New Find: Pink Pepper Restaurant & Lounge Bar

My visit: April 16, 2010

Pink Pepper
2F Il Terrazo
Tomas Morato,
Quezon City
4973721

It has been awhile since AC, GE and I have seen each other. Sure, AC and I are often each other's house guest and GE and I see to it that we have lunch over the holidays to catch up. It's about time that the three of us have the opportunity to get together just like the old times!

We quickly found a table upon entering as only a few tables were occupied.

Cantonese Soup Kitchen: A sad tale of a take out

My visit: April 22, 2010

This week was such a busy week for me. DH was away for four days and I have to be his mini me in his office. And had to go to his brother's place every after office to eat dinner as I was left to fend for myself haha I usually drop by the restaurants along Banawe St. to take out afternoon snacks for my nephews and nieces before going to my BIL's place. I had been to Causeway's on Monday, Fu Chi Dumpling's on Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday I invited myself over to AC's place for a sumptuous lumpia- thanks AC and finally yesterday, my long horrible wait for dimsum take out at Cantonese Soup Kitchen.

Anybody else received this warning from GMAIL?

screencap of the warning

Is this a SPAM message or should I respond to it? Why would it ask for my password? And the email address is from unaluna49@gmail.com. 

I got this email message in two of my email addresses. Geeez!

New find: Good Chef Bistro

My visit: March 20, 2010

Good Chef Bistro

847A Banawe St., 

Quezon City

559632   0916-5555707

The first time we attempted to dine here was I think two weeks ago. We were a bit early for dinner at 5 in the afternoon and was told in Mandarin (Chinese language) that the restaurant was still close for dinner.

Curiously enough, we went back last Saturday for lunch and saw a few tables occupied. This time DH and I knew that the restaurant was open.  

We thought because the restaurant employs a Mandarin speaking hostess the food serve will be authentic lol Boy, we were proven wrong!

string beans with minced pork PhP160

String beans with minced pork is too HOT too handle! Even my Bicolano DH can't handle the spiciness of this dish. And mind you, we ordered mild in terms of hotness lol See the red thingy on top, those are sili, more of those can be found at the bottom under the pile of string beans. DH took out it all out one by one and it can fill a saucer full of red sili.

UCC Cafe Terrace... mediocre salad with high price tag!

My visit: March 7, 2010

UCC Cafe Terrace

Lobby Level, Trinoma Mall

EDSA cor. North Ave.,

Quezon City

9006581

My family and I had a late afternoon snack last Sunday. We were thinking something light for dinner and my mom suggested and raved about the seafood salad of UCC.

We ordered two seafood salad. We requested to split both orders into two.  The picture below shows the split or half of the order.

seafood salad PhP389

Now, the problem was not with the dressing, even though it's a bit oily. Not even the tempura shrimp or the battered scallop but on the vegetable itself. The picture below showed that almost half of my veggies were wilted. I even showed the waitress a piece of vegetable full of black particles. I asked her what it was. She got my piece, put it on a plate, went inside the kitchen and never came back. 

Caught on cam: footbridge signage

I took this photo yesterday along the stretch of EDSA. What wrong with this picture? "SALAMAT PO! PANGULONG GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYA SA FOOTBRIDGE NA ITO" (Thank You! President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for this footbridge) Eerrr! Did she pay for the footbridge? Aren't we supposed to thank the taxpayers? Why should we thank her?

Don't fall prey again come election time!

Injection site trauma

9 hours after my blood was collected; red mark on the right is from the tape used

I've had it with lab personnel who doesn't know how to take blood samples. This is what usually happens if the person is careless. I had my blood annually checked for cholesterol, triglycerides and the like last Sunday morning. I felt nothing while the person was taking out my blood. I did what I was told to do after taking the sample- put pressure on the injection site, don't rub and don't fold your arm. But the pictures above clearly showed how badly affected my veins were. It has been two days and now my bruise turned purple already. I don't know how long will the bruise last.

New Find: Dolci Divino

It was after our sumptuous dinner at Cookbook Kitchen when our group decided to head to Ortigas Ave. for dessert/coffee.

At first we were eyeing The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf but then we got attracted to Dolci Divino's funky setting. And that was all it was funky modern setting.

A few of our friends ordered their gelato. One friend thought that we were going to spent the rest of our night there so she ordered without tasting the gelato- they offer free tasting. Another friend made the right choice of tasting the gelato first. But after tasting a few flavors and not yet finding a gelato that was not sweet she settled and order one gelato. Eeer, nahiya na siyang hindi umorder sa dami ng free taste niya haha Since the rest of us were warned we opted not to have dessert and instead went to our first choice... The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Dulcinea

My visit: January 1, 2010

Dulcinea

Level 1, Power Plant Mall

Rockwell Drive, Makati Cty

7565043

 house blend coffee PhP47

DM almost always orders coffee whenever she dines in a restaurant.

I am having a cough week!

Yes, you read it right! A cough week is what I am having!

