Food can be inspirational as well as aspirational. One moment you are aroused by a particular scent of food hovering around, another moment you are chasing an accurate taste in your dream. It can be simple or it can be complex. It can be fusty or it can be fresh. There is no love sincerer than the love of food, like someone once said; and taste buds also do get tired. But as a rule, one tends to return to that pleasurable first bite. And so I set my heart on Shine Bakery & Cafe’s almond yema sansrival after the Todd English Food Hall lunch.

We picked three desserts. Matcha sansrival because it looked different, but yema sansrival is still my bet, easily one of the best sansrival cakes around. The traditional buttercream layer is replaced by yema (like the filling of brazo de Mercedes). And then Brandon says, he likes his sansrival chewy (imagine a 2 or 3-day old sansrival in the fridge). He elaborates, “Sansrival is a mood thing.” Eclairs are also prolific chef Sunshine Pengson’s specialty, and we picked salted caramel over the chocolate hazelnut on the display chiller. The sweetness of the filling of the particular eclair was intense for me.

Not dessert-centric, Shine Bakery & Cafe joins the ranks of bakery-cafe hybrids. The time for their savory dishes is yet to come.

Shine Bakery & Cafe 3/F SM Aura Premier, McKinley Parkway cor. 26th St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig Tel No.: 02 815 2872 CP No.: 0917 704 7118

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

A love for lamb is one thing I share with Brandon. Our SM Aura food tripping (in previous posts) was capped by a Greeka Kouzina dinner. I’ve already done an overview (here). It’s time to do a review on another Greek restaurant.

I went to Cyma Greek Taverna at Robinsons Magnolia while waiting for my bus to Laoag. Cyma was developed by awarded chef Chef Robby Goco. He is also the same chef behind the cuisine of Comedor in Vigan’s Hotel Luna.

The Cyma menu is a blend of classic Mediterranean flavors and contemporary Greek dishes, which include seafood, lots of lamb and other meats (like moussaka, baby back ribs, brizola, pastisado, burgers topped with herbed feta) flamed cheese, vegetables, some pastas and a wide choice of sides. Just a curious point, because I am Ilocano, distinctive Greek cooking is comparable to Ilocano cooking, which can be described in one word, and that’s frugal. But refined is the better word to me. I can’t help but compare the olive oil and herbs of Greece to the Ilocos region’s most basic fish sauce, vinegar, and garlic or red onions.

My dinner starts with a meze (appetizer) of ahino salata, raw sea urchin (uni in Japanese and maritangtang in Iloko), with cucumber and capers drenching in parsley mint vinaigrette. The lively flavorscape is enough to make me bounce back from a hectic 3-day work.

Now my main event — paidakia, or char-grilled lamb ribs — to my tasting, flawlessly herbed and spiced, and spanakorizo, which is spinach rice topped with feta, and better with lemon squeeze.

Behind the uncontrived, rather folksy ambiance and friendly staff, it’s the quality of food that stands out, and that is what counts when you are eating out. Pricing is not cheap. Maybe you will have to shell out a thousand pesos or more for a full dinner.

Planning to bring Brandon to Cyma next week.

Cyma Greek Taverna Ground Level, Robinsons Magnolia, Aurora Blvd. cor. Doña M. Hemady St., New Manila, Quezon City, Philippines Tel No.: 02 654 9970

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

I’ve been living out of a suitcase lately. I’m also getting used to commuting the fussy streets of Manila. I managed to bond briefly with my sisters-in-law. We had lunch at Jatujak which has softly opened in SM San Lazaro. The mall is a nice spot if eating out is your thing.

If I’m not mistaken, Jatujak, named after Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weeekend Market, opened first at the SM Mall of Asia. The staff are mostly Ilocanos, so it felt kinda like home. Even the owner, Alfonso Purugganan, says the manager, has roots in Ilocos.

We ordered mostly classic Thai food like tom yum soup with mixed seafood, pad Thai and bagoong rice with semi-ripe mangoes, the sampler appetizer, consisting of fresh vegetarian rolls, shrimp cakes and pork springrolls with different sweet and sour sauces, and Thai style grilled bacon belly. Thai is one cuisine that sends my salivary glands into an overdrive. To start with, Jatujak’s tom yum soup was very good. The blend had the zesty balance of sour, sweetish and aromatic flavors, really soothing, especially if it’s your first meal in the day. The soup was tasty, with a milky quality to it, but not excessively intense. Like I mentioned before, anything with lemon grass is happiness.

