Ye Dang with the Gang!

Back in college, when Korean food wasn't as readily available as it is now, I was completely fascinated, obsessed even, with Korean cuisine.  Ironically enough, I learned about Korean food and culture through the hundreds of Korean dramas and movies I've religiously watched over the years.  Before that, all I knew was Beef Bulgogi.  Yep, I'm a bonafide K-drama addict.  I used to be a die-hard fan but these days I've mellowed down.  I'm down to one K-drama series every two weeks.  LOL. 

So anyways, as with any K-drama follower, that the culmination of my obsession with Korean cuisine peaked when Jewel in Palace (Dae Jang Geum) was released.  If you haven't watched it you're definitely missing out.  I dedicated a good two weeks of my life to finish that historical drama with only 2-3 hours of sleep in between.  From then on there was no turning back for me.  I'd drag my mom and dad to eat with me at Kaya every so often just to stem my craving for Korean food.  Each episode had me curious (and salivating).  In fact, A LOT of Korean restaurants started using Jang Geum's face in their advertisements after the drama came out.  That's how effective it was.

Luckily enough, with the sudden boom of Korean residents and students in Metro Manila, Korean food is fast on it's way to becoming one of the mainstream cuisines.  It's not as foreign as it was, say 5 years ago.  In fact, chapchae, a favorite of mine which uses potato starch noodles, is one of the staple dishes in our catering business.  In the beginning, I had a lot of fun introducing this dish to our clients.  These days, almost everyone I know is familiar with chapchae. 

My high school gang and I get together once every one or two months to hang out and catch up with each other's lives.  A few months ago, Dianne, arranged for us to meet up at Ye Dang.

The place was filled with Koreans, which is always a good sign good things to come.

We had to wait a while to get seated since our group was quite large.  We were ravenous by the time we were seated so we immediately placed our orders.

As soon as our orders were in, the banchan (or panchan) was placed on our table.  This is always the part I look forward to the most when dining at a Korean restaurant.  Banchan refers to the side dishes served along with rice and main courses.  These are meant to be shared.  We were served 7 side dishes which is a lot more than the standard 4-5 banchans served in other Korean restaurants. Among my favorites are the stir-fried anchovies (myeolchi bokkeum), the bean sprout salad (sookju namul), the seasoned spinach (sigumchi namul), and the ever popular pickled Napa cabbage most commonly referred to as kimchi.   Be warned, it's highly addicting.  Some days I end up eating kimchi twice a day together with my meals.

I love how crunchy, fresh, and delicate the flavors are despite how almost half of the dishes include chili paste in their ingredients.  The banchans whet the appetite.  I prefer to munch on them together with my main courses.  Ye Dang serves these side dishes automatically with any dish you order, hence the prices and the conservative portion sizes.  Korean cuisine has always been on the pricey side.

Dolsot Bibimbap Php  250.00

At the time, I had been craving for bibimbap which is simply rice topped with a fresh egg yolk and an assortment of Korean-style vegetables; meaning it was simply tossed with sesame oil, garlic, scallions (sometimes) and sesame seeds.  This particular bibimbap was served in a stoneware bowl which added a nice earthy touch to it.  It kept the bowl hot for a really long time so it cooked the egg yolk in no time at all.

Kalbichim Php 300

Kalbichim.  A classic Korean favorite.  Beef short rib stew.  The meat was incredibly tender and just melted in my mouth.  It had just the right sweetness and I liked how the sauce was packed with flavor and not watered down.

Sweet Beef Ribs Php 300.00

My friends took the more adventurous route.  They just couldn't pass up on putting the grill we had on our table to good use. 

They tried an order of the beef ribs.  They serve 2 portions for Php 300.00 which is quite steep in my opinion, given the cut and size of the meat.  However, for any grilled item they do serve a side of lettuce and perilla leaves with it which sorta makes up for it...erm experience-wise.  