 Honey Propolis Throat Spray PhP100

I bought this in Sonya's Garden in Tagaytay but it was made by Ilog Maria- a honeybee farm also found in Tagaytay. I had no voice when I started spraying this inside my mouth but I regained my voice the very next day.

Although, I am still not well, I am happy that I got my voice back!

Peri- Peri Grill House

My visit: November 27, 2009

Peri- Peri Grill House

Ground floor

Promenade, Greenhills Shopping Center

San Juan

If I had known the having our dinner here would turn into waiting game, I would not have agreed with my friends. Our order, including drinks, came out thirty minutes later. If not for MPT, who followed up our order twice, our food never would have came out.

parmesan crusted shrimp PhP350

If I am with DH, he would absolutely not let me order the parmesan crusted shrimp mainly because it's deep fried. I ate most of the shrimp without the marinara sauce, I think it's not bagay. We only ate 10 out of the 12 parmesan crusted shrimp.

1/4 chicken PhP140

java rice

This is MPT's order. She gave me a portion to taste the lemon and garlic chicken. The chicken was tender and juicy. The taste was just alright. The java rice tasted like plain rice with a different color lol Nothing special.

Peri chicken and ribs PhP320

LCA and I shared this Peri chicken and ribs. I got the ribs and she got the chicken part hehe By now, LCA knows already that I like ribs aside from sweet and sour pork lol Their ribs was a huge disappointment. Not only was the ribs without much meat, the extra sauce I requested taste awful. It did not even taste like a BBQ sauce at all.

We also ordered watermelon shake PhP70, soda PhP50 and a Cajun Chicken Afredo PhP265 which I think came out last that's why I was not able to take a picture of it. OK, I was too hungry because by this time it's already past 9pm.

care bears circa 1983

LCA, me and MPT

If not for my two care bear friends, I would have already walked out of this restaurant. Peri Peri leaves a very bad first impression on me. It's a no service charge restaurant maybe that's why we got none of the good service we deserve but we still left a tip ;p

Sakura Japanese Restaurant and Grocery

My visit: November 24, 2009

Sakura Japanese Restaurant and Grocery

2nd level, Glorietta 4

Ayala Center, Makati

7282512

When looking for a Japanese restaurant in Glorietta, most often than not, my family and I would chose Jipan. The food is big to share with reasonable price.

But I don't know what got into me and my DS one Tuesday lunch, we tried out Sakura for a change.

 store display

Ok na sana kaso super babad sa sauce. Buti sana kung masarap sa panlasa ko eh hindi naman. Mahilig pa naman ako sa sauce. Ang kaso mo, maalat siya. Kaya mapapadami ang kain mo ng kanin.

Photoshop gone awry: Filippa Hamilton a fired Ralph Lauren Model

Filippa Hamilton was fired by Ralph Lauren alledgedly because she was not thin enough. OMG! They photoshop her and looked like a cartoon character in a Tokyo advertisement (picture on the left). This is sick!

Filippa Hamilton

She is 5'10" and 120 pounds. A size 4 at that! And yet she is not up to Ralph Lauren's standard of stick thin. Crazy!

source: Telegraph

Japanese Restaurant: Suzu Kin

My visit: August 21, 2009

Suzu Kin Japanese Restaurant

A Tradition Since 1981

Unit 2 G/F, Red Maples Building

411 NS Amoranto Sr. Avenue,

Quezon City

2183077 09053494560

interior

We were the only diners when we ate in this fairly new restaurant. It is still in soft opening phase. The restaurant has several branches in the metro. This particular restaurant is a franchise. It is brightly colored with modern wood interior. We hoped that the nice interior would equal to a nice hefty lunch. But we were disappointed.

Here are what we have ordered:

dilis

I requested several times for a free dilis before it was given to me lol I understand that it is only included in some of their set meal thus it can't be served for free. But they serve it to me anyway. Nakulitan siguro! hehe

(top) rice PhP31, atsuage PhP105

(bottom) dilis, dashimaki PhP97,

Atsuage, is more like fried tokwa than tofu. The consistency is not like the one we have eaten in Japanese restaurant. It was also the first time that I have tasted tamago, dashimaki- as they want to call it, was served quite hot actually.

salmon sushi Php165

The salmon was sliced paper thin and as you can see, the color is so pale.

california maki PhP168

I have not yet touched the california maki and the form was already breaking up. We only ate six pieces out of twelve. I decided to just take out the rest and when I opened the take out box , it's a disaster!

beef teppanyaki PhP202

The beef was puro litid. It was very hard to chew to say the least.

It was a good thing that the manager asked us about the food served. We told him about the atsuage and the beef teppanyaki. He explained that all the ingredient supplies came from the franchiser. The franchisee has no control over it. He told us that he would meet up with the franchiser and bring out our complain.

I hope that their food quality would improve. Quezon City needs a good Japanese restaurant. Most of our favorite restaurant like Nippon and Kagayaki have already closed down. DH and I need an authentic Japanese restaurant!