The appetizers were average, but the shrimp cakes were crispy outside and nice and tasty inside, and the dips and sauces (like plum and tamarind) were obviously homemade, full-flavored, and make a wonderful match to fried food..My sister-in law’s favorite, grilled bacon belly with an excellent garlic-vinegar dip, was a find. It was tender and spicy in an appetizing way (one order is rather bitin for three). In the end, I also had pad Thai (with rice noodles, ground peanuts and lots of bean sprouts), which was worth another wait.I like noodles more than I like rice, but then the bagoong rice, mildly flavored with fish sauce, was also good. The lunch was enjoyable, nothing negative to say. The ambiance is sedately warm, prices are not that expensive and service was efficient.

Oh, how can I remember Thai coffee only now?

Jatujak Unit 116 Upper Ground Floor, SM City San Lazaro, Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. No.: 711 5271

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

Traveling all the way to Alabang from Binondo for a hot bowl of ramen is not normal. Eating a bowl of excellent ramen at the only Ramen Yushoken in Metro Manila makes it normal.

So, finally, thanks to my best friend Cathy, the foodie in me got excited to explore the flavors of Ramen Yushoken.  I ordered the most basic ramen, Shio, to better appreciate the broth like I always do. If ever I will have another chance to go back, I would definitely try either the Tantanmen with sesame paste, pork and chili oil or the rich Miso with 7 different kinds of miso. Salivating just thinking about it.

Our Shio ramen was rich but subtle, in fact, sweetish, a little velvety, with fantastic noodles, which they make fresh always. I ate my ramen with aji tamago and we had gyoza on the side. Dumplings don’t excite me much, but theirs are nice and cooked al dente.

Adjudged the best ramen by food bloggers and foodies, Ramen Yushoken lives up to the hype.

We had dessert at nearby Cravings. I wanted something else, but settled for a less heavy tiramisu. A good choice though.

Ramen Yushoken Molito Lifestyle Mall, Madrigal Avenue, Alabang, Muntinlupa Tel. No.: +63 2 808 7424

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

We were so unlucky to score some matcha and red velvet cookies from Scout’s Honor, but we had time to sample two desserts from Chefs Miko Aspiras and Kristine Lotilla’s Le Petit Soufflé Soft Opening Menu. We didn’t have much time, however, for a classic soufflé, which requires detailed precision and extra time to prepare. And I regret much not seeing the salted egg parfait before we decided on the French frozen pistachio soufflé with cherry griotine confiture, but on second thought, the frozen souffllé the girls shared was fabulous. I would have easily finished one whole serving. Doused with cherry preserve, the sweetness was still proper.

You’ll find lots of matcha and decadent Valrhona chocolate desserts in the menu. Ditto with parfaits and some pure custards.

Beyond classic and nouveau desserts, select savory comfort food, such as onion soup, a vegetarian soba pasta, fusion mac and foie, squid ink pasta or rice, croque madame or croque monsieur (croissant with ham and cheese, with or without egg), French toasts, of course, and some salads, comprise the short menu.

Brandon’s matcha parfait.

Amid all the faux foliage, the ambiance is yet refreshing — proves that green can de-stress. Or it may provoke the senses if a person has an aversion to anything fake.

Le Petit Souffle 3rd Floor, Century City Mall, Kalayaan Avenue cor. Salamanca Street, Poblacion, Makati, Metro Manila Tel. No.: (02) 886 3056

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

I went with family to Seaside dampa on Macapagal Avenue to celebrate a niece’s birthday. Not exactly a new Filipino cultural phenomenon, dampa paluto is still attracting waves of customers. Dampa translates to shack or kubo, so the whole experience is straightforward, nothing fancy, and is more authentic when you eat with your hands, like most Filipinos do.

Though we’d do something like buy seafood and look for someone who could cook the purchase for us here in Ilocos, it was my first time to experience going to a big dampa in Manila. I envisioned more seafood like clams, bamboo shells and scallops, so it was a bit of dismay to find a sea of squid and prawns.

Spotted some rock lobsters and crabs, but those can be really expensive as compared to prices in the province. Dampa prices run cheaper, though, than most restaurants in the metro.

My sister-in-law had it all figured out. We proceeded to G Squared Palutuan (among the rows of restaurants) after buying the important ingredients. We were seated among big groups of locals and balikbayans. Plastic gloves (the kind you see in hair color treatment kits) accompany crab and prawn dishes. It’s amusing that people tend to be so quiet when crustaceans are right in front of them.

Among the food on our table: buttered crabs, tempura, buttered shrimps, baked mussels. Seaside dampa is close to MOA, so we stopped by Cold Stone Creamery.

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

One description of Ilocano food that has stuck in my mind was made by Chef Sandy Daza. In the latest episode of FoodPrints, he said, “Ilocano food is simple, with much heart.” Having grown up with Ilocano food, I completely agree with him. Yet through all the simplicity (and almost visual flatness) of Ilocano food, Ilocano cooking varies from house to house, from town to town.

