It will be located in Greenbelt 1, beside Pancake House. It opens Mid- November.

Get ready for the crispiest chicken ever, Manila! and get ready for the long lines too!

I have not been able to visit the exact location yet! But here’s something to look forward to!

Bonchon Chicken NYC

CRU Entrance

CRU Restaurant in Marriott is the latest steakhouse to hit Manila. It actually serves as the fine dining restaurant of Marriott Hotel in Newport City so you should be dressed quite properly if you plan on going there. Since it was my birthday, we had an excuse to dine and try this luxurious restaurant. I have been hearing raves about their specialty: the US Prime Beef.

Inside CRU

The Fridge

Open kitchen

We were impressed the moment we reached the place. The lights were dim and most of the stuff they used is color red. The place exudes a certain level of warmth which makes the guests feel at ease, thanks to the seemingly comfortable booths with couches and individual cushioned lounge chairs.

Complimentary bread

They gave us complimentary bread which we loved! The spinach bread was so soft inside and crunchy outside you could tell how fresh it was. The bread also came with sour cream spread and butter but we agreed that the former was more delicious.

For starters we decided to have

Beefsteak Tomato (P520)

Beefsteak Tomato Confit

First of all, there is no beef in this dish. They call it as such because of the way they cook it. The tomato had a sweet and a hint of sour taste which our taste buds liked. The taste of feta cheese and the pesto blended perfectly well with the tomatoes. Though I was delighted with this dish, I find it overpriced.

For our main course we had:

Basil Crusted Sea Bass (P1,100)

Basil Crusted Sea bass

I was surprised with this big serving. Most of the fine dining restaurants servings of fish are small but this was huge. The skin was really crunchy and the lemon butter sauce was perfect with the fish! However, it lacked the melt in your mouth sensation so we are surmising that they did not use Chilean Sea bass. We also enjoyed the creaminess of the whipped potato.

USDA Prime Rib-eye 350 grams (P2400)

USDA Prime Rib Eye 350g

This was not our initial choice. We were supposed to try CRU’s Siganture Super prime Wisconsin beef which is aged for 21 days but we were surprised when the waiter told us it was no longer available because a lot of guests commented that they don’t really taste the difference between the USDA Prime Rib-eye and the Super Prime Wisconsin Beef. They have replaced it with Wagyu Steaks but I prefer USDA Prime Rib-Eye because Wagyu Steaks are a bit bland for my taste.

Even though we did not get to taste the Super Prime Wisconsin Beef, we were not disappointed with our order at all. The steak was cooked perfectly (medium), it was very tender and tasty. We suggest that you don’t put on any steak sauce to fully savor the flavor of the beef. The steak also comes with two side dishes and we chose Black Truffle Risotto and the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms.

The Black Truffle Risotto was delicious but we prefer Bistecca’s Truffle Fries because it has stronger smell and taste.

Black Truffle Risotto and Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

The grilled Portobello mushroom is something unique. It was so soft and had a tangy flavor.

If there are special occasions, do not hesitate to tell the staff because they will surprise you with something! The staff sang a Birthday Song and gave me a whole cake! Most of the restaurants only give a slice of cake for the birthday celebrants. I was impressed and happy!

Complimentary Cake

FFFFF- 5F’s for insanely delicious USDA Prime Rib and Impeccable service!

My fiancé and I decided to head to Paranaque last week to visit our friend who owns Food de Sentosa, an authentic Singaporean restaurant along Aguirre Avenue. Food de Sentosa’s façade is nothing gaudy, its interior is far from what you see in restaurants located in luxurious places in Manila but there’s definitely something about Food de Sentosa that will make people’s visit worth the while.

Food de Sentosa

The chef is the owner himself who happens to be a Singaporean, so visitors are already guaranteed with an authentic Singaporean taste. The staff is very accommodating and service is quick, so you wouldn’t have to worry about your growling stomach.

Here’s what we ordered:

Hainanese Chicken (Small, P150)

Hainanese Chicken

I am a Hainanese Chicken fan and this reminded me of the Hainanese chicken rice I used to eat in Singapore. The chicken meat was tender and juicy, which makes this a winner among all the Hainanese chicken I have tried in Manila. The sauce was effin’ great too! The soy sauce had a hint of sesame oil and the mix of ginger and spicy sauce was just heavenly. No doubt, this has become one of their best sellers!

Lamb Curry (Small P200)

Lamb Curry

The curry sauce was a bit oily but we didn’t mind at all. Big chunk of potatoes blended perfectly well with the lamb. This is best eaten with plain rice if you want to fully savor the taste of the sauce. The lamb didn’t have a fishy smell at all although I wanted the meat to be softer.

