Nanbantei of Tokyo : Grilled to perfection!

Taguig is such a beautiful place to be. It has all the glits and glamour one can ever ask for. 

• Luxurious malls and boutiques
• Hot and gorgeous people walking around
• Cute pets in their tiny little outfits
• Heart pumping sports cars 
• and most of all they have the most mouth watering and wallet emptying restaurants in the metro!

That is why in the heart of this little place, lives NANBANTEI OF TOKYO, where they specialize in something oh so familiar to us Filipino's : IHAW

Such a good word "ihaw" is. I am all about a good bbq on a stick. Especially one with a ton of fat on the end! I could gobble it up like a hound dog unfed for a month! (Yes, I eat like a mad man.)

So back to the grilling and less with the gory details..

Speaking of bbq.. Let us start off with my favorite. 

Good old Mr. Pork Bbq! Such a fine gentleman, he has the perfect qualities every lady would want! Very tender and juicy! Grilled to perfection! Too bad servings here come in 3's or 2's. And what about piggy people like me? Don't fret my fellow meat lovers! You can always order more! 

PORK GARLIC YAKI
(only 2 sticks per order-ala carte)
P130

And I love it as much as I love bbq's on the streets, but of course this is better because it is for sure.. CLEAN!!

Izakaya Den : Japanese food haven in Malate

Nothing complements Japanese food like KIKKOMAN (bow)

And whenever dining at a Japanese restaurant I would always love the sight of this sexy body with the red cap, not that I don't appreciate the beautiful condiment containers of other restaurants, but nothing beats simplicity.

By the looks of IZAKAYA DEN's facade, I was totally excited because I feel like a lot of Japanese people eat here (which would say a lot about it's authenticity) and also because I have seen the place for quite a while now and have been dying to see what the inside looks like. I have passed by this place over and over again, but never had the time to stop and give it a try.

.... Til now! For the longest time, my mind has been constructing the inside of this place! Seemed to me like it is the Japanese "A" place to be and it is! And I would always see a ton of cars parked outside whenever passing by.

Craving Katsudon? Try GINZA BAIRIN, truly the best Katsudon I've had!

Whenever going to an uncharted territory, first thing I do is map out the place and scout for a good place to eat. That is what we all do for survival right? Not that the scenario was this drastic. But I love exploring new places because I am always in search for something new. 

UP Town Center is the perfect place for what I had in mind. Majority of the place is a breather. An artisan's place. A place built or brought here as a fulfillment to its owners who has passion for great food. A place where the food and satisfying the customers are the top priority, not just the $$$$$$ (granted that it is a given). UP Town Center might be a little place for now, but already has lots to offer.

On a cold afternoon, almost night. The air around it was the perfect time to ask for a hug (especially if you are with someone you like, it is the perfect place to make "pa-simple moves"). Haha because the place was just freezing cold. A Tagaytay or Baguio kinda feel. A good ramen would be the perfect thing to eat, but there was not a lot to choose from only "RYU" and another Vietnamese place. There were a couple of pastries and coffee places and places I haven't seen before.

The closest thing to what I had in mind was GINZA BAIRIN. At first glance of the place, I immediately loved the plain and simple interior. Gives the place a "relaxing" vibe. I would have loved the place even more if it were a floor sit down kind of resto. There is not much of those places, and probably for a good reason too. Can you imagine a bad smell (you know what I am talking about) emanating through out the place? Turn off right?

Misohana

I love spending holidays with my family and friends. People now a days are often too busy to even breathe and check up on themselves. Some are often tired from work that they just prefer to stay home alone and relax. But I've never been the "home buddy" type. I've always loved hanging out with my friends. Out as in out or till the mall closes out. Holidays are never complete if I don't get to hang with the people closest to my heart, it leaves this empty empty void in my heart. It wouldn't stop until I get to see them.

Since most of my loving friends are still in med school or still in school. I barely get to see them. But distance was never an issue. True friendship can stand the test of time.

Since it is now the perfect time to be with my loved ones. We decided to hang out even just for a while since most of them are gonna be going abroad or spend the rest of the vacation someplace else. But where to go? Since Robinson's Magnolia is the new 'IT' place. Since it is new. The place is so clean and cold. It's new alright, but did you know that there are several new malls just around the corner. In the near 2014 or so..

There are several great places to eat at at Rob Mag, but my friend and I were brave enough to try out Misohana. We actually patrolled around other restaurants to see if we were craving for something. Nothing came to mind except RAMEN! Poor old Mr. Nissin. Nobody thinks of him whenever craving for hot noodles.

There are actually several other places like Ramen Bar or Miso Ten. But since Misohana is the new Ramen place. We decided to try it out!