I hail from the northernmost province of the Ilocos Region. In the 80s to the 90s, road trips to and from Manila or Baguio would not be complete without breakfast or early lunch at Clarin’s Restaurant, right beside the National Highway in the poblacion of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. We’d make it a point to make a stopover at the all-you-can-eat restaurant which serves a set menu of native dishes that includes piping hot lomo-lomo.

Back then, lomo-lomo (browned pork soup pepped up with kuchay (Chinese chives), tinuno (grilled pork), pork adobo, Ilocano-style afritada, imbaliktad (half-cooked beef flavored with Ilocano vinegar, lasona and ginger), igado, balatong (mongo), and their signature salad (that is actually an atchara with katuday (katuray or duboisia flowers) and utong (green beans), depending on availability, were served all at once. Refills would be brought upon request.

Past noontime in Narvacan, as if revisiting an old flame, the hubby stopped and snuck in Clarin’s to take a look at the food counter. He didn’t leave the restaurant without refreshing old memories with his family, most especially with his dad. To this day, the hubby (and his siblings) crave for the resataurant’s difficult-to-copy, tempered bittersweet flavor of katuday-utong salad,  tinuno and lomo-lomo.

Something caught my attention while my husband was satisfying his yearning for Clarin’s cooking. According to a hanged enlarged print of a 1990 Philippine Daily Inquirer article, entitled “Eating out in Vigan”, penned by notable food columnist, food critic and book author, the late Doreen Fernandez — her co-author of a foodie guide book, Eddy Alegre, and well-known nutritionist Sanirose Singson-Orbeta, both Ilocaos, agree that “the best eating in Vigan is outside Vigan”.

We chanced upon Evangeline Clarin, the present owner/manager of Clarin’s and daughter of the founder of the pre-war eatery that primarily caters to travelers (largely loyal customers from Vigan and Laoag). “I’m trying to sustain the restaurant.”

The hubby was late for the tinuno, but basically the same familiar viands. An all-you can eat meal costs PhP150. I complained about the lomo-lomo’s not being the same like it was in the past. She said, she didn’t put kuchay. “I knew it,” I retorted, and she smiled. Nonetheless, the salad and the poque-poque (sauteed grilled eggplant with tomatoes) were perfect. The waitress said their old cook and the owner still tend to the kitchen.

While fast food restaurants and carinderias have mushroomed along the northern highway through the decades, Clarin’s  yet keeps up with tradition.

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

A melting pot of flavors, Baguio has another winner in the best places to eat that’s not overpriced. Ahmad Brothers Café specializes in authentic Indian and Pakistani Halal food.

The menu: Ahmad’s meat (including lamb and mutton) and fish specialties cooked in Hindustani spices and herbs, appetizing Mediterranean hummus, falafel and shawarma, rice topped with traditional tandoori, masala, curry, fruit and yogurt shakes, sweet and salty lassi, masala tea, and (surprise!) Fiipino fast food favorites like pancit and mami (thanks to the owner’s Filipino wife).

What to order: Everything we ordered was stimulating, but topping my list is well flavored and grilled chicken tikka. What was really surprising was Ahmad’s French fries pakora that came with the shawarma, but can be ordered separately, imo, better than your favorite fries, seamlessly seasoned, very thinly battered, crisp on the outside and between soft and firm on the inside, and not too oily. They also have onion rings pakora. Three pieces of samosa costs only 50 pesos, including the lively, delish herbed yogurt dip. Not-too-spicy chicken masala was so good with rice.  The shawarma meals are huge. Lassi may run out of stock if you go late in the evening. Lamb is also not always available.

The FoodPrints team went back for another around.

The space: Simple and a little tight, but offers a good view of a gentrified Baguio skyline.

Mutton dishes are priced higher and lamb within 200-250 pesos. Other than that, everything is relatively cheap. Oh, with the exception of bulalo.

Ahmad Brothers Café
Legarda Road cor. G. del Pilar St., Baguio City, Philippines
CP #: 0908 740 7284

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

After posting The 10 Best Places To Eat in Ilocos Norte, the time has arrived for The 10 Best Places To Eat in Ilocos Sur.

Ilocos Sur and its capital city, Vigan, is distinguished by its fascinating, centuries-old history, where traditional and inherited dishes remain. Hinged on various opinions from in-demand tour guides, frequent as well as first time visitors in Ilocos, foodies from different generations, not to mention my own personal experiences as a food blogger (who has paid 95 percent of all the food that’s been featured in this blog), the restaurants that made the top ten list best satisfy the curiosity for Ilocano cuisine and beyond. Even the most basic, simple Ilocano pinakbet or dinegdeng requires art. But in an evolving world, it’s also not only just about plain bagnet nor longaniza anymore. It is also how these classics are being used to create yet unmistakably Ilocano food in character. And because eating out is also about bonding moments with family or friends.

