Categories
Appetizers Asian Cuisine Beverages / Drinks Breads / Pastries / Cakes Buffet / Eat All You Can Chocolates and Candies Cocktail Food / Dishes Comfort Food Desserts / Ice Cream Excluded Featured Filipino Cuisine Food Porn / Photos Fusion Cuisines, Dishes Meatlovers Restaurant Features Restaurant Reviews Reviews Sauces Seafood Snacks Street Food

Celebrate the Best of Filipino Cuisine at Corniche of Diamond Hotel

There are but a few world class hotels in the Philippines that celebrate the culinary heritage of their host country. Diamond Hotel is one of those few, and they promote our rich cuisine by launching an annual Filipino Food Festival. This year, they have asked 3 of Manila’s most celebrated chefs to come aboard and showcase their prowess by reinventing all-time Pinoy favorites at The Best of Filipino Cuisine lunch and dinner buffet in Corniche Restaurant from May 13–23, 2014.

Corniche The Best of Filipino Cuisine - Diamond Hotel

 

FILIPINO CELEBRITY CHEFS + DIAMOND HOTEL EXECUTIVE CHEF

Filipino celebrity chefs Bruce Lim, Sau del Rosario and JP Anglo join Diamond Hotel’s Executive Chef Marko Rankel in celebrating the flavors of Filipino cuisine. We loved every twist they added to the dishes they prepared for this food festival. 🙂

Categories
Asian Cuisine Comfort Food Featured Food Business Food Porn / Photos Japanese Cuisine Meatlovers Restaurant Features Restaurant Reviews Reviews Sauces Seafood Snacks Street Food The Burp Society Travel

OZEN Japanese Food Haven in Malabon Serves the Best Takoyaki We’ve Ever Had!

There’s this small Japanese hole-in-the-wall food stop near our house that we usually see jam-packed with customers at night. We really had no plans at all of trying the place, since we’ve had authentic Japanese fare from topnotch restaurants and hotels in Manila (Yabang naman! 😀 ) and we’re quite sure that the place will be nothing less than a disappointment. But it was until we met a fellow foodie who raved about how awesome their Takoyaki was that we finally decided to pay OZEN Japanese Food in Malabon a visit.

OZEN Japanese Food - hole-in-the-wall food haven in Malabon City

Our first try was a total disaster, service-wise. They had 3 groups of families that were dining in, so we had to wait over an hour to finally get our food. We ordered three sets of Takoyaki — two to-go and one for dining in because we wanted to take a quality photo of their Takoyaki for the blog. I didn’t get my hopes up, since my first encounter with a mall-bought Takoyaki was totally unremarkable.

You can order your Takoyaki for takeout too

I picked up a piece and took a small bite. My eyes widened in amazement, and from then I knew that it’s the best Takoyaki I’ve ever had my whole life! Well, I exaggerated a bit there. 😀 It took us a couple of balls to finally establish how delicious their Takoyaki was. It was so good that we came back the next day – in the afternoon this time – so we didn’t have to battle a crowd of patrons to get our food.

Categories
Certified Foodies Recipes Comfort Food Featured Filipino Cuisine Recipes Sauces Street Food

Fish Ball Sauce Recipe, Just Like Manong’s

There is no doubt we Filipinos love our street food. And if you ask me about my favorite, it’ll have to be fish balls (or fishball). Nothing beats eating fishballs off a stick, piping hot after you just skewered them off a street vendor’s deep-frying pan. But THE best part of it all is dipping them into their famous fishball sauce. YUM!

Fishball sauce recipe just like Manong's!

I’ve always been curious about this well-loved fishball sauce recipe. I studied in UP Diliman and I’m sure many of you have heard that we love eating fishballs there from Manongs who sell them across the campus. It was where I got hooked on the sweet sauce, and I then moved on to the spicy version. I noticed something. It seemed to me that wherever I go, even outside the campus, the taste of the fishball sauce of every Manong fishball vendor (yes, I call all of them manong) I met had the same taste. I wondered, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!? 😀

Over the past decade or so (ugh, I’m old), I’ve asked different vendors about their sauce. Most of them took wild guesses. There were a couple who refused to tell me anything, which, to me, was an indication they really had no idea, and some were so convinced they had the right recipe.

Of course, I tried to make them at home and failed three times (twice, I was adding vinegar). It was only in late 2004 that I learned the right recipe. The manong who sold fishballs at our home in Navotas told me about his fish ball sauce recipe. The thing is, I didn’t get to making it til a year later. It was too late for me to thank him because we already moved to Malabon, but I’m forever thankful. Charot! 😀

Categories
Comfort Food Events Food Business Pasalubong Ideas Shopping / Stores Street Food Travel

Mezza Norte Now at Trinoma!

Probably the best foodie news we received this past month was this: Mezza Norte has moved to Trinoma in Quezon City! Finally, a food market that’s closer to our home! 🙂

Mezza Norte - The Mercato of the North

Dubbed as the Mercato Centrale of the North, Mezza Norte is finally opening this Friday, May 3rd, at the Trinoma Mindanao Open Parking Lot. Starting this week, they’ll be open from 4pm to 3am every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Woot! 🙂

Mezza Norte schedule -  night market in Quezon City

We can’t wait to find out the food purveyors who’ll be selling their yummy goodies at Mezza Norte. It’s a night market so foodies who are living or working at night in QC, particularly those from West Ave and even those around Munoz, will be happy about this. If you’re looking for a place to go at night, finally, we know where to go when we’re craving for some tasty snacks. 🙂