The Food Court at Solaire Resort and Casino

Solaire Resort and Casino has been making waves lately as the gaming destination in Manila.
It has dining choices from the pocket-heavy to the budget-friendly.
When you want decent food that won't burn your pocket, their food court serves great food for as low as  P 250 -300. Given that they maintain their own food court, rest assured of the quality. 

Solaire's Food Court has 6 food stations to choose from.

CHICKEN LICKEN serves different chicken specialties.

AMERICANO serves pizza, tacos and humongous hand-chopped burgers.

just look at how thick the pattie is

Pizzas sold by the slices

PAN ASIAN serves Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian Cuisine.

Recommended is Shrimps in Coconut Milk and Beef Rendang (which is the Indonesian version of our Kaldereta)

.
SAPPORO serves Japanese and Korean specialties

Salmon Teriyaki

The Bulgogi is too sweet .. avoid

FILIPINIANA serves uniquely Pinoy dishes (replacing the Chinese food section that has merged with Pan-Asian)

PATISSERIE has baked goodies, pastries and dessert

Some standouts
Prawns in Coconut Milk which was good. The sauce was flavorful and although the prawns were only of average size, you can't complain because its a steal for just Php 250. It also comes with a big serving of Basmati rice.

The 2.0 version comes with tuyo.

The Beef Rendang is very good with generous morsels of tender beef. This is good enough to be shared by two. The slight sweetness of the Basmati rice complements the spicy sauce.

Beef Rendang

Here is Sapporo's Spicy Chasyu Ramen. P250
This is not too spicy, and the ramen was average.

The pepperoni pizza was bland and so-so.

The Patisserie is the crowning glory of the food court. The cakes here are popularly prized and are good. They also have ice cream and other desserts like Mango Sago.

Tiramisu in a cup

Blueberry Cheesecake

Death by chocolate

Try this for a bittersweet ending

For a food court, Solaire's version looks-wise is quite promising.
Taste-wise, some dishes need a bit of improvement but good job to the people behind this.

There's really good coffee at Toby's Estate

There are a few places in Manila you can get a really good cup of coffee. And one of these is places Toby's Estate, an Australian chain that also has branches in New York and Singapore. I've had a great experience when we went to the newly opened Century City Mall in Makati. Toby's Estate is located at the fourth level near the cinemas. The place is really small and can only accommodate less than 10. Understandable since most of the stores patrons are the ones grabbing a cup and watching a movie.

The interiors look like those coffee places in the Brooklyn area with white tiles. They have popular prices for coffee and service is very laidback, which is not ideal if you're in a hurry. You can have different brews of espresso, favorites like latte and mocha. The menu is very basic.

When you want a good brew you have to give it time. We had the Latte and we were blown away by its good taste.The coffee was robust yet it was smooth. The cup of 140 was large enough to get our caffeine fix.One sip, you can taste that this is not your run-of-the-mill coffee. Bravo! Special mention is the foamy art in my cup which made my coffee more enjoyable. Its also one of the reasons why the coffee may take a bit longer. Now this IS good coffee!

If you have a sweet tooth, try their Buckies and Cream with the coffee.
Buckies are like brownies with cream at the center. Its not soft, but it sort of reminds me of Twinkies!

Cupcakes and Buckies

 Toby's Estate
4th Level  Century City Mall
Belair Makati

They also have a branch in Valero

Summer is for Halo-halo at Little Quiapo

Summer sun too hot? Have some halo-halo!

The famous Filipino dessert with shaved ice, sweet beans, flan, tapioca, preserved coconut, evaporated milk  in fact traces its origins from Japan, (Kakigori) and Malaysia (Ais Kacang).
And one of the institutions that serves the best halo-halo is the famous Little Quiapo, one of the oldest restaurants in Metro Manila since 1949.

I get my halo-halo fix from Little Quiapo BF. Even when the traffic is a killer along BF Paranaque, I bravely troop to this place because besides from Digman (Cavite), they're one of the rare places that still serve traditional ingredients not found in other halo-halos.  Little Quiapo's Halo-halo is the real deal with its crushed pinipig, macapuno, kaong, sweet beans, ube halaya (purple yam jam), jackfruit, leche flan, ube ice cream and sweet potato/ kamote, etc.. Where others have scrimped on ingredients, LQ have retained its winning recipe.

Halo-halo P 110 per order

You drooling yet?

Other notable treats that can complement your halo-halo?
The Palabok! Little Quiapo's version is very saucy and you can tell that they didn't scrimp on ingredients. Plus one order can be had for a low price of 83 pesos. Can you believe it?

Your trip to Little Quiapo is not complete without this... their famous Tokwa't Baboy
98 pesos for half order, just look at the chunk of pork on the fragrant soy sauce.
The tokwa is a bit crispy as well, crunchy crispy not hard crispy. This is just too yummy.

If you're not a halo-halo fan, how about trying the mais con hielo?

Little Quiapo QC
90 Malakas St.  Pinyahan QC

Little Quiapo BF
42 Aguirre cor Lirag St. BF Homes
Paranaque
Credit cards accepted
.

Honeymoon Desserts 滿記甜品 HongKong

Hongkong is full of  interesting places to eat but when we were at Langham Place in Mongkok,
there was this small dessert place that caught my eye. It's called Honeymoon Desserts and judging from the long queue of people, the place must be good.

Mmm... milky

Mango with Milk Custard

I had the Mango with Milk Custard. The mangoes were sweet and fresh. You can tell that quality ingredients were used because the custard was very creamy. Highly recommended!

Red Bean Soup with Lotus Nuts

My wife wanted something traditional and ordered the Red Bean Soup with Lotus Nuts. This dessert be common to Hong Kong, but its a big upgrade to the ones served in Manila.

Try this place. It may look busy but the turn over is fast!

Shop 409, Level 4, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok
旺角亞皆老街8號朗豪坊4樓409號

Caliburger Manila, is it "In and Out" good?

Cali Burger has finally opened at the Century City Mall.
We head to this place if it's as good as "In and Out" or is it just "Out and Out"

You can find CaliBurger at the fourth level of the Century City Mall!

The place is quite spacious for a burger joint.
The interiors are cozy and modern.
There's even an alfresco option with a charming view of Makati Avenue.

    

And the menu is no frills and very limited to a few items, which is helpful if you're the type who can't make up your mind and on what to order.

We ordered the Hamburger and Cheeseburger and Fries combo
with Milkshake

Cheeseburger, hey where's the cheese?

Burgers are served In and Out Style

The Verdict:

The burgers are fresh and juicy, and they in fact live up to its SoCal roots.
True to its slogan, you can taste the freshness in very bite as burgers are only cooked upon order.

The slight toastiness of the patty and even the way they serve the burgers remind me of that heavenly burger joint in LA, but the comparison stops here.

This is definitely NOT "In and Out". In fact it reminds me of Sango, the Burger Master, the defunct Japanese burger joint near Mile Long. The patty is quite thin and for its price, you'd be better off having a burger at Chili's or Brothers (if you want the best bang-for-buck burgers try Howzat). The burger is quite filling coupled with the fries.  Flavor wise, it is good but I'm quite turned off paying Brother's Burger prices for Minute Burger patties. I'll be back, but not immediately.


Cali Burger
4th Floor Century City Mall,
Kalayaan Avenue,
Makati City