a bite of brownie

this filipino restaurant satisfies my craving for comfort food and favorite filipino dishes when i don't feel like cooking. this restaurant is not a carinderia type where there are already cooked dishes. you have to order the dish and then they will cook it so one has to be patient or not very hungry when they come here. they offer almost name-it-all filipino dishes. i've tried their dinuguan, kaldereta, kare-kare, chopsuey, sisig, bangsilog, empanada and lechon! i was expecting lechong cebu but i had to settle with their lechong manila. i have not been disappointed with any of the dishes i ordered from them so far. the dishes are reasonably priced too for their taste and quantity.

Pinoy Lechon BBQ & Grill
2011 Tully Rd
San Jose, CA 95122

Verdict:
4.75/5.0 (-0.25 for the lechon)

one of the perks of moving to california is easier access to filipino restaurants. i rarely go to jollibee back home except for the times i take out my nieces and nephews out. kids usually prefer jollibee over mc donalds because jollibee offers the filipino taste in their spaghetti, jolly hotdogs, palabok and burger steak. i was impressed by the number of items in their menu. they offer burgers from regular yum to amazing aloha, jolly hotdog, chicken joy, burger steak, palabok and breakfast meals (bangsilog, longsilog, cornsilog, tapsilog, tocilog and spam(!)silog), halo-halo, shakes and peach mango pies. an interesting addition to their sides are sweet potato fries, mashed potato and buttered corn. i guess this is to accommodate american taste. i ordered burger steak and halo-halo in two separate occasions. the burger steak tasted like burger steak i remembered and liked. it was so tempting to order a second serving. i was also impressed by the ice-cream flavors in the halo-halo: ube and langka ice-cream! i would have preferred no vanilla extract on the leche flan.

after work, i felt like treating myself to some japanese food. i've been looking forward to trying out this place specifically for its name. the place is small and had around 10 tables. the waiter/owner took awhile to entertain me. i ordered a dinner bento which included a tonkatsu, mixed tempura, rice, salad and miso soup. the miso soup and salad were typical. mixed tempura was perfectly fried but lacked seasoning. it did not come with the usual tempura ginger dipping sauce. the tonkatsu looked more like a pork teriyaki but it tasted good. the service is very slow here due to lack of manpower considering they get a significant number of to-go orders. i do not see myself visiting this place in the near future.

this place is expensive. the prices of the menu they were displaying outside the restaurant were outdated. i ordered chicken teriyaki bento. it came with onion and mushroom soup. i was a little disappointed they did not serve miso soup. the bento also came with gyoza, fried mashed potato and salad. the salad did not come with the usual japanese sauce or mayonnaise. i surprisingly liked the gyoza. the fried mashed potato was very good. it was crispy and not mushy. the chicken teriyaki was average.

it was accidental that i ate at this restaurant since i had a hard time finding parking space close to an organic mexican restaurant i wanted to try out. this restaurant has a mix of burmese and chinese cuisine. i ordered their chicken curry lunch special. it came with hot and sour soup and salad with crispy noodles for starters. i liked the sauce which came with the salad. it's sweet and had a hint of sour taste. i was surprised they had samosa in their menu. i later learned burmese cuisine had been influenced by india. the samosa did not look exactly like the indian samosa but it tasted close. it did not
come with the indian sauce too. it came with sweet and sour sauce instead. the chicken curry was good. it tasted like filipino chicken curry. the chili sauce on the side satisfied my taste for a spicy chicken curry. i liked it so much i wanted to bring home the chili sauce. i was a bit turned off that they charged extra for brown rice or fried rice instead of white rice. i admired the friendly and attentive service of the waiters.

