Best in Late Ever: Wee Nam Kee x Citibank

I am back to blogging! Our IT decided it was pointless to block a blog site, thank God for that! So anyway, I'm back in the blogosphere and I spent like 3-4 days reading backlogs of my favorite bloggers (the ones who use Blogspot). I missed you all! :)

So since, I was derailed from my blogging groove, I am going to be best in late! Like this one, I remember Mom sending me an email about Citibank's promo last September. Wee Nam Kee is opening another branch at Serendra at the Bonifacio Global City. Since I've been trying to convince Mom to eat there with me, she instantly emailed me this and told me to get a reservation at once!

Ain't it cool! When you're a Citibank cardholder you instantly get 50% off on any of Wee Nam Kee's dishes! And since we Filipinos love promos, getting a reservation was a bitch! I mean you wanna have lunch or dinner, but then you get a reservation at weird hours like 3.30PM or 5.50PM! But since we really wanted to avail of the promo we decided to just get on with the show even if it meant for us to eat lunch at 3.30PM on a Sunday! :)

So here's what was on our table. If I remember correctly this was either beef or pork with tofu. It was really good, not too salty! And they served us generous portions of both tofu and beef/pork.

Mom got intrigued by this dish when she saw it on the menu: Honey Crispy Squid. First bite, and it was crispy, like you were eating the skin of a lechon...only healthier! We had fun picking on this! Hearing the crunching sound as you chew on the squid made it exciting to eat! Totally recommended! :)

And of course, the star of Wee Nam Kee: THE Steamed Hainanese Chicken. Damn it was good! And all I could do was sit there and say to myself, how in the Lord's name did I wait THIS LONG to try this out! But as they say, better late than never, right?!

The meals would not be fully enjoyed without rice and we ordered the Wee Nam Kee Fried Rice, it's your usual Yang Chow...Wee Nam Kee style! :)

Thank you so much to Citibank, have you not emailed my Mother about the 50% off I would still be walking along the Ayala Triangle Gardens, wondering why there's always a huge crowd outside Wee Nam Kee waiting to be seated!

And Wee Nam Kee, you did not disappoint. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity and even going beyond my expectations. The food was hands-down good! Can't wait to try other dishes! :)

Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice
Serendra, McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Tel. No. 822-7095

Kung Hei Fat Choi at Eat Well

This was actually my Mother's grand idea. It was Chinese New Year (February 3) and she wanted us to have a simple Chinese dinner to usher in the year of the metal rabbit. We had other choices like Lutong Macau in Jupiter, but since they weren't picking up (reservations were a must during that time) we decided to go for a restaurant who actually answered calls.

We ended up eating at Eat Well Delicious Kitchen this time at The Fort. No regrets here, I've been missing their Xiao Long Bao every since we ate it at there Greenhills branch. It was love at first bite. I remember fellow blogger, Smarla, hunting down the best Xiao Long Bao in town and I just had to recommend this to her. Hope she was able to have a taste! :)

This was our Kung Hei Fat Choi feast:

Of course, we had the beloved Xiao Long Bao.


If before we only had 4 pieces, this time we had 8 lovely pieces. It was served piping hot, and you have to gingerly sip on the broth inside the dimsum. Even if it cooled down, the wrapper did not harden. Great things really come in small packages! Love it!! :)

I ordered this: Fried Porkchop with Vegetable Rice.

Again, this was love at first bite. Crispy on the outside, but super tender and juicy on the inside. Definitely a meat lover's wet dream! Totally recommended!

Since Mom's old school cool, she just had to have PANCIT or Noodles since it was a piyesta (fiesta). We ordered their Birthday Noodles.


Although their sauce was a bit bland, it was really good. They had very generous portions of the noodles and their sahog. They had liver, lots of vegetables and I'm not really sure if those orange ones were quail eggs. We had to take this home because we couldn't finish it anymore!

It was a great way to celebrate Kung Hei Fat Choi. Although we're not Chinese in any way whatsoever, it's nice to celebrate it with them. Mom and I love Chinese food, so it was also a chance to pig out on it.

Oh and by the way, there are a lot NET buildings, Eat Well is in Net Quad Building near St. Luke's Medical Center and HSBC. Mom and I sort of got lost, we had to walk and ask around. So don't get confused.


Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen
Unit C, Ground Floor, Net Quad Building,
4th Avenue cor 30th St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Tel. No. 856-9408

Links to other Chinese restaurants in the Metro:
Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen - Greenhills
Mongkok - Rockwell
Super Bowl of China
Yakimix - Mall of Asia
Yang Chow Dimsum and Tea House

A Reunion That's A Couple Of Years In The Making

I've mentioned in past entries that I used to work for a publishing company. It was a small publishing company, and we were all overworked but had a grand time! We were mostly fresh graduates when we got hired, so it was a great way to learn everything you can about publishing. It was where I met my good friends and some of the worst people on the face of the planet.

Many of us left for greener pastures, better job opportunities with probably better pay. I left the company November 2007, and I miss it dearly. We all became good friends when we were there so it was hard to say goodbye.

We've been wanting to have a reunion, but since people have their own lives, it was hard to get all of us together. The last time we got together was during our former boss' wedding last October 2009. But last Saturday we finally pushed through after n million re-schedules!! :) We all met up for lunch at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and ate at the Super Bowl of China. Great thing for me because I super love Chinese food (as testified here, here, and here!).

But first, let me introduce you to my former officemates! :)

Team Chinky Eyes: AR and Mariko

Part of the original Editorial team: Gera, yours truly, and Jermaine

The super originals of FAME Editorial and PR! The best days of FAME, I must say, was when we were all together! :)

So now, let me let you guys in on what we had for lunch that day. We were all hungry and we had two boys with us, but the funny thing was we still had a doggy bag when we left.

Gera and I both wanted noodles. So we got the Cripsy Noodles with shrimp ad vegetables.

I super loved the sauce in this dish! Although it was just sad that it made the noodles soft in the end, it was nice to mix it in with the noodles and dip the shrimps in it.

When the boys arrived we asked them what they wanted to add and AR said Lemon Chicken.

The chicken was soft and tasty. But what got me disappointed was the lack of twang from the lemon sauce. If I recall correctly it was sweet! So I didn't really feel like I was eating LEMON CHICKEN.

I recommended this because I would order this in ANY Chinese restaurant: Sweet and Sour Pork.

Two-thumbs up for this one! One of the best sweet and sour pork I've had in a while! :)

And last but not the least, Yang Chow Fried Rice.

The star of every Chinese restaurant. Since I'm on a constant diet I don't eat rice. Maybe I should ask them how this was! :)

It was a great reunion I must say. We all had fun that day catching up and talking about the good old days in FAME. We may have our own thing now, but I guess you don't just diss your old friends. 'Til the next reunion guys! Hope that next time, there'd be more than just 8 of us hahaha.

This reunion was only the first half of my Saturday reunion extravaganza. Up next is my reunion with my BFFs in Tagaytay.

Super Bowl of China
SM Mall of Asia
Ground Level South Wing Main Mall
Tel. No. 556-0584
Telefax 556-0583
Website: http://www.superbowl.com.ph/new/index.php

When Cooking Was A Disappointment

Was supposed to blog about this earlier, but bumped it because I just had to share with you guys my favorite comfort food.

When Yakimix first opened its eat-all-you-can, drink-all-you-can, shabu-shabu doors at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, it was JAMPACKED. I remember seeing a platoon of families waiting for their numbers to be called. So I thought, hey! this place must be good!

So on New Year's Day I decided to treat Mom, since she was the one who treated me for our Christmas dinner. We got to MOA WAY EARLY for dinner, so when we got to Yakimix (they don't accept reservations, by the way) they weren't giving out the numbers yet. It was a free-for-all ball game, so we decided to just go for it.

This is not my first time at a shabu-shabu, but I was very disappointed right away at how little the food was. I couldn't help but compare it with the previous shabu-shabu restaurant we ate it where the food was OVERFLOWING and segregated into kinds (pork, beef, barbecue, etc). They even had that hot pot for SOUP.

On one side was the uncooked meat for the shabu-shabu

Yes, that's basically it. Meat lovers, like me, would be super disappointed. But they did have barbecue and even fish that you could cook on your own.

They also have different kinds of soup bases and you can just feel-free to add whatever garnish you want in it


Here, you have the DESSERTS!

Had fun with the desserts. They also had ice cream, and you can have as much as you want.

As I was going around taking pictures of the food, one of the waiters suddenly approached me and said, "Bawal po yan!" (That's not allowed). I was super bummed and irked. So I left my trusty DLSR (who by the way was its first time to get dejected!) and went on to get food.

I mixed the cooked and uncooked food in one plate. For their cooked food, Yakimix had sushi, maki, and sashimi. They also chicken lollipop, sweet and sour pork, and lechon kawali. They were actually pretty good! :)

But I had so much fun in cooking, since I don't really cook anything at home less we want our home to turn into ashes.

