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!

Food Network, San Pablo City

Food Network is a very new restaurant that opened practically within the last few weeks here in San Pablo City. I first noticed the place walking down Barleta St. coming from either Simple Treats or Middle Eats. It's located just a few meters down Barleta Street from the Q9 Tapsilogan.

I immediately noticed the very nice interiors, furniture and lighting. The place didn't look cheap. And when a place doesn't look cheap, to me that means the owners care about the quality of not only the ambiance of the place, but of the food as well.

Tonight Ilyn and I decided to go and try the place out. Inside it was even better. The place looks very nice, and very very clean. It's furnished very simply but elegantly. As I said before, the place didn't look cheap, but the food was surprisingly not that expensive.

Their menu is pretty extensive. They offer a lot of things, and I sense no particular theme. They have pizza, burgers, pasta, sandwiches, rice dishes, grilled dishes, salads, steaks, etc. It was so hard to pick because there was so much stuff that seemed interesting.

So how was the food?

Ilyn and I both had their House Blend Ice Tea, recommended by the waiter. We also both had Asparagus Soup. Ilyn had the Creamed Shrimp, while I had Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Mushroom.

The Asparagus Soup was pretty straightforward. There was nothing extraordinary about it, but it tasted nice and was served very hot. Which is just perfect because it was cold and raining outside. I really can't ask for more of any kind of soup.

The Iced Tea was kind of unusual. It was very frothy and seemed more like a shake rather than a straightforward drink. It tasted different but very nice.

We also both had the Paco Salad, which is a salad I recently cooked myself. So yeah, I guess my standards are pretty high right now when it comes to Paco Salad because I think I made a pretty good one. I'm not sure if they blanched the pako, which isn't really that big of an issue. It can be eaten blanched or not. It was actually very nice. The dressing was very light and didn't overpower the taste of the Pako. The only thing I wish it had was some sort of white cheese, either Kesong Puti or Feta Cheese. That would have made their salad extremely good.

The food didn't take too long to arrive, which is great. Ilyn really liked the Creamed Shrimp, and I really liked their Roast Chicken. I appreciate the effort they take in plating the food, which actually does affect your enjoyment of it although it doesn't really affect the taste in any way. The chicken was soft and very tasty and because I finished it all I must have really liked it.

After our meal they were very nice to offer us a complimentary plate of their special Nachos Salad. We must have liked it a lot too because even though we were already full, we still finished the entire plate. Ilyn thought that this could be better with a third dip that was spicy. I agree because I like spicy myself.

I wanted to have coffee afterwards but was told they only had 3-in-1. I think they would do well to invest even in a simple coffee maker or coffee press. Good brewed coffee in places like this is kind of expected nowadays.

All in all it was a very satisfactory first try. We had a nice time. The staff was very courteous and attentive. I definitely see myself coming back. The place seems a little too small now. At my count it could probably fit 12-15 people inside, plus a few more in the table outside. But it's good to start small, and just expand later on. If they continue to maintain their standards and improve a few more things here and there, I have no doubt they'll develop a loyal customer base from local San Pablo citizens who are looking for a better dining experience that what is locally common.

Their standards are up to there with places like Simple Treats and Middle Eats, and I think it's very nice that more and more of these type of home grown restaurants are popping up in San Pablo.

Food Network is open from 10am to 10pm.

Breakfast at KFC, Shell Mamplasan

We went to Manila yesterday and along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) we stopped by Shell at Mamplasan to have some breakfast. This was around 8 in the morning. We were glad to see that Kentucky Fried Chicken was not only open 24 hours, but they were also serving breakfast. This is new to me. I've never seen KFC's breakfast menu before.

Good thing they had a lot of chicken on the menu (well, obviously I guess). I had the Chicken Tocino, coffee and orange juice (above) while Ilyn had the Chicken Sausage.

The girl at the counter was kind of puzzled that we ordered a second drink (the orange juice) when we already had the coffee. Well, hello? If I start to get hiccupy from the food, do I glug down the scalding hot coffee? Of course I won't. In fairness, I get this puzzlement from many other food joints like this. I don't get it.

Anyway, the chicken tocino was good. It wasn't too salty and it was just sweet enough. I really have no complaints about that. I tasted Ilyn's chicken sausage, and I kind of liked the taste of that better. It had a very nice smoky flavor.

The coffee was revelation. I never really expect to get good coffee from fast food places like this, so this coffee took me completely by surprise. It was not only good, but it was pretty good! It had a really unique taste to it too. Since I always take my coffee black, sugar is really the only additive to it. I don't know it must be the combination of the coffee itself, the sugar and even the paper cup that brought about this unique taste that I found addicting. I don't usually finish a cup of coffee. Most of the time I really only finish half. But this time I finished it all. Next time I'll go to another KFC to see if all their coffee is like this or that one time was just a fluke.

Ok, here comes the bad.

I don't really have any complaints about the food or service... the restaurant itself had a big issue for me. It was hot inside, and it smelled kind of bad. I don't know if we just came in too early and they hadn't opened the AC yet, but it was hotter inside than it was outside. And the place had an almost overpowering bad smell that I  just can't describe. It smelled like various smells that have been left cooped up in an enclosed place for a little too long. It's actually enough for me not to want to go inside again, in spite of the nice coffee.

The Best Coffee in San Pablo City

To be more precise, the best coffee I've ever had in my life. Period.

Of course, taste differs from person to person, but as far as I'm concerned, this is the one I like best. This is the simple brewed coffee from Simple Treats Cafe, located at the end of P. Zulueta St, here in San Pablo City.

I've tasted a lot of coffees all around, including those of Starbucks, Figaro, Coffee Bean, Seattle's Best, Gloria Jeans and so on. I've even had some Starbucks in New York when I went there many years ago, and none them tastes as great as this coffee right here.

You can also get this coffee from CDC Cafe, also here in San Pablo City, which is owned by the same guy who owns Simple Treats, and both cafes operate the same type of coffee machine, using the same beans.

I'm not for fancy coffees like lattes, cappuccinos, frappes,and things like that. I like just simple black brewed coffee. That's coffee at its very basic. That's how you can tell if it's really good when it tastes great without any sort of additional flavor enhancers.

Next time you're in San Pablo, and you want some really good coffee, try this out!

Coffee Snob

Sometimes I can be such a coffee snob. I'd settle for nothing less than brewed coffee, so much so that I went ahead and planted my own coffee and cocoa plants. I had planned on growing the beans, roasting them, grinding and brewing them myself. Well, the coffee plants died out but the cocoa plants survived. They made for some awesome chocolate later on.

What I most commonly brew are barako beans I get from town, which is very very good. Very strong.

But then brewed coffee isn't always available, and when I get the urge during those times, I'd be perfectly happy with the instant stuff. I've tasted a lot of the instant coffee brands out there, and I think I've settled on two that I really liked.

Nescafe Gold: My favorite of all the Nescafe variations currently available. Nescafe used to have an Iced Coffee packet that they seemed to have phased out. It's too bad as I really liked it. 

Kopiko's Kopiccino: Instant cappuccino! Surprisingly good for something instant. I've seen this idea executed elsewhere, but it's nice to see it in a local brand.

Once in a while me and the wife would just go out and try out the cafes in town. I will probably write about my favorite coffee spots at some future article.