Love the music, love the chicken

I mention Kenny Rogers to my kids and their eyes widen, roast chicken on their scheming minds. But say the name to my mom and most likely, she'll be singing "I will always love you". Hahaha! Truth is, both me and my mom love the music of Kenny Rogers.  But my kids don't know who in the world he is.  Surely, though, they know how yummy roast chicken is at this restaurant that bears his name, which the world-famous country singer co-founded (with former KFC owner John Y. Brown Jr.)  in 1991 . Ever since my children were small, Kenny Rogers Roasters has been our favorite family restaurant and we would always go for an order or two (when the kids got bigger and the youngest came) of a group meal consisting of one whole roast chicken, four cups of rice, four side dishes, four muffins and a pitcher of iced tea. However, it had been about three years since we last ate at Kenny Rogers so when I broached the idea to the hubby and kids one Saturday, not one opposed it as everyone had missed their roast chicken. So two roast chicken group meals we had for dinner at the new and lovely Robinson's Magnolia mall branch.  Our group of nine (with us were two of my nephews and my eldest daughter's beau)  had a nice, filling dinner.

Roast Chicken Group Meal, P675.

Delish! The best roast chicken for me.

Colorful, yummy muffins.

Iced tea.

The roast chicken was as good as my taste buds remembered. For sides, we had corn and carrots, coleslaw, steamed vegetables, mashed potato and fresh fruit salad. Sweet ending was provided by muffins that came in four different flavors. 

Meanwhile, more recently, I added Kenny Rogers Roasters to my list of to-go places for coffee after discovering that they now serve my poison. And they do have good latte! It's perfect with their sandwiches and pasta. My daughter and I dropped by another Saturday at Kenny Rogers Roasters - SM City Manila and had:

(I just used a point-and-shoot camera for the following pictures, thus, the paler colors.)

Roast chicken sandwich, P110.

Spaghetti Carbonara, P125.

Potato and Bacon Salad, P50.

Cafe Latte, P60. 

Strawberry sundae, P60.

We loved everything especially the Bacon and Potato Salad. Yummy! Now we have added reasons to visit Kenny Rogers Roasters.

Shrimp burger, ramen and more at Tokyo Tokyo

As I planned to eat at Tokyo Tokyo after Sunday service at church, I wondered when the last time I did so was. But hard as I tried, I could not remember. Two..three years? Probably four.  It's been quite a long time, for sure. And so I was kinda excited as I went to SM City Manila to meet my daughter and her beau after 5 pm. of an exceedingly wet Sunday (so wet that many Manila streets were flooded and I had to find another way 

to go to church on Taft Ave.) 

At Tokyo Tokyo, I found out how big their menu has expanded since my last time there. Not that I was completely oblivious to all those developments, I'd known from seeing posters and liking Tokyo Tokyo on Facebook that they now offer burgers and ramen. Hehe. But that they now have Shrimp Burger..now I'm surprised. Hehe. Never in my almost 45 years here on earth have I eaten a shrimp burger and so I decided at once to order it with wasabi fries (another must-try for me) and red iced tea.  And as I had been craving for maki the days that preceded Sunday, I ordered it, too. Meanwhile, the younger ones went for ramen and beef teriyaki bento meal.

Shrimp burger with wasabi fries and red iced tea, P145.

Wasabi Fries: crispy and yummy

Braised Pork Ramen, P150.

California Maki, P45.

Beef Teriyaki Bento with miso soup, iced tea and coffee jelly, P185.

Miso soup and coffee jelly

Red iced tea

The three of us shared everything and were equally full and satisfied (there's 'unli' rice here, ya know?). I, however, was the happiest because I was the "prodigal" who returned and realized what I missed all these years (my daughter and her boyfriend always eat here, they say). I was very much raving about the beef teriyaki, ramen, shrimp burger and the coffee jelly. My miniscule disappointment was that the wasabi fries wasn't as hot as I expected. I longed for a lot of wasabi in them. But oh well, I was very satisfied with all the others that we had and want to eat these again in the next few days. Hehe. What more to love about Tokyo Tokyo? Their prices don't leave you in poverty. Haha!