Mee Goreng with Lamb (Small, P135)

Mee Goreng with Lamb

This dish is another personal favorite. I think we finished this in about ten minutes. The noodles were very fragrant. The egg, tomatoes and lamb added flavor to this dish. You can tell the staff how spicy you want it to be.

Nasi Goreng (Small  P125)

nasi Goreng

Tasty and flavorful rice with fresh prawns. Never mind the carb overload.

Prawn Cereal (P395)

Prawn Cereal

A different take on prawns but we loved it. The prawns were huge and fresh. We loved the taste of the prawns fried with egg and curry leaves.

Oyster Cake (P250)

We neglected to take a picture of our last dish but this is a must try. It’s not your typical oyster cake because the oysters are separated from the cake and is placed on top of it instead. What makes this dish great is the freshness of the oysters which gives pretty damn good taste. According to the owner, their oysters are delivered fresh everyday.

Milk Tea (P55)

Nai Cha

First of all, the taste is nothing like Bubble Tea or Serenitea or other sprouting milk tea places in Metro Manila. Their tea has a more bitter taste which makes it very authentic. From the taste I can tell that it is thicker than other milk teas. What I love about this is the black jelly topping, perfect with milk tea!

Air bundung (P40)

Air Bundung

No, this is not strawberry milk tea. It’s actually rose flavored milk tea and it’s pretty good but it is an acquired taste because some people may not be used to the flowery smell of the drink.

Food de Sentosa offers its customers  great and authentic dining experience. This has been our second time to visit the place and yet it does not fail to excite our taste buds. We would definitely go back to try other dishes.

FFFFF- for authentic Singaporean food, great service!

Food de Sentosa

298 Aguirre Avenue

BF Homes

In front of Puregold Jr.

My friend took me and my parents to Casa Mono for a light dinner during our 3^rd night in NYC. The ambience of Casa Mono is very quaint and it exudes a laid back feeling once you are inside.  With dim lights and candles, it is a great place to unwind after an exhausting day in the City.

Casa Mono is one of the many restaurants co-owned by famous chef and restaurateur Mario Batali. It has also been awarded by the Michelin Guide with one star. Staff of Casa Mono is very accommodating and attentive.

Inside Casa mono

For our dinner we ordered:

Scallops with Tomatillos con Pepitas ($16)

with Tomatillos con Pepitas

Four huge fresh scallops grilled perfectly. It was truly delectable. The taste of cherry tomatoes blended perfectly with the scallops.

Foie Gras with Cinco Cebollas ($19)

Foie Gras with Cinco Cebollas

Casa Mono’s Foie Gras is by far the best I have ever tasted.  This dish was served with a crostini bread, leeks and red onions drizzled with a sweet soy sauce. The taste of the liver is really there but there was no fishy smell at all. This dish is best eaten by taking a small slice of everything (duck liver, bread, leeks and onions) and eating them together. I felt like I was Remy from Ratatouille while eating this dish because of the music and fireworks in my mind.

Pork Belly with Sweet Corn and Sandia ($16)

Foie Gras with Cinco Cebollas

This is Casa Mono’s own version of Liempo. We all loved it because the pork was tender and it wasn’t oily. They used sweet corn and blended it making it into a dip. This dish is interesting because it’s not the usual Liempo or lechon kawali we eat in Manila.

Cod Cheeks Pil Pil with Sea Bass and Black Garlic ($18)

Cod Cheeks Pil Pil with Sea Bass and Black Garlic ($18)

We did not like this one much. It was half cooked and there was a strong fishy smell.

Patatas Bravas ($9)

Patatas Bravas

This served as our side dish. Patatas Bravas are actually potato wedges sautéed in sauce that tasted like Bolognese. It was a bit salty for my taste.

Duck Breast with Peach Mostaza ($19)

Duck Breast with Peach Mostaza

The taste of the Duck was wonderful. It was soft, succulent, and scrumptious. I wanted more!

Lamb with Harissa and Pickled Peppers ($16)

Lamb with Harissa and Pickled Peppers

The Lamb was actually delicious but my mom and I found it too raw. If it was a little bit more cooked, it could have been perfect. No fishy smell at all, and we love how they use mint leaves instead of mint jelly.

Casa Mono

52 Irving Place

New York, New york

The most popular dish of the Halal Cart is the $6 platter. The platter includes yellow basmati rice, lettuce, slices of pita bread and your choice of meat (chicken or lamb). The platter also comes with a white sauce which I believe is a combination of yogurt and mayonnaise.

Since we stayed at Hilton hotel during our visit in NYC, we decided to line up and try the Halal Rice Platter. We ordered Chicken rice and Lamb rice and brought it back to the hotel.

Halal Chicken Rice

The chicken was very tender and tasty. It had a strong smell of pepper which I loved. The white sauce was also good. It had a hint of sour taste because of the yogurt which tastes perfectly delicious with the chicken.

