Hanamaruken Ramen

Recently, I've been waking up to the cold weather here in Manila that almost feels like December. I felt like I'm in Tagaytay and I actually like it. :) This kind of weather made me crave for foods that are hot.. like soup.. and noodles.. and.. RAMEN! I've noticed that a lot of ramen houses were sprouting everywhere. Recently, a new ramen house opened in Trinoma where Ramen X is used to be located (which is now relocated in Eton Centris), HANAMARUKEN RAMEN. 

Hanamaruken originated from Osaka which is one of its favorite places for comfort food. It has over 40 branches in Osaka but thankfully we won't have to go there to try out their ramen as we already have it here.

Whenever I step inside a restaurant, the first thing I notice is their interiors. With Hanamaruken, it is mostly wood and iron. I love their minimalist take on it. Maculine with a touch of feminine artistry. :)

Kitchen utensils hanging that seems like they are suspended in the air.

Now time to try their ramen.

Signature Happiness Ramen, P480
A Shoyu Tonkotsu ramen topped with a large section of a tender, slow-braised pork rib that is their best-seller. No wonder, I love how tasty and soft their noodles is. The pork rib is so tender and flavorful that you know it is cooked for a long time. You can ask for an additional soft-boiled egg too. :) 

Pot Belly Ramen, P380A Shoyu Tonkotsu ramen topped with medium-sized sections of roasted pork belly.

Curry Tan Tan Mien, P320
Tonkotsu Ramen with sesame paste and curry. Perfect for curry lovers with a spicy twist.

Chasyu Ramen, P280
Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen with slices of braised pork belly

Edamame (Soybean), P130
First time to try this. Salty and spicy.

Ahhh soo good! Although to be honest, their ramen seems to be a bit salty for me. But their noodles are well-cooked and the pork are soft and tender,  full of flavor with every bite. A bowl of ramen is actually good for sharing. It's also my first time to try Edameme so my friend and I searched on Youtube first on how to eat it. Haha Newbies! :)

As what Hanamaruken says, we deserve a bowl of happiness. :)

HANAMARUKEN RAMEN

Location: 2F Garden Restaurants, Trinoma

Official Website: www.hanamaruken.ph

Facebook: Hanamaruken Ramen Philippines

Twitter: Hanamaruken_PH

Instagram: @Hanamaruken_ph

I YAB U! Yabu: House of Katsu

Recently, an online friend (because we haven't met personally...yet) from abroad came back for a short stay here in the Philippines and because I was so excited to finally meet her, we decided to meet for dinner at SM North. When I saw Jen, the first thing I told her was that she is prettier in person! We were at first kind of shy with each other but then being friendly that I am (and she is too), we felt at ease. :) And before we start with our catching up and some girl talk, she told me to choose what restaurant we'd try. I chose Banapple not because I haven't tried it yet but because I wanted her to try it. Unfortunately, the place was crowded and we were on the waiting list. So then we decided to try YABU. I've heard good reviews about them and would want to find out what the rave is all about.

Inside, the restaurant looks spacious and neat that might be perfect for business-related meetings or romantic dates. Very Japanese that it also has Manga posted on the walls. I like it :)

Our Yabu experience started out with a bowl of sesame seeds. One of the waiters approached us and explained to us how to grind the sesame seeds and add your choice of sauce right after. According to him, you have to grind the sesame seeds well to let out the flavor. It smells good too. Then you pour 2 or 3 scoops of their Tonkatsu sauce in it. Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture. 

Sesame seeds after grinding

Different Japanese condiments to choose from. Photo from Yabu's official Facebook page

Whenever I try a new restaurant, I always ask for their best sellers. For Yabu, I tried one of their best seller, the Rosu Pork Set. It comes with small bowl of fruit, pickles, chopped cabbage, Japanese rice and soup.

On the other hand, Jen tried their Chicken and Seafood Katsu Set. Yum!

The katsu tastes really good and is soft too. I love that it is cut into small slices. They also serve unlimited rice and cabbage. I think I ate too much cabbage that I felt too full to have a second round of rice. Hehe It's a good thing that they have very friendly and accommodating staff. We didn't even have to ask for water refills because as soon as our glass were empty one of them would be present to refill it with water. Same with the cabbage and rice too.

