Chef Lau’s Pugon Roasters

After Chef Lau’s BFAST did not become a hit, they have an overhaul change to become Chef Lau’s Pugon Roasters. The ambiance is better and I noticed there are more people eating at this place. So after checking in at Manila Pen, we dropped by this place to have some lunch.

It shows that their food has no MSG

Cashier and the open kitchen

Food that we ordered:

Baked Bangus Belly

Chicken Liver Surprise!

Sizzling Angus Beef Sisig

Pancit Lukban

Side Order Veggies

I found their food too sweet for my taste and oily.  We are very disappointed with the food and we will not be coming back very soon.

Address: Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati Ave,  Bel-Air, Makati City

Fiftea

 

Fiftea is the newest milk tea place in town! Fiftea offers wide variety of milk tea that you cannot find in other stores. Their tea is freshly brewed everyday and does not use powder or extracts.

We ordered the Assam Red Milk Tea, I must say that they are delicious! You can taste the brewed tea and I like it. One thing I do not like about my drink is that the pearls are very hard so it’s an effort to sip!

Laduree

Laduree is one of the pioneers in selling macarons. It is in our list to at least taste their macarons. Since we chance this at Champs-Elysees, we decided to just have lunch here.

Love the walls

Since we cannot decide on what to eat, we just get a set lunch each. It cost 45 euros per person.

Bread

Appetizer:

organic scrambled eggs served with grilled small artichokes

OR

Salanova Salad

Entree:

Blini served with Grissons beef and herbs cream- very salty for my taste buds

OR

Wild sea bass tabbouleb

OR

Organic Salmon Carpaccio with ginger

Dessert:

We got to choose 2 each

Cafe

Overall, the ambiance is nice. The food is of good quality. I must say this was our most expensive lunch in Paris.

Outside the dining area

picture taken outside Laduree

Address: 75 Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 and named after the enginner Gustave Eiffel. It was constructed with lattice wrought iron. The Eiffel Tower was built to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower is 324 meters tall and became the tallest man-made structure in the world from 1889-1930.

Closer look at the Eiffel Tower

As we were walking, we chance a upon a marriage proposal. As they say, Paris is the City of Love 🙂

Address: Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France

 

Roland Garros 2013

The French Open, also called Roland Garros is a major tennis tournament held for two weeks at Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France.  It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments. The other three tournaments are Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open. The event includes 16 different events: five main, four junior , four wheelchair and three Perrier Legends Trophy events. ( source: RG website)

Entrance Gate

As you walk through the entrance, you can see souvenir shops and food stand.

Philippe Court:  Li Na vs Medina Garrigues, Nadal vs Brands , Berdych vs Monfils

Lunch for the day: Hotdogs, donuts and muffins

In action: Rafael Nadal vs Daniel Brands. Nadal won the game!

Souvenir Items for Sale

The 2013 French Open Champions (grabbed from RG website)

This was a dream come true for me as I never expected that I can watch a Grand Slam tournament. Thank you to my tennis travel mates for getting the tickets. Hoping to watch the other Grand Slam tournaments someday.

Stade Roland-Garros
2 avenue Gordon Bennett
75016 Paris
France

Malaysian Airlines Inflight Meals MNL-KL-PARIS

Last May 2013, my tennis buddies and I went to Paris and Spain for a vacation. Our goal is to watch the Roland Garros (French Open) 2013, which I will post separately.

But first here is our meal at Malaysian Airlines.

Manila-Kuala Lumpur

Appetizers

Dinner #1: Chicken in Spicy Bean Sauce

Kuala Lumpur-Paris

Dinner #2: Steak with Mashed Potatoes

I was surprised that they serve steak on an economy class seat. The steak is tasty but chewy.

Snacks

Breakfast

Paris-Kuala Lumpur

Minced Chicken with Gnocchi

I did not enjoy this meal at all since the taste is quite different.

Snacks

Breakfast: Nasi Goreng

Kuala Lumpur-Manila

Breakfast ( I do not know the name of the dish)

At this point, I’m already tired so I just slept for the duration of the flight.

Tim Ho Wan(添好運)

Tim Ho Wan (添好運) is the cheapest Michelin-starred dimsun in HongKong. So before heading home, we have brunch at their Central Station branch. At 10 am, there is already a queue. We waited for 2 hours just to be seated in. Take note that you need to share table with other people. You cannot choose your own seat.

