Wonderful Lunch at Mio Cucina, Los Baños

Whenever Ilyn and I want to go out on a "special" date, but don't feel like going to Tagaytay or Manila, we opt for Mio Cucina located in Los Baños. It really is one of the best restaurants in that town, bar none. It's a very small, very pretty restaurant from the inside. It also feels very homey and cozy and it's the perfect place to bring a date to.

For a small, quaint restaurant, it also a bit classy without being alienating. And although the food is generally something you see from other Filipino-themed restaurants, the quality of the food is so much better. We've ate here for many times now, trying different things and we have yet to be really disappointed.

Any meal comes with free appetizer (picture above) which includes Bonete and a variety of spreads. The last time we were here one of the spreads was something called "Sinantolan" made from finely chopped and mashed santol but santol might not be in season so we got butter and some kind of tomato salsa. It's very light in flavor and in the stomach. What more from an appetizer can I ask for? Some restaurants go crazy with their appetizers that it makes you quite full by the time your main meal arrives.

For our salad, we ordered Ensaladang Ampalaya (P165). Normally we would order Ensaladang Pako, but it was unavailable so we chose this instead. But having had Pako before, in the back of my mind I wanted to try something else so I was glad that it wasn't available. And it's a good thing too because this Ampalaya salad was just excellent. Not too many people know how to prepare Ampalaya right. People complain that it's too bitter, but it's only because it wasn't prepared properly. This Ampalaya, if I'm not mistaken, was pickled so it's a bit sweet. Combined with the tomato and kesong puti, it was so nice that I finished half of this in no time at all.

Feeling a bit hungry, I actually ordered another appetizer. This one is called Crispy Squid (P285). I wanted to try something else because I was a bit tired of the usual mushroom and garlic or the breaded calamares. I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this from the menu. It's a bit pricey but it's an experiment. Who knows, I might like it. And I did! The first bite of this was amazing. It's crispy because it's coated in caramelized sugar, which makes it tastes a little bit like dilis, but with that unmistakable squid flavor. Although I absolutely loved this, it's something I could not eat a lot of.  Medyo nakakaumay, would be the Tagalog term for it.

Ilyn's main dish is the Tortang Talong (P165). We were surprised when it arrived as a pair. As was usual with Mio, any traditional dish is usually elevated in quality, but this Torta might have been the exception. It was good, but there was nothing extra special about it. It tastes very much like other eggplant tortas we have had in other places, including here at home.

My main dish (which I can't seem to take a decent photo of) is the Hito in Coconut Milk (P225). Hito or Catfish is a favorite fish of mine. Ilyn hates it though. I usually have it grilled or fried, but rarely cooked in coconut milk. I had it once like that here at home and it was so fatty. I wanted to try and see how Mio prepares it.

And Mio surprised me again by how good it was. No, it was excellent. The flavor is very subtle, which is a quality that I like in any dish. It's not fatty at all, which is good. I finished all of it and ended up looking for more.

If you are looking for a nice place to have a date with your special someone and you're in the area, I wholeheartedly recommend Mio Cucina. They have this little cove inside their little restaurant that's perfect for couples. It's intimate and the food is really good. I recommend that you call for reservations though, because it does tend to become full at certain times. You can call them at (049)5363311. They're located behind Community Cable, 10395 Lopez Ave, on the left side going to UPLB.

Excellent Ribs at Samuel's Plate Gastropub, San Pablo City

As promised, here's a write-up of our first ever visit to Samuel's Plate Gastropub, which opened April 8 here in San Pablo City. It's actually not that hard to find. It's at San Roque near Teacher's village.

I've got a lot more good things to say about our visit than bad.

First thing that caught my eye was of course, their newly constructed building. They didn't rent a space. They actually built an entire new building just for this new restaurant. That may seem usual for a franchise like say McDonald's or Jollibee, but Samuel's is not a franchise. It's a completely local establishment. To me that means they're willing to invest a lot and to me that means they believe in their business.

That's reflected right away in the placemat set up (photo above). They had specially made placemats and napkins. And the napkins themselves aren't cheap one ply tissues. Those were good quality napkins! What other local business does that? Hardly anyone else, I'm sure!

