Miso Ramen at Ramen Sora, SM San Pablo

I'm not a particularly big fan of ramen. I don't normally go out of my way to eat at ramen places. But when Ramen Sora opened here in San Pablo via SM, I knew I just had to try it, specially since based on their website, Ramen Sora originated in Japan. So this is pretty much as authentic as we can get locally. This was probably only the third time in my life I'm eating ramen at a restaurant. The first was this place in Malate that I've forgotten. Then there was the time I tried Ippudo in Robinson's Place, Manila. Ippudo's ramen had incredible flavor. For once I could tell what the fuss was about, but it was a kind of flavor that I wouldn't eat everyday. I'd try it probably only once every few months.

So at Ramen Sora I ordered the "house specialty" which is the Miso Ramen. Immediately after the bowl was put on my table I smelled what seemed to be piss. I thought holy shit, somebody pissed on my ramen. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be the bamboo shoots. I was disappointed. If anyone can prepare bamboo shoots properly it ought to be the Japanese, right? But these shoots were so nasty that I took them out of the bowl and set them aside. I've had better shoots locally which didn't smell this way. I guess I'm just used to freshly chopped shoots that my uncle would bring from San Dig which tastes and smells excellent. I guess if you don't know how to properly prepare bamboo, nastiness would ensue.

Moving past that, the thing I did next was taste the broth, which was just excellent. It did taste like miso soup, but with much more depth of flavor. The pork was much larger than I expected and was very nice and tender. The noodles were firm but not chewy. They were just perfect. But I guess the bamboo shoots ruined my appetite more than I realized because I wasn't able to finish it. I'm not sure if I would eat ramen at Ramen Sora again though. As I said, I'm not really a big fan to begin with. I'll probably go back and try the other stuff on the menu.

Ilyn ordered as side of Mango Crab Roll and it was really nice.

Gerry's Chili #2: No Tomatoes

Frustrated by the chili from Shakey's I reviewed here, I decided to go and do may own chili again, specially after I got some really nice dried ancho chilies from the Seven Spice Shop.

I wanted to try one that didn't have tomatoes in it. This time around, this recipe isn't based on anything I saw online. I just wrote the ingredients I thought I would need on paper... ingredients that I feel would make for a good chili and went from there.

Spice Mix:

3 tablespoons chili powder
3 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 dried ancho chilies ground finely (seeds not removed)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Combine all the spices in a bowl, mix thoroughly and then set aside.

Rest of the ingredients:

1/2 kilo ground beef
1 beef cube
2 stalks celery chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped (seeds removed)
1 green bell pepper, chopped (seeds removed)
4 long green chilies, sliced thinly (seeds not removed)
1 large white onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
2 cans white beans (strained)
kinchay for garnishing
cheese for garnishing

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan (around 3 tablespoons) and fry beef until all fat is rendered. Separate the beef from any fat/liquid via colander. Set beef aside.

In a deep pot, heat oil then saute garlic until slightly brown. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add the long green chilies, bell peppers, and celery. Saute for around 2 minutes. Add the beef and spice mix and stir thoroughly until the spice has been evenly distributed.

Dissolve beef cube in 2-1/2 cups of hot water and add into the pot. Boil then simmer at low heat for 15 minutes. Add the beans and continue simmering for 1 hour, occasionally stirring to keep the bottom from sticking. If you feel your chili is becoming too thick you can add a bit more water.

Taste your chili and adjust seasoning. You can add more heat if you like. I found myself adding just a little bit more salt, and another teaspoon of cumin. I would have gone for hotter, but I thought the spice level was just right for the rest of the people in the house.

Garnish with cheese and kinchay.

Chili Review #1: Shakey's Chili Con Carne

I love chili. It's not a very popular dish in the Philippines for some reason, but I think people just don't want to give it a chance. Hopefully, this would be the first in a series of reviews of chili dishes, preferably those that come a complete meal in itself rather than just an add-on or a topping (which is more common).

This is a new item from Shakey's Pizza, which I tried immediately after I saw the announcement. Consistency of it is very soupy and thin, very much like how I remember Wendy's Chili to be (before they phased it out). It seemed a bit bland both in taste and spicyness. A little more salt wouldn't have hurt, and a lot more hot spice would have made it better. Filipinos are not known to like food that's too spicy except perhaps Bicolanos and most of Southern Philippines. Which is a shame because spicy is good for you. Reports I read online seem to indicate that eating spicy food actually prolongs your life. So why not put a little spice in your life? Spiciness in this chili is barely there that it's hard for me to actually consider it chili.

