Ish Meets World

Zubuchon’s claim to fame is the declaration of celebrity chef and travel show host Anthony Bourdain that they serve “The best pig…ever!” In fact, they are milking the line for all it’s worth by even printing it all over the restaurant’s walls…lest you forget. Despite my massive respect for Mr. Bourdain, I needed to see for myself if he was right. I dropped by Zubuchon in Makati for a quick lunch with friends and finally got to try this popular restaurant. While in Cebu last month, I did get to try a lechon cua pao sandwich at their branch in the Mactan airport. I liked it a lot but I still needed to try the actual classic lechon and their other dishes. So here’s my verdict: Simply put, NO. I disagree with Anthony Bourdain. While the lechon was good, I would not say it’s the best ever. Maybe a contender for best Cebu lechon (I’m no expert there), but certainly not the best I’ve ever tasted considering all iterations of roasted pork. To support my claim, I would say that the cochinillo (...

The Ersao restaurant chain is popular for their Milk Tea. However, I recently found out that their extensive menu of Taiwanese dishes deserve their own moment in the spotlight. My friends and I visited the Banawe (Manresa) branch on the occasion of the chain’s 17th anniversary. Off the bat, I ordered a Wintermelon Milk Tea. I would have to say that Ersao’s version is slightly less sweet than what I’m used to. I prefer my milk tea a lot sweeter but this is probably healthier for me anyway haha. Wintermelon Milk Tea Our meal started with a selection of different noodle dishes. First on the table were some SEAFOOD MILK NOODLES . This reminded me of the popular Filipino sopas except this is bursting with seafood flavor. Yum! Seafood Milk Noodles Php190.00 The DUMPLING NOODLES came next. This was my first time to experience the taste of Ersao’s dumplings and man, was I floored! The hefty parcels of goodness were bursting with flavor! The actual noodles and the soup base were nothing to writ...

Here’s a video of a fun 14-hour tour of Manila featuring Amber, my friend from Canada! We visited the Fort Santiago, Manila Cathedral and Baluarte de San Diego in the old walled city of Intramuros. Then, we proceeded to Luneta or Rizal Park to see the Rizal Monument (under renovation) as well as the relief map of the Philippines, the Chinese gardens and the Manila Orchidarium. Feeling tired from the heat, we drove south of the city to Tagaytay. We saw the Taal Volcano and Taal Lake from the viewing deck of Balay Dako restaurant which was pretty busy. We decided to order our food to-go and ended up the having Bulalo (Bone Marrow stew) at my aunt’s place nearby. We ended our day with a couple of beers while enjoying the famous Manila Bay sunset at the pool bar of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila. If you have other ideas for a Manila day trip itinerary, please let me know in the comments below!  

Let me get straight to the point, the food tasted great but nearly half of the menu items were not available when my friends and I visited GYU KAKU YAKINIKU in the East Wing of Shangri-la Plaza Edsa (Manila, Philippines). Even the Asahi beer was not available. Luckily, they served us some reliable and high quality San Miguel beer. As an appetizer, we ordered the Horense Salad . Unfortunately, they didn’t have the spinach that was meant to be used for this dish either. They ended up replacing it with lettuce instead. After that, we wanted to try one of the set meals. Surprise, surprise, our server told us that several of the meat options included in the set meals were not available. Instead of availing the set menu, we were then forced to order a la carte. So, after he pointed out which of the meats were unavailable (almost 50%), we finally chose large orders of the following: Karubi (USA): Php895.00 Buta Karubi (Pork): Php245 Chicken Thigh: Php175 We were given a choice between sweet,...