Cebu Lechon Now Enjoyed in Manila

Besides the famous Sto. Niño, the historic island of Mactan where Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan, and it's pristine beaches, Cebu is also know for having THE BEST lechon in the whole country. I was lucky enough to have a taste of this BEST LECHON during my cousin's May wedding in Cebu. They had a huge piggy at their reception, and it lived up to its name!

But since not everyone could get to Cebu in any given day, people just normally forget about it. But by some lucky twist of fate Cebu lechon manok and lechon liempo can now be enjoyed ANYTIME of the DAY thanks to CHIC-BOY!

Mom introduced me to this restaurant when she read it in the paper. I've been meaning to eat here and finally got to do so when my friends and I, coming from an adventure-filled day from Subic, decided to have one last pit stop for dinner.

Chic-Boy is under mother company Pier One Bar and Grill Holdings Corporation, which also has under its wings Pier One Bar and Grill, a popular hang-out place to eat, get sloshed and catch-up with friends while listening to a live band. It first opened it's store in Marikina 2 years ago, under the take-out store system. The first dine-in store opened last May 5, 2010.

The store in Jupiter was such a cozy place to eat in. But the first thing that greets you, and entices you to eat is this:

Chic-Boy's huge ihawan (grilling) area. You can see those plump chickens and the meat being grilled to perfection! Perfect for building your appetite!

One thing I loved about the Jupiter Branch is they are so bright! Bright lights and bright walls! And going around the dining area isn't much of a problem here, you'll never feel cramped! It was very spacious.


In the middle is their counter where you are greeted by friendly servers who are glad to be of service. And right above is their huge menu board with pictures of those yummy, yummy grilled food. You should take time to check out their menu. They offer other kinds of food besides the lechon liempo and lechon manok!

But for our hungry group of weary adventure seekers, we had CB-6 which was the Cebu Lechon Liempo with UNLIMITED rice and house soup.

I didn't order this, but I had a taste and it was delicious. The meat was tender, and the skin was really crispy! The meat is also so tasty, you wouldn't need to shower it with sauce. Made 4 people in my group totally satisfied!

As for me, I ordered CB-5 Cebu Lechon Manok, with UNLIMITED rice and house soup.

The chicken was also really tasty, it didn't disappoint. The meat was also soft and easy to chew. The house soup was really good with the rice. It wasn't salty like other house soups I've tasted. And at P99 it is totally filling!

So come to Chic-Boy if you're craving for the authentic Cebu taste. And you wouldn't have to worry, Chic-Boy is open 24 hours, meaning you can have it anytime of the day!

Definitely worth trying! Go to your nearest Chic-Boy store and either eat in or take out a huge chicken or liempo for the family! Let me know how your Chic-Boy experience goes for you! :D


Chic-Boy Chicken at Baboy
112 Jupiter St.(beside Strumms), Makati City
Tel No. 6594762/ 6598000
Website: http://www.chic-boy.com.ph/index.html

Lovin' Gino's Eats and Beats, LU, and Trency

One of my bestest friends in the world, Trency, is single..uhhh just like MOI! The other bestest friend in the world, Amanda, is quite busy with the boyfriend, so she's usually MIA (missing in action). My point in saying this is that most of the time it's just the two of us getting together on pseudo dates, spending moolah on great food! :) Here's an account of what me and Trency have been up to recently, starting with the recent food haunt I have found heaven in.

Presenting, Gino's Eats & Beats, THE place to eat in when craving for really good food that's well within your budget. I've read really good reviews in this place, so I thought I'd experience it first-hand. And oh my God did it not disappoint!

We ordered three meals: The Greatest Salpicao, Chicken in Mushroom Sauce, and the Pork BBQ Platter. Photos are in order. :)



Every bite I took from these three dishes warranted "mmm", or "ang sarap" (delicious!) comments, all with 5 million exclamation points. It even came to a point where Trency had to calm me down after every bite! I can't remember the last time I ate really, really tender meat in a restaurant! Gino's proved to me that you can still have tender meat away from home. While I was chewing on these mighty meaty meals, I swear, I wanted to cry in delight. It was just too good to be true.