Here's Mom enjoying her food.

We left Yakimix full and bloated, but very much disappointed. For P1290 (drinks weren't included in the P580) we could have eaten at a much-better restaurant with much-better food. It was all just a hype since it's eat-all-you-can, and we Filipinos are just suckers for that! If you guys want an eat-all-you-can shabu-shabu just go to TONG YANG!


After that, we went to New Year's Mass at the Shrine of Jesus behind the mall. Then we saw HUBERT AND FREDDIE WEBB.

That is a blurry pic of Freddie Webb who is MORE BUFF, HANDSOME AND YOUNGER LOOKING than his son. Everytime Hubert would pass people would give him the "we-know-you-killed-the-Vizcondes" look, it was funny!

But what we really came all the way to the Mall of Asia for were the fireworks display. It was pretty, and it lit up the night sky with a multitude of colors! It sure capped off our night, and it was a great way to spend New Year's with Mom. :)






Yakimix Sushi, Smokeless Grill, Restaurant
SM Mall of Asia
Central Business Park
Bay Blvd., Bay City
Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 836-1535 to 37

Other branches are at:
Hobbies of Asia
Hobbies of asia
Macapagal Blvd.
Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 387-8120 and 387-8112

Tomas Morato
Forum Bldg.
270 Tomas Morato Ave.
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 385-7500

Greenbelt 3
3rd Level, Greenbelt 3, Greenbelt
Paseo de Roxas cor. Legaspi St., Ayala Center
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 475-5153

Going Gaga Over Chinese!

Oh yes I love Chinese food. From your next-door Chowking to a North Park, I would definitely eat there! I've had my fair share of authentic Chinese food when Mom and I traveled to Hong Kong and Macau oh-so-long-ago..and sometimes your palate just looks for that same authentic taste! Going to Binondo can be quite a hassle, but luckily there are restaurants here in the Metro that offer quality Chinese food, besides North Park and that small restaurant in Shopwise Libis that I raved about!

So we stumbled upon really good Chinese haunts namely: Mongkok and Eat Well Delicious Kitchen. Both restaurants really deserve a blog of their own, but Chinese will be Chinese right?

First stop is Mongkok. This little restaurant is found in Rockwell in Makati. Mom and I have passed by this without really giving it much thought, until Mom started craving for Pata Tim. We were so surprised at how cheap it was, we decided we would definitely come back here!

Then when my BFFs and I were looking for something cheap, I saw myself sitting in a table in Mongkok in Rockwell ordering (YET AGAIN!) my favorite Soya Chicken Noodle Soup.

Here are the other dishes ordered by our over-ordering friend Amanda.
Yang Chow Fried Rice (a Chinese resto must-have)

Braised Beef Brisket Pot

My friend who was on a stringent diet only had Stuffed Tofu

Salt and Pepper Spare Ribs

This dimsum was really good. Sad thing is I've forgotten the name!

And last but not the least, the first time I met and fell in love with Shao Long Pao! I was sooo amazed by the soup inside the dimsum! Love at first sight!

Overall, Mongkok may just be this unnoticeable little restaurant in Rockwell. But their tasty and CHEAP dishes can sure attract hungry yuppies. It's a great food find and right now while writing this, I am missing Mongkok with all my heart!

Next stop after reading a blog entry from one of my favorite food bloggers, TripOrTreats, I decided to treat Mom to a little and belated birthday dinner at Eat Well Delicious Kitchen. There are 2 branches, one in The Fort, and the other where were we ate in was at Greenhills.

The baby of Law Kwok Keung, chef extraordinaire of Shangri-La, this Chinese restaurant boasts of authenticity. It must have been really good, because even if the restaurant was located at the liblib part of the huge Greenhills arcade, families kept coming in even at 9.30pm! And when Mom and I were here it was right smack in the middle of the Undas long weekend and Greenhills was almost deserted! They must be doing really good Chinese food!

Learning from past mistakes, Mom and I decided to just order dishes we could share. So here's what we ordered! First is my love, Xiao Long Pao. Boy was this dimsum the bomb! You can just have this with Yang Chow and it's over! :) By the way, for the Xiao Long Pao addicts out there, you could order the 8-pieces!

Mom wanted to try this because it sounded cool. Three Cup Chicken Hot Pot. It did not disappoint! I loved the spiciness to this dish!

Of course, Yang Chow Fried Rice! I don't eat rice, so Mom had this all to herself!

