Our Little Game of Weekend Food Choices

i was listless last week and decided i needed help with our usual weekend planning so hubby and i decided that each week on a friday he would name 3 restaurants of his choice and i would pick which one we would eat at for our “sunday meal out” (ok, it was actually my idea and hubby just gave in to my little game! hehehe!)

So for last weekend, hubby’s choices were:
MyThai (Eastwood Mall)
New Bombay (Podium)
Banapple (Katipunan)

My choice:
Banapple

I know this has been in existence forever. ive actually passed by this place a couple of times and have heard good things about the dishes here, but we’ve never really tried banapple mainly because its a little out of our way.

when we got there at a little past 6pm the parking was full except for 1 space which we gladly took. the restaurant was small with only about 10 square tables, all of which were taken when we arrived. fortunately 2 diners were finishing up their cake and we were seated in less than 5 minutes.

hubby was set on ordering pasta as he had heard good feedback about banapple’s pasta dishes so it didnt take long for him to order the fettuccine jacintha

this creamy carbonara dish was heavenly. the dish was so large, 2-3 people could actually share the pasta. but ok, we did finish it just between the two of us! hehehe!

at the time we were ordering, we didnt know the pasta would actually be enough for our dinner so i ordered another dish supposedly for me. i was torn between the the pan fried porkloin with herb mushroom gravy and the hickory smoked barbecue country ribs, but in the end the ribs won…

i was expecting the ribs to be bony but it was actually all meat. the meat was very tender and with a generous layer of fat (cholesterol check!).

because the two dishes were fit for 3-4 people we decided to finish the pasta and take home the rest of the ribs for hubby’s lunch the next day. after all, i wanted to leave room for dessert.

i stood in front of the cake display for maybe a full 3 minutes before i chose a cake. they all looked lovely! i wanted to try their banoffie or pecan pie but hubby might not like it. the strawberry amaretto looked delicious but looked quite heavy and so i settled for the white chocolate truffle berry.

this big pastry slice had smooth whipped layers of white chocolate and berries on a graham crust. this was a perfect pair with my hot cinnamon tea.

as we drove home happily stuffed, i told hubby “that was a good dinner!” and he smiled in agreement!

i wonder where our little weekend food choices will lead us next……

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Pigs are not meant to Fly

last sunday, hubby and i decided we would check out the new eastwood mall to see what all the hype was about. we heard that the cinema was peachy and resolved to watch angels and demons there. we found only a couple of seats left at cinema 7 all of which were front row so we decided to just get seats at another hall.

cinema 7 was labeled ultra, although i dont exactly know why its called that as i lost interest in asking the girl behind the counter because she obviously was just interested in selling me our tickets already as she looked like she was too engrossed in her conversation with another ticket girl -dont you just hate it when people behind the counter are like that?! i did see that it only had a few seats as shown by the monitor when we tried to reserve seats. anyone know how different this cinema hall is from the others? lazy boy seats maybe?

anyway, when we entered cinema 4 we saw that it was much smaller than the ones we usually go to in rockwell. as i sat in our middle choice seats, i realized that the small cinema hall was very nice, red plush walls, seats that recline to a certain degree, and nice new floors! it was placed at the top of my list of where to see good movies.

after a satisfying trip to the cinema, hubby and i decided to have dinner, it was a toss up between mythai and flying pig and because the weather was too hot for spicy food, we decided to follow our carnivore instinct and headed to flying pig.

it had a laid back ambiance with quirky posters on the walls

we ordered sashimi because i was craving for raw fish

this was not exceptional really, the maguro was not the melt in your mouth kind, but hey, i ordered fish in a pork restaurant so i was very forgiving

the sashimi plate called a duo, had a teriyaki laden maguro portion which was…well, different definitely, but nothing i would crave for

we also ordered ilocandia carbonara, as hubby was craving for white sauce pasta

this was warm and creamy with a slightly unorthodox taste, we realized it was probably the the famous sausage from the north and hence, the name ilocandia carbonara…again, it was different but not a wow

for the main dish of the meal, we ordered a half slab of baby back ribs in honey and pomegranate basting with cheddar mashed potato on the side

the rack was meaty and the flavor tasty but it was not the fall off the bone i had imagined it to be. although it didnt really state in the menu “fall of the bone baby back”, i had just expected that it would be a standard. the dish was not bad but far from exceptional either.

now comes the saddest part of dinner…
i always want to try new restaurants’ desserts, but with the mediocre dishes hubby and i tasted, we decided to just make a safe choice of creme brulee (although ive heard, its not really easy to make this).

