Toast Box

the food

Nasi Lemak

the menu

Location: Trinoma in Quezon City
My Take: The place is a bit cozy - maybe coz of the lights. It's a small place beside Bread Talk and Gourdo's in Trinoma, which serves Asia cuisine - Indonesian, Singaporean. It has a 'pay as you order' scheme. You could actually watch them prepare your food. We had Nasi Lemak, their best seller,which is a combination of chicken, egg, anchovies and rice cooked in coconut milk with iced tea that tastes like tea from a teabag. My verdict? It's too pricey for PhP 219.00 - small serving, you can actually get better taste from other resto. Well, to be fair, the anchovies taste good. But all in all, it's not a place where I would eat if I want to have Asian inspired cuisine.. Good thing, the dinner's free! Haha! :)

Little Tokyo

the place

me enjoyin' the ramen

Hana (one of the restos)

the view from the outside

asparagus with bacon

ramen

curry tonkatsu rice

cheese-somethin. this tastes good!

chinese style chicken

italian style chicken

bonsai

japanese guy cooking takoyaki

takoyaki

Location: Between Amorsolo and Pasong Tamo (just beside Makati Cinema Square)

Place: It actually looks like a li'l Jap town within Makati. Cozy ambiance, really a Japanese themed place.
Although, the view from outside is a busy street - it's afterall, almost along Pasay Rd. And MCS is not really that kind of mall you see within Makati (if you know what I mean). But the strip of Japanese restos outside really looks inviting, that I guess, I will surely try one of these days. Once you enter and walk inside Little Tokyo, you'll have a lot of choices - more of like a food park that comes with doors. They have a common restroom which I find not too nice. :P The place is secluded, you wouldn't actually know it exists! The chefs are authentic Japanese, and the servers are Filipino. No, I don't mean anything with that. :D

My Take: The food's great. I love the takoyaki (it's main ingredient is octopus).. Its PhP100 per order (6 balls on a plate).. not bad.. I was craving for some maki, but, for heaven's sake, Hana, the resto where we ate, doesn't serve any. But I think, that's a good one. At least, we got to try other Jap food. Afterall, cali maki is available in almost all Jap restos I usually go to. Anyway, my boyfriend and I actually ordered a lot. I think, enouh to feed 3-5 persons. Haha! But, what the heck? I had a long day at work, and besides, I WAS really hungry that time. :P The cheese something (sorry, I forgot the name) is so yummy. I mean, one should try it when you go to Hana. And, yes, even if we were in a Japanese resto, we ordered Italian and Chinese style chicken, which actually tastes so good. I don't like curry, so I didn't really enjoy the curret tonkatsu rice. I loved the ramen, with all the generous ingredients, I think it's worth your PhP 180. The asparagus with bacon is just the normal asparagus with bacon, only better coz of the Japanese sauce they used.
All the ingredients, I think, are authentic... IF not, for sure, of high quality. I loved what they did with the cabbage as the side dish. I don't normally eat cabbage or coleslaw, but I loved the way they prepared it. It is delicious. I noticed, too, that they love using ginger, but not the usual ginger we see. It's actually orange, which I thought was carrot, but it turned out it's ginger. It's not too strong and it really blends well with the food's taste. I was actually sooo full afterwards. Imagine eating (or tasting) different dishes for dinner. BUT the good thing is, it won't actually leave you that guilty and bloated feeling. Weird, but nice. :)
The price is ok, not too pricey, I think. Coz for all that we ordered, it cost us Php 1400.

Sonya's Garden

dessert - sweetened kamote

dessert - turon

yummy chocolate cake

taragon tea

for pasta

for pasta

dips

bread

salad

my messy salad :P

Location: Batangas (Just outside Tagaytay)

Place: Cozy, peaceful, quiet. They have big space for plants, people and photo-ops - whatever that means. Anyway, it's a nice get away for healthy (and I mean, healthy, organic) food trip or spa or overnight (they have bed and breakfast). It's peaceful, serene and is definitely a place for rejuvenation and relaxation.

Price: The buffet costs PhP 610.00. Eat all you can salad, pasta, dalanghita juice, bread, dips, dessert (except for the choco cake).

My Take: If you're a heavy eater - meaning, you love meat, meat and less veggies, then this place is not for you. But if you want to just try out a different kind of menu, then buffet at Sonya's is a must try. Believe me, even if you eat a lot, you won't have the guilt-feeling afterwards. Afterall, you'll be eating all organic, all healthy food. :)

Jatujak

Thai Resto

Fish Fillet - they didn't tell us that it was catfish. :(

Eggplant salad

Bagoong Rice

Chicken Satay

Spring rolls

Mint and Lemongrass Iced Tea and the weird but yummy Thai Iced tea

the place

Location: SM MOA
My verdict: Nice, clean place. We were the only customers left since we went in at almost their closing time (after my christmas shopping! haha!). They were nice enough to still accommodate us. But mind you, though it was almost closing time, the food's still fresh and hot. So, that's already a 'plus' point for them. The crew were accommodating and nice, though I can sense that they want to shue us away coz they have to clean up and close the resto. Seriously, though, the food's great. I love the Thai iced tea - in a biiig glass full of ice. Haha! It tastes weird, but it's nice. More of like sago't gulaman, but still, different. The eggplant salad is a winner for me. I love it's sour-vinegar-y taste and the hard boiled eggs balanced the taste. The satay and the spring rolls and the bagoong rice are also delicious. The fish fillet is also a winner, but I got surprised that they used catfish. I don't eat catfish. And I don't intend to taste one coz of a horrible story I heard about catfish. :( But nevertheless, it's ok. It's actually yummy. But if you ask me, the next time I order fish - I may have to ask first the type of fish they use. :)
The price: Just right.

