Jipan : Japanese Bakery and Coffee Shop

Jipan: Japanese Bakery and Coffee Shop Location :Upper Ground Floor A, SM Megamall, Ortigas Tel # : Cuisine : Japanese Menu Price Range : Php 60-280 Service Charge: none Rating : ★★★

So, I seem to be more hyped writing on-site, as here's another food trip by yours truly.

I was attending some...eherm "business" in Megamall and I was tied until lunch, so now armed with my canon ixy 910is, the green apple quicknotes and my pilot pen. The tard and I went to find someplace to eat that I can review also (to my persuasion).

After some deliberation we ended up in Jipan. A small, Japanese Cafe smacked in some alley at the upper ground floor of Megamall Building A.

It was a small, simple yet cheerful place, to the left of the store is a shelf full of baked goods (Mom buys their bread when she heads to Glorietta) and the right was a scatter of tables and chairs.

The waitress handed out the menus, and we each picked our poison.

FAITO!

Japanese Green Tea
Price : Php 0
Rating : ★★★★

They served us Japanese Green Tea with our meals, and I have to say I was impressed that it was authentic. It had that deep, barley flavor that I love and it was soothing to the throat. This round is definitely a win.

*ding* next round

Katsu Curry (Kare) Rice
Price : Php 240
Rating : ★★★

Served with a side of salad, this meal is pretty cheap for it's quantity. The salad arrived firstly (which is indeed how they should serve soup and appetizers), and it was a simple bowl of cucumbers, shredded cabbage, fresh corn kernels with a dollop of japanese mayo. There wasn't really much to say about it. Just that the corn kernels were crunchy, the cucumbers crisp, and the cabbage fresh. What I'm after is the curry, since I was deeply disappointed in a recent curry trip that I will not disclose where at this particular moment.

The curry dish arrived shortly. It was the usual breaded pork slices (although the batter was quite dark) and beef cutlets with the no-frills potato and carrot sidings layered in a pool of curry sauce on top of a hot plate of rice. This one was definitely better than the curry I last tasted, although there will be better curries elsewhere, this would definitely pass for real Japanese curry since the mix was simple and there were no other elements that disturbed the actual taste and flavor of curry.

Sukiyaki Set Meal
Price : Php 200
Rating : ★★★

All for 200 pesos. I gave it an extra star for the price. Clear beef broth w/ greens, carrots, tofu and slices of beef with lots of cellophane noodles or most commonly known as sotanghon. The soup had the right taste, of sweet that wasn't overpowering with a bit of saltiness to it. The veggies were crisp and the carrots were tender, but the tofu tasted a bit ... eggy (is that even a word?), the amounts of beef was surprisingly generous, but make sure to slurp all the noodles quickly or it will absorb all the soup and you wind up with a lot of fat noodles on your bowl.

The rice that accompanied the dish was soft but not warm enough for my likings.

Another curious thing, this meal is served with miso soup. (I ignored the soup thinking it was for the Katsu Curry Rice, turns out the poor lonely soup was a part of my meal). The soup was good. But the same problem lies with the tofu. Which was (still) eggy-tasting.

The meal is good for one very, VERY hungry person (which didn't fit my description), so I would definitely suggest it good for sharing (for 2). Just add another extra rice (or maybe not) and you're all set.

Considering no VAT and Service Charge, the place is cheap and way more authentic than a lot of Japanese establishments.

© 2007 wastefulspace
12-10-2007

Italiannis

Specialty: Italian
Location: greenbelt, glorietta, alabang, greenhills, libis, tomas morato, gateway, megamall, mall of asia, bonifacio high street, trinoma

Website: http://www.italiannis.com.ph
Telephone No.: 8564094/8563890 (Bonifacio High Street)
Price Range: php 220 - 1800 (whoah! average of php 550)
Rating: ★★★★

Ok. This one doesn't really need much of an introduction. It has branches all across the world and it serves one the most authentic Italian food you can find around. We recently got a 500 php off discount from roovin so we decided to visit this place.

Lets start with the drinks first. Costing php 170 each, each drink merits it's own review.

Watermelon Shake
Price: php 170
Rating: ★★★★

Not much to say about this drink. It's tall, pink and tastes like watermelon. It's also refreshing and light (just like Jenny the waitress said). I'm going to guess that this doesn't have any sugar in it since it doesn't taste that sweet. That's all good. I like my fruit shakes to be made out of actual fruits, hence, taste like blended fruits. Not blended artificial flavors of fruits in ice and tablespoonfuls of sugar.

