Lucky Finds: Ox & Palm Corned Beef, Landana Cheese

I love going to the grocery. I always say it's kind of therapeutic, but it's more than that. I really enjoy going and seeing all the colorful and interesting things in it. There's something bountifully optimistic about them. That said, if I don't have money it's deeply depressing stepping into one. But when me and Ilyn have a bit of extra cash, we indulge in one of our very few guilty pleasures, and that is food.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Rustan's in Makati to see what new and interesting things we can take home. I love going to Rustan's because it has so much more than what your regular grocery usually offers.

For one, they have an absolutely awesome deli with incredible selections of cheeses and meat. In the old days we would buy things like Roquefort and Brie because they're the famous ones. Roquefort is notorious, being a blue cheese, for it's dark greenish mold all over it. Sounds disgusting? It smells weird and tastes weird, but strangely awesome. Check out this video of me eating Roquefort. To me Brie smells even weirder. Ilyn likes it. I like it too but not often. Because these cheeses are so er... unique and well, rather intense to eat, we don't get to eat it often so it just sits in the ref until it expires. And it's just too bad.

So anyway, when we went to Rustan's we decided to check out other cheeses. There were so many to choose from. Randomly I chose two: Gruyere and Landana Gouda Olives and Tomatoes. I don't know why I chose them, I just did.

That's not the actual cheese package I bought (that's just some random photo I saw online). The one in the deli was a big block and I asked to get just 200 grams, sliced thinly. The gruyere we got as a block because it's a hard cheese and it's usually grated.

Wow, did we luck into these cheeses! We love them both! First the gruyere. It's actually a melting cheese that's put in pasta and soups and can be eaten as a snack. I love eating it as is because it tastes really mild and not overwhelmingly salty. It also works really really well with pasta. It melted right on the pasta without any additional heating and added a really nice taste.  But the Gouda. Oh my God. It smells very slightly weird, but you forget about it as soon as you put it in your mouth. It's mild, and the olives and tomato are just in the perfect proportion to give a slight herby taste. We couldn't get enough of it. We finished all 200 grams in just a few days.

I also did a grilled cheese sandwich combining both gruyere and gouda and Ilyn really enjoyed it!

We loved it so much that when we went to a different Rustan's the past weekend (Marketplace at BGC), we got another 300 grams! At around P170 per 100 grams, I think it's very worth it!

Earlier in this blog I wrote about my favorite Corned Beef. My favorites included brands like Delimondo and Purefoods, both local Philippine brands. I really, REALLY hate to say it, but I found a new favorite in Ox & Palm. I only heard about this brand from a few, well, older people on Facebook, asking if we of the younger generation even heard of this brand. I do vaguely remember it, but I haven't been seeing it on the shelves at all lately.

So when I saw it at Rustan's I knew I had to get one. It was actually kind of expensive at P145 for a 200g can. I think that's twice as expensive as Purefoods. Would it be worth it? You see I love to try different canned corned beef brands. And more often than not I come away disappointed. I don't like brands like Libby's or Target because the meat is shredded a little too fine. I like my corned beef to have some body and heft and still looks like it did come from beef.

When the first spoon of Ox & Palm entered my mouth it was like holy crap this is awesome. It has a slightly intense smoky beefy flavor that was seasoned perfectly right. The beef still had some body to it like the beef had just fallen apart (and not mechanically shredded).  It was amazing. At P145 it's absolutely worth it. Sorry Purefoods and Delimondo! I still love you guys (and will still hang out with you once in a while), but for now Ox & Palm is my beef buddy!

EXTRA!  I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting sodas, or different iterations of common brands. So when I saw this Coca-Cola Life, I just had to try it. They say Coke tastes better when cane sugar is used. I actually couldn't tell the difference taste wise, but drinking this, which is sweetened by both cane sugar and stevia (the new hipster sweetener), it felt softer in the mouth, a bit more subtle.

Anyway, that's it for now. If ever we visit the not so usual grocery again like Rustan's or Makati Supermarket (which is curiously in Alabang), or South Super Market (in Los Baños), I'll make sure to post some of the unique and interesting things we might find.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Ilyn and I love to eat out, if we can afford it. We're not spendy on a lot of things. We don't have gadgets, we don't have a car and we spend very little on clothes (I think you can notice that if you know us). But we're prepared to spend quite a bit on food and travel.

We like to experiment and try out restaurants at places we've never been. Once in a while we'll try something a bit expensive just to see what the fuss is about.

And because we love to experiment there are times when we come away very disappointed. And sometimes patterns emerge. For instance, in the many times we tried eating at Serendra, we're almost always disappointed. YES. Serendra. First we tried DUO (It's closed now.). The food was just OK. Barely OK. No wonder they're closed. Next time we tried CENTRO and their famous Corned Beef Sinigang. I also tried their caldereta. We didn't like both. Both were fatty. Masebo. That slimy sticky feeling you get on your lips? UGH. They may have invented Corned Beef Sinigang, but Cafe Juanita does it far better. Next we tried MAMOU. I mean, hey, how can you go wrong with MAMOU? Well, I didn't like it. I had the rib eye and there was just something about it that didn't give me the OMG this is some awesome steak feeling as I chew on it and swallow it.  Their side dishes and sauces were just too tasty that it felt like they were competing which could overwhelm my taste buds more. A little subtlety please!!

