Minions and Tamagoya

It's a Friday and chea's taking a day off. It's also raining particularly hard in Quezon City so I opted to take a leave as well so we could spend the day with Thirdy.

Thirdy by a Minions movie poster

Minions, the animated movie spin off from the Despicable Me franchise, has just started its run in the local cinemas. So we decided to take Thirdy to go to his first movie house. We called around asking if the cinemas still issued certificates for first time movie goers. My sister got one for Fiji (my nephew) when he was a kid. Unfortunately, none of the cinemas we called (SM, Robinsons, Ayala and even Promenade in Greenhills) issued them anymore. Bummer.

So we went out around 11:30 am, dropped by a McDonald's to turn in some coupons we got for buying the Minions Kiddie Meals pre order promo.

At the parking lot with Tita Fe

We then headed of to SM North Edsa checked out the cinemas at the Block. It was already past 12:30am, so we decided to take the 1:45pm showing at Cinema 3. There was a 1:30 showing, but it was over at the main building.

Nanay Chea and Thirdy lining up for tickets

Thirdy's enjoying himself so far. It's around lunch already but there aren't that many people yet

The food stand. We ordered the popcorn. Thirdy enjoyed them and was eating them all throughout the movie

Buying tickets

Still buying tickets

While waiting, we did a quick look around the cinema level and one floor down to look for shoes. After that, we went back to the cinema and even if it was just around 1:20pm, we were allowed to head inside. We took a few pictures of Thirdy as well.

Waiting to get inside

Thirdy jumping around

It was too bad that the lights were down already and they were showing some trailers and some ads, since we couldn't take pictures of Thirdy inside the movie house as it was too dark. Turning on the flash on our phones only managed to take pictures of him and not the surround area.

Picture inside the movie house

We were at the premier section (level above) so Thirdy could sit down and still have a little bit of elevation to see the entire screen. While waiting for the movie to come on, we munched on some popcorn which Thirdy liked. He was eating pieces on his own.

Later the place started to pack with adults and kids and soon, the movie started. Thirdy was mostly quiet as he was really trying to take in everything. He commented out that the screen was big. He was quiet most of the time but I saw him smiling a few times while watching. After the movie, when I asked him if he enjoyed the movie, he said yes.

We went around a bit and then headed off to the columbarium to visit my brother and towards Antipolo to drop off Thirdy since it's the birthday of Chea's mom the next day, so he'll be staying there overnight.

After dropping of Thirdy and Tita Fe, Chea and I went to Marikina to have dinner at Tamagoya. Chea's eaten here before but I haven't and I'm in the mood for some noodles.

Slight drizzle

It's 7 pm so parking's full except for 1 open slot on the other side of the road. Good thing too, as there was already a slight drizzle. We had to wait outside for a minute to get seated as the place was pretty full too. There was a 3 person group waiting right after us and a few more were coming along.

Signage outside

We we given table 30 which was at the 2nd floor, so we took the stairs behind a door on the first floor to go upstairs. It's kinda weird to have a closed door blocking access to the upper floor. They probably put a door there so when there aren't that many patrons, they could close off the upper floor and save on A/C.

The menu

Drinks

I assume the mascot's an egg

View from our table. Place is a bit cramped

We were given a menu and most of the dishes are below 200 pesos. I ordered the chuka suba (because it was the cheapest noodle soup at 148 pesos) while Chea ordered Katsudon (158 pesos). We also ordered Yaki Gyoza (fried dumplings for 99 pesos) in case the noodles i ordered didn't have too many toppings. I also ordered a can of coke zero (38 pesos).

Gyoza

The dumplings were pretty soft with the meat really ground to almost a paste. It's the soy sauce that gives it that sour flavor. Overall it's pretty ok.

Pretty good

The katsudon arrived in a bowl 5 inches across and about 3 inches deep, half of it filled with rice. The rice is mushy with the sauce as you'd normally expect. It has onions and green peas and probably some egg. The pork is pretty good. It's soft even with the breading.

Good amount of noodles for the price

Naruto!

The noodles came in a bowl almost 7 inches across and  3 in deep. It had several toppings such as half a boiled egg, a slice of pork, nori (sea weed), some veggies and a couple of fish cakes (narutomaki). The broth is pretty nice, it being a little salty. The noodle was just the right amount of thickness.

It's a bit of a wait as everything's made upon ordering and the resto's full with patrons waiting for their orders as well-being.

After being served your food, a paper with your orders will be left on your table which you'll take to the cashier later to pay.

