Weekend Food Choices Week7: Surprising the Control Freak

This week, hubby wanted to be secretive and refused to give his 3 choices for our weekend food trip. I was bugging him all day and couldn't concentrate on anything else because i wanted to know. He knows i get fidgety when i can't anticipate what comes next but he wouldn't budge so i eventually decided to give up.

When we exited the Power plant mall, i knew he really had something up his sleeve. Its not often that hubby decides to plan our Sunday dinner all by himself and i got excited.

We turned to Edsa and exited on Buendia and found ourselves on the corner of Jupiter and Antares

Hubby's Weekend Food Choice:

Osonho was not yet on my list of food places to visit and i had to give hubby a big hug for his efforts in finding a new place for us to dine in.

When we arrived at around 6pm the place was still deserted. Good i thought, extra time to take photos!

The ambiance of Osonho is laid back but with good enough interiors for a casual first date

The wall near the entrance displayed various magazines and papers where Osonho has been featured.

then again, yes, i think ive come across a review on this place before but it never caught my interest because im not familiar with Portuguese food.

Complementary bread and olive oil & garlic for dipping were served

Appetizer was Portuguese Gambas

I didn't know what Portuguese gambas was supposed to taste like but i wanted to taste the succulent prawns the moment the hot plate was served on our table.

The prawns were cooked in garlic, olive oil, and what we suspected was sun dried tomatoes.

This dish is a must order. Yummy!

My order came next

Jeera Meera Masala is lamb leg marinated in garam masala spices with grilled tomatoes and onions over steamed rice. The hot pasty sauce of the dish was delicious. I only wish they grilled the tomatoes and onions more thoroughly and not just to put grill marks on them, as i do eat my veggies...

Hubby's order

Peri-Peri chicken on fragrant chicken rice.

Now ive never really been a fan of the peri-peri chicken after tasting it at Greenhills. I found the chicken a little dry and the taste nothing to get excited about. But when i tasted Osonho's peri peri chicken i was blown away!

No exaggeration this is one of the best chicken dishes i have tasted! The boneless chicken was deliciously juicy and tender and Osonho's peri-peri sauce was wonderfully mouthwatering!!

The fragrant rice brought balance to the flavorful chicken.

This order could actually be good for two, that is, if you're willing to share!

As we finished our food, people started to fill the restaurant.

Now, im a confessed Portuguese food newbie and have nothing to compare Osonho's dishes to, but all i know is that authentic Portuguese food or not, we had a great dinner!

I guess handing the control to someone else once in a while isn't so bad...

It can actually turn into a satisfying dinner!

lets drink to that!

Weekend Food Choices Week 6: A New Asian Favorite

Last weekend, i felt i needed to reward myself so hubby planned a nice dinner for us. Unfortunately amidst the chaos, we forgot to pack my LX3 and had to content ourselves with my Omnia.

Weekend Food Choices:
1. Malacca
2. Indian By Nature
3. Sango

Our Choice:

Ive read about this restaurant in other food blogs and got interested in the dishes they served. Like Filipino dishes, Malaysian food is a combination of influences from nearby countries. This fusion makes the dishes interesting and unique.

The menu of Malacca is simple. No flipping through numerous pages and getting confused. There are around 6 dishes per heading and a couple of pictures that fit on the 2 sides of a board like menu.

When we arrived at around 6pm, last Sunday, a friendly staff greeted us and showed us to our seats and as we were musing over the dishes we wanted, a small plate of kropek was served.

We ordered barley with lemon and cold teh tarik for our drinks

We were debating whether to get a big dish of crabs or several dishes for variety.

We decided on variety.

As we were finalizing our food choices, 3 other diners arrived, the most senior of the 3 men seemed to be a regular and knew exactly what to order. He was so happy with the food flavors and the service of the staff that he bellowed "good service ah" "good food, all good" in broken English which only made me even more excited to sample our orders.

Hainanese Chicken

This dish is usually served with rice and soup but you can ask them for a half order of just the chicken if you would like to share and enjoy it with other dishes. The plate is enough for 2 people, 3 if you order it with other dishes. We later found out that you could actually ask the staff for the specific portion of the chicken you wanted.

The sauces included a ginger paste, thick soy sauce and a spicy condiment. A very good dish!