The ground floor is more of a receiving area than a dining area, much of the space being taken up by the kitchen. Their main dining area is located on the second floor. When we arrived, we had to wait for some 10 minutes or so in this receiving area because the dining area upstairs was full. That was OK because it allowed me to study their menu quite closely.

Later upstairs, I ordered their smoked house ribs with a side of chili beans and potato mash. Ilyn ordered the Laguna Sampler and Puttanesca.

First, the Laguna Sampler. It's hot pandesal with three types of palaman. Kesong puti, tuyo confit and some kind of tomato salsa. Each palaman was excellent in their own way. The kesong puti wasn't salty, the tuyo was crunchy and the tomato was nicely flavored. I personally liked the tuyo because previous gourmet tuyo I've had wasn't as nicely crunchy as this.

Ilyn says she really liked their Puttanesca. Puttanesca is one of Ilyn's favorite dishes so her standards here are pretty high. Her one big issue with dishes like this is that the flavor of fish (usually anchovy) is oftentimes not that noticeable, which is an essential component of puttanesca. She seems pretty satisfied with it overall.

Now for my dish!

The smoked house ribs arrived with my preferred sides Chili Beans and Potato mash. It usually comes with rice, but I didn't want rice so they gladly replaced with it with their house mashed potato. I was just moving the ribs to the side to get a taste of the potato when the meat just fell off the bone. I thought holy cow, that meat's tender! I tasted a bit of the ribs with the potato and it's like smoky heaven in my mouth. I'm not really that much of a ribs eater, but this was just amazing. I had ribs at another place before and I didn't like it because it was too salty. This was marinated and seasoned just right. I just absolutely LOVED it!

Having looked at the menu earlier, I was already thinking of what to order the next time. I'll probably try their bolognese. Or maybe their labuyo wings to see if it's really that spicy. Ilyn wants to try their soups, which were not available when we were there.

The staff was incredibly friendly, courteous and accommodating. The food and check came at a reasonable time, so I have no complaints about that.

Do I really have anything bad to say about Samuel's Plate? Nothing about the food, of course. But more about the building itself. Having developed mobility issues in recent years, I've become more aware of accessibility for handicapped people at establishments I go to. Although Samuel's does provide a ramp for people entering the building into their ground floor, There is, unfortunately, no access for the disabled from the the ground floor to their second floor, which is the main dining area. I've had no choice but to use the stairs, which was kind of hard.

Now if they are going to have the second floor as a main dining area, the stairs have to be appealing to climb and have a good design. Being an Architect myself, I noticed this right away. Their stairs may conform to the minimum in the building code, but I found it too narrow and too steep and not that appealing to climb.

A quick and inexpensive solution to their problem would be to open the ground floor as a dining area to PWD and older people. They already have tables and chairs there so that wouldn't be a problem. A much better solution would be a more expensive one, which is to install either an escalator or an elevator. Since that wasn't part of the original design, that would be difficult, but not impossible to do.

This next bit is more of a suggestion. I was secretly hoping that Samuel's would be offering steak in their menu. To be honest, there's no really good steak places here in San Pablo. The only place I know that offers steak is Simple Treats (April 15 edit: Si Christina now also offers steak: Angus Porterhouse: P1,100), but it's just OK. The price of those steaks are around 350 pesos, so that should give you an idea of the kind of meat and the quality of it. I was hoping Samuel's would be the first to offer inch thick rib eyes. I wouldn't mind paying P1K and upwards for steak like that as long as its good. And steak seems like a perfect fit for the kind of menu they have. Since they don't offer it, of course, that's not a point against them. They have good food and I'm happy with what they offer!

Apart from that, Samuel's is an excellent place to eat, and probably one of the best restaurants in San Pablo City. We do plan on coming back. The quality of their food and service is worth the pain of climbing the stairs. :)

Sisig at Ranzbasty, San Pablo City

A new restaurant just opened within the last week here in San Pablo City called "Ranzbasty, Kapampangan Cuisine". It's located along Mabini St. very near across Doctor's Hospital. It's practically next door to the previously reviewed Hungry Gorilla Burger.

