TheSmilingBandit

ok .... how about we set it on a wed. (I can pick sir REMOTE at his place on my way to the bar)

C Italian Restaurant

Friendship Road, Angeles City

Complimentary Bread

The toasted bread was delicious when dipped in his pesto olive oil dipping sauce.

Panizza Kristina

The Kristina comes with Bacon, Ham, Caramelized Onions, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Mushrooms. I could have done without the ham and added more bacon, but still a delicious dish to eat.

Panizza Jando

The Jando is a simpler panizza with salami, chili flakes, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic, when wrapped with the arugula and alfalfa the taste is just exquisite.

Arugula and Alfalfa (for Panizza)

Add to the panizza, roll, and chow down.

Gnocchi Ricotta Antonio

The Gnocchi is bigger than what you can find in most Italian restaurants. The salmon is cooked about just perfectly and the sauce is tasty, but a smaller gnocchi would be better in my opinion.

shall we do a 6:thirsty soon???? this should make a great foodtrip post.

A 6:thirsty sounds good to me. I think maester Remote also wants to try this place out.

Abe's Farm Restaurant

Pampanga

This large estate owned by the LJC Group was formerly the personal resthouse of the late Mr. Cruz that was turned into a hidden resort by the LJC Group. As their forte is the restaurant business, my family and I ate there during our family outing for Mother's Day.

The restaurant part of the resort is fairly large, an open air structure cooled by nature's wind and if that fails, by gigantic fans helped by mist. The view surrounding the structure is pretty much unobstructed by man-made objects and as the dining area over-looks the pool and large gardens the view is very nice. It is decorated in the native fashion and has a very charming and relaxing ambiance.

Arobung Kamaru

A Kapangpangan specialty, this dish is made from deep-fried crickets with some slices of bird's-eye chilis. This appetizer was loved by everyone in the family except for my 14 year old nephew who called it "gross". I guess he should avoid exotic food then. The spice level is fairly low, but the taste is pretty good. As far as appetizers go, this is a must in Abe's Farm. We ended up ordering 5 of these.

Sinuteng Baby Squid

Our other appetizer was sauteed baby squid in olive oil and herbs, very tasty and delicious as well. The only complaint was the small serving size (actually it wasn't that small, its just that everyone wanted more of these), like the crickets, 5 orders were consumed pretty fast.

Binukadkad na Plapla with Balo-Balo & Mustasa

This butterflied fish was about 9 inches long, deep-fried and again, delicious. We would have ordered another except that all the other tables ordered the same thing and they ran out of fish.

Kare-Kare

A staple in Filipino cuisine, the LJC group has been making this dish for years, that said, the portion size was just too small to justify the selling price in my opinion. Of course, with decades of practice in cooking this, Abe's Farm serves an extremely good kare-kare as can be attested by the 4 orders my family consumed.

Paco Fern and Tomato Salad

One of only 2 dishes that wasn't a family favorite (although my brother and I personally liked this dish) .... could it be my family is really too carnivorous for its own good? The vegetables were fresh and the salad dressing is all you could ask for. I definitely would order this again.

Pinakbet Kapangpangan

Personally, I didn't enjoy this dish, though the vegetables were fresh, the fish and shrimp they cooked with this just tasted too bland. At the end of the night, this was the only dish that was pretty much full.

Tidtad

The Kapangpangan take on the classic dinuguan. The taste was good, though I personally found the "blood stew" to be a bit too watery for my personal preference.

Oh and yes, family of 5 adults, 1 adolescent and 1 3-year old, we are a family that can pack the food away. We also ordered 9 cups of garlic rice to accompany our meal.

Ouch, I think I gained a lot of weight.

Parilla sa Bautista

Bautista Street, Palanan, Makati City

I'd been craving for the food here for some time so I decided to eat here. I arrived fairly early just as they opened and happily ordered the grilled chicken hearts and gizzards that for me is a staple of eating here. Ooops, their purchaser hasn't returned from the market yet?

Ooookay, then let's see, oooh yeah, gimme gimme some horse tapa and the grilled squid. While I'm waiting for that I was having some very cold beers and chatting with the server(s).

I really don't know how they do it but their horse tapa is still as tender as ever. As for the grilled squid ... can I have another please? Grilled just right, right on the edge of being rubbery (but it didn't cross the boundary) and their stuffing was chopped finely (onions, tomatoes, garlic, and is that chili?) and cooked inside the squid over the high heat of the grill.

So can I have the hearts and gizzards now? Oh they are still being processed?

Hmmmm ... oooh tapang usa and tapang baboy damo please. Again the interval between ordering the food and having it served was pleasantly spent chatting with the server(s) who were wearing very nice attires (beer dresses).

