For friends who are in Texas, you may be interested in checking out Mattito’s Tex-Mex and enjoy Mexican cantina in four different locations in Texas.  Whether you need party hall rentals in Dallas or reception catering or simply happy hour time, Mattito’s can offer a lot.  Its menu has been based mainly on family recipes familiar to a lot of Texans.  Also, the place has won several awards, including: Top Ten Tequila bars in the United States, Dallas’ Best Sunday brunch, and Dallas best tex-mex.  Personally, I’d like to try the Orange Jalapeno vinaigrette.

For those in need of catering,  groups from as small as 10 to over 1000 guest for all types of events, wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, birthdays, corporate events, holiday gatherings, Bar / Bat Mitzvah and more can be accomodated.  They also offer party deliveries.  For their menus, you can visit the site and download it.

For the brunch menu, here’s a sample of what they have:

Beverages: Coffee, Tea, Orange Juice, Sodas

Buffet: Omelet Station, Waffle Station, Breakfast Potatoes, Sausage, Carved Ham, Bacon, Migas, Enchiladas, Sopes, Chiles Rellenos, Breakfast Quesadillas, Flautas, Chimichangas, Beef & Chicken Fajitas, Taco Bar, Tamales, Tortilla Soup, Ceviche, Fresh Salads, Assorted Cheeses, Fresh Fruit Assorted, Desserts.

Brunch is available from 10 am to 2 pm and is $16.99 for adults  and $6.99 for kids under 12.

And for those who are watching their food intake, Mattito’s make sure it can modify its menu to suit your needs.  Many of the dishes can be rendered health and lighter by removing cream or taking out cheese.

And here’s what Barrett Brown Cityguide has to say: “Hungry patrons may choose from gorditas and fajitas of various makes, although the particularly famished might be better off with such resident specialties as the fillet Mignon with Chipotle sauce. Even the chips and their accompanying dips are quite notable, to hear the regulars tell it.”

How I wish there’s something like this here in PH. We may have restos serving similar Tex-Mex cuisines but I wanted to try the real thing.

Good news for CBTL lovers in DLSU! The CoffeeBean and Tea Leaf shop will be ready to open its doors to customers starting January 30! The shop will be located at One Archer’s place on Fidel Reyes street.

And there’s a promo running from opening day until February 5, 2012 in celebration of DLSU’s 100th year. Customers can come to the store from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m and purchase any of their favorite drinks for only P100. Ain’t that nice?

I do miss La Salle. College life has been a happy one for me. Maybe I’ll come and visit soon.

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Beer drinking is a favorite bonding activity of Filipinos.  Be it after work, over the weekend, or just for a nightcap, beer has apparently become part of our lives.  And who wouldn’t think of beer without thinking of sisig?  Though sisig originally refer to fruits or sour foods to snack on (see wikipedia article), it now also refers to meat being marinated in a sour liquid, like vinegar, and then cooked and seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices.  We, Filipinos, like our sisig in a variety of ways.  My preferred taste of sisig is a bit salty, but with a douse of sweetness, and, most importantly, lots of crunch!  And I think I may have found the perfect embodiment of my perfect sisig.

I found my kind of sizzling pork sisig at Nuevo Sitio Restaurant in Marilao, Bulacan, just along MacArthur highway.  And for just Php 140, you can have a plateful of this sizzling goodness!  Place is great for friends who want to have a night of catching up with each other’s lives with live band music in the background.  Lots of open airspace so one need not smell like smoke all day.  It’s a refreshing place.

But don’t misunderstand that this is merely a beer-drinking place.  It also offers Chinese and Filipino meals.  Resto is open during daytime also.  Here are some of the food we had there:

Hacao, siomai, and yang chow fried rice that’s good for 3-5 persons.  Nothing outstanding about the dumplings.  But I kinda like the yang chow fried rice because it’s not that oily and I like the color!

Fried cream dory fish fillet…tastes good, but I’d rather have it served steamed or maybe cooked in butter.

So, there you go.  Maybe when you pass by this little place in Marilao, you can try out their food, but especially the sisig.  Gah, this post is making me want some sizzling pork sisig right now…

It’s just one of those times that my folks and I were craving sushi. However, expensive sushi restaurants are just out of the question at that moment. But when there’s something like this to catch your attention…

…surely you’ll give in to your cravings.