1. Cafe Leona. The restaurant is the first thing you see upon entering Calle Crisologo from the Leona Florentino statue and marker. Leona Florentino was an 18th century local poet in the Spanish and Ilocano languages. The mother of Philippine women’s literature was also given the title “bridge from oral to literary tradition.” You go inside the cafe and you might not like the tight, fusty setting that welcomes you, but the menu will reveal it cares about diversity. Pinakbet here is first-rate, and Vigan longaniza too, but fresh uni (sea urchin) and unagi (eel) teriyaki are also always available, and affordable. Native fish tamales, bagnet and ararosip (grape seaweed) salad  are among the mainstays in the turo-turo-style counter.

2. Kusina Felicitas and Cafe Uno. While these two are situated in Grandpa’s Inn and often interchangeable, Cafe Uno specializes in short orders like salads and pastas, upgraded poque-poque, coffee, and cakes with a homemade feel and taste (carrot cake and chocolate fudge here are winners), and Kusina Felicitas, on the other hand, is known for traditional Ilocano and Filipino food and Vigan specialties such as pipian with citrusy and minty pasotes and grilled chicken with tropical karimbuaya leaves.

3. Cafe Bossa. Candon’s best kept secret is Cafe Bossa’s lomo-lomo soup with pork loin and liver. Haven’t eaten lomo-lomo like this ever. Topped with one whole egg, it is rich yet soothing. The creative twists to iconic Filipino food like tuyo and aligue, among others, make this cafe unique. They also have great desserts, and it transforms into a tavern by night. It occupies the first floor of an ancestral house tucked in the commercial side of the town.

4. Bistro 23. On the corner of Calle A. Reyes and Calle Salcedo stands Bistro 23, a newbie restaurant and bar with a mouthwatering start. “Comfort food at its best,” says sales reps who travel the north frequently. In the menu, you will find pancit and it turns out it is pancit loaded with fish ball slices and topped with a sunny side up egg. Undressed Vigan longaniza sits on a bed of poque-poque, and also on fried rice. Audacious eaters can bet on kansi and bloody sapsapuriket chicken soup. Tokwa’t bagnet sounds good and tastes good.

5. Bistro Candon. Back to Candon at Chef’s Nic Rodriquez’s home ground. Bistro Candon’s claim to fame is its traditional Ilocano fare and desserts that we’ve grown up with like chocolate cake which has attracted food editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, leche flan and brazo de Mercedes. Try the rellenong bangus and bagnet with Chef Nic’s fragrant taburkik bagoong. The restaurant is inside a compound and closes quite early, so lunch is best.

6. Comedor. The name alone suggests Spanish influence. Comedor is the main restaurant of the luxurious Hotel Luna, which is the only museum hotel in UNESCO World Heritage site Vigan. It tries to relive the affluent days with tapas and paella. Paella negra here doesn’t disappoint. Ditto with heritage dishes. Service is efficient and friendly.

7. Bigaa Gastropub. What used to be a dessert shop at the Vigan Plaza Hotel  has evolved with more in store for the younger palate. The divine sans rival is still as good. Along with traditional Bigueño entrées, hybrid dishes like rusangis (endemic only to Caoayan) and bagnet pastas and panizza capped with local ingredients tickle the palate. A pasta draped with provincial dinoydoy (mashed squash) is surprisingly bracing.

8. Sanitary Restaurant. The oldest restaurant in Vigan is still a crowd attraction. The little Chinese restaurant is always packed with locals enjoying lomi, mami or pancit Luzon with siopao or siomai. The menu consists of Chinoy-sounding food names peppered with Spanish terms like caldo and agre dulce. You can also find hongkue (Chinese stuffed chicken) in the menu, but has to be ordered in advance. It is said that a typical box of goodies brought out of the city contains bagnet, longaniza, royal bibingka and Sanitary’s famous ngoyong (ngohiong), a kind of Chinese meat roll flavored with five spices.

9. Lilong and Lilang Restaurant. The best Vigan empanada is shrouded in foliage, according to famished tourists checking out the Hidden Garden in the outskirts of Vigan. Lilong and Lilang Restaurant is the place to eat when you like restful natural environment. Ilocano favorites like dinengdeng, sinanglao, pinakbet with bagnet and warek-warek (grilled pork and liver mixed with mayo) dominate the menu. Down to presentation, local color is intensified. Buko and fruit coolers delight especially during hot Ilocos weather.

10. Pinakbet Farm. The quintessential Ilocano food gets top billing in Caoayan, not too far away from the core of Vigan. A mélange of vegetables straight from the garden, alongside freshly-caught grilled tilapia (from its own pond), chicken and pork is the only food there is at this picnic pavillion maintained by the community. An authentic farm-style ambiance that perfectly personifies Ilocano simple living, complete with Ilocano entertainment, is an experience in itself.

