7 Gifts for my 30th - Dinner at my House with Friends

I rarely celebrate my birthday because I look at my birthday as a normal yet another day. It only marks though of the number that it adds to my age. However, this time around I will make sure it is something special. Special but it doesnt mean there's a big feast but rather, I will be doing things that I love to do but I rarely cannot do it because of whatever reason.

And one of the things that I do before but I am rarely doing it is to invite my friends for a dinner in my house and maybe videoke till midnight.

Cake courtesy of Drew...

The watermelon is courtesy of Julie...

My friends who celebrated with me together through a wonderful chit chat and catching up with of course videoke and Vodka and Red Horse Beer.

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

Legazpi Village Weekend Market

Makati weekend market is gaining popularity to almost young professional aside of course from the residences nearby. When these weekend markets in Makati was introduced to me, I find it really cool since I got a chance to dine outside my house at the park and of course to see various people in all walks of life buying their stuffs and or playing with their kids.

This time around I got a chance to visit Legazpi Village Weekend Market.

What to expect when going to Legazpi Village Weekend Market.

ORGANIC COSMETIC PRODUCTS

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Legazpi Village weekend market fantastically promotes various local artist and truly Filipino handcraft!

FOOD

You can always find a food that suites your taste buds! In fact, these is a perfect place if your looking for both Filipino and Asian Cuisine!

I love these meat pie in fact you can either buy a freshly baked pies or you can take a frozen one so you could cook them some other time.

Try these Moroccan Cuisine!

The market is open every Sunday from 7:30 AM to 2:00 PM located at the corner of Rufino and Legazpi Streets Legazpi Village Makati.

Click here for the Maps

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

The Sandwich Guy

Working at night sometimes has its own disadvantage. Depending on your office location, one of the disadvantage is the food intake. For me, in my working area, I do not have a lot of option early in the morning so either I bring my own lunch box with me or eat in the 24 hr food chain like one of my favorite and almost daily lunch destination its THE SANDWICH GUY!

I just fell in love with their sandwiches. For me, it is budget friendly but taste really good.

My usual lunch time sandwich.

My only reason why I prefer Sandwich Guy sandwiches.

1. They use WHOLE WHEAT BREAD which apparently is more healthier because it has more fiber. Fiber is really friendly to the digestive system plus the fact that it absorbs some of the cholesterol.

2. I just love their sandwiches.... For me its delicious!

3. I am already really full with only one sandwich.

In case you are counting your calories here's what I found out:

for the sandwich:

Calorie - 440    Sugar - 14    Carbs - 6    FAT - 15    Protien - 16

For the drinks: Pandan Gulaman

Calorie - 110    Sugar - 18    Carbs - 26    FAT - 0    Protien - 0

KRAZY GARLIK RESTAURANT

It is indeed a Crazy moment at KRAZY GARLIK! For me dinning out with a friend, a family member or with someone really special is worth a memory. It is always be best if it is complemented with a good food and a good place.

We had these fabulous experience at KRAZY GARLIK at Resorts World Manila.

Explore and experience the value of dining out once in a while and do it in one of the finest.

Share your thoughts and experience too...

Food Count:

Crispy Pata - Calorie - 1218    Carbs - 21    FAT - 72    Protien - 113     Sodium - 0     Sugar - 0
Coke In Can - Calorie - 140    Carbs - 39    FAT - 0      Protien - 0         Sodium - 45    Sugar - 39

Food Calculator referrence