Wingstop

So Wingstop just opened a new branch recently in Eastwood and I couldn’t be more excited. According to Wiki, this restaurant is known for having an aviation-themed restaurant, and focusing solely on chicken (mostly wings, tenders, and bites). I believe the branch in Eastwood is their third one – They have a small stall located in BGC and another branch located in QC.

Interior.

Menu shots. Basically just chicken, chicken, and more chicken. And a bunch of combo meals/sides.

And here’s our order – On the far left, you have the Boneless Chicken Bites, in Lemon Pepper flavor. I seriously thought that they would come in little bite sized-pieces, kinda like an appetizer – I was wrong! They were just about the most tender and juicy pieces of chicken that tried – Even tastier than KFC’s Hotshots, and that’s saying a lot because KFC Hotshots is one of my all-time favorite fastfood items.

And on the right, you have two types of chicken wings – If I remember correctly, we got the Hickory Smoked BBQ and Garlic Parmesan flavors. They were delicious too, with just the right amount of meat and bones.

This was great! You can tell that they used actual chicken wings/meat and not those weird meat extenders that you would find in fast food places. Truly a must-try!

Ambiance/Interior: 5/5
Staff/Service: 3/5 – our order took a while to arrive.
Food: 5/5 (taste), 4.5/5 (presentation)

Wingstop is located at G/F Eastwood City Walk 2 Bagumbayan, Quezon City.

Mee Noodle Bar & Restaurant

Mee is a restaurant located in one of Eastwood’s call center buildings. Back in the day, they used to have a branch found in Shangri-La, but I never got the chance to give them a try – But then my interest in wanting to try their food escalated once more when I saw their branch in Eastwood.

Judging from its name, Mee’s speciality is noodles – The owners of Mee are such noodle aficionados that they want to spread their love of eating and making noodles to people everywhere. Their menu lists down different types of noodle dishes from all across Asia, all made from fresh and natural ingredients.

Interior. There was actually an interview being filmed inside the restaurant – I believe it’s a show from GMA 7 (not sure which one, though).

Menu: Starters (smoked fish cigars, chicken satay skewers, vegetable spring rolls, green mango salad), Noodle Bar (kare-kare noodles, tantan ramen, Korean noodle, phad thai, mee goreng), Vegetable Lovers (Sarawak laksa), Rice Selection, Desserts, Drinks.

(Fun fact: This restaurant is the only place so far where the famous Filipino dish is served in noodle form).

Korean Beef Maki – Korean spiced tenderloin, mixed with sesame seeds wrapped in nori and Japanese rice. Eh, this wasn’t so bad, but the rice was a bit undercooked.

Sukiyaki, with the usual glass noodles, sliced beef and veggies. You can choose if you want this dish to be soup-based (we picked this option), or stir-fried. There were more noodles than soup, and it was so tough to chew on them too, probably because they were glass noodles. The beef pieces were also slightly tough.

Dad ordered the Shio Ramen – Japanese ramen with a soup base made from pork stock, with soy mixture and topped with thin slices of pork. I absolutely loved the thinness of the noodles, but… When I picked them up with my chopsticks to give them a try, they came out in soggy little clumps? ._. Noodles are supposed to be springy and shouldn’t stick to each other like glue! And just like the pieces of beef in the sukiyaki, the pork slices were tough as well.

Man… I’m sorry, but this whole meal was a disappointment. And this restaurant could’ve been great if they just improved the quality of their food/changed their location. T_T

Ambiance/Interior: 3/5
Staff/Service: 5/5
Food: 2.5/5 (taste), 3/5 (presentation)

Mee Noodle Bar & Restaurant is located at the Ground Level of LeGrand Tower 1, Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City. Links: Facebook

Coca Cafe

My cousins, mom and I went to Makati earlier today, and we ended up visiting SM Jazz to do a little bit of grocery shopping and eat lunch. We ended up picking Coca Café, and I eventually learned that this place is a smaller version of Coca, the Asian restaurant that we dined in at SM Aura several months ago.

