Sunday Morning at Sidcor

Yuri's been wanting to go to the Sidcor Sunday market (now at Eton Centris) for over a month now. You're probably wondering why this is even an issue. Thing is, it's particularly hard for us... erm... err for me that is, to wake up earlier than 10:00 AM on Sundays. LOL. It's my designated sleep-in day since we usually have catering events on Saturday evenings.

Yep that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  Now that I'm married and free from my parents' constant lectures on the merits of waking up early, I figured I had a right to my Sunday mornings.  I can and WILL waste it as I please.  *ahem*  Right Yuri? Teehee.

This morning though, we managed to get ourselves ready by 9:00 AM.  Indeed, that was no small feat, what with the chilly-curl-under-the-covers weather. But a promise was a promise. So I put on my most believable cheerful smile and trudged off to the car where Yuri was impatiently waiting for me.

It was an easy 20-minute drive from our house to Eton Centris.  Gotta love Metro Manila on Sundays.  By the time we got there, I was genuinely looking forward to our little outing and my usual morning sullenness was long gone.

The place was brimming with people despite the overcast skies and wet weather.

There's a separate section for fresh produce, meat, and seafoods, another for clothes and accessories, one for cooked food featuring mostly Filipino delicacies, and one for plants and all things green.  On this particular trip, Yuri and I were just there for herbs.  It was high time that our other herbs at home had some company.

I immediately homed in on Mang Narcisso's stall.  I didn't think we had to look any further.  He had a pretty neat selection of herbs, and it was awesome that he had all the ones we were looking for.  We ended up buying six seedlings and it took us roughly ten minutes to finalize our choices. The seedlings were only Php 25.00 pesos each.  Amazing.  You can't get a better price than that.

What I loved about Mang Narcisso is that he gave us a lot of practical tips on how to prolong the lives of our herbs.  Plus he was really nice and easy to talk to.  In fact, I had so much fun comparing notes with him with regards to our herb preferences for certain dishes, that I forgot about my slightly muddy feet and that I was awkwardly squished under an umbrella that barely covered Yuri and I.  He even let me take his picture! :) 

Yuri took his new babies straight to the garden as soon as we got home.  They have now been replanted into their own individual pots.  Mang Narcisso told us that we should make sure that we till the soil of each plant at least once a week.  He says that it's vital that the soil is always loose so that water seeps into the roots of the herbs really easily.  We were supposed to buy 7 herbs, but he vetoed our chocolate mint option.  He told us that his chocolate mint was looking wilted and that he'd bring us a nice and lively one next weekend.  He had my loyalty right then and there!

Now I'd like to introduce y'all to our new herbs!

Curly Leaf Parsley

Spring Onion

Italian / Flat Leaf Parsley

Arugula

Dill

Vietnamese Cilantro / Hot Mint

I can't wait to use them in my dishes!  The possibilities are endless. :-)



Address: Eton Centris Parking Lot, EDSA cor. Quezon Avenue, QC
Hours:  6:00 AM - 2:00 PM; Sundays

My Kind of Xiao Long Bao

My Xiao Long Bao fixation started in early 2010.  I was helping my dad scout for a nice, upscale, and somewhat exclusive restaurant since he was looking for a place to hold a meeting, at the time, for some industry bigwigs.  My mom and I were his taste testers, which was an awesome job, since we got to eat free food and sort of stage the dishes he wanted to order for his prospective clients.  We eventually went with Jasmine, a new-ish (at the time) Chinese restaurant located at New World Hotel in Makati.  We went through the appetizer section of the menu, and my mom insisted that we try the xiao long bao (soup dumplings) as a possible option for appetizers.  You see, she was still on a high from her trip to China back then and she was weirdly fixated (I thought) by these soup dumplings.  After a bite of it, I completely understood why she couldn't stop talking about it.

It's been more than a year now since my introduction to xiao long bao, and my enthusiasm for this Chinese dim sum is still as strong as ever.  Since then, I have been on the lookout for affordable and well-made xiao long baos.  Believe me, the quest has not been easy.  In most Chinese restaurants, the xiao long baos are either too dry, or the skin is too thick, or the skin somehow gets punctured while it's steaming so the juices seep out even before it gets to the customers' tables.

