Moshi Koshi Noodle Boss

After months and months and months of trying to convince my mom, I finally got the chance to dine at Moshi Koshi Noodle Boss. I first heard about this restaurant when they opened their first branch in Mandaluyong–We would always pass by this resto during trips to my grandma’s house. Unfortunately, this branch had shut down for reasons I do not know. T_T

… So I was extremely relieved to find out that their 2nd branch in Market Market hadn’t closed yet (And I sincerely hope it doesn’t.)

We made the mistake of heading over to our seats right away instead of ordering by the counter. Hehe. The staff was really nice and accomodating. ^^

Their menu includes ramen, soba, udon, ‘noodles from the pan’ (Yakisoba & yakiudon), donburi, curry, teishoku (Tonkatsu, ebi tempura), sidings (agadeshi tofu, kani salad) and bento with miso soup & your choice of 4 sidings (chicken teriyaki, karaage).

What I really want to talk about, though, is the stuff found on the other side of their menu–A very informative chart that gives you bits of trivia about some types of Japanese food.

For instance, did you know that there are three types of noodles commonly used in Japanese cuisine: Soba (thin buckwheat noodles), udon (thick wheat noodles) and Chinese-style wheat noodles, which they usually include in ramen? That there are three types of ramen broth: Shio (salt-based), shoyu (soy sauce-based) and miso (soybean -based)? And that slurping your noodles is actually encouraged in Japan? ^_~

Ordered some gyoza, of course. ^^

My order was the karaage soba. The broth was really flavorful, and the thin noodles were delightfully chewy. Plus the pieces of chicken karaage still had flavor, even if they’ve been soaked in the noodle broth for quite some time. Although I’m not really used to seeing carrot slices in my noodles…

Tendon, which is basically a tempura + rice donburi. The rice tasted really great, especially the ones coated in tempura sauce. The tempura itself was really crispy and delicious.

I ordered the miso ramen for dad.

It’s not the best Japanese food I’ve had, but I’ll give Moshi Koshi another try. I honestly think I may have developed a soft spot for this resto since I’ve been wanting to eat here for the longest time, hehe. Can’t wait for my 2nd visit.

Moshi Koshi Noodle Boss is located at Ground Level, Market! Market! 26th St. cor. C5, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila. Tel nos: (+63 2) 816-6744, (+63 2) 621-9853.

Lemongrass

(Right… So I accidentally set this entry to public for a couple of days while I was still working on the draft ._. ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!!! OMG… This is soooo embarassing T_T Now you guys have an idea why my entries are usually late >_< *dies* Anyway… )

First of all, sorry if I hadn’t posted anything in a while! >_< I had my midterm exams this week so I was busy studying my butt off… But now they’re done and I’m free!! (Until the final exams, that is.)

Earlier today mom and I went to Shangri-La mall to have lunch at Lemongrass. We always pass by this restaurant when we go to Shang, but this time, we decided to give it a try.

Pretty interior ^^

Menu: Starters (Thai satay chicken, California maki/Unagi maki), Salads (Thai kani salad with green mango & fish sauce, kani salad), Rice toppings (Vietnamese beef stew with rice, Lemongrass baby back ribs with rice), Soup & Noodle soup (Tom yum goong, Hot & sour, Pho beef noodle soup, Laksa, 5-spice beef brisket noodle), Chow mein which includes beef & pork (Lemongrass pork riblets with pepper sauce, Thai beef curry) Seafood (Cereal prawns), Chicken (Kung pao chicken), & Vegetables (Breaded Japanese tofu with minced vegetables). They also have rice (Jasmine, Lemongrass fried rice, Thai shrimp paste rice) and dessert (Sticky rice with mango).

To be honest, I had a rather difficult time writing down some of the menu items coz their names were a bit long and I ran out of paper pretty quickly. u_u

On to the food!

On the upper left, you have the Vietnamese fresh springrolls with pork & shrimp. The springrolls tasted really light–And you can tell that the ingredients that they used here were fresh.

Then you have the minced chicken cake with lemongrass stalks. I really loved this dish coz it was crispy, and it wasn’t oily at all. It also didn’t have too much breading so I didn’t get that queasy feel that I sometimes get when eating deep-fried food.

Pad Thai noodles with chicken & shrimp. It was alright. I had to remove the bits of chilli for mom…. Hehe.

