Feijoada

Feijoada is a dish I've learned of only recently through a long time online pal of mine from Brazil, Bira Dantas. I finally met Bira in person early in October during a comics festival in Algeria. Like many cartoonists I met at the festival, Bira was extremely proud of his culture and he wasted no time sharing all the great things he loved about Brazil. Food was of course, one of those things.

He invited me to visit him in Brazil and if ever I found myself there, he would cook Feijoada for me. He described it to me and the bean and meat lover in me immediately stood at attention. I love beans and I love meat, although they really don't love me back. These things are full of uric acid you see, and uric acid is something I'm trying avoid. It's the cause of gout and other arthritis-related ailments. And I've had a problem with gout for quite a while.

Nevertheless I wanted to try this out. Feijoada is composed mostly of beans and assortment of meats from bacon, to smoked ham, to sausages, etc. So yeah, in this house this is alternately called "Uric Acid Surprise".

I don't have access to a few authentic ingredients so I decided to just replace them with what's available here in the Philippines. These is is the set of ingredients I decided upon:

150 grams black beans
1/4 kilo bacon
300 grams kielbasa sausage
5 pieces San Pablo longganisa
1/4 kilo smoked ham
1 piece chopped T-bone
1 big white onion chopped
5 cloves garlic minced
chopped parsley for garnishing

I had difficulty finding black beans locally. What's available mostly are red kidney beans and pinto beans. I've had to go to Healthy Options to find a bag of black beans which were organic (which is I suppose, a good thing) and kind of expensive (oh well). Of course I could have just as easily replaced the black beans with some other kind of bean, but if I can get black beans then I would rather go with that since that is what is specified traditionally.

To add a Filipino touch, I used locally available sausages like the native longganisa. I also had a frozen T-bone steak lying around so I thought I'd just throw that in.

OK, here's how I did it (with some tips from Chef John of Food Wishes):

I first submerged the black beans in water overnight. The following day, I drained the beans, placed them on a deep pot with 4 cups of water. I chopped up the T-bone and threw that in (including the bones) and boiled it for 2 hours. I brought the pot to a boil in high heat then brought down the heat to low as soon as it started boiling. In the first few minutes of boiling, scum rose to the top so I removed all of that.

Around 15 minutes before the 2 hours are up, I chopped the garlic and onion. I sauteed that in some oil (you can fry up some bacon and sautee the garlic and onion in that if you like). I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I cooked the longganiza in oil until it was browned and chopped that. If you are using uncooked meat at this point, you better cook it first before throwing it in.

At the 2 hour mark, I placed the sauteed onion and garlic into the pot of boiling water and beans, threw in all the meat, added one and a half cups of water. I turned the heat to high once again, and once it starts boiling, I brought the heat back to low. I continued simmering for another hour, with occasional stirring.

Before the hour is up, I mashed up some of the beans in the pot with a potato masher. This will help make the liquid a bit thicker.

I served my Feijoada topped with chopped parsley with rice. (Traditionally topped with orange peels so you can go with that if you like.)

Chawarma at Algiers, Algeria

Ilyn and I recently had an opportunity to travel abroad. We visited two countries, Algeria and France. Being food nuts we were excited at the opportunity to try authentic dishes from both countries.

In Algeria we stayed at the Hotel Safir, which is known as an "International" hotel, As such, they normally serve international cuisine. We were in Algeria for a comics festival and our meals there were "set" meals. Meaning, what they give you, that's what you eat. For the most part, they served attempts at international cuisine. Steaks, pasta, all all that kind of stuff. And honestly, they weren't really that good.

Ilyn and I decided that if we ever want to taste authentic Algerian food, we have to go out of the hotel and eat where the locals eat.

So during our last day in Algiers we went for a walk and found this place that had this familiar vertical meat spit. Here in the Philippines that meant "shawarma".

I thought, hey, I have to see what shawarma in Algeria tastes like! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the name of the restaurant, but I did see a big sign inside the store that said "CHAWARMA", so I guess that's what they call that there.

Algerian people speak French and a local native language, none of which I know. So it was pretty difficult to communicate. But all I did was point to the spit, and the dude (pictured above) immediately knew we wanted to eat. We proceeded to sit at one of the tables. The dude approached us and asked us what we wanted and we said well, "Chawama".... and he was making all these kinds of gesticulations with his hand and saying stuff we don't understand. Apparently, he's asking us something specific about what we wanted. He was drawing circles in the air and my best solution is to just say yes to everything.