Props to my cousin for taking these amazing pictures of the interior/exterior!

Menu: Appetizers (coca chicken barbecue, coca pork barbecue), Soups (wanton and tofu soup), Mains (Chinese pork sisig, deep fried shrimp, chicken grapow, braised cha siu and tofu in brown sauce, hong kong style cha siu with honey glaze), Vegetables (stir-fried bokchoy in oyster sauce), Rice and noodles (stir-fried noodles with chicken, stir-fried noodles with pork, wonton and cha siu noodle soup, spinach noodles with wonton and cha siu soup, coca glass noodle with suki sauce), Rice soup (chicken rice soup), Rice plates (fried chicken drumsticks with rice, chicken grapow with rice, sweet and sour pork with rice, grilled tuna with rice), Desserts (banana and cheese spring roll, honey butter roll).

Drinks include coffee, tea, fruit shakes, fruit juices/smoothies, and beer.

Hawaiian Springrolls. These were AMAZING! They look like your average deep-fried spring rolls, except it had pieces of ham and pineapple inside instead of veggies.

Breaded Porkchop. The meat was slightly bland, but its sweet dipping sauce helps get rid of that problem. It’s also crunchy, with a nice layer of fat.

Sweet and Sour Fish. Light and crisp. I’m not really used to seeing a sweet and sour fish dish that isn’t orange. Hehe.

Chinese Pork Sisig. It had a very interesting texture – Very chunky, with a slight hint of spice.

Yang Chow Fried Rice.

Thai Iced Tea. It tasted vastly different from the other Thai milk teas I’ve tried before, since this version was quite bitter.

Everything about Coca Café was just perfect. But a small part of my brain keeps telling me that this review just felt slightly redundant, since I already did a review for Coca before. But because this restaurant served good food, I totally wouldn’t mind eating here several more times.

Ambiance/Interior: 5/5 (also, three words: NEW. WAVE. MUSIC. *excited squee*)
Staff/Service: 5/5
Food: 4/5 (taste), 5/5 (presentation)

Coca Cafe is located at SM Jazz Mall, Nicanor Garcia Corner Jupiter Street, Bel-Air, Makati City.

B&P Just Like Home

B&P is a restaurant in Shaw Boulevard owned by the Cravings group. The restaurant got its name from owner Annie Guerrero’s two grandkids – Bea and Pia. This resto serves all-day breakfast food, mostly coming from Cravings restaurants plus the food served in B and P’s own household.

We had dinner here after a long, tiring day at a relative’s house, which left us all feeling hungry like wolves.

For some reason, mom wanted us to sit at the very back of the restaurant, so I wasn’t able to get a lot of interior pics (like their array of baked goods and the open kitchen T_T)

Menu: Omelettes & scrambles (mother’s inspiration, the Winston), Hall of fame (French pork chop, baby back ribs, knock out), Whipped it good (triple decker, pancake supreme), Sweetie me, Breakfast specialties (happy morning, salmon hash and eggs), Grandma’s get fit menu (yoga, zumba), Our chef’s table (primera tapa, don malutong, b&b, beach front, grandma’s pride), Get some grubs, Coolers & shakes.

A small plate of coleslaw for our appetizer.

Luzviminda – A bowl filled with garlic rice, scrambled eggs, tomato salsa, plus crispy danggit, Pampanga tocino, and Vigan longganisa.

B&B – Crispy Bonoan bangus with garlic rice and butter.

(These two Filipino dishes reminded me so much of dolsot bibimbap, probably because of the stone bowls.)

B&P Chick to Chick – Half-chicken simmered in herbs and spices, coated in buttermilk batter, then deep fried. This dish was served with two pieces of French toast, peppered gravy, and sour cream dip. The chicken was just amazing! It had the right amount of crispiness, and juiciness – And it goes really well with the gravy too. I was hoping that the French toast would neutralize some of the chicken’s rather doughy taste, but unfortunately, it tasted bland.

My drink was the refreshingly sour Strawberry Lemon Quench. I’m not usually a fan of sour drinks, but this was amazing. And it gets bonus points for the mason jar!!!