driving by pizza restaurants everyday reminds me of my craving for pizza. my first attempt to satisfy this craving was getting a frozen di giorno four cheese thin crust pizza from the supermarket. the taste was below average so i had another excuse to try out another pizza. it's like a local pizza restaurant chain here because i've never heard of this restaurant in illinois. i ordered king arthur's supreme pizza (thin crust) which had pepperoni, sausage, salami, mushrooms, peppers, onions and black olives as toppings. i think i waited for at least 15 minutes but it was worth it! the crust was tasty and the toppings were cooked very good. the pizza tastes like shakey's special but better. the restaurant's slogan is 'the last honest pizza'. i don't really know what that implies about other pizza restaurants. =)

i filled my first plate with salmon, tuna, white fish sashimi, mix of maki rolls, ebi sushi, and seaweeds wrapped in tamago wrap. my first plate started well.

Kona Grill is one of our favorite Friday lunchout place. It tops in the number of times we eat here because of their lunch specials or what Kona calls as perfect pairings where one could pick two dishes from a list of delicious choices. Perfect pairings are only available from 11am to 2pm. I chose the mini club (a mini version of Kona's clubhouse sandwich ) and crab crunch (a roll of maki with crab and tempura crunch). I've also tried their sushi combo (contains a piece of salmon, tuna and white fish), lunch roll combo (or california roll) and mini cheeseburger. My friends have tried Kona's tomato basil bisque and clam chowder. Kona's calamari is also among the best. Kona also gives freebies to birthday celebrants who joins their club. Every now and then, they also offer discounts.

Once located at the crossroads near IT park, this fusion restaurant was one of the best places where you can get unique and fresh singaporean/indian dishes at an affordable price.


This restaurant practically makes use of the herb coriander in almost all of their dishes from the appetizers, garnish, and even up to their drinks. This makes all their dishes light and refreshing to the palate.



We had basil pesto pasta, samosas, and naan for the duration of our visit here. The grilled stuffed eggplant was also quite delicious. The toasted naan was served with salsa that fit the theme perfectly with its crisp and hint of spice. Even though they have meat dishes here, vegetarians have the option to order a meatless version of some specific food.

The ambiance was perfect, as the lighting was just right to set the mood for a perfect dinner with the company of your closest friends.


To end the meal, we also ordered a scoopful of homemade green tea geleto, just the right way to end the night.




Coriander
Crossroads





Verdict
A: 4.5/5

I would love to visit this place again, given the opportunity. Staff were courteous and polite.

 

STK Ta Bai is one of those local grill houses you usually go to when you're craving for something to share in a group, be it a business meeting, a casual date or some bonding time with the family. This house-turned-restaurant eatery has quite a lot of religious articles in it, some of which are for sale, while others are displayed as decoration. Obviously, this place has one of the best homely ambiances there is in Cebu. It is packed by the time we arrived here for lunch time, so if you're planning to come in a group, it would be nice to place a reservation in advance.

  

Like several grill houses, STK ta Bai offers unique dishes like Grilled Tuna Jaw and deep fried fried fresh fish roe. I loved their chicken soup hands down as well as their grilled scallops. Bad points of this restaurant would be their famous tuna jaw and their fish roe (served cold and oily, in short, disgusting) nor was I satisfied with their grilled squid plated with raw onions, tomatoes and scallions. Plus the fact that we had to endure the smallest table in the corner, with very poor lighting. The menu is pricey as well.

STK ta bai!
Paolito's Seafood House


Verdict:
A: 2.5/5
I don't see why people rated this place as good. It is average at best, given the reasons I stated earlier. The owner should enforce proper customer service and satisfaction as well as make more room for diners. This definitely doesn't make to my "come back to" restaurant list. :(

Big Mao

After deciding between Chinese food and Thai, we finally chose something that we haven't eaten from before. Big Mao has been in Ayala terraces for as long as I remember, though we were practically avoiding it like a plague since there were other Chinese restaurants that appealed to us more. at lunch time, the place was packed and the attendants were busy like ants, zooming here and there to attend to their customer' needs. When we were finally attended to, we asked to have a plate of lemon chicken, an entree of jellyfish with century egg, radish cake, braised bean curd. We also had fried pork served with plum sauce and assorted dim sum.