Jen and I, ready to indulge the food in front of us! Hehe

In general, we had a good dining experience. We were able to catch up with each other's lives while enjoying the delightful food in front of us. I'll be coming back soon to try the other katsu sets! I YAB U YABU! :)

Bar-B-Skew: Eat All You Can Skewers Buffet

The busy streets of Manila is not complete without vendors selling street foods almost anywhere. I remember back in my college days, after watching an el cheapo movie (Php25 only!!) we would go straight to eating street foods such as isaw (chicken or pork intestines), kwek-kwek ( quail eggs wrapped in orange colored flour batter), fish balls, kikiam and many more. Simple things that make us happy. Hehe

Speaking of street foods, a Southeast Asian inspired street food restaurant opened recently along Tomas Morato with its very catchy name Bar-B-Skew owned by Wero Doma. Upon entry, the place looks stylish with built-in pipes on top of every table. It looks neat and well-furnished.

They have the buffet counter which serves different kinds of dish to fill in your stomach while waiting for your chosen Bar-B-Skewers to grill. From isaw, barbecue, cream dory, liver,  marshmallows, vegetables and fruits. I just wish they have more choices though.

 Each table has its own built-in charcoal grill. No need to worry about the smoke because it all goes up to the built in pipes located above each table.

My pick! Chicken and pork intestines, barbecue, liver and marshmallows. :)

 While grilling, you have to bask your skewers into different choices of flavors that I miss to take a picture. Anyway, they have a variety to choose from such as ginger sesame, sweet, sweet and spicy, garlic butter, and hot pepper. I chose the sweet and spicy.

The restaurant is an eat-all-you-can buffet ranging from Php299 to Php349. Lunch Buffet starts from 11am until 5pm for P299. Dinner Buffet starts from 5pm until 12am for P349. Midnight Buffet starts from 12am for P299. Perfect for barkada! You can Bar-B-Skew all day long. :)

I enjoyed a lot that I can't wait to bring here my barkada and workmates too. It's just a perfect place to hang out, catch up while waiting for our bar-b-skewers to grill. :) Check out the links below for details.

Facebook: Bar-B-Skew

Instagram: bar_b_skew

Address: UG03 CTTM Square 68 Timog Ave Cnr Tomas Morato, 1103 Quezon City, Philippines

Contact Number: (02) 4128661

Operating Hours: 11am-2am Monday to Sunday

Zark's Burgers

Zark's Burger is located along Taft Avenue, just across De Lasalle University. I've been wanting to try this out since the first time I've heard of it (last year) and finally, a few months back my boyfriend accompanied me to try it out. If you are a vegan, body-figure conscious or is currently on a diet then this one's a 100% not for you. 

The place is just okay for me. It's a small diner which doesn't have the best interiors but has a relaxing ambiance to it. The walls were decorated with pictures of DLSU men's basketball stars plus photos of people who won the Jawbreaker challenge! Too bad my boyfriend and I were not up to try it out because we don't have that kind of a huge appetite and not fast eaters as well.

Sorry for the bad resolution of the photos as they were taken from my phone.

We ordered the Stone Cold Stunner, Philly Cheesesteak burger and fries. I didn't know that their burgers were served with fries as a side dish so I kind of regret ordering for an extra one, since the side dish servings of fries were more than enough. However, their fries were thick and definitely delicious so it's all good :)

Stone Cold Stunner (P185)  double bacon cheeseburger in a bed of fresh lettuce, tomato, mushroom and caramelized onion.

Philly Cheesesteak Burger (P180) 1/4 pound burger topped with chopped onion, sirloin strips, and cheese sauce.

The burgers were big and oozing with yummy goodness! I like how the vegetables are fresh and crispy. Although the burgers were greasy, they were not the gross kind of greasy. We almost did not finish everything since we were so full already. I just hope that Zark's will have another branch too. :)

Zark's Burgers

2nd Floor Archer's Nook Bldg, Taft
(in front of DLSU-Manila)

Zark's facebook page

Hopped into IHOP

I've heard of IHOP (International House Of Pancakes) from some of my relatives and friends abroad and all of its pancakes goodness. So when I heard that it's already here in the Philippines, I decided that I may as well try it. But with my hectic sched at work, I don't have that much of my free time to go. Luckily, one of my closest friends decided to celebrate her birthday in  IHOP! Yay! Finally, I will get to try it.... for free. :)

It was my day off from work and my friends and I hopped along Bonifacio Global City, The Fort and looked for the restaurant. I was kind of expecting long lines of people waiting outside. Upon our arrival, we were 7th on the list. Lucky! I guess it's because we went there in the middle of the week (Wednesday). We waited for a little less than 30 minutes but we were able to get a table after about an hour because I requested for a table near a socket for Wifi purposes! Haha By the way, the restaurant does not have wifi.

