Daily Digest: Wooden Spoon's Pancit Lang Lang

The past two weeks have been really stressful so food became our best friend. On the last day of midterms week, we decided to have merienda (mid-afternoon snack) in Wooden Spoon because I told my friend Pearl that I wanted pancit. Traditional pancit with the works. She suggested Wooden Spoon's afternoon menu because she swears their pancit (lang lang) is good.

Pancit Lang Lang

P175

I thought the noodles were a bit too overcooked because it looked and felt too soft. Whether or not it was overcooked became irrelevant because once I took a forkful of the pancit, the texture of the noodles mixed with the crisp adobo flakes on top and the poppy shrimp was just perfect! Add a squeeze of calamansi and you have the perfect afternoon snack post-exam. I had no complaints because she was right. It was good. Really good.

Price: P175

5 out of 5 for Wooden Spoon's Pancit Lang Lang

Wooden Spoon

Basement Level Powerplant Mall

Rockwell Center, Makati City

Uh-oh! beauty & BUTTER.. Not so Beautiful.

I had to look for another waxing salon today because Lay Bare in SM Jazz Mall was already fully booked for the day (yes, fully booked at 3 PM). I could have rescheduled but since I already spent taxi fare just to have myself waxed, not to mention the hassle of going back and the wasted time if I don't proceed as planned, I decided to walk around and check if there was another waxing salon or any spa offering wax treatments. That's how I found beauty & BUTTER.

beauty & BUTTER

SM Jazz Mall

Post-mortem Treat

The first night of my last finals week as a sophomore student (please let me get to junior year) called for some good food.  Sophomore year was not only tiring physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.  It came to a point where I was not even sure if I was prepared enough to take my final examinations.  I studied, well, I really did try my best to study and retain everything I was able to study.  The whole year was just a mix of super highs and super downs that sometimes, I began to doubt myself and my dreams more than usual.

So, to let go of the extra anxiety that finals week was about to bring, I decided to treat myself to some good food.  I've been reading about this new bistro in the Makati area, which supposedly served inexpensive quality food.  Gus picked me up from school and we decided to try it out.

The Plantation is located along Don Carlos Palanca Street in Makati.  If you're coming from Makati Avenue, cross Ayala Avenue, make a right on De la Rosa Street (PLDT Building), and look for Don Carlos Palanca on the left.  The place isn't hard to miss since it's usually full of people at night.  In case you're coming in for lunch, just look for the building which offers al fresco dining, a few meters away from Greenbelt Excelsior. 

When we got there, we had to settle for the bar area as the place was packed.  It was only around 8 o'clock but all the tables were already taken – couples, groups, enjoying their meals and having drinks.  They apparently offered its customers live band entertainment over dinner.  Perfect after office hangout place.

We started dinner with their Pumpkin Soup with Laguna Cheese.  The Plantation had five different kinds of soup on their menu plus the Soup of the Day so we thought they offered all five kinds.  I wanted to try their 3-Mushroom Cream Soup while Gus wanted to try the Clam Chowder with Baguette but apparently, the only available soup aka their Soup of the Day was the Pumpkin Soup.  You could say that we settled.  If you've been reading my blog entries, you can tell that I always almost need my soup for every meal.  

Pumpkin Soup with Laguna Cheese

P130

Dang Dee Fast Food: Another Taiwanese Delight

It's been more or less three months since I last updated my blog. It saddens me that I haven't been able to manage my time well enough to update this blog and keep up with my studies. But I want to change all that starting now. I know I said this back in January but I really want to make this work so for my first blog entry under my new lifestyle, I shall write about this new food discovery I stumbled upon in my friend's Instagram account (thank you, Nadz To) -- an incredibly wonderful and unbelievable new food delivery/restaurant-ish along Salcedo Street in Makati. Yes, the food is really good and the price, unbelievable. Office employees, students, and anyone else on a budget, I present to you Dang Dee Fast Food.

Dang Dee Fast Food is a small, hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant. Nothing fancy. There are about 8-10 tables inside, a counter, a wash area, and a rest room. Pick from any of their value meals, order, and wait for it to be served or packed. What makes this little fast food so special is that their value meals are made of win. You can grab a really filling and delicious lunch or dinner for as low as P78, and that comes with a free drink already. So what does a Dang Dee value meal look like?

Sentro Selene

Last Sunday, one of our friends celebrated her 25th birthday. Her boyfriend arranged an intimate gathering at Sentro 1771 to surprise her. Since this was a surprise dinner party, we didn't know what kind of food to expect. We were just asked to go to the place by 7 PM.

Since Gus and I had prior engagements, we arrived a bit late. They were already having some appetizers, most of which were skewered meat. Dinner started with a green mango salad and grilled bbq minis. Unfortunately, we were so hungry, we forgot to take photos of all the food.

Grilled BBQ Minis

P350

The Grilled BBQ Minis were a bit too overpriced for me since the meat on each stick were sliced thinly. Then again, we were in Greenbelt. The price was not unusual.

After the appetizers, we ordered our drinks. Gus and I tried their Unlimited Homemade Sago't Gulaman. Yes, it was unlimited. For P90, this wasn't bad at all. The drink was not too sweet, but it wasn't that bland too. Sometimes, sago't gulaman tend to be too sweet because they put too much syrup in it (to make up for the loads and loads of ice they put on the pitcher or glass). But this one was just right. It was a very refreshing drink.

