Makisushi Japanese Restaurant

April 16, 2014, Chea and I took a leave from work so we could prepare for Thirdy's 2nd birthday the next day. We were having a swim party at Nature's Land Camp Resort since Thirdy just loves the water.

First on our stop was Landmark at Trinoma. We were picking up a portable air pump we bought a few months ago. We had it returned and had to claim warranty since it broke the first time we were to use it. We would need it to inflate some of the bouncy play pens and inflatable animals for Thirdy's party.

After that, we were heading to Hi Top to buy some supplies for the whole day affair. We usually take the EDSA southbound lane and take a right into Panay Avenue, just right after McDonald's Quezon Avenue.

Everytime we passed there, I always saw this small japanese restaurant directly fronting McDonald's. It's really small, and it only has space for two cars to park out front. I was always intrigued by the place, as it had posters plastered out front of their meals starting out at 99 pesos. But whenever we did pass by, we had eaten already, or we were in a rush to hit the grocery on the way to somewhere else. So we never, ever had the chance to try it out.

But since it's around lunch already, we decided to check it out, right after we buy some groceries at Hi-Top.

So after that, we went back around, and parked in front of Makisushi Japanese Restaurant.

Behind that poster with the pictures is the cashier

We got inside, and found that it was really small. There were about 6 or 7 tables.The place could probably fit 20 or so people. There were already a couple of patrons there. It looks like they were regulars since they knew the staff. The place had airconditioning, and they had an LED tv that played locally stored media. The other patrons decided to watch The Croods while waiting for their friends.

The place was quaint. I think if you want a simple, no frills japanese dining experience, this place will actually do.

Front of the menu. There's a lot more on the back.

As for the menu, it's quite big actually. They had set meals at 99 pesos each, but they also had sushi, sashimi, maki, tempura, noodles and all other sorts of dishes I'm not really familiar with. Most of the prices ranged from 80 to 140 pesos, except for the noodles and the rice meals that cost as much as 300 pesos, depending on the size of the servings.

Two plates of rice.

I barely know anything about japanese dishes, so I was a bit lost on what I should order. Fortunately, they had set meals. We opted for the 299 peso meal which was good for about 2 persons. It had misono/teppanyaki and tempura along with 2 bowls of rice and 2 iced teas. We ordered the beef misono.

Iced tea.

The order took just a few minutes. We were served the iced teas first, and then came along the beef misono and the tempura. Looking at it, it reminds you of the Sumo Meals at Tokyo Tokyo which is cheaper at 285 pesos.

This is actually a big plate.

Makisushi had more vegetables though, so if you're into that, you'll like it here. The beef is more salty, and is practically swimming in sauce. Otherwise, it's almost the exact same thing as Tokyo Tokyo except Tokyo Tokyo's meal had unlimited rice for the misono meal before. I'm not sure if it's still the same nowadays. The prawn tempura is what you'd expect as well.

Prawn tempura.

I think what you'll appreciate more about the place is that it's secluded, especially if you're like me who's tired of the malls. So if you don't like the large crowds at the malls, and if you'd want some japanese food, this is one place that you could try.

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Selling disappointments

Last April 5, 2014, there were a couple of sales that we wanted to check out. Chea wanted to see the Sogo Home and Office furniture sale, while I wanted to check out the Abenson's open box sale, both happening on April 4-6, 2014.

Chea had a check-up during the morning, so we went to the sales during the afternoon. We brought Tita Fe and Thirdy along with us.

SOGO Furniture's ad you can see online.

After visiting the columbarium, we headed to Mandaluyong City. Since we didn't know exactly where the warehouse was, we again turned to Google Maps to find where Williams Street in Pioneer was. Turns out it was behind Unilab.

We parked and left Tita Fe and Thirdy inside the car as the kid fell asleep during the drive here.

The hallway directly from the main entrance

Upon entering, you'd probably get euphoric with the large assortment of items on display. But as soon as you start checking the prices, you'd get disappointed just as quickly.

The very dirty children's chairs you see in the above picture in the lower right cost 700 pesos. Amazing isn't it? You'd probably get that in divisoria for around 200 pesos or less.