Grape Shake
Price: php 170
Rating: ★★★★
It's pretty much the same as the watermelon shake except for the fact that this drink is made from grapes (Seedless. Don't worry). Also, it seems like the watermelon shake is more refreshing than this one. Not to say that the drink is bad. It tastes good. It's just too bad that the watermelon tasted better. :p

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Salad
Price: php 560
Rating: ★★★★

A new dish that has been recommended by Jenny (Our waitress. Or is that waitperson to be politically correct?). Romaine lettuce, red lollo rossa, and arugula tossed in a creamy honey dijon dressing, topped with cherry tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese and breaded lemon pepper shrimps. This actually costs more than our pasta and I'm wondering if it's worth it. I don't recognize any of those vegetables I mentioned so I can't say anything sure about the value. The shrimp is tasty and crunchy though. I'm confident enough to say it tastes good (I know this because I ate a lot of it).

Baked Ziti
Price: php 500
Rating: ★★★
Penne pasta tossed with Italian sausage and oozing creamy beef ragout then baked with romano and mozarella cheese. This dish is cheesy, flavorful and filling. Unfortunately, it tastes too much like a generic tomato pasta dish.

Conclusion
Good for romantic dinners for two (Try the Bonifacio High Street branch. Not the one at MoA). For those needing extra pep to those dinners, wine is also available. This place tends to be too expensive for parties unless your company is willing to get a package which would cost anywhere between php 450 - 650 per person. The place is down to earth and the food tastes, smells and looks Italian. The theme is pretty much consistent all through out and the service is excellent. All in all, a solid and well deserved four stars.

Milkyway: It's all about the Halo-halo.

MilkyWay Location :Upper Ground Floor, Poweplant Mall, Makati Tel # : Cuisine : Filipino Menu Price Range : Php 85-200 Service Charge: none Rating : ★★★★

This is my first live post on eatsmychoice, I have now new companions in my food frolics. I have been procrastinating into buying a pen and a steno pad specifically for eatsmychoice entries. So I can report live from the actual site.

Lined along the food avenue of Powerplant's upper ground floor is MilkyWay. It's the usual Sunday family tradition to eat at here after a long (or not-quite-so) afternoon of window/actual shopping. They offer a wide array of Filipino delicacies ranging from snack items to main course. But for today, I'll only be featuring their bestseller on the menu. The halo-halo.

Below is a description of the dessert as a benefit to our international readers (if we have some).

The halo halo is a filipino delicacy. If the Americans have their hot fudge sundae, The chinese have the shaved ice and fruits with mix beans, here we have the halo-halo. From the Filipino word halo which means mix. So halo-halo means mix-mix. Which is what you do to it anyway.

The usual halo-halo can have “fillings” namely but not limited to nor does it contain all of the following: Kaong(sweet sugar palm), preserved coconut strips drenched in syrup, langka(jackfruit), leche flan (similar to egg custard), sweet banana, unflavored or sweetened gulaman, random beans, and ube hilaya.

After all the sweet stuff is patted at the bottom of the tall glass, a nice snowfall of shaved ice is filled to the brim, poured over condensed milk or regular milk and sugar syrup, and if you’re lucky, a scoop or two of ice cream (preferably ube) tops the whole thing with a flourish. (if not, regular ube hilaya or leche flan is on top).

So what makes this halo-halo different from any other halo-halo? Let's just say, I was never a halo-halo fan. n fact, it took me a good number of visits to actually try it, due to my mom and dad's insistent ravings on how good it was. And they never, ever, rave.

Halo-halo
Price : Php 85
Rating : ★★★★★

Their halo-halo had the following foodstuffs: a slice of sweetened banana, coconut strips, beans, leche flan, unsweetened gelatin, and ube hilaya. I liked how they didn't have too much stuff on their halo-halo, how the ice cream was always ube, and how the milk is creamy, but not condensed to be too sweet . Lots of pluses towards my sweet tooth being next to non-existent and my delicate teeth.

I took the long spoon to mix it and surprisingly the ice cream sticked to the shaved ice, which has the consistency and texture of snow. No splatters occurred from the usual pounding of ice cream and glass shards ice, and everything was incorporated in a matter of seconds. I sampled the purple concoction, and the sweetness from the ice cream, hilaya or leche flan was just right and each bite was a surprise of either of the following toppings mention above, or sometimes two if your lucky. The soft powdery ice brings a nice texture to all the flavors.