I like the crispiness of the jellyfish, above anything else. The softness of the tofu is something to be loved too (crispy on the outside and soft on the inside). Shame the sauce that comes with it isn't even on the same page. The radish cake wasn't as spectacular as we thought it would be, too. But the belly slices (we had two orders of belly, to prove it) and the dim sum are more than enough to compensate for it.



So overall, it's a split decision whether or not we'll come back to the place. Select dishes are delicious while some others are just plain weird with mismatched sauces.

--

Big Mao
Ayala Terraces



Verdict:
A: 3/5

Service slow and the food isn't that exceptional.

Don merto's

Don merto's has several branches in cebu that offer delicious meals at affordable prices. But interestingly, their main branch near vacation hotel offers all you can eat tenderloin steak for the meat lovers looking for a new place to satisfy their cravings.

During Mondays, you can avail of the local short ribs meal for 300 pesos per person. It was a good deal, since it was inclusive of a basket of freshly toasted bread, a bowl of soup and small plates of side dishes of your choosing. Each bite was heavenly and heart stopping, and it is highly recommended to order an after meal tea to help digest your food (and unclog your arteries). Mom opted for cannelloni instead, since she was sure that she couldn't finish even a one plate of this rich meal at her age.

This branch of don merto's is a must visit every steak days. You can't imply say no to their mouth watering short ribs!
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One of the best places to relax on a sunny afternoon is at Casa Verde's where you can enjoy their mouth watering rib racks and their sumptuous feasts-on-a-plate. For starters, we had karlamari, shrimp pesto cream and watermelon salad.

The appetizers were followed closely by Surf and Turf, David Dean's Tenderloin and the famous Brian's ribs for the main course. The watermelon salad had a weird butter marmalade that comes with it that's satisfying all the same. The pesto noodles were a bit soggy but it makes up for the abundance of basil leaves included in the dish. Our main course dishes were spectacular, however. The meat was just right and the juices were still intact. Nothing deserves more praise than a steak well cooked just to your preference!

From the outside, Harubang is a peaceful place that offers a number of korean dishes anyone can sample. It doesn't disappoint though, not to mention the affordability and the satisfaction you can get from your dining experience. We arrived around 6:30 in the evening and was seated in one of the few available tables since several other spaces were occupied by groups of merrymaking Koreans.

Other than the noise that they made, we were satisfied by the all you can eat beef short plate that all three of us (my sister, my brother and myself) enjoyed. Surprisingly, it is much cheaper than the cost of the food in Chosun Galbi, the korean resto house we frequent. Perhaps we just visited at a wrong time.

They didn't have that cold noodle that I enjoy quite a lot however. :(


Harubang
IT Park Lahug

Verdict:
A: 3/5

The food is great, but I can't dine in peace with that much noise. It brings down the ambiance that you're paying for, especially if you're used to little noise when you're eating.

Following the popularity of its unique way of roast pig, Zubuchon recently built restaurant branches so that loyal customers can sample the rest of their special menu. We visited one of the branches located at mango avenue and was courteously seated near the counter area just beside the the spice rack with bottled condiments for sale. Pleasant spot, with just enough lighting and just enough cool air from the AC, not to mention a clear view of that mouth watering roast boar.

For starters, we had an order of sizzling squid stuffed with delicious lechon sisig, an order of Lechon liempo, Sizzling bangus with tampalen and different kinds of local Seaweed on a platter. I was deeply impressed by the speed of service as well as the quality of the food being served. We had refreshing gulps of kamias and grape shakes to complete the meal.

For our second visit, we had the opportunity to sample their super crispy deep fried pork leg, which serves up to four to five people! Talk about servings!

Zubuchon
One mango mall
Mango avenue

Verdict:
5/5

Excellent service meets excellent food! This place is a must visit for their food. Although many of their dishes are commonly done to left over lechon, they are still good.