Halal Lamb Rice

The lamb was also full of flavor but I found it a little bit salty so you really have to eat rice with it. I prefer the chicken over lamb. The pita was also good and it is best eaten with the white sauce.

Halal rice platter is so much better than eating take out Chinese food in New York. The only thing I don’t like about the rice platter is that it is oily. It is something you cannot eat everyday or else you’ll end up in the hospital for high blood.

FFFF

Halal Food Cart

53rd street and 6th ave,

Manhattan, NY

Boka proudly serving Bonchon Chicken

My friend took me to Boka near St. Mark’s Place in NYC to try the famous South Korean Chicken. There are two flavors which you can choose from: Soy Garlic or Spicy. You can also choose the part you want, either wings or drumsticks or you can opt to have combination of both. We decided to order 15 pcs. chicken combination (10 pcs. wings, 5 pcs. drumsticks) and half and half for the flavor.

Bonchon Menu

The first piece I got was a soy garlic drumstick. It was indeed the crunchiest chicken I have ever eaten. It was so crispy even my parents, who are not really fans of fried chicken loved it and they were also raving about how juicy the chicken was. Yes, you can see the juice coming out as you bite it. The mix of soy garlic flavor gave the chicken strong aroma.

Bonchon Chicken

My mom usually worries that fried chicken cooked in restaurants are half cooked and you can tell if it is when there is blood, but she was happy to eat “Bonchon Chicken” because it was cooked perfectly and that’s another thing that we love about “Bonchon Chicken”. I also didn’t mind eating wings because they were actually quite big.

For spicy food lovers, you will surely be addicted to the Spicy Bonchon because the sauce coated in the chicken is so flavorful.

Eating Bonchon Chicken will make you feel you can easily win in a chicken eating contest. You can get really hooked to it because it’s not your typical fried chicken. Even though the price is quite expensive (about $20 for the combination of 15 pcs. chicken) it is worth a try and I must say it’s worth going back to.

FFFFF- 5F’s for the best fried chicken in the world.

If you are planning to visit NYC, be sure to add Boka St. Mark’s in your list of must try restaurants.

Boka

9 St. Mark’s Place

(between 3rd Ave & Astor Pl)
New York, NY 10003
Neighborhood: East Village

Bistecca is the newest steak place to hit town. I have a friend who dined at Bistecca recently and was disappointed so last week I decided to eat there and see for myself.

Bistecca

Bistecca has a very nice and intimate interior which makes it a candidate for a perfect date place. I specifically liked the high ceiling and the recycled bottle chandeliers.  However, one thing I noticed is that they have very poor acoustics since it can get very noisy and this will make you forget that you’re in a fine dining restaurant and not in a Chinese restaurant.

For starters, we decided to have:

Cream of Asparagus soup (P250)

It was creamy and tasty but sadly, it reminded me of Campbell’s soup. So this makes you wonder, is it really worth the price? Hmm.. Guess not!

Cream of Asparagus

My friend who previously dined at Bistecca told me that they ordered the Bistecca 121 which is good to 2-4 persons (1 kilo of steak) and was able to eat only half of it so we concluded that it will be too much for us if we order the same since there were only two of us. My friend also complained that their steak was a bit dry and hard.

For the main entrée:

We decided to have USDA Prime Rib Eye (P2100)

Prime Rib Eye

Prime Rib Eye

We asked the waiter to split this into two. The doneness of our steak was medium. It was juicy, tender and perfectly delicious. Based on their menu, this entrée is just good for one, but this can get you pretty stuffed already, plus you don’t want to miss out the must try side dishes!

For our side dishes we had:

Truffle Fries (P220)

Truffle Fries

This picture doesn’t do justice to extraordinary taste of truffle fries. It was indeed heavenly. The fragrant smell of truffle was so strong I could smell it even before the waiter placed it on our table. Effin’ must try at Bistecca. I’m seriously thinking of going back to Bistecca to take out some Truffle fries soon!

Cheese Spatzle (P220)

Bistecca’s own version of Macaroni and Cheese. It was very cheesy and I liked how they included onions in it. It had a strong butter flavor and it felt like you were eating cheese noodles. It was also good but I think it was too oily.

Cheese Spatzle

Chocolate Molten Cake (P300)

The combination of chocolate cake and real strawberry fruit was good, but I think this is not worth the price. You can just go to other dessert place that will cost you less!

Molten Chocolate Cake

FFFFF- For its delicious steak and truffle fries!

FFFF- Overall, I think lack of consistency is the cause behind Bistecca’s mixed reviews. They can really cook quality steaks if only they learn how to maintain their consistency.  Their Steaks can be quite pricey so it’s just right to give back to customers what they are paying for.

