Over the past year, group-buying sites have sprouted like there’s no tomorrow, providing us with opportunities to dine at a restaurant, pamper ourselves at a spa or salon, and even buy gadgets at very affordable prices, usually at 50% discount. Because of them, more businesses have gained much-needed exposure, especially those that are targeting an already saturated market. And we completely support upcoming businesses or companies, particularly those that have started from humble beginnings. We’re one to give everyone a chance to impress or disappoint us. This time, a restaurant in Caloocan did not just let us down, but completely upset us – Apricot Diner.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know we are not snobs when it comes to food and we get easily pleased. However, because we cook at home and we’re so used to the intense flavors of our homemade dishes (not bragging! It’s a fact and we can proudly prove that), we can sometimes be very critical about dishes at a restaurant, especially when the prices are too steep for what they served us. If I’m going to spend over 500 for a buffet or even just one dish, you better serve me something good.

Before I tell you about how our dinner at Apricot Diner went, let me tell you first about how this all started. I saw this deal last year on MetroDeal for 58% discount vouchers from Apricot Diner, who claim to be offering an “Eat-All-You-Can International Fusion Buffet”. As you can see, the photos they used were enticing, which I now think were taken from Google Images or somewhere else.

I honestly had doubts because they’re located in Caloocan, but, again, we’re all for supporting restaurants that aren’t that known yet. There might be a gem there somewhere.

So, to clarify this, they were offering Php 600 value of food from their eat-all-you-can buffet for just Php 250. The description had me sold, but I did a little digging first. At that time, there were nothing really substantial written about them yet, so I just crossed my fingers that they’ll deliver to their promise of “… finest foods". I thought of bringing my 2 best friends with me and Ken so I bought 4 vouchers in total, for a total of Php 1,000.

When Kenneth flew to Singapore for a “vacation” in January, our family decided to have like a goodbye lunch at NAIA Terminal 3. I suggested we do that instead of going to a restaurant we’d pass by on our way to the airport since there are food places in NAIA Terminal 3 that I wanted to check out.

It’s been awhile since we had our photo taken together, us 4. We had a lot of outtakes before we got this decent photo. The camera was placed on top of a ladder. The NAIA crew who was using it had to wait til the end of our programmed continuous shooting.

So, there. As soon as Ken checked in his baggage, we went up and saw Raku Hokkaido Ramen House by Ministop.

Photo credit: Kat’s Musings

First off, we ordered drinks. I wanted to try their Apple Nectar, but Php 145 is just too expensive for me. So, I decided to order Raku’s Japanese Ocha for all us, at Php 29 each. At that price, I expected it to be bland. Well, it met my expectations.

Though we wanted to try their Ramen, we opted to order their Bento meals since we haven’t had anything yet for breakfast or lunch.

Before I tell you about what we ordered, I wanted to mention that I was completely disappointed with their service. By the time our orders arrived, we were all very hungry. And they weren’t served like a few minutes after each other or at the same time. We had to wait like 5-10 minutes for each of our orders to arrive. My dad’s order came last while we were already in the middle of finishing off ours. We had to follow up 4 times on our orders. It was that bad. It wasn’t that hectic when we were there. People only started coming in while we were already eating so I don’t understand why it took them that long to serve our food.

First off, my bro ordered their Chicken Teriyaki Bento, Php 145. As you can see, there’s a generous serving of rice topped with sesame seeds and veggie side dishes on all their bento meals. But, I would’ve wanted more pieces of chicken. I got to taste it and the chicken meat were tender. My bro enjoyed it.

Here’s another super overdue post.

Last August, Yoshinoya had this promo Buy 1, Take 1 on their Yakiniku and Katsudon. We haven’t tried anything from Yoshinoya yet so we decided to head to their branch in SM Mall of Asia to take advantage of the promo with our printouts of the coupon.

When we got there, the Yoshinoya girl at the counter told us there’s no pork available for the Katsudon. We can only choose between chicken or fish. Since it was Kien who wanted that, we gave him the choice. He opted for the Chicken Katsudon.

Before I even let you know what we think about the Katsudon and Yakiniku, I just wanted to say that I was extremely disappointed with Yoshinoya’s crew in SM MOA. When we got there, most of the tables inside their store were already occupied except for this one almost at the corner, with sofas on both sides. The table still needed to be cleaned and we looked around to ask for assistance. There were 3 crew members just chattering away at the other side of the store, near the comfort room (I guess). We called them out. They looked at our direction, then went on with their chattering, ignoring us. We had to call out the attention of the crew at the counter to ask someone to clean up our table. While Kien was doing this, I already started clearing our table.

Sorry, but it really irritates me when people don’t perform their jobs well. I mean, I’m okay with the chattering, but if a customer calls your attention to request assistance, you should accommodate them! Those 3 crew members (1 woman, 2 men) didn’t even bother to call someone else if they were too freaking busy to assist us. Sheesh. As much as I wanted to talk to their manager because of their behavior, I decided not to ’cause we just started our day. And we thought we were going to enjoy a good meal at Yoshinoya.

Going back to the food, we had 2 separate coupons for the Yakiniku and Katsudon. So, we ended up with 4 bowls to share among us 3.

First, let me tell you about their Chicken Katsudon. It was just plain Katsudon. Nothing really memorable. Kien makes a better Katsudon actually. Plus, one of the chicken pieces we got had this burnt taste. We didn’t finish them because the chicken was also not tender at all.

Next, the Beef Yakiniku. We enjoyed it more than the Katsudon. Though it was too sweet for Mai, I still enjoyed it a lot. I just wish there’s not much fat there.

I’ve heard of raves about Yoshinoya’s Katsudon and Yakiniku, so I was quite surprised that we were disappointed by what we tasted. Our first dining experience at Yoshinoya left a bad taste in my mouth to the point that I would’ve needed Olay Regenerist or some kind of anti-aging cream to hide the frustration on my face as we left their SM MOA store. My guess is those people who are raving about Yoshinoya dined in their other branches. Or, it could be because they had a buy one, take one promo, they weren’t concerned about the quality of their food.

We really thought we’d have a great meal at Yoshinoya that’s why it was the first thing on our itinerary that day. When we finished our meals, we weren’t full and satisfied. It did affect our day. Now, I don’t know if I’d want to try Yoshinoya’s food again. But, maybe…just maybe… I’ll try their Beef Yakiniku again, their Gyudon and other items on their menu at another branch.

For the Love of Food…

Burgers are still my favorite comfort food. And in the past years, I’ve tried variations of this popular American food from different fast food joints and restaurants in my search for the BEST burgers here in the Philippines.

One of the burger joints that’s on the top of my list is Tropical Hut. I enjoy their burgers and their prices are also affordable. So, if you want to satisfy your burger cravings one day, I recommend Tropical Hut.

A few weeks ago, Mai and I were at Monumento to buy a new printer for our internet cafe. Right after, we headed to Tropical Hut because we wanted burgers for brunch. We dined in at their Monumento branch, beside Mercury Drug, right around the Bonifacio monument.

Tropical Hut serves most of their burgers in aluminum foil to preserve its freshness and the juiciness of the patty.