Breakfast at Si Christina, San Pablo City

Si Christina, located near the plaza in the center of San Pablo City, is one of our favorite breakfast places. They normally open at 7 in the morning, but for the Christmas season, they open at 8am so they can close at a later time in the evening. We like it there because of their numerous breakfast options that are both good and remarkably inexpensive.

The breakfast option I chose was their "Chicken Longganisa" (P89), which includes 2 pieces of chicken longganisa (the long light colored sausage in the photo above), 1 egg, fried rice and a choice between brewed coffee and iced tea. At 89 pesos that's crazy cheap.

You have the option to order other sausages as extras. I ordered 2 pieces of "Spiced Sausage" (P16 per piece), 1 pc "Sweet Longganisa" (P20 per piece) and an order of "Breakfast Sausage" (2 pieces for P45).

My total for everything was P189. I really liked the taste of all the sausages. The first time I tried the breakfast sausage (round patty shaped) I didn't like it too much because it seemed too dry, but this time around it was rather juicy. I really liked it because it comes close to the taste of a Lucban Longganisa. Ilyn didn't like it too much, but I did.

As a restaurant, Si Christina is one of our go to places here in San Pablo. When we have out of town guests, this is one of the places we choose to bring them. However, I do have to say that although their menu selection is quite numerous (menu not available online), most of them are just OK for me. Their burgers are just OK, their burritos are just OK, their pasta dishes are just OK. But they do have a few items that are pretty good including their bbq ribs (just incredibly good). I also really like their Pepperoni Pizza, which goes well with a bottle of Stella Artois (not on their menu but they have it if you ask). A recent favorite is their trio of American, UK and Japanese sliders.

Their true specialty are their cakes and sans rival, which are simply some of the best I've ever tasted. Try any of their cheesecakes (my favorite is the Speculoos Cheescake) and I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Their Chocolate Truffle cake is also quite amazing. I also love their brownies which they serve warm, which makes the chocolate bits in them slightly melted.

The wait staff is friendly and attentive and the place itself is quite cozy because of the decor and lighting. It's just a really nice place to hang out.

Recommended! Try them out if you're in town.

Really, REALLY Good Burgers at Hungry Gorilla, San Pablo City

I'm very particular and picky when it comes to burgers. INCREDIBLY picky. I've tasted lots of them from all over, and I've had very few favorites. In Manila, my favorite go-to fast food burger is Tropical Hut's Classic Burger, and probably my all time favorite is the house Hamburger from Dayrit's. I've had a few really memorable ones from Borough at the Podium, as well as really spectacular Angus burger at Highlands Prime Steakhouse at MOA. I like simple burgers, and generally shy away from the more elaborate, monster burgers a lot of people seem to like.

Since I'm based in San Pablo City, I really don't want to go to Manila every time I wanted a really good burger. So I pretty much try anything that pops up locally. I'm looking for the thing I really like in a burger.... unobtrusive bun, really beefy taste (without extenders), juicy, and not a whole lot of things added in that distract from the flavor of the beef.

When I saw this new place that offered burgers along Mabini St., I decided to try it! Now the venue is a little unusual. It's beside the San Pablo District Jail, along Mabini St. There's a ramp and stairs going up to a long hallway. At the end of a hallway is a gym, and facing the gym is Hungry Gorilla. It was a bit noisy because of a Zumba going on in a gym on the second floor, and a Taekwondo studio on the third, both of which overlook the dining area.

I ordered the "Classic Kong" while Ilyn ordered the "Gorillets". At any new burger place, the first thing  I always try is their simplest, most basic burger. This is the one that gives the least distraction to the taste of the beef patty. If I like it, I will try their other, more elaborate burgers the next time I visit. But first their house fries called "Conggo Fries (p49)".

Their fries are pretty standard stuff, but better than the ones from Jollibee or Mcdonald's. The fries are firm, almost crunchy and lightly seasoned. The dip is pretty good though. I can't determine what it is, except to say that it's mayo based with herbs, spices and it's slightly sweet. I wanted to keep eating the fries just so I can dunk them into this dip. But I didn't want to ruin my appetite, so on to the burger.