The venison (usa) was tender and gamy, a bit underseasoned for my personal preference, but the smokey texture made it all worthwhile. As for the boar, okay ... soft ... yes ... tasty ... yes ... flavorful ... yes ... plenty ... no. Perhaps it was just a half portion?

Well a very pleasant couple of hours of munching and drinking and chatting has passed by, without a cigarette. This establishment is a smoke-free zone and while I'm normally a fanatical smoker, the freshly ionized air with just the hint of the grilled food making my mouth water is just ... perfect.

how about the pasta dishes ???? are they any good ??

Their take on the bolognese was interesting and flavorful, I've yet to try anything else. The 2 times I've eaten here were more of 5-thirsty drinking with some food thrown in.

There are several branches: 3 in Malate/Ermita, 1 in Las Pinas, and 1 in Quezon Ave.

I haven't tried the food myself but a friend of mine recently ate in the Q. Ave branch and they raved about the price to quantity ratio of the place.

My Fav

- Brooklyn Pizza

- Amici

- Yellow Cab

- Sicilian

 

I tried

- Pizza Hut

- Shakey's

- Carlo's Pizza

- CPK

- Don Henrico's

- Itallianis

 

Still to try

- Di' Mark's

- Bellissimo Ristorante

- Napoli's (bandang Timog)

 

PAPA John Pizza - Good dough

only in Annapolis, Rob Galleria and University Mall in Taft

D' Marks serves pretty good pizza, about par with Italianni's but at a more reasonable price.

Grills and Sizzles

Examiner Street

At first glance it looks like a nice enough place, packed to the gills and with a buffet to boot. Of course that's where the first problem comes in, where to park. However, it struck me that any place with that many guests must serve good food, so I braced myself, drove down the street and found a place to park before walking off to try this place out.

Upon entering, I immediately veered towards the buffet to see what they were offering, well I wasn't particularly impressed so DFGVan and I decided to ask the server what their specialty was. The reply was "Porterhouse Steak". Cool, I love grilled cow. I ordered my medium rare ala pobre style while DFGVan decided to go for well done with peppersauce.

The steaks come with free soup de jour, in this case, cream of corn, direct from the buffet. I'm so glad I didn't get from the buffet, the soup was very bland and the temperature was somewhere in the lukewarm stage.

Oh well, on to the steaks. My medium-rare ala pobre porterhouse looked anemic, the char marks on the outside could barely be noticed and the half-inch thick steak was obviously served immediately from the grill since the blood was running out leaving the inside tough and chewy. DFGVan's well-done looked far better, though he sent it back to have it toasted. It looked like the sole of a boot at the end and I'm not sure if he enjoyed it or not.

On a last note. If you are serving steak, specially tough steaks, please have steak knives. The rounded edge knives given to us could barely cut through the leather on my plate.

Very interesting

SLEX toll increase will begin on Tuesday, 26 April 2011.

Whee!!! This is sooo not fun.

Barracuda

Donsol, Sorsogon

Do you like dining al-fresco with the gentle breeze from the sea wafting over you as the splash of the waves on the shore provides a soothing background sound to the ambiance of the affair?

Do you like eating seafood that is so fresh that you can pick the fishes and crustaceans that you want to savor on your tongue?

Do you like having the owner/host of the restaurant discuss how you want your food prepared?

If so, look no further than Barracuda.

This beach-front restaurant is probably the height of dining pleasure in Donsol. The owner is friendly and charming, eager to provide her guests with food that is designed to please the most exacting palate. My family and I (nephew #1, brother #1, and myself) had a wonderful dinner here last night.

Tanigue Sashimi

We all know that sashimi is best served fresh, how much fresher does it get than a fish that had been killed and gutted less than 2 hours before hand? The taste is different from tuna, but the sheer freshness may have to do with the dining enjoyment of this dish.

Grilled Prawns

Huge prawns (easily 12 inches long and maybe 250 grams each) shelled, deveined, and butterflied, grilled to perfection and then set on a plate with an olive-oil and toasted garlic dip. The freshly caught prawns brings its own saltiness to the dish and the mixed pink/white/green/black peppercorns makes this a must-try.

Grilled Fish

There are many options, all of which are presented for the diners to choose which one they will eat. Due to the extreme freshness, the various fishes will generally taste the same, varying only slightly from each other for texture.

Chilled Crabs

Steamed mangrove crabs that is then frozen provides an excellent appetizer to go with the various cocktails served here.

Pasta Pesto

Fresh Basil, extra-virgin olive oil, and roasted cashews provide an excellent sauce for the spaghetti.

