Kalye Juan MOA Restaurant Review

After a week's work, it is sometimes best to unwind or destress and reward yourself with good and yet affordable food. So last weekend, I decided to reward my self for such a wonderful and fruitful First Quarter of 2013. These time around I wanted to try Kalye Juan Restaurant located at the ground floor, right wing (Hypermarket Area) of the Mall of Asia.

Kalye Juan Menu

For our Main Course:

Paksiw na Lechon Kawali  for only Php 195.00

Lechon Adobong Kangkong - Php 185.00

Hito with Buro - Php 195.00

• Rice - Php 30.00 each x 3 = Php 90

For our Desserts

Leche Flan is at Php 60.00 per serving. We had 2 and paid Php 120.00

Tibok Tibok or otherwise known as Maja Blanca - Php 60.00

For our Drinks

Guinilo sa Kalye

• Mango Juice - Php 45.00
• Pineapple Juice - Php 45.00
• Guinilo sa Kalye - Php 60.00 - There was an after taste of the drink but I think it is because it wasnt served right after it was made. I had to hold off for it because the movie is about to start and the main course wasnt served yet.

Total for 3 person = Php 995.00

No complimentary appetizer is served! 

Lets talk about thier service. Kalye Juan service crew member the time we visited them never failed to accomodate our request. I haven't heard customer complaining and everyone is just happy waiting for their order. The food takes a little bit longer to be served mayber because they still have to cook and prepare. The cashier is just so helpful when we told him we cant wait for our order and that will just get back after the we finished watching the movie as it is about to begin in 10 minutes.

The Food is awesome. They never failed to serve a good food plus they didn't had penny pinching on their ingredients.

So, if you are looking for a "lutong bahay" or similar to a conventional home cooked Pinoy meals that is truly and authentic Filipino dishes then Kalye Juan is the best place to go plus it is also affordable and budget friendly. I also love the paintings on their walls.

Kalye Juan on the outside:

Kalye Juan entrance.

A view of Kalye Juan Restaurant:

Kalye Juan

The Counter at Kalye Juan

The place we choose to dine...

The paintings on the wall at Kalye Juan...

Enjoy dining at Kalye Juan!

Mangan Restaurant SM Mall of Asia Review

Over the weekend, during the blazing summer heat. Me and my sister went to SM Mall of Asia to buy gifts for our cousins who graduated. Then after window shopping and comparing prices we ended up buying some stuff at Tweeners by Bench and also Cinderella.

After, I have decided to treat my sister at Mangan Restaurant. I choose the said restaurant because I am confident that they would provide us an authentic Kapampangan or Ilocano dishes. I am confident that I can get good service, good food and of course great value for my money because both are known for their talent in cooking.

Here's what we ordered:

Pinakbet - Php 140.00 per serving

Bulalo Baka with Mais (corn) - Php 380.00 per serving

Plain Rice - Php 31.00 per serving (Php 62.00 for both of us)

Lagat Ampalaya - Php 120.00 per serving

Bottomless Brewed Iced Tea - Php 75.00 per serving (Php 150.00 for 2 person)

Camote Fritters was served as appetizer

Total - Php 852.00

Here's what I have to say on the foods we ordered:

Bulalo Baka With Mais - is brilliant. It doesn't taste fake. It has the taste of the true bulalo. This beef stew is definitely perfect for those people who wanted a nice and perfect soup. Bulalo or beef stew is definitely my comfort food.

The way they cooked Pinakbet is also awesome. However, it does taste better than it looks. I know pinakbet and I know how to cook it. The way they cooked is like a mashed tomato with a little of vegetable and bagoong. It doesn't look inviting. It doesn't look pinakbet for me but it does taste like one.

The Ampalaya Guisado is also a failure to me. Again it does taste better than it looks. One of the reason why people dine out is for them to have a good and well cooked food. Though it doesn't look tasteful at all it does taste good the moment you started munching it.

I also felt that the appetizer is not appetizing. The role of appetizer is not just a food served while waiting for the main course to be served but it also acts as teaser and entice you to eat. The Camote Fritters that was served has these oily feeling and it did kill my appetite when I ate it.

I love their Bottomless Brewed Iced Tea! It is worth its price! I would have to say that I enjoyed drinking the iced tea I had at least 3 glasses of iced tea! They have the most tasteful bottomless iced tea I would say.

What about their service?

Customer satisfaction is really very important to me. Mangan Restaurant crew is not consistent in providing a good service. The moment we stepped into the restaurant, no one has greeted us. It felt strange because most of the restaurant I visited, it seems that greetings is automatic. They were polite enough when they were taking my order. However, I was observing them as we are waiting until we finally walked out the door and here's what I have observed:

• Our food gets into our table after 20 minutes the moment they took our order. However, from the other customers, they have to wait longer only to find out that the food they ordered is not available and that they have to choose a different one and wait a considerable amount of time. It is totally unacceptable to inform the customer after 20 minutes that the order is not available.
• A group of people came in and was told by the waiter that they don't cater for 9 people because the table can only take up to 6 person. (note: there are only 2 table that is occupied. Meaning they can move the tables to accommodate more than 6) For me, it is not an excuse to inform customer that you cannot accommodate them not unless the restaurant is fully booked.
• The food servers are just all over the place doing nothing and that they have customer waiting for their food.

