The Pantry

It all started when I received a text message from my fellow elephant asking where The Pantry is located.  According to the host of the show that she watched, they had the best Red Velvet cupcake in town.  So, one fine Friday afternoon, the girls decided to check out the place, located at The Gallery, Strip Mall in Juan Luna Ave., Mabolo, Cebu City (right across San Carlos Seminary).

It looked really nice on the outside.  The place looked promising.  So we entered...

Even better inside!  It's really cozy, intimate and homey.  It's like a small cafe, the ones that you see on TV in places like Italy, France, Germany, etc.  We seated ourselves and grabbed the menu:

It took a while for them to serve our orders.  There were only 3 employees, the cook, his assistant and the cashier/waitress.  For our salad, we chose Martha's Tuna Cranberry:

It was really good.  Light, healthy and just right.  I loved the mandarin oranges, it gave the salad a sweet kick.  The cranberry dressing is also perfect.  I'm not into salads but I enjoyed this one.

Then we ordered their Sausage Platter:

It was so delicious!  It's an assortment of Bavarian, Frankfurter, Pepperoni and Hungarian Sausages.  It's a must-try!

Florie and Clara tried their Breadsticks platter:

Another winner!  They are like mini calzones with different fillings.  I totally loved the mushroom chicken pesto.  It was excellent and cheesy.

Now here comes the sandwiches!  First up by yours truly...

This one is called Dmitri.  It has three meats in this sandwich, beer sausage, maple-smoked ham and pepper lyoner with lettuce, tomatoes, honey mustard dressing and cheese.  You can choose wheat bread or a mini baguette and I got the latter.  It was tasty and it's super heavy.  I was already full halfway through but still I managed to stuff it all in my mouth ;p.  This is the first time that I have tried a deli type of sandwich and the meat was kind of cold and then I realized that these were cold cuts, hehehe...  Maybe it would have been best if the baguette was toasted or some other ingredient so that it would complement the cold cuts inside.

Mirasol opted for Don Vito:

She selected wheat bread instead of the mini baguette.  It's lighter compared to the one that I ordered.  Wheat bread is a better choice if you're planning to order some appetizers.  It was equally good as the first sandwich.

Juvel picked their Chicken Wraps:

It was really good.  A lighter choice without sacrificing taste.  You'll never go wrong with tortilla or pita wraps!  I think I'll have this the next time I drop by, :).

Marie picked The Duke:

I haven't tasted it (I was very full already at the time her order came) but according to Mira, it's not that good.  It has smoked chicken roast, Canadian back bacon, white onions, honey mustard dressing, cucumbers and cheese!  Well, there's always a next time, hehehe...

Some of the girls chose their Four Seasons shake:

I asked Mira for her opinion on the shake (I haven't tasted it due to a full stomach and I needed a bit of room for dessert, hehehe).  It was fruity, nothing really special.

Here comes the most awaited part...  Dessert!  Barney went chocolaty and picked the Chocolate Ice cream cake (we totally forgot the name of it and it's not on the menu):

It was yummy but it's really sweet.  I think I couldn't finish a whole slice.

I then chose what I came here for, their Red Velvet cupcake!

The verdict?  It was okay.  They just used boiled icing (hardened) and the cake was alright.  I was disappointed, it should've been cream cheese icing that they used :(.

Marie had their Mango Ice cream cake:

It was good, a pretty light cake (if you compare it to the choco ice cream cake earlier) after a really heavy meal.

The star of the show was picked by Juvel!  Woohoo, way to go, hehehe...  Meet their Vanilla Almond Caramel Ice cream cake!

No words can describe this one.  Seriously, it's really very delectable!  Super-duper delicious!  My mouth would just water thinking about it :).

Overall, their food is really tasty.  Most of what we ordered met our expectations.  The ambiance is really nice, quiet and relaxing.  They are a bit pricey but it's really worth it.  Even though it took some time for them to serve our food, the customer service was awesome!  One of our orders was forgotten and they gave us an apology gift for the inconvenience ( a small pk of imported junk food).  Clara even had the chance to talk with the owner, Monalisa Del Gallego-Jarque.  We really had a great experience and we'll definitely come back here in the future!

Happiness!!!

Tasting India

The most common Indian-influenced type of food that I'm sure we all have tasted (and even loved) is curry!  Is there more to Indian food than just curry?  Hello, of course, hehehe.  I was really close to tasting authentic Indian Cuisine when we went to Little India in Kuala Lumpur but the weird smell of their spices blended altogether attacked my nostrils and my stomach and got the better of me.  Maybe it wasn't time yet, hehehe.  I couldn't get over the fact that I allowed myself to be defeated by only the smell of Indian food and I didn't even get down with it without putting up a fight!  What a loser!  So, with a little help from my friends, armed with our tastebuds and utensils, we charged on to the streets of Cebu to taste Indian food from three different locations.