This one absolutely wins my choice for the best halo-halo in the Metro.

© 2007 wastefulspace

Willer's : Not your everyday sit-down dinner

Willer's Special Lechon Location :Gorordo Avenue, Lahug, Cebu City Tel # : Cuisine : Filipino Menu Price Range : Php 100-150 Service Charge: none Rating : ★★★★

If you're in Cebu and you're one of the braver souls, go venture into the world of street food. Cebu has plenty of those to offer with an ambiance charming as a bus station. If you dare, come dine in the streets where the Jeepneys rush pass and blow smoke in all their glory. Seat in the likes of wooden tables and mismatched stools, next to people in office uniforms eating dinner after a long day's work, or people who are just around the streets in their ratty shirts, shorts and slippers, eating with either their plastic-wrapped or cleanly soaped or not-so-clean hands.

This is the cheerful and yes, very real atmosphere of Willer's Special Lechon. Situated in the corner of Gorordo, Lahug. It may be in uptown but it caters to everybody. Introduced by my officemates who have ventured to Cebu before, I was brought here a year ago with skepticism of my eating-out habits.

Anyway, I was open to any food served to me as long as it is not exotic in my vocabulary, and this wasn't even exotic. This was real food. Real, glorious food.

No menu available since the items are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), you'd see barbequed pork on sticks, chicken roasting on the winding grill and liempo (spareribs) crackling and spitting in the fire. Even the sign was crude and very, very simple. I was just there for the food, so let's not dwell on the other aspects shall we? :P

Willer's Roast Chicken
Price : Php 120
Rating : ★★★★★

Served hot, chopped, and on a cheerful plate, the chicken had a smell that could liven the senses, as deep inside the center is the core of the flavor, stuffed generously with lemongrass, onions, and all the secret spices and herbs that makes it a Willer's original. The meat was tender, and oh-so-juicy, even the breast part (which I detest for being dry) was soft and easy to chew. The herbs stay intact with the chicken, so you can also get them on your plate to savor the flavors even better. Match this with puso (see next item) with a dip of their pinakurat (see next item) and you'd be in heaven (from the taste and cholesterol) in no time.

Willer's Liempo
Price : Php 100
Rating : ★★★★★

Before you drink your apple-cider vinegar and high-blood pills, better save some more for Willer's Special Liempo. Seasoned spareribs cooked into a crackling crisp of flavors and fat. Please don't mind the dripping oil on the plate, because once you taste the the crispy skin together with the soft meat drenched in yet again, pinakurat or maybe not, you'll be reaching for your next chunk of liempo without realizing it. (and maybe ordering another puso).

Puso
Price : Php 5-10 (will have to verify)
Rating : ★★★

You will only see this in Cebu. So I would suggest you to try it. It's everywhere on the streets, and is the only type of rice served in Willer's. Woven leaves cover the sticky rice and is usually tied up in a bunch. It's not steaming hot, so it'd be best if the food together with it is. People who are new to eating puso would normally peel the wrapper which would give you some curious and amused looks, so search for the thin opening and break it open and eat it like bread. This is a nifty and ingenious way to stuff chicken with one hand and to stuff rice with the other. How can you go wrong with optimized eating? :D

Pinakurat
Price : Free
Rating : ★★★★

Only found in the Visayan province is the Pinakurat. The general dipping sauce for all foodstuffs in Willer's. A vinegar based concoction + all the secret ingredients + chillies. This is the key for stabilizing all the cholesterol induced foods and adding a little bit of extra to the flavor. Best mixed with soy sauce.



It's not everyday you get to experience dining like this, so it's a must-try. Nothing beats eating out in the open albeit dusty air. But if this type of place doesn't suit your fancy, but you're curious about the food, there's always the safer option : GO TAKEOUT :P.

© 2007 wastefulspace

Heaven 'n Eggs

Specialty: eggs in Filipino, American cooking and a few Japanese dishes.
Location: Market Market, The Fort; Glorietta Makati.
Service Charge: 8SC
Price Range: php 110 - 308
Rating: ★★★

Heaven 'n Eggs is a specialty restaurant that focuses on all things eggs, pancakes and steaks. There really isn't a focus on any particular cuisine as long as it has any of those three. There is a huge section dedicated to breakfast food and other dedicated to steaks. For those looking for a little bit of the Asian taste, they have an Asian Big Plate section. From the Manila spareribs (best seller) to mixed seafood tempura platter (squid, fish, shrimp in tempura batter), there is a little something for everyone. For those looking for the low calorie diet, you may have to settle for their sandwiches, French toast and wraps section.

