Red Palace

Tucked in Malakas St., located in area of Sulu Hotel, Trellis, Muang Thai, Pancake House..etc., in Quezon City, is a casual Chinese restaurant called Red Palace.

In the mood for Suahe...we got 1/2k of these.....(sorry I didn't get the price of this)

They were fresh and yummy =)

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Yummy and not too oily.

Fried Salt and Pepper Spareribs (Php 470.00)

These were delicious. The breading was tasty and had a nice peculiar taste...the spareribs were not fatty, which was good.

Peking Duck (3-ways)

The duck was kinda skinny...it was tasty but the duck in Choi or Gloria Maris are much better =)

Fried King Fish with Special Sauce (Php 520.00)

This was my favorite. The fish was fresh and fried to a crisp...and I like the "special sauce" which was like the sauce that is doused on steamed Lapu-lapu.

Duck Wraps

The duck skin wrapped in flat bread with leeks and hoisin sauce.

Duck Soup

I didn't like this soup so much because the ginger taste was too strong for my palate.

Minced duck meat wrapped in lettuce

I always like this part of the 3way duck =)

Almond-Lychee

A cool and refresh meal ender.

Overall the Red Palace experience was good. It was just disappointing that they didn't have any crabs that day, perhaps because we arrived after lunch hours already =) A nice casual chinese dining place.

Red Palace Seafood Restaurant

#132 Malakas St.,

Q.C. near Muang Thai and Pancake House

Liyimen, Banawe

We found ourselves in Banawe area and I had a craving for sweet and sour since the week prior to Valentine's day!

Driving along the stretch of Banawe, we chose Liyimen Seafood Restaurant.

Kuchai Dumplings (Php 55.00)

Their dimsum prices are pretty cheap and these are pretty good! hahaha Pretty, pretty ei? It had shrimps, bits of pork and just the right amount of kutchay. The dumpling skin was a tad bit too thick, nevertheless, we liked this =)

Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet (Php 350.00)

I was very pleased with this dish because it knocked-off my craving! It was simple, true to the taste of SWEET AND SOUR FISH! ;P Nothing fancy..but yummy...I though it was kinda pricey for this dish at Php350...but since I really wanted sweet and sour...we got it =)

Their seafood must be good here too...

A very casual neighborhood-y Chinese restaurant. No ambiance, just simple eating here.

Liyimen Seafood Restaurant

835 Banawe St.,

Q.C.

Tel# (632) 742 6200

The Goose Station

Happy Valentines and Kung Hei Fat Choi everyone!!!! =)

Let me make my first year of the Tiger post with a yummy degustation dinner at The Goose Station of chef couple's Sunshine and Rob Pengson =)

Their place had a nice, cozy, casual-elegant feel..being located at the ground floor of West Tower building at 39th Street, at the fort, far from the bustling restaurant strips and complexes that people usually thrive at for dinners and hang outs. The secluded location makes perfect for more intimate dinners...perfect for us =)

We didn't want to get stuffed this evening, so we decided to have the 5 course express degustation dinner with an ala carte order of the Salmon Gravlax (as I have read that the main entree portion was quite big here)....and should we feel un-satiated we could just order an extra main =)

The express 5-course dinner Php 1, 700 ++ (SC and taxes):

Complimentary Bread and Butter

I love that it had a sweetish taste =)

Snacks: Truffle Puff, Potato Glass and Prosciutto Guava Macaroon

These were mini bites with explosions of flavors. They were perfect to whet the palate. The potato glass was an uberly thin potato chip! Crisp, delicate and salty....how good would it be to have a plateful of them, I thought. The nutty taste of the macaroons, with the salty prosciutto flavors were complimented by the sweet guava jelly. The truffle puff was yummy.

Foie Cone

Foie mousse in a puff pastry cone. The foie was like softened butter...in texture and taste. A truly rich bite!

Beet Garden (Php 395.00)

Textures of Beet, Corn & Orange, Davao's goat cheese, Walnut and Gingerbread soil and the rest of the garden. The two discs you see are like oreo-sandwich cookies of crisps beet slices and goat cheese. The tubular log was like a beet gelee piped with goat's cheese. It was a play of textures and tastes...not your average salad. I tell you, if you want your greens, lots of veggies, dressing....this is not for you! =)

Unagi-Foie Gras Terrine (Php 480.00)

Apple tartare, Gingerbread and chocolate "soil", Brioche toast point and chives. This was my favorite part of the degustation. I enjoyed the interplay of textures and flavors. Th rich seared foie, with the firm sweet-savory unagi...accentuated by the coarsely chopped sweet apple tartare, eaten with a bite of the brioche...it was exquisite. You just need a little portion of this and the flavors of that perfect bite can fully satiate.

Salmon Gravlax (Php 480.00)

White asparagus flan, Parmesan, Avocado Oil, Caviar, Potato Chip and micro greens This was our additional appetizer, which was lighter than than Unagi-Foie terrine.

Confit of Duck (Php 950.00)

Spice and citrus rub, jus, horseradish potato puree, black soy beans, whole grain mustard and black currant jelly. Can you believe this is just HALF a portion? We were very surprised too. A If I were to have all of the above by myself, I would have barely enjoyed this dish (or maybe I could ;P hehehe) It was delicious! Rich with savory decadence. Chef Rob and Chef Sunshine abide by this sweet and savory yin-yang in their dishes, as we have experienced in all of their dishes. Savory duck confit... potatoes...whose richness were all cut by the black currant jelly. Fatty-Salty-Sweet balanced in every dish..so as you will not gawk, should the meal strike you unctuous.

Chocolate Candy Bar (Php 390.00)

Earl Grey Mousse, ganache and biscuit. It was rich..yet it seemed light on my palate because I easily devoured bite, after bite =) hahaha Delicious! Delicious!
And when we thought our meal was through...we were served a lighter meal ender...an oatmeal crisp.
Sweet, nutty and crunchy.

Dining at the Goose station was absolutely worth the experience. We agreed that it was not the kind of thing we would like have on a regular basis, but occasionally, the palate just loves a good tease =) We had to have our dinner with wine, because that is the only way your stomach will be able to emulsify all the foie and fat throughout dinner =)

If you have bigger appetites, perhaps two express or have the 10 course degustation for Php 2,500. I think the price structure of the Goose encourages one to select the degustations rather than going ala carte...as your bill would definitely end up being way up there.

The Goose Station
G/F West Tower,
39th St., Global City Fort Bonifacio,
Taguig
Tel# 556-9068
0917-46673

Gourmet and Roadhouse Yummies ^_^

Here are some of the yummy meals we got to enjoy the past week =)

As I have share with you before, one of our favorite foodie places in BF Paranaque is Gourmet's Palate. They never fail to satiate the clamoring of the stomach as well at please the palate. A very casual, simple place for real homey comfort food. Oh, did I mention uber cheap too???

Sizzling Chicken Teriyaki Php 74.00

I would choose to have this over a fast food meal anytime! Nothing beats hot sizzling food! Everything tastes plus 10 better when served piping hot =) Chicken breast pieces in a sizzling sweet teriyaki sauce, served with java rice and mixed veggies. VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY! Java rice=just yellow colored buttered rice...but still yummy when mixed with all the food elements on the sizzling plate. Simple. Yummy. Cheap. What a combination right? hehehehe

Our all time favorite here---A MUST ORDER AT ALL TIMES! =)

Spaghetti Bolognese Php 49.00

Php 49.00!!!! For a good plate of home-style spaghetti with buttered-garlic pan de sal toast! Check my archives for a post on this and you'll see the price is still the same. NOTE: Just checked my archives...they increased the spag price by 2 bucks ;P hehehe

Mushroom Melt Burger Php 82.00

Creamy mushroom sauce with melted cheese on the thick burger pattie! This was his order....so I just took a bite to taste it (am not much of a burger fan) ---it was delicious! The burger patties was thick, meaty, juicy and tasty...the whole thing was yummy. The price is lovely! hehehhehe ;P

Now let's travel back to Ortigas...and try out TEXAS ROAD HOUSE GRILL

Chicken Quesadillas (about ~ Php280.00)

Sorry I wasn't able to get the exact price, but it was more or less that price ;P. Four huge quesadilla pices loaded with grilled chicken breast slices, caramelized onions, and a combination of sharp cheddar and melt-y cheese, served with tomato salsa and sour cream. YUMM!!!! We love how it's flavorful, yet not greasy. They also serve complimentary peanuts no munch on as you wait for your food---which I enjoyed very much ;P hehehe

Gourmet's Palate

Aguirre St.,

BF Homes Paranaque

Tel##8094273

Texas Road House Grill

Ruby Road, El Pueblo Real De Manila,

Ortigas Center

Tel #6356715/6356716

Maitre Chocolatier Boutique Cafe

Chocolate heaven along Jupiter St., Makati....Maitre Chocolatier Boutique Cafe =)

They serve ice cream made with white/dark chocolate .

Apart from their signature chocolate desserts, they carry Toblerone, Lindt, Ritter Sport chocolates in a wide assortment and adornment for your chocolatey-satisfaction! =)

We love ice cream...so we ordered the Trio of Ferrero-Hazelnut, Lindt Chocolate-Mint, Ritter Sport dark-Cappuccino (Php 95.00)

I dunno anybody who wouldn't be happy with this =)

Maitre Chocolatier Boutique Cafe

28 Jupiter St., cor. Astra St.,

Bel Air, Makati

Between Whistle Stop and Starbucks

Tel# 8978559/ 8962529

Old and Reliable =)

Man Hann faves....

Sansi Fried Rice

Oyster Cake

yumm.....


Simple. Yummy! =)

Mann Hann

103 J. Abad Santos St., San Juan City.

Tel# 723-2917

Having Black Soup with Van Gogh

Hello my friends! I am happy to share that I am creating this post with my new ASUS EEEPC SeaShell =) hahahaha I just love it! It's so compact...pretty and versatile enough for my simple needs. This is my first blog post with my seashell---my cute shelly! hahaha =)

Now on to our foodie adventure!!!

Recently we have been going to the usual places we go to, perhaps because we have been overworked the past weeks and have no strength to look for someplace new. Well, for this evening, we belly up for some BLACK SOUP with VAN GOGH.

I have read nice reviews on VAN GOGH IS BIPOLAR, and since last week, I have been trying to get us dinner reservations. A week prior to this visit, I was informed that they were only serving tea....NO FOOD????...then I press my luck again and got us Friday night dinner reservations! I was ecstatic!

Van Gogh Is Bipolar (VGIB) is not your typical restaurant. They are supposed to serve food that will pick up one's mood. Well, who wouldn't want that, especially on a weekend right?

Incidentally, VGIB is situated in a quaint complex, where it is neighboring BLACK SOUP art cafe. When we entered the complex, we saw a few groups of diners sprawled on the grass area, seated on banigs (mats) with small tables enjoying their food and beverages by candle-light, with a movie projected on a screen. That was a nice sight. Our reserved table was actually inside, but we opted for a table al fresco, so may we may enjoy the movie as well. The Devil Wears Prada was showing that evening...hehehehe. We were asked to go inside and read the restaurant RULES. How strict, we thought. Shoes are not allowed inside the resto, you place your order in a piece of paper and bring it yourself to the counter...oh and after your meal...you clean up your own table! hehehehe

We were fore-warned that food takes a bit of time to be served, so being all famished, we decided to sneak to Black Soup to try a dish or two there and have drinks. We of course asked permission from VGIB if we could have food sent to our table from the other resto, fortunately, they allowed us.

FROM Black Soup Art Cafe:

Grilled Lamb Chops Php 220.00

It was kinda sad looking as it was served to us....placed on a lonely plate with a few tasteless and cold potato marble wedges. It tasted ok though...but a piece of meat like lamb, which is not regularly enjoyed, should be served more joyfully to celebrate it's unique taste.

FROM VGIB

Axl Rose Egg Shot (~ Php 55.00 ---egad! I forgot to take careful note of the prices on this visit...my apologies if I am inaccurate with the prices)

We were initially served with this egg being lightly warmed in a glass of hot water...then the sauce shot was placed on top....

...the person (who I think runs the place) was very kind enough to show us how to properly prepare this .....crack open the warmed egg and plunk in the shot of sauce, which was somewhat like balsamic vinegar mixed with soy sauce and oil...

...pluk.....


...stir..and shoot! He told me it was ok ...i tasted a bit and the sauce was nice =)

Cherry Potatoes (Php 155.00)

My apologies, as I didn't get all the proper names of the dishes we had for the evening...the prices I indicate are very close, if not the actual menu price =). Anyhoos, this was part of the appetizer list. We wanted to try the chili wings, but they were out that night. This dish was yummy. Potato marbles dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette like dressing...more sweet than sour, which was very nice.


Salmon with Van Gogh Rice (Php 285.00)

Pardon my overly lit picture...I just had to take a pic of if with flash because the place was very dimly lit and I really want to show all of you what was served to us.


the dimly lit pic.....

As you can very well see, the Salmon part was very disappointing...it was just a thin strip of Salmon....for a Salmon entree. The Van Gogh Rice was made of black rice, topped with peanuts, cashews, mangoes, tomatoes and a strawberry. They offered us some bagoong sauce, which we accepted and drizzled over the rice. That was a nice touch, but over all we didn't quite get was actually being served to us. The Salmon became more of a side dish to the Van Gogh rice. There was A LOT of rice! The black rice had a unique taste and texture, but the nuts and fruit combination didn't strike us as a merry blend. The dish was ok... a bit pricey for a rice dish (we would have appreciated more Salmon =D ).

I wouldn't know if you will agree with me or not with this review. Perhaps you should just try for yourself and see if their cuisine if of your liking =). Perhaps the items we picked were not their best? Nevertheless, our over all experience at VGIB and Black Soup Cafe was ok and entertaining. It was a unique dining experience worth trying.




Van Gogh Is Bipolar

and Black Soup Art Cafe

Both at

#154 Maginhawa St.,

Sikatuna Village, Q.C

VGIB Tel# 02-394 0188
0929 163 8592