We ordered a soup dish through the recommendation of ToT in her Eat Well blog, Wonton Noodle Soup. Dear Lord, it was better than I expected. I couldn't get over the wanton floating around! And the soup was really tasty! YUMMY! It was so good I forgot to take a picture of it! But it's something I'll come back to Eat Well for, plus the Xiao Long Pao!

So if craving for something Chinese, I totally recommend these 2 restaurants! You won't be sorry! They're really good and really cheap! You'd spend less than a thousand, and you'd be full to the brim!

Mongkok
Concourse Lvl., Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Drive cor. Estrella St.
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 756-5112


Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen
Unit RP2-A Connecticut Carpark cor. Missouri St.
Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills, San Juan
Tel. No. 722-8518

The other Eat Well! branch is at
Unit C Ground Floor, Net Quad Building
4th Ave cor. 30th St.
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel. No. 856-9408

Foodie Sunday with the Mother

My previous blog entries have been slightly off as I haven't been on an eating spree. But now that I am back in the grind, and since it was a long weekend, I have so much to share I can't even decide if I should blog about it chronologically. To put an end to my internal debate, I decided to blog about this first.

Last Sunday, I took Mom to Eastwood. It was her first time there because when we were still residents of Makati, we were too lazy to venture far off. But now that we live like 20 minutes away from there, we decided to go for it and let the oldie discover the hip and happening place that is Eastwood.

After hearing mass, our grumbling stomachs lead us to our favorite comfort food place, Cafe Via Mare and had a beautiful merienda (afternoon snacks, we Filipinos love!) at 5pm.

First on the list is this beautiful, oh-so-yummy Vigan Longganisa sandwiched between soft, warm Pan de Sal. This time Mom and I knew we both had the real deal Vigan longganisa, and we were just blown away! We had the sad, sad misfortune of eating so-called longganisa a couple of weeks back. And being true to Filipino form this dish comes with crispy kamote chips, instead of potato chips. They were a bit salty but Mom and I had fun munching on them.

Next was Mom's favorite in Via Mare, Bibingka with Salted Duck Egg and shreds of coconut. It was perfect with coffee!


After Mom's day out in Eastwood, we went to Shopwise along C-5 to buy groceries for the house. After several hours of going around that huge-ass store, we were again, famished.

At the ground floor just in front of the escalator is this hidden gem: Yang Chow Dimsum & Teahouse. It was a cheaper version of our favorite North Park restaurant. There were people outside waiting to be seated, but since it was new food haunt, Mom and I decided to try it, just for kicks.




Since it was our first time to try the place, Mom and I didn't know any better and ended up over-ordering. My goodness, be prepared for this because for 2 people this was A LOT!

Having a bad cold and even slight fever last Friday, I wanted something hot to ease the colds. So I had this delicious and piping hot Noodles with White Chicken. The broth was oozing with chicken-y delight, and the noodles cooked just right! It was heaven and perfect for the sick one!


Next on the noodle list was Seafood Pancit Canton, although there were more vegetables than actual seafood. And this was something Mom and I did not expect. This huge dish costs P180, and just look at the size of that thing! It was so generous we even had it for Monday brunch and dinner. And yes it was DELISH!

Mom also ordered Fish Fillet in Tausi Sauce. I loved this because the fish was soooo tender, and the sauce was really good with a tinge of spice. And we also had this for Monday brunch.

Unfortunately, there was a black sheep among the dishes we ordered. And this was the Shark's Fin Dimsum. Totally forgettable and I MAJOR MAJOR feel sorry I ordered the damn thing. It was dry and un-shark's fin like. I consider myself a dimsum guru, I could siomai anytime, everyday, and not get sick and tired of it. But this thing, forget it!

The shark's fin was a minor setback, but I was just so thrilled with this Yang Chow place. I'm sure a lot of people have eaten here, but new food haunts excite me! This place is totally and highly recommended! And with those 4 dishes which left us hauling our tummies all the way home, our bill totaled to P605 and some lose change. It was incredibly cheap! Great cheap, Chinese food is just AWESOME! :) And it must have been really good because at 10.30PM people were still coming in.

After a good grocery shopping spree at Shopwise, treat the family to Yang Chow why don't you! It's totally good! :)

Yang Chow Dimsum & Teahouse
Shopwise E. Rodriguez, Jr., Brgy Bagong Bayan, Quezon City
For reservations and delivery please call 470-1251 (No delivery charge)


Cafe Via Mare-Eastwood Mall
2nd Level, Eastwood Mall, E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City
Tel No. 709-3005, 709-3006
Visit their website or click link http://www.viamare.com.ph/