Review: Amici

It was a Saturday afternoon, feeling a bit hungry, I searched for restaurant discounts through Eatigo app. I immediately booked my reservation at Amici which 40% discount on all food items at 4:30pm , perfect for my afternoon cravings on a budget. 

We ordered mushroom truffle soup, creamy pesto and prosciutto, pan grilled pork belly, and Al Quattro Formaggi. My gf and I loved the mushroom truffle soup. It's like creamy pureed mushroom with truffle oil and a lil bit of cream and cilantro on top.  

The creamy pesto was also delicious, though, it would be great if they add more pesto sauce.

 On the other hand, the pan grilled pork belly was a let down. The meat itself doesn't have any flavor or seasoning, and it doesn't look appetizing at all.

 The star of our meal was the 4-cheese pizza. I really like my pizza as simple as possible. That blue cheese brings a whole lot of flavor and body on that pizza. It doesn't taste have any strong taste, to my girlfriend's delight, and does not smell pungent at all. I wished they could've put more blue cheese and cream cheese, that would make it perfect.

Overall, the food and service are excellent and we would definitely come back.

Review: Ramen Yushoken

I'm declaring it right now and forever, this is the BEST ramen shop with the best ramen in the country!!! 

Okay, so I'll calm myself down first. 

Last January, a friend of mine invited us on a food trip to the south. We sometimes talk about ramen, that Ramen Nagi's was ranked first on my best ramen list, and she keeps mentioning that there's this ramen shop in the south that she really likes but she's unsure if I'll like it too. In short, I have been to a lot of ramen shops, and nothing came close or at par to what Ramen Nagi offers, so in my mind it's just another typical ramen shop. 

Ramen Yushoken apparently opens at 11 am and we arrived a lil bit early so we went to have a quick bite somewhere else. We came back at 11:10 and to my surprise, we were already on the waiting list. An hour or so passed by and we're finally seated. To my delight, they offer Tsukemen (dipping ramen)! I ordered the karai tokusei, spicy tsukemen, while my friends order the shoyu ramen.

Karai Tokusei Tsukemen -P460

Shoyu ramen

That first slurp of that glorious red broth brought all that feeling and sensation when I had my first tsukemen in Japan. It's a surreal experience that words are not enough to describe it. The broth is very flavorful and creamy, with a lot of pork fat bits, and pork meat at the bottom. Put in the half boiled egg and that perfectly grilled melts-in-your-mouth chashu, dip in that chewy cold thick noodles, and you're in heaven. You really have to eat it to believe it!

Meanwhile, the shoyu ramen does not disappoint as well. It has this rich, creamy and very flavorful broth topped with sliced shitake mushrooms, chives, bamboo shoot, and chashu. Some friends of mine said that it's quite overwhelming and a little bit on the salty side, but I find it perfect. Just don't eat all the noodles first before you finish the soup then you're okay. It's like comparing it to adobo and rice, it compliments each other but does not taste well without the other. 

Again, you would have to try it to believe it. I've been here 3 times already and I'm still craving and wishing that there's a branch near my place. 

Ramen Yushoken TIP:

They have a secret menu. They serve 3 variants of ramen, that are limited to a couple of bowls each day so be sure to ask for it. Here's one, the super chashu.

Super Chashu - P490

Review: Taisho Ramen and Teppanyaki House

My view of Taisho whenever I pass by. LOL

My craving for ramen led me to Taisho, as it is on the way going to my workplace. I have tried looking at their menu on the outside several times but it didn't really appeal to me, until now. I ordered their Karamen Ramen, a spicy version of their tonkotsu ramen sans the egg. It has 3 spiciness level to choose from; mild, *i forgot, and deadly. Ofcourse, I love spicy food so I opted for deadly. I was in a hurry since I still have to go to work and luckily, it was served within 5 to 10 mins. The broth was shiny glowing red like magma, on top are two pieces of chashu and pechay. It was quite creamy, and above average flavorful though, the spiciness level was far far from being deadly. The noodles on the otherhand has a nice chew to it but the portion could be bigger in my opinion, considering the price. Definitely not for sharing.