Sorry..not my type of guy

I'd been wanting to try what The Sandwich Guy (TSG) offers since I first saw one such store on Shaw Blvd. in Mandaluyong City last year. I know I'd written a not-so-nice post about it (involving another branch) sometime last year, but since it's been months since that (yucky)  incident which I read about in a blog, I decided last Saturday it was now time to try this place out for myself. So just before going to church, my daughter and I went to TSG at SM City Manila, full of high hopes. Hehe. Sadly, dashed hope was all I had at first bite of the roast beef sandwich..and moreso upon taking a forkful of the pesto pasta. :(  The bread used in the sandwich seemed not fresh to start with. Matigas sya. The filling could be promising, but because the bread wasn't good, the whole thing was ruined. As for the pesto, it was downright bad! It was very dry and the noodles were tough. Forgive my daughter but this was her comment: "The worst pesto I've ever had" Ugh! Well,  you might be saying that's what I get for paying just P55 for an order of pesto and you are right! My take on this is: A couple of bucks added to the price won't hurt, but would make a customer happy with a better-tasting plate of pasta. Obviously, TSG scrimped on olive oil, that's why the pesto was dry and tough and lacking in zing. Thankfully, there was the Cheezy Bacon Potato as the much needed redeemer or I would be breaking up with The Sandwich Guy even before a relationship could even begin. Haha! I know that doesn't make any sense. Oh, well..TSG is a promising food business and in fact, it now has several stores in the metro. I wish our experience was an "isolated case" and that tough bread and dry pasta aren't 

what they always serve. :-)

Ultimate Roastbeef Sandiwch, P125.

Looks good. I wished it tasted good as well.

Pesto, P55.

Cheezy Bacon Potato, P70. We loved this - baby potatoes with lots of bacon bits and melted cheese.

Forgive me but is fried the opposite of fresh?

Great sandwiches and more at Country Style

I'm usually headed for Quezon City on Saturdays to get our organic veggies at the QC Memorial Circle but yesterday was different as I didn't go out of my home city of Manila. It was my water baptism day at the Cathedral of Praise (Yeeeey!) on Taft Avenue and before the ceremony, my son and I met my daughter who had just gotten out of school, waiting at SM City Manila. We had to have snacks, I thought, before the church service and Country Style was my choice as I wanted to have a sandwich and a plate of spaghetti. My two kids agreed and so these we had:   

Ham Sandwich with Iced Tea, P95.

Bagel Deluxe with Iced Tea, P95.

Spaghetti with Iced Tea, P70.

Brewed Coffee, P35.

Not seen here: me - full and satisfied.

 

A dizzying array of donuts and muffins.

My little boy is all smiles over the spaghetti and ham sandwich.

As Valentine's Day was only a few days ago, Country Style's Valentine promo was still on. Lucky me was able to save on moolah. Haha! The ham sandwich, for instance was now just P95 whereas before, it cost P115. I was pleasantly surprised that I only had to shell out P355 for 2 orders of spaghetti, a ham sandwich, bagel, coffee and 3 glasses of iced tea! Not only were our food very affordable, everything was so good and filling too! I liked that the ham sandwich had lots of veggies. My little boy and I liked the spaghetti too - saucy and a little sweet. I enjoyed my coffee as well though it came a little too strong. Meanwhile, daughter said she liked her bagel too and added that it was so filling she was able to finish only half of it. Well, she had a few forkfuls of my spaghetti, that's why.

Aside from what we ordered, you can also have donuts, soup, salad, sausages, omelette and other kinds of sandwiches at Country Style. They have stores at Ali Mall, SM City Fairview, Paseo Center, Market! Market! and Robinson's Place Novaliches, among other places.