Our main reason for coming here was to check out their sofas. And to tell you the truth, it was such a wasted effort. I couldn't believe the prices on everything that was on display. Chea and I even started thinking that everything was marked up, and then given a supposed 'big discount'.

There were sofas that were 'originally' sold for 45,000 pesos and above, but were given a huge discount to have a final price of something less than 20,000 pesos. But if you take a close look at them, you'd be surprised why such simple, plain looking sofas cost upwards of 40,000 pesos in the first place.

You'd feel incredulous at some of the more cheaper ones, that were being sold at a discounted price of between 8,000 to 12,000 pesos. I found their original prices quite incredible.

Pork here. Lol.

So after less than 15 minutes, we high tailed it out of there. Since it was past 3pm, and Chea didn't have her lunch yet, we looked around Kapitolyo for a place to eat. We ended up at Gostoso, a restaurant specializing in portuguese roasted dishes. I'll write about it in a separate entry.

After that, we headed to Abenson's Greenhills, since that was the SMS I got from BPI. Checking on Google Maps, it's along Missouri Street.

We were greeted by a fully packed parking lot. There were a lot of people inside, and most, if not all of the items on display were on discount. But again, I was disappointed. The SMS ad said it was an open box sale. It made me think that they were selling their demo units, or the ones with ruined packages. Because if they were, I found the prices unattractive.

I was hoping to get my hands on a 32" LCD or LED TV. Those cost about 10,000 to 15,000 pesos nowadays, depending on the brand. So a 12,000 peso 32" tv with around 30% discount (hey, they said open box right?), would come to about 8,400 pesos. Unfortunately, none of the 32" TVs were being sold even less than 11,000 pesos. So again, I was disappointed.

There was a 42" plasma tv being sold at around 18,000 pesos. But I'm not into plasma TVs, so that didn't tempt me one bit. There was a 50" LED TV being sold for a few pesos shy of 30,000 pesos, but again, I just wanted something inexpensive to watch movies and play games on, while Thirdy watches on our existing TV.

So with that, it was a pretty disappointing day. We then went to Cherry Foodarama to buy some groceries before heading home and calling it a night.

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Gostoso? Sim!

So last April 5, 2014, Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and I was around the Kapitolyo area when we decided to have a late lunch.

We've eaten at some of the restaurants in the area previously, although there are still a lot of places we haven't tried. However, there was one that's fairly new. Asking the attendants, we were told that the place just opened last January. The restaurant's name? Gostoso.

You won't miss that signage from outside. Which is how we found it in the first place.

The place had a signage outside indicating that they accept credit card payments. And since we didn't have enough cash on us for anything more than fast food, that easily helped us make the decision on eating there.

Once inside, you'll learn that it's a portuguese restaurant. They serve a few dishes (mostly roasted) using piri piri (chili).

Basically, it's a portugues equivalent of Kenny Rogers Roaster. But besides chicken, they also serve pork or shrimp as the main dish, which they serve with side dishes.

One wall is adorned with texts detailing the Portuguese' discovery of Piri piri.

The place is a bit roomy, especially compared with the other restaurants in the area. Although parking is somewhat limited to two vehicles.

Inside, the tables and chairs are mostly wood with iron frames. The tables are spaced well enough to leave enough space for people to walk around. And since it's the middle of the afternoon and way past lunch time, we practically had the entire place for ourselves.

Oooh. Beer. 

The cashier and order area was directly across the entrance. It's kinda like a self service establishment as you have to go to the cashier to order and pay, but the food will be delivered to your table after it's done.

That is one basic menu

We ordered the Half and Half, which you can order any 2 of their main dish, chicken, pork rib and shrimps. It's good for 2 - 3 persons. And since we aren't heavy eaters, it seemed the like the perfect choice. I ordered the chicken and the pork.

The order came with 2 olive rice and 2 side dishes. I ordered the Potato Gratin and Creamed Spinach. I was hoping Thirdy would eat the spinach but Chea didn't give it to him. I also ordered a can of Coke Light and an iced tea with mint.