Pancakes
Price: Free
Rating: ★★
Right off the bat, they provided us with complimentary pancakes even before we ordered. Good way to impress me. Add more food without adding price. OK, the pancakes weren't anything special. But it's definitely added value and you will be spoiled for choice among their syrups.

The Chips and The Fish
Price: php 252
Rating: ★★★★
Soft boneless fish that melts in your mouth, served with tartar, cocktail and lemon butter sauces. Well, at least it was supposed to come with several sauces. Ours just came with tartar sauce. We forgot to ask what happened with the other sauces. It's served with a large helping of fried potatoes and some leafy vegetables. The set was served in a cute picnic basket that makes it all the more adorable. How about the taste then? Exquisite and definitely filling (the fries are partly to blame).

Grilled Pepper Pork Chop
Price: php 218
Rating: ★★★★
Peppered pork chops steak with brandied gravy and garlic rice. Most of the steaks are served with your choice of potato siding (fried potato wedges, house rosemary and garlic potatoes sauteé or rustic mashed potatoes), choice of eggs (sunny side up - over easy, sunny side up - over hard, scrambled, poached, crunchy egg), bowl of rice, sourdough bread slice or pancake sidings. They recommended the mashed potatoes and crunchy eggs (2 of them). Everything about this dish is huge. The steak, the bowl of rice, the mashed potatoes and the 2 eggs. I could barely finish the thing. Actually, I didn't get to finish the potatoes. It comes served with a steak knife stabbed through the pork chop.

Conclusion
This is quite a place. If I had more space in my stomach, I'd probably order some appetizers before the meal or some dessert pancakes after. But as said above, the servings are huge and it's takes quite a bit of patience to finish a single meal. I recommend this place for anytime of the day. The menu is not big on dinners but then again, steaks could very well be served for dinners. They also happen to feature 8 all day breakfast dishes.

Tandoor King

Specialty: Indian Food
Location: Mall of Asia
Service Charge: None
Price Range: php 115 - ~200
Rating: ★★★

Tandoor King is a restaurant that specialized in Tandoor cooked food. There are possibly other branches for this one. Place them in the comment section so I can update this if necessary. The particular branch in the Mall of Asia is called Tandooria sa MoA.

Chicken Barbecue with Iced Tea
Price: php 115
Rating: ★★★
Huge, soft and juicy grilled chicken served with pickled papayas and sauce. The yellow rice isn't that flavorful. Seemed like normal rice to me. This one could have been good but because of the size of the chicken, the insides are quite undercooked. Looks like they need more time to grill it. Maybe a little pre-cooking would do them good.

Grilled Liempo with Iced Tea
Price: php 125 + additional 35 for bottomless iced tea
Rating: ★★★
Classic grilled liempo served with pickled papaya and sauce. As with the chicken barbecue, the rice serving was huge but not really spectacular. It's a lot though so that's something good about this. Otherwise, nothing really special about the dish.


Halu-Halo
Price: php 95
Rating: ★★★
Again, a classic Filipino dessert. Crushed ice, with colorful gulaman, rice crispies, a few fruits, leche flan and ice cream. Nothing special and downright ordinary. I could get this at a stand in the corner of some subdivision.

Conclusion
Everything about this place is ordinary. Nothing really special nor bold nor unique. Every bit ordinary. The service is great though. Great people with friendly smiles and excellent speed of service. It certainly beats Savory Chicken in that aspect. Definitely affordable. I suggest this place for lunch gatherings of small groups of 4 to 5 people with meager budgets. Not really worthwhile to dine here for special dinners. Birthdays for small children would do nicely here though. Maybe I should try their more exotic tikka dishes next time.

UCC Vienna Cafe

Specialty: Japanese

Location: Mall of Asia
Telephone No.: 556-0446

Location: 26th St. Forbes Town Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Telephone No: 845-1365, 884-2477


Location: 8757 Paseo De Roxas cor. Sedeno St. Salcedo Village, Makati
Telephone No.: 810-4388, 810-2210

Location: Central Westgate Center, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinglupa
Telephone No.: 771-1549, 771-1550

Location: Rockwell
Telephone No.: 895-4088, 897-3223

Service Charge: 10%
Price Range (Meals): php 199 - 499
Rating: ★★★★

Founded in 1933 in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, UCC has taken over all aspects of its coffee business. It has since expanded to several countries and it has several branches in the Philippines alone.

