The neighborhood bakery known for its tiny pandesal seemed to have changed the way they do business. They are now thinking big, literally. I have seen pandecoco as large as my hand and ensaymada as big as my face. I thought to myself, what would they think of next? A giant spanish bread? Perhaps that thought was transmitted to the baker via ESP or maybe I really suggested it, I don’t remember. Anyway, on my next visit to the bakery, I saw a new addition to their colossal bread line — the Spanish Bread.

Que Horror! This is the fattest Spanish bread I’ve seen; so fat that it doesn’t look anything like the Spanish bread that I’m accustomed to eating. Did they add steroids to the dough mix?  I believe them when they say that it’s bromate-free, but is it steroids-free? Should I call the National Sports Commission?

For your reference, this is the normal, steroids-free Spanish bread.

Ondoy lashed out at Metro Manila like it was nobody’s business, leaving many people cold, hungry, and homeless.  Rescue operations are on-going and thanks to the hundreds of volunteers that made things happen. We are asking everyone to please donate whatever you can to help the victims. There is a list of centers where you can drop off your donations. Most local church groups and universities have their own drive and fundraising activity. Manuel Quezon III’s twitter page has been a great source of Ondoy updates and information on where to send donations.

Also, Toyrant has set up a multiply site to sell toys and collectibles at very low prices. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Ondoy victims through a charitable institution or church group. Details can also be found at Toyrant’s blog. Every little bit helps.

My sister celebrated her 30-something birthday in Singapore and we figured we’d do the same here in Manila. We decided to go for pizza instead of cake  — just ’cause I have not eaten pizza in months. Happy Birthday, MOV. I know you had a blast! Now, go make some cupcakes! (She has a new project!)

Buying 1/2 kilo of Lechon is perhaps the most impulsive thing I’ve done in a long time. I should remember never to do grocery when really really hungry.

Pork is the least favorite at home for various reasons, mostly health-related. The only time my family will eat pork is when the pork doesn’t taste like pork. For some odd reason, my dad picks up this pork taste (not in a good way) no matter how fresh the pork is.  I hate seeing food go to waste so it was imperative to make use of my culinary skills (or whatever’s left of it) to masked that porky taste of the lechon. This is next to impossible since you can’t take the pork taste off the pork.

Anyway the key ingredients are: strong vinegar, Kikkoman soy sauce, crushed pepper, and the liver sauce (Mang Tomas).

1. Heat the lechon pieces in a non-stick frying pan.

2. Add vinegar. Let it sit for 20 seconds

3. Add Kikkoman soy sauce. Mix well

4. Add liver sauce

5. Simmer for 30 seconds then mix.

6. Serve with rice

The taste: cross between humba and adobo.

I like cookies, but I prefer the soft and chewy variant. That’s not to say I won’t eat the rock-hard kind (you can dunk it in coffee or tea anyway). After stuffing ourselves with “two-thumbs-up-worthy” meals at Tokyo Cafe Mall of Asia, we decided to treat ourselves to something sweet. It was Eve’s radar that zeroed in on the target, which happens to be The Russian Cookie House. The name is a bit intimidating as it is reminiscent of The Kremlin and the Russian seat of power and accompanying atrocities during the early 20th century. However, the cookies on display changed all that mental picture. From the looks alone, it is obvious that the cookies are not soft and chewy, but that’s fine because they are the traditional cookies made a little fancier. The price ranges from 90 to 280 pesos depending on quantity. They offer a trial box that has 6 cookies in 3 different flavors for only 90 pesos. If that’s still expensive for you, you can have a free taste; they really encourage it.

So after having a sampler, I bought the trial version.

The first cookie is obviously a chocolate covered cookie with choco sprinkles, but that is just the first layer. The next is what I’d like to call the polvoron layer. When you bite into it, it tends to crumble and reveal a piece of almond. The next cookie is the reverse of the first one in that the cookie is exposed with the chocolate and pistachio nuts on top. The third one is a simple cookie with almond inside.

The effort to provide an exquisite traditional European cookie is definitely there and those who fancy old-fashioned cookies will appreciate The Russian Cookie House. It’s just too bad I go for the chewy ones. But if you send me a couple of boxes of Russian cookies,  I would gladly take them. After all, my cup of tea is getting a little lonely.

