Conti's at Trinoma

One of my college best friends, Zarah, will be leaving for the States soon and so I organized various get togethers with our different set of friends. The first get together was with our friends from our previous work, BPI. The last time we were complete was two years ago when we celebrated Christmas. We had dinner at Conti’s at Trinoma. They decided on Trinoma because it was near to where the three of them lives. Ang daya! I live far from the place. Anyways, I enjoy going to that mall because they have bookstores and several restaurants I still have to check. It was my third time eating at Conti’s. With my first two visits, I wasn’t able to enjoy the food that much probably because I had to wait about an hour to be seated. It was at their branch at Serendra. The one at Trinoma was not at all crowded. I ordered grilled herbed pork chops with paella rice. Cher ordered chicken roulade. Almira ordered philly cheese steak. While Zarah ordered fish and chips that came with potato salad. I love herbed pork chop and their version tasted good. I actually love any types of meat cooked with herbs. Their pork chop predominantly tasted that of rosemary, which is one of my favorite herbs. The porkchop with the rice was perfect for me. I wasn’t able to taste much of the chicken roulade and I did not try the philly cheese steak. I had one of that at Pattycakes and I found it salty. Zarah’s potato salad was also creamy and delicious. For dessert, we had mango bravo and strawberry shortcake. Zarah was so satisfied with the strawberry shortcake that she was giddy about it. I’ve had mango bravo before but perhaps eating it slowly and tasting every layer of it somehow formed a fusion in my mouth. I finally understood why a lot of people were raving about it. I actually wanted to try the herb-crusted salmon but it was expensive. Perhaps, I’ll have it when E treats me to dinner next time.

Almira and Zarah

grilled herbed pork chops


chicken roulade and philly cheese steak


mango bravo and strawberry shortcake - yum, yum!

Celebration at Pancake House

Pancake House is a place close to my heart as well as with E. We met several times there while we were still dating and getting to know each other. Oh, I can’t believe I seriously wrote a cheesy statement. Oh, the heck. Anyways, for our monthsary, we decided to eat there again. It was an easy choice for two reasons: it was near my work and we were both sure that the food would be delicious. I always ordered beef tapa at PH (I love tapsilog so much!). This time though I decided to try something else and opted for Bonuan fish steak. The description said that the fish was marinated and cooked with herbs served with kangkong and salted eggs with tomatoes. E ordered pork Vienna, which was served with coleslaw. The fish steak was not that spectacular but it wasn’t bad either. The beef tapa tasted better. The pork Vienna though was really delicious especially with the sauce that came with it. The sauce was more on the sweet side. I also love ordering spaghetti at PH. Oh, and their French toast is absolutely delicious. Come to think of it, I still haven’t tried their pancakes. I guess there are still a lot to try on my next visit at PH.

Greenhils food trip

I love reading other food blogs. From one of the blogs I enjoy reading, I chanced upon a post on a resto called Peri-Peri Chicken at Greenhills which serves roasted chicken with a spicy twist. E loves spicy food so I thought of trying the place. As I’ve read, the price is quite similar to that of Kenny Rogers. It was nothing expensive or fancy so I was willing to try that place. Last Saturday, E and I headed to Greenhills after my class to have lunch and also to meet with my college friend, Mic. Mic is going to Singapore and I’ll be asking her to buy me a digicam. (My digicam broke down and so for the past two months, I had to rely on my trusty Sony Ericsson phone). It was the time to try the resto that I have been reading about. As I googled peri-peri, I learned that it is an African bird’s-eye chili. They have a set meal of ¼ chicken plus two side dishes for P170. We all ordered that. Mic ordered java rice and macaroni soup. E ordered the same rice with buttered corn and carrots. I ordered macaroni soup and mashed potatoes. We can also choose if we wanted our chicken mild or spicy. Mic had her chicken mild, while E and I ordered the ‘hot’ chicken. There were also various sauces ranging from mild to extra hot, which can be added to the chicken. E and I found the hot chicken not that spicy although when I added a little of the hot sauce, the spiciness was too much that I had to exchange chicken with E. I guess if looking for a place that serves chicken, aside from the more common Kenny Rogers, one can try this place. It can be recommended to those who love spicy foods. Although, I am more satisfied with the way I make my own version of a roasted chicken. E ordered my favorite watermelon shake. As I tasted the drink, it was too bland that I had to ask for sugar. Overall, I can rate my peri-peri experience as just the ordinary. It was nothing spectacular.

After several hours of walking and shopping, we got hungry again. Mic already left then. My brother came to join us with the shopping. He came from class so he was really hungry. As soon as we met with him, he immediately asked if we can eat first prior to the shopping. E wanted to try the Le Ching tea house because the name struck him. I love Chinese food and so I seconded the motion of eating there. I ordered siomai. E and I shared stewed beef brisket noodles with a serving of soup on the side. My brother ordered chicken with mushroom (rice topping). Then both of them ordered asado siopao. While we were eating the food, all my excitement vanished. Except for the beef brisket noodles, I didn’t like the taste of everything. Both the siopao and siomai were small in sizes. And the chicken that my brother ordered tasted awful for me. E and I both agreed that The Litte Big Chiness store that we tried at Gilmore was way better and more authentic. Le Ching tea house was not worth what we paid for.

After Greenhills, we headed for the UP fair were we had dinner at Rodic’s. I didn’t take picturse of that place but Rodic’s tapa was a far cry from the Chinese food. Not to mention, their tapsilog is one of my favorites.

Secret Recipe

I bought E a pair of Havaianas slippers as a Valentines gift (and also because he badly needed a pair of brand new slippers.) However, I got him the wrong size of slippers even if it took a really long time in contemplating the size of his foot. When he fetched me from work last Friday, we went back to Rustans Makati and had it exchanged. Unfortunately, they ran out of pairs with his size. The person there though was really helpful as he volunteered to call another Rustans branch to check if they have the size we were looking for. Thankfully Rustans at Mandaluyong still has his size. We then drove to the area and had the slippers replaced. We decided to have dinner in that mall as well so that there’ll be no need to change parking lots. We were just looking through different restos at the area. We chose a place called Secret Recipe as a lot of people were eating there. The place reminded me of Fuzion Café where they used cool colors for the interior and modern style for their tables and chairs. I enjoyed looking at the pictures at the menu that I wanted to order both rice and pasta dishes. I was eyeing the grilled herb chicken and spaghetti meatballs in their menu. I knew though that I can’t finish those both and so I have to choose only one. As always, E pretended that he wanted one of those two and so we ended up ordering those two dishes. (E always makes way in ordering the food that I wanted.) The grilled chicken tasted so good. It has a sauce that was more on the sweet side, but something which I haven’t tasted in other restos. The spaghetti meatballs did not taste anything beyond ordinary. E found it dry. Again, I ordered a chocolate shake (similar to what I ordered at Tokyo Café). And for all that we ate, we paid P495. Hmm, it was quite cheap for a resto at a pricey mall.

Secret Recipe
Level 5, Shangri-La Mall
EDSA cor Shaw Blvd

My Valetines Date

I had dinner at one of my fave resto, Kitchen, with some of my favorite officemates - Val, Jean and Pam. Kitchen is at Greenbelt 3. I ordered On Barbie's Cue (a platter of skewered chicken, pork and seafood served on a platter of rice) and Coot It! (mint iced tea).


The Kitchen
1st Level, Greenbelt 3
Makati City