Sambal Prawns

This is a delicious dish that would make the spicy seafood fan drool. The prawns were succulent and juicy and the spiciness of the dish just right for that gastronomic kick. We would definitely order this dish again.

Nasi Goreng

Now, when this dish was served i was not impressed. Yes, nasi goreng means fried rice and it looked just that, but a spoonful of this rice will put a big smile on anyone's face. It was de-licious! I could practically eat this rice by itself, that's how good it was! If you decide to order this, you will be asked how you prefer the spiciness of the rice. We ordered it mild and it was just right. For those who are not fond of spicy food, the plain nasi goreng would probably be for you.

Seafood Soup

When we added this dish to our orders, we were told that the soup in the menu was for 6 to 8 people. But because hubby really wanted his spicy soup, the staff asked the chef if we could get a short order and they gladly gave in to our request. The steaming bowl of soup came which was good for about 5 small bowl servings. This soup was soooo good. Dont be fooled by the color because it is not as spicy as it looks. We could not put our finger on the flavor as it was not like the thai tom yum that we were used to that has a predominantly gingery quality to it. This seafood soup had a more tangy like flavor and with the plump tomatoes, various spices and shrimps, we were so satisfied that hubby and i both agreed that Malacca has come out on top of all our other Asian restaurant favorites.

We capped the delicious dinner with coconut jelly dessert that was equally yummy

A big blob of coconut jelly is topped off with crushed ice, muscovado sugar and seasoned with pieces of ripe mango. This was a perfect ending to a delicious dinner!

The service in Malacca was wonderful and the dishes superb!

Ok, the pictures do not do justice to how delicious the food was...i guess that just means we will need to visit again soon to take more decent pictures...and taste more of Malacca's delicious dishes! Definitely!!!

Malacca
Jupiter Place, Bel-air Village, Makati
Open daily
11am-2pm
6-11pm

Weekend Food Choices Week 5: Tough to Beat the Real Thing

Weekend Food Choices:
1. Sango
2. Ramen Tei
3. Phoa

Our Choice:

Ever since hubby got home from Japan, he has been trying to satisfy his craving for something that would come close to the best ramen he has ever tasted. Apparently he found one of the best ramen places in Japan which was a good 20 minute walk from his flat in Saitama.

(Taken 2004 in Fujimino)

Dubbed as "manong's ramen", the noodle soup in this small eatery in Fujimino is by far, still the best ramen we've ever tasted. The thick flavorful broth with a generous serving of meat and my favorite marinated egg.

(Manong's Ramen, Fujimino, Japan)

Now, more than 4 years have passed and we're still trying to find something that comes close to manong's ramen.

Last week, hubby was excited to find out that Rament Tei had opened near our home and so without much thought, we decided it would have to be ramen for our 5th weekend food choices.

Ramen Tei was the first of the Japanese noodle houses to open in Makati back in 1977. That branch in Pasay was notable because the signage had no English words, just japanese characters. Thus it was just Japanese nationals, expatriates and businessmen and their families who came to eat at the first branch of Ramen Tei.

Ramen Tei, meaning noodle house, got hubby's attention the first time we saw the branch at home depot in Ortigas. This little restaurant has around 8 tables and a crew of 4-5.

It was a slow Saturday night when we arrived at around 8pm but the tables started to fill up after a few minutes.

We ordered Regular Ume, a plate of assorted sushi

The sizes were authentically large. I never got the hang of placing a whole sushi in my mouth and still ending up looking so prim and proper like the women in japan. So thumbs up for the sushi size, but hubby said that the rice in the sushi was a little dry. It was good for my hungry tummy though.

Hubby ordered his favorite fried gyoza

i always find this a bit too oily and meaty so i was just able to finish one piece. Hubby on the other hand, thought their gyoza was delicious.

Then finally our ramen came!

Hubby ordered Sutamina Ramen

and i ordered Nabeyaki Ramen

The ramen was good but still not what we were looking for. After all, Manong's Ramen is a tough dish to beat!

When Your Husband Is Choosy

Everybody who knows hubby knows he is picky, picky, picky, and that he would rather starve than eat something he does not like (i.e. adobo ?!?!!). So when we found this restaurant a few minutes away from home that serves home cooked-like food, i was pleased.