Photographed by BlauEarth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

New on western Rizal Street, Li’l Ranchos is literally a little food spot turning up burgers and tacos. My first tasting was takeout stuffed bell peppers. But when Alex and I went to check out the place today, they were not available.

The staples: Burgers and pancakes among Filipino-style tacos, quesadillas and nachos. Rancho Burger, decked with cheese, bacon and pineapple, is only 95 pesos, and a plain burger called Super Beef Burger is 45. Glazed potatoes and pesto pasta are other options. The selection of fresh fruit shakes includes yacon, dragonfruit, avocado, strawberry, and lemon infused drinks. But they also offer beer.

Prices are very affordable. I didn’t see anything above 100 pesos. With its price, the burger was satisfying, but super messy to eat (you’ll need a bib, promise). The quesadilla, however, was incomplete. The tortillas were like thinned out pancakes and it came without salsa.

The menu is more suited to the younger crowd.

Li’l Ranchos Rizal St. cor. D.M. Castro Ave. Laoag City (east of Papa Pau’s)

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

In the thick of editing, or rather emptying my closet for the chance of a lifetime move to Los Angeles, where my parents, siblings and a daughter reside, an invitation to Kitchen Lab arrives. Before I embark to another world, I left Monday open for the opening and VIP degustacion of 15 signature dishes. Perhaps, my last big meal that will be one of the things reminding me of home. A part of my heart says just a vacation, but my head says live another dream (we’ll go back to the move some other time).

Kitchen Lab at The White House breaks out of the box. Speaking as a local, customarily, Eating Out in Laoag is revisiting favorite kitchens. It maybe the scruffy Dawang’s or mousy Tayamen’s or a friend’s home. But on “mucho” days, it’s something like driving out to Fort Ilocandia’s Red 8 or Bergblick in Pagudpud. Because I will eat anything, I was more eager to see what Irwin Pascual, one of the brains behind the modernist fine dining restaurant, would come up with. The only son of a Chinese couple (Pablo and Vicky) who are great cooks, he is an ardent epicure, born that way I think. He says, he is stimulated by nostalgia — like the scent of burning grass hovering around the neighborhood while growing up. A diploma in culinary arts just might injure the raw juice running in his veins. Making it more interesting, his business partner, Dr. Jonathan Noble, is also self-taught. The younger members of the creative team, however, Chef Abbygail Siy and Chef Miko Quimora, are diplomaed from De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.

Kitchen Lab is the entire second floor of The White House, a head turner after all these years. There were about 30 of us at the opening. I shared a table with (Laoag Councilor) Jeff Fariñas and Charisma Ursia and photographer/blogger Marianne Pasion, who can be the best eating companions/food critics because there was never a dull moment even if the tasting got protracted.

Irwin Pascual and wife Valerie.

The food: Chorizo pepper jack roll with Burgos gamet butter, uni on a cookie, grape with blue cheese, sous vide egg with jamon Iberico, crispy and flaky indigenous mushroom with pickled salad in buttermilk, smoked Pasuquin tuna tartare in ginger and yogurt emulsion, scallop in hay aroma, two-way prawn with milk foam and tukmem (tulya) inspired by the Ilocos Norte coastline and the Kapurpurawan Rock Formation, roasted pork in uni dashi with squid inked dehydrated onion chips, charcoal crust Wagyu beef in beet elements, and three desserts, namely spiced lemon sorbet, malt ice cream with toasted quinoa and goat cheese ganache and chamomile ice cream on blueberry bugnay gelee are part of the dishes they’ve created which will be available for a year. Degustacion is by appointment only, but I heard steaks, etc. is available everyday. Fresh ingredients are locally sourced while special elements are sourced abroad. Quality is never sacrificed it seems, so for a multi-sensorial food experience, the price is not ordinary. I sense a slight OC-ness in a charming, passionate kind of way.

The selection is impressive. The presentation may not be traditional, but details of home float to a degree. Take out the aesthetics, the flavors will take you to different places. I pictured California with the piece of grape with blue cheese, I was in China after that first bite of roast pork, I was reminded of childhood sick days by the perfect “malasado” egg, the juvenile cookie smeared with familiar slimy sea urchin evoke contrasting decades, the malted milkshake parallel, fleeting moments, one after the other — it is what degustacion is all about.

To me, the Wagyu “butcher shop mess” brought me to orgasmic proportions following the sensory buildup.  A little scorcher, the fried prawns were a bit overdone, and the cookie could have been less sweet if it were to be paired with uni for more contrast. What else? Well, the tuna tartare and 62°C egg were bitin, and I wish the lemon sorbet and the ice cream were made available everyday of the week.