They served me a glass with lemon in it. Oh yeah.

We got the drinks first, and then everything else came soon after.

I think that's quite enough for 3 persons

Creamed spinach

Potato Gratin

The creamed spinach was nice. It'll remind you of laing, except of course this is spinach and not taro leaves. It's creamy and sweet, and not spicy. So this is something your kids might enjoy (those who are not mortal enemies of vegetables, that is). The potato gratin were cubes of potatos baked with cheese on top. The chunks are small enough that you don't need to cut them into smaller pieces first. The cheese gives them that little bit of salty flavor.

I'm not familiar with the various types of rice , but the one they serve here are the white non sticky variant. Each cup is served with some chopped black olives on top. However, every spoonful has a hint of olive oil in them, so it tastes good.

Pork rib and half a chicken. Thirdy likes chicken.

As for the main dish? They're great. The chicken isn't what you'd ordinarily get by plainly roasting it. I'm not sure what the herbs they put on it, but it does give it a distinct flavor that you wouldn't mistake it as our local lechong manok. The meat is tender, and isn't dry. However, there are a few rare parts inside, especially near the joints.

And the pork? It's so soft. It practically flakes off when i start to carve a few pieces off using a table knife. The skin isn't crispy, but you wouldn't mind as it tastes great. The meat tastes great too. And even the fat. You may not even notice that you're eating it since it's also flavorful.

You're supposed to eat them by dipping them into the piri piri dip, which I did for the chicken. The pork was better off by itself. I didn't bother putting chili oil on the piri piri since I didn't like spicy food most of the time. The piri piri tasted to me like tomato except it leaves a bitter taste on the tongue.

Dessert. I don't know what it's called. 

What's inside. Wafer tasted like cardboard. The middle part's good but too hard. 

A bit later, Chea ordered their desert. I don't know what it's called exactly, but it's like an ice cream sandwich. It's a bit hard, so we were having a hard time cutting pieces off using our forks. I think you should eat it by hand, with the wrappings still around it.

So what can I say? The food is great all around. However, it is a bit expensive. A quarter chicken costs 190 pesos. It's 220 if you want a rice, and a side dish. The pork on other hand, costs 300 pesos without any side dishes. Adding a side dish sets you back 65 pesos (40 for the olive rice, I think). They have appetizers but they won't pass off as a real meal.

The fact that they aslo have a very limited menu, I don't think you'd find yourself any reason to try and come back to the place. Unless you find yourself craving specifically for their specialties, I don't think you'd consider driving all the way to Kapitolyo and shelling about 400 pesos to tide you off. So basically, this is just a one and done affair.

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A burger! A burger for my kingdom!

Lately, I'm finding myself terribly addicted to hamburgers. Might be, I'm just in one of my phases. There were times that I went on weeks eating siopao. Then the most recent would be my noodle craving days towards the end of 2013.

Hey, everybody's doing it for everything else, why not burgers?

And now, a few months into 2014, I'm on a burger eating roll. I've eaten at a few burger joints since last year, but I'll just list the ones I've had since this year.

Bodato Burger

On our way home, I saw this burger joint along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. And since I was craving for some burger, we stopped by and tried it out.

It's literally a hole-in-the wall, as it's a wall with a big window, and just enough space on the other side for the grill and some table surfaces to work with. In front of it was a single table with two chairs if you decide to eat your orders there.

I had to wait a bit as the attendant was in another establishment (it's likely that the two places have the same owner/s).

The cute but complicated packaging.

I ordered two of their cheapest burger (the other one's for Chea), which was the Beef Burger without the cheese. It's a little above 100 pesos. I can't remember, although this says it's around 107 pesos but it's likely outdated. I'm not sure if it's a quarter pounder as I didn't ask.

It was also a bit of a wait since they're cooked as they're ordered. I think it took us about 20 minutes to get both orders.

Burger with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes

As for the taste? It's pretty ok. It's better than the ones you get at fast food burger joints, so that's a plus. As for the price? It's tolerable.