We checked out Ramen Bar before dining at Misohana and saw that the former had a lot more variety to their menu as compared to Misohana. But it was not that bad. I actually loved their salad. I am never a salad person but whenever I am with my friend Sel. We always order salad. I really don't know why. I never asked why. But I love having great adventures with this girl! Best friend the world ever gave :)

Misohana has a simple modern welcoming ambiance. I don't know if it's just me. But orange seems to be around lately. All day long I can see orange bags, orange shoes, orange chairs. Who knew orange would one day be cool! I remember when I was a child, people would always ask you your favorite color and the usual colors would be pink, blue, yellow, red.. I seldom hear orange, and if someone said that they like orange, people would react funny.

Come to think of it. It is really eye catching and I really like oranges, as in the fruit. :) I can never have enough fresh orange juice! Mabuhay ORANGE!

Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen : Just gotta have some more

     When you had something great. You can't help but go back for more. It is not only applicable for love but also for love of food! When I went back to Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen and I was flipping through the pages. I am not one who will miss out something good from the menu page. So, I wondered what those 2 new photos are. New flavors??! I asked the lady and she said yes it is new. My first thought was that it is fitting for the coming Christmas season. Green and red! I went ahead to ordering the two. She said they are both spicy but seeing that they had the chef's recommendation beside them. I can never go wrong with either ramen.

Wasabi Mayonnaise + ___ = Heaven

     I love food a lot and whenever I see something I haven't seen before. I wanna try it and I just hate it when other people say what if it is no good!? If you say that to me. I will definitely tell you. How the hell will we know if we don't try it. And I sure am right! Right? If it is not good, well at least I would know and tell everyone "don't try that!" Talk about bad publicity! But there are times when I feel like the food looks good but is insanely bad, gah! those are the times that I just wanna strangle myself. Waste of money! Haha I should have gotten myself a sure thing. But this is how we get to discover new favorites, by going beyond out comfort zone and into the unknown.

SAMURAI killed all other Takoyaki

     Whenever we go to the grocery at Sm Supermarkets, I would always look forward to reaching the cashier. From there, there would be several picka-picka foods to choose from. SAMURAI would always be my first choice. My big brother was the one who introduced Mr. Samurai to me. It never really occured to me that was a takoyaki, I only knew it as Samurai balls. I feel like there is this special bond between me and my childhood favorite foods and this is one of them.

     I was at Cash and Carry last night and when I got there I immediately went to the food court located at the 2rd floor because I was craving for some. It is really affordable it only costs P35.00. It has been a while since a few of their branches have already closed down. If you like takoyaki and has never tried Samurai. This is the perfect time!

Samurai's Takoyaki (P35)

Kichitora perfect for the cold weather

     RAMEN RAMEN RAMEN. There are a bunch of ramen places popping up everywhere! I have a weakness for Japanese food! So when I see a ramen place, I wanna bring out the chopsticks and start munching. I find that there are some Ramen restaurants limit their menu to their special ramen and their usual gyoza that when you eat with other people who aren't in the mood to eat noodles it would be a big problem. Still it hasn't stopped me from drooling over their menu.

     I was craving for ramen. So I asked GOOGLE for a great ramen place that I haven't tried out yet and I found Kichitora, it is located at the 2nd flood of SM Mega Mall (Mega Atrium) and another Glorietta 5,

     I am such a ramen freak that I have my own expectation of what my ramen should taste like and it hitted the spot perfectly! They have their usual ramen and tsukumen-which has the noodle at the side and a few rice topping dishes for those who aren't in the mood for noodles.

     They also have 7 toppings you can add to your ramen if you think that whats in your bowl isn't enough (Which I always do!). When I order, I would always want to go for the house specialty. If that food doesn't deliver, how would their other food meet the people's expectation, right?

     So let us start of with their Paitan Ramen Zenbu no Se (P420) which is similar with their Paitan Ramen (P360) that salt or soy based white chicken soup with 24 hour chicken broth topped with either chicken/pork chashu, bamboo shoots, green vegetables, spring onion, fried garlic bits, only difference is that the Zenbu no Se has dried seaweeds and tamago. Ooooh how I love that tamago, you can never go wrong with it!

Paitan Ramen Zenbu no Se (P420)

Ramen madness at Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen

   If you haven't been to Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong for a while now. You will be in for a great surprise, because the long awaited east wing is finally open, but the stores aren't completely open yet, but horay for people who love to shop because there are a number of new stores to choose from.

     After a long stroll around the main mall, I finally spotted the "hidden entrance" to the new wing or at least that is what I call it because it wasn't easy to spot. It was so cold thanks to the new air conditioners! So, I thought of eating something hot. While walking around I saw several new restaurants. What caught my eye was Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen. It is located at the 5th floor of their east wing. JACKPOT!! Hot soup and compared to the restaurants beside it which were totally deserted, there were loads of people inside, we even had to wait a couple of minutes. I was thinking that food here must be great. As always I went with the Chef's Recommendation. Good thing about this place is that there are several specialties. Since my dad wanted the normal ramen, he ordered their special blended soy sauce base topped with special half boiled egg known as Ajitama Tonkotsu. It was superb! Dad was happy :)

Ajitama Tonkotsu (P380)