Chefs Miko Quimora and Abby Siy and partners Irwin Pascual and Dr. Jonathan Noble in photo below. Thanks and congratulations to you, guys!

To the one person very close to my heart during my Flickr and blogging years (and always), you make me feel ageless, hahah, fearless, and I hope to still have that photo exhibit with you one day. Love you, Marianne Gaces Pasion!

Kitchen Lab
The White House
P. Lazaro cor. Llanes Sts., Laoag City, Ilocos Norte
For reservations contact Joel Baptista CP No.: +63 9998841701

Photos of and with author by Marianne Pasion
Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

From someone who goes to church rather than sits in a cafe with coffee and whatnot first thing when the sun’s up, the tip-off about this overflowing cafe on neighboring Virgil Avenue is unconvincing. But then again, rerouted my morning walk to the seemingly boring street between East Hollywood and Silver Lake. A long line of beautiful people snaking down from the other street obstructs the view inside an establishment. The only clue: the filled curbside tables.

I reached home, googled it, yelped it. The inconspicuous spot is literally the toast of the town. It’s Sqirl. Celebrity sightings have been reported. I browsed the menu. Toasts, jams, rice bowls, eggs, coffee, vegan food, breakfast til 4PM. As a recent transplant, I’m still trying to figure out the local food culture.

A visit to Twig & Twine brought me again to Virgil. On this particular weekday, Sqirl was to my surprise quiet and peaceful, with a line that was only inside.

The photos will kinda guide you on what to expect. Choose your order from the menu on the wall as quickly as possible; place your order and pay at the cashier; get your number and find a table; after which your order will be delivered to you. If you need to buy their homemade seasonal jams, which Sqirl became known for (according to articles about Sqirl’s creator, chef Jessica Koslow), and the enticing pastries to go, buy them when you order food at the cashier to avoid getting back to the line.

Lait n’ Egg: Vietnamese-style iced cortado shaken with egg whites.

So my first breakfast at Sqirl consisted of brioche toast with jam (you get to choose your jam, and I got seascape strawberry), sorrel pesto rice bowl, and lait n’ egg, a refreshing glass of sweetened iced coffee with egg whites, which went well with the contrasting flavors of the rice and toast. I forgot to order their famous house ricotta for my toast, so it came later.

Super satisfied risking my 20 dollars at Sqirl. The sorrel pesto rice is technically Kokuho Rose Brown Rice, nut-free sorrel pesto, preserved Meyer lemon, lacto-fermented hot sauce, pickled radish, French sheep feta and poached egg. Every spoonful depends on where you scoop it from. It can be salty or sourish or both. The brioche toast is impossible to forget. I crave it when I’m in bed, I dream of waking up to the thickest jam-smeared piece with the thickest layer of the milkiest ricotta cheese. The jam is not sweet by mainstream standards.

It’s funny how some people (on Yelp) expect good food and good location to match. You won’t understand Dawang’s Place (in Laoag) unless you’ve eaten there. The same applies to Sqirl. Easily one of my best meals in Los Angeles. Attainable good food, I didn’t even have to dress up. I went straight from bed, actually, and I don’t think someone ever noticed. Everyone was engrossed in the food.

Sqirl
720 N Virgil Ave #4, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Monday—Friday 6:30AM—4PM Sat—Sun 8AM—4PM
(213) 394-6526

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2016

This is the Far East Plaza in the Los Angeles Chinatown I mentioned in an earlier post. It’s a mall on Broadway Street with stores specializing in ethnic goods, ranging from jade jewelry to Chinese herbs. Today, the building is best known as a destination for gastronomic adventure. Pok Pok Phat Thai, Roi Choi’s Chego, Ramen Champ and Scoops lend a more modern air to a generally traditional Asian cuisine. Heard Howlin’ Ray’s Nashville-style hot chicken is soon joining the scene next month.

My mom’s personal favorites at Far East Plaza are Fortune Gourmet Kitchen for budget-friendly, awesome Chinese food, and the unassuming Thien Houng Vietnamese Restaurant.

Took photos of the little family-run banh mi and pho eatery with my phone while eating at a table outside.

Mom and I make it a point to have pho and fresh spring rolls, with iced Vietnamese coffee, here. Prices are very affordable like the smallest pho (which is still big for me) costs $5.50. We tried the Vietnamese version of popular Filipino street food kikiam and fishballs. The red Vietnamese balls in the photo below are barbecued pork and so delicious with chili paste made even hotter with Sriracha. They sell native delicacies as well, and we always bring home banh bo nuong, also known as honeycomb cake, made of tapioca flour and pandan extract. The texture is so much like the rice version of puto.

A banh mi is something I’ll try when we go back again.

It’s also always a pleasure to go shopping at the nearby Far East Center across the building. Must-buys are white coffee, dried Chinese ingredients, preserved roots and all the Chinese tea for brewing.