Royce Chocolates

Chocolate is one of my weaknesses. I could pass up a full meal for a bar of chocolate. Now that's exaggerated. Anyway, from local to imported chocs, to plain, milk, dark, with nuts, fruits, mint, nougat, orange.. anything, for as long as it's chocolate... chocolate-chocolate, or chocolate ice cream, cake, pastries, drink, chips. Anything. Ok, did I say I love chocolate?

Anyway, I've tasted different kinds of chocolate- from Japanese to Swiss to American. I couldn't say that I am an expert, but i sure can recommend one gooood chocolate. Royce. There are a lot of variety to choose from. There's nama (my favorite - there's mild cacao, white, bitter, champagne, etc), potato chips (yes, chocolate flavored), chocolate bars, square type (sooo addicting), and many others.

To date, Royce is only available in Singapore (Takashimaya mall) and Japan. I think it's also available in HK, I'm not sure. One nama chocolate costs 14 SGD.

Currently, there's this Japanese store in Connecticut in Greenhills that sells Royce... I've also read in the paper that Royce store will be opening in Rockwell. Not sure when though....

other afforda-meals

craving for rice and some grilled stuff? or maybe the ever favorite tapsilog? then check this out:

mang inasal

my bf after ordering. haha!

rufo's tapa - i love the tapa they sell. not your typical beef tapa. it's the tapa with a twist.. well, with sauce, that is.. the one in makati still has the old carinderia type, but mind you, they already have computerized way of getting your orders and listing down your bill. sosyal. i just hate their service, though.

chiggy's

if you're up to biiig servings of liempo (thus, the name 'jumbo liempo') and rice, then try chiggy's. at affordable prices, you're sure to get the satisfaction you want. you'll be full in no time. perfect for lunch, dinner, and maybe, after having some booze. haha!

kopiroti

nope, this ain't the bun. but this tastes good, too.

the concept originated from singapore for the coffee buns and the type of coffee they sell. i love the buns, especially if it's hot from the oven. not too sweet, not to salty coz of the butter. just right. pair it up with coffee. perfect for afternoon snack. too bad, i don't have a picture of the coffee bun. tsk.

burg-errr!

i love burgers. i suddenly remember this documentary about fast food chains shown a few years back. now it makes me feel guilty....

anyway, i can't really say where to find the best burger in town. so i'll let you decide.

wham! mushroom burger (in tagaytay)
hotshots
brother's burger
burger machine (yes, hahaha!)
burger king (whopper jr!!!)
wendy's (the size is smaller now. darn it!)
mcdonald's (cheeseburger)
jollibee (spicy chicken burger with cheese, please!)
kfc (i love the zinger!)
gram's diner (the all american burger is delicioso!)
any other suggestions?

where to find siopao?

there are a lot of siopao-an sprouting around. i can deal with the siopao from 711 or mini-stop. even if there's siopao-scare (they say that the meat inside is made out of cats!), i don't really care. i mean, for as long as you trust the store that sells them, i guess, one has nothing to worry about... here are the places where you can eat good (and safe) siopao:

chowking
hen lin (i guess, their siomai's better)
kowloon house
ma mon luk
manosa in binondo (hmmm, i think the pansit's better, too)
PVL in mandaluyong city - they claim to have the biggest siopao in town. for PhP 120, you'll be able to feed 6 or more people. and the taste is not bad at all. :)

turning japanese, chinese, korean.. and oh, pinoy!

i love jap food. as i've posted in one of my entries, i love going to saisaki for jap food. but i also like eating in other jap restos around, such as:

sushi-ya
tempura
teriyaki boy
tokyo tokyo

i love asian food, and there's grill asia in tomas morato that i love, too. kaya restaurant for korean cuisine.

for chinese food, i recommend the ff:

mann hann
north park
luk yu wen
superbowl of china
buddha
mandarin wok
good earth (well, i think this is more of a combo of asian and other cuisines)
won ton (in promenade in greenhills - winner!)
president's (main resto and dimsum house in binondo, manila)

for other good filipino dishes - there's C2 Classic Cuisine in Rockwell (their lumpiang lucena and bicol express are great), and KKK in west ave., kalye juan, via mare (their longsilog is great!), RSM in tagaytay and laguna, leslie's in tagaytay (their bulalo with refillable soup's the best!), josephine's also in tagaytay and many many many others.

Salt and Pepper

location: Rufino St., Makati City
place: modern
my take: at first i thought it's expensive here, but when i saw the ad that says 40% off from 3PM onwards, i thought to myself - not bad afterall. the food's ok, too. the place is hip, modern and neat.