I'd give this 2 out of 5.

New Restaurants Opening at SM San Pablo (UPDATED!)

Got a bit of news for San Pablo City residents! We all pretty much know of the major renovation going on at SM and guess what... we're getting a whole bunch of restaurants not seen in the city yet!

Here's a list I've confirmed so far:

1. Starbucks
2. Tokyo Tokyo
3. Gerry's Grill
4. Yellow Cab Pizza
5. Ramen Sora
6. Bon Chon Chicken

Yeah! If you know of any other restaurants opening there soon, please leave a comment!

Jollibee's Plus Meals

I have to say, Jollibee's Corned Beef is pretty good. Comparable to even Purefoods and Delimondo. Sometimes, I even prefer it. But the problem with Jollibee's corned beef is that often times it doesn't seem like it's enough. I've finished the whole thing and I'm still hungry. Of course, I can order another one, but I really don't need additional rice, drink and egg. In fact, I really don't like the way they do eggs because they often overcook it.

Ilyn recently discovered that you can actually order extra corned beef. Just the corned beef. An additional order (Plus One) is P44. Two additional orders (Plus TWO) is P88. I'm like WOAAAH. All of a sudden, I'm ordering this A LOT for breakfast. A regular order of Corned Beef (around P100), and Plus Two Corned Beef and you get this huge pile of corned beef for only P188. And I no longer walk away hungry. If I can walk at all.

This is applicable to their other breakfast items like Tapa and Hotdog.

Thanks Jollibee!!

(THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST haha!)

The Best Steak in San Pablo City

Me and Ilyn were fortunate enough to be invited to try out the menu of a restaurant being developed by friends here in San Pablo City. It's actually already semi-open, but not yet for the general public. It started out as a simple cafe for customers of a spa, but they're now trying to expand it into a full blown restaurant/art gallery.

The owner clearly not only loves cooking but is dedicated to providing the best they could possibly offer.

Our meal started out with an appetizer consisting of wheat pandesal with olive oil/balsamic vinegar dip. I didn't finish it because I didn't want to be full before I finished our meal. I did finish the salad which came next, which consisted of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, baby arugula, candied walnuts, grapes, and orange. I liked it because it was different from the kinds of salad usually served in San Pablo restaurants (to be honest, I'm kind of tired of Ceasar and Greek salads) and it was very light and refreshing.

Next came Potato soup with croutons. Like the salad, it was very light and of an appropriate amount that didn't threaten to overwhelm the main dish, which was the steak.

The steak was an 8oz Rib Eye cooked medium rare which comes with gravy and mashed potatoes or rice. This, as far as I know, the only restaurant in San Pablo which serves steak specifying weight and one of the few that allows you to choose doneness. For example, you cannot specify doneness with Si Christina's steak. It comes in only one: well done. When I tried it, I was disappointed because it came out as super well done (meaning burnt). For a price tag of more than P1000, I think they could do a better job and get a better quality steak. You can choose doneness with Simple Treat's steak, but it's so thin sometimes it doesn't matter if you choose medium rare because it comes out as well done no matter what.

This 8oz Rib Eye was perfectly medium rare, and it's the softest steak I ever had, not only in San Pablo, but in the Philippines. The only thing that came close to the softness of this is the Filet Mignon I had at Donovan's in San Diego. I wish I could say it's the best steak I ever had, but this comes as a close second. The best steak I had was also served in this place a few weeks ago when they were trying out a much bigger Rib Eye, US Prime Angus Steak, 1 and a half inches thick and done medium rare. That was just incredible, and we're grateful that we were asked to try it. They will try to add it to their menu soon. I don't know how expensive that steak will be (I think it will be very expensive), but the 8oz Rib Eye they served us was P795. For that price, I guarantee it will be worth it. It's the best steak you can have at that price.

The meal was closed out with a desert of mini blueberry muffins, cinnamon roll, and a pot of hot Secret Garden red tea.

The entire meal cost P1,100, which is very much worth it, in my opinion.

Classic Palabok at Amboy's, San Pablo City

The Jollibee palabok is probably representative of a more common palabok dish where bihon is used. I much prefer the thicker noodles found at Amboy's, which to me is the more classic version. In this case, there's hardly any difference at all between Pancit Palabok and Pancit Luglug,

Palabok commonly has a thick shrimp sauce, some bits of pork (or in Amboy's case, bits of chicharon), hard boiled egg, green onions. Amboy's version (P25) is probably the best I've tasted in San Pablo. I like it even more than the more expensive and much hyped Pancit Luglug from Razon's (P109).