A happy weekend everyone!

Photographed by Blauearth © Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2016

My sister asked me to meet her for brunch at Trois Familia on Sunset. I didn’t have to google the place for Sunset has become my park. It stands on an unpresuming strip mall. The long line especially on Sunday mornings hinted good food. But it actually took me more walks before realizing it’s an eatery; at one point I thought it was some clinic, forgive me.

I finally get to dissect Trois Familia. It opened only in October. Trois comes from its three chefs Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (the last two ring a bell ‘coz I also always pass by a full-packed Jon & Vinny’s, on Fairfax, a street that has also become so familiar to me). I learn there’s also a Trois Mec and a Petit Trois on Highland. And Familia is (probably) the apt second name for what it’s all about — a homey space, communal tables and French Mexican fusion brunch and lunch only. I admire the use of enamelware, something that conjures a provincial vibe similar to that of tacos and churros.

My sister ordered a hash brown chilaquiles with a cotija-sprinkled sunny sideup and lively salsa macho that gives just enough kick. It opened up the palate for more — a galette crepe infused with chorizo and topped with a nice runny egg and avocado milk, and a churro French toast with a scoop of Salt & Straw vanilla ice cream and lots of cinnamon. I liked every dish, flavorful but not heavy.

The menu is eclectic with duck confit, beet tartare tostada, chicken Milanesa, nachos, poached egg omelette sandwich, tres leches birthday cake, etc.

It’s in Silver Lake and the space is not too big, and no reservations here, so you have to go early.

See you on Sunset!

Trois Familia
3510 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 725-7800
Open 10am-3pm

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Just how one new food spot in Laoag could awaken memories of home in the last 12 months. At the zenith of rice bowls, I find it wonderful that LA celebrity chef Roi Choi has Filipino chicken adobo alongside kimchi spam bowl on his Chego menu, while Laoag’s prominent son, Jeff Fariñas (refreshing to know he set aside his political career to jack up a love for food and cooking), cooks Korean bibimbap along with pares and his other favorite comfort food at The Gas(tro) Station, which replaces their old gas station on busy General Luna corner Villanueva Streets.

Chanced upon owners Jeff and Charisma who made me try the gastro wraps, inspired by a dish by David Chang of Momofuku fame. Well, found it an affordable rendition of Red 8’s Peking duck skin rolls. Jeff used pork to match the same hoisin sauce, and added a kick of sriracha. My baby Alexandra liked it and she loved her pepper rice and she is so finicky with food.

The big rice eater might not be gratified with just one bowl of bibimbap. It’s an intention to present it as a healthy option. To date bibimbap is their bestseller.

Charisma says it was Jeff who developed all the dishes and keeps on whipping up more like cheesesteak  sandwich while she takes care of the business side.

I like the easy feel of the place. With upcycled interiors and pretenseless furniture, the food stands out. I think it’s a current global trend — commissaries, counter-service, communal seating, eclecticism and modern food.

If gassing up means this good, then make mine full tank again and again.

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I can count with one hand the sky was clear and sunny since I got back from transitioning seasons. Out of the mishmash of clothes and shoes I brought with me, I’m living in shorts and flipflops, just like old times, rain or shine. Ilocos is so much about laidbackness, certainly low-pressure, which makes it the best thing about this province that has a little and more than a little of everything. What else is new here? A food park at the Valdez Center in the fast-growing town of San Nicolas. In contrast to the huge mall a few meters away, the new hangout that is actually the Venvi IT park consists of individual snack and divey bars catering not only call center workers, but also anyone who shuns mainstream culture, I think — just like this homegrown sushi shop called Hotchick that makes sushi by the “bilao”, with a menu that is an unpredictable hybrid of ramen, jap chae, cucumber cooler or beer — thank God, I am able to enjoy such places when I’m with the boys.

Hot shoyo ramen is just the best thing to order on a rainy day. Even if the egg is not the legitimate ajitsuke tamago (marinated egg), Hotchick’s version is comforting and pocket-friendly, you can have a fill everyday and won’t go broke. Also liked the jap chae, but hated the tight boat dish. Spent only P350 for the three of us. Service was slow though.

On another note, saw Eulodogs, Barney’s Burger and Moonleaf.

Still rediscovering my home province. Be back for more.

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Back to sacred Sundays. The family drove north from Laoag — such a cozy time to converse, refresh, go crazy and just glide. The clean roads to Pagudpud were impressive as ever. Someone abroad asked me how’s home after she sent me to the south, and I told her I was sad about the numerous campaign posters from the past election season and ratty signage waving at me on the roadsides. (If you are reading, friend, here, I take it back.)

We stopped by our favorite Bergblik for snacks, then headed farther north to Blue Lagoon. Met cute little tourguides on our pseudo trek to Bantay Abot. After the rains, the scenery was nonetheless glorious.