My favorite would have to be the chicken in mushroom sauce. This was gone as soon as the waiter put the dish down. Trency and I wanted to lick the sauce off the plate. It was creamy, not too thick, and really, really tasty. And they're very generous with the sauce I must say. The super tender chicken was covered with it's creamy goodness. And they also had a generous serving of mushrooms. If there is one thing I got from my mom's vegetable-eating habits, it would be her love of mushrooms! :)

I'm not a big fan of salpicao, mainly because of the garlic they use as garnish. But this salpicao kept me going at it until there was no more. Although it was swimming in oil, the dish was full of flavor. And like I said the meat was soft and easy to chew on, so it's still highly recommendable.

Lastly, the pork BBQ. My oh my! This was a surprise. I love the barbecue from Amber's Best (the one near Cash & Carry in Makati), so I usually compare other barbecues with it, and the others aren't usually at par with Amber's. But Gino's pork BBQ, in its own right, is beyond comparison. For me, a good BBQ should be marinated for about a day (or longer), so that the meat absorbs the juices, and it should be cooked just right. For me, BBQ that's been overcooked loses its taste and hardens the meat. And it seems like Gino's has perfected the craft of BBQ-making! Two-thumbs up!! :)

Gino's Eats & Beats, makes a good hang out place. It's small and cozy with good acoustics. They play music blasting on two humongous speakers. Not too loud though. You and your friends could still hear each other perfectly. And they also have this huge-ass flat screen TV hanging by the see-through kitchen, which shows other meals from the resto.



Trency had something to say about the interiors though. The colors are light green and white, soft to the eyes, but definitely not an all-around color. It would be nice in the morning, but at night, it makes the place look a little weird. They had yellow pin lights which went against the green color.

Oh! And the menu, is a bit disconcerting. I arrived earlier than Trency so I had more time reading the menu. It was weird that the desserts came early in the menu, and you just can't seem to find what you're looking for. I don't know. Maybe it was just us. Why don't you tell us about your rendezvous with their menu when you get to hit Gino's! :)

And one cool thing about this place is that the owner, Gino, seems to be very hands-on. He even served us our menu, and fixed the tables. He was with a group of friends, and it was quite funny and humbling to see the owner eating while standing up. Really cool Gino!

Next stop, was LU. Yep, I'm back, just as I promised! Last time I ate here was when I treated Mom for Father's Day. I just had to try out other dishes at this restaurant!

So on that fateful day, Trency and I ordered their Truffled Mac and Cheese, Mexican Frites, and the notorious DiabLU!

It was funny because Trency and I were the only girl group in the restaurant that night. Most of the customers were couples, business people, and other groups, but they ordered the dainty dishes in little plates. But NOT FOR US! The mac and cheese was just fine, but when the Mexican Frites came by, the others started looking! Sorry dudes, but we LOVE our meat!! :)

I have never eaten mac and cheese that smelled so damn good. And I have not eaten mac and cheese in a sosyal kind of way. LU redefines your concept of the ole mac and cheese, with their truffles, and rich, tasty cheese. No umay factor for this creamy dish! Highly recommended to creamy, cheesy, pasta addicts! I'm sure you won't get enough of this! :)

After a few minutes and stories to share, this is what became of our meal: an empty bowl, and an empty wooden platter. Who says girls can't have man-sized meals? :)

Oh! And the DiaLU is a must-try for those who love alcohol. I loved how the mint went well with the alcoholic concoction. It was more like a spiked mint slush, very refreshing! A very nice way to end the meal. And the alcohol wasn't too strong. For alcoholics just like us, get the DiabLU, and you'll never be sorry!

