My family and I went to try Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant last night for Sunday dinner.  We’ve heard a lot of good things about this restaurant and decided to finally give it a try.  It surprised me a bit that Dad was the one who suggested we eat Chinese food for dinner, since usually we opt for Japanese or Filipino dishes whenever he’s home from China.

The interiors of the restaurant was pretty decent, although it’s definitely not your high class type of Chinese restaurant.  Some of their utensils have already shown serious wear and tear (as in the case of their soup’s serving spoons, which had some areas already chipped off, but was still given to customers).

Before I show you the things we ordered that evening, let me just warn you that the photos for this post are of poorer quality compared to my other posts.  I forgot to bring my Nikon with me.   Anyway, here goes:

Jellyfish with Century Eggs (海蜇与松花蛋)

The meal started off with this standard appetizer in Chinese restaurants.  I know a lot of people (even some of my Chinese friends) do not like eating this because of its chewy texture, but our family enjoyed this a lot.  I guess it’s an acquired taste.

Pork Asado (Char Siew/叉烧) and Lechon Macau

I seriously enjoyed munching on the crispy skin of the Lechon Macau, but found the Char Siew to be too sweet for me to really like it.

Chicken Asparagus Soup (鸡片芦笋汤)

I’m not a very big fan of this type of soup to start with, so I am a bit biased when I say that I didn’t like it very much.  My Dad thought it was pretty good though.

Yang Chow Fried Rice (扬州炒饭)

I had pretty high expectations for this dish, probably because we used to eat this a lot when our own restaurant was still open.  We found this a little bland, but was still okay.

Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

I love Mapo Tofu for its spicy kick, so it was easy for me to say that I DID NOT like Luck Garden’s version of the Sichuan dish.  The entire family agreed that it was sweet, nothing spicy about it at all.  Another thing that made this disappointing:  Too much cornstarch.

Polunchay (Chinese spinach/菠菜) with 2 kinds of eggs

This vegetable dish doesn’t look very appetizing because of the very thick sauce, but it wasn’t really that bad. The two kinds of eggs they used were your regular chicken egg and century eggs. Oh, and see those huge brown things in the picture?  Those are actually fried garlic cloves.

Fish Fillet Bean Curd (鱼片豆腐)

I wasn’t a big fan of this hotpot dish.  My brother and I agreed that it wasn’t salty enough and came out tasting sweet.

Hot Tea for drinks!

In our opinion, there are three areas wherein Luck Garden could improve on: (1) take proper control in using thickening agents for their dishes.  We are very aware that Chinese cooking usually involve the use of cornstarch (or other types of flour) to thicken their sauces, but it becomes very difficult to eat dishes which have gone already overboard.

(2) Learn to season their dishes better.  More heat for spicy dishes like Mapo Tofu (just like how it’s supposed to be); use a bit more salt and less sugar (for cases like the Fish Fillet Bean Curd and Yang Chow Fried Rice).

(3) Train their service staff a bit more.  We’ve observed that a number of their service crew still lacks training in terms of proper service.  Some of the staff are not observant and lack initiative when waiting tables.  Some of them don’t tell you what type of dish they’re serving:  They go to your table, put the dish on it without any finesse and leave you in a rush.  One other thing, they don’t look very neat in their uniforms either.  Improving on this area will definitely add to the pleasantness of dining there.

Here’s the final verdict:  Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant’s food is a little more decent compared to the other Chinese restaurants that have sprouted all over the metro.  I’ll give that to them.  Will I find myself eating there again?  The answer is probably yes, but it still haven’t been able to make the top of my list when I think about Chinese food. A little tweaking here and there and I think they’ll be able to become a lot better.

***Luck Garden Seafood Restaurant is located at Kanlaon Street, corner Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.  It’s right beside Burger King Welcome Rotonda branch.

My latest addiction.

Php75.00/100g at Candy Corner

Today is exactly one month since I was last able to take part in preparing and serving family dinners.  The last one being the sumptuous New Year’s dinner we had. I didn’t exactly take part in any of the cooking (Mons did that), but was there when we were shopping for ingredients and at the setting of the table.

The only point of this blog entry is exactly that: I miss being able to cook for the family.

I will remedy this situation by trying to sneak in more time to cook this year.  For now, I’d have to stay put and share this long overdue set of pictures from the New Year’s dinner of 2010:

Clockwise: Pasta Putannesca, Lemon Chicken with Capers, Russian Potato Salad from Conti’s,

Smoked Salmon with onions and capers served with crackers and Two Cheeses (Gruyere and Camembert)

For drinks: soda and Asti Martini

Dessert: Vanilla Almond ice cream from the Selecta Gold Series

I spent last Sunday’s afternoon at Greenbelt 5 with The Boyfriend, enjoying frozen yogurt and a bit of shopping.  I haven’t been to Greenbelt/Glorietta for quite some time, and noticed that a couple of new places have already opened (Gelatissimo) and closed for renovations (La Maison).  After hours of checking items from different shops, it was time for us to get some food.

Dinner was a toss up between Mr. Jones or Go Greek! We haven’t tried eating food from both places and were hearing different opinions about them.  In the end, the Mediterranean food won and we headed over to Glorietta 4’s Food Choices.  Upon ordering, we noticed that Go Greek! was oddly reminiscent of Cyma:  The taste of the food, the presentation of the gyro, the sauces… I guess the only major difference is the serving size.

Here are the things we ordered:

Chicken Gyro (Php95.00)

Lamb Chop Platter (Php195.00).  This came with rice and a side salad.

