Being an avid traveler, I’ve always loved exploring other countries. Whether it be in luxury or backpacking I’m there. One of the places to visit before you die was Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I decided to cross that off my bucket list this week.

Located in the province of Siem Reap, this area is where most of the huge temples or Wats are located. Since Cebu Pacific opened up the first direct flight to Siem Reap, I was lucky to be able to take advantage of the deal. [WARNING: POST CONTAINS A LOT OF PHOTOS!]

Arrived at Cambodia on Sunday Evening and first impression was the airport was new. It was quite well maintained, clean and efficient. Made me wish our airports were similar.

But here is a quick rundown of the 15 things you must do in Cambodia.

1. Ride a Tuktuk!

This is Pov Hing. He was our Tuk Tuk driver for the weekend. All I can say is he made the trip very enjoyable. He really took care of us. He planned the best routes, never complained, had tons of stories, and didn’t overcharge. He even took us to his home and showed us where he lived. He also had his wife cook us a traditional Cambodia lunch. (I’ll blog about that later!) Yes, Pov was amazing. He even went the extra mile of hooking us up with a Tuk Tuk driver friend in Phnom Penh when we arrived so we didn’t get overcharged! He called us up when we arrived at Phnom Penh to make sure we arrived safely. This is service. Pov is a good friend I gladly made when I went to Cambodia. For those of you who will be traveling to Siem Reap please get in touch with Pov. I really am trying to help his business after some hackers destroyed his old email account. Email him at hing_pov@yahoo.com

He actually made sure he had cold water during our entire tour. He even has a short film on the history of Cambodia that you can watch during the trip in between.

Thanks for everything Pov!

2. Visit Angkor Wat

The sheer majesty of the structure amazed me. There was a 200 yard moat which leads you to the inner courtyard and from there, about 3 more layers of structures and towers. The history and carvings and sheer scale of the entire thing was quite beautiful. I could see why it was one of the places to visit before you die.

3. Play with the wildlife

We literally got mobbed by these demon monkeys! Ok I exaggerate but there was about 15-20 of them all over our TukTuk at one point grabbing our things.

And these elephants. It’s my first time to see one up close and actually touch it. Such gentle creatures and they move so gracefully but at any given time can squash you or your car! It was quite an adventure!

4. Do the Temple Run!

Ok so you don’t really have to run in the temples but do try to visit almost all the temples you can. I loved the Elephant King’s temple and Bayon! The carvings and majesty of the structures continued to amaze me and really surprise me. Think about it, 1000 years ago people built these things. What have we built today that would last 1000 years?

5. Try Local Beer! (Anchor and Cambodia)

Very similar to Tiger beer which had a very fruity taste. $1 for 2L of beer is awesome.

Well, I’m ending it here for now. Wait for part 2!

Casa Verde in Cebu is a staple, must-visit place when you first land in Cebu. I’ve been hearing about their monster burgers and unbeatable ribs that I JUST HAD to try according to a lot of my Cebuano friends. When most of my non-cebuano friends also raved about the place I just had to demystify the entire “What’s up with Casa Verde?”

So what is up with this family franchise chain? I was able to speak to a local on what exactly the history of Casa Verde is. Casa Verde which is spanish for Green House started out as a greenhouse in Cebu. A famous family would always have nice meals and invite guests over to that greenhouse for lunch and sooner or later it spawned off to becoming the very first Casa Verde. Not sure about the history but that what the locals tell me!

But unto the food!

I called my friend Tricia to find out what exactly I should try. She ended up recommending a few things but I decided to try other things as well.

Since it was sweltering hot in Cebu as well, I quickly got myself an iced tea. Their iced tea consisted of 2 options. Mandarin Oriental Iced Tea or Raspberry. Having loved Sola’s raspberry variant of iced tea, I went for, you guessed it, raspberry.

It tasted a lot like Sola’s version so I was quite happy.

I also ordered some appetizers for the table. Since I was with a client, and there was just the 2 of us, I decided to just get 1 instead of an entire platter. I got some good ol’mozzerella sticks.

They were actually pretty good. It would have been better had they been served really hot so that the cheese inside would have melted. But I think it sat at the wait window for too long. The cheese ended up becoming chewy instead.

After demolishing the appetizers and realizing we were extremely hungry, I was glad to see this huge platter of ribs coming at me. Brian’s Ribs as they call it! An entire plate of ribs for only.. wait for it.. P233. Yes, for P233 you get an entire plate of ribs with rice and sides.

And one more photo.

The sauce was delightful. Not too sweet. The ribs though could have been left in the smoker or pressure cooker for a few more minutes but was tender enough not to be a bother.

I sopped up every single piece of meat from the bones off those ribs. They were pretty amazing for P233. No wonder people are raving about them.

We also quickly ordered our dessert to really just cleanse the palette and since it was so hot we only had 2 choices. Their version of a lava cake ala mode and Death by Chocolate which was a chocolate ice cream cake, with a chocolate base and chocolate crust with a chocolate syrup.

This would have been great. Too bad I think the chef or cook over cooked the cake. The chocolate inside was no longer melted and hardened which in turn made the cake dry. It tasted ok nonetheless.

Now this was pretty good. Perfect for the warm weather. Rich in chocolate and it didn’t even melt quickly enough that we would have to sop up chocolate milk.

Over all I understand now why people rave about the place. American style cuisine similar to Fridays or Chilis without paying an arm and a leg. Casa Verde till we meet again!

RAMOS BRANCH
# 69 Lim Tian Teng St.
Ramos, Cebu City

IT PARK BRANCH
A104 The Walk
Asiatown IT Park, Cebu City

THE TERRACES (AYALA) BRANCH
Stall 304, 3rd level, The Terraces
Ayala Center Cebu
Cebu Business Park, Cebu City

We started off with 2 kinds of spring rolls. They both hard carrots and minced meat in them but the difference being the sauce.

This version had a mango dip and it was pretty tasty. Sweet and just the right amount of acidity without it being too overpowering.

This variant had the sweet chili sauce which we were all accustomed to. So nothing to do here.

When I arrived at the resto, Norelyn and a few others were already having drinks. The waitress quickly served us the remnants of the pitcher of their iced tea. Thai iced tea or at least their version of it had  heavy fruits influence. I could clearly taste the mango, bananas, and papaya in the juice drink. It wasn’t my cup of tea so I just finished one glass only.

An additional plate of appetizers was brought out which is chicken wings with some sort of fish sauce. It was crispy and interesting.

We were also served some kind of soup. It was heavy on ginger and taste very very close to Tinola.

Their fried rice also resembled India’s Basmati rice of India. Just the right amount of cumin and paprika to add just the hint of spicyness.

They also had their own pandan chicken.

I also quite enjoyed this which was what I called Fish Chicharon!

And lastly, their version of liempo.

It was a truly enjoyable experience. Good food good company. But best of all really cheap price.

Siam Thai Restaurant

1st Floor, Terraces Ayala Mall

Cebu City, Philippines

Borough has gained notoriety for being open till the wee hours of the morning being the last stop after a night of clubbing and partying and munching on some hearty dishes and good food.

We of course started off with the appetizer:

Popcorn Calamares

This was a very interesting dish. I do wish that the popcorn was sweeter or caramelized to compliment the saltiness and acidity the calamares (in vinegar) brought. But over all good start to what would be a great meal.

Everyone quickly placed their orders and Thei’s order actually caught our eye. She ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Two very simple dishes but combined was pretty awesome.

This was actually a meal in itself but since everyone took a bite out of Thei’s sandwich we decided to order more!

And order more we did!

I had the Asian Tuna Burger and as you can see they really use a tuna patty. The taste was unique and if you don’t like eating red meat and enjoy tuna you would definitely love this. I, who is a staunch advocate of meat, actually enjoyed this too!

Trixie had the pulled pork sandwich and it was every bit good as it was advertised. The pork was succulent and juicy and it just had the right amount of sauce. The ciabatta bread complimented it really well and the coleslaw all brought it together. If you are unadventurous eater, definitely must try this.

Thei also ordered a New York dog. She wasn’t quite fond of it, but I enjoyed it tremendously. I actually swapped my tuna burger for her New York dog! It had horseradish, pickles, mustard a good wiener, and a well toasted bun. The dressing was kind of sweet actually which I didn’t mind but would have preferred that Dijon mustard was used instead of regular french mustard.