Chea wasn't that hungry so she just ate half of her order and a piece of the dumpling. I managed to finish my entire order. The serving was just right for me, which is why it's probably cheaper than the other ramen shops as they really have large servings.

The ground floor

Eating was pretty uneventful, and I kinda felt that we waited longer than the time we used to eat.

Had to wait to pay

So after resting a few minutes after eating, we went down and queued at the cashier. There were about 4 people ahead of us paying at the lone cashier. Outside, there were still groups of people waiting to get seated.

5 pesos for a boiled egg? That's cheap!

After paying, we went home. Along the way, we stopped by a Burger Machine at Visayas Avenue and bought a burger for myself and a sansrival for Chea as she wanted to have a dessert and there was none at Tamagoya. Chea commented that the sansrival at Burger Machine wasn't as good as they used to be.

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Alab at Scout Rallos and quick trip to Divisoria

(07/25/2015). I had an errand that I had to run, but I wanted to spend the morning with Thirdy and Chea, so we piled into the car and left the house about 11am.

First, I went to LBC and inquired a few things, since there wasn't much information on their site. Then, we went to Hypermarket so I can pay some bills.

My next errand would be at Divisoria to buy something. But since it was close to lunch, we decided to have our lunch, after which, I'll go to Divisoria, and Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe would wait for me at Robinson's Magnolia.

So Chea's heard about a couple of new restos. One's a bit far, while the other one was at Scout Rallos. Since it's along the way to the Divine World Columbarium which will be our next stop, we decided to go there: Alab by Chef Tatung.

The place mat

The menu

I remember seeing the this restaurant a few times already since we take the Scout Rallos route sometimes on weekends. It's right in front of H Cuisine (which was the last restaurant I ate with my brother before he passed away), and RUB Ribs & BBQ (which is hard to get seated since it's pretty small and parking is non-existent).

The cashier counter behind us and the stairs leading up

The dessert and drinks counter. Thirdy didnt want his picture taken

It was good that we got there a little before lunch, as there were 3 parking slots in front of the restaurant. There were also just a couple of tables with patrons on the first floor, so waiting for the food wouldn't take long. There's a second floor which I didn't bother to check.

A separate area with foldable door walls

A wall display made up of spoon and forks in the shape of, well, spoon and forks!

The place is pretty roomy. There was a separate area on the first floor with foldable walls, so I guess you can have a private area if you needed one.

Thirdy having fun with Baymax

Yep. He's back to his energetic self

When we got in, there were a couple of people taking videos. I guess they're doing a video coverage of the restaurant. They even took a video of Thirdy in his kiddie chair since he looked like he was having fun (mainly because we bought him a Baymax balloon from a vendor outside).

While we were looking at the menu, groups of people started flocking in. A few tables beside us were placed end to end to accommodate some ladies who looks like were going to have a weekend get-together lunch.

Looking at the menu, most of the dishes are for sharing, hence their prices started around 210 pesos, so it's a bit moderately priced.

I ordered the Adobong pula (280 pesos), while Chea ordered one of their specialties, Pianggang (270 pesos), a Tausug chicken dish. From what Chea told me, Chef Tatung wanted to feature native Filipino dishes with some modern twists. We then ordered Poqui Poqui for Thirdy. It looked like casserole, and looking at the menu, there was nothing there that Thirdy was allergic to. It was mostly Eggplant and kesong puti (Thirdy likes cheese nowadays and would often eat them on its own).

The dishes didn't come with rice, so we ordered 3. I also went with Iced Tea (70 pesos, no bottomless drinks here folks), while Chea and Tita Fe, each had a Sago't Gulaman (70 pesos each). For dessert, Chea ordered their crowd favorite, Bibingka Cheesecake (I cant remember the price).

It was a bit of a wait, but it was ok, since Thirdy was enjoying his balloon and people kept arriving at the restaurant so there was a lot of activity to watch.

The drinks arrived first with all of the dishes following immediately thereafter.

Sago't Gulaman and Iced Tea

The iced tea was minty, otherwise it's like most non powdered iced tea (I think). I never got to taste the sago't gulaman as Chea shared it with Thirdy.

Now that's rice in a bowl

The rice servings came in pretty nifty looking wooden bowl which had the tops come off. I think the servings more than the regular serving you'd get from other restaurants. The rice is a bit plain but you wouldn't give it a second thought since the dishes you'd eat them with are quite flavourful.