He then asked us to move and transfer to another table. I didn't understand at first why. Then we moved to another table. And then he asked us to move again. I was scratching my head at this point because he was pointing us towards the wall. He wanted us to go to the wall? What?

And then I saw that next to the wall was a very small stairway going downstairs. They wanted us to go downstairs? But why? I hesitated for a moment, and then I went ahead downstairs... and then I understood. The downstairs area was airconditioned. Ah OK.

We were all alone downstairs in this basement dining area for a while before the dude brought us our food. And it was on a plate. Apparently, they serve chawarma two ways. On a bread or on a plate. That was what he was tying to ask us earlier. When he drew circles in the air, he was drawing a plate. So when I said yes, he understood that to mean we wanted our chawarma on a plate.

That was just fine. We loved all the little side dishes that came with it! There were beets, olives, carrots, cucumber, pickles, chopped cabbage, fries, and well, mayonnaise. They don't use that creamy and spicy garlic sauce that we use over here.

And man, the meat was just incredibly nice and flavorful. Ilyn and I both loved it. And the side dishes complimented the meat perfectly. It was one of the best meals I've had in Algeria. We took our time eating it because it was quite a lot! I was already full halfway through. Computing it to our money here in the Philippines, one set of the plated Chawarma  and Fanta drink amounted to something like P250 pesos, but it's definitely worth it! Specially since it came with a complimentary plate or bread.

More food adventures in Algeria and France coming soon!

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.

Jollibee's Ultimate Burger Steak And Why I No Longer Want It. (UPDATED)

UPDATE (December 2014): Hey, what do you know? They now include mashed potatoes with their Ultimate Burger Steak! YEAH! Now I like it again. I recently tried it and I loved it, although it still included fries, and the mashed potatoes just wasn't enough. I wanted more! Hopefully, I can order extra next time!

Yes! I'm back from a bit of a hiatus on this blog, and I'm back with a RANT! Yes, a RANT. You know I kinda like Jollibee's burgers, and this Ultimate Burger steak is no exception. I really like it, apart from the damned soggy fries.

Whoever thought it would be nice to put the burger steak on top of fries and drown it in gravy must have confused "fries" with "mashed potatoes", which is well, NOT THE SAME THING.

Drown mashed potatoes in gravy YES. That's AWESOME. More gravy, please!

Drown fries in gravy? Well, that's just STUPID. Who wants to eat soggy, limp fries? I don't know. Certainly not me!

I solved my problem by asking the clerks at the counter to separate the fries when the prepare it for me. That really shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, yes, for the most part. The couple times I was able to request this I came away really happy.

Well, a while ago, I went back to Jollibee (this is the branch here in San Pablo City next to the SPC Medical Center), ordered Ultimate Burger Steak and requested the same thing. Please separate the fries.

The manager downright said "NO". And then offered to separate the gravy instead. Huh? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? I don't get the logic. I don't understand what sense that makes. Are they saving on paper (the paper bag that comes with separating fries)? But then they are using an extra plastic cup if they wish to separate the gravy. Again, I don't understand.

We told the manager we were able to ask to separate the fries before and then the manager went off and angrily scolded his staff for separating the fries. "WE DON'T SEPARATE FRIES!!"  wtf. I mean, wtf.

Jollibee SPC Medical has just earned its special place in Bizarro world.

I complained about this online to Jollibee's customer service, but not having received any reply, I'm posting this here for everyone to read.

I'm not buying any more Ultimate Burger Steaks in that branch. Or maybe not at any branch anymore.

You know, I can be asked the same thing. What's the difference if Jollibee wants to separate the gravy instead? Well, genius...it's the fact that they refuse to grant a customer's request, which is in my opinion, not really unreasonable. I can pay for the God damned extra paper bag if they want because that's HOW I WANT IT. I eat my food how *I* want it, and not how *they* want it.

Maybe I'll just stick to the CHAMP. Sorry Jollibee. Your twisted sense of logic has lost you an Ultimate Burger Steak customer.

Jambalaya

I've cooked this once before but I wasn't in a blogging mood back then. I decided to try again and now I thought I'd write everything down. This recipe is more or less heavily inspired by Chef John's Jambalaya Recipe without much modifications aside from doubling the quantities.

I didn't make any adaptations to make the recipe more Filipino by replacing ingredients with more familiar ones. I didn't replace the sausage with longganisa for instance. As far as I know I've used  ingredients they do use from its place of origin.

For instance, I would not have attempted to do this without Andouille Sausages. That is the one ingredient a true jambalaya can't do without. So when I found a couple of packages of Andouille Sausages in a deli in Manila, I decided I'll cook this recipe again.