Drinks: Thai iced tea and lemon tea. Other drinks include their red bean shake, Jasmine tea, Vietnamese coffee, and Lemongrass tea,

… So this was a huge surprise! ^^ I never expected that the food would taste really good. I’ll definitely come back here to try their other dishes.

Lemongrass is located at Level 1 of Shangri-La Mall, EDSA Cor. Shaw, Mandaluyong City.

Krazy Garlik

Today’s lunch was held at Krazy Garlik, another restaurant that we had always planned to go to, but never had the time. We went there after dad’s eye checkup.

Krazy Garlik’s food, is, of course, garlic-themed. But the restaurant’s interior, menu design, and even the washrooms have this Alice in Wonderland theme too. I don’t really get the connection between Alice in Wonderland and garlic, but… *shrug* Alrighty, then.

Menu: Appetizers (Beef salpicao rice, Chilean Thai mussels, Creamy garlic fondue), Kids menu, soup & salad, “Hot off the grill” (Steaks & grilled tuna belly), Pasta (Fettucine oriente, Spaghetti vongole, Shrimp maramonte), Pizza (Garlic snowflakes, Four cheese) Rice (“Hara-kiri”, black squid ink rice), Wokrazy (Asian-themed dishes like their Mongolian beef, Pad thai & Kung-pao chicken), Main course (including veggies, pork & beef, chicken & seafood) and of course, dessert.

Smoked Salted Fish Rice, served in a hot stone bowl. It was delicious, but it felt like I was eating ordinary fried rice.

Tofu and baby eggplant. This was dad’s order. Due to our conflicting tastes, I almost always felt indifferent with the stuff that he would order in restaurants, but I tried this one. The tofu was yummy. And the sauce was really tasty–I kept mixing the sauce and the bits of ground beef with my rice.

Our appetizer–Candied Shrimp & Walnut. Looks too pretty to eat! *_* The shrimp was good, but I was a bit disappointed coz I expected the shrimp to taste like Bubba Gump’s 😡 And I don’t get why we had to pay PhP450.00 for this dish–Probably because of the plating, I guess?

40-cloves chicken. I can see why this dish is one of their bestsellers. The skin was very light and crispy, and the meat was juicy with lots of flavor. I also mixed the gravy with my rice, hehe.

And our drink–Water infused with cucumber and lemon. No offense, but I don’t really like it when they add all these flavors to my water… 😡

In the end, we left the restaurant, satisfied by the ambiance and the food (the guy who sat behind us kept praising their adobo). I would definitely come back–I still need to try their pizza after all ^^

Krazy Garlik is located at the 2nd Floor of Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City. Telephone Number: +632501-3752.

Kogi Bulgogi

Had a spontaneous lunch at Kogi Bulgogi’s branch in Eastwood today. Kogi is one of my favorite Korean restaurants, so I was really excited to have lunch there after a long time.

Didn’t get to take a lot of interior shots. The restaurant was a bit empty, even during lunch hour…. Hmmm. Oh, and this one Korean guy who was sitting a few seats away from us thought that it would be cool to watch a bunch of Korean variety shows in his phone while eating his lunch -_- Excellent. So even though it was just my family + said Korean guy + Staff inside the resto, it felt like we were in a crowded room  because of the loud noise coming from his phone. Sheesh! He could’ve just lowered the volume or brought his earphones… -_-

Menu:
-Starters (Tofu steak, kimchijeon, hamul pajeon)
-Hoi (sashimi) & rolls. They even have California maki.
-Twigim, aka Fried food… Including sae-u (shrimp) and ojing-o (squid).
-Rice (Steamed, garlic, fried rice, and kimchi fried rice)
-Ssambap
-Gui, aka Grilled food.
-Salad (House salad, kimchi salad)
-Rice toppings
-Soup/Noodles
-Soju cocktails, wine & soda.

And of course, Korean cuisine staples like bibimbap, jajangmyeon, jjampong, naengmyeon, japchae, kalbi-jjim, sundubu jigae, bulgogi, & kalbi-tang. They also have a little ice chest filled with Korean ice cream!