Blueberry Yogurt Shake (Php120.00)

I’m not sure if Go Greek! is supposed to be the budget-friendly version of Cyma (in the same way that Bigoli looks like it’s from Fazoli), but it was a pretty satisfying meal. It now joins the ranks of New Bombay, House of Mini’s, World Chicken and La Pia Dina in my options for food whenever I’m in Glorietta and looking for good food that’s easy on the pocket.

The first half of January 2010 started out pretty well for me.  A good friend of mine is pregnant with her 3rd child, out of town trips are being planned for the following months, managed to watch Sherlock Holmes (excellent!) and Avatar (not really my cup of tea) despite a grueling work schedule, and had a fantastic food-filled Sunday with my high school friends:

Photos taken during lunch at The Flying Pig and dessert at California Berry (Both along Timog, QC)

How was the first two weeks of YOUR 2010?

Here’s to more great food to discover and places to visit!  Wishing you guys a fabulous 2010!

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I was able to have dinner with The Boyfriend and our friend, Mike, last Sunday night.  We decided to try eating at The Sicilian Express, which I’ve heard of before but never really tried yet.  We arrived there a little before 7p.m. and was able to secure good seats.  If we arrived a few minutes later, we wouldn’t have any seats.  The place was packed, with one the probable reasons being that it was a pretty small pizza place.

The three of us had great conversation over dinner; we covered everything from the everyday things to work-related topics.  I have to say that The Sicilian Express is very home-style.  Nothing overtly special, but still comforting in some way.  Here’s what we ordered:

Chicken Wings (5 pieces with dipping sauce, around Php160). This tasted very much like the fried chicken your Mom would prepare for you.

Lasagna al Forno (To share, approximately Php180.00). This lasagna was made of pork instead of beef, so yes, I was able to enjoy a chunk of this dish.  This came with 2 slices of  focaccia bread, which was a little too salty, but still tolerable.

Shrimp and Salmon Pizza (14″ at around Php380.00). This pizza was a bit of a disappointment because there were very small pieces of shrimp on top, and I could barely see any of the salmon either.

We didn’t order any dessert after the meal, but we all felt very full.  I didn’t expect us to finish the entire 14″-pizza (especially since we weren’t very hungry when we arrived), but we did!  It was a fun evening, and it’s definitely something I wouldn’t mind doing again anytime soon!

***The Sicilian Express have branches at Tomas Morato, A.Venue Mall, McKinley, Dapitan, Ortigas and Katipunan.

After months of not being able to meet up with my high school friends, we finally had a chance to catch up over Sunday lunch and coffee.  We decided to meet up at Il Terrazzo along Tomas Morato in Quezon City at noon and had lunch at 8 Spices Thai Restaurant.  It was my first time there as I usually end up dining at Omakase whenever I’m at Il Terrazzo.

After the first few minutes of exchanging our excited Hello’s and How-Have-You-Been’s, we decided to place our orders with the waiting staff.  Here are the things we had that afternoon:

Thai Iced Tea Special (Php75.00 per glass)

Thai Iced Coffee (Php75.00 per glass). This one tasted much like your ordinary instant coffee.  I wonder why.

Bagoong Fried Rice (Php275.00 per platter)

Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Php260.00)

Pork in Yellow Curry (Php350.00 for Large)

Pad Thai with Egg (Php240.00). This looked a lot like a huge omelette!

Yam Pla Poo (Crispy Fish with Mango Salad, Php385.00)

The food from 8 Spices tasted very ordinary for me and my friends.  It wasn’t bad, but none of the dishes really stood out.  Another thing we noticed was that the prices were pretty high for such small servings.  An example would be the pork curry which had a lot of sauce (maybe soup would be the right term), but had only a handful of meat and vegetables.  This is also true for the Chicken dish.

Despite not being completely satisfied with the meal itself, we still left the restaurant with full stomachs and fantastic moods.  Being with good friends and having great conversation really helped a lot!

***8 Spices Thai Restaurant is located at the 2nd floor of Il Terrazzo Building along Tomas Morato corner Sct. Madriñan QC.

I’ve been busy with work these past few weeks, but I feel that spending a few minutes to say my Thank You’s to two people are more than enough reason to stay up a little later than the usual bedtime.  First, there’s Auntie Lily who brought home Desobry Belgian Chocolate Delights from her trip to Canada.   These are lovely little chocolate biscuits decorated with Belgian dark chocolate or white and milk chocolate. I prefer the dark chocolate ones, which came with coffee filling. YUM!

Another Thank You goes to my older brother, Mons, who finished the entire Starbucks Planner promo card in a few days in order to get me the 2010 Starbucks planner.  What will I do without you, Brother Dear?

Mons got me the ones with the espresso on the cover, which is exactly what I wanted.  Don’t worry, I have no plans of collecting all three editions of the 2010 planner.  This one’s enough for me (although I’d still help my friends complete their own promo cards!).

I have to say that I ADORE this lovely detail/bookmark of the Starbucks planner.  It was a lovely surprise, and I personally think I like it as much as I like the six (6) coupons that came with the planner!

when everyone is hurrying to grab themselves a cup of joe (or frappe) at Starbucks to get their cards stamped!  The Christmas promo for the 2010 Limited Edition Starbucks planner starts today (and ends on the 6th of January 2010) at all Starbucks branches in the Philippines.  Like the previous years, you get a free sticker if you get your cards early during the promo.

Accumulate 17 stickers and get your 2010 planner when you surrender your promo card.  You need 9 Holiday Featured Beverages (Dark Cherry Mocha, Toffee Nut Latte and Peppermint Mocha) and 8 regular beverages to complete the card.  Remember that bottled drinks, juices and bottled water are NOT included in the promo.

If you’re into collecting Starbucks Limited Edition Planners, I strongly suggest you to start getting those stickers now.  Enjoy your coffee!