My Overall Judgement:

Bulalo Baka with Mais and the Bottomless Iced Tea is already good and matches my standard. The rest of the food I ordered does taste good but it fails to please my eyes and my taste. Though I haven't experience the worst of what they have to offer regarding their customer service I wouldn't be going back into that restaurant again.

One more thing, the restaurant is clean, I also love the wall paper it looks comfy and homie.

Just an FYI in general.

Other pictures:

Inside the restaurant when there are only 2 tables occupied.

Outside the restaurant:

I stopped taking picture when there are angry customer already.

Food calculator source:

Filipino Food - Pinakbet (1 Cup) - Calories: 110  Carbs: 21 Fat: 1   Protein: 6 Sodium: 345 Sugar: 8

Beef Bulalo, 1 bowl -                Calories: 447  Carbs: 0      Fat: 13  Protein: 77   Sodium: 176 Sugar: 0

Ampalaya Guisado  (1 cup)    Calories: 430  Carbs: 0      Fat: 26  Protein: 0     Sodium: 400 Sugar: 0

The Red Mango Experience

I, sometimes just go crazy about Frozen Yogurt. I feel like I am somewhere else every time I go inside a Red Mango Store it totally calms me. The thought of having a bowl of yogurt with fresh fruits makes my mouth water and can engulf the whole large bowl in minutes. The feeling is just like having a piece of heaven!

Frozen yogurt is my stress relieving food and my energizer as well.

Nutritional Value:

Yogurt is widely known as one of the healthiest food in the world because of the live and active lactobacilli that is useful for human. It is also reach in calcium. There'd be many reason why it is considered as one of the healthiest but what I like most is according to studies it improves and boost immunity. Plus it is good for people who has lactose intolerance.

RED MANGO STORES:

What I personally notice in most Red Mango stores are the spacious. Their counter is relatively spacious for them to display their toppings. The store looks elegant. I love how they designed it.

The Red Mango Service:

The reputation of the store aside from what they have to offer are the professionalism of their crew and how well they make their customers really happy. That is how I judge a store because for me no matter how good the store is and how powerful their products are it would still goes down on how I was treated when I enter the store. So far, at Red Mango the moment you order the crew are definitely almost everywhere preparing for the orders you made. I am giving them a perfect ten when it comes to their wait time. I never experienced waiting for more than 2 minutes. My only concern is, the store is really quite which I really like but the crew are as quite as their store. Which for me is not really that good though it is not that bad. I think it is always best to talk to your customers.

The Food

For me, the crowning glory of Red Mango is the original yogurt with fruits as a toppings and you wouldn't have the Red Mango experience if you order with nuts or choco chips as a toppings. I wouldn't recommend that. Any fruit of your choice is totally just fine. I usually go with kiwi, mango or strawberry as their toppings. I simply love it. They also have these so called flavored yogurts but I would stick to the original one.

Red Mango SM Mega Mall

Food Counter:

I also added here the Food counter for my health conscious readers in case you want to know.

4 ounce of Yogurt: Calories - 120    Carbs - 20    FAT - 0    Protien - 3    Sodium - 125    Sugar - 18

Check here

Taste Asia MOA - A Review

Taste Asia is located at the Ground Level of the North Parking Building of the SM Mall of Asia just beside the SM Hypermarket. The name Taste Asia is really catchy. That's one of the reason why we have chosen to have my cousins birthday celebration.

Taste Asia also caters conferences and meeting or any other gatherings or barkada dinner as their restaurant is really spacious which I like best in a restaurant. I feel comfortable because I am confident enough that their customers as well as their employees could move freely. Plus spacious restaurant is really inviting and appetizing to me.

The service is also good for as long as you are talking to the person who took your order. I had this experience with one of the waitresses who is not friendly at all. I have to commend the waitress who took our order because she is friendly and very attentive to our needs and requests. (TIP: always talk to the person who took your order)

Since Taste Asia is known for their DAMPA style as well, the food may take a good 15 minutes before it gets served. We ordered a set meal good for 4 person and which turns out to be just enough for the 4 of us. Since it is my cousin's birthday we ordered additional buttered chicken.

Here's what I wanted to say about the food that was served:

1. The food presentation is good. The food looks expensive to me as well. The plating for the shrimp though needs really improvement though so it would be appetizing.
2. The chicken is half cooked. I have to ask them to re-cook it for us. It is unacceptable for a chief/cook to serve a half cooked chicken. Good thing the waitress is very apologetic. I hope next time they don't serve half cook dish.
3. The fish as well is too salty. Another big no no. I would rather have a fish served to me without salt and provide me with a dip rather than having a food too salty.

Here's the food we ordered: