this too!), and it is served with vinegar and green papaya relish or atsara.

Usually at home, chicharon and vinegar would be more than enough for me, but coupling it with papaya relish added an interestingly sweet and tangy note that made it harder for me to resist stuffing myself full, leaving almost no space for the rest of our meal. 😀

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Cafe Jeepney : Buffet in Intercontinental Manila

Being a group-buying site frequent shopper, I actively check various deals sites to find out if they have anything new that I’d be interested to purchase. Since I haven’t bought anything from Deal Grocer yet since the 3rd quarter of last year, I decided to buy 2 half-priced vouchers for Cafe Jeepney’s banquet buffet that they were offering. I’ve done my research and I’ve read fellow food lovers enjoying their buffet spread, so I had some set expectations already.

This is a long overdue post. We dined here in December last year, but they’ve had their famous buffet for decades, so I don’t think there’ll be a lot of changes you can expect, except some of the dishes that were available during our visit might not be the same ones you’ll get when you dine in.

Cafe Jeepney is located inside the Intercontinental Manila in Makati, right beside Ascott Manila and across Glorietta 4. When you come in the front entrance, they’re on the right side. You’d see this:

As soon as you enter, you’d be welcomed by this cozy, well-lit dining area, with high walls and plenty of decors.

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Marios Sunday Lunch Buffet

A few months ago, we went up to Baguio with a couple of fellow foodie friends and bloggers to celebrate Mario’s Restaurant‘s 40th year. Throughout our 2-day, 2-night stay, we enjoyed meals in their restaurant in Upper Session Road (watch out for part 2 of our feature). The whole Baguio trip concluded with a sumptuous meal at Mario’s Sunday Lunch Buffet.

Since this was an eat-all-you-can buffet, I initially thought that the dishes they’re going to serve won’t be the same as the ones on their regular menu. Most of the buffets we know only serve mediocre food compared to the items on their ala carte menu, but I was pleasantly surprised to know that Mario’s Sunday Lunch Buffet spread will give you a chance to enjoy their delicious regular menu dishes eat-all-you-can style.

Since I usually take a round of photos first before I eat, I initially planned on going to each buffet table armed with my camera. But, when I passed by the meat table, I couldn’t help, but pause my photo-taking. 😀

I went straight to get a serving of the Cochinillo, a suckling pig roasted to perfection! They serve this with lechon sauce, but the crispy, thick skin and the meat of the pig are flavorful enough on their own. I had to control myself and not get another serving of this. However, I couldn’t resist to take some from Ken’s plate when he went back for seconds. 😀

They also have a big slab ofÂ Roast Sirloin of Beef, sliced as you order and then served with Brandied Peppercorn sauce.

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Nescafe Decaf Summer Picks Promo

Everyone in our family loves coffee. Okay, Ken used to, but he thinks he reached his caffeine limit while studying for the Nursing Licensure Exam (NLE). 😀 Even though I also switched to drinking tea more often, I still miss the kick coffee gives me whenever I needed it the most. Whenever I smell the aroma of coffee, I can’t help, but to longingly whiff and smile. It has that effect on me. 🙂 Well, with Nescafe Decaf now widely available to everyone who wants to enjoy coffee without the stimulation, there’s no stopping me from drinking coffee again. 🙂

I prefer making my Nescafe coffee with ice. I also like it a bit dark and nicely bitter to the taste. When I have work, I prepare it hot. Our nanay usually adds cream to it too. However way you want to enjoy this coffee, surely, it’ll still give you that comforting satisfaction in every cup.

Now, how about enjoying a cup of Nescafe Decaf while relaxing, say, in Hongkong, Malaysia or Singapore? You can and for FREE! Join Nescafe Decaf Summer Picks promo:

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Malabon Kulinarya Festival 2012

Before I tell you what happened at the launch of the first ever Malabon Kulinarya Festival last Tuesday, we’d like to invite you first to the bazaar happening until tomorrow, May 18th, 8am to 5pm, at the parking lot of Malabon City Hall. It’s a 3-day event, but I only got to post today, so you only have until tomorrow to come to the bazaar. There’ll be 30 food and non-food establishments participating. So, if you like anything you see in this feature, you might want to visit the Food Bazaar and Tiangge.

On May 21st, which is the official Malabon Day celebration, there’ll be a cooking competition among senior citizens and cooking enthusiasts aged 18-35 years old at the Malabon Amphitheater. Pinoy Junior Master Chef finalist Miko Manzano will be there for a cooking demonstration too. His family originates from Malabon, which is most likely one of the reasons why he has such passion in cooking at a very young age of 12. Miko was also present at the launch of Malabon Kulinarya Festival 2012, which was held at Dampa sa Paseo restaurant.

The launch of Malabon Kulinarya Festival was aimed at showcasing the diversity of Malabon cuisine and our rich culinary tradition. We’re originally from Navotas and we moved to Malabon 6 years ago, but we can honestly say that the flavors that Malabon has to offer have played a big part in our love and passion for food. And we do hope that this project by the city government, headed by Acting City Mayor Lenlen Oreta and the Malabon Tourism Council, would indeed boost the tourism and economic activities here in Malabon.

The launch of the festival was graced by none other than Annie Pascual-Guerrero, the founder of Center for Culinary Arts, Manila. I was surprised to learn that she is from Malabon, and she couldn’t be any prouder. She told us stories about how growing up here in Malabon and being influenced by her mother developed her deep passion for cooking.

At the event, Ms. Annie Guerrero shared her recipes for Sumpia with Garlic Vinegar Dip and Adobong Pusit Malabon Style (we’ll share these recipes on our next post). She was assisted by Chef Mira Cruz (she’s also from Malabon) and Chef Melissa Sison (not in the photo) from CCA. They gave really helpful tips on cooking, which I know the audience appreciated.

