give love! it's BALENCHIMES.

C O Z Y

the girlfriend

The main dish
Wasabi mashed potatoes with beans and Beef Steak

the 3-eyed ogre
(i don't have any clear shots and i don't care coz this pic is cool)

Feb 14. The most loved date by girls/women; and of course, the opposite for the opposite sex.

But hey! give loooovveee coz its BALENCHIMES!

The girlfriend and I went to Discovery Tagaytay to celebrate our 3rd straight Valentine date. The fact that we were going out on the day itself was plain suicide. It started off, 4PM went to fetch the GF. Burned an hour through. So I had a terrible feeling that this day was just not gonna be my day... or night. Then I, the brave ogre, went on! Surprisingly EDSA has light traffic. We passed by EDSA for about 30 minutes and we're already in SLEX. sweet(note:we came from Q.ave-Edsa.). The SLEX, despite those merging lanes caused by road repairs, was good to me. Yes, I want to say it in that way, okay? So PRAISE GOD!!!! We arrived at 7:20pm. not bad at all. Considering this was my first time to drive to Tagaytay with the girlfriend beside me, keeping me company. Thanks, love!

Dinner. The food was grrreeeaaatt!(kellogs style) The place was warm and cozy. There was also a married couple in their late 50s at the table beside us and the guy was like really praising the meal. WINNER DAW YUNG STEAK. orayt. And ofcourse, my date was the greatest part of the evening. yihee! It was Valentine's and restos usually give set menus for couples, but in Discovery, they gave it a twist, my dishes were different from my girlfriends. Same main ingredient, differently cooked. I'll upload the menu list in the near future, like tomorrow maybe. We also had sweet wine - made me sleepy. By far, this date was the most challenging one in terms of budget. But hey! as I've said, give love, It's BALENCHIMES, and its all good! It was all worth it!


Discovery Suites - Tagaytay
Along Aguinaldo hwy.
owned by the family of the famous (THE ATENEO) atenista - Chris Tiu.

Caldereta for Noche Buena

A very instructional video by Komikero (w/Eng subs). And its quite easy to follow. Gonna try to cook up my own caldereta for noche buena. yey

The guy in the video looks like Santa - Pinoy version.

Caffe mo, caffe ko! yey!

Yummiest mousse i've tasted in years.

 

Dad on wifi.

CAFFE MOlinari

What to try here in Caffe Mo?

Pastries. Don't leave the place without having dessert.

SHAKERATO (cold coffee drink). Don't come here if you don't want to try something different.

T-Bone Steak. 120 bucks only!

Who to bring?

Family, Friends, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, In-laws.

Caffe Molinari

Matalino St. (along Sulu Hotel & at the backside of Quezon City hall)

easiest route: Go thru Quezon City circle and find the Quezon City hall.

Vieux Chalet Virgins NO MORE!!!

Lionel, Tiff, Sherry and I

Alas!!! we survived our way from Manila to Antipolo, the place was virtually hidden on a hill! Without my cousin, Lionel "the Lion" Hung, to guide the way, the girlfriend and I would definitely get lost in the woods, literally. Suggestion for the resto: Make BIGGER signs.

Fettuccine de Alfredo

The Sole waiter of Vieux Chalet

Lionel "The Lion" Hung and Tiff
"Gusto ko lahat neto!"

With limited tummies and resources,
we ended with these delicious dishes:

Pink Salmon with Rosti and buttered veggies.

Salmon with pesto-butter sauce on top. Their Rosti (which tastes like hashbrowns) is pretty good! One of the best fish meals I've ever tried.

This is the SAUSAGE FEST!! Loved the mustard!

Due to popular demand by the very insisting Lionel "the lion" Hung, I present you, THE SAUSAGE FEST!!! and it was really good! really!

the highlight of the night- Osso Bucco, AMIGO!(well, atleast for me)

Osso Bucco, or beef bone marrow in English, Bulalo in Tagalog and Sebo in my book , is a great and easy way to have a heart attack.
The tomato sauce was just perfect for the Osso Bucco, making it less greasy-feeling in your mouth. The taste was nothing I've tasted before, It was also good with Rosti.

We were thinking of having dessert, but our tummies said "NO." So we took pictures of ourselves instead.

the girlfriend and the Jap tourist

oh by the way, the view there was really great, unfortunately, we don't have a photo of it! Our digicam doesn't have the power to take such scenery. wahaha

Mow-del shot

Lionel and Tiff (their 3rd visit already!)

Vieux chalet virgins no more!!

Vieux Chalet Swiss Resto
Taktak Rd., Antipolo City

I'll try to draw a sketch to the place coz its hard to explain thru words.

But heres one: TALAHIB

The night after the ULTIMATE DINNER CHALLENGE!!!

2nd round of our food barrage series.

Ran Ramen Tei Sushi Bar AGAIN.
SKETCH to the place (From EDSA) click me!!

Fresh Uni, very yummy.

cali maki at 120 bucks.

my lil sis enjoying her lil cup o' tea

I enjoy eating this.