The Famous Indian Curry House

57 Almendras St. and at APM Mall

This is the first Indian restaurant that we tried.  We were a bit hesitant to enter the place because we only saw an Indian guy!  The walls had lots of pictures of Indian people, Bollywood movie posters and other trinkets and stuff.  Good thing that their two Filipina waitresses appeared, we then sat and grabbed the menu.  The ladies were really accommodating and helped us choose what to order.  Here it goes:

Veg Thali - P100

2 veg dishes of the day, 2 rotis and raita (savory cumin flavored yoghurt)

Chicken Curry Combo Meal - P70

Chicken Curry with a choice of rice or naan and Coke sakto

Chicken Biryani - P150

Biryani is long-grained basmati rice flavored with exotic spices like saffron layered with chicken cooked in thick gravy, garnished with fresh mint leaves

Samosa - 25

Deep-fried dumplings filled with spiced potato and peas mixture.  They serve it with either tamarind chutney, coriander dip or curry sauce-type with yoghurt and some other exotic spices

We also tried their Non Veg Thali, Mixed Vegetable Curry, Naan, Butter Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Lassi and Badam Kesar Shake.  That's quite a lot, right?  Hehehe.  Actually, those are everything that we have tried so far and we went to this place several times already.  Most of what we ate really tasted good.  I'd give this an 8 or sometimes 9 out of 10.  This is our favorite spot.

Mr. India

Gaisano Countrymall

After a long day of walking around Talamban looking for Mr. Archival's Eco House, we got really hungry and decided to eat at this place.  We ordered:

Non Veggie Thali - P99

1 dal, 1 nonveg of the day, 1 rice, 1 naan paratha, 1 papadum and 1 dessert

Veggie Samosa - 39

2 pcs.

Fish Curry Rice Bowl - P49

Chicken Biryani - P109

Chicken and basmati rice cooked traditionally

Mutton Masala - P149

Badam Kesar - P59

Almond and saffron milkshake

We were stuffed!  I've noticed that there are really a lot of carbs involved when you eat Indian food.  There's rice, dal, naan paratha and sometimes roti.  The taste?  I'd say a 5 out of 10.  We were disappointed because we expected their food to taste really good.  The ambience was really very Indian and the owners were there, an Indian couple probably in their 50s.  I hope they can do something to improve the taste of their food.

Firozian Indian Tea House

Near Cebu Doctor's Hospital

Among all the other two Indian restaurants that we have visited, this place has the most authentic feel to India.  The interior is nice and you would even dine Indian-style!  They have low tables and you would just squat on the floor.  Very cool!  Here goes our menu:

Butter Chicken - P150

Chinni Chicken - P150

Samosa - P60
2 pcs.

Durum - P80
The real shawarma, double the size.  Filled with twice the amount of meat, onions, tomatoes, salads and yoghurt.  Also available without meat.

Keema Paratha - P100
A meat stuffed flat bread which is famous in New Delhi, India.

Aloo Keema - P150

Potatoes and ground chicken combination

Kebab Wrap - P50

A quick and healthy meal with grilled chicken sticks in flat bread and yoghurt sauce

Chicken Masala - P150

The taste?  I'd say a 7 out of 10.  The Durum is quite tasty and their Butter Chicken is really delicious.  Another dish that I'd recommend would be the Aloo Keema.  It's taste is simple but yummy.  

It's a bit hard to describe the taste of Indian food.  It's a mixture of spicy, sour, sometimes sweet and really strong flavors.  The common spices that you'd taste would be cumin, coriander, turmeric, cloves and lots of red chili.  I'm quite biased when it comes to food with lots of cumin in it, sorry.  But when blended together, it's delicious!  The great thing is that there's not one dish that we tried that tasted salty.  Bravo!

Indian food isn't scary after all.  I now understand why a lot of chefs and foodies love it.  It's complicated but really delectable.  When I get to visit Little India again in the future, I'm now a lot braver to taste the food.  

Simply J's = Simply Great!

A couple of days before our dear friend Mary Rose resigned from the account, we decided to give her a despedida dinner.  She wanted it to be a sort of a semi-formal but a simple kind of dinner fit for a duchess and a princess.  Lucky for us, we were honored to have the Duchess (a.k.a. Carolyn) and the Princess (a.k.a. Jasmin) as our guests, hahaha!  The question is, which restaurant could cater to our dear friend's wishes?  Simple.  That would be at Simply J's Cafe!  It's located near Apitong St. in Escario (Cebu Parklane Hotel area).  Unfortunately, I was unable to snap a photo of the restaurant's exterior and interior, sorry about that.  Anyway, you can always Google it and they do have a Facebook page.  Let's get it on with the food!