A new discovery on our way home was Jovy and Yolly’s Place in Davila. Had just tanguigui sashimi. Other seafood depends on the catch of the day. Nice to know there’s a wonderful roadside place to eat between Pagudpud and Laoag.

Til my next discovery.

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We first planned to drive with friends to Vigan for a  food trip at this Korean restaurant I saw on Facebook a few months back. Friends cancelled and the weather was not too nice, yet the mister and I proceeded. Though famished and tired from a camping trip, he wanted couple time for us. Sweet, (thanks really)!

So we found Hanguk Korean Barbecue House not too far from the city entrance. Spotted some neighbors in Laoag inside. Adding to a seeming authenticity, Korean foodstuff like ice pops, biscuits and beverages were on one corner. With steep prices (a lot steeper than here, btw, one of the most read post on this blog), I thought food must be fantastic.

Soup arrived first. Enhanced instant noodles or so it looked like.

There are professional bloggers who actually get invited for food tasting and are expected to write a feature, some lucky ones food blog as a job, and then there are those who want to buy their food for the credibility factor (but even some chefs admit that taste is subjective), while I like paying for my own exclusive experience and the freedom of writing a review. On occasion, the food turns completely lamentable, I forego sharing the entire experience ‘coz honestly it is taxing to be harsh. But then there’s more than the questionable soup, and I want to play judge in Chopped.

We got two kinds of barbecue, pork belly and beef. The pork was okay, but I didn’t enjoy the idea that someone cuts your barbecue with a scissors in front of you. And the beef — you don’t serve any meat that’s as durable as expensive flipflops, so much so if you are a barbecue restaurant. One doesn’t even have to be an authentic chef (whether Korean or not) to be able to spot nice meat. Sorry for being graphic, but the hubby wanted me to take photos of his chewed on beef. I told the waitress twice, but she was stone deaf. While I was yapping, he was trying to keep his cool and picked up the tab. Feeling shortchanged, I initially wanted to buy ice cream cake for dessert, but totally lost the appetite for more. As we left Hanguk, the hubby was sneezing incessantly. You know he’s mad if he does that.

More than a thousand pesos for a ripoff and one and a half hours going and two and a half hours going back home amid heavy rain, and through sneeze-provoking road repairs, makangngeg ka manen, girl.

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Thanks to the digital world, we are now able to access something fast and easy, whenever, wherever. Like in the case of a crazy craving for authentic, traditional Ifugao etag (cured, smoked and aged pork), which brought us to Cafe Yagam, a homey cafe specializing in Cordilleran fare.

At Cafe Yagam, etag is used to boost an otherwise bland pinikpikan (smoked chicken soup), and best eaten with their tapuey-based dipping sauce. I’ve never really enjoyed the controversial pinikpikan this much. A diverse spread of flavors from the mountains of Cordillera went next.

We had Kalinga binungor, a spicy vegetable stew with agurong (or what we call birabid in Ilocos), and pinuneg, a Kankanaey blood sausage that went well with the default sweetish, spicy vinegar dip. Just to differentiate kini-ing from etag, we also ordered kini-ing pasta in yogurt sauce. Etag is more gamey as it undergoes fermentation.

Pressed ethically sourced mountain coffee is a specialty here, so we didn’t leave without a fill. I had it dark and it was really good with the sticky rice dessert that was served with the meals.

If we base good indigenous food on the decent-sized local crowd present enjoying tradition, then Cafe Yagam does it well.

Service was nice and prices were reasonable.

Never had mountain food this exotically tasteful.

Café Yagam
#25 J. Felipe Street, Gibraltar, Baguio City
09464550364 / 09212565677 / (074)423-0839

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Was actually billed 101 pesos, but made tawar (haggled) the 1 peso. And a plate of rice was included.

Kristina’s Carinderia (facing the Jehovah’s Witnesses church on the western portion of Rizal St., and near the Iglesia ni Kristo) was Brandon’s find. Local senior citizens, families, office employees and policemen were fixed on their food when we arrived. You enter through a kitchen, (neat, btw) and point at your chosen items from among a see-through cabinet of noticeably freshly prepared viands.

Presko a baka (raw beef), also known as kilawen here, flavored with light papaitan, was delicious. The subtle use of seasonings such as sukang Iloko, salt, etc., let out the natural flavors of the main ingredients, like dinardaran was not overly sour, but rather naturally came out with that hint of sweetness (from the pig’s blood), and the katuday (katuray/corkwood flowers) salad was not too vinegary nor salty. I’m not sure, but I didn’t detect any use of MSG.

Yes, satisfying Ilocano food this cheap still exists.

Kristina’s Carinderia
Rizal St., Laoag City

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