Their "Classic Kong" (P59) is described on the menu as: "100% Beef with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, white onion, topped with mayo and ketchup." When it arrived, I was a bit surprised because it was quite bigger than I thought it would be. At P59 pesos I assumed it would be much smaller with a patty that would be a bit thin, but I'm glad I assumed wrong.

One bite into it and I was like, WOW. Just WOW. I couldn't believe what I was tasting. It was soft, juicy, perfectly seasoned with a strong beefy taste. The bun was appropriately soft and  didn't take attention away from the patty. The patty itself was surprisingly thick and substantial. The tomatoes, onion and lettuce complimented it perfectly. Yes, there's no cheese, but this burger didn't need it. Besides, I always thought cheese, having a rather strong taste, would distract from the taste of the beef.  Even as I continued to bite into it, my mind was going holy crap THIS.IS.AWESOME.

You know, I've pretty much tasted most local burgers up for offer here in San Pablo. I've tried Brand X Burger, All-Star Burger, Angry Burger, RC Burger, the house burger of places like Si Christina, and Simple Treats. I even tried burgers from places like Ramzi and of course from franchises like Jollibee and Mcdonald's.

I'm declaring right now that the burgers from Hungry Gorilla is the best I've tasted so far. And you have no idea how happy that makes me because now I don't have to go to Manila for an awesome piece of burger. And at that price!! It's amazingly cheap compared to most other burgers I've had. The burger at Highlands was like P600!! For that you get TEN Classic Kong Burgers and yeah I'll say it, they taste even better.

"Gorillets" (P109) are six sliders or mini burgers. They don't have the veg of the "Classic Kong", but they do have caramelized onion and cheese. I wasn't able to taste it because my burger left me full, but Ilyn said she loved it. And coming from her, it's something else, because she's even more picky about burgers than me. In fact, she doesn't like eating meat that often, but she's really glad she tried it.

The Gorillets were so substantial that Ilyn was able to finish only two and that was enough for her to feel full. We took  home the other four and I'm now really just waiting to be hungry again so I can eat them!

I was so happy with my meal that I just had to tell the dude behind the counter (who both took our order and cooked the burgers) that their burgers tasted really really good. The smile on the dude's face, so awesome. And he deserves it too. Did I say that these burgers were incredible? Yes, I DID! I told the dude that we'll be back. And we definitely will be.

Highly, absolutely, recommended! If you're in San Pablo and would like to have just one the most awesome burgers you'll ever have, check out this place. It's just beside the San Pablo District Jail (don't let that bother you, haha), along Mabini St.

8:00am to 9:00pm from Monday to Saturday, 4:00pm to 9:00pm on Sunday.

YOu Japanese Canteen & Sushi Hauz, San Pablo City

I really have to talk about this discovery we made just this past week. It's an unassuming... VERY unassuming Japanese food place near the Mabini side of Central School. They don't even call themselves a restaurant. The call themselves a "canteen" and that's exactly what it looks like. It's alfresco, there's nothing fancy about it, the tables don't have tablecloths and you don't know where the kitchen ends and the dining area begins. The more snobbish eaters probably won't be caught dead in a place like this, but I'm so glad we stopped to try it, because OMG the food was just terrific.

First up was the Kani Salad (P110). Because our table was just next to part of the kitchen (without a wall separating us) and we were just a couple of feet away, we had a full and clear view as the dude chopped and prepared it. Tasting it, I was just agog. It was amazing. I would put this up alongside the best Kani Salads from high end Japanese restaurants in Manila. It was just soooo good.

I had the "Gyu Saikoro" (P189) which was beef chunks in onion with mixed vegetables. This, along with several other dishes, is the most expensive item on the menu. Miso Soup (P70) and Java Rice not included. I had their Tenderloin Steak (P99) the other night and it was as every bit as good as the beef in this dish. Very soft, very tasty. The sweet soy based sauce complimented it very well.