Here is where I was kinda pissed off. The price of the Karamen Ramen indicated on the menu was I think P330 or P340. I asked for my bill and to I was surprised. I do understand that they have service charge like most business do, but what's up with the additional 12% vat? Wouldn't it be better if they've included it on the price on the menu instead of misdeclaring and make it look like they offer a much affordable ramen?

Verdict: This would definitely be my first and last time eating at this place. Better go to nearby ramen shops like Ramen Nagi, which offers better and quality ramen for the same price. Zomato Rating:

Review: The Raw Kitchen

Located along the quiter streets of Tomas Morato is a modest home-turned-to-restaurant, The Raw Kitchen. I haven't heard about this place before I tagged along with my friends. You woudn't recognize that this is a restaurant if not for that "Please Come In" sign on the door. Upon entering, you can already tell that it has a homey feel with all the wood and furnitures. On the otherhand, you can also tell that the place is not well ventilated as you can see smoke everywhere.

They have like 4 to 6 tables in total so be sure to come in before dinner time or after lunch time. You can choose between, P199 sausages only, P249 beef only, P299 chicken and pork, P349 chicken pork and beef, P499 everything. It all comes with unlimited side dishes. We opted for the P499 and it wasn't "sulit" for me. 

First, the food. There are two refrigerators wherein they put the sausages, meats, "baby" lettuce, and what we initially thought was butter, but it was definitely margarine. On one frig goes the meats and "baby" lettuce while the other one houses the sausages and "butter". The beef and pork are thinly sliced like bacon, placed in mini trays while the chicken and sausages are cut into small pieces placed in big trays. The sausages were good, and thus far the only saving grace for this resto. The meats, were not seasoned or anything at all and you would have to request with the number of trays you can consume. It really takes a lot of waiting time because they still have to slice those meat at the spot and you only have a limit of 2 hours to eat. And as for the "baby" lettuce, you can hardly put anything in as it is really small to even wrap a piece of meat. It is better to eat it like chaser. The side dishes are not worth remembering except for the spicy tofu. The "butter" is definitely margarine. There's also a "rice" sign on the counter but there's no rice???. So...

Lastly, the ambiance and service. As what I've said earlier, it feels homey but their ventilation could really use a LOT of IMPROVEMENT. Be sure to bring an extra shirt if you're going somewhere else after as the smell really sticks to the clothes. 

While the servers are nice and all, they tend to forget a lot of the customers' requests. You would also need to constantly remind them that there's no more meat or no more lettuce. At one point, all of them disappeared. The gas on the stove ran out so we can't cook anything and we only have 2 hours to eat. 

Final thoughts? If you're really hungry and on a budget, you can opt for the sausage only, and bang for your buck for P199 if and when they serve rice. Aside from that, better go somewhere else which offers an authentic korean barbecue experience for the same price.

Review: Ersao Taiwanese Restaurant

Ersao is a Taiwanese inspired restaurant. They have two branches in Banawe, Quezon City, one is in Brgy Manresa and the other one, which we visited for the first time, is near Amoranto. The quality and taste of the food is more or less the same among all their branches. 

My favorite among their dishes is their spicy chicken with rice. It's basically deep fried legit chicken nuggets served with crispy talbos or kangkong, not sure. It's breaded nicely, a little bit crispy on the outside but very tender on the inside. It's also very flavorful, does not taste salty, though the spiciness level could be notched a little higher. Also, one of our favorites is their version of Taiwanese chicken. The meat itself it bland for my taste but if you dip in the spicy vinegar sauce that comes with it, it brings a different flavor to the chicken chops. As for their drinks, they offer a variety of milk teas and shakes. I ordered their raspberry green tea which is very similar to the red tea of Tokyo Tokyo, while my gf ordered avocado shake and to my surprise, it tastes good, the fact I don't like avocado at all.

Spicy Chicken with rice

Raspberry green tea and Avocado shake

Round Eat Up in Taiwan! Part 3

Day 3: Elephant Mountain - Shilin Night Market - Bye Taiwan!

Our original plan was to go to Elephant Mountain late in the afternoon to evening as you can see the view with lights and all but, we opted to go early morning instead. After taking off the bus, the prelude to the trail itself was a few meters walk on a slope going to the trail entrance. It should give you a good warm up and at the same time a hint on what to expect going up. 