Thankfully, I've found my go-to place for my xiao long bao fix when Crystal Jade chain opened their doors last year.  The Xiao Long Bao craze has taken Manila by storm.  Everyone was just suddenly craving for these delicate "soup dumplings".  I remember lining up for almost two hours at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao when they first opened!  Yep, two friggin' hours.  Granted, they just opened at the time, but their service was terrible and their seating order was ridiculously inefficient.  Anyway, you can imagine how grumpy we were by the time we were seated.  We were all hungry and irritable by the time our orders got to our table.  We were so ready to nitpick and rant about the food.  At that point, I just wanted to eat my dinner and get out of there.  I was certain that I would never ever go back...well, until I tasted the food that is.  We, meaning Yuri plus my parents & aunt, all kind of looked at each other with bemused expressions because we didn't expect their food to be on point, what with the messy state of things on the service side.  Funny thing was, initially we were all kinda bummed that all the dishes we ordered turned out to be ridiculously delicious, since we were looking forward to complaining about the food.  Their, xiao long bao, chicken with cashew nuts, hand-pulled noodles, braised eggplant with pork, and radish pastry, definitely shut us up good.  LOL.  Mad props to them.  I think everyone in the restaurant kind of had the same sentiment.  Everyone was trying really hard to still look mad and annoyed, but a grin and a satisfied sigh would slip out here and there in between bites.

I'm happy to report that the crazed-xiao-long-bao-crowds have calmed down.  Crystal Jade is still as popular as ever, but at least now you don't have to wait to get in and the quality of their service has shaped up tremendously since they first opened.

Yuri and I decided to pop in for an early lunch since we were doing a bit of shopping at Greenhills.  I'm pretty sure you guys know by now what we ordered for our starter.  It was no other than their Xiao Long Bao! 

Xiao Long Bao Php 158.00

Making a good xiao long bao is a fine art.  First the dough for the skin has to perfectly circular and thin enough, that it becomes translucent when cooked, but not too thin that it breaks while it's steaming.  Once the flour dough or skin is thin enough, it is then usually filled with pork together with a meat aspic (jelly made from meat stock).  It is then sealed and pinched on top.  These soup dumplings are steamed and served in bamboo baskets.  Xiao long bao is always served with black vinegar with slices of ginger.  What I usually do is I wait a bit for the xiao long bao to cool down, dip it in the black vinegar, and then eat the whole thing in one go.  It's quite an experience really.  The tangy earthy taste of the black vinegar slowly combines with the rich flavors of the "soup" as the dumpling slowly bursts in your mouth.  The flavors of the savory pork filling then emerges while the delicate dumpling "skin" just sorts of melts in your mouth.  A tremendous amount of skill goes into making this Shanghai-style soupy dumpling and I think that's a big part of why I enjoy it so much.  Every single aspect of this delicacy requires a daunting amount of work (especially the aspic!) and a certain kind of finesse.

I don't go to Crystal Jade for the xiao long bao alone. They've got dishes here that are equally tasty and as well executed as the soup dumplings.  Since it was just us two, we decided to order two bowls of steamed rice and then we just split a plate of their Sauteed Chicken with Cashew Nuts in Spicy Sauce.  This is Yuri's fave!

Sauteed Chicken with Cashew Nuts in Spicy Sauce Php 288.00

This dish definitely shows off the skill level of their kitchen staff.  I love it when all of the ingredients on my plate are cut uniformly.  I'm just meticulous with my food like that.  It drives Yuri nuts!  It's no wonder too why this dish came out perfectly.  The onions were crunchy, mushrooms were tender, and the chicken perfectly cooked.  The textures were lovely!  It was bathed in a sweet-ish sauce (my guess is hoisin, XO, plum, garlic, and touch of Shaoxing wine) peppered with chili flakes, and chopped fresh chili.  They serve this dish with flour pancakes.

Radish Pastry Php 98.00

This is our default dessert at Crystal Jade.  We are big fans of radish cakes so when we saw this on the menu, on our first visit, we just had to try it.  These days, the Radish Pastry only thing we order for dessert at Crystal Jade.

Thin strips of radish and diced spring onions are wrapped in puff pastry and then deep-fried.  It's fluffy, light, and oh so yummy!  A must-try for radish fans.

They've got a lot of items to choose from so I'm pretty sure that no matter what you order you'll definitely enjoy dining here. :-)



Address: G/F, Virra Mall, Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills, San Juan City
Tel. #: 570-6910; 570-6912; 570-6914
Hours: Monday to Sunday 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM

My 4th of Juy: Mongolian BBQ & Momo Cafe

I've got tons of things to be thankful for this year.  What better way to celebrate than by throwing a party!  My birthday was on July 4 but since it fell on a Monday, we held the party last Saturday instead.  I had a ball since I got to pig out while the people closest and dearest to my heart were happily munching away with me. Since most of our parties have themes, Yuri and I decided that this one should have a Mongolian barbecue spin on it. As you know, in one of my previous posts (O'Mai Khan), we are big fans of Mongolian buffets so we decided to give our guests the same experience. I was told to stay away from the planning this time, so this was really Yuri and my mom's gift to me.  They took care of everything!

We didn't want the party to feel too "catered", which is ironic since that's what we do on a daily basis. We wanted to keep it simple and self-service mostly so we just borrowed our best Mongolian BBQ cook, and another one of our staff members to pitch in with the service side.