As a side note, be prepared to spend close to two thousand pesos each here (with wine, with no wine the prices drop to about 1500 per pax). The prices are pretty high, but then again, there are often a bevy of attractive foreigners here that are very easy to approach and chat with. We met 4 lovely Americans and an equally lovely French lass who was celebrating her 19th birthday alone doing whale watching, needless to say, we invited her to sit with us as my brother is fluent in French. If you are open to being very friendly, you might leave here with more than a great dinner.

In Donsol, near the firefly watching jump-off point (the one farther from the bridge), there's a small cantina that serves ALL YOU CAN EAT prawns (4 inches or more without the head), shrimp (below 4 inches), and crab. Unlimited rice, and other viands such as adobadong chicken and pork, shark and manta ray.

All for the low, low price of 350 per head.

I was unable to take pictures as I was too busy eating. Ambiance-wise this place is a zero, its basically a shack with a large, very large, table in the center and lots of chairs, you tell the cook what you want to eat among the options given (fairly limited), and they will serve it.

I was with my nephew when we ate here, needless to say, we went all-out on the prawns and crabs (steamed alive and served immediately), your only options for sauces are the standard patis, suka, and toyo (fish sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce) with the ubiquitous siling labuyo (birds-eye chili). Of course, if you are prepared for bear, you can bring your own butter and garlic to make your personal butter-garlic sauce.

My 14 year old #1 nephew demolished something to the quantity of 18 prawns and 6 crabs. I got stuffed with 12 prawns and 9 crabs. All-in-all a pretty good place to go to pig out.

Tago-Tago Restaurant

Legaspi City

This large establishment is pretty hard to find, its secluded but nice. Thanks to maester DFGVan for telling me about this place.

Its very large and secluded. There are lots of rooms, some of which are pretty well hidden by the twisted paths in this place. Very nice to visit and eat in, now if only they'd invest in anti-fly devices, it'd be perfect.

Kilawin Tanigue

Large chunky slices of tanigue in a semi-spicy vinegar solution, delicious and tasty.

Grilled Blue Marlin Belly

Normally I wouldn't order blue marlin since an undercooked one can lead to all sorts of stomach distress, that said, let's just say that the marlin here is cooked at an almost perfect level of doneness, not dry, but without that slimy feeling that undercooked marlin has. The freshness of the marlin is also without question.

My only complaint is that the chef should have added some more flavoring to the marlin aside from its own natural salty flavor.

Grilled Squid

Done to a perfection, not rubbery but just right. All parts of the squid were cooked to perfection, the stuffing of onions, garlic, tomatoes, and carrots were cooked well and mixed with fresh basil and mint before being stuffed into the squid giving this dish a refreshing flavor.

Wild Duck

Wild duck is a gamey dish, the muscles are exercised by the creature so the meat is significantly tastier than chicken. Pretty good all around.

Lugang

Connecticut Street, Greenhills

I had an early dinner here with some friends yesterday. I wouldn't exactly say that we over-ordered, however all of us were rolling out afterwards.

For starters we had their Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao and their Crab & Pork Xiao Long Bao (this one had crab roe mixed with the pork). Is there a difference in flavor, yes, albeit very subtle. As you can see from the picture, one of the people was unable to stop munching long enough for me to take a decent picture.

Is it good? Yes.

Have I had better? Yes.

Their Spicy Beef Tendon Noodle Soup is supposed to be good for 3 people. Well, its not, at least not if you are ordering other food items, then its good for 4 (maybe five if you really want to push the issue.) Its not really spicy (well at least not for me), though one of my companions did say it made her tongue tingle. The others, not really ... I would say push up the spice level by a notch, or two. The flat noodles were cooked well, and the stock was tasty. One question though ... where's the tendon?

The Pineapple Fried Rice is pretty flavorful and delicious, again, if you are ordering a lot of other items, though they claim its good for 3, we filled 5 bowls with this. The subtle flavorings mix well with almost anything else you'd care to order.

Stir-Fry Beef with Chili Peppers, okay, I must admit, we ordered this in the hope of getting some heat, however, despite the name and despite the appearance, the Chinese Dried Chili's didn't quite disperse its flavor and heat to the stir-fry beef. Don't get me wrong, the beef was tasty ... but ... zero heat ... as in none ... nada ... nyet ... non ... wala.

The Three Pot Chicken was a disappointment for most of us. The chicken was overcooked and dry on the inside. The flavor mix on the exterior of the chicken was pretty tasty though.

How can you go wrong with Fried Prawns? Well, at least not here in Lugang. The prawns disappeared faster than anything else on the table. Its like eating prawn tempura, except that its been butterflied and deveined. Definitely a good choice.

Thanks for your comments, Sir TheSmilingBandit. The bank has an approved term loan for the buyers, with the property in question mortgaged for the purpose. Thus the bank guarantees release of the loan proceeds to us upon presentation (by us to the bank) for the bank's annotation of mortgage on the new title in the name of the buyers. A bank escrow stipulated in the MoA would certainly be to our best interest as the sellers. But is a bank escrow applicable under these circumstances?

The problem is that the buyers are using your property as their mortgage, if they default, with the title in their name, and no escrow, your property becomes the property of the bank and the buyers are free and clear. You lose everything without any recourse to legal help.

Your best bet is to have the bank appraise your property and put that amount loaned into escrow to be released to you upon transfer of the title or upon default of the payment of the buyer or 2 months, whichever comes first. Then have your buyer pay you the balance of the selling price BEFORE transfering the title.

Need legal advise. I bought a unit at GA Skysuite (EdSA corner Q.Ave.), Which is own by Delfin Lee. Since October last year it has been a stale project. I were told to continue the monthly instalement to RCBC who have acquire the project. RCBC told me this project is under due deligence by a developer and will have decision by end of march. Now its april and it seems no movement still on the project. Again RCBC told me no decision yet by the developer. I want to stop my religiously monthly payment to RCBC but afraid all payment made will be loss, since I don't have contracts with RCBC but to GA, which they denounce all responsiblity regarding the GA skysuit. WHAT DO I DO TO RECOVER THE PAYMENT? or just continue paying? TIA

Is that project even being continued??? Check with the HLURB.

Would appreciate your advice on this - a company is interested in acquiring our property in Gen Santos and has proposed to pay P500K cash and the balance covered by a bank guarantee on the balance when we present (to the bank) the title of the property already transferred to the name of the buyer (the bank's client). How can I protect our interests in this transaction, considering I have to execute an absolute deed of sale to transfer the title to the buyers name but have received only P500K in cash? The bank guarantee proforma is letter of assurance of payment of the balance only upon transfer of title to the buyer (the bank's client).

Execute the MoA but instead of a bank guarantee, have them put the money in an escrow account to be released to you upon completion of the transaction.

anyone who have tried Balkan Express?

 

i believe they serve Serbian dishes.. it's located in Little Baguio San Juan..

The food is pretty decent albeit not often in the taste buds of most of the people here. I like eating here once in a while, now if only I remember to pre-order the good food.

Buffalo Wings and Things

This small resto in the Ortigas Home Depot Complex was where I took my beloved with my number one nephew for supper. The ambiance was so-so, though admittedly, the fact that their waitresses were in hot-pants (really short shorts) is a major plus for me.

This American inspired resto's specialty is of course, buffalo wings, the texture of which was delightfully firm and moist. The down side? Well their sauces didn't quite hang on to the chicken. There are several flavors for the wings. Garlic-Parmesan and Honey BBQ for those that are not willing to go on the heat scale, and for the braver souls that want to see how far they can go on the Scoville test can try anything from mild up to nuclear and even go on to Armageddon. I found my limit at nuclear, and its not one I want to reach again anytime soon (at least not without milk to help me out).

In addition to the wings they also have slider type burgers, franks, nachos, and fries.

The food is okay, for a snack, but after eating it, I still felt empty inside. Maybe I should have had rice with them wings.

Buffalo Wings and Things

This small resto in the Ortigas Home Depot Complex was where I took my beloved with my number one nephew for supper. The ambiance was so-so, though admittedly, the fact that their waitresses were in hot-pants (really short shorts) is a major plus for me.

This American inspired resto's specialty is of course, buffalo wings, the texture of which was delightfully firm and moist. The down side? Well their sauces didn't quite hang on to the chicken. There are several flavors for the wings. Garlic-Parmesan and Honey BBQ for those that are not willing to go on the heat scale, and for the braver souls that want to see how far they can go on the Scoville test can try anything from mild up to nuclear and even go on to Armageddon. I found my limit at nuclear, and its not one I want to reach again anytime soon (at least not without milk to help me out).

In addition to the wings they also have slider type burgers, franks, nachos, and fries.

The food is okay, for a snack, but after eating it, I still felt empty inside. Maybe I should have had rice with them wings.

hey you didn't tell me about this one ..... what type of food do they serve here ???

Very nice Euro style cuisine.

Tried the D'Marks pizza recently after 2 decades of not eating there.

Who'd have thunk it? The darned thing actually DID improve.

Torch on Connecticut has a very impressive menu selection and the food is generally pretty good and tasty. On the other hand, the prices are a wee bit on the high side, but the quality is 2 thumbs up for me.

Last night

Do you prefer vegetables or meats?

Of course maester

Want to come along?