hmmm, looks good i thought, but the goodness just stayed in my thoughts…

the plain creme brulee was bready, full of holes and had water in it as if it had been in the fridge for quite some time *tearful*

the chocolate creme brulee had very coarse nuts on top of, again, a bready consistency of what was supposed to be creamy dessert, ive tasted better brownies…

and this last version had a hint of mango but i was just too sad to even care…

lets just face it, i guess pigs are not really meant to fly…

Holy Cow!

i always get excited when a new restaurant opens and today was no exception.

ive seen this restaurant before at trinoma, or so we thought (as docgelo pointed out it looks like holy cow trinoma is a totally different place).  im glad that at that time the ambiance of madison grill drew us to it and without regret as we had the yummiest baby back ribs.

i was hoping holy cow at the 3rd floor of Mega Atrium would be a treat as well.

once settle in one of the booth seats, we scanned the menu and decided on baked onion soup, creamy carbonara, and the blade steak.

while we were waiting for our orders to come, we were taking note of the interiors.

the restaurant had a cowboy theme with various articles on the walls and large wheels on the ceiling that served as chandeliers.

the ambiance was just right for our casual friday looks.

we were served complementary hot off the oven bread sticks

this was nice and warm. hubby said it tasted like meat and that’s because on closer inspection the bread had sprinkles of something like bacon bits on it.

hubby ordered white grape tea which he liked.

after about 5 minutes our steak was served.

majority of the steaks in holy cow menu comes with 2 side dishes. you could pick among potato croquet, french fries, veggies, grilled corn, onion rings, steamed or garlic rice or mashed potatoes.

we like our steak medium rare and the steak was cooked perfectly. grilled on the outside and juicy reddish pink inside.  the meat was tender and

hubby and i loved the ranch dip of the onion rings.

our creamy carbonara was served next

this dish was cooked perfectly. the noodles were al dente and the sauce enveloped each in a creamy bath. it was delicious!

we were enjoying our food so much that we forgot our soup had not yet been served. it soon came piping hot.

the baked onion soup had a generous serving of onions in broth topped with bread and cheese. im guessing the cheese is not purely mozzarella and i felt the bread was a little too thick for the soup.  but the hot soup hit the right spot and made the little glitch forgivable.

for a restaurant on their first day, holy cow at mega atrium displayed very good service.  the waiters were very attentive and the manager did his rounds greeting the diners.  there is nothing better than good food, than good food provided with good service!  i hope they keep this up because the delicious food we had this evening tells me that we’ll surely be back.

je suis gourmand

since i am a person who appreciates good food (je suis gourmand), this restaurant at the ground floor of net one seemed like a good place for our post vday dinner!

hubby called for reservations which was well and good because as we were having our dinner the restaurant filled up all the tables as far as i could see. the place is cozy despite the fine dining flair. the waiters are well versed and were attentive to the needs of the gourmands at the restaurant. chef marc aubrey even made his rounds at the tables greeting the diners.

i was hungry from a whole day of doing my lecture and i knew what i wanted

roasted bone marrow with mushrooms

ive never had bone marrow before aside from the greasy bulalo and so, to me this dish was a little subdued, heart attack tasting wise.  you can see the glistening rounded mush of bone marrow on the plate which was much more firm than the bulalo version and when eaten doesnt leave a greasy taste in your mouth.

hubby ordered his favorite gratinated french onion soup

so sorry for the lousy photo, the candle gave a flare and we just couldnt take another shot because we wanted to taste it already!!! it was pretty delicious but hubby said he still preferred the french onion soup at fridays in minneapolis because it had a thicker cheese top.

for the main course hubby ordered his staple

grilled lamb trio

this dish is for lamb lovers, it includes lamb chops, tenderloin and marquez sausages. although i must warn you the sausages are HOT! as in spicy hot! he paired this with mapu red wine from chile.

i on the other hand went with my love for cheese

blue cheese linguine carbonara with roasted smoked bacon

i loved my pick! the linguine was smothered in delectable blue cheese. it was so smooth and blended well with the smoked bacon and succulent prawns! this is a must try although i do warn you that the love for blue cheese is an acquired taste because of its strong taste and distinct odor. i paired this with french colombelle white wine which had a sweet fruity taste just right for me!

for our dessert i was torn between the creme brulee and the home made fresh grape sherbet

white chocolate and dried apricot creme brulee

however the dried apricot gave the creme brulee the winning edge!

je suis stuffed!