This is how Trency and I roll. We love good food, and we know where to get it! If this blog enticed you to come on over to the beautiful city of Makati, I suggest you give these glorious restaurants a call. Both these restaurants are just small, and since they're becoming quite popular, they get filled up easily. Reservations are a MUST! So grab that phone and make your reservations!! :)

Gino's Eats & Beats
G/F Valdecon Building, 20 Jupiter St., Bel-Air, Makati City
Tel No.519-1272
Cellphone No. 0917 885-6969

LU
G/F Joya Bldg., Joya Drive, Rockwell, Makati City
Tel No. 403-3991

Tuesday Group Raids Shabu-Shabu

I got a call last Tuesday, a usual call from the girl friends, to have dinner and have a drink. It was supposed to be at LU, unfortunately they were packed that night and we were forced to spontaneously think of a new place to eat in. Then came the idea of going to a shabu-shabu. It wasn't my first time to try shabu-shabu, I remember eating in a similar place in Glorietta eons ago. I wasn't a big fan of it though, so I begrudgingly got in my car and drove to Tong Yang in Jupiter.

Like I said, I'm on a constant diet, but forget it when you're in Tong Yang! Seriously, the damned place is an endless purveyor of anything edible! Definitely a place for one with a bottomless pit of a stomach.

The funny thing was none of us really knew how to cook. Trency, doesn't cook. Amanda pretends to know how, and well Mike, I don't know! But me, I DON'T COOK! So when we started rummaging around the stove and grill, we didn't even know if our food was cooked. In the beginning, it was either we ate it semi-raw or super cooked to uber blackness and hardness. We even forgot to spread butter on the grill so the meat wouldn't stick.

But hey! We got the hang of it after several failed attempts of eating sashimi instead of grilled meat.


This would be our gigantic cauldron of chicken soup, noodles, and other meaty stuff. I remember eating fish and squid balls from this hot pot. The noodles, I wasn't a big fan of. It tasted like plastic, so I stopped eating it after the first serving. But the chicken broth was good! And the other meaty goodness they decided to cook in there was better!

Anybody who would come to Tong Yang must have incisors as big as a T-Rex's. This was meat heaven! Trency, loves her meat, and that night she just couldn't get enough of the thin slices of meat. We were all done, but she still stood up and got a heap more of it. We even had to take a breather and get some of the food down by going outside and have a date with the cowboy dudes in Marlboro country. Amazingly, Trency still had space to wolf down another batch from the meat section (seen below)!

Sky's the limit in this resto I tell yah! They also had a dessert station and dimsum station (picture below). The drinks are refillable, and you can have as many drinks as you can - from juice, to iced tea, hot tea, and beer. Too bad they only served draft beer, so I wasn't able to dink! :( After eating tons and tons of meat, we feasted on ice cream to rejuvenate our nerves which I believe were about to bug down from the oil and cholesterol.

If you guys decide on eating at Tong Yang, I say go for the meal with the grill. It's P580 with the grill, and P565 without the grill. So for a P15 difference, I totally recommend going for the grill and have as much meat as your bodies could take. It's not as expensive as you think, because there are other things you could try in the place.

Try Tong Yang and you will not be sorry. It's actually cool to cook your own meal. Since I don't cook, it was a joy to be Martha Stewart-ish even just for a night. :) Although I have to admit I didn't really feel well the next day. Must be the hardened oil in my system haha! But whatever, I'd do Tong Yang again if I have to! :D

Tong Yang has several branches - Megamall, Pan Pacific, and Quezon Avenue. But we ate at the Jupiter branch, here's the address and phone number.
Tong Yang Jupiter
34, Jupiter cor. Planet St. (near EDSA), Bel-Air, Makati City
For reservations call: 899-3388


P.S.
Oh and this just has to be said that this adventure would have been great HAD it been chosen for the reason that we would enjoy it as a group and nothing else. It was just sad that this place was picked because it was the favorite place of the boyfriend. Although admittedly we had fun in this place, when we found out the motive behind the sudden shabu shabu decision, it sucked completely! I only found out about it last night, so it's too late for anything. But still, I'd put it in the blog. Oh well!