Foodie Manila

Charlie’s Grind and Grill

So I’ve been waiting to do this review for about a week. And now I finally was able to do it! (After Don Velasco told me about this place.) I really did my research in terms of maps and location. (prior to this never been to kapitolyo)

Sooo… I was really hoping the place wouldn’t be a disappointment. And seeing as this place was developed by same guy who developed CYMA (and I love their lamb burgers) I was very excited and had high expectations coming in. GF and I trooped on over on our Saturdate and because I had done my homework finding the place was a breeze.

The place is located beside a carwash and an auto-supply shop. There’s a counter with blackboards on top and you can see the kitchen from the counter. You place the order here and they bring your food inside.

GF couldn’t wait to dig in!

I ordered the Black Angus Burger w/ Fries(P175). GF got the Chicken Burger w/ ‘Shrooms (P340). We also got half a dozen buffalo wings-not spicy(P150)

Black Angus Goodness!

The Black Angus Burger for only P150 was just nothing short of perfection. Notice the title of this entry? I mean every bit of it. I am going to have trouble appreciating any other burger from now on. It was just cooked to perfection. Also the burger did not have any dressing on it so I could put on or leave off what I didn’t want. (I hate mayo on my burgers!) The fries were also broiled instead of fried. It was just overflowing from the basket! The fries where not dry. This was just a perfect meal and to find it in such a secluded place was just awesome. (Although a wide array of restos was open near by. In and Out steak house, Zulu Grill and Uncle Moe’s were just nearby.) The burger was not dry. The flavor was just oozing from it. P150 burgers?!

Chicken Burger with Portabello Mushrooms

For the chicken burger, I wanted something spectacular to be in the burger to justify the price. The chicken burger was deep fried and contained real chicken. As for the mushrooms, I thought it was just any old mushroom, but when I bit into the burger, I found out it was Portabello. Portabello mushrooms being kind of expensive I quickly understood the price. It had enough Portabello mushrooms to create its own burger patty! I’d still go for the Black Angus Burger though, but this was a healthy alternative.

Really HOT Buffalo Wings!

The Buffalo Chicken wings were the surprise of the meal. Although they tasted really good, it was really spicy. (take note I ordered NOT SPICY!) It blew the roof of my mouth off. For someone who loves spicy food, I kept trying it hoping I could take it. After maybe 3 pieces, and couple of glasses, I couldn’t take it. Brought it home for sisters and they as well loved it! It came with vegetable sticks with Bleu Cheese.

The meal was great. Although the place was a bit small and luckily we beat out the lunch rush by heading over there at 11:30, (by 12:00 the place was packed! and despite lacking in parking space and obvious dining space all types came from drinking buddies to mom and daugters and families they all came for the burgers!) I would definitely come back for my burger fix over there!

You know what they say, once you go black, you can’t go back!

Charlie’s Grill & Grind is located at #16 East Kapitolyo St. Pasig City
To get there just follow shaw-pasig street until you hit the rotonda turn right or if you are coming from c5 turn left when you see Monterey store turn left. It should be on the right.

Ok so the title was misleading, but it got you reading! Here’s another offering by guest blogger Bro.Neo Saicon on the best kept secrets of Zamboanga now revealed!

Jimmy’s Satti House

If Batangas has coffee to perk up the Batangunos in the morning, Zamboanga has Satti! Satti is a breakfast meal composed of barbecued beef or chicken meat, sticky rice and immersed in a sweet-spicy sauce. Being a breakfast meal, one can rarely find it served after 10am. The most famous Satti place in Zamboanga is Jimmy’s Satti located at Pilar Street, about two blocks from the port area. The first time I was there, I noticed most of their customers are Tausug speaking. I surmise they just arrived from Basilan and took breakfast at Jimmy’s.

Jimmy’s Satti

Giant Lumpia

All-time Best Seller Arroz Caldo

If you see the sign, then you know you’re at the right place!

The array of burgers on their menu!

Sleek modern design inside the resto!

Taking on this monumental task of reviewing a resto with fellow food critic Heny Sison brings with it both a sense of excitement and nervousness. Being the first review which I officially was a reviewer, I wanted to do justice to the food and still review it properly so as not to mislead my readers. So please bear with me with this review!