Unlimited Homemade Sago't Gulaman

P90

Baby's Day Out: Rockefeller, Greenbelt 3

Last Saturday, we had a get together at Rockefeller. I had just finished meeting a friend in Rockwell, and my sister mentioned she was in Greenbelt with our niece so we decided to meet up.

My sister has a certain liking for oysters so we found ourselves in Rockefeller for dinner. We didn't really plan on eating, but since it was a little past dinner time, we decided to grab something to eat as well.

In case you haven't noticed, I love buffalo wings. Even if Rockefeller is known for its, well, oysters, I still tried my favorite -- their version of buffalo wings. (I never really liked oysters in the first place.) Anyway, for an oyster "bar," Rockefeller's version of buffalo wings wasn't bad. It was actually great! Not too spicy, not too sour, just the right combination of spices and peppers. It was flavorful for buffalo wings, actually. Most of the wings I've tasted were either too spicy on the outside, too sour, too spicy and sour, but all the same bland on the inside. But Rockefeller's is one of the exceptions. The flesh of the chicken was also bursting with flavor. It complemented the spicy skin very much. 

Burger Bar

A few weeks back, one of my good friends mentioned this new burger joint in Makati. She didn't really say anything about it, except that one of our friends ate their a few nights before. Since Gus and I are such foodies, we decided to check out the place. The photos we saw online made our mouths water that they were enough to convince us to go to Greenbelt 2 just to try it out.

If you were one of those people invited at their launch, you probably know which burger joint I'm talking about. Burger Bar. It opened just a couple of weeks back, and I've heard people talk about it already because of their special patties. So what's the fuzz about this place?

Burger Bar boasts of making their own patties, and allowing its customers to customize their burgers by choosing the patty and other toppings they want. It's actually an interesting concept, allowing your diners to choose the kind of beef they want in their burger patty. I grew up making my own burger only by choosing the toppings or add ons I like, but never the patty. That was something new to me.

Backlog 1: Adobo Connection

When I was still working in Makati, I discovered this small, literally hole-in-the-wall restaurant behind our office building. It was inside a parking lot along de la Rosa. I got so tired of the usual office cafeteria food so I decided to walk along de la Rosa in hopes of finding other restaurants where I could buy food. And that's when I saw Adobo Connection.

I know this restaurant isn't really unknown. I've seen it in malls before but I've never really bothered to check it out. This time, something caught my attention. They had adobo rice for only P39! I thought it was a good deal so I tried it. Was I surprised! I got a really big serving of delicious adobo rice topped with garlic and sliced scrambled eggs in a microwavable plastic container! Yup, I loved the packaging too. 

And because I really enjoyed the first one, I decided to bring Gus there since I wanted to try a lot of their dishes.

We had their Kuya's Mixed Adobo, which was the traditional salty adobo made of chicken and pork. The portions were good enough for two so we just ordered an extra cup of rice.

Kuya's Mixed Adobo

Hot, hot hot! Buffalo Wings 'n Things

Gus picked me up from work two nights ago, and I thought of dropping by Wings 'n Things along De la Rosa. But because of bladder issues, we weren't able to have late dinner anywhere. We had to go straight home.

We finally got to try Buffalo Wings 'n Things yesterday. Since I love buffalo wings, Gus made me choose which kind we would try. They had the traditional, New York style buffalo wings, wings for the faint of heart, wings for risk takers, and wings for the brave. Since we've tried a couple of buffalo wings that weren't really spicy, despite their claims, I was a bit skeptical about their "hot" buffalo wings. I've tried "really spicy" buffalo wings that only had a hint of chili and something sour. Out of doubt, I decided to get their Level 5 buffalo wings: the Armageddon.

Since Gus couldn't live without iced tea, and I couldn't live without my rice, we also ordered a glass of their Downtown Iced Tea, and a cup of their Dirty Rice. Just to be safe, we ordered some bleu cheese dip to go along with our wings, in case it lives up to its name.

MonDATES: Spicy Fingers

Due to our busy working schedule, we rarely get to have weekend dates, or dinnerdates anymore. So today, Gus and I decided to make the most out of my light workload and his dayoff. We went around Greenbelt, grabbed a cup of coffee from McDonald's (because I always need my cup of coffee everyday), and went back to strolling around. I showed him the iTouch case I wanted to buy, and after that, we decided to look for a place where we can have lunch. On the way to Greenbelt 1, we chanced upon a tarp, which offered P120 lunch meals from 10 am to 3 pm. We scanned through the list of their lunch offerings, but continued to walk, thinking whether or not we should try it. The meals they offered looked good, and for P120, we decided to go back and try it out. 

The place looked more like a bar, booths and tables were both available in the air conditioned area, with a stage in the corner. But at 2:30 in the afternoon, it was a quiet little resto. There weren't a lot of people inside. Apart from Gus and I, the only other person eating inside was an American. Still, we went in and sat in one of the booths. The lady who was attending to us was very nice. Instead of shooing us away because I had a cup of coffee in my hand from another restaurant, she simply asked if it was okay for her to transfer my coffee into a glass, which I agreed to of course. We were shocked that she asked nicely, instead of going with the usual, "Hindi po pwede 'yan sa loob, ma'am." (You can't bring that inside, ma'am.) I had a feeling that this was going to be a good, blog-worthy lunch. Assuming the food is as good as the experience. :)