Brother's Burger

I've never been a fan of Brother's Burger. I tried them out back when they just started here and found the grilled burgers too dry. I never tried them again since, even with their annual (do they still have that?), half price discounts.

But recently, I teased a co-worker to treat me to a Brother's Burger meal (it's the closest burger joint to our office) as I was still on a burger mood when I was helping her out with a programming exercise.

I'm sorry to say that they have the worst ketchup and mayonnaise condiments that I know of.

She bought me a Brother's Burger's Brother's Burger (Hey, don't look at me. I didn't name their burgers). I asked her how much it cost, and she said it was about 140 pesos. The cheese add-on cost another 35 pesos (for real?). I'm not sure if it's a quarter pounder (damn. I should probably start asking these kinds of stuff), but a 175 peso burger, without fries AND drinks, is kinda off-putting.

Still, the burger I got wasn't as unpleasant as the one I had years ago. It's still grilled, but it's not as dry as I remember.

Cali Burger

On our way to Antipolo a couple of weeks back, we passed by Timog Avenue. Since it was almost lunch time, I got hungry, so we looked for some place close to eat.

It just so happened that we were passing by CaliBurger, which was new to the area along with Highlands Coffee, so we decided to try it out.

The buzzer. 

The place looked pretty nice. Roomy and modern. But as soon as I laid my eyes on the menu, I wanted to get back to the car and drive away.

It's not that the menu's too expensive, I was just not in the mood to spend 195 pesos on a burger. But I wanted to try the place out, so we decided to stay. Chea's not that hungry anyway, so I didn't have to order ourselves separate meals. We could just share one.

This milkshake won't bring boys to your yard, or joint, or whatever.

I opted for the Burger meal with fries and a medium sized soda, which cost 295 pesos (so that's 100 pesos for fries and a drink). There were two other meals, but I was already put off since they cost more than 300 pesos each.

I also ordered a strawberry milk shake for Chea since it looked like one of their specialties. Unfortunately, there was nothing really special about it. It tasted like milk shake with strawberry syrup in it. If there were actual strawberries, we couldn't tell.

The fries was pretty ok. They were firm and tasted like they're freshly made.

This was pretty big. And tasted good too, although a bit too salty even for me.

As for the burger? Chea's impression was it was too salty. And for one of the few times in both our lives with regards to salty foods, I actually agreed with Chea. And that's coming from a guy who likes his food salty.

I can definitely say that I won't be going back. Not because of the food. The burger's actually good. But the price? Never mind.


The Snack Shack

I got introduced to The Snack Shack by chea. It's located along Maginhawa Street, Sikatuna Village. She tried it previously along with her siblings.

They serve charcoal grilled burgers. What sets them apart is the price. A quarter pound burger with cheese costs 70 pesos only. A half pound burger (with two slices of cheese) only costs 140 pesos.

There's enough space for about 5 or 6 patrons to eat

And since they're inexpensive, not to mention that they also taste great, they're quite popular around the area.

The grill

While waiting, I saw how burger patties were put on the grill by batches, cooked, removed and replaced with uncooked patties over and over again. I didn't count how many batches were cooked before I finally got my order, but it was definitely a long time.

They would actually advise you to call in your orders 20 minutes ahead of time.

The menu. Read it and weep, in pure burger happiness.

As for the burgers? They're great. I've never been a fan of grilled burgers, but they've made a convert out of me. And as for the price? You can't get anything better especially at this price. Unless you want to settle for a fast food burger full of meat extenders.

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Valentine's 2014 at Cafe 1771

I never fancied myself as a romantic. Although I do love rom-coms. I also used to write killer love letters (for others mostly) and may have penned tens of poems through the years. But I do think it's just the 'artist' in me trying to express myself on a common topic which is romance.

However, I do like doing things for people that I care for. I don't do it everytime, but I try to do them when it matters.

During our first decade of being together, Valentine's always meant sending flowers to Chea. The last few years however, found me passing on the flowers, and just having dates. Ever since getting married, we had to sacrifice a few things to make our finances work. So instead of splurging on flowers, we spent the money on dinner.

