This afternoon, I had a late lunch at Terry Selection in Podium. I’ve been to Terry’s before but only to buy from their deli. Back then, their space dine-in customers can only accommodate a few tables but they expanded the place now which is a really good thing.

The food they offer is a bit pricy so I settled for a sandwich, a bowl of soup, and my staple Coke Light.

Crema de Calabacines al Queso

The soup I got, Crema de Calabacines al Queso, is sublime! It’s pureed green zucchini with a touch of cream cheese. The croutons were cooked perfectly but I couldn’t figure out what kind of bread was used. For Php 160, I highly  recommend this!

Rating:

Mess

Yes, the sandwich is called Mess but it must be a family joke because it sure isn’t messy. It’s a combination of pepper salami, smoked pork ham, Tomme de Savoie cheese, tomato, lettuce and their special dressing. It comes with potato chips and mayonnaise. The meats are delicately salty and the veggies are very fresh. Mess is Php 295, expensive for a sandwich and they have other sandwiches which are more pricey.

Rating:

For a restaurant in a mall, Terry Selection goes beyond my expectation. I wish the restaurant is cozier because I found the design too utilitarian. Perhaps their other branches have a more homey feel. I’ll try to order a better meal the next time I go there but I must prepare at least Php 1,000 to enjoy it. Still, I definitely enjoyed my humble meal.

Overall Rating:

Terry Selection
Basement Level
Podium Mall, Ortigas Center

Last December 26, 2008, I went to Tagaytay for a Plurkfiesta. Our first stop was lunch at Manos Greek Taverna where we shocked the staff with our number (there were more then 20 of us).

Among the food our table tried are the following:

Elliniki Salata

Greek Salad/Elliniki Salata

An appetizer which consists of tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, green pepper, onion, feta cheese, Kalamati olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Manos’ version is very fresh and is a delight to the palate. Their feta is tastier than the ones I buy from the grocery and the tomatoes are very fresh and I suspect organic. It’s a perfect appetizer before the Greek main course.

Rating:

dolmades

Dolmades

It is another appetizer which is made of rice, onions and Greek herbs all wrapped in grape leaves. Manos serves it with their homemade Tzatziki, a sauce made of yoghurt, garlic and olive oil. Although the dolmades has rice, it’s not very filling so it makes a fine appetizer. Probably if I ate it all by myself I would be full but it’s good enough to be a meal in itself. 

Rating:

Saganaki

Another appetizer made of  baked shrimp, feta cheese, bread cubes, tomatoes sauce, and olive oil. Their tomato sauce is very fresh. The feta adds an oomph to the tomato-based dish. This isn’t my favorite appetizer because it’s too sour for me but I still liked it.

Rating: (more…)

Part of the Ultimate Pampanga Tour I joined was a breakfast at Everybody’s Cafe. It was definitely not a light breakfast because of the eat+all+you+can fare. The owner of the cafe greeted us and gave a brief background of their business. I didn’t pay much attention because I was busy photographing the food.

tsokolate eh

heavy breakfast

The breakfast included the following: pugon-baked pandesal, giniling na baboy, suman, another type of suman, tamales, and tsokolate. I loved the pandesal. It was heavy on the stomach and it tasted great. My favorite among the fare was the tamales. I would have gotten several servings of it if it weren’t a full-day of food binge eating.

For my American readers, the Filipino tamale is different from the Spanish/Mexican kind. Although it was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards, the ingenious pinoys back then substituted rice for corn since rice is abundant in the Pampanga region. The Filipino tamales is a steamed mixture of ground white and brown rice, ground peanuts, coconut milk, chicken, chorizo, and hard boiled egg (sometimes salted egg). 

tamales galore on the right

I am a big fan of tamales and I first learned of it when my mother brought them home from Santi’s Greenhills. Actually she bought them from a man who sells native delicacies in front of Santi’s. Anyway, I try to buy tamales whenever I can. It’s not common to find them in Metro Manila. Oh I digressed. Pardonne-moi!

I can’t really say I’ve tried Everybody’s Cafe because I only had the chance to eat their breakfast food and I’m not even sure if those are regularly served. Hence, I couldn’t rate the restaurant yet but for their tamales and pandesal, I give them

Rating:

Everybody’s Cafe
Del Pilar, McArthur Highway
San Fernando, Pampanga 

Everybody’s Cafe also has a booth in Salcedo Market every Saturday.

Last week, Dale Quimpo emailed me about my blog post about OMG Kawaii Bento which he owns. He liked it and offered to give me a sample bento. We made arrangements that I can pick it up at the Salcedo Market. So last Saturday, I went there (my first time) and met him. This is what he gave me.

OMG Kawaii Bento

Isn’t it cute? The god is made of croquettes and it came with 2 pieces of ebi tempura and teriyaki sauce. I had it for lunch on that day and it’s filling. I didn’t need sauce for the croquettes because they were tasty enough. The tempura needs a bit of the teriyaki sauce because it tasted bland. The bento tastes like most Japanese bentos I’ve tried but the plus of this one is the visual factor. I will recommend this meal to kids and teens, especially as a meal served during their parties.

Rating:

To make arrangements visit the OMG Kawaii Bento website.

Last December 20, 2008, I joined The Ultimate Kapampangan Show-off organized by Ivan Henares, Spanky Enriquez, Ivan Man Dy, and Anton Diaz. It was a whole day affair which started from 6 AM and ended at 12 Midnight. There was a breakfast stop at Everybody’s Cafe, church tours, the on-board contests, etc. but the 5-hour lunch deserves a separate entry.

We were warmly welcomed by the Tayags in their gorgeous home. Their property which provided a much-needed refuge from the Pampanga heat, is filled with sculptures and greeneries. The house itself is very organic since the materials used were mostly from wood salvaged from torn old torn down Churches and homes.

Mrs. Tayag provided us with a delicious thirst-quencher of Dalandan juice with muscovado sugar ice cubes. One glass is just not enough.

Served with the Dalandan juice is crackers with several toppings to choose from: crab fat, pesto, and I forgot the other one.

This was followed by lumpia with their special Oriental sauce and a salad of ferns, eggs, and other kinds of greens.

lumpia

salad

Everything I’ve mentioned so far could have been a meal in itself but those were just appetizers. Since Spanky has been raving about the 5-way lechon on Plurk, there was no way in hell I would say no to the next part of the meal.

Hello, Mr. Piggy!

The lechon was cooked on the day of the tour so it was very fresh. 

(more…)