The last time we ate at Serendra we ate at BALDUCCI and for once I can say we enjoyed ourselves. Good job, Balducci!

If you're in the area, I suggest you just cross the road to Market! Market! and eat at their huge open air food court. Make sure you go and try one of the places that offer "paluto". You'll enjoy yourself far FAR more and you'll spend a quarter of how much you spent just across the road.

Now, Glorietta. Glorietta is 50/50 for us. There are places were we enjoyed like Modern Shanghai, Tony Roma's, and Spaghetti Factory. In the old days we would go as a family to eat at Kenny Rogers and Superbowl of China.  BUT OMG there are places we tried that just disappointed us. MU Noodle at the newly furbished wing of Glorietta post explosion. We didn't even get to try the food. We went in. Sat for 5 minutes trying to get the attention of waiters. Feeling unwanted and ignored, we left. MU Noodle Glorietta YOU SUCK. So we went to SOI. OMG what an experience. Read more about that horror story here.

You know which mall we've yet to be disappointed? CENTRIS, at the corner of EDSA and Quezon Avenue. Now, I actually don't like this mall. I don't like how it looks, I don't like how I feel when I'm there. Parts of it look like a ghost town, specially that area with the bumper cars. But I do have reason to be there because KOMIKET is held at CENTRIS ELEMENTS, just a few steps away. But when it comes to the restaurants, we've never been disappointed yet!

First we tried ASYA. Now the food here was just OK. It wasn't mind blowing. But for some crazy reason, we ordered things like ginataang kuhol, caldereta, some fish and some vegetable dish. That's a lot for just Ilyn and me. AND WE FINISHED ALL OF IT. We were so stuffed. OMG. That's one of the most awesome meals we had. Like I said, the taste wasn't mind blowing, but we just can't stop eating it.

The other day we tried Uncle Cheffy. Wow. I love Uncle Cheffy. I like how they cook their chicken, how they cook their steak and I love their panizza. It's not a unique item to them, but it was at Uncle Cheffy where I first tried it and it was great.

I really REALLY hope we no longer get disappointed in the future because you know, we just want to eat nice food. But I have a feeling that I'm just wishful thinking.

SOI at New Glorietta, Makati

We weren't planning on eating at Soi when we went to Glorietta earlier today. In fact, I had decided Ilyn and I would eat at MU Noodle Bar, but that plan went to bust when inattentive waiters made us feel unwanted so we left. Sorry guys. Seminar for your waiters, I guess.

Ok so we wandered around and settled on Soi. I guess we were up for some Thai food. We remember eating at this awesome Thai restaurant in Malate some years ago and that was fantastic.

Anyway I ordered Grilled Squid that had a one pepper rating in terms of spiciness. They call that "Mild". A two pepper rating is considered "Hot". I think I can take mild, no problem. For drinks, I had Pandan Soda.  Ilyn had Thai Kangkong and for drinks Thai Ice Tea.

Our lunch started off pretty nice with a nice complimentary plate of nuts and chips, and a steady stream of cold water. At least here the waiters are far FAR more attentive.

Things started to turn sideways when the drinks arrived. Granted they had some really interesting drinks on the menu. When they arrived, they still looked interesting. After we tasted them well.... Ilyn didn't like the Thai Ice Tea. She said it was a little too heavy and there's something like chocolate in it. Well, that's fine... it's probably really like that and she just doesn't prefer it.

My drink, Pandan Soda, however.... when you order "soda" you have a certain set of expectations. You expect it to be fizzy and bubbly, and you expect it to be cold. When I tasted it however, it was actually kind of warm. Sure there was ice floating on top, but the liquid at the bottom of the glass where the straw reaches... it was WARM. Well OK, maybe that's the way the Thais like it I don't know. But the part about it being "soda", well, that wasn't true. Look, I know soda. I know the texture of soda. This wasn't soda. It wasn't fizzy, and there were no bubbles. Nothing about this drink was soda. It was just pandan tea that was warm with ice on top.

Things got worse when the squid arrived. You know, when you order something "grilled" you have a certain set of expectations. Well one, you expect it to be hot, being fresh from the grill. You might even expect to see it smoke. When it arrived, it didn't look hot to me. I actually touched it and you know what? It wasn't hot at all. In fact, it wasn't even warm. It was room temperature. Like it had been grilled an hour ago and was just served to me. I know that might not be the case, but how else can you explain this squid not being HOT?

Also, the spicy rating was a lie. There was nothing spicy about it. No, my tolerance for spiciness is very low so just a little amount of pepper in dishes I will notice. There was practically no hot pepper in this. It wasn't spicy at all. NOT AT ALL

Thankfully enough, it actually tasted nice. The sauce that came with it was very nice. It's just disappointing that it was neither hot nor spicy.

Ilyn didn't like her Thai Kangkong as well. She said it was too oily. I tasted it and although it also has a "Mild" spiciness rating, there was also nothing spicy about it.

As much as we felt bad about it, we never finished our food or our drinks. I usually gobble up squid because it's a favorite of mine, but this one... I just couldn't. I was just too disappointed.

I didn't finish the drinks too. I was so frustrated that after lunch I went out and got myself a can of Sprite just so I can get that soda fix I didn't get from this so called pandan soda.

No, not returning. Sorry guys. Your waiters are nice though.