I love how the colorful plates go round and round the conveyor belt, with cute bottles of flavored soda water interspersed among them. There’s a list on the side of each table, bearing the color codes of the plates and corresponding prices. The ebi sushi above, which is served on a green plate is priced at P79. Ebi tastes sweet but it separates from the sticky rice. Or rather, the not so sticky rice. Hmmm.

Of course we have to have california maki. I was quite surprised how big each piece was. Too big for just one bite. I rather have a california maki that is just small enough for one bite rather than have to bite through it and have all the components fall out. Each order contains 8 big pieces. And it’s a bit dry.

And yes, sukiyaki! I like my sukiyaki to be sweet, not too oily even with the egg yolk, and not too salty. These are fulfilled by Sakae sushi’s sukiyaki. It’s not the best, though. But it’ll do.

I have to say though that I was slightly annoyed by the customer service. My dad asked one of the staff if he could take photos of the colorful plates on the conveyor belt because it amuses him and is one of the reasons why he was attracted to the place. The server said no. But I still took pics anyway, though I don’t know if they’ve noticed. They should be briefed about the advantages of camera phones and mobile internet. Haven’t they realized that they could get more potential customers if they have let us take the photos, which we could have shared to friends online and IRL? Well, I suspect they are not aware of this. Whoever franchised the store doesn’t even have an official website for it. So sad because I would want to be updated about new offerings or promotions. They don’t even have a facebooj page (except for the original store in Singapore).

So unfortunate, this store seems to be promising and yet…oh well…

Will I come back? Maybe. But I don’t think it’ll be something that I’d crave again and again.

My rating: 3 spoons

Kangaroo Jack must have been at SM North EDSA for quite sometime already, because I saw there are many customers going there.  I haven’t heard about it, though.  But since it may seem popular, it could probably have good food, right?  I might as well try it.

Kangaroo Jack is an Aussie fusion restaurant, serving Aussie foods with a bit of Filipino flavor.  They’re known for steaks and sizzlers.  And my, oh my, the prices are rather inexpensive.  You can get a serving of steak for as low as P190.  I just forgot what kind of steak it is…

I was rather more in the mood for a burger at that time.

KJ Quarter Pounder, P130

I got the KJ Quarter Pounder.  Though, I think the beef patty is a bit on the small side (considering that it’s supposedly quarter pound), the meal serving itself is huge.  Lots of chips and the veggies supposedly in the burger are served on the side.  This is good for real hungry people or big eaters.  I’m a big eater, so it’s okay with me.

It’s one juicy burger, I must say.  It’s a bit salty for my taste, though.  Not too salty, though, and I think the other burger lovers would love that juicy burger with that saltiness.  This meal is quite loaded with sodium chloride.  There’s that serving of chips staring at me, wanting to be eaten too.  It’s quite a huge meal, even for me.  So, in order to be able to eat the chips, I only ate half of the burger bun.  Hehe.  Junk foods first.

Drinks are quite inexpensive, too.  I ordered regular iced tea, which only costs P35.  If you wanted to have it bottomless, you’ll just pay P65.  And there’s a tower of iced tea available too, for groups.

I think, overall, it was a good, satisfying meal.  I just wished that they tone down on the salt, though.  Maybe next time I’ll try the Porterhouse steak, which is only P200+.

Kangaroo Jack is located at Level 2, Main Bldg., SM City North EDSA (not sure, though, if they have other branches).  Contact Details 385-9452.

My rating:

I’m in one of those eat-Japanese moods (well, it’s been my mood during the past few days) and I’ve been craving maki like crazy.  Finally, I gave in and had some delicious maki and donburi, as well.  Thanks to my folks who treated me to a wonderful Tempura lunch!