Those times, we just decide on which restaurant to go to after we meet up after work. With all the restaurants in Metro Manila, you won't run out of places to have dinner. This year, however, I wanted to pick a fancy restaurant for our Valentine's date. And since the fancy ones might be fully booked during that date, I decided to pick one and make a reservation in advance.

I'm not as up to date when it comes to restaurants as compared to Chea. So I played it safe by choosing Cafe 1771. It's a known fancy restaurant in Ortigas. And since it's not in Makati, we won't worry too much about the Valentine's Day traffic.

So about two weeks from Valentine's Day 2014, I placed a call to Cafe 1771 in El Pueblo and made a reservation. They asked for my name, number and email address so they can send me the menu.

They also asked me which time I'd like to reserve as they had two batches: 6pm and 8pm. I chose the latter as Chea would be coming from Makati and being the second batch we wouldn't be in a hurry to finish our dinner.

I got the email later in the day, and found them to be a bit pricey. The menu was different from their regular fare, which are actually affordable, so it kinda surprised me. With their prices for Valentine's, I could afford some of the more expensive eat-all-you-can restos in town. But then again, i don't think a buffet dinner is what you'd call romantic.

A few days before February 14, I got a call from Cafe 1771 confirming the reservations. And I got a text again on the day itself regarding a 15-minute waiting period, or they'd give away our table.

I was anxious the entire day of the 14th, hoping Chea would like my choice of Cafe 1771. I told her the previous day that I made a reservation for dinner but didn't tell her where we'd have it. So it's a surprise.

A quarter to 8pm, I headed to Cafe 1771 as Chea was still at Pioneer, so I could make it in time and they wouldn't give away our seats. I arrived a few minutes before 8pm, checked in with the receptionist. They got my name wrong, fortunately, no one came along having the same misspelled name.

I got ushered to the second floor, which was the Wine Bar. I waited for Chea for a few minutes. She then texted me saying she was looking for somewhere to park. I replied and asked her to meet me in front of Cafe 1771.

I went down and saw her getting of her car parked beside McDonald's El Pueblo. I went to her, and walked her back up to our table at the Wine Bar. Our seat was at the center of the usually closed off area of the Wine Bar. Since they were expecting a lot of patrons, they opened up the area for diners.

Most of the tables were taken by couples, although some were taken up by groups. I actually felt under dressed with my long sleeved button up shirt and jeans as some of the guys wore coats. Good thing one or two guys, who looked like college students, only had cotton tees and jeans, so I guess I'm doing ok.

The lights were dim, and they had candles on the table, so the ambiance was pretty nice. Most of the diners were drinking wine, but Chea and I never really got into wine drinking so we went with water and a fruit shake.

Chea ordered the tiger prawns while I ordered the lamb. Both cost more than 1,000 pesos each but they were among the cheapest in the menu.

We waited for a while so we chatted. There was a girl playing the guitar by the windowsill and she was pretty good. I wish I could play the guitar that well.

A bit later, the food came. And they were delightful. I won't say that they're worth every peso, but they're good enough that you'd forget the expenses while you're savoring each bite.

The tiger prawns were big and tasted great. The lamb was all meat. I never liked some of the lamb dishes I ate before since they're often fatty. But this one kinda erases all my previous bad impressions.

Chea ordered a dessert, which actually came with a promo. They take instant pictures of you and you get to keep the picture. At least we didn't have to ask somebody to take a picture of us with our phone anymore.

Damnit. The image keeps getting flipped.

We were finished in a little over an hour. So after paying the bills, we went home.

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Happy 39th Anniversary Mama and Papa! A dinner at Nuezca Cafe

March 1, 2014 is the 39th anniversary of my parents. We didn't have anything planned, so I was thinking of just having dinner somewhere with my parents.

Chea and I wanted to take Thirdy out for the day. My mom wanted to come along with my dad and visit my brother at the columbarium first before going to wherever we decided to drive off to.

I was thinking of somewhere were there were a few animals and fishes that Thirdy could look at. The first thing that popped into my mind was something like Bioresearch at the malls which I mentioned to Chea.