Fortune Cookies for dessert! This is what I got inside my cookie – Hopefully it’s true! *crosses fingers*

B&P’s food was just spectacular! I feel like I need to come back to this place since I still need to give their pancakes a try. Hehe. This place is a must-visit for those who love savory breakfasts (like me), and want to experience good comfort food, just like the ones that they’re used to back home.

Ambiance/Interior: 4/5
Staff/Service: 5/5
Food: 5/5 (taste), 5/5 (presentation)

B&P Just Like Home is located at 515 Shaw Blvd Wack Wack, Mandaluyong. Tel no: (02) 631-3252. Links: Facebook.

Elias

Before doing a little bit of Christmas shopping at Robinson’s Magnolia, we had lunch at Elias, a Filipino restaurant coming from the same people behind Crisostomo. As you guys might remember from my Crisostomo entry, I didn’t really enjoy my lunch there so I was hoping that Elias’ food would leave me with a satisfied stomach this time around.

Interior.

Menu: Appetizer, Soup, Salad, Rice, Vegetables, Main dishes, Plates, Noodles, and Beverages.

I think their menu is basically the same as the one in Crisostomo.

A huge bowl of Adobo rice.

Finally got to try the Bracken Tofu!!! Large sizzling tofu cubes covered in delicious mayo.

Sisig Linares. Elias’ version of the pork sisig was slightly toasted, but… It was still okay.

Sopa Tahong, mussel soup with seafood and lemongrass.

Simon – Seafood kare-kare with shrimp paste.

For my drinks, I tried their ultra-refreshing strawberry and pomegranate iced tea.

I think I ate waaaay too much adobo rice during my lunch, hehe. But it was delicious! I guess it’s because I ordered the right food this time. I’m definitely giving this restaurant a second visit.

Ambiance/Interior: 3/5
Staff/Service: 5/5
Food: 5/5 (taste), 4/5 (presentation)

Elias by Crisostomo is located at UG/F Robinsons Magnolia, Aurora Blvd cor Doña M Hemady Ave Valencia, Quezon City. Tel no: (02) 546-7977.

Chopstop

Chopstop is a restaurant that serves breaded chicken or pork fillets, which can be paired up with rice/veggies, or pasta. The three of us had dinner here, since our first choice didn’t really have enough stuff on the menu (it was a Japanese resto where you can grill your own meats, and none of us were exactly in the mood to do some barbecuing). Plus I already thought of doing a review for this restaurant after seeing my cousin’s Instagram post several months ago.

Interior. I found it slightly weird that they still had a little makeshift “stage” when the place could only accommodate a small audience…

Here’s a picture of their menu. At first I thought that Chopstop was going to be one of those family-friendly restaurants, but quickly changed my mind as soon as I saw the ‘All you can drink margaritas’ promotion in the front.

I had my chops with Gravy dipping sauce. Sadly, the gravy is the only saving grace of this dish – The chops were a tad too tough, and didn’t have enough flavor.

Bacon & Cheese chops, and a plate of Cheesy Bacon Fries.

Chicken Chop Spaghetti.

… And for my drink, I had this glass of—Just kidding, it’s a candle with some sort of liquid/water underneath ^^; It could get easily mistaken for some sort of cocktail/alcoholic concoction though, so I think they need to change the design…

It was… *furrows eyebrows* IDK, it was somewhat nice, but I’m kinda regretting the fact that we skipped the Japanese barbecue place for this resto. Other people may still enjoy the food served here, though, so I’ll still recommend this place for those who are looking for a cheap place to eat/have fun.

Ambiance/Interior: 5/5
Staff/Service: 4/5 (our bill took too long to arrive, but they apologized for it)
Food: 2.5/5 (taste), 3/5 (presentation)

Chopstop is located at G/F Eastwood City Walk Bagumbayan, Quezon City. Tel no: (02) 352-7696.

Savor Filipino Cuisine

We decided to have lunch at this Filipino restaurant after dad’s checkup. There were other kinds of restaurants found in the area, but I ended up picking this one since I wanted to eat some Filipino food at that time.