As soon as we're seated, we didn't took much time thinking on what to order because we were given a menu list on the waiting area so we could decide on what to order while waiting for our table. :) So here's what we've ordered. Food descriptions were from munchpunch.

Bacon Temptation Omelette (P285)

Loaded with strips of crispy bacon, diced tomatoes, rich cheese sauce, Jack and cheddar cheeses

I forgot what's this one but it tastes so good!

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla (P365)

Grilled seasoned chicken breast with onions, fresh green peppers and tomatoes in a grilled flour tortilla with cheddar and Jack cheeses. Served with sour cream and salsa.

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes (P235)

Two buttermilk pancakes layered with cream cheese icing and whipped topping 

We were supposed to order the New York Cheesecake Pancakes which is their best seller but unfortunately, it's unavailable :(

Variety of syrups to choose from :) We actually tried them all. Haha :)

Simple and Fit Seasonal Mixed Fruit Crepes (P225)

Two crepes topped with seasonal mixed fruit, low-fat strawberry yogurt and granola.

Overall, the food was good. Too bad we were not able to eat while everything's newly served because we have to wait for our friend who came to the place more than an hour late! Haha The staff were also very accommodating and friendly. They even prepared a little surprise for my friend who's celebrating her birthday :) They suddenly came to our table and sang her a happy birthday plus gave her a pancake! Sweet! :)

The birthday celebrant looking pretty and happy with the pancake made by the IHOP staff :)

Also on that day, the four of us were celebrating our 6th anniversary of being the best buds since college! Time flies so fast. I love these three girls to bits :)

IHOP Philippines

W Global Center, 30th St. corner 9th Avenue Bonifacio Global City, The Fort Taguig City

Facebook: IHOP PhilippinesTwitter:  @IHOP_PH

The Peppery Asian Cuisine

Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to be invited by Ms. Joy Felizardo of GASTRONOMY by Joy to the opening of THE PEPPERY. My first thought was that maybe it would somewhat be similar to Pepper Lunch because... uhhh.. no particular reason actually. It's just that they sound alike! Hehe
But actually, The Peppery Asian Cuisine is a one-stop Asian restaurant located along Panay Ave. in Quezon City.

Upon entering, the restaurant has a relaxing ambiance and gives you that oriental vibe because of its interiors.

They also have this mini bar just beside the entrance.

Out of curiosity, I asked one of the co-owners the reason behind why they decided to call it "The Peppery". Her answer was simple. She told me that it's because "pepper" as we all know, is a basic ingredient to all Asian cuisines.It is also used as heat-adding spice in many dishes. 


Let me show you some of the dishes that they cater.

Com Chien: Vietnamese garlic and egg rice. I'm contented having just this without any viand.

 

 

Sarada Nippon: Japanese- inspired seafood and cucumber salad. 

Seafood balls and shrimp pancakes!

Yam Mamuang: Thai green mango salad with shrimps and red chili.

Kare- kareng Dagat: Philippine seafood and vegetable stew in peanut- anatto sauce

Sambal Ikan: whole deep-fried sambal tilapia, the Indonesian way.

Sarawaka: Malaysian Pork Spareribs

Pu Tong Hua Bian Chao Niu Rou: beef with mandarin oranges from China. Oh dear, that was a long name!

Daging Puteri Manis: Sweet Princess Beef from Malaysia

Chanh Va Toi Muc: Cambodian lemon and garlic squid

 

 But wait, there's more! Let's not forget the desserts.

A plate full of fruits creatively arranged that it made my mouth water just by looking at it.

Coconut Jello

Halo- halo Turon with caramel syrup!

Oh myyyyyyyyyyy... Just by looking at all these pictures makes me hungry again. I guarantee, they all taste good! I swear that that night, my taste buds were dancing with glee from all the different flavourful flavors! Haha

As I have mentioned earlier, The Peppery is your one stop- Asian restaurant because they cater almost every Asian dish! You need not go far. From Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Cambodian, Indian,Vietnamese, Thai, Singaporean, Indonesian, Japanese, and Malaysian. It's like if you and your barkada decided to dine-out and you wanted to go Korean while your friend wanted Chinese and the other wanted Indian... this is just your perfect place to go and they offer a whole lot more! Another great thing about this restaurant is the reasonable price of their foods. Almost every entree is less than Php400. :)

The Peppery Asian Cuisine is located at Ground Floor, Victoria Towers, Timog Ave. corner Panay Ave., Quezon City.