Since it was already nearing midday, my mom wanted us to have lunch at home and head out after that. So after lunch, Thirdy and I had a short nap and we woke up at about 2pm.

We then headed out to the Garden of the Divine Word columbarium. Chea told me she was thinking of heading to Tiendesitas since they had several pet shops there. I thought it was a brilliant idea since we haven't been there for years, except for the couple of times we dropped by Fun Ranch.

So after the trip to the columbarium, we headed straight to Tiendesitas. After arriving, we entered the building fronting SM Hypermarket. I don't remember this building being there before.

Turns out it's the new Tiendesitas Arcade which housed a bazaar. It has 3 levels of shopping, mostly apparels, a few furniture shops, and a few food stalls like the seems-to-be-everywhere Famous Belgian Waffles (I love their waffles).

My dad usually doesn't like to roam around malls so he opted to sit in one the few seats available on the ground floor. My mom went to the ATM while Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and I, decided to check out the stores in all 3 floors.

They have cute t-shirts

There were quite a number of shops selling clothes and I was sorely tempted with a particular shirt at The TShirt Project. It was being sold for 499 pesos. It looks fun to wear, but I'm turning 36 so I'm not sure if it's still appropriate for me.

I love the tv show so I love this shirt too.

There was another store selling authentic looking bags and accessories. They had several Michael Kors bags which they sold at around 8,000 pesos. So if you're not into ordering online or meeting online sellers for authentic (or not so authentic for some cases) bags sold at around 1,000 - 2,000 pesos less, you won't go wrong with this particular shop since they have a physical store you can go back to.

After that, we went back down, and found my dad all by his lonesome reading something on his tablet. He said my mom went around to buy something. So again, Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and I went out of the Arcade into the open area of Tiendesitas which housed the food establishments.

Having dinner here entered my mind. But it was hot and everything looked cramped compared to the first few years of Tiendesitas when the tables looked well spaced. So I banished the idea and we headed straight to the pet shops.

All of the pet shops were now occupied. Most of the shops were selling dogs and cats. Personally, I've been wanting to get a mini schnauzer, a chow chow, or a chinese sharpei, in that order. Maybe someday. There were only a couple which sold fishes. I was in the lookout for a ready made aquarium since I've been wanting to have one at home. I was thinking of getting a small one to start me off, and just get a custom setup a few years down the line.

There were a lot of pet owners there too, so we saw a lot of pets being groomed. Thirdy seemed to have enjoyed himself seeing all the pets. After a few minutes of looking around, we then headed to Fun Ranch.

It was a bit of a walk, with the other half of Tiendesitas (the one fronting Fun Ranch) undergoing renovation. Based on the tarpaulins covering the place, they're setting up a bigger space for the pet shops.

Eerily quiet. Just kidding.

Where are the rulers?

We got to Fun Ranch at a little past 5:20pm. It seemed pretty empty, with only a few kids and parents around. The center area which used to be packed with parents wanting to get some rest, only had about two families there.

Just a few people here.

You can rent this place for your parties

Chea and Tita Fe changed Thirdy's diapers first at their comfort rooms. We then headed towards the Playdium hoping to have Thirdy run around for a few minutes.

Thirdy after the diaper change.

When we got there, it was pretty full. All of the seats for the guardians outside the play area was taken. And the play area itself looked pretty packed. I'm actually concerned about sending my two year old boy in there. Looks like a battlefield.

Checking out the playdium.

There wasn't any signage regarding the rates so Chea had to ask one of the employees. She said that the shortest was 1 hour. I said that was too long, since we were planning to start dinner at 6 pm. The lady then said we could try half an hour. Again, I felt that it was a bit too long as it was really late. I felt 15 minutes would be enough for Thirdy at that time of the day. Unfortunately, they didn't offer 15 minute rates.

I thumbed down the idea, so Chea decided to take Thirdy for a ride at the Carousel. Fortunately, Thirdy enjoyed the short ride. I think it was about 5 minutes long. Thirdy was waving at the crowd as the carousel turned.

Thirdy enjoying himself.