We had our plates full quite literally for awhile until we moved on to dessert. Another thing that Borough was actually famous for was it desserts. We ordered 2 desserts and that’s because we were so stuffed from the entrees that we were scared of not finishing everything.

We got cranberry pudding ala mode. Denise loved this dish if I might add. It was not too sweet and yet offered just enough flavor and texture to break the “umay” factor of the main entrees which were full of flavor.

We would have been happy to end with the pudding. But we couldn’t. We didn’t. We of course had to have Mom’s Milk and cookies.

Yes. Milk and Cookies. That simple. The milk came in a cute little milk bottle which near zero. MBZ (milk below zero) anyone? They serve a plate full of cookies which change every time. The cookies were both crunchy and bordering soft batch. Warm and chewy and perfect when dipped in the cold milk.

Photo idea credit goes to Trixie for the next shot. She had this great idea for the photo.

It was awesome dining experience at Borough. Truly comfort food at its finest. Check them out at the ground floor of The Podium mall.

I met the proprietor Mike and he was really great. I suspect you wouldn’t even know he owned the place if you saw him but he was really cool and we had a nice chat among friends. I know the food was the highlight so here you go:

We started off with 2 soups: Clam Chowder and Cream of Mushroom

I liked how there were real mushroom bits inside the mushroom taste was real full. The soup as well was real full. I wanted to finish the entire bowl but held back because I knew tonight was a real food night. (I was glad I did too!)

We were first served with a sushi type dish. It was called the Volcano Roll. basically its a tuna sushi roll with cheese. Its quite spicy so be prepared!

We also were served some Pandan de Rosa slush. The strawberry is what makes it red. It was ok. It wasn’t as sweet as I expected it to be.

The pasta was just too much carbs for the night, but I couldn’t help myself. The Tartufo pasta was quite good as well.

One of the highlights of the night was the US Angus Steak Salpicao  Medallion Tenderloin. It was also wrapped in bacon. Bacon makes EVERYTHING better. It was tender, juicy and all kinds of nice. I just wished I could have ordered it a bit more rare. It comes on a marble slab which is constantly heated by a burner with a rice pilaf side. I loved the presentation too.

Another highlight was the fondue. Yes. Meat fondue was quite awesome!

The meat was tender. Only a few minutes in the fondue and voila its done! Tender and tasty!

It comes with different dips too! Steak sauce, gravy, etc. Must try!

It was a great night full of great conversation. I discovered a cozy new nook, made new friends, all over good food. Definitely coming back!

To be honest with you guys, I really am very very fickle when it comes to longganisa. Call me a picky eater but yeah very very picky. I’ve always liked Vigan longganisa just because its not as salty. Its worth trying. I truly enjoyed this during my regular Sunday breakfast. Not too salty, not too much fat in the sausage, and just the right hint of spicyness.

Here’s a little backstory to the Calumpit Longganisa.
“Both my parents are from Calumpit, Bulacan and when we were younger, we’d go there every week to visit my grandparents. The Calumpit Longganisa was a staple during lunch.

After my grandparents died, and visits to Calumpit would become very rare, we made it a point to pass by the market to buy.  I would buy a few kilos to cook at home, or when I’m feeling generous, bring some to the office to share with friends during lunchtime.

Everybody who’s tried it would always ask that I buy some for them when I return to Calumpit.

Late last year, after we talked to my grandparents’ friend who owned a stall in Calumpit Market, they offered to supply the Longganisas to me.

I then made a Facebook page then everything started there. I started from my fb friends, who then told their fb friends about it and so on.

It is still a very small operation since I am working full-time in a bank. I use mine, my brother’s and my mom’s freezers lang to keep stock. Although I only order limited quantities at a time (the orders I get plus a few packs only) so my clients are sure to get fresh stocks always.

Sometimes I get orders from a chain restaurant that features the Calumpit Longganisa in their banquet menu. They use it for pasta.”

If you are interested in trying her longganisa. here’s the facebook link: www.facebook.com/CalumpitLongganisa

The cheesecake was really rich. But despite it being rich and really flavourful, it didn’t have that umay taste. Anyway just don’t take my word for it. Try it! It comes in different sizes.

So if you want to order:

Indulgence by Irene’s Queso de Bola Cheesecake comes in two sizes: Php 900 for 9″, Php 200 for 4.5″ (4.5″ minimum order of 4). You can call 09228303900 or 09176225800 for orders.

Thanks to Trixie for being my cheesecake model!

When I opened up the box I was greeted with the scent of fresh strawberries. Yes they were that plenty. I noticed though that the cake was a bit melted. I should have eaten it right away but decided to refrigerate it till I had better light. But nonetheless, I was sure I was in for a treat.

After the obligatory photo shoot, I quickly cut the cake.

The chocolate was rich and full. The brownie bottom was moist and soft and the custard in the middle just broke the pure chocoalatey goodness that the cake had to offer. A tiny slice was just enough for me. Any more and I would have to fear for my blood sugar and getting diabetes.

It would have been nice to share this with someone, but I shared it with my family instead. C’est la vie! Maybe next Valentines day!

Thanks to Bizu for the cake again! I still don’t know why you sent me one!

Ever since they were nominated for best japanese restaurant in the the MBKRS (Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets), wherein I was a judge at, I’ve always been intrigued with Nihonbasitei. I’ve heard raving reviews and I was excited to try them out for my special day.

Luigi and I arrived first and quickly placed our orders. But sadly, due to a last minute cancellation by Ken and Marvie, it was just luigi and I for the night. Jill (www.thefoodscout.net) also cancelled and Ben was out of town.

I got a tall glass of cold water, while Luigi ordered cold tea.

We ordered some appetizers and since it was a bit late and with my tummy rumbling, I decided to skip the raw fish and ordered some Gyozas. Luigi and his family were apparently regulars here and he highly praised the Gyozas as well as the service. Perfect I thought, since I was crazy hungry.

Sadly, I think it was an off night during my visit. We struggled to get the attention of the waitresses, given that we were already seated right in the middle of the restaurant, and our simple orders took some time. Actually my orders took awhile. Luigi’s order came out pretty quickly.

Luigi ordered the Unagiryudon. Basically fried eel in a sweet sauce. It came with some Miso soup. And this was a first for me, clams in Miso. Interesting.

I in turn decided to go safe and ordered some traditional japanese dishes. Nihonbashitei is said to have really authentic Japanese dishes so I decided to try out some staple favorites and compare.

I ordered 3 dishes. A plate of Gyozas, Ebi Tempura, and Chicken Teriyaki.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, first to come out was the chicken Teriyaki.

I really wanted to try this dish to compare. It was all about comparison at this point because I have tasted some authentic Japanese food both here and abroad and I wanted to see how Nihonbashitei would stack against its competition.

The Chicken Teriyaki was pretty good. The smokiness of chicken still came out despite it being slathered on with Teriyaki sauce.

See the burnt parts? They didn’t taste burnt. The teriyaki sauce also wasn’t too sweet which was the way I liked it. Too bad I wasn’t able to eat this right away since my cup of rice didn’t come out with it.

After a few more minutes of waiting, they Gyozas along with the Ebi Tempura and rice came out. Finally it was dinner time!

They Gyozas were actually pretty good. Not too salty and the sauce wasn’t too salty as well. Usually, they run a bit on the salty ones with our local restaurants. Also this is something worth noting, the wrapping was unbelievably thin. It was awesome. Perfectly made just as craftsman or artisan would make them. I loved also how they weren’t jampacked with the fillings. They made each bite enjoyable.

The Ebi Tempura wasn’t something worth raving about. It was plain and simple. The shrimp was perfectly cooked though but other than that nothing worth noting.

The Gyoza was worth every bite and allowed you to savor every flavor.

After completely devouring everything I decided to order one more dish. I mean what is Japanese cuisine without raw fish? So spicy tuna sashimi it was. And boy was I glad that I ordered this.

The tuna was fresh and succulent. Each bite was juicy. A bit of a warning though, for someone who can tolerate his spicy dishes this was pretty spicy. But I loved dipping it still in wasabi, calamansi, and soy sauce. This dish alone could have salvaged the entire dinner.