Price WAR: SM vs Landmark

As I have related on my previous post, I was on the first day of the 3 day sale in SM Sta. Mesa.

I already have a list of what to buy and I also made sure to be there early so as to get the additional 10% discount on my purchase.

spot the difference

I was at Market! Market! mall a few weeks ago and I saw the price of Ruby Red apple display at PhP59.75 each. I was delighted to see that SM is selling it for only PhP49.75 each. A 10% discount is given on the cashier and if you have an SM Advantage card, an additional 10% off will be given to you as long as you shop between 10am to 12nn on the first day only. The price would now be down to PhP40 each. What a savings or so I thought!


Here are the proofs:

sm receipt

landmark receipt

Until I went to Landmark in Trinoma yesterday. The same Ruby red apple is sold for only PhP39.75 each and since the store is also on sale until August 31, a discount of 10% is given at the cashier. Exactly the same item but it is cheaper in Landmark.

vase full of washington apples

I bought 20 pieces of apples in SM and an additional 5 pieces more in Landmark to fill the vase. Buti nalang it turned out great hehe Kung hindi ang sama na ng loob ko sa haba ng pinila ko sa SM lol

Follow up: I was in Robinson's Galleria and I saw the same red Washington apple priced at 50% off from the original price of PhP99. What?? OK lang ang Robinson's?

Spring Deer

My visit: July 26, 2009

Spring Deer Restaurant

31 Timog Ave. corner Scout Tobias St.,

Quezon City

3714358

If you are any of my closest friends, relatives or family member, you should know that my favorite dish is sweet and sour pork. So, when my DB told my family and I about this restaurant in Timog Ave. his selling point was that the restaurant served good sweet and sour pork. Well, I am terribly disappointed. Not only did I see a small crawling cockroach on its wall but the sweet and sour pork is the worst that I've tasted. Chowking's sweet and sour pork is way better plus it doesn't smell.

Here's what we've ordered:

spinach soup

This is my DS's order, good thing, they serve the soup per cup so you don't have to be obligated to order a whole bowl of soup. I am not a soup lover. DS has no complain with her soup so maybe the taste was OK.

assorted cold cuts

taosi clams

yang chow fried rice

sweet and sour pork

This is one sweet and sour pork picture that can be deceiving. Although it looks nice on my camera, it tasted bad and the smell, hmmm I dunno but definitely I will never going to go back to this restaurant because it murdered my sweet and sour pork haha

Follow up: GNC

I blogged about how my bottle of vitamin E was lacking a piece when I bought one in GNC at the start of the month. To read about it, go here. It was just last July 22 when I got the opportunity to go back to the store. Apparently, they don't give you the piece that you are lacking instead I was given a PHP10 refund for the missing vitamin E. I don't feel good about it. I want my vitamin E. So, you can imagine the look on my face when the personnel handed me two PhP5 peso coins. I asked why because I remembered talking to them twice on the phone and both said I can get the vitamin E anytime. So, I was really expecting vitamin E! They didn't bother to tell me that it's gonna be a PhP10 refund. The personnel Ria, who was not in a cheery mood unlike the last time I was buying from them, told me that was the instruction given to them. The amount would be the equivalent of the one vitamin E missing. By the way, no apologies were said to me. In fact, it's as if it was me who owes them one.

2 pcs. PhP5 coins

Now, I'm thinking if I made the right choice in exchanging my Healthy Options card with their gold card. Bad decision!

Choi Garden: the return of the come back!

My visit: July 19, 2009

Choi Garden Seafood & Sharksfin Restaurant

#12 Annapolis St. corner Purdue St.,

Greenhills, San Juan City

7276042 7277489

Ok, I know I gave a very bad review with this restaurant last time. But the restaurant has improved since then. Maybe nasawa na ang mga tao sa kakapila either that or nabasa nila ang aking bad review lol. There was not even a line outside when we went and dine in last Sunday. But as I passed through the numerous tables going to the toilet, I noticed that most of the tables had a reserved sign on top. Maybe because we were there a bit early for dinner, it's just 6:30pm.

lechon macau with wine PhP 350

pork with baguio bean small PhP 220

I like the pork with beans that I've ordered in Mey Lin Trinoma better. But then again Mey Lin uses msg.

1/4 roast duck PhP 380

Sa wakas, when we asked for the roast duck, it's available!

fried rice fookien style PhP 240

Since I don't want the sauce on my fried rice, we requested to have the sauce separated from it.

taho small PhP 150

And shockingly, the taho is available too that night!

call server button, not working!

The service did not improve. The call server button on the table is useless. Or is it not working? Maybe it's for display purposes only. Sad to say, with the arrangement of the tables located outside the main restaurant, it was really hard to get the waiter's attention. Besides, only one waiter is manning our area. Hay, terible! I have to get the pitcher of water myself from their station. Asking for the bill and waiting for it after signing it took a very long time. If not for the food, this restaurant would no have survived! We still leave a tip though.