After that, we walked back to the Arcade and met up with my parents. We decided to go to Nuezca Cafe on Maginhawa Street in QC as my mom looked it up on the internet after learning about it in a TV show.

We arrived at the place at a little before 7pm so it was just perfect for dinner. It's easy to miss, as we pass by the area quite often and I never really notice it.

The menu.

The restaurant is on top of an elevated area so you have to climb a few steps to get to it. The signage outside is also a bit higher than your normal view from inside a car so you might miss it.

There is no dedicated parking, so you'll have to park along the street. The length of the establishment can squeeze in about 3 cars, front to end. After that you'd either park across the street, or double park beside the first set of cars.

Once up the stairs, there's an outdoor garden, with about three sets of tables. Inside the restaurant, there's about 6 or so tables on the first floor. I didn't notice if there's a second floor though.

Yep. Looks like they have a second floor.

The bigger table outside was already filled by a group of people, while inside there was one that's occupied by a couple.

Thirdy looking all mean.

We sat at the window, beside the kitchen. On the far end from where we were sitting was the bar with the TV mounted near the ceiling.

The kitchen.

The bar.

Looking at the menu, it looked a bit on the inexpensive range in prices. Most of the orders were around 200 pesos, with a few near 300 pesos. But, if you decide to order their Rice toppings, you'd be glad to know that those cost around 95 pesos only.

We ordered the Laing (190 pesos), Crispy Tawilis (90 pesos), Chicken Sisig (250), Sinigang na Salmon (240 pesos), and the Organic Bacon Carbonara (195 pesos). We ordered rice (4pcs at 45 pesos each), avocado shake (110 pesos) for Thirdy, and a bottomless iced tea for me (75 pesos).

Avocado shake.

My iced tea came first along with the avocado shake. So the next few minutes, we tried feeding Thirdy the avocado. He was interested with the first few spoonfuls but ignored the rest after.

Laing Love

Four servings of rice in one bowl.

The laing then came along with the rice and the Crispy Tawilis. Since I was hungry, I started eating already.

The rice was pretty good. It was soft and easy to chew. The laing was pretty great. If you didn't crush the big green chili (Siling Mahaba), it's not that spicy at all. It had chunks of something in there, which might be taro or something else. Still, it was pretty great.

The not so crispy tawilis.

The crispy tawilis wasn't really crispy. It was covered slightly with some batter, so there wasn't really any crisp to it. The dip was good. It was sweeter than it was sour. Still, since the tawilis is small, you wouldn't really be happy about it especially if you're hungry.

The menu didn't say sizzling, so take it's word for it!

The chicken sisig was creamy and a bit spicy. It had chopped chilis in it, both red and green. Also, the plate wasn't scorching hot, as there wasn't any sizzle, and the raw egg on top of it, didn't cook quickly enough even when it touched the plate directly. It's probably to prevent the chicken from getting burnt and cause smoke. The chicken was soft, and the dish was creamy.

Sinigang na Salmon na hindi maasim.

As for the sinigang Salmon, it had about one salmon head, split into two. Not too much meat in there. The soup was thick, but it wasn't that sour. It actually tasted bitter. So I wouldn't recommend that.

Carbonara.

The carbonara was ok. It came with what looked like focaccia although I might be mistaken. The carbonara had bacon in it, which didn't look fried. It looked like it was cooked along with the sauce, as it was pale white and wasn't crunchy. It was soft and felt like it had more fat than meat.

My mom paid for the dinner after. Her complaint was despite that 3 of us were senior citizens, the total discount was only about 50 pesos. Even if you don't count the carbonara (which was Chea's), the iced tea, the avocado shake, and one of the rice, then total everything that's left, and divide that by 5 (there was 5 of us), and then multiply that by 3 (the seniors), the total should still be around 80 pesos.

Some restaurants would just total everything and apply the discount on the total bill and not bother with trying to divvy everything up.

Anyway, if you want to have a quiet dinner without a big crowd, and want to be a bit far from the usual busy places, this is a good place to go to. But personally, I don't think I'd go out of my way to go here to have a meal.

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