Ilyn and I decided to try it out and see what's so "Kapampangan" about the place and what makes it so unique from other local restaurants. A cursory glance at the menu board surprised us with really inexpensive prices. But the menu items themselves are nothing that you haven't seen in any kind of Filipino themed restaurant. I was kind of hoping I would see things like Betute or Kamaro, both well known Kapampangan specialties. But whatever was there, we decided to try out. There are a lot of things that are not on the menu but are available including Kare-Kare and Crispy Pata. But I decided on getting Tocino, because I know that Tocino is a Kapampangan invention and I was curious if there was anything special about their version. Ilyn got the veggies of course, a plate of Pinakbet and surprisingly enough, a sizzling plate of Sisig.

The Tocino Rice (P49) came with rice, sunny side up egg and a small portion of tocino. I guess I shouldn't be surprised based on the price, but taste-wise, it tastes just like any other tocino. Nothing really special there.

Sisig (P120) is another Kapampangan invention and Ilyn had always wanted to try it out. I always told her to wait until we are at a relatively authentic Kapampangan place before she tries it so she won't be disappointed. Now I don't know if the sisig served to us (pictured above) is actually authentic, but it did look good.

And wow, it also tasted really really good. Ilyn was surprised that she liked it as much as she did. She's not a big meat eater. She's a veggies person through and through. So for her to actually volunteer to try this dish of innards and things unspeakable was one thing, for her to really like it is quite an achievement. I myself eat sisig rarely, but this is one best I've tasted. It's got freshness from the greens and chilies and salty crunchiness from the meat that's been toasted by the sizzling hot plate. It's amazing.

I didn't get to taste the Pinakbet (P109), but Ilyn assures me it's really good. The vegetables were firm and not overcooked (she hates it if veggies are overcooked).

We also got an order of Leche Flan (P80). We were both surprised that it was actually a really big order. We only got to finish less than half. As Leche Flans go, this was firmer than most. A little bit firmer and it would have the consistency of pudding. But it tastes really good.

All in all we were really satisfied with our meal. I probably won't have the Tocino again. Next time we'll probably try the Bopis and Diniguan to see if they're as good as the Pinakbet and Sisig.

Awesome Korean Meals at Cook-Eat, San Pablo City

I first learned about Cook-Eat as me and Ilyn were passing the place aboard a tricycle. I said to Ilyn, look, the old liquor place is now a restaurant. And it's true. This new resto is located where we used to buy wine. If you're at the San Pablo City Fire Station, just start walking up the road towards the Iglesia ni Kristo and you can't miss this place, located on the left side of the road, across Human Heart Nature.

We first tried this a few days ago and had their Bulgogi set, which includes beef, vegetables and a slew of side dishes including soup, dilis, peanuts, kimchi, pickled cucumber, spicy sayote, bean sprouts, potatoes, vegetable lumpia and a desert of mango jello. Being new at this, we asked one of the wait staff to do the grilling for us and he did.

To be completely honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the Bulgogi. I thought there was something lacking in the taste. The beef was chewy. I didn't like the soup. Mango jello seemed to be made of instant mango than actual real mangoes. But the kimchi was really, really good, as well as the pickled cucumbers. That being said for a meal that fed both Ilyn and me rather well, I thought P399 for everything was rather cheap.

I was a bit more happy when we visited the second time. Actually, we were more than happy. I thought our meals the second time around were amazing. Ilyn ordered the Bibimbap with an extra side order of pickled cucumber:

Ilyn really liked it. To me it looked like Tapsilog with 5 different types of atsara. Which is exactly what Bibimbap is, I think. I mean, it's true! There's the beef, which is both salty and sweet. I asked to taste the beef and it was really really soft. I really liked it. There's the rice and sunny side up egg. Then there's an assortment of side dishes including bean sprouts, carrot and a few leafy things I can't tell what they were but Ilyn says tasted really good.

Meanwhile, I had the Ramyun, with an extra side dish of kimchi, which I didn't know already came with a small side dish of kimchi:

The broth was just AMAZING. It tasted really thick, beefy, with a slight hint of anise and just the right amount of spiciness. The beef itself is really soft with a slightly more anise taste. The noodles were cooked perfectly right and complemented the soup really well. There were a couple types of mushroom in there as well a couple of slices of tofu. One of the best ramen noodles I've tasted in a while.

By the way, I don't know what they use for rice here, but it's really really good. One of the best tasting rice I've had as in literally anywhere. What is this magical rice? They must tell me!

I see myself coming back to this place and try their hotpot! Next time soon, Cook-Eat!

Here's Cook-Eat's Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/CookEatSPC/