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.

Zhu: Part 2

Zhu

Specialty: Chinese
Location: 103 Tecoma bldg. 5th ave. corner 32nd street, Fort Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig
Service Charge: none
Rating: ★★★★

This an update to Zhu since we covered it before. We had a chance to dine there again so here are more entries you could examine.




Beef Hofan
Price: php 160
Rating: ★★★★
Flat noodles and vegetables cooked with that secret Chinese sauce that I could never figure out. Actually, I couldn't figure out almost all of the ingredients in this dish. It could be made out of unicorns and I wouldn't know. It tastes good, thats for sure.

Crispy Fish Fillet with Salad
Price: php 220
Rating:★★★
The fish is definitely crispy but the taste is a little bland compared to their other, more flavorful offerings. It tastes good with the salad and the accompanying dip. But once you run out of those, you get left with bland crispy fish.





Chicken Fillet Teriyaki
Price: php 198
Rating: ★★★★
Bummer. This one is exactly the same as the Chicken Teriyaki Rice Topping. Well, its still the same 4 stars.

Cafe Adriatico

Specialty: Spanish, Filipino
Price Range: php 145 - 395
Service Charge: 10%
Location: Mall Of Asia
Rating: ★★★


This place is all about style. The lighting, furnitures and food are all style. Same goes for the price, unfortunately. Specializing in Filipino dishes that are borne out of our 300 years of Spanish heritage, this place is sure to delight those that have an appetite for rice.

Cafe Adriatico Favorites

• Spanish Callo (php 250)
• Lengua Estofada (php 275)
• Lola P's Embutido (php 235)
• Salpicao Rice (php 295)
• Haianese Chicken Rice (php 285)
• Steak Cafe Adriatico (php 395)
• Teriyaki Steak (php 395)

Gising Gising
Price: php 145
Rating: ★★★★
Minced stalk of kangkong, spiced with small chillies and simmered in coconut cream. Yummy. Perfect companion for dishes that are dominated by meat. You could opt to make this dish less spicy. Just say so when you order.

Tapang Baka
Price: php 215
Rating:★★
Marinated sirloin served with rice and a side dish of sliced tomatoes and a sunny-side up egg. This one gets poor marks. The meat is simply too tough. My flimsy geek arms get tired after trying to cut it up into bite sized pieces. It does taste good but I doubt if the taste is enough to redeem this tough meat.



Salpicao Rice
Price: php 295
Rating:★★★★
A winner in my book. Sauteed tenderloin chunks grilled in olive oil and bedded on garlic rice. It's not too oily and it's definitely much better than the Tapang Baka.

Coupe Adriatico
Price: php 105
Rating: ★★★
We rarely feature desserts here but since we decided to have one, I might as well comment on it. Basically, this one is a bunch of sliced bananas and mangoes with some kind of syrup on top of a scoop of caramel ice cream.

Banana Minacolada
Price: php 95
Rating: ★★★
Banana and mint flavored drink. An odd tasting drink. Its like drinking a blended banana flavored mint candy. It's a nice drink after you have already finished eating. Otherwise, it kills the flavor of your chosen dish.

Blue Hawaiian Shake
Price: php 95
Rating: ★★★★
Mildly sweet shake. If the Banana Mintacolada tasted odd, this one looked odd. It's blue. If you have no qualms about eating blue food (or drinking blue drinks), give it a try. It's good.

Conclusion
A bit on the pricey side and their drinks are served by a sister food chain called the Mojito Bay. If you are looking for Spanish-Filipino taste with an ambiance worthy of a romantic date, this is the place. Family gatherings for wealthy people are also good here. They have something for the whole family. Tourists wanting to try good old Filipino food but are scared of street food should be invited here. That is, of course, if they aren't scared of the price. In all likelihood, tourists should be able to afford this.