Amber on a 'Black Saturday'

It was the Lent Saturday, which Roman Catholics call "Black Saturday". With this, a lot of restaurants were closed along the stretch of Timog Avenue as well as Tomas Morato in Quezon City (This area is a true foodie's haven because almost all buildings here have restaurants). Thankfully, Amber was open as I was craving for some really good Pancit Malabon. The first and last time I ate Amber's Pancit Malabon was around August last year when one of my co-workers fed us in the office with it as her birthday treat. I liked it so much that since then, I've been wanting to have it again. And yesterday, I finally had that chance. Sadly, it was Black Saturday and fewer customers came by, probably the reason a lot of items on the menu that we (two of the kids were with me) wanted to try were not available. There wasn't even a grain of rice, much to the dismay of my bunso (youngest child), who eats rice for merienda (snacks) The only noodle dishes available were spaghetti and the pancit malabon. I was quite disappointed because we wanted to also have pancit bihon or sotanghon and buttered fried chicken. The server said they could prepare it but we would have to wait 30-40 minutes for it. Whaaat? No, our grumbling tummies could not wait that long. Hehe. These were our orders:

Pancit Malabon, P55.

Spaghetti, P65.

Lumpiang shanghai, P8 apiece; Barbecue, P20 per stick.

The lumpiang shanghai is quite big.

Yummy barbecue!

The Pancit Malabon did not disappoint, it was as good as I remembered. My daughter didn't like the spaghetti that much, though. Even the lumpiang shanghai was forgettable. But the barbecue, it was delicious, we all liked it. One more thing I liked here, the food gave the bang for the buck! Where else can you have barbecue for only P20? On the street, of course, but no other restaurant that I know of can equal that offer. I disliked, however, that they only used disposable plates and utensils. A turnoff for me. But all in all, Amber is still a nice place to eat. 

Inside Amber 

Amber at Tomas Morato cor.  Scout Castor St. in Quezon City



Amber has branches in Filmore corner Emilia Sts., Brgy. Palanan, Makati City; South National Highway, between kilometers 26 & 27 Brgy. Bayanan, Muntinlupa City; 19 EDSA, Brgy. Barangka Ilaya, Mandaluyong City; 175 Tomas Morato corner Scout Castor Brgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City; 8261 Dr. A. Santos Avenue (formerly Sucat Road) Brgy. San Dionisio, Paranaque City; Ground Floor, PELBEL Bldg., 2019 Shaw Boulevard Brgy. Oranbo, Pasig City; Unit 3, Ground Floor, Madison Square Building Madison Street corner Ortigas Avenue; Brgy. North Greenhills, San Juan City and on Kalaw St., in front of the 
National Library in Manila. 

Of birthdays and cupcakes

Today, March 29, our family celebrates the 21st birthday of my eldest daughter Nikki. Today too, I mark a milestone as a blogger because 
The Awesome Grind is now one-year-old! Yeeeey! And yesterday, our dog Odie turned three. Whew! Three occasions to celebrate! And what's a lovelier way to celebrate than with pretty, pretty and oh-so-sweet cupcakes! As today is also Good Friday, we opt to go meatless as a little sacrifice for the Lord Jesus. So, aside from cupcakes, we're having tuna pasta, too, for merienda. 
Have a blessed Holy Week everyone!

Which one do I eat?

Mini chocolates lie on a soft bed of white fluffy icing.

Wacko for yellow!

Pink and pretty.

As blue as the summer sky.

Full and satisfied at Yoshinoya

It always makes me happy having a good, satisfying meal that at the same time gives a bang for the buck – exactly my experience at dinner last Saturday. Just as church service was starting at the Cathedral of Praise, I felt hungry and started wondering where we could eat afterward. After a few minutes of thinking,  I decided on Yoshinoya. My daughter agreed but my little boy protested. To solve the dilemma, we went to Yoshinoya  (4^th level, SM Manila) but daughter bought the little rascal’s dinner from Jollibee.  

Yoshinoya is one of the fast food chains in Japan that first opened in the “Land of the Rising Sun” in 1899, offering beef bowl as its specialty. The food chain reached the Philippine shore in 2001 and now has seven branches located at SM Mega Mall,  Robinsons Galleria,  SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, Glorietta, SM Pampanga and SM Manila. Bestsellers are beef, chicken, and tempura on Japanese rice bowls and noodles. It now also offers Curry Meals, 
Jumbo Meals, and Bento Meals.

Last Saturday, it was our first time trying out Yoshinoya and we walked away with happy tummies.  These were our orders:

Grilled Beef Maki, P59.

Veggie Beef Bowl (Regular), P99, with drink

Ebi Tempura Bento, P159.

Shrimp and veggie tempura

Mixed vegetables

Rice with black sesame seeds

Fruit salad

Green tea ice cream, P45. 

Mixed fruit iced tea, P45 (large)

I loved everything in my bento especially the tempura.  Though it was a little lacking in crunchiness, the flavor saved the day. Even the mixed veggies was good, and the fruit salad provided the sweet ending to my dinner.  Meanwhile, the beef bowl left my daughter satisfied as well and the green tea ice cream ended her meal with a smile on her face. The only thing we didn’t like much was the Grilled Beef Maki. I’m sure it would have been different if we had California Maki instead but they’d run out of it at 8 p.m.  By the way, they offer a 50% discount on all kinds of maki, presumably just they before they close at night.
All in all, my daughter and I loved our Yoshinoya experience. We were really full without having to go big on spending.

Delightful, delectable chicken

Chicken tops the list of my favorite food on this planet, be it fried, roasted, or..well, steamed. When I was in high school, my sister, Ate Lita, would sometimes bring us for dinner to Peacock Restaurant, which offered Chinese dishes and had branches in Makati, Greenhills and Century Park Sheraton Hotel. It was there on those occasions that I loved eating what they called White Chicken - steamed and with whole peanuts underneath. It was quite bland if eaten on its own, but tasted heavenly when dipped in ginger sauce. 
About two years ago, I found a Hainanese Chicken recipe online and discovered it was the same thing as the White Chicken that I loved at the now defunct Peacock Restaurant. But though I got excited that the cooking procedure was simple and easy, I still haven't tried the recipe to this day. Hehe..Then last year (was it just last year?) , I saw several Hainanese Delights branches in malls and thought, "Now I can have White Chicken again." However, it was just last January that I actually did, at the new, lovely and spanking Robinsons Mall Magnolia in New Manila, Quezon City. My daughter AJ was with me and it was the perfect time to go malling as there was an after-Christmas sale everywhere! And as shopping gave us hunger pangs, we went searching for a place to eat and Hainanese Delights at the basement caught my eye. AJ agreed. 
We had:    

Hainanese Delights, P130. Their best-seller.

Hainanese chicken comes with unlimited Hainan Rice.

Beef Brisket, P120 .

My plate.

Ginger sauce with a bit of soy sauce and chili for my chicken.

Dips and condiments..

Strawberry Gelo-Tea, P29.

Jelly at the bottom, mousse on top.

Iced tea.

At first bite of my Hainanese Chicken, thoughts of "It must be love!" flooded my mind. Haha! It was that good! The chicken was very tender and oh-so-delish! with the ginger sauce. The serving size was quite impressive too, huh! Just one cup of the equally delicious Hainan Rice wasn't enough to finish the chicken so I asked the server for additional half a cup. (There goes the diet! Haha!) Meanwhile, I asked AJ how her Beef Brisket Noodles was and her answer was a lame "Okay". I took a spoonful of the soup and my verdict was the same: "Okay, yes.." Nothing fantastic. But my Hainanese Chicken was really great, I enjoyed it so much. For dessert, we had Strawberry Gelo-Tea, which was gelatin at the bottom and mousse at the top. It was well..okay as well, not the kind of dessert that you would go back a restaurant for. But hey, Hainanese Delights deserves a comeback for its delicious Hainanese Chicken.

My many favorites at Tropical Hut Hamburger

What is the oldest hamburger fast food chain in the Philippines? If you're thinking Jollibee, you haven't seen the light. Haha! While Jollibee was born in 1975, Tropical Hut Hamburger came to being more than a decade earlier or in 1962 (according to an article I read in the Internet). The first time I got to eat a Tropical Hut hamburger, it was the '70s and I was an elementary schoolgirl (That was before I first set foot at a Jollibee store). I remember thinking that burger from Tropical Hut was one of best things I'd eaten in my young life. 

Today, over three decades later, I still think Tropical Hut's burger is one of the best tasting hamburgers in the country, especially among those served at popular fast food chains. But it's not just the burger that I love at Tropical Hut: There's their fried chicken and the sandwiches. How I love their clubhouse! The fried chicken has the same texture and crunch as Jollibee's famous Chickenjoy and in my opinion, as delicious, if not more. It was just yesterday that I last ate fried chicken at Tropical Hut and hours afterward, I was still daydreaming about it. Haha! Yum! Meanwhile, I love that they serve good brewed coffee all day-long. 

Another thing I like about this fast food chain is that aside from the Westernized offers, they also have Filipino dishes like dinuguan and bistek tagalog rice meals that one could have for lunch and dinner, and palabok and beef mami for merienda. For dessert, they have halo-halo and mais con hielo, among others Tropical Hut has a wider range of dishes than other fast food chains and that's an advantage for it. The sad thing is that there are now fewer Tropical Hut stores in the metro. How I wish there could me more. The branch I frequent is the one at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

Double Double Burger, P115.

Clubhouse Sandwich, P90.

Clubhouse sandwich with fries.

Chicken sandwich with fries and drink, P81.

2-pc Fried Chicken with rice, P118.

Brewed Coffee, P30.

Real Leaf iced tea. Add P17 when you order a meal and want your softdrink changed to iced tea. 

I agree with the slogan!

My boy loves Tropical Hut's fried chicken.

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.