The menu is dominated by Japanese dishes and unlike Tokyo Cafe, this place cooks their dishes the way we expect Japanese dishes to be. They don't have ramen and sushi here though. Instead, they feature the ever so fragrant curry rice, gratin, pasta, pizza, and risotto too.

UCC Blended Coffee
Price: php 109
Rating: ★★★★
We cannot make a review of UCC without tasting its coffee. So do you want to know what it was like? Imagine a coffee with a fragrant aroma, strong flavor bitter and a full body with a smooth wine-like texture. The flavor dramatically softened when I added the cream. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

Iced Yin Yan Cha
Price: php 139
Rating: ★★★
For those people not liking strong blends, there is the Yin Yan Cha. Light bodied coffee served with ice and tea. Somehow, the mildly sweet tea flavor overpowers the light bitter coffee taste. Good for those who dislike bitter coffee taste.

Hamburg Curry Rice
Price: php 289
Rating: ★★★★
This is Japanese curry rice done right. I have long tried to find a local Japanese restaurant with an authentic-enough curry rice. This is one of the best I've tried. It smells right. People who have dined in Japanese curry houses know: If the smell doesn't stick to your clothes, it's not smelling right. A huge hamburger patty with curry sauce mixed with cashew nuts, sliced carrots and potatoes, raisins and pickled ginger.

Chicken, Mushroom and Cheese Risotto
Price: php 319
Rating: ★★★★
Risotto rice coated with curry sauce mixed with chicken stripes and mushroom bits topped with sticky mozzarella cheese. This is a heavy dish. Take this only when you are really hungry. There is a strong mushroom and curry flavor although it's a bit oily and there's not enough chicken.

Bacon and Sausage Penne Gratin
Price: php 279
Rating: ★★
Big mistake on my part. This was not the gratin I expected. This looks more like normal noodles rather a casserole dish. Penne noodles, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Eat while still hot. The noodles tend to stick when the cheese cools down. Not bad but a bit too expensive for its ingredients considering the quantity.

Conclusion
Expensive but worth it for some dishes. Great service, soft chairs and excellent dishes. I do not recommend eating here on a regular basis. It is much too expensive! Once in a while would be nice... a very long while. Its nice and quiet since there aren't a lot of people dining. For its apparent lack of customers, you might think they would persuade people to stay. We were almost thrown out when we were taking too long to order and I was taking pictures of the menu. I really need to get a moleskin notebook.

Savory Chicken

Specialty: filipino, chinese
Location: Mall Of Asia
Service Charge: None
Price Range: php 135 - 210
Rating: ★★★




In 1950, two Chinese brothers had the brilliant idea to start a panciteria in Quiapo. They eventually developed a "special" recipe for fried chicken and gravy that became popular with the local Chinese community. Savory Chicken then opened its first branch in Escolta serving Filipino and Chinese dishes. After more than 50 years, the third generation of the Ting family has re-launched the Classic Savory Chicken and that is our feature for today.

Yang Chow Fried Rice
Price: php 120
Rating: ★★★
Traditional Chinese fried rice with shrimp, minced pork, eggs and green peas. Yellow rice mixed with bits of meat, carrots and peas. I reckon it goes well with anything. Not spectacular, but not bad either.

Savory Chicken
Rating: ★★★★
We got a half piece of the supposedly famed Savory Chicken. It is served with gravy and a tiny slice of banana. I really don't know how you are going to share that banana piece but in any case, it's the chicken that is the focus here. The chicken is indeed meaty and juicy. Personally, I don't really see anything special about it. The chicken is flavorful by itself, anyway, but the gravy really does add a lot of flavor to it. The taste of the chicken gets tiring and monotonous after a while. Then again, that happens to most fried chicken anywhere else.

Lo Han Chai
Price: php 120
Rating: ★★
A medley of seasonal vegetables. Perfect for vegetarians. As far as I can tell, it has cabbages, baby corn, mushrooms, peas and carrots. There were other veggies that I wasn't able to identify. Looks a lot like chopsuey but much less appetizing.

Conclusion
Their menu list is a bit sparse for something that serves two cuisines. The technique employed here is specialization. Less dishes but supposedly better than others. Casual dining is the style here. Not really for romantic dates nor for large gatherings but more suited towards casual family dinners. On a side note, a rather unfortunate incident happened when we dined here. The receipt was taking forever to make. Customers got rather upset and frustrated at waiting. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that it will never happen again. It's a rather unpleasant wait between giving your money and getting your receipt.