This little restaurant serves very affordable rice meals

You order at the counter in front and choose if you want to stay by the counter or inside an air conditioned room.

We ordered the grilled squid

we were really pleased that the squid was humongous...ok, not humongous but it was definitely bigger than we expected

we were also happy with how the squid was so tender and flavorful! hubby said it was probably due to the lemon grass-like greens inside the squid as it was grilled.

With a good first dish experience and great service, we surely we will be back at Zulu!

The Secret Frozen Yogurt Lab Revealed

We were eating out one evening when hubby told me he saw the purple cart of Froyo's Pure Frozen Yogurt in one of the alleys of a group of restaurants near pioneer. I did not want to believe him without seeing it with my own two eyes because the signage out front said Onstott's, a name that did not ring a bell, so i went to have a look see.

My first encounter with Froyo was at the Salcedo Market last February. As we were musing on things to fill our tummies, a cart in the middle of the walkway caught our attention because (1) i was beginning to really like frozen yogurt around that time and (2) the vendor was giving out free taste of the product like there was no tomorrow!

It was an instant hit as i loved the yogurts texture and flavors. I found out that a restaurant in Serendra sold Froyo and so in one of my forced book worm day review, i headed to Arama to get a taste of my new found fave. Sadly the yogurt served seemed a little too frozen and had lost that creamy texture i loved about my Salcedo purchase. I had always wanted to go back to the saturday market just to get my Froyo and so when i rounded the corner of one of the alleys where we were eating i was ecstatic it truly was Froyo! The yogurt bar and cafe is basic with a couple of tables and chairs, no particular interior decors except for the two large freezers that hold the most wonderful flavors of frozen yogurt.

there were frozen yogurt in tubs

and cups

i was surprised there were popsicle yogurt

and cake!

Because im the only yogurt crazed person at home, i had bought only a cup of the natural flavored frozen yogurt and went home a happy girl!

I was not surprised that a few days after, i was craving for more and so late one evening, i asked hubby if we could drive a couple of blocks to get me another cup. He of course agreed and we were there in less than 5 minutes. We found out that it was better to go to the yogurt shop from the back of the building. I had a heel wrenching time the first night i went to Onstott's as my high heels kept going through the designs of the walkway. If you enter the back, you're practically at the door.

When i entered the yogurt shop, i found Dave, the owner and vendor i had met at Salcedo Market. I had sort of made up my mind before coming over that i had wanted pistachio but Dave asked me if i was sure and started giving me tiny wooden ice cream spoon full of different flavors.

around this time, hubby probably started getting bored waiting and so started taking paparazzi shots from the car as he waited for me to buy my yogurt.

As i was indulging in my test test, i could hear a ruckus from the room which i suspect to be the kitchen. Pounding noises, of maybe ingredients of the natural yogurt.

By the time i had tasted a few flavors, (ok i had taste tested around 6 or 7 flavors!) i was a bit confused on what to get. They were all so good!!! Dave saw the confusion in my eyes and told me he could mix the flavors in the cup if i wanted and that made decision making a little easier (somehow). I chose vanilla and grape. Dave piled on the vanilla flavored frozen yogurt on top of the grape. He even added a few scoops in my cup and just gave me the lid to hold on to because the cup was so full!

From what i know, Onstott's Frozen Yogurt is made from New Zealand Milk and all natural ingredients to make the different flavors. Also, it does not have refined sugar so the sweetness comes mainly from the natural ingredients.

The vanilla yogurt was smooth and creamy, almost like ice cream except it had that zesty after taste i love in frozen yogurt.

I loved the grape flavor instantly when i sampled it. It was refreshing and a bit sweeter than the other flavors. My yogurt cup had a good combination of frozen yogurt flavors!

And my after dinner snack almost didn't make it at home as i was enjoying myself scooping the wonderful dessert giving my palate a creamy, sweet and zesty treat!

Dave said Onstott's was his little hide away. A simple shop at the back of a group of restaurants, hardly noticeable except for that sign out front.

Maybe its his secret lab where he develops new wonderful flavors of frozen yogurt, i thought...maybe i just have a wild imagination!

Onstott's is open 10am to 11pm there's parking at the back of the building where its easier to get to the yogurt shop.