Stackers is a quaint little resto which at first glance seems intimidating and on the expensive side (read: Chilis or Friday’s). It rivaled those of Brothers Burger (without the cramped up space) or that of Wham (again not the food court type). This resto was a sit down meal with real waiters and a real menu and the spaces not feeling like you are being asked to eat and leave. This resto is the first one out in the market and not yet out for franchising. They offer up a variety of meals from salads (with burgers in the salad) to chicken meals with either fries (or chips as they call them) or rice, and the usual burgers.

Chips and Shake!

Since this was a food review (official) I had no hesitations in ordering what I really wanted to try. We had milkshakes, burgers and fries. (I wanted to see what their claim to fame is.)

The triple stacker

I had the triple stacker. (yes 3 patties)
The triple stacker was not as big as you would like to think. The burgers were not nearly as big as Bros. Burger’s or Chilis or Fridays or even Wham. McDonald’s quarter pounder would put the burger patties here to shame. Although they claim to have little or no fat in their burgers, sadly there was little or no moisture and taste of real beef or meat in the burgers. To compensate a healthy dolop of sauce and mayo with different relishes make up for the taste.

Cutting the steak to give you an idea of the size

Another order was the Philly Cheese steak.

The Philly Cheese Steak

The Philly Cheese Steak was not made with sirloin beef shreds but instead cut up pieces of the burger. But there was something different with this sandwich. It was actually really good! The jalapeno peppers and red bell peppers really made the dish flavourful. The cheese goes well with the taste of the burgers.

Jack’s Burger!

Last to arrive was the Jack’s Burger. (Jack in aussie terms means a Man’s Man.) The Jack’s burger consisted of a burger, bacon strips, monteray jack cheese and large bun.
This was a good burger and would recommend this to everyone who wants to try this burger joint. The burger was especially good because it was placed under the bacon absorbed some of the juices and tasted better.

Milkshake

The milkshakes were nothing out of the ordinary and were served in plastic cups. (most of their drinks were served in plastic cups)

The mozzeralla cheese is just stringfully good!

Lovin the mozzerella

The mozzeralla sticks were also nothing out of the ordinary and the marinara sauce tasted more like chili con carne instead of marinara. But I suppose someone enjoyed more than I did.
The cheese inside was stringy but the breading was dull and did not bring out any flavor. (and the sauce was something I wouldn’t come back for.)

All in all, given the location, if I wanted a burger and I didnt want to eat McDonalds I’d try it out. Maybe the chicken was good. The ambiance was awesome. It was a beautifully designed place. The best part being that it’s open 24/7. So just in case you find yourself craving for some burgers at 3 in the morning, head on over to Eastwood City, Libis and look for Stackers.

Our Stackers Meal

*the menu sticks to its Aussie theme and calls its fries chips.

*edit: People have been asking me about the price, all I can say is that it is relatively cheap. With burgers ranging from P100 – P250

With the recent evolution of the Filipino palate and the rapid globalization one can’t help but notice that not only are cultures and goods being traded food is an important part of the global village today.

As one might suspect, the gate way to any culture would be the kind of food they eat. And with the recent rise in Filipinos exploring new flavors and tastes a milieu of new restos have sprung up within the metro.

One such cuisine which entices us Filipinos would the the Arabian cuisine. With dishes such as Mottabal, Hummus, Ox Brain, Cielo Kebabs, and Moussaka adding to our already diverse food dictionary one can’t help but be intrigued in these new and wonderful dishes.

Enter Uncle Mo’s.

Located at the City Golf Plaza near Ortigas, its seemingly quiet approach is deceiving. Gone are the frilly decor of middle-eastern decent. (We have Hossein for that. And ohh boy the prices!) Uncle Mo’s is just your average run of the mill watering hole for the golfers or any yuppie for that matter who wants to eat some kebabs while drinking some Coors beer. (yes, they serve Coors primarily.)

Empty Uncle Mo’s right before the lunch rush!

But what makes Uncle Mo’s special is the Moussaka Lasagna. This dish is absolutely awesome. For only P140, you get one whole ramekin with a piece of pita bread. It had a thick (yes it is thick by my standards, and I am a lover of cheese) layer of cheese which hides the Moussaka.

Moussaka for the uninitiated, contains of eggplant slices sautéed in olive oil; the middle layer is ground lamb cooked with onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs, and spices (cinnamon, allspice and black pepper); and the top layer is a béchamel sauce or egg custard (probably introduced by Tselementes in the 1920s). The layers are laid in a lightly buttered or oiled pan and baked until the top layer turns golden brown. (Thank you Wikipedia!)

Their simply delectable Moussaka!

