sizzling pepper steak

last night, junjun and i had our date at sizzling pepper steak in glorietta 5. despite mixed reviews on this restaurant, i still decided that we give it a try.

when we arrived at the place, we were almost seated at once and was handed the menu.


because i scanned thru numerous blogs and websites regarding this resto, i already had a fairly good idea of what to order. i got a sizzling beef pepper rice and cranberry juice while junjun had the herbed chicken, japanese rice and bottomless soda.

sizzling beef pepper rice
(Php 185.00)

sizzling herbed chicken
(around Php 150.00)

the sizzling beef pepper rice was good. the beef was thinly sliced and was not gummy, the pepper flavor was just right. i think it just lacked sauce, or maybe i should have asked for additional serving of the sauce. the herbed chicken also has a nice distinct flavor and junjun liked it. the only downside of eating on sizzling plates was that you have to wait a little while before you can take your first bite since you will burn your tongue if you hurry.

the staff were friendly and efficient. prices were also good, we spent a little over Php 500.00, and they had no service charge. the place was a little crowded though, maybe due to the weekend crowd, so we sat on the veranda.

i would recommend this place to someone who would like a different adventure on eating.

big sale!

big sale this coming april 17 - 19 at the mega tent meralco ave. sponsored by bpi credit card.

lessons learned from bonito island

Last March 28-29 our project team held it's team building at Bonito Island Resort in Mabini, Batangas. (http://www.bonitoislandresort.com).


Here are the things that i learned from that trip:

1) websites can be deceiving
when i first learned of where we were going for our outing, i immediately checked its website. i was impressed by the website of the resort and thought that it would be a good chance to break from my usual routine. i was WRONG! almost nothing in its website is what is in real life.

2) aircons need rest
we arrived at the resort at around 10am. after checking in into our rooms, we found out that there was no power for the airconditioning units. what we did was ask the resort manager regarding this. her reply was "may gumamit kasi nung aircon buong magdamag kagabi, so kailangan magpahinga, mga 4-5 hours pa bago buksan." [the aircon was used last night, it needs to rest, it will take about 4-5 hours before we turn it on again]. what the...

3) electric water dispensers are used for dispensing purposes only
the water dispenser in the dining area is not plugged into an electrical outlet, hence the water is neither hot nor cold... it was room temperature.

4) salty water is the standard output of all pipes
salty water in the sea, in the poolside shower and in the room's shower. good thing they provided mineral water for brushing teeth...

5) buffet does not mean eat all you can
if you are late for the serving of the meals, and some of the dishes are no longer available, sorry... but you have to be contented on what is left for you.

6) termites are also guests
termites can be found in the window sill and bed frames

7) love the koreans
because there were korean guests present, the resort played korean songs over and over again... and served tons of kimchi.

the island itself was a beauty. some of my colleagues went snorkling and saw a variety of fish. but the management needs to improve (a lot) on its customer service or else they will lose the business. also, they should invest more in the maintenance and care of the resort... buy a higher capacity genset!

head over meals

monday night... another trip to madison square for our dinner. we decided to try out a restaurant called "head over meals."

at first, we thought it was an expensive restaurant. but they offered meals which are cheap, but tasted good. the selection of food were also not your usual menu.


meals come in budget and big sizes. for viands, it comes with free rice, while for burger, it comes with free fries.

junjun ordered the honey glazed pork liempo, while i chose fish fillet florentine. we also ordered two glasses of softdrinks which caused Php 20.00 each.

honey glazed pork liempo - Php 80.00


fish fillet florentine - Php 75.00


overall, this is a good place to go to if you are on a tight budget and you want to steer away from your usual fried chicken and rice.

amici

last friday, Junjun and I had our "date" at Amici in Don Bosco. i have heard a lot about this place and decided to check it out.

for a brief background, amici was used to be a school cafeteria ran by the priests of don bosco. But some years ago, it was bought by the group that owns red ribbon. since then, there have been changes. other branches have also been open.

for our dinner, we ordered al quattro formaggi (pizza), cannelloni agli spinaci (pasta) and soda. of course, we also had gelato.

al quattro formaggi (four cheeses) - Php 290.00

cannelloni agli spinaci (spinach and ricotta cheese in pasta tubes topped with tomato sauce) - Php 195.00


gelato (ice cream - blueberry/mint with chocolate) - Php 50.00 per cup


overall, i liked how the food tasted. the pasta was good, and even though there was a lot of spinach, it did not taste like vegetables. the pizza was a combination of the different cheeses. and of course the gelato... if i wasn't too full, i would have gotten another cup. the ambiance was nice, there were three counters that could take your orders. service was fast, and the servers were attentive. i hope i could go back and try the other dishes... and sample other flavors of the gelato. =)

sonsi

for our dinner yesterday, we went to Madison Square along Pioneer St. Junjun & I opted to eat at a place called "Sonsi." According to the server, their specialties are the longganisa. They had different variants of it: alaminos, vigan, tuguegarao, lucban, and cabanatuan.

Junjun tried the alaminos, while i chose the vigan longganisa. The vigan variety tasted more like what your longganisa would normally taste like, pork with spices. While the alaminos variety tasted a little bit liked smoked bacon.

One meal order consisted of the longganisa, garlic rice, egg, and a glass of iced tea. The longganisa were served crisply fried, and already cut into small pieces. For the egg, you have the option if you want it sunny side up or scrambled. I had mine scrambled while Junjun had the sunny side up. A native kind of vinegar was also used as a sawsawan for the longganisa.

The price for the meal was Php 125.00. It was fair since the servings of the longganisa and rice was enough for you to be full. It was unfortunate that we were not able to take pictures of the place, since our digicam was not with us.

Besides longganisa meals, they also had other offerings like liempo, boneless bangus, salisbury steak, pizza, pasta and bar chow.

Though i am not very fond of longganisa, i might go to this place once in a while. Next time i will sample their other dishes.

dragon adopters

i have decided to adopt a dragon...

an online dragon pet that is. it starts out as an egg, and just like a tamagochi, you have to feed it and take care of it so that it would yield items for you.

you can see my dragon at the right part of my blog. as of this writing, it is still an egg.

if you want to adopt one, you can go to dragonadopters.com

=)

update [17 March 2009]: my dragon has hatched!