Menu

What we ordered:

Baked bun with BBQ

This one of their bestsellers, the bread is very soft and tasty. The filling inside is very delicious. It is all worth the wait!

Steamed rice with beef and pan fried egg

Pan-fried turnip cake

Steamed spareribs with black bean sauce

Glutinous Rice Dumpling

Hakaw

Steamed Rice Roll stuffed with pork liver

Mun Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce

Steam bean curd skin roll filled with beef and eggplant

Malay sponge cake

As you can see, we ordered a lot! Everything is delicious at a cheap price. You just have to be patient in queuing.

But do not worry! Tim Ho Wan is coming to the Philippines. It will open at Megamall and Glorietta (beside Globe).

(photo grabbed from pepper.ph)

Address:  Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall)

Ginza Bairin PH

Last year, many famous tonkatsu places have opened up in the Philippines. One of them was Ginza Bairin. They opened their first flagship store at the newly renovated Glorietta 2.

One Saturday afternoon, I met with my tennis buddies for a Japanese Lunch.

Everything in this poster is refillable

What we ordered:

Rosu Katsu Set (moist, flavorful loin)

Seafood Set (Prawn, Premium White Fish and Salmon)

Ebi Fry Curry Set

Rosu Katsudon Set

Ice Cream Trio (Vanilla, Black Sesame and Green Tea)

Overall, the food is great. The Rosu Katsu is very tender and flavorful. The Ebi Curry is very delicious. The curry is not too strong, is just have the right amount of spices.

I must also commend the waiters of Ginza Bairin because they were really attentive in everyone’s need. The ratio of waiter to the table is equally distributed thus efficient service.

Address: Ground Floor Glorietta 2 (along Palm Drive), Ayala Center, Makati City

Tel No: 553-7350

Modern Sichuan Restaurant

Sichuan/Szechuan (四川) cuisine is famous for spicy dishes. The spiciness is based on the used of garlic, chili peppers and the unique flavor of Sichuan pepper.

Since my teammate knew the manager of the restaurant, we got 10% off (technically, they just waived the service charge). So off to this restaurant to try their famous Sichuan dishes.Modern Sichuan also have the menu of Modern China if you do not like spicy food.

Main Entrance

The food that we ordered:

Complimentary Peanuts

Pork Slices in Chili Sauce

Yang Chow Fried Rice

This is always the staple order when dining at Chinese restaurants. We were surprised their large order fits 9 people to eat! Their definition of large is different from other restaurants. The rice is very tasty and delicious!

Sichuan Mapo Tofu- lacks flavor

Baked Egg with Oyster

This is also delicious, the oyster are plumpy and it’s pipping hot when served!

Sichuan Meat Appetizer Sampler

This came in late. This should be the first one to serve. The dish is okay but nothing to rave about.

Cha Misua

Boiled Fat Beef in Chili Sauce

Sauteed Slice Pork with Pepper and Chili

Sichuan Fish Fillet in Hot Chili Oil

This dish is famous in Sichuan. Underneath the fish is loads of togue. The fish is fresh but I cannot taste the spiciness of the dish.

Spciy Sweet and Sour Pork

Definitely, the best dish of all. A good combination of spciy, sweet and sour!

Buchi

They gave as a complimentary dessert. Buchi is one of my favorite Chinese dessert but I hope they served them hot.

Overall, the experience is not bad. It is also my first time to try Sichuan dishes.The winning dishes for me are the Yang Chow fried rice and Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork. Definitely will come back to try the order dishes which are not available that day, like the Pork Slices in Chili Sauce and Maoxuewang.

Address: 5th Avenue, The Fort Entertainment Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines

Telephone: 856-0470

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery

After having dinner, Karen and I went to Vanilla Cupcake Bakery to have some coffee. They have transferred to a bigger and better location so it’s time to blog their new place!

Fancy chairs and table

Menu

Variety of cupcakes

the P305 slice of red velvet cake

Brewed Coffee. They used Cath Kidston mugs.

What can I say? This is the cutest set-up of a restaurant that I have seen. From the chairs, which I think they sew it with cute cloths. They also used Cath Kidston. A little bit pricey but to think they have the best interiors, I will not complain!

Address: Ground Floor, Glorietta Ayala Center (beside Family Mart)