This was my first time to see actual perilla leaves so it was exciting for me.  These leaves are related to the basil family and is widely used in Japanese cuisine.  Koreans also use perilla for kimchi among other things.  For this instance, we ate the perilla leaves as is.  You're supposed take a perilla leaf, scoop a spoonful of rice in the middle of the leaf together with a pinch of meat, wrap it, and then pop the whole thing into your mouth.  Fuuuuuun! :)

I forget how many orders of the grilled meats were consumed.  I do know that chapchae (Php 300.00) was ordered as well.

I'd hate to work as a dishwasher in any Korean restaurant, what with the gazillion plates and bowls they use.  However, as a customer, it makes for a really memorable dining experience and a whole lot of good conversation.  A bottle of soju (Php 180.00) would've been perfect with our dinner feast, but sadly it was a week day, so we settled for red bean ice cream instead at the Korean grocery right next door to Ye Dang.  :)



Address:  88 Meralco Ave., Ortigas, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
Tel. #: 636-1461

Trip to Baguio and O' Mai Khan

Driving on NLEX/SCTEX is always fun.  I feel like I'm on another planet.  It's nice to get away once in a while from the stifling confines of the city.  We've had a particularly toxic work schedule these past few weeks, hence the lack of posts (sorry!).  So yeah, this particular trip was a much needed escape. 

The view of clear blue skies and lush greenery has always had a calming effect on me.  I could feel my stress slowly melting away as we drove further and further away from the chaos of Manila.

Yuri wouldn't let me drive so I had to amuse myself by snapping photos along the way on our 5-hour climb to Baguio.

Since I can't always drive off to Baguio whenever life gets particularly difficult or stressful, I figure, at least I have these pictures to look at to remind me of this particular trip.

We stayed in Baguio for four days and three nights.  The goal?  To hibernate and get away from all things related to W.O.R.K.  We only went out to eat once during our whole stay. Our days were basically spent on cooking, eating, sleeping, and watching Yuri's arsenal of movies and TV series.  Ahhhh yes, we were living the good life.  So you can imagine how special that one resto trip was.  We had enough food supplies to cook for a week but we both knew that we couldn't pass up the chance to stuff ourselves silly at O' Mai Khan.  Our Baguio trip just wouldn't have been complete.

O' Mai Khan offers the most affordable Eat-All-You-Can Mongolian Buffet I've ever been to at only Php 195.00 per person.  Seriously.  The price is amazing for the amount of food they offer.  That alone already sounds too good to be true, but believe me it gets better.

Here, let me show you.

All you have to do is to let your taste buds and imagination guide you.  You start by picking out what kind of meat you want in your Mongolian barbecue.  You may choose from chicken, beef, pork, and liver.  You then move on to the veggies.

Baguio supplies the freshest and widest variety of vegetables to the lowlands so it would be irreverent to not take advantage of the available options. You've got togue (bean sprouts), watercress, kamote (sweet potato) leaves, bell peppers, carrots, sayote (chayote), etc.

Now comes the exciting part!

There are around 20++ condiments and sauces to choose from.  This is the most elaborate and complicated Mongolian barbecue buffet I've ever seen in terms of the add-ons to the meats.  Mad props to them.  This really allows you to control the flavors and adjust the spices of your end-product.  And yes I am a control freak so this part is the one I look forward to the most.  You've got pineapple chunks, chili, brown sugar, sugar water, sesame oil, vinegar, crushed peanuts, curry sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc. etc. I can see how daunting this would be for non-cooks but do not despair, if you're feeling a bit lost and unsure of what to combine, there are always buffet attendants ready to help you to make sure your bowl comes out really yummy.

When you're done picking out the sauces and condiments, you just need to decide on how much rice you want included in your bowl.  You may also opt to add egg to your rice bowl for a minimal additional fee.

They then proceed to stir-fry all the ingredients on a large flat griddle on high heat, as is the custom in Mongolian barbecue restaurants.  When cooking is done, the finished product is then scooped up into a bowl and brought to your table.  You end up with something like this.