My uber generous parents, who I dearly love, decided on their own that a Mongolian buffet wasn't enough. They surprised me with pritchon!!!  Pritchon or pritong lechon is simply deep fried suckling pig served Peking duck-style.  Chopped lechon is wrapped in pita bread together with slices of cucumber and spring onions.  The secret is always in the sauce and they had 7 types for us to choose from. 

I was ecstatic! I hung out by the pritchon station for quite a while and tried to get my fill before the bulk of my guests arrived.  LOL.  I wasn't going to miss out on this.  Nuh-uh.  Hell no.  Usually pritchons last for no more than 30 minutes in our parties.  People just seem to inhale them.  Can't blame them though because it's craaaaazzzy delicious!

Hubby (left) and I (middle) with the early birds!

 Our house was noisy, chaotic, and brimming with people, just how I like our parties to be.  I had a blast! :)

I was still on a high from the party so I didn't really mind if we skipped celebrating my birthday on the actual day.  Yuri would have none of that though, and told me to get dressed for a date.  I have to admit, I didn't really put up a protest.  In fact, I got dressed in record time!  How could I say no to a date?

We went to mass and then went to Momo Cafe for lunch.  I had a hard time choosing between my favorite restaurants, but in the end we went to Momo since it had been quite a while since we ate here.   

Once we were seated, I immediately flipped open the menu to my favorite page.

We quickly placed our orders and patiently waited for our scrumptious dishes to arrive.  While waiting, they customarily serve all their guests bread sticks with a tasty side of cheese pimiento spread.

Since the first time I ate here in 2010, there has only been one dish for me.  The pan roasted Norwegian salmon. *drools*

Pan Roasted Shiitake Mushroom Crusted Norwegian Salmon Php 425.00

It's perfect really.  I guess it really is a personal favorite of mine since I'm quite obsessed with most of the ingredients on this plate.  The oh-so-juicy-and-flaky hunk of salmon, the spinach cream risotto, and the teriyaki glaze go together like a dream.  Thanks Anj for introducing this to me!  This dish gives me the same glazed look and dopey smile I get when I'm given a huge emergency shot of benadryl for my allergies.  Everything just fades into the background.  If you don't believe me, ask Yuri.  He knows that talking to me in this state would be utterly useless since I'd be completely distracted.  Harhar.  I can't help it.

The salmon dish is really a big plate with at least 350 grams of quality salmon cooked to perfection.  I'd say that it's totally worth it for 'splurge days' like these.

Yuri decided to try a new dish at Momo and ordered some good ol' corn dogs.

A Bucket of Corn Dogs and 3 Dips Php 295.00

This is Yuri's brand of comfort food that's for sure.  He loved that they used real American hotdogs and a really thick and tasty pancake batter to coat it with.  It came with homemade coleslaw and three kinds of dips-- sweet and sour, hickory BBQ, and honey mustard.

Other dishes I'd highly recommend are the Sweet & Smoky BBQ Riblets (Php 450.00), the Slow Roasted U.S. Roast Beef Fingers (Php 495.00), and the MOMO Gourmet Salad (Php 295.00), which are all good for sharing.

I was planning to have dessert at some other  place since my favorite dessert at Momo Cafe was nowhere on the menu or on the dessert display up front.  I should've put more faith in my hubby because next thing I knew, the restaurant was suddenly playing a very classy version of the "happy birthday" song and our waitress was walking towards me with a slice of my favorite dessert topped with a lighted candle.  It was incredibly sweet!

The dessert in question, was the cookie dough cheesecake.  I don't really have a sweet tooth so I'm a fan of desserts that aren't too sweet and sugary.  This really does it for me.  It's a baked cheesecake with a cookie dough crust and drops of chocolate chip batter on top.  The cheesecake itself has a lemony flavor.  Yuri and I were both flabbergasted though when we saw our bill.  We used to pay Php 175.00 for a slice and now it was Php 275.00, which is quite ridiculous even if it was my favorite dessert there.  We didn't want to spoil the mood though.  It was my birthday date after all.

I thought my parents spoiled me unnecessarily before, but nobody has spoiled me quite like Yuri has.  You know how a little girl feels like when she's in a candy store and is told that she can pick out whatever she wants just for that day?  That's how I felt during this whole week... except I don't like candy all that much... but you guys get my drift.   Anyways, all I'm trying to say in my own clumsy way is THANK YOU!  Just in case I haven't said it enough. <3  



Address: G/F Eastwood Mall, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave, Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City
Tel. #: 900-1006

(Disclaimer! The food quality here is awesome, but the service crew has their good days and bad days.  I personally prefer to go here on weekdays or during off-peak hours when the place isn't too full just to be on the safe side.)