Army Navy Burger + Burrito, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City

The only other restaurant along Katipunan Avenue with available parking space on a Sunday noon was Army Navy. Cynthia and I had been here before but somehow I had forgotten how the food tasted. So we thought of giving it another try. This was one of those times we wished we didn't. The food we ordered were the typical fare - carnitas burrito for me and chicken quesadilla for my wife and iced tea to go with those.

First served was the tea. It was, as far as we were concerned, a bit diluted compared to the same drink we ordered at other restaurants. 3-stars for the iced tea.

The burrito I ordered fell way short of my expectations. The carnitas was not cooked the Mexican way. Even the strips of pork were not cut the way carnitas were supposed to be sliced. I'd rate this a 3 stars.

Cynthia's first complaint about her quesadilla was "Where's the cilantro?" The chicken meat that was supposed to be a part of it was meager. Again, it only merited a 3 stars from my wife.

There were two kinds of sauces that went along with our orders: one was sour cream and too spicy for our taste, and the other was a salsa that was so different from the salsa one would find at Mexican restaurants. Again, where was the cilantro? Another disappointment and an even lower rating of 2 stars.

The service was typical of any fast-food joint. There was a certain degree of sparingness in the layout that provided a military base-like ambiance in keeping up with its name. However, I can't figure out why a military-themed restaurant would serve Mexican food.

Please check out their website for the menu and locations at http://www.armynavyburgerburrito.com/ or their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ARMY-NAVY-Burger-Burrito/151192484926886


Update: Their store at Katipunan is now closed.

8 Cuts Burger Blends - SM Megamall

I am definitely a burger fan so when my wife suggested we have lunch at 8 Cuts Burger Blends at the SM Megamall, I quickly agreed. This is a relatively new restaurant but we have heard some good recommendations about it from our friends.

We were greeted enthusiastically by the staff and we were seated quickly. We have heard that long lines were more of the norm here during lunchtime, especially on weekends. Since it was a Thursday and some thirty minutes before noon, I think we got lucky that we got a table right away. The name stands for the 8 cuts of beef they use in their different burger patties; chuck, rib eye, short rib, sirloin, brisket, hanger, flank and ox tail.

We were intrigued looking at their menu. It seemed complicated to us. First, you have the option to create your own sandwich, choosing the type of bun, the kind of meat(s) and what you want to go with it. Not being the adventurous type, we settled for the Fishy'wich (fish sandwich) for Cynthia. and good old Cheeseburger for me. For drinks, my wife ordered an Arnold Palmer and a bottomless Iced Tea for me.

The drinks were served first and quite honestly the best word we can use to describe both was "bland". It took a while for our sandwiches to arrive, perhaps it was because the patties were prepared right there at the restaurant - you could even watch them do it.  After about fifteen minutes, our orders finally came. 

Cynthia loved her Fishy-wich and gave it five stars. The cheese and homemade creamy coleslaw made the crispy fish fillets even more delicious. The sesame seed bun was also tasty.

My Cheeseburger, on the other hand, fell a bit short of my expectations (perhaps I have set my expectations a little bit too high?). Anyway, it had the standard TLC (Tomato, Lettuce and Cheese {cheddar}) and Sauce. Let me explain the Sauce part: You have a choice of adding Sauce #3 -original house dressing, or Sauce #4 - a tangy, slightly spiced sauce with a classic red relish base. Not wanting anything spicy, I opted for Sauce #3. Over all the sandwich tasted good, however, the meat was not well done - something that I wasn't quite happy about. The interesting thing was that the waiter never asked how I wanted my burger patty done. I guess medium well was their norm. Compared to those served at Charlie's (for me the standard from which all other burger sandwiches are measured) 8 Cuts still fall short. I'll give the Cheeseburger only 4 stars.

The idea of making your own burger sort of intrigues me so maybe next time my wife and I would be more adventurous and innovative. 

Overall, it was a good experience dining at 8 Cuts. The service was commendable so that earned 4.5 stars. The ambiance was just right. The blandness of the drinks and the less than expected taste of my burger also deserves a total rating of only 3.75 in my opinion.

Please check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/8cutsburgerblends

Cafe France

Cafe France along C-5 (Libis) is our favorite non-"fast-food" place for breakfast. It has the ambiance for a leisurely enjoyment of early morning food. Even the one found along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) - which we usually patronize when we go birding in the south - has that sophisticated aura not found in the nearby Jollibee's or McDonald's. 

Among our favorites are the Ham & Cheese Omelet (for Cynthia) and the Ham and Egg Tray (for me). Both are pretty much the same except that the "tray" also serves some fruits and a glass of fruit juice aside from the usual ham/egg combination and a croissant. These wouldn't be our favorites if they were not delicious. And they definitely are. Consistently 5 stars for both breakfast entrees.