After a hearty meal at Food Choices Alabang, I had this sudden craving for something sweet. All I had to do was to turn my head a few degrees to the right to see the brazo mercedes with pistacchios and the ice cream station. They were desserts all right, but I was looking for something else. And as if by some divine intervention, there was this little boy who was trying to balance a box of churros and juice as he made his way to the table just a few feet away. That’s it! I want what he has! There was this urge to just grab the little boy’s churros box, but that’s one misdemeanor charge I can do away with.

After a few minutes of looking around, I finally found Churros City. The churros on display were not as appealing as the ones in the little boy’s churros box, but it must be the lighting. That, or the idea of stealing a churros box adds +10 to the appeal-meter. Anyway, the churros is 35 pesos — this includes 4 pieces of pretzel-shaped churros and 1 dip of your choice.  There were several dips to choose from but chocolate is the best bet. Of course, if you prefer mango and cheese, nobody’s stopping you.

The churros is too salty for my taste. The chocolate dip reminds me of old-fashioned hot chocolate made from blocks of cocoa powder. Even with the sweetness of the choco dip, the saltiness of the churros ruined the overall taste for me. The churros has the potential to be a mainstream food item (like doughnuts and french fries) but it needs a little tweaking – both in the taste and marketing aspects. They’re fun to eat though.

Persuading  my dad to eat at Almon Marina is like forcing a child to go to the dentist. There was too much struggle. But after assuring him that rice is available, he relented. We rarely get along when it comes to food but we have agreed to make a compromise, depending on the level of craving we have for certain food  — the one who craves more gets to choose the place. This also means that  the “craver” gets to pay for lunch (or dinner). It’s a little complicated but it resolves the conflict.

Almon Marina offers a long list of sandwich and pasta combinations enough to drive a customer away on account of “can’t friggin’ make up my mind”. I seriously suggest reading through the menu posted outside and come up with a decision right there and then. It will save you from the standard dagger looks from the manager/cashier who is a total man-bitch.

I was too hungry to try out exquisite food combination so I decided to order the one they were blatantly advertising on the tarpaulin — open-faced roast chicken. My dad went for the 1/4 chicken with rice and mashed potato, which garnered a 3.5-star rating. Not bad from a dad who hates anything fancy.

The breast chicken was moist, tender, juicy and generously topped with gravy. The bread on which the chicken rests is a little too crunchy for my taste, but it served its purpose well. The vegetables were overcooked and can pass up as baby food. The mashed potato was a little bland but the gravy managed to add a little saltiness to the ensemble. The price is commensurate to the level of my satisfaction, so it’s really not very expensive.

I will certainly come back to try their more exotic offerings…I heard the European sausages were good.

Coffee is the elixir of the sleepy. What better way to get a jolt  in the morning than to order a cup of brewed coffee priced at 75 pesos. Caffeine and highway robbery can really pump you up – big time!

The coffee shop of the moment is  McCafe. This particular branch we visited lacks the upbeat vibe of that favorite yuppie hangout, which was just a stone’s throw away. It was not a real bother, but it should have served as a warning on how boring their Mud Pie was.

Mud Pie, the mere mention of it gives this pleasant picture of layers of moist cake, fudge, chocolate sauce, and perhaps a scoop of ice cream. Having such mental image was a clear indication that I was setting myself up for a foodie heartache…and toothache.

Presenting, the McCafe  Mud Pie…

The mud pie looks decent, but it was a big letdown, taste-wise. The first layer, which is the crust, is so hard that it took two forks to break down into bite size pieces. The second layer is the brownie fudge that is as dry as the dehydrated veggies you see in instant noodle packs. The third layer is the  cream that that seemed to have been whipped to peak many times over. That’s how heavy it was. I can’t think of any good things to say about this mudpie. My friend was a little more forgiving and said that we just got the last piece of the previous day’s last batch of pastries. I was thinking more along the lines of ………previous month’s delivery!

I am not sure if this is the standard McCafe Mudpie across branches, if it is, then I seriously hope that McCafe rethink their dessert offerings. I am willing to try the Mudpie in another branch, just to remove the ill-feeling towards the Mudpie we had.

I hope somebody…anybody…can prove me wrong, because I really like McCafe…

I’ve been reading about the Salcedo Village Market since last year but never really had the chance to check out the place — until today.  Food blogs have warned of the difficulty in finding parking space near the market and anyone who intends to come for a visit should heed this warning. At around 8am, cars lined up Leviste St. and the only parking spaces available were along Valero St., which is one block away. Needless to say, I ended up walking an extra block just to get to the market. A little exercise doesn’t hurt;  knowing that I would soon be purchasing (and eventually stuffing myself) with food items.

About 50 meters to the destination, there was smoke. As they say, when there’s smoke, there’s Barbecue! It’s not something that I’d eat at 8 in the morning, so I entered the park-turned-market to meet my friend Nokie, who arrived much earlier and already had her organic loot (read: veggies).  As expected, the market is brimming with food items, most of which can only be found in far away lands and kingdoms. This explains why the prices are quite steep. It is a given that if you cannot afford it (or refuse to pay at that price level) you are not their target market.

It was difficult to take pictures carrying 5 separate flimsy plastic bags, so I decided to just do a shoddy photo shoot at home. Here are my Salcedo Market loot:

1. Tamales. This is the Pampanga-style Tamales and not the hot tamale of Mexican origin. This is by far the best tasting tamales I’ve had.

2. Baklava – Turkish Pastry. I bought the assorted pack with 2 of each flavor – Hazelnut, Walnut, Pistachio, Spinach. These are best eaten after you purchase them. Reheating doesn’t bring back the crunchiness of the filo pastry.

3. Gng. Bukid’s Best Maja Blanca. This is indeed one of the best maja blancas around. Not too sweet and not too soft.

4. Butter Bread (Vargas). Recommended by Nokie and I understand why. It’s moist and rich.

5. Piaya. This is my favorite among the food items I bought simply because it was made in front of me. Prior to this, I’ve only eaten mass-produced piayas and god knows how long they’ve been sitting on the shelves before somebody decides to make them a pasalubong to me. If you get the chance, pls. buy this. I forgot the stall’s name…it’s that good!

6.  Cebu Lechon. I was on my way back to the parking lot when I saw a lechon being transported from a truck to the market. I made a 180 degree turn and followed the manong transporting the roasted pig and  I ended up waiting in line in front of the Cebu Lechon stall. I paid 150 pesos for 1/4 kilo. I am pretty sure they’d taste great in Cebu but since the pig had jetlag, the quality has suffered a bit. The flavor was not consistent. Each bite size portion  would have different taste — salty, very bland, gingery… the meat that was clinging to the skin was the best part.

I will definitely come back to try out the Wagyu Burger, Authentic French Crepe (with Frenchmen to boot!), Roasted Calf, BBQs…and maybe next time there will be celebrities to stalk….

The good thing about Pancake House is that they are more than just a fancy pancake place, they also offer delectable meals at affordable prices. I hate to sound like a fanboi but I’m pretty sure that many foodies share my sentiments.

Pancake House does not have a lot of offerings in their menu so it would be very possible to try them all out in a span of two weeks. But since I cannot dine in the same place for consecutive weeks (exception: McDonald’s and Burger King), I’ve only tried about half of the menu, the latest of which is the Adobo Sulipan.

Adobo is such a common meal served in households any day of the week so I was in no hurry to order one (or any of its variations). As fate would have it, I have this foodie friend who persuaded me to try the Adobo Sulipan. I could tell that she was willing to bet her life (or her HP DV3) just to prove that the food is as good as she described it. I could have lied and told her I didn’t like it and run off with her HP DV3, but really, the Adobo was so good that I would probably bump it up to number 10 in my Top 10 favorite food list.

Adobo Sulipan is a meal of chicken and pork adobo with pickled kangkong (water spinach), tomatoes, sliced hardboiled eggs and rice. It has large chunks of garlic so you might want to remove them (as I did).  I was not too crazy about the pickled kangkong but it cuts the richness of the adobo. It gives the right amount of sweetness to the salty and garlicky taste of the adobo.

(Apologies, I already took a few bites before I took the pic. I blame hunger.)