Adobong pula

The Adobong Pula isn't the normal adobo you'd eat with a lot of soy sauce and oil. The sauce actually looked like yellow curry, but it's thinner, almost like a broth. It's also has a more distinct sour taste than the regular fare. If I actually bothered reading the description of the menu, it's actually done with a lot of vinegar and none of the usual soy sauce, which was one of the oldest version of the dish as mentioned in the menu.

It's rather distinct, but as a Filipino who gets to eat adobo more than once a month, it just becomes a different spin, but nothing you'll rave about. Not that it isn't any good, it's just that I could have adobo almost anywhere and even anytime.

Pianggang

One dish that we enjoyed was the Pianggang. It's basically grilled chicken with taro leaves (laing). I love laing, and I don't get to eat it quite often, even at home. The chicken tastes exactly like grilled chicken, without the laing covering the flavor. The laing, by itself, tastes pretty good, that I didn't bother with the chicken when I went for a few more spoonfuls of the dish.

Poqui Poqui

The Poqui Poqui was pretty great. The toppings of the casserole as well as the parts that touched the serving dish was a bit crispy chewy and tasted mostly of eggs. The insides were mostly eggplants and some cheese, with a few bits of sausages thrown in. Thirdy enjoyed the dish. We should probably learn how to cook some casserole at home as it helps to hide vegetables.

Bibingka Cheesecake

The dessert tasted good too. It looked like a slice of bibingka especially with the ground coconut served with it and top burnt at places. The base of the dessert looked and tasted like Graham crackers, and the inside tasted exactly like cheese cake.

We ended up with an initial bill of 1,165 pesos for 3 adults (Thirdy just shared the Poqui Poqui with Chea). The Senior Citizen discount came to 100 pesos, but then the Service charge was added afterwards to our final bill of 1,158 pesos. So that's roughly around 386 pesos/pax. Again, like i said, it's a bit moderately priced.

After the meal, I got dropped off at the Gilmore Station of the LRT2, then Chea, Tita Fe and Thirdy went to Robinsons Galleria.

Waiting for the train at Gilmore LRT2 station

It's my first time to ride the LRT2, so it's a pretty nice experience for me. The station is pretty clean, and the train cabs were pretty wide and looked new and well maintained.

I got off at the Recto station, and took a jeep with a signage saying Divisoria. I just went around 999 mall, picked up the stuff that I needed and took a jeep to Cubao via Aurora Boulevard, which was a mistake. Traffic was terrible so it took me more than an hour to get to Robinson's Magnolia.

I met up with Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe at the Foodcourt. Thirdy was asleep so Chea had a chance to take a longer look at the Dorothy Perkins store. She was eyeing this dress from their Eastwood branch, which didn't have her size.

Taking a helicopter ride

A police car ride

A bit later, she came back and Thirdy was already awake so we took him to play at Timezone for a few minutes. After that, we went home.

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RUB Ribs and BBQ at Roces Ave and Kiddie Shoe shopping in Cubao Shoe Expo and Ali Mall

Jun 28 2015. Around 12 noon, I wanted to go out with Thirdy since he just came back from Antipolo last night.

While Tita Fe was still taking a bath, Chea, Thirdy and I went to SM Novaliches to pay some bills. I queued at the payment center and Chea and Thirdy looked around for a new pair of shoes since Thirdy's outgrowing his last pair.

I also bought 12 pieces of blu ray discs at CDRKing to backup some of my files to free up some hard disc space. At 20-25gb storage per disc, that's potentially 240gb of freed up space. 'Potentially' since optical discs bought at CDRKing are a hit or miss. They either burn successfully or fail. But it's hard not to be tempted with a 25pesos/disc price as compared to a branded disc at a computer store which costs at least 100 pesos. So I'm taking my chances.

After buying the discs, Chea and Thirdy met up with me and drove back home to pick up Tita Fe. Since it was already almost 2pm, we decided to have lunch.

We headed off to RUB at Roces Avenue. We tried going there before but parking was always full, so Chea thought about trying it again since it's way past lunch that it could probably be empty already.

Ribs and BBQ. Mmmmm.

By the time we got there, there was a lone available parking space fronting Papemelroti.

RUB here used to be Chocolate Kisses cafe, but as Chea once narrated it to me, they often got robbed, so it's likely they've decided to close their branch here.

The menu

I didn't know what the fuss is all about since this place is always packed whenever we passed by. When we got inside and I got a menu, I realized why. The menus are just around the right price. Quite a few of them cost less than 200 pesos, so for me, that's pretty good.