Ham and Egg Breakfast Tray

Ham and Cheese Omelet

Depending on the store sometimes the food is served differently. The one above was from SLEX and the one below is from C-5 Libis.

Ham and Cheese Omelet

Once in a while, we would deviate from our regular order and try some other breakfast goodies. I would get the Beef (Tapa) and Egg along with garlic rice. As is "normal" for beef tapas, the meat was not that tender for my ancient teeth so I'll just give this four stars.

Breakfast Beef and Egg

My wife, on the other hand, opted for the Pineapple Tocino and Egg Combo. The tiny pineapple bits enhanced the tocino flavor. However, the serving was somewhat small. So we'll give this a score of only 3.5. Anyway, this is no longer in their menu.

Pineapple Tocino Breakfast

For lunch, our usual fare was Beef and Mushroom for me and Fish Fillet with Tartare Sauce for Cynthia. Interestingly the three times I tried it, the servings were a bit different from one another, not just with the side dishes but also with the way it was cooked. The taste was pretty consistent though which very delicious! Four stars!

Three different ways of serving the Beef and Mushroom Rice Dish

The Fish Fillet in Tartar Sauce was not much different from those served elsewhere so it gets 3.5 stars.

Fish Fillet in Tartar Sauce

Recently, Cafe France added some more entrees to their Rice Meal group. 

We were so excited by this that we had lunch there for two consecutive Sundays. The first Sunday, I decided to try their Hickory Chops. This was pork chop flavored with hickory (as the name says) and grilled to perfection. The meat was tender and the taste outstanding. A whopping 5 points!

Hickory Chops

Cynthia was less adventurous and ordered the Beef and Mushroom dish. The following week, I tried the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It would have been perfect had it not been swimming in white sauce. The chicken itself was crunchy which sadly became less so after being swamped by a flood of sauce. 3.5 stars. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Once again, Cynthia chose an old favorite, the Fish Fillet in Tartar Sauce. For dessert on the first Sunday, we opted for the Cream Puffs. We enjoyed them so much, we ordered them again the next Sunday. Five delicious points.

Cream Puffs

The service at both locations were excellent, the servers and the cashier were efficient and friendly. As I mentioned before, the ambiance is very relaxing. Parking is also adequate at the two places.

Overall rating 4 stars.

Please check their website: http://cafefrance.net

Mesa Filipino Moderne - SM Megamall

Mesa is not like most restaurants serving Filipino food. Their recipes are innovative - it's like modernizing the traditional way of preparing the regional dishes.

This was our first time to eat here so we were curious as to how the food will be like. However, being on a diet and not that adventurous, we decided on ordering the laing, garlic chicken and pork barbecue.

Laing is basically taro leaves cooked with coconut cream mixed with pork and shrimp paste topped with adobo flakes. They served it in the traditional and crispy way. My wife and I are laing fans and this was the best we have tasted so far. It wasn't spicy and the adobo flakes added some pizzaz to the overall taste. Five stars for sure.

The way the garlic chicken was prepared was a surprising delight. The mixture of honey and garlic glaze gave the meat a certain degree of deliciousness. My only nit was that there were quite an amount of bones included. Because of that I will only rate this at four stars.

Their pork barbecue was not much different from the usual fare found in every Filipino restaurant. The serving was quite generous though. 3.5 stars

To go with these entrees we had garlic rice, again not much different from most Filipino restaurants. I will also rate this at 3.5 stars.

Service was outstanding! The waiters and staff were polite and attentive to the needs of the customers.
Five stars for that.

One distinguishing aspect of Mesa is their quaint tilted glass which I find rather cute.

Price-wise, an entree ranges from P180 and up. Our total order came to about P750

Overall, considering the quality and taste of the food, the service and the ambiance, I'd rate Mesa at four stars.

Please check out their website: http://mesa.ph/main/3000/index562b.html?pageid=107743

Backyard Burgers - Davao City, March 2014

When we told Chito, my wife's brother, that we wanted to have burger's at Gino's (which we liked a lot from our last visit in 2012), he said "I'll take you to a place with even better hamburgers."

And indeed, it was better! Backyard Burgers is relatively new having formally opened in February, 2012 (we didn't know about it then - it was just a hole-in-the-wall joint - we were told). This time they are now in two locations with a third one soon to open. We tried the one in Quimpo Street which was not that far from Chito's house.

Now for the sandwiches. I had the Garshroom Bacon Burger - "garshroom" being derived from garlic and mushroom. Although the bacon wasn't crispy enough, the burger itself was thick and heavenly! Just a tad short of In-N-Out's yummy-ness. The cheddar cheese was melting over the fried garlic and mushroom. Lettuce and tomato completed the ensemble. I'll give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Chito had the Extra Cheesy Burger which really lived up to its name. Again the burger meat was thick and juicy complemented by a heavy dousing of melted cheddar. Chito gave it a perfect 5.