No Korean resto isn’t complete without banchan! (appetizers) I gobbled up the kimchi in an instant ^^

Bulgogi ssambap. With rice. Lots of rice. Good thing my mom was there and she was able to help me out. I remember back then when I ordered their kalbi ssambap and I felt like my stomach was going to burst open because I ate too much .__. Anyway, the bulgogi meat was thin and flavorful. And I ate my ssambap Korean-style by wrapping the meat + a little bit of rice in a lettuce leaf. ^^

Mandu (Korean dumplings). This costed PhP130.00… Which I think is a bit pricey for six small pieces. 😡 We really should’ve ordered the mandu-gook (dumpling soup) instead… >_<

Ramyun. Nothing special, it tasted like your average spicy Korean instant noodles. You can adjust the spiciness level from 1-10, with 1 being the least spicy.

Korean-style fried chicken. The skin was really nice and crispy, but the meat was a bit tasteless/tough. It’s good, but I was really disappointed with this one–Back then, the servings were really huge and were packed with flavor.

I was a little bit full afterwards from all the food that I ate. I was worried coz I felt like I was going to have a repeat of the kalbi ssambap incident–Our car was parked outside of Eastwood, so we still had to walk a long way to get to the parking spot. But fortunately for me, it didn’t happen.

I’m gonna be honest here: Unfortunately Kogi’s food isn’t the same as it used to be back then. I distinctly remember the very first time we ate here–The ambiance and food were amazing. And it’s probably going to break my heart if this place were to shut down. T_T So I’m really hoping that they can go back to their original zest soon ^^

Kogi Bulgogi is located at 2/F Eastwood Mall Veranda, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Bagumbayan, Libis Quezon City, Metro Manila Philippines.

Yabu: The House of Katsu

I finally satiated my craving for katsu earlier today when me, mom, and some relatives had lunch at Yabu (Robinson’s Magnolia branch). We came in at around 10:30 AM, so we didn’t have to wait for a long while to be seated. We’ve been planning to eat here for the longest time, but it kept getting postponed for a variety of reasons, so I felt like doing cartwheels in glee when our trip finally pulled through.

We were seated outside, so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a lot of interior shots… Just this wall decor of a manga strip depicting a young boy who’s training to become a katsu master.

Condiments: Katsu sauce, chili flakes, chili powder, pepper, and salt. Plus goma (sesame dressing) and shouyu (vinaigrette) for the lettuce.

There’s so many things on the menu so I’m gonna have to list them down:
-Appetizers (Edamame beans, hiyayakko tofu, wakame)
-The premium tonkatsu set, made from the meat of the Kurobuta/black Berkshire pig… aka “The Wagyu of pork” *DROOOLSSSSS*
-The regular tonkatsu set
-The menchi katsu set (contains minced beef/pork with creamy cheese) -The seafood katsu set (you can choose from Japanese black tiger prawns, cream dory, salmon, soft-shelled crab, & oysters)
-The mixed katsu set (only for seafood, though)
-The chicken katsu set
-Katsudon
-Katsu curry sets
-Kids meals

They have ala-carte and takeout meals too. Drinks include juice, fruit shakes, bottled water, beer, and sake.

Another appetizer, the Supreme Potato & Egg Salad.

In Yabu, there are two choices for your katsu: The rosu (pork loin cutlet with fat) and the hire (pork tenderloin without fat). I ordered the rosu katsu from the regular tonkatsu set, served with a bowl of unlimited shredded cabbage, fruit, warm miso soup, and a dollop of spicy mustard on the side. And of course, after taking my first bite, I died and flew straight to katsu heaven. ^^ ❤ What I really love about Yabu’s katsu is that unlike the katsu served at other Japanese restaurants, the meat really melts in your mouth, despite the thick cuts.

One of the things that I look forward to when dining at Yabu is grinding their little bowl of sesame seeds into powder with a wooden pestle. But unfortunately, I made the mistake of adding the katsu sauce first before doing the crushing process, so my dip didn’t really come out well. u_u

My mom and aunt shared the katsudon bowl. The rice was a little bit sweet. I love katsudon, but I’m really glad I didn’t order this one coz at that moment I liked my rice plain/chewy and not coated with sauce.

I swear my cousin takes better pictures than I do…

My cousin ordered the salmon, from the seafood katsu set. The salmon tasted really light! And it didn’t have that weird, fishy aftertaste either.

Grandma ordered the ala carte cream dory katsu.

It was a VERY satisfying lunch. In fact, I’m already craving some of their rosu katsu as I type this entry. Maybe I should order a bigger portion next time? ^^;; I really can’t wait to go back and experience katsu nirvana again.

Yabu: The House of Katsu is located at the lower ground floor of Robinson’s Magnolia, New Manila, Quezon City. Contact number: (+632) 961-4975.