For our appetizer, we chose this:

Tortilla Chips with Dip

It was so-so.  The Tortillas junk food is even better than the tortillas that they served.  Their salsa dip has a thin consistency and the taste was just okay.  It lacks something that I really don't know what.  I wasn't quite satisfied with this one.

Next up:

Taco Salad

Yes!  A complete opposite with the previous dish.  This was really delicious.  It's a mixture of all the ingredients that's in a taco, shredded, sliced and all and mixed together.  They seasoned it just right.

Mine and Era's choice:

Chef's Signature Baby Back Ribs

Instead of pork, they used our all-time favorite meat...  Beef!  It's the typical type, grilled baby back ribs marinated with herbs and instead of the usual barbecue sauce, they brushed it with honey-mustard sauce which is even better!  I like this one compared to the famous ribs at Casa Verde and Mooon Cafe.  This is one of best dishes of the night.

Dympna's pick: 

Salsa Cream Dory

This was the winner among all the dishes that we ordered.  The fish fillet was pan-fried in lemon-butter sauce and then topped with tomato and herb salsa.  Cream Dory is my least favorite fish but they were able to make it really tasty.  It's light even though they fried it and the salsa really complements the fish in a perfect way!  This is a super-duper must-try dish.

Mary Rose and the Duchess' selection:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

A classic favorite.  Deep-fried chicken breast rolled with smoked ham and cheese.  A yummy treat for everybody!  The taste is simple yet satisfying.  My wish...  more cheese, hehehe.  For me, if it's cheese-dish, you should put like 1/3 more of cheese than what is required from the recipe.

Marie's preference:

Lasagna

I haven't tried this one but according to our pasta lover, this is just okay.  

Mira's choice:

Rack of Porkchop with Mushroom Gravy

I totally forgot the name of this dish but you can just ask the waiter about it, sorry.  It looked ordinary when the waiter served it to Mira.  We thought that it was just another breaded pork chop kind of dish but when we tried it, wow!  It was that good!  They drizzled it with mushroom gravy and it made the pork even better.  They added a reasonable amount of herbs and spices to the gravy and it made it very delicious!  Maybe we could've asked for more, I'll just do it next time.

Princess Jasmin ordered the Country Pork Chops.  I was unable to take a picture of it because we were so famished by the time it arrived, hehehe.  It was just grilled pork chops with some herbs with a vegetable siding.  It wasn't that bad, it was alright.

Now, let's move on to the sweetest part of the night...  Dessert time, yehey!  The first one that was served:

Fudge Brownie Ala Mode

For chocolate lovers like yours truly, this was one heck of a dessert!  The brownie was moist on the inside and crumbly on the outside.  The vanilla ice cream on top made it perfect!  I'd definitely order this one again.

Then I had:

Apple Pie Ala Mode

It looked nice but when I took my first bite...  it was really sad.  The apple filling was undercooked or probably it wasn't cooked because it was still a bit sour and it was crunchy.  I found it weird because usually, the filling should really be cooked and the apples should've been soft and saucy and all with a good amount of cinnamon.  The crust was okay, I guess.  It wasn't worth what I paid for.  It costs P120!  I don't recommend this dessert at all.

Then came:

Banoffee

Thank you Lord for this one.  It was the best dessert that was ordered that night!  Everything was great, it wasn't too sweet and the whipped cream on top, wow, I loved it.  The banana or coffee didn't overpower each other.  They were blended evenly.  What a winner!

Finally, I was able to take a picture of Jasmin's dessert:

Panna Cotta with Fruits

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made with cream, milk, sugar and gelatin.  This is the second time that I've tried this type of dessert and still I got reallt disappointed.  For me, the taste is close to bland or boring.  The fruits were delicious though.

Era tried their take of this:

Leche Flan

We all loved it!  It was really delish and soft and sweetened perfectly.  It's creamy and almost flawless (without the bubbles and all).  This was the cheapest item on the menu at only P50!  I could absolutely chow down two of these!

And finally, Marie chose...

Mango/Pineapple Ice Box Cake

This was also yummy if you ask me.  I would describe it as a fusion of refrigerator cake and mango float all rolled into one and instead of using graham crackers, they used otap!  The combination of these desserts worked well, I liked it.

The cafe's ambience is country-style.  It's like a cozy home, the lighting of the place is perfect, they even have a chandelier!  They also have a fireplace (I'm not sure if it really works, maybe it's just part of the design) and you will really feel at home.  A very lovely place and most of the food that we ate passed or even exceeded our expectations.  It was a wonderful experience and the service was great.  Simply J's is simply the best!