That was some week in Manila. Got to catch up with former colleagues (- yes, I held a 9-to-5 in a past life), had lunches, dinners, and drinks with friends, caught two movies (- thoroughly enjoyed “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”, but was supremely bored by Pixar’s “Inside Out”), and spent precious hours with family as we said our goodbyes to an uncle…
In between, I got all my errands done, and managed to lug 44 kilos to Cebu last night (that includes three bar stools, and frozen balbacua ordered from Davao) that will be en route to Siargao in a few hours.
I also managed to gain two kilos on my person (apart from the kilos I had already put on in Siargao prior to leaving). The following may have had something to do with it:
1. The Brownie Chips, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Chips from Brownies Unlimited.
If I had discovered these sooner, I would weigh a gazillion kilos more. They’re everything I want a chocolate chip cookie to be: crunchy, buttery, and chock-full of chocolate chips. I could eat a ton of these. Seriously. The brownie chips taste like dark chocolate chip cookies. I inhaled a pack of each in one sitting, then went back to get some more! Now I know what to hoard on my next visit to Manila.
2. The Cheese Katsu, and the Creamy Spinach Katsu at Kimukatsu.
Forget Yabu. I was never a fan anyway, and my lunch at the SM Aura branch last week was a total let down. Even when the manager replaced our too-dry rosu, it was still bad. Both the first and the second katsus had exactly zero “sliver(s) of glistening fat trimming its edges”. Besides, the grammatically incorrect blog quotes by the bathroom are enough to make your stomach turn.
Go to Kimukatsu instead. (I went to the one at the Shangri-La Plaza.) The pork was succulent, and the flavors are genius! Anything battered and deep-fried definitely needs cheese in it! In it, on it, all over it. The more, the merrier!
It’s just disappointing that you cannot order extra katsus without the set meal. Is all that cabbage really necessary???
3. The Stuffed Eggplant with Pork, Yellow Bean and Hot Basil at Azuthai.
Whenever we congregate at good friend, Malu Gamboa,’s restaurants, we usually go to Cirkulo (which we fondly refer to as “The Clubhouse”) or Milky Way. Last Thursday, we ended up at Azuthai, and I’m glad we did. We had a wonderful meal! Present were all the usual suspects: Green Mango and Crispy Catfish Salad, Shrimp Cakes, Pineapple Fried Rice, Pad Thai… And then there was this: the stuffed eggplant. I loved the combination of eggplant and pork, and the sweet-saltiness of the dish. Next time, I plan to smother it all over steamed white rice…
4. The bibingka at Roast.
I never thought I’d ever recommend bibingka to anyone, mostly because I don’t eat bibingka. (It’s some sort of poofy rice cake.) Truthfully, I don’t even know what it’s supposed to taste like. But I had it yesterday at my cousin, Pia Olivares Caluag,’s cafe, and I was surprised that I liked it. My mom loved it, and she likes bibingkas so, as far as bibingkas go, it must have been good. It tasted like it had cheese in it, and salted egg… The flavors were subtle but blended very well together, and I liked the softness of the bibingka coupled with the roughness of the grated coconut. I could have had more of it but cousin-in-law, Xandra Barretto-Olivares, hogged it all.
I’m looking forward to hibernating in Siargao, but the weeks ahead are looking pretty hectic too.