20 mins they say, but we did it in 60

The first few meters was easy, but as we ascend further, it became much more exhausting. The steps are uneven which made it much more difficult. 

The view halfway is already breathtaking. You can actually stop at this area and not go to the top as the view is more or less the same, it's just that there's a big rock wherein you can sit and have your photo taken without any obstructions on the background.

But, we decided to proceed anyway. It only started getting harder as the steps went steeper as we get close to the top.

This is me with sweat dripping all over my face

 We were finally able to reach the peak after more or less 1 hour. I can say that the perfect view is at the middle of the trail. Aside from exerting less effort trekking, there are also less people that gets in the way of the view.

Candid shot of RJ taking a photo of the view

It was already lunch time when we decided to come down and it's food time again. Our next destination, Shilin Night Market. 

We were able to reach Shilin Night Market around 1:30PM. Almost all stalls are closed, true to it's name of being a night market. After walking a few blocks, checking out the side streets, we found the One. It's our last day in Taiwan and what a better way to end it than tasting that famous national dish of Taiwan; the beef noodle soup. We already tried taiwanese sausage, taiwanese sausage on a rice sausage, drank a lot of milk tea, which Taiwan is known for but still we haven't tried the most famous of them all.

Having that first slurp of broth, it's like you're in heaven. It tastes very meaty, flavorful, with a mild sweetness to it and it doesn't taste salty at all. It also comes with those tender, all most melts-in-your-mouth chunks of beef, and that chewy noodles, and you're like in food heaven. My mouth is watering right now as I'm writing this blog. You guys really have to try it. I bought root beer and they became the perfect pair.

Since we were told that most stalls open at 4pm, and it was scorching hot outside, we decided to wait and rest in this quaint but cozy restaurant. 

It was almost 4pm, so we head out to the streets of Shilin Night Market. See pictures below of the foods and an overall feel of Shilin. 

Our flight back to Manila was scheduled at 130AM so we went home around 7PM to prepare our stuffs. This concludes our Taiwan adventure. We know we didn't cover as much ground, there's a lot left of places for us to visit, foods that we haven't tried yet, so we'll definitely be back. What I loved most about the country is its people. They are super polite, always wears a smile on their faces, very warm and friendly, and we even noticed that they seem to be more relaxed in general. This is a breath of fresh air when comparing it to its neighboring countries we've been to like Hongkong, Macau, and Singapore. 

Until our next travel and food adventure.

Travel TIP: There's a bus going to the airport from Grand Hyatt Hotel until 11pm I think. It costs around NTD135. It's very cheap and convenient since it only makes stops at some hotels in the city then goes directly to the airport. You can buy the bus ticket at the reception of the hotel.

Round Eat Up in Taiwan! Part 2

DAY 2: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall - Chiang Kai Shek Memorial - Walking around Taipei

Our second day started a little bit late since we were sleep deprived and were very tired (we really need to exercise lol) on our first day. We left our bnb around 10AM and proceeded to the nearest tourist spot, which is Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. It's this huge library looking like building with a bright orange roof.

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall

But who is Sun Yat-Sen?And... we have no idea :D Apparently, as per Wikipedia, "Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese physician, writer, philosopher, calligrapher and revolutionary, the first provisional president and founding father of the Republic of China". So now you know.

Sun Yat-Sen with guard

My long lost Taiwanese Mom :))

Art gallery in Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall

Jhing's bird feeding moments

Our next stop, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Note guys, be sure to search for National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall when using google maps so you won't end up in a Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in a University like we did. *Sorry guys, my fault

Mini Chiang Kai Shek

Finally, we arrived at National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall premises.

National Concert Hall

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

After watching the changing of the guards, we went to Hangzhou Xiao Long Bao. This restaurant is supposed to be the lesser known version of Din Tai Fung, but the food is at par or even better than DTF's.

Xiao Long Bao

I forgot what this is but it tastes pretty much like gyoza

And the shopping continues... After having our lunch, we decided to go back to Ximending/Ximen area to check out The Modern Toilet restaurant as well as do some more shopping. I also went ahead to check the One Piece Store, since I'm an avid fan of the anime One Piece. This practically sums up the second day of our trip. Check out the pictures below.

The Modern Toilet

Mugiwara Store Taipei