The interior was… Plain, and the whole ambiance was so awfully quiet since there weren’t many customers coming in.

Menu: Appetizer (cowboy sisig, krispy sisig), Soup (KBL, munggo sabaw sosyal, pancit molo), Chicken (grilled LA chicken, roasted cocomilk chicken, chicken fried adobo, krispy pitaw), Pork (sa pula sa puti, Cabanatuan longanisa, krispy pork binagoongan, dinuguan, humba), Beef (chichos, beef caldereta), Seafood (tilapia sa bulsa, pusit tisay, crab & shrimp relleno, Spanish-style bangus belly sardines, shrimp ala pobre), Noodles/Pasta (fried efuven, smoked sardine efuven), Vegetable/Salad (savor salad, gising gising), Rice and Dessert.

A bowl of Chorizo Rice, and a plate of Shrimp and Tortang Talong, which is a type of shrimp and pork eggplant omelette. I didn’t get to try this dish, even though I like tortang talong. I guess I just prefer the one that our family helper makes at home.

For our soup, we had the Chicken Binacol – A refreshing soup with coconut and hints of lemongrass and ginger.

My dish was the Inihaw na Liempo Duo – Liempo cooked in two different ways. The one on the left has this Soy and Vinegar flavor, while the one on the right was sweeter and tangier, since it’s flavored with BBQ sauce. Both versions were tasty, but nothing special. Oh, and the layer of fat was just a little bit too thick.

The food was just alright, but personally, I thought the ambiance was so lonely that I can’t really imagine myself coming back here. Meh. I’m sure other people will think otherwise, though… So I would still recommend this restaurant if you love Filipino cuisine.

Ambiance/Interior: 2/5
Staff/Service: 3/5
Food: 4/5 (taste), 3/5 (presentation)

Savor Filipino Cuisine is located at G/F Rockwell Business Center, Tower 2, Ortigas Ave San Antonio, Pasig City. Tel no: (02) 584-6642. Links: Facebook

Schmidt’s International Gourmet Hotdogs

Schmidt’s International Gourmet Hotdogs is a little hotdog restaurant that replaced the milk tea shop that I always saw whenever I would go and visit the dentist. As soon as the place started its construction, I just knew that I had to give their hotdogs a go. Schmidt’s started out in 2012 and they only used to make deliveries – As far as I know, the branch here at the Podium is their first resto. The owners of Schmidt’s decided to sell hotdogs instead of sandwiches or burgers, because if you think about it, how many restaurants/stalls can you find in the PH that specialize in gourmet hotdog sandwiches?

The giant sign by the counter claims that Schmidt’s sells the “best hotdogs of the world”. Hmmm, we’ll see about that…

Here’s a picture of their menu: Just some hotdogs plus two side dishes. Their hotdog sandwiches were inspired by different types of cuisine from across the globe.

I ordered the Wagamama, with Japanese curry, shredded nori, coleslaw, and Japanese mayo. Admittedly, it was a little tough to eat because of all the coleslaw. But it was still delicious! I was a quite surprised that they used a type of wurst sausage for their hotdogs, instead of just… Well, a plain hotdog. It tasted very different from Sabrett’s hotdogs. Meanwhile, the bun was very soft but tore off easily.

Mom had the Coney Island Chili Dog, with homemade chili, jalapeno, cheese, onions and sour cream.

A plate of delicious Nachos. Like the Coney Island hotdog, this one also had homemade chili, cheese, jalapeno, onions, and sour cream. It looks and tastes like a plate of regular nachos, but these were simply addicting.

It wasn’t the most filling of meals, but it was still delicious (and cheap too). I would highly recommend this place if you want to have a little snack before going on a shopping spree.

Ambiance/Interior: 3/5
Staff/Service: 5/5
Food: 5/5 (taste), 4/5 (presentation)

Schmidt’s International Gourmet Hotdogs is located at 5/F The Podium, ADB Ave., Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila.