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?

Dayrit's: Standing the test of time

Not a lot of restaurants have managed to stay afloat through the decades and Dayrit's Burger and Roast Beef House is one of the fortunate few that have survived to this day. Owned by casino owner-turned-restaurateur Wilfredo "Freddie" Dayrit Sr., this homey, deli-type eatery first opened in the early '70s on Taft Ave. near De La Salle University. Branches subsequently opened in Magallanes, Greenhills, Buendia Ave., Manila (near UST), Alabang, and Timog Ave. and Kalayaan Ave. in Quezon City. At present, however, only two have remained - Timog Ave. and Magallanes. 

But even if Dayrit's has been around for around four decades, it was only today that I had the chance to try this foodie place out. It was a sunny afternoon and I was on leave from work for a medical appointment. After my schedule, my daughter and I were scouring Tomas Morato on foot, with the aim to look out for a new (to us, at least. Hehe.) restaurant. And Dayrit's caught my attention among the rows of restaurants on that stretch of foodie haven, mainly because it sounded familiar. Inside, I instantly felt at home, thanks to the simple, laid-back interiors with a nostalgic feel. For our afternoon snacks, my daughter and I shared:

Cheeseburger, P140.

With ketchup and mustard, yummy!

Pasta Americana, P150.

Buttered bread, lightly toasted.

Calamansi Juice, P45.

Special Iced Tea, P50.

The menu.

Old-style furniture, old-world feeling.

Crewman finds his texting sanctuary beside the ice cream freezer. Haha!

The first thing that impressed us when our food was served was how huge the cheeseburger was. It's good for sharing, and rightfully, came sliced in half. Tasted good, too, especially when we slathered it with ketchup and mustard. The Pasta Americana was actually carbonara, and we liked it as well - saucy and creamy. It came with a halved slice of slightly (or not?) toasted buttered wheat bread. What we downed these with were good too - calamansi juice for me, which I think was freshly squeezed and iced tea for my daughter, who liked that it was house blend or brewed, not the powdered type. 

So, did we like Dayrit's? Yes, but not so much for the price. There's a lot of burger joints nowadays that offer lesser-priced hamburgers with even thicker patties. Forgive me but I'm thinkin' about BBB. Hehehe. Still, kudos to Dayrit's for having survived the tough restaurant competition during these past few years.

Pure porcine pleasure

Last weekend, I, together with two kids, were able to try a new foodie place that opened just this month. You see, I'm such a sucker for anything crispy and have been craving for that Ilocos specialty called "bagnet" - pork deep-fried till the skin gets a nice crisp that one eats after dipping in vinegar (spicy, please!). Thus, when I learned that a restaurant whose specialty is bagnet had just opened up in Quezon City, I didn't waste much time and hauled 

ourselves off at once!

This new place said to offer ticket to porcine heaven is called Manong's Bagnet Station - a simple, unassuming restaurant which I found out, serves really mean bagnet - a haven indeed for pork lovers! All three dishes we ordered were made from bagnet and all of them were so good! Take a look at what two of my kids and I partook of for a late lunch:

Manong's Bagnet Rice Meal, P135.

Sinigang na Bagnet, P220.

You gotta eat this before the pieces of pork swim in the soup so you don't miss 
out on the crack.

Sisig ni Manang Rice Meal, P110.

Halo-Halo with 2 scoops of ice cream, P80.

Brewed Coffee, P50.

Iced tea, P35.

Mango Juice, P40.

Inside Manong's Bagnet Station.

My bagnet rice meal didn't disappoint. On the contrary, I was impressed! You should hear that crack whenever I would bite into the skin that was so crispy I was eating noisily! Haha! I also took spoonfuls of my kids' sinigang na bagnet and bagnet sisig. I'm not kidding you, both were really delicious as well. The next day, my daughter was still daydreaming about Manong's Bagnet Station, planning to order bagnet kare-kare next time. By the way, although this restaurant had just opened, it's not really a new kid on the block in the food business as it has been a weekend market favorite for quite some time. 

Manong's Bagnet Station is at 117A Scout Lozano corner Tomas Morato, just next (or behind) to Alba Restaurant in Quezon City. 

Sunny day + nice brekkie = happy morning!

Eating out for breakfast is a luxury for me since I'm a late riser and rarely do I leave the house in the a.m. (I go to work at noontime, too.). Today is one of those rare occasions. I had an errand so I had to get up earlier than usual and head over to QC, tagging along my daughter. And we didn't pass up the chance to have breakfast at McDonald's if only for their hash brown and sausage! Yummy! At this branch at the corner of Mindanao and North Avenues, there's McCafe, too, so we were able to get "specialty coffee" - cappuccino for me, cafe latte for my daughter. I went for a hotcake and sausage meal plus hash brown (P102), while my daughter had Big Breakfast consisting of rice with sausage and fried egg plus hash brown (P121). We added P40 to each order to upgrade our drinks to cappuccino and cafe latte.  

Breakfasts such as this on a sunny day indeed make for a happy morning. :-)
By the way, we're on the last days of summer for this year, so go out into the sun for a few good minutes for that healthful dose of Vitamin D! Have a blessed week ahead!

 

My breakfast - hotcakes with sausage, hash brown and cappuccino

Big Breakfast for my daughter, who's not fond of fried rice so she had it changed to plain rice.

Cappuccino - P75 for a regular cup; just add P40 to a value meal for an upgrade.

Cafe Latte, also P75 for a small cup; just add P40 if you order a meal and want to change your drink.

Inside McDonald's at North Ave. corner Mindanao Ave. in QC

I love the classy interiors of this McDonald's store. 

Summer fun at By the Sea Resort

It was our company outing/gender awareness seminar last weekend, and from Friday to Sunday, there I was, together with my co-workers, enjoying the last few days of summer at By the Sea Resort in Olongapo City. This resort is a nice place for a family or barkada outing, with clean surroundings and beautiful rooms, although lacking in facilities (no kiddie pool!). The swimming pool is quite small and wasn't "truthfully advertised". Well, when we arrived and walked around, we followed a sign saying "Infinity Pool" but we were led to an ordinary, finite swimming pool. Haha! What made me like By the Sea, however, was the cleanliness and orderliness at the resort. I would want to bring my family there one day.

Entrance to the resort.

The building fronting the beach, housing some of the rooms.

The gate to the beach closes at 6 p.m.  No night swimming, sadly.

Sitting area by the pool with beautiful wooden furniture.

The pool is quite small.

Nice, sunny day, isn't it?

Conference hall.

         Here now are shots I took of the room I shared with my lady boss and one 

of my colleagues.

Clean T&B, with hot and cold shower

By the Sea also dishes out great food. All our meals in those two and a half days were provided by the resort kitchen and I thoroughly enjoyed each plate. Here are some of what we had: 

Rice with pork binagoongan, roast chicken and eggplant salad.

Rice with menudo, pinakbet and daing na bangus.

Rice with sweet and sour fish, fried chicken and buttered vegetables. 

Rice with fish fillet, lumpiang shanghai and chopsuey.

Afternoon snacks - arroz caldo with puto

    By the Sea is located along the national highway at Barangay Barretto in Olongapo City.           
                                                    Here's the link to their website:

http://www.bythesea.com.ph/main.php

The day I fell in love with a sandwich

At first, nothing was so special about this Saturday. I did the usual chores around the house, ran the usual errands. But come merienda time, everything suddenly turned rosy. And that was when I took my first bite of the Premiere Clubhouse sandwich at Cafe France. Hahaha! Sorry for waxing romantic. I really just fell in love with my sandwich -- with its soft wheat bread that well, sandwiched bacon and egg at the top and a thick slice of great-tasting ham, tomato and lettuce at the bottom. I know I like almost everything that I eat (Hehe) but believe me, I sooo loved my sandwich that I couldn't prevent the "uhmmm!" and "sarap!" from coming out of my 

full mouth. Haha!. 

By the way, my order was half a sandwich that came with pumpkin soup and a glass of soda. The soup was very delish, too! Really, my afternoon snack would have been perfect had I paired it with a nice cup of brewed coffee. Truth was I was tempted to do just that but my daughter and I were in such a hurry as we were about to attend the 6 p.m. church service and before that buy a Bible at a Christian bookstore on Taft Ave. and it was already around 5:10 when we entered Cafe France on UN Ave. in Manila. You know very well, a cup of coffee is best sipped slowly rather than downed in a few large gulps. Hehe. Anyway, my daughter had Tuna Onion sandwich and the same soup as I had plus soda. Also, we had Bacon and Potato Salad, which, was not so good, just okay.

Half a Premiere Clubhouse sandwich with Pumpkin Soup and a glass of soda, P159.

See how thick the ham is? Yummy!

Tuna Onion sandwich with Pumpkin Soup and a glass of soda, P159.

Now that's a fully-loaded sandwich!

Potato and Bacon Salad, P60.

Rootbeer and Sprite

                        The lady and her sandwich by the window. That's my daughter.

Love this painting of a French street scene.

                      Inside Cafe France at the corner of UN Ave. and Ma. Orosa St. in Manila. 

I'll be back here soon, I promise. Hehe. There's a lot of other things I'd like to try in this cafe --             other sandwiches, pastries, pasta and rice meals. And yes..coffee!
Cafe France has branches at SM Makati, Roosebelt, St. Luke's Hospital, The Podium, SM Mall of Asia, Greenhills and Robinson's Place-Manila, just to name a few.