Moussaka Lasagna w/ Pita Bread

As for the our starter dish we began with Hummus. Hummus again is a dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. (Wikipedia!)

Hummus with Pita Bread

I had my Beef Kebab which is made out of ground beef and rice with butter. You just have to have the white sauce (no idea what this is made of!) with it!

Beef Kebab was your typical beef kebab

They have both the white sauce and the spicy sauce!

GF and I have been planning to come back to Uncle Mo’s for quite some time now just for the Moussaka Lasagna.

See How much we spent and what we ordered!

Definitely a place to come back to. The service was fast. The place was accessible. The food was good and the prices were fine. Check it out and tell me what you think! (Added bonus, Domino’s pizza is located just beside it and a Razon’s is upstairs. So for dessert you might want to go there!)

Cheers and Happy Eating!

I have a sweet tooth.

So when I was in Cebu last February, I made sure I can try all the sweet food Cebu has to offer. (since I practically gulped down all the sweets in Zamboanga) So my friends and I went to Ayala Center – Cebu to look for some dessert. We didn’t have to spend much time in searching. Where else will you expect dessert but in a place called Desset Factory?

It had great selections. From items which simply spells sugar, to really good stuff. We tried their cakes and they all tasted good. I hope to pass by this place again, when I’m in town.

“In life, have but one desire, one only–to love Jesus Christ with all your soul. Let that be the one fixed idea of your entire existence.”
- Pedro Arrupe, S.J

Neupito J. Saicon, Jr., SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga University
La Purisima street
7000 Zamboanga City
Tel. no. 991-2922

——————————————

Some of Bro. Neo’s blogs can be seen at:

Mute Prophet

Inspirations

Neo Files

*Watch out for more guest bloggers!

Imagine waking up to the sweet aroma of Batangas coffee beans being quietly brewed in the kitchen. As you make your way through the portal which leads to the dining area, a spread of huge Pan De Manila pandesal bread are all piled in one bowl at one side a several slices of white cheese on the other (better known as Kesong Puti) greets you and you suddenly feel hungry.

Yes yes, typical hoopla over food that we all enjoy. But what’s so different? Well, aside from me not being able to enjoy kesong puti for such a long time, this one came from my uncle’s dairy farm. The brand being Daily Dairy, this kesong puti is made out of Cow’s milk instead of the traditional Carabao’s milk. Kesong puti usually is made out of Carabao’s Milk, salt, and rennet. It’s best eaten with pandesal and hot hot coffee.

Every so often I have the pleasure of eating at really expensive places (thanks to GF!) and most of the time I end up satisfied gastronomically. But sometimes simple pleasures like this are what makes some of my mornings just a pure pleasure to wake up early and watch the sunrise or just sit and have a warm cup of coffee munching on kesong puti and pandesal pondering days ahead. Summer is over and the rainy days are on its way!

*P.S. If you are interested in trying out this kesong puti, let me know in the comments area or email me at carlos22486@yahoo.com and I will try to get you an order. Since it only lasts 15 days I will have to order them in advance!

So due to the unrelenting heat that comes with living in the Philippines we, (well at least I) have become a slave to those cool beverages being offered at restos or in this case fast food chains. Recently, after an excursion to Cartimar in search for a playpen for our new baby labrador, we passed by Jollibee to rehydrate ourselves on the way home.

My sisters ordered this unknown drink that they claim to be cool and refreshing. It was so foreign that even the lady at the window taking the order wasn’t quite familiar with what we were ordering.(possible also because we kept calling it different names, from the jolly shake, to jolly choco.) It was the Jolly Choco Frost. Ever since then I’ve sought out this drink every possible chance that I get, because to be honest, it is quite good. But sadly, due to unknown reasons by the Jollibee Corporation, this particular item is not on the regular menu and there is WAY TOO little advertising for this. There are no signs which advertise that they indeed carry this product. I have no idea why.

So I decided to create a button for my blog so that other people can post maybe a picture and link to my site.

Every so often we stumble upon some restos who offer some kind of special deal or extra dish just because they can or are celebrating something. Last time it was Jay-j’s soft opening and we got free dessert. 2 orders of their uber-ly good turon! (which let me tell you my sister enjoyed!)

So imagine my delight to receive an email offering up a free dish! This is my part in promoting their resto. I just want everyone to receive an extra dish if you do decide to take them up on their offer.

I don’t know if this counts, but hey go check it out and let me know!