Bistecca

G/F Joya Rockwell

Oakroom is the coffee shop of Oakwood and I was surprised with Oakroom’s ambience. The place has a lot of Victorian inspired couches, and the warm yellow lights set a relaxing mood to its diners.

For starters we decided to have:

Buffalo Wings with bleu cheese dip (P280)

Buffalo Wings

I wanted to eat Buffalo Wings badly last week so when I saw this on their menu, I did not let the opportunity pass. However, it was kind of a disappointment. The serving was small and the taste was just ordinary. Yellow Cab’s chicken wings are way better than this. I guess I was expecting a more spicy, flavorful and rich-in-barbeque sauce chicken wings.

For our main dishes we had:

Classic Double Double Burger (595++)

Classic Double Double Burger

I think among all the burgers, this was really the specialty of the house. The Classic Double Double has 2 grilled beef patties, swiss cheese, smoked ham, bacon and onion rings. These combinations made this burger a real champ!

Classic Double Double Burger

GIF Sliders (410++)

GIF sliders is a sampler trio of Greek, French and Italian burgers. Out of the three, I liked the Greek Burger the most because of the lamb patty. There was no fishy smell from the lamb patty at all. The French burger was also good, and compared to the Italian and Greek Burgers, this was very rich in sauce. The sauce tasted like Bolognese sauce which I loved, and top it off, my French Burger had Foie Gras in it! I did not like the Italian Burger because they used Panini instead of bun and the burger patty tasted like sausage and I prefer eating sausages without bread.

GIF Sliders

FFFF-Personally, I am not really a fan of burgers but I can say that I enjoyed my burger experience at Oakroom. They not only have variety, but they are quality burgers because they use real beef patties. If they decide to have another event like this next year, I would definitely go back.

Last Sunday, I was craving for Hainanese Chicken Rice so I suggested that we try Malacca Asian Restaurant for our Sunday family dinner. Malacca has been operating since 2008 but this was my first time to dine at this place. There were few people inside the restaurant, maybe because it was Sunday and Jupiter is usually quiet on weekends.

Bah Kut Teh is my mom’s favorite so we decided to go for this one for our appetizer. The Chinese herbs gave a very strong flavor but it wasn’t bitter at all. The meat was tender and my mom loved it. My mom is very critical when it comes to food but I can tell Bah Kut Teh surpassed her standards with flying colors. I suggest you order this one when dining at Malacca because aside from its tasty flavor, Bah Kut Teh is also known for its health benefits.

Bah Kut Teh (P380)

Bah Kut teh

Roti with Curry Dip (180)

Their Roti reminded me of Kashmir’s Roti which is delicious. The Roti itself was scrumptious I did not really need the curry dip.

Roti with curry dip

Curry Laksa (P250)

Their Curry Laksa was great and is definitely 100% better than Wild Ginger. It contained big prawns. You can taste the curry flavor but it wasn’t too spicy because the coconut milk gave it a little bit of sweet taste.  In addition, the right amount of thickness of the soup made it really appetizing!

Curry Laksa

Hainanese Chicken (P250)

The chicken was juicy but is still nothing like the ones you eat in Singapore. The sauce for the Hainanese chicken wasn’t great too. The ginger sauce lacked fragrance and the chili sauce wasn’t spicy at all.

Hainanese Chicken

Prawn Curry (P550)

Six huge pieces of prawns! I loved this dish because it had variety. They included vegetables to go with the prawns.

FFFF- If you’re sick and tired of the same old restaurants in malls, Malacca would be a good place to go. They have variety of dishes and price isn’t bad at all. Asian food junkies will definitely like this place!

Malacca Asian Restaurant

Ground Floor, Jupiter Place

136 Jupiter Street

Makati City

Here are two sure hits when dining at Cucina Victoria:

Pollo Cremoso (P295)

You can have it either with rice or pasta. I chose to have it with rice but I must say pasta would be more suitable with this meal because of the heavy cream. It had a strong smell of cheese, the chicken cubes were very juicy and the mushrooms added flavor to the sauce. I just wish there were more chicken cubes on my order.

Chicken ala Victoria (P350)

This is their version of Chicken Parmigniana, one of their best sellers. Again, the chicken was tender and the tomato sauce had a sour taste (italian taste??) which we loved. This can also be served with pasta or rice. This was really sulit because the serving was huge.

FFFF- Cucina Victoria has a great variety and this gives its customers reason to go back and try other dishes. I definitely prefer Cucina Victoria over Cookbook kitchen even if it’s a little bit more expensive. I have tried their beef stroganoff before and it is definitely a must try.

Visit Cucina Victoria now!

Basement, Rockwell Powerplant Mall