Bowl # 1

In my first bowl, I put a mixture of chicken and pork, tomatoes, watercress, bean sprouts, onions, kamote leaves, bellpepper, oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce, a touch of curry sauce, sesame oil and a cup of rice.  It was so-so and a bit lackluster in flavor, but I expected it since I usually feel out the sauces on my first go.  The kamote leaves, when cooked, become slimy so I decided to stay away from those on my next try.

Bowl # 2

In my second bowl I combined chicken, beef, watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, tofu, bellpepper, 2 T of teriyaki sauce, 2 T of oyster sauce, 1 T of sesame oil, 1 T of sugar water, 1 T of soy sauce, pineapples, a sprinkling of brown sugar and half a cup of rice.  This bowl I loved!  It was tasty and flavorful.  The secret is to always make sure you have sesame oil, sugar water, and soy sauce as your base and then build your sauces from there.  The pineapples also added a nice tartness to the whole dish which I enjoyed.

Alas, this was my third and final bowl!  I can usually eat up to four bowls with a cup of rice each but my ulcer had been acting up on this trip so I had to scale it down....erm sort of.

In this bowl I mixed together beef, watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, sayote, bell pepper, 1 T sugar water, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T sesame oil, 2 T sate sauce, 2 T curry sauce, crushed peanuts, pineapple chunks, brown sugar and 1/4 cup of steamed rice.  This had a bit of a bite and heat to it.  I wanted to make my last bowl a little bit different and less sweet.  I was happy with the result.

Yuri and I gobbled up three bowls each.  He is my equal in every way!  He ate more rice though since he was feeling perfectly healthy and hungry that day.

As far as I know, Mongolian barbecue isn't really a reflection of what Mongolian cuisine is.  I did confirm this with my dad just to be sure since he used to frequent Mongolia when he was based in China a couple of years back.  In fact, Mongolian barbecue first appeared in the restaurants of Taiwan during the 1970's.  Some claim that it's based on how Mongolian soldiers from a long time ago used to gather different kinds of meat and cook it over a large flat surface over an open fire, hence the humongous griddle in Mongolian buffet restaurants.  

Well, whatever the origin of this interactive feast is, I'm just happy that it was invented in the first place.  Fried rice never fails to put a smile on my face and Mongolian barbecue is just different versions of fried rice tweaked and customized to each person's individual taste. Yuri and I went home stuffed up to our noses in Mongolian barbecue and we couldn't have been happier!

Starting July 2011, they will be moving from their current location which is at Otek St in Rizal Park,  to their new snazzy 2-floor building located at the Upper Session Road. 

New Address: Upper Session Road, Engineer's Hill, Baguio City
Mongolian Buffet Hours: 11:00AM - 2:00 PM; 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM everyday

Death by Crispy Pata at Fely J's

Last week, we took our aunt who's visiting from the U.S. out to dinner. She came home for my wedding last year and now she's back for my cousin's wedding (which is gonna happen next week!).  My aunt's a hardcore foodie and every time I went to visit her in the US, I'd gain 5 to 10 pounds in just a couple of days!

She and her husband are such amazing cooks and food scientists. You can imagine the feast they put out for us each time I or any of our relatives visit.  It was our turn to pay her back.
 
She had been craving for Filipino food so we immediately thought of Fely J's since she hadn't been to the Greenbelt area yet on this particular trip.

This was my second time going to Fely J's.  Oddly enough, the first time around (which was a year ago), I didn't really get to enjoy the food.  I left the place unimpressed.  It could be because at that time, I was too busy chatting up a storm since we were entertaining my dad's British friend.  Or could it be that the cooking and the ingredients got better since then?  I'll never know for sure. 

Anyways, we, meaning my family and I, were willing to give the place another shot. 

So here I am, a year later, paying homage to some of Fely J's signature dishes.  We ate A LOT of food but I'll only be featuring those extra special dishes that we extremely enjoyed.

My dad's side of the family is Kapampangan, so we figured my aunt would enjoy the camaru/camaro at Fely J's.