Overall Nihonbashitei was indeed one of the most authentic japanese restaurants and well worth it. The entire dinner was about Php 1,500 and for the amount of food we had was pretty good. One note though, the Gohan or Japanese rice wasn’t as sticky and wet as I would like it to be. But if I need some good Japanese food for a good price, Nihonbashitei it is!

I am always on the look out for not only new places to try but good places to eat at. Although this might not be entirely be a new place it certainly is new to me. Yabu definitely excites me. With promises of deep fried pork or chicken with the Katsu sauce and authentic Japanese rice, I was eager to troop down to Megamall on a Saturday afternoon for this.

To be honest, Megamall usually doesn’t hold too much promise in terms of foodie finds. I mean c’mon the mall is a behemoth more suited towards shopping and designer brands.

But I’ve learned never to judge a location for what it might hold and I’ve surprised myself many times.

Actually, Megamall holds some of my favorite food places around the metro with it having one of the last El Pollo Loco branches that I can think of, and H.K. Choi for my chinese fix.

Here comes Yabu: The House of Katsu.

Boasting of highest quality ingredients, I was excited to try some of their best selling dishes to see what the craze was all about.

The staff was polite and accommodating even though the restaurant was full. Luckily there was a table right away and we didn’t have to wait.

Gisa was kind enough to accompany me on this hot saturday afternoon so as I won’t have to dine alone! Thanks again Gisa!

The table contained all the condiments but none of the traditional ones. We had sesame seed pig, the katsu sauce, japanese mayo and sesame seeds for the salad and vinaigrette.

We quickly ordered our appetizers. One order contains 2. You have to pick which 2 combination you wanted. We settled on the seaweed and tofu. It promptly appeared as we were starting to get into our conversation.

The tofu was high quality japanese tofu. It was supple and tasty. It didn’t taste as if it bland. It was really tasty.

The seaweed was altogether a story on its own. It was simply divine. Throughout the meal, Gisa kept going back to the seaweed. It was a bit sweet with just a subtle hint of tanginess. It really prepares you for the meal to come and luckily I wasn’t disappointed.

I tend to begin my articles about restaurants with items which are not really my favorites. But for this meal I didn’t know where to start. I mean seriously everything was really good. But let me attempt to begin.

I am not a huge fan of curry. In fact, I don’t really particularly like it. I’ve only liked  one curry so far in my travels, Singapore’s Beach Road Scissor Cut Curry rice. (search my blog and you’ll see!) But I have to admit, this came pretty close. (Nav’s Penang Curry also comes close) I enjoyed the Chicken cutlet deep fried and eaten with the soft sticky japanese rice. The curry was just right. I chose to go HOT but in reality it wasn’t spicy at all. It just had a little it of a spice to it but nothing to really scorch the palette.

The meals came in nice huge ceramic plates and I really appreciated eating with ceramic dishware as compared to plastic!

And now for the main course. I ordered the Kurobata or Pork Katsu. For those of you wondering what Katsu means, the word katsu, is an abbreviation of the word katsuretsu which means cutlet.

But before I indulge you with photos, one must prepare the Katsu Sauce. The restaurant will give you a bowl full of sesame seeds along with a pestel.

You basically ground the sesame seeds using the pestel until they are almost of powdery consistency.

The waiter mentioned that 2 scoops should be enough, but I like a lot of sauce on my rice and pork so I poured in more than 2 scoops! If you run out of the sesame seeds you can always add more via the PIG container on the table.

You should basically come up with something like this.

Finally my kurobota. This was one of the best Tonkatsu’s I have ever tasted. The pork meat was tender and flavorful. It was perfectly done but not over fried so much so that it lost its juicyness or that it was burnt. The coating was also just right as I didn’t feel that it was over coated so much so that it lost its taste.

Over all it was one of the best Tonkatsu meals I’ve ever tasted. Succulent pork. Authentic Japanese Rice. The sauce was amazing in itself. I really had an enjoyable time. The waiters were attentive and the manager was knowledgable about the items on the menu. If ever you are in megamall, I urge you to give Yabu a try! Definitely a great way to start my blogging year.

Thanks to Isay for the heads up on this resto!

Yabu: The House of Katsu

2nd Floor, The Atrium, SM Megamall

http://www.yabuhouseofkatsu.com/