220 for ribs with rice and a side dish

As I said earlier, there was only one parking space left, but inside it was less than half full. The place can easily sit 50 people. And since the place is barely accessible via public transport, most of the patrons probably comes in private cars. No wonder parking here is always packed. Imagine groups totaling 50 people coming in with their own cars.

We got a corner table with a couch. There's a few tables with couches lining a wall, while the rest of the tables are paired with chairs. My complaint about the chairs are the feet are iron or steel, and they do not have padding. So when the people shift or drag their chairs, it becomes irritating to the ears.

View from our corner table 

The place looks clean and very roomy, with the counter and kitchen off to one side. The floor I think are vinyl tiles made to look like planks of wood. There are a few posters in frames around the wall, and on top of the serving counter, there're menus scribbled with chalk.

Thirdy playing around with a tic tac toe toy we got from Jollibee

Since the food looks justifiably priced, I asked Chea that we have separate orders. Usually when things are expensive, Chea and I just share especially if the servings are large.

The place is full of posters

I coaxed Chea to order the Raki's BBQ Ribs Single (220 pesos), while i ordered the Rub Beef (310 pesos) and then we ordered the Fried Chicken (260 pesos)  for Tita Fe and Thirdy. We also ordered a pitcher of Iced Tea (120 pesos)

Looks small but we managed to get a few glasses for each of us

The iced tea came first, then it was just a short wait of around 10 minutes for the food.

Larger than bite sized slices

When I was served the Rubbed beef, it came in a large plate. The beef was actually large but they cut it into smaller (but still larger than bite sizes pieces), along with a decent sized serving of vegetables and 4 bigger than usual slices of toasted bread. I don't think I could finish all of it even if I was hungry.

Ribs!

Chea got a good sized ribs serving. I think it's good enough for an average person especially if you're hungry.

The chicken's pretty huge in person

The chicken was humongous. I didn't notice that the menu actually said it was really half a chicken.

Now for the taste test.

The beef was pretty good. You can taste the herbs on the beef. Aside from the herbs, it's salty too. The meat was just the right amount of softness. The sauce/dip had a good amount of chunkiness in it, so I couldn't help not to dunk the toasted bread in them. The toast, while shaped like a sliced baguette, was actually crispy like toasted white bread. Unlike the common baguette you get to buy and are tough and chewy. The vegetables were pretty ok, but I didn't get to eat more than a few carrot sticks as I got full from eating Chea's rice off her plate.

Chea's order came with a side dish and a serving of rice. We shared the rice since the serving was pretty big as well. She chose mashed potatos as her side dish. The mash potato was thick and chunky. The skin was still in there too. And the serving was pretty big. The ribs was slathered with the sauce. The meat easily separates from the bone, but tastes plain once you get past the sauce.

I think the winner goes to the Chicken. It's pretty big, like I said, half a chicken. It's lightly glazed with honey I think. Or is it lemon? I didn't bother to taste since i just went for the chicken itself. The breading is very crispy, but it tastes pretty good that you don't realize that you're just eating breading. It doesn't taste like your typical breaded fried chicken. And the gravy tasted pretty good too. It's lightly colored and doesn't taste like your regular gravy. Chea asked what it's called and we were told that it's called white gravy (although it looks almost beige).

We all enjoyed eating from Thirdy's chicken (he didn't mind), that we barely ate our own meals. Chea took a slice of beef from my food, while I took about 3 slices, and there were a lot more left. Chea only managed to eat half of her ribs. So we ended up finishing the Chicken dish, and took the rest of the beef and ribs home.

Our total bill was about 965 pesos, and with a senior discount, it came to about 890 pesos. It's really nice to have a senior with us when eating outside. They could usually share their meal with Thirdy and still get a discount. Yey for all the seniors!

After that, we wanted to shop for Thirdy's shoes. Chea thought of going to Robinson's Magnolia, but I wasn't in the mood to go there.

Parking's always full

I asked that we look at Cubao Expo in Araneta Center. Unfortunately, most of the shoe stores there were gone. There's about only 4 left, with the rest of the stores now being restaurants, vintage shops or art shops.

The place is a really nice quiet place to hangout during the afternoon

Some of the establishments

Thirdy walking around clutching a transformer toy and his mom

We then went to Ali Mall to see if there're kid stores there since when my dad and I went there a few days back to buy some airplane tickets some of the stores were on sale.

Again, unfortunately, there are no retail stores there for kids (from what we've seen). There's this big shop kind of like their department store section for shoes, but they mostly catered only to adults. So I guess, if you're shopping with your kids, don't bother with Ali Mall.

Since it was getting late and we were tired, we decided to head home and call it a day.

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