Cynthia opted for the BLT. Similar to my garshroom, the bacon was not crispy. Instead of cheese, the sandwich had mayonnaise to go along with the tomato and lettuce. My wife rated it a 4.

We had a side order of french fries to go with our orders which was much better than the fast food joints in Manila. Unfortunately, at the time we were there they were not serving combo meals yet. They will put that back in their menu beginning April 1, 2014.

Price-wise, they are at a definite advantage. The sandwiches we had cost from P135 to P165 (about $3 - $3.75). Compare that with the similar tasting burgers at Charlie's in MetroManila whose prices are double.

Backyard Burgers has a more homely ambiance and is more like a restaurant specializing in hamburgers than a MacDonald's wannabe. Overall rating is 4.5

Follow them in Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/backyardburgersdavao

Tokyo Tonteki - UP Town Center

Cynthia wanted to check out the restaurants at the UP Town Center so after church last Sunday we drove to that newly opened place along Katipunan Avenue.

There were so many different choices of restaurants offering a wide range of culinary delights - from IHOP to Salusalo. We finally settled for Tokyo Tonteki, a restaurant that offers a different kind of Japanese cuisine. Forget the Katsus and the Sushis and say hello to the Tonteki - which is pork loin (ton) steak (teki) cooked over low temperature.

Although we were seated right away, it took a while before our order was taken. My wife even threatened to walk out if we continued to be ignored by the servers in the next 5 minutes, inasmuch as we have already waited for more than ten minutes. Please take note that this is not a huge restaurant, maximum capacity would be 50 diners. Thankfully, I was able to flag down one of the waitresses before Cynthia's deadline came up. We ordered the large portion of the house specialty -the tonteki, of course, and Ebi Fry, which is basically shrimp tempura.

While waiting for our food, we discovered the reason for the lack of attention to the customers - two more waitresses reported for work at noon (we came at around quarter to twelve). With the personnel now in full force, service got a lot better.

First to be served was the Miso Soup - which is bottomless, by the way. I liked the taste of this one which is a bit different from the ones I have had from the other Japanese restaurants that we patronized before. Instead of tofu bits, they added tiny pieces of pork meat to the soup giving more oomph to the flavor. Five stars out of five!

Then came the main entree. The pork loin steak was so tender and had very minimum fat. The sauce that covered the meat was made from a combination of fruits, vegetables and spices that complemented the pork. The meat was served on a skillet from which it was cooked, along with shredded cabbage. I added some Japanese mayonnaise to the shredded cabbage and this was the first time that I truly enjoyed eating this side dish. Cynthia and I shared this dish and we couldn't even finish it! That's how large it was. Whopping 5 stars!

The Ebi Fry had the usual tempura taste. However, the accompanying sauce made all the difference which made the fried breaded shrimp a lot more enjoyable. I'd give this 4 stars only because of the sauce. 

Except for the early unease from the lack of attention from the servers, our experience with Tokyo Tonteki was very pleasant, food-wise and service-wise.

Overall rating would be: 4.5 for food, 4 for service.

We would definitely return to try out the other dishes which looked really appetizing.

Check out their Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/tokyotontekiphilippines

Teriyaki Boy - Robinson's Galleria

One of Cynthia's favorite Japanese dish is the Sukiyaki. One of the restaurants that serve this is Teriyaki Boy.

We were seated promptly but it took another 15 or so minutes before our orders were taken. Of course my wife ordered the Sukiyaki Beef. I was hoping to have a Chicken Katsu but that was not in their menu so I ordered the Chicken Ju instead.

Cynthia said that the Sukiyaki tasted just so-so: not bad but not really that good. The best she could give was 3 stars.

It turned out that Chicken Ju was just another name for Chicken Teriyaki. And it tasted just like any other Chicken Teriyaki. So I'll give this 3 stars as well.

Sadly, the waiters were not that attentive. Customer's (including us) were waving, trying to get their attention and not getting it right away. Again, 3 stars for service.

Toni's Grill - Pearl Drive, Fairview, Quezon City

"That was a great lunch!" Cynthia said for the umpteenth time as we were driving home. My wife who is an excellent cook herself very seldom reacts this way after a dining out experience. So what was it at Toni's Grill that elicited such praises from my better half?

The food, of course! We had been to this place along Commonwealth several times before inasmuch as it is very close to La Mesa Ecopark - a favorite birding place of ours, but in those occasions we just ordered from their "99'ers" menu. For the price of 99 pesos (about $2) we get a rice plate - unlimited rice with a choice of entrees and bottomless iced tea. The servings are quite small, which is fair enough considering the price but still the dishes are delicious.

