Yomenya Goemon

This relatively new Japanese fusion restaurant Yomenya Goemon is located in Greenbelt 3, right where the old Super Bowl restaurant used be.  Their specialty?  Japanese spaghetti and pizza!  You can have a choice of truly Asian flavors (Japanese and even Filipino adaptations), or you can have a basically Italian pasta dish, tweaked with Japanese twists!  I was waiting for Vicky to finish with her meeting, so I walked in to try their Mediterranean seafood tomato creme spaghetti soup, show here--

I like the display windows of Japanese restaurants--food is shown in 3D, and prices are usually shown, so you know exactly how much to bring.  In this case, prepare some P500 for snack time and maybe P700 if you like to have some variety.  Meals come in piping hot and the staff are very courteous and well-trained.  On the one hand, fusion food is very interesting, as blends always come with pleasant surprises.  On the other hand, I can have only so much of fusion food--I will always go back to the original flavors!  Try it and see.

MIddleton

This is powerful fire water!  Christmas day, at the house of Vicky's aunt in Sucat, I had the chance to try Midleton Irish Whiskey which I understand is produced in only 50 casks annually.  Good stuff, very smooth I must say, but it doesn't come cheap (roughly US$150 per bottle I hear).  This blended whiskey is bottled by Irish Distillers, a subsidiary of the French beverage conglomerate Pernod Ricard which in turn carries the iconic brands Absolut Vodka and Chivas Regal.

Peanut Butter Company

Arrived in Makati an hour early for my 10am meeting and decided to hang around the Paseo Center (this used to be the old IBM Building) along Paseo de Roxas.  Since I just needed to kill time, I decided on a light sandwich at the Peanut Butter Company.  You guessed it alright, I had half a peanut butter sandwich (P35).  The place also has some light meals, and the interesting sandwich was the peanut butter burger, which I will try next time around.  They also have lots of flavored peanut butter (exciting flavors include cinnamon & curry) which are sold in jars.

Callos

Here's my take on that favorite Spanish stew callos which is done in the lazy "throw-it-in" style--

1/2 kilo ox tail
1/2 kilo pig's feet, cleaned & cut
1/2 kilo ox tripe, cleaned & cut into bite-size strips
1/2 kilo beef tendon, cut into bite-size bits
1 medium can garbanzos (chick peas)
3 carrots, cubed
8 garlic heads, peeled & fast crushed (pound it with flat side of your knife)
1 medium can red pimentos, cut into bite-site bits
1 can of Chorizo de Bilbao (Purefoods is okay), cut into rounds
1/4 kilo cubed Chinese ham (Excellente, Adelina's or Majestic)
3 cans, liver spread (liverwurst)
1 1/2 liters tomato sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 beef cubes
3 onions, quartered
2 oranges, juiced

Sprinkle orange juice over ox tail, pig's feet, tripe and tendon.  Marinade for around 30 minutes and bring to a boil for 15 minutes with 2 liters of water.  Set aside.

In a large heavy cauldron, saute garlic and onions in olive oil.  Add in Chorizo de Bilbao and Chinese Ham.  Stir-fry for 3 minutes in high heat until aroma comes out.  Add beef cubes, paprika, nutmeg.  Simmer for another 3 minutes in medium heat.

Add the ox tail, pig's feet, tripe, tendon and broth to the cauldron.  Add tomato sauce & liverwurst.  Lower heat to minimum. Add salt & pepper to taste.  Simmer for one hour, closed lid.

Add garbanzos, carrots & pimentos.  Stir well and simmer for another 30 minutes.

As usual, you can adjust ingredient proportions to your taste.

Enjoy!

Marina

An old grade school classmate came in to town from San Francisco, and a gathering with friends was held at the Marina grill restaurant along Timog Avenue in Quezon City.  My last recollection of this restaurant was that the location was somewhere near the Tomas Morato rotunda, but apparently they have moved, and the place is currently more like an ihaw-ihaw beer spot than the family restaurant that I remember it to be.  The specialty--oysters!  Very fresh, very plump, reportedly from Roxas City.  We had them both blanched and topped with cheese, and I can say that this makes such a great beer match.  The rest of the seafood dishes--grilled squid, shrimps and fish are de rigueur items for most grill restos; it's the oysters that set this restaurant apart from the rest.  Prepare around P500 per head for an all-night affair over drinks and pica-pica.  Some acoustic acts share the stage on most nights, mostly easy listening and folk tunes mixed in with some light rock.

Corregidor Island

My cousin Dora & her family arrived from the US for a brief visit.  One of the recommended day tours was the Corregidor Island historical tour which starts with a 7am ferry ride from the terminal at the rear portion of the Cultural Center of the Philippines area.  I took them to the terminal right before Christmas, and they enjoyed the day tour.

We took the tour many years ago, when Monique was still a child, and I remember that the you travel by tram around the island.  They have a whole collectionTruly  of giant canons (all pointed out to sea, guarding against an armed invasion of Manila).  The guides will tell you about the story of how the remaining USAFFE and Philippine Scouts held out against the vastly superior forces of the Japanese army during World War II.  Aside from the ruins of the army buildings, you can also take a look at the giant air-raid tunnels, where they have a light & sound show to simulate the situation during the war.  The last stop is a war memorial, which is dedicated to all those who fought during the war.  The tour costs something like P2,300 which includes the ferry rides to and from the island, a packed lunch and the guided tour.  You get back to the CCP complex by 4pm, with a better historical perspective and richer appreciation of the Philippines.

Pinkberry

Spending time around the Rockwell Center's Power Plant Mall brought me to the Pinkberry yoghurt shop at the basement level.  The advertisement for the lychee yoghurt  had made my mouth water, and I found myself scooping teaspoon after teaspoon of the yummy stuff.  They add some lime to the refreshing dessert, and the tartness is just right for me.  They have a lot of good tasting flavors; the chocolate and the choco-hazelnut flavors are great for kids--no trace of tartness whatsoever.  Another fave of mine is pomegranate, which is also one of their best-sellers.  This chain started in California in 2005, and has since expanded to the Middle East and Asia with over 100 stores worldwide.  I understand from the staff that the Korean owner just loves the color pink and also loves berries--thus the name combination.   Another trivia I learned--chairs are done by noted designer Philip Starck.  Prices are like premium ice cream--a large tub goes for something like P170.