I didn’t get to taste these dishes, but our nanay also prepares them at home and they have almost the same recipes, so I know they are delicious. My fellow bloggers who were there could attest to that. 🙂

If you ask me about the food in Malabon, I would tell you that we serve ultimate Pinoy comfort food. You might be all familiar with Pancit Malabon, Dolor’s Sapin-Sapin, and Arny-Dading’s Peachy-peachy (they have products at the event too, but I wasn’t able to take photos), but there are so much more food that we have to offer. Let me share some of them that were showcased at the launch of Malabon Kulinarya Festival 2012.

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Vegetarian Delights at Bliss Cafe in Baguio

I cannot imagine myself ever becoming a vegetarian. I love meat. Just the sight of a thick, succulent slab of beef roasting on the grill makes me salivate like a rabid dog. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean vegetarian dishes have no place in our table. In fact, they are very welcome, especially when they’re as delicious and flavourful as the ones we had at Bliss Cafe located in Hotel Elizabeth, Baguio City.

Bliss Cafe, the brainchild of Jim Ward and his wife Chef Shanti, has finally found its third and, hopefully, permanent home in Hotel Elizabeth.

In a corner of the hotel’s main lobby stands a door that opens to a small restaurant. Design pieces from various countries and cultures are perfectly placed into a controlled chaos, giving an atmosphere of being laid-back, peaceful, and eccentrically artistic. Jim informed us that the design of the restaurant changes every six weeks to provide different designers and artists a venue to feature their works. That’s pretty cool in our book. 🙂

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Why You Should Stay at Hotel Elizabeth Baguio

In the first week of March, we were invited to go to Baguio by Mario’s restaurant in celebration of their 40th year. We were quite excited about it because it was the best way to escape the early summer heat here in Manila, especially after we found out that we were staying for 2 nights at the very luxurious Hotel Elizabeth.

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio, awarded as Baguio’s Hotel of the Year for 3 years, is managed by Fersal Hotel Group, the umbrella company that established Fersal Hotels here in Manila. Just by these facts alone, you’d expect a very memorable stay at the hotel. And that’s exactly what we got.

We arrived just in time for dinner at Hotel Elizabeth on a Friday night, March 9th. This was the day that they were also celebrating their 7th year as one of the top hotels in Baguio. We joined in the celebration and it was a truly fun night.

By the way, as soon as we made it to the hotel, we were all in awe at how beautiful it was. I had to take a photo of the hotel at night and just scroll down for the photo I took in the morning.

I absolutely adore these gazebos (photo was taken on the 5th floor). And the breeze wasn’t just cool, but it smelled of pine trees. Ahhhhh…. Baguio! How I love thee… let me count the ways! 😉

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Lola Maria Restaurant at The Legend Villas

Back in August, I invited three of my blogger friends to dine with me at Lola Maria Restaurant at The Legend Villas at Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong City. I had four (4) vouchers I bought from Mega Deals (oh, donâ€™t you just love these group-buying sites!) that we decided to use. We agreed theyâ€™d be tagging along their families and Iâ€™ll be with Ken, like always. 🙂

It was easy to locate The Legend Villas. Lola Maria is right at the entrance so youâ€™d immediately see it. The outside of the restaurant reminds me of old Spanish homes. And when we entered, even the interior setup gives you a somewhat nostalgic feeling, like youâ€™re inside the house of a family of mestizos back in the days.

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Our Top Picks in the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell

We know, this is an uber late post. But, we still think itâ€™s worth posting about our top picks for UTT 6. Itâ€™s better late than never, I guess. Stay tuned for our faves the last UTT 7 at Mercato. 🙂

We first told you about our experience at the Ultimate Taste Test in Rockwell. Now, let us share with you all the yummy food we had that day.

It took us a couple of days to finalize our top picks for the Ultimate Taste Test because we couldnâ€™t agree on all of our choices. Thatâ€™s what you get when you have 2 people (and siblings) with different tolerance to flavor intensities and with varying preferences. 😀 So, we agreed to not rank anything and just feature the ones we absolutely loved and those that were worth mentioning. 🙂

But, before we continue, please take note that we only got to taste what 38 out of 55 food suppliers have to offer.

Without further ado, in no particular order, here are our Top Picks for the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell, starting with the sweet stuffâ€¦

Sweet Delights

Carmenâ€™s Best and Hollyâ€™s Milk

Paco Magsaysay, the owner of Carmenâ€™s Best Ice Cream and Hollyâ€™s Milk, was the very first food supplier who approached us. Even before we got to taste his products, we were totally convinced!

We first got to try the Salted Caramel and Coffee flavored ice cream (sorry, we didnâ€™t get to take a photo of the actual product :D). And let us tell yah it was the creamiest ice cream weâ€™ve ever had! We both nodded at each other in total agreement. 😀

Paco proudly continued on to tell us that their ice cream and milk are all fresh, even using this very catchy tagline â€œFrom Cow to Coneâ€. And you can truly taste the freshness from the milk and the ice cream. The flavors and creaminess of the spoonfuls of frozen delights served to us lingered in our mouths. 🙂

They donâ€™t have this available in supermarkets yet so if you want to have a taste of their products, contact them to order:

Carmenâ€™s Best
Contact info: 809-2042 or cb_icecream@yahoo.com
Carmenâ€™s Best on Facebook

Hollyâ€™s Milk
Contact info: 813-1385 / Website: http://www.hollysmilk.com/ Hollyâ€™s Milk on Facebook

Update: They were the #1 pick by the UTT 6.0 foodies! 🙂 Congrats!

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