Hubby and i were looking forward to our Italian dinner reservation when i got a call to go to work
…of course my heart sank -we all know how i feel about sudden schedule changes, and on the Weekend Food Choices Anniversary of all days!

…but little did i know that it was an event that would point us to a delicious QC find

We didn’t exactly feel ecstatic when we first entered the restaurant, at least i didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, H Cuisine’s ambiance, although more casual than i had hoped for, was fine, but there was a really loud group of diners at a big table that made me cringe… this was definitely going to be a far cry from the ambiance of our planned Weekend Food Choices anniversary dinner date, i thought. Fortunately we were ushered to the second floor, away from the senseless noise -give me a break, i was tired and hungry!

I learned about H Cuisine by Chef Hannah from JAO but i never got around to giving it a try.

On this visit, we ordered their famous Angus beef belly (Php288 -single; Php428 -for sharing)

The generous portion of fatty Angus beef definitely made me forget the day’s menagerie of events

There was one thing Hubby noticed when we were seated -the knife on the table.
“Don’t tell me we’ll be eating the Angus beef with these”, said the cutlery snob

Digging into the dish, Hubby and i found out why we didn’t need steak knives. The slow cooked Angus beef belly was so tender it disintegrated with just our forks! I finally realized why this was called the Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly -aptly named i thought!

I was impressed with H Cuisine‘s attention to service. When we were seated on the second floor they made sure there was a server that stayed there to attend to our needs. Their staff are also well versed with the items in the menu and answered our inquiries satisfactorily. We were informed how many minutes we had to wait for each dish and their information was pretty accurate. I was one happy diner!

There’s nothing better than a place that serves good dishes except one that serves it well.

Another factor that impressed me about H Cuisine is how good their drinks were. How many casual restaurants have you gone to that serve great food and equally delicious drinks? H Cuisine’s Dalandan Juice and Lime Cooler are something i would come back for any day. But hey, that’s just me.

Clams in Garlic Infused EVOO Linguine (Php198)
I loved this pasta dish.
The flavors were light and perfect that even Hubby, the pasta critic, gave it his seal of approval.

This is definitely a must try. I’m craving for it now as i blog!

Eggplant Moussaka (Php178)

This Mediterranean dish was interestingly well made. Each bite gave a savory mouthful with a surprisingly delightful texture.

I could not believe all the three dishes we ordered were so great. Is that actually possible in such an unassuming restaurant?!

…of course dinner would not have been complete without dessert and coffee

Butter knives down, this place has to be one of the ‘must go to’ secret gems of QC

A surprisingly wonderful find for ODB’s Weekend Food Choices 4th Anniversary!

-and oh yeah the kid is fine…

H Cuisine
64 Scout Rallos St.
Tomas Morato Quezon City, Philippines
Mon-Sun 11:30am to 11pm

Since i’ve found that drinks are as exciting to explore as the dishes we’ve been reviewing, i’ve decided to feature a drink once a month in ODB.

Belgian beers are known for their exquisite quality and Chimay is one of only 6 Belgian beers to carry the Authentic Trappist Product label.

Chimay is named after a municipality in Belgium where the Notre Dame Scourmont Abbey, famous for their Chimay brewery, is located.

The Blue cap Chimay is a dark Trappist beer with a dry caramel note and as i love the coffe-like taste of dark beers, this was perfect for our chips and Hubby’s delicious homemade salsa for our series date night!

Being a Trappist product, Chimay is produced in or near the monastery and its income provides for the community and for social service, a great product for our first ODB’s Thirst Quencher feature.

What are you drinking tonight?

Hubby and i have a go to place when we want good ramen so we were curious what all the fuss in G4 was all about

Hubby and i knew that this place did not accept reservations and that the line could get really long so we arrived early enough to get the second table for the day.

Hokkaido, located on the northern part of Japan, is known for their harsh winter weather and i think that is the reason why they perfected the best thing on a freezing day -a delicious warm bowl of ramen

Santouka Ramen opened in Manila early this year and a lot of people have been raving about it so we had to give it a try

First order of the day: Pork Gyoza (Php200)

Hubby’s favorite starter dish was satisfactory but our good old ramen place had better gyoza

Shio Ramen (Small Php280, Medium Php320, Large Php380)

Hubby thought that his bowl of ramen was great, pearly broth served at just the right temperature -we sort of missed the layer of fat that we love, floating on top of the broth though, and since none of the bowls has eggs in them, we had to order one

Komi-Tamago (Php50)

Tokusen Toroniku Ramen (Small Php370 Medium Php430 Large Php490)

I ordered Santouka’s specialty ramen -a bowl of generous noodles which i decided to have with Shio broth

served with a plate of roasted pork cheeks which is available daily in limited quantity only

i loved my bowl of noodles but i loved the pork cheeks more…so tender and flavorful -delicious!

a slurp-ful of good broth, a strand of noodles, soft fatty pork and runny red eggs…who could ask for more

i now pretty much understand what the fuss is all about…another ramen joint option in Manila

Sweet!

JAMS Food & Co. makes available delicious Angus beef products in Manila. We were lucky enough to have tried their Angus tapa, and realizing how good they were, we were excited to give their burgers a try.

grilled with with white onions on hubby’s favorite iron cast grill, preparing was such a cinch!

After thawing the burger patties overnight in the refrigerator, evenly season with salt and pepper on both sides. Other seasonings and spices such as paprika, cayenne pepper, lea & perrins, or BBQ sauce, can be added as well…but we like ours plain.

Cook either over an open flame or stove top -make sure the grill or pan is hot, clean and oiled before placing the seasoned burger patties on medium heat. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. Make sure you DO NOT press down on the patties and only flip the patty ONCE.

While hubby was grilling, i was preparing the buns and sides.

I love cheese on my beef burgers

That day, we had a pack of brie in the fridge so i decided to use the soft cheese

And since my search for nice deli burger buns had been futile…I decided to use a substitute –the English muffin.

I like doing things a certain way and deviations from tried and tested methods are usually unwelcome…I like knowing what I’m getting and i don’t like relying on flukes

Unfortunately, life has propelled me to groups of people who have the same principles and demeanor as i do. Only recently have i had the experience of having to deal with deviations, and boy has it been a steep learning curve I’ve had to crawl my way through

patience…a valuable lesson learned on accepting variety….now getting back to our burgers…

It didn’t take long before the wonderful smell of grilled Angus beef filled the kitchen

My burger was topped with brie, grilled onions, fresh local tomatoes, yellow mustard and a side of baby dill

Hubby is not fond of sweet pickles and had slices of jalapenos on his burger creation instead

The angus beef burger was just perfect!

The grilled taste of the patty giving way to soft juicy ground Angus…

…de-licious!

So you see, just because the things you want are not available, does not mean the end product will not be as great…and just because people don’t do things in the manner you do them does not mean the end of the world, they probably just don’t know any better…well, most of the time at least…

…life is full of varieties and personalities and the earlier you accept that, the earlier you will stop fussing about the details and start enjoying the big picture!

-like this juicy English muffin clad Angus burger…go figure!

Hubby and i took a trip to the mall to check out the newly opened Chuck’s Grub. We’ve had their fish and chips before at the kiosk in Rockwell but their shop in Megamall, we found out, was much cozier. The staff was wonderful as well, interacting with the customers and making the diners feel taken cared of.

I would definitely come here again, i thought.

You can choose from a variety of fish for your beer battered grub and some sides too

We decided to get 8 pieces of the white river cobbler, an order of calamares and jalapeno poppers

the soft cobbler enveloped in delicious beer batter was so good! Perfect with the Czech style pilsner -a light crisp golden brew, and the Anderson Valley stout – a dark dry creamy brew i surprisingly liked probably because of it’s complex aromas of toasted bread, toffee, dried cherries and dark coffee, that we ordered

the dipping sauces made the beer battered fish just excellent!

Just before we wiped out our cobbler, our order of calamares came …we were surprised at the huge serving and didn’t think we could finish this and another cone of jalapeno poppers….surprisingly we took a look at our receipt and realized the jalapeno poppers were not punched in (thank goodness!)

The calamares were just as delicious! The crunchy beer batter covering the tender squid rings went great with our bottles of brew.

Things turned out for the best. I could just imagine how overly stuffed we would have been if our jalapeno poppers were served -and plus, i’m much more forgiving to nice staff.

So you see… you don’t always get what you ask for, and it sucks at times, but things really often do work out for the best …in life and in grubbing…

If you want delicious beer battered grub at reasonable prices you definitely have to try these out!

Chuck’s Grub
LG Bldg A
SM Megamall

They also have branches at Frontera Verde, Trinoma, Rockwell, SM North and SM MOA