These are my ingredients:

500 grams Andouille Sausages, cut into circles.
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
400 grans can Capri whole peeled tomatoes
2 large green bell pepper, chopped into cubes
4 sticks celery sliced thinly
1 bunch green onions, sliced thinly
2 cups rice
6 cups chicken broth
750 grams shrimp, peeled and cleaned

This is how you do it:  At medium heat melt the butter in a deep pot and sautee the Andouille sausages for 3 minutes. Add the paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper and continue stirring for the next 2 minutes. Add the bay leaves, salt and the tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with your big spoon and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the bell pepper, celery and most of the green onions (reserve some for toppings later). Stir for a couple of minutes.

Clean the rice and add it to the pot. Add the 6 cups of chicken broth, cover, and allow to simmer at low heat for 45 minutes.

There is a danger that rice will stick at the bottom of the pot so it might do you well to stir this every once in a while. 6 cups of chicken broth to 2 cups of rice might seem a lot, but you'll be surprised how all that liquid will get absorbed within the next 20 or so minutes, so much so that you might want to add small amounts of water here and there so it won't dry out completely.

Keep tasting it if you need to add salt and to check if the rice is cooked or not.

Once you think the rice is just about to be cooked, add the shrimp, and keep stirring  for the next few minutes.Medium sized shrimp should be cooked in about 3-4 minutes. Just keep cooking until the rice is completely cooked and soft.

Once it's done, place your Jambalaya on a serving dish and sprinkle on the remaining green onion on top.

David's Tea House, San Pablo CIty

My mom has been bugging me about eating at this new restaurant that was under construction for the past few weeks at Puregold, San Pablo City. It came to the point that she was bugging me almost everyday why the place wasn't open yet and of course I had no answer.

Personally, I'm always on the lookout for a new place to eat here in the city, and when I saw that David's Tea House was the name of the restaurant, I immediately looked it up online. It's one of many branches of a Chinese themed restaurant, and their menu looked really promising. To be quite honest, I was very excited. We do have a few Chinese themed restaurants in town, but David's Tea House looks like it's the most hardcore of the bunch. Hardcore meaning their menu is very deep with a lot of exotic and authentic Chinese dishes.

When I learned it had finally opened yesterday, I immediately set a date with the family to have lunch the following day, today.

I was so excited that I probably ordered more than we could possibly eat, but I wanted to try a lot of things and of course, we could have leftovers bagged for dinner. Some of the things had aside from the Seaweed and Century Egg pictured above were:

Hot and Sour Soup

One Half Fried Chicken

One Half Yang Chow Fried Rice and Beef with Ampalaya

Dimsum Platter

Hakaw

Shanghai Spring Rolls

Steamed Lapu-Lapu

WHEW! That was a lot huh? But I tasted them all, and all of them were pretty good.

I do have to give special mention to the Seaweed and Century Egg, which was just fantastic. I've never had seaweed before, at least not like this one. I was half expecting the green rubbery stems with tiny little balls, so this was some other kind of seaweed. It was served cold, which was a surprise. But as I said, it tasted quite extraordinary. Everyone on the table liked it.

Also, the the Century Egg was thankfully free of the ammonia smell that usually accompanies this type of egg. And that's how I like it. As dishes go, I give this 5 stars. I don't give this often, so that's probably saying something.

As for the rest, as I mentioned, they were perfectly good. I liked everything, specially the Hakaw and other items on the Dimsum Platter. The Hot and Sour soup was subtlety sour and not overpowering.

Their house tea (which is a complimentary item) was very nice. I was surprised it was Jasmine Tea. Normally, I hate Jasmine Tea because it smells like a Filipino wake. You know that smell. Similar to Sampaguita. That smell creeps me out now and depresses me. I don't want to be drinking anything that smells like that as well. But this Jasmine tea was nothing like that. When told it was Jasmine, I did start to notice subtle hints of it, but it wasn't enough to bother me.

I've really got nothing to complain about. The wait staff was very very attentive. They were very nice and even helped my mom and dad place food on their plates. The food arrived in a timely manner and we didn't have to wait for too long.

The only thing that disappointed me was that they didn't have any duck dishes. In fairness, it's not on their menu. It's not even on the menu on their website. But they do have a photo of it at that same website so it only made me wonder. I asked why they didn't have it, and they said that not enough people order the duck and the stocks just go to waste. Oh well.

Nevertheless, we had a great time. The food was great, and now my mom can stop bugging me.

Yep! Looks like we're a pretty happy bunch, specially my mom.

We definitely plan on coming back, specially me and Ilyn, to try their other dishes.

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.