I loved the Miso Soup. It's not too salty and it had just the right balance of flavors that I like in a Miso Soup.

Ilyn had the Tori Negi Yakitori (Chicken BBQ) (P49). Yes, FORTY NINE PESOS! Ilyn says it was really REALLY good. She says she would have paid more for an extra stick, but for that price,we thought it was more than worth it!

There are a lot of really inexpensive items on the menu, but the dishes themselves reflect that. Their P99 Tenderloin steak comes with two small, really small medallions of beef. You will definitely find yourself saying "Ang liit naman!!", but at that price, I think it's to be expected. Wait until you taste it though, you'll probably find yourself ordering another one!

In spite of the fact that they have "Sushi Hauz" in their name, they actually don't have any sushi items on the menu. But upon asking, they said they have Tamago and Kani sushi made to order if we wanted. We got the impression that they will start rolling it out soon enough.

It was a very satisfying dinner for Ilyn and me, and it completely erased the horrid experience we had at another place the previous night.

The crew was really friendly and accommodating, but seemed somewhat awkward. We attribute that to the canteen being new and this being probably their first outing running a restaurant. In spite of that, and more importantly, they cook like absolute pros. Yes, they do misspell stuff on their menu ("hauz" is a little cheesy, to be honest) and their decors do leave a lot to be desired, but Ilyn and I both think there's a certain charm to that. But we expect a lot of great things from them and we will be back here often!

This was our second time in this place, having gone again after only two days of trying it for the first time. We went tonight because I thought, man, I just HAVE to write about this place. I love the food here so much that it triggered my restarting this blog again. Last I checked they didn't have any Facebook presence. I really just want to help them find a few more customers. Try it if you're in town and you're not that fussy about where you eat.

YOu Japanese Canteen and Sushi Hauz can be found at the Farmers Bldg, corner of Malvar and A. Fule (Lopez Jaena) Sts., San Pablo City. It's a corner a way from the Mabini side of Central School.

Food Hopping Disaster

The one reason why I really haven't posted here is because my enthusiasm and my appetite for food aren't as healthy lately. I think it came with me being sick a lot the past year. But I'm slowly getting my appetite back up again and I think it's about time I started writing here again.

Sorry, no photos this time, but OMG, I just wanted to talk about the experience we had food hopping tonight. There are lots of new places opening up here in San Pablo City. I, for one, really love that there are a lot of new local businesses opening up. Can't have foreign franchises cornering the entire food market now can we?

With that in mind, I will NOT be mentioning the restaurants we visited tonight because I don't want them to lose any business. Any local business is a precious business. Just because I didn't like their food doesn't mean other people don't as well.

This first resto is quite a popular one, with a large hip following on Facebook. I ordered one of their beef dishes and Ilyn ordered a pork mince dish. It looks nice online, and it looks well, OK, in front of me. With the first bite I'm like... uh, oh. This isn't good. It tastes old. Weird. Not spoiled, just strange. Like it had been cooked days ago. As much as I wanted to finish it, I couldn't. Ilyn had a similar opinion about her pork mince dish. She didn't finish it either. We asked to take the leftovers home. Probably the dogs would like it. No, they didn't. Well, there you go.

Not feeling really satisfied, we wandered to a coffee shop a couple of doors down. Ilyn wanted to have either Americano or drip coffee. I wanted the same, maybe a tea or something. I didn't see any hot tea. So I asked for black gulaman. Not available. Ilyn looked somewhat horrified at the menu as she saw they didn't have either Americano or drip/brewed coffee listed, even though they had things like Espresso, Cappuccino... things like that. Which is just damned weird. Americano is nothing more than Espresso with additional hot water. No, they couldn't do it. We left.

On the way home I bought a dozen Lucban Longganisa along Mabini. At least this won't fail me.

More posts soon!