This time, however, we opted for the ala carte menu. We had our friend Irene joining us so we ordered three entrees: Crispy Binagoongan, Seafood Medley and Sizzling Bulalo.

First the Binagoongan. Basically it was deep fried pork loin on top of sauteed bagoong (shrimp paste) and boiled eggplant with hot chili pepper on the side. As the name implied, the pork loin was indeed crispy! The sauteed bagoong had just the right fishy flavor in it that boosted the overall taste of the dish.  We all agreed that this merited a 5 star rating.

The seafood medley was super delicious. It had shrimp, squid cutlets and breaded orange roughy cooked with red and green bell peppers, onion, tomato, garlic and bits of black fungus mushroom with soy sauce. The orange roughy definitely does not have any fishy taste at all which, for me, is a big plus. It had that melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The squid is a bit tough but then that's how squid meat really is. Because of the squid, we gave it only 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The bulalo (meat around a bone with marrow inside) was served sizzling but strangely not painful-to-the-tongue hot. The meat was served with a special gravy, onion rings and mixed vegetables on the side. The beef was tender and juicy and very well done. Without question - 5 stars.

Complementing the delicious food was the excellent service provided by the staff. Ice cold water was served even before we have made any order. The wait for the entrees were not very long - about 15 minutes which was fast considering the kind of dishes we ordered. The waiters were very attentive and courteous.

Overall rating: 5 stars! Did I mention how my wife kept gushing over our dining experience here?

They don't have a website but you can check out important information (address, telephone number, menu) in this website: http://www.clickthecity.com/food-drink/b/NN33222/toni-s-grill-fairview

Holy Cow - Atrium, SM Megamall

Holy Cow is a Western Ranch type restaurant. The ambiance is of course Cowboy style, or at least trying to be. Even the hosts/hostess and servers wear jeans and cowboy hats. Basically the service is quite good - the servers attentive to the needs of the customers.

This is the second time my wife and I tried this place and if memory serves me right we were quite satisfied with our experience then. Today, however, was a little bit different. 

Let's get to the soup first. For an additional P49 they will serve bottomless iced tea and unlimited soup along with your main order. I decided to avail of that. It didn't take long for them to serve the Creamy Clam Chowder. The first thing my wife said when she tried it was "It's not hot!" I took a spoonful and agreed with her. Warm would be a better description. Then there were the little bits of skin of the red pepper mixed into the soup that somehow kept getting stuck to our lips. Definitely not edible! The clams themselves still had that fishy taste. I'd rate this 2.5 stars out of 5.

My main entree was the Cowboy Ranch Style Porkchop. This one was sizzling hot! I had to wait a few minutes before I could get my first bite. Somehow the pork wasn't that tender. The garlic rice was good but not that delicious. The side veggies were OK though, cooked just right - not too tender and not too crispy. 3.5 stars.

My wife's order was the Beer Battered Rodeo Fish Fillet. Despite the fancy name, it was basically breaded Cream Dory with white cream sauce. At least this dish was up to par. No fishy taste and just the right crunchiness. I don't know about the "beer" thing because my wife and I never did taste any hint of it. 4 out of 5.

Our experience today was a bit disappointing food-wise. The efficiency of the servers was the Holy Cow's redeeming factor. Therefore I will give an overall rating of 3.5

Check out their website at http://holycow.com.ph/

La Preciosa - Laoag City

Our friends invited us to join them for dinner at this restaurant - touted to be the best in Laoag City. It was full at 7:30 pm and we had to wait for about 15 minutes before we were able to get a table. Famous for its regional (Ilocano) specialties we ordered their more popular dishes, starting with the Poqui-poqui - an eggplant omelet combined with slices of tomato and onion. I am not normally a fan of vegetable omelets but this one was really delicious! As our British friend, Rob, said "It is food for the gods! Yummy!"

We also had the Crispy Bagnet which is basically deep fried, crunchy pork loin served with achara (a kind of relish). Along with this we ordered Halabos na Hipon (Steamed prawns) and  Kare-kare (a peanut based stew which includes eggplants, string beans and tripe). All these dishes were done perfectly and tasted really delicious!

For the piece-de-resistance, we ordered the house specialty - the carrot cake. Living up to its reputation, it was the best carrot cake we have tried!

Being a very popular restaurant, reservations are highly recommended. For the walk-in customers, there will be some waiting time before a table becomes available. The waiters are efficient and friendly. The ambiance is just right - it is as if you are dining at a relative's house.

I'll give it 5 stars for the food and 4 stars for the service (because of the waiting time). Parking is very limited so if you're staying in a local hotel or a relative's house it is advisable to take a tricycle to get to this place.