Camaru Mekeni Php 240.00

They had removed the legs of the camaro, and stir-fried it over high heat in a savory sauce.  Everyone at the table was raving about it, even Yuri!  Everyone agreed to that it was even better than the camaro at the famous Everybody's Cafe in Pampanga, which is also where I tasted camaro for the first time way back when.  I let my Kapampangan family down though haha!  I psyched myself out.  I shouldn't have stared at the crickets for too long before biting into it.  I felt the crunch and squish and I was done.  LOL.  But yeah I did love the sauce and if you're up to the challenge and would like to sample this unique Kapampangan delicacy, then I'd suggest you start at Fely J's.  They remove the legs you see, and the sizes of the camaro are consistent and small.  It's pretty hard to stare down a fully-grown cricket much less chew on it if you know what I mean.

Piniritong Hito Php 255.00

I went ahead and chose another traditional Kampampangan dish for the group.  This is one of my favorites.  Deep fried hito (catfish), served with mustasa (mustard) leaves on the side, and balo-balo.  Balo-balo/binurong hipon is essentially rice and shrimp that's cooked together, placed in a jar and fermented for 3 days or more.  One of my aunts on my dad side sells balo-balo at the Salcedo market.  Her balo-balo definitely packs a punch!  Fely J's version was very mild in taste and virtually odorless which is surprising.  My basis for comparison of course would be the balo-balo cooked by my relatives at family reunions and what not.  Now those were real stink bombs.  My dad had us microwave it one time and I tell you our whole block smelled like balo-balo.  Anyway it really is an acquired taste... errrr and odor, but once you get the hang of it, it really livens up your food.  It adds a certain kick and character to your meal, what with it's slight tartness and aged taste.  It goes really well with bitter vegetables and works well in removing that certain fishy taste in some dishes.  Again, a good place to start for newbies would be at Fely J's (or Abe which is their sister resto). 

Crispy Patang Bawang Php 575.00

Finally, we come to the highlight of the night.  The crispy pata a.k.a crispy pork leg!  It's a simple dish really, but savored by Filipinos everywhere.  Fely J's Crispy Patang Bawang (crispy garlic pork leg) really is one of the best ones I've tasted in a long long time.  Tita Gina felt the same way and she is one crispy pata connoisseur.  The skin was oh so crunchy and the meat was moist and flaky.  Everything was seasoned nicely and this particular crispy pata had more meat to it that fat, which I luuuuurve.  The ingredient that truly made this dish stand out was the garlic.  The crispy pata was drowned with loads and loads of chopped fried garlic.  Mmmmmmmmm.  I'm crazy about garlic so I went wild for this dish.  I usually don't eat that much pork anymore but I couldn't pass up on this.  Tita Gina and I decimated the dish!  The served it with their special dipping sauce which probably consisted of soy sauce, calamansi juice, chopped onions, chopped garlic and a little bit of chopped chili.  This made every bite that much more sinful.  I had the soundest sleep that night.  My body felt all warm and lethargic after all the crispy pata I consumed!  Haha.  A crispy pata coma as my hubby would call it. 

I washed the whole meal down with a really jazzed up glass of sago't gulaman.  It's an especially pricey glass of sago't gulaman but it does make for an authentic experience.

Sago't Gulaman Php 95.00

A meal at Fely J's may strain your wallet but if you stick to their signature Pinoy dishes, and steer clear from their the Asian ones, the trip will be well worth it.  I heard that their KKK (kare-kare) is spectacular and the same goes for the Lamb Kaldereta.  Other interesting things to try too would be Fely J's Dilis-cious Rice and the Biringhe.  Me?  I know what I'm coming back for.  I've completely fallen in love with the crispy pata.  There is no other crispy pata I'd rather block my arteries with than the one at Fely J's. :)



Address: 2/F Greenbelt 5, Legaspi St., Legaspi Village, Ayala Center, Makati City
Tel. #: 728-8858