Kani Salad + Chicken lollipop at 80 pesoses only (not that great though)

camwhoring while waiting for the sushis!

UNI tempura. YES ITS UNI, TEMPURA STYLE, Beowtch!!

All time fave miso soup for 25 pesoses only.

Salmon fat is good to your health.

The BILL! KAching! not bad huh? 840bucks pare.

As I've said, Sushi that my pocket loves.

November 22, the night after my Inasal experience with the wonderful girlfriend - Round 2 with my lil sis and the gf at Ran Ramen Tei! Thanks to my girlfriend for her treat!(She lost our bet in the 1st dinner challenge. wahaha)

WINNER WINNER, JAPANESE DINNER.

That night, Sherry and I ate all the Uni sashimis we can take, and I'm sure it's not gonna be too soon the next time we'll be craving for more japanese.

The sushi was great, it was really fresh! Their tempura was great as well considering the price. too bad the resto is down south (well, almost.) It's friggin far from my place here in Venice (AKA Malabon: yes. we sail with our Gondolas here on high tides)

almost forgot! their mango shake, for 25 bucks only and it was pretty good!

Later that night, while chillin at my gf's. Her tummy began to ache, thought it was caused by the raw japanese dishes. (uni, salmon etc.) BUT it wasn't.

It was simply because of our excessive love for food. :p

SKETCH to the place (From EDSA) click me!!

The Ultimate Dinner Challenge!!! Bacolod style!

Inasal Express (Bacolod style inasal)

The CHALLENGER: the girlfriend

THE Challenge: 4 sticks of chicken thigh drumstick&2 sticks of Chicken Tail(isol)

wuhoo! go go go!Love.

November 21, 2008. The girlfriend challenged herself(!) to devour 4 sticks of chicken thigh-drumstick (Php80.00/stick) and 2 sticks of Chicken Tail (Php40.00/stick). A stick has 3 chicken tails. Take a bite, and you can feel the grease flow down your throat - that's how oily it is, BUT its so damn good it makes me teary-eyed while eating it.
So I bet her that she wouldn't finish the challenge. If she wins, I'll pay for dinner, and the next day's dinner PLUS! I'll give her a trophy that says "WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!" got this phrase from a blog. click me to check it out!

Stick#1: The Challenger was eating like a drifter who never ate Inasal before. took only 3-4 minutes to finish it.
Stick#2: Still looking good, vinegar made her appetite swell. Put some red chili and still was goin like a champ! shyet I think I'm goin to lose our bet.

**5-minute break ('cause we were waiting for the additional - deliciously glowing - Garlic rice)**
thus, she ate 1 stick of chicken tail. I ate the other stick.

Stick#3: She starts to feel the pressure. Literally, tummy pressure! hahaha! but still was enjoying it UNTIL the last bite.

Stick#4 was waiting in front of her to be devoured. BUT SHE GAVE UP! wahaha I WON! yehey!

..and I ate the last stick :D

Conclusion:
Challenger was short of 1 chicken thigh-drumstick and 1 chicken tail.
The both of us ate 3 sticks of thigh-drumstick EACH.
I still can't believe she ate as much as I did. haha!

Therefore:
Sherry's YM status msg: "..wants to pig out!"
My YM status msg: "I'm with the pig!!"


TO TASTE AUTHENTIC&SCRUMPTIOUS INASAL:

Inasal Express (yellow signage)
Timog - along Pan de Manila, DUBSHOP and EDSA - GMA

Swiss Chocolate.I'll stab you if ya don't believe me.

Reminds me of a Deftones classic, Knife party

Victorino-style Swiss chocolate knife.
Picture yourself munching on a swiss knife. cool!

Want one? Buy one.

Sushi that my pocket loves.

Salmon at around Php80.00. Fresh and guaranteed bought the day you're going to eat it. Atleast that's what my friend said. But yeah, it was good and fresh, the meat and fat ratio was just lovely.
the place. quite cozy, eh?
The most affordable jap resto i've ever set foot on. Recommended stuff: (in perfect sequence) Miso soup(Php25.oo), salmon (raw ofcourse), uni sushi, mackerel, ebi tempura(Php80.00), uni tempura, another salmon, and shrimp egg sushi(Php100.00). pair it Minute Maid pulpy orange (Php25.00) and you're set. The resident chef/owner once worked in Makati in a place called Little Tokyo.

Ran Ramen Tei and Sushi Bar
Outside the "Fort Boni Restos and Bars Gimik place" but its still technically inside the Fort Bonifacio area. Near the Phil. Army Gymnasium along Bayani St. If you really really wanna know where the hell this is, email me.

A neo-japanese experience

So this is what they call "neo japanese cuisine"......


JUMBO Ebi Tempura, baby. this made me order another bowl of rice.




Me, taken by Sherry ;-)


Sushi roll cream cheese salmon and their uber cool mango flavored iced tea (frozen mango juice with ice cold lipton red tea) were a perfect match.


Their Angus beef fried rice. Now this one.... really dropped the bomb and made my jaw drop as well.


Alas! the dessert: Banana split, neo-jap style.


KAI
Gbelt3