Ebi Hamburg Katsudon P225

I usually have the pork one, but I’d say a shrimp katsudon tastes better.  Goes better with the donburi sauce, I guess. Or I’m not really a pork person.  Hehe.  I don’t like a katsudon swimming in sweet sauce, but I just like the rice to be moist with it, not soaked.  And of, course, the katsudon should be moist with the sauce too.

my rating: 3.5 spoons

Tamago Roll, P150

Okay, I forgot what else inside of that roll besides the mango and the Japanese rice.  But I do love how these “egg omelettes” were made not to be boring.  Or maybe it’s just the wasabi.  I’d still order this again, though.

my rating:  3.5 spoons

Uncle Sam’s Maki, P200

It’s a rolled maki with shrimp, cream cheese, cucumber strips, mango topped with bacon and mayo.  Should be delicious, just reading the ingredients.  However, I have a thing against putting too many creams on a maki.  So maybe if there’ll be less cream cheese and less mayo, I’d be happier to dig into this.  But, this ain’t bad, I’m telling you.  It’s just that I prefer less cream.

my rating: 3 spoons

I was able to attend the launching of the first Jamba Juice store in the Philippines the other night at Bonifacio High street. The store opened at Bonifacio High Street South, just near R.O.X., though officially, it opened to the public just this Friday morning.

It was all fun that night, as Jamba Juice was presented to an excited crowd, with energetic street dances that is a reflection of how hip and trendy Jamba Juice is.  It is also marketed as a good, healthier alternative to sweetened drinks and desserts.

Shrimp with Mango sauce…how I wish Jamba Juice would also serve this in the store hehe.

Look how crazy it is inside the store!  People surely are excited lining up to get their Jamba Juice smoothie!  I love the vibrant colors of the interior.  Makes one wanna jump up and down.  Hehe.

I got the strawberries wild classic smoothie ( because obviously, I like strawberries hehe).  It is actually made up of strawberries, bananas, apple-strawberry juice, and nonfat yogurt.  But the most prominent flavor is that of strawberries with just the right hint of banana sweetness.  I’d love to have this every morning of every day.  If only Bonifacio high street is near my place.  Hehe.  Hopefully, though, Jamba Juice will open other branches in the Philippines soon.

Other drinks to watch out for are banana berry and five fruit frenzy, which is made up of mangoes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, peaches, mixed berry juice, and peach juice.  If I remember right, a medium-sized cup would cost about P135 and a larger one would be P155.  Other food snacks are steel cut oatmeals (with your choice of toppings) and yogurt and fruit parfaits.

And, of course, there are some snacks too other than fruits and oatmeals.  Though, I’m not too sure if this really fit the “alternative, healthier lifestyle” philosophy of Jamba Juice.  Wasn’t able to taste these yet because only the drinks were served during launching night.

And so, I’m actually excited to try the other drinks.  And I wish I could do that soon.

Finally, it’s here in the Philippines!

If you have been making rounds of the foodie blogs out there, you’d notice that Gong Cha has been receiving quite good reviews for its milk tea. Though I’m quite curious to try it, I just don’t have the time and resources to go to Singapore any time soon. But then that changed when recently, Gong Cha has been opening branches in the Philippines: SM Mall of Asia, Glorietta 4, SM North EDSA, and then Megamall!

Queues can get quite long, but I think everybody’s willing to wait just a bit longer for a taste of Gong Cha milk teas.

Here’s what I’ve got as a first-timer: Medium Caramel milk tea with coffee jelly, P95

This combination is actually suggested to me by the lady at the counter, as I asked her which milk tea would go best with coffee jelly (I was craving coffee jelly at that time).  And I think, she may have quite an inkling of my taste.  Caramel milk tea is not too sweet and complements very well their coffee jelly (which tastes like coffee and not gelatin with some coffee, if you know what I mean).  Coffee jelly is quite smooth too.  I just found some difficulty sipping it through the straw, perhaps because of the cut size of the coffee jellies.  Or may be it’s just the straw used.  I dunno, really.  Haha.  But overall, I’d definitely go back for more!

For their menu, see their page here.

As promised, I’m going to share with you the recipe for that delicious chocolate concoction of Chef Marc Chalopin: Chocolat Liegeois (sorry if I can’t place the proper accents. I don’t know how to do that in here hehe).

Ingredients:

Chocolate Ice Cream

• 1 quart milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 1/4 oz butter
• 8 1/4 oz sugar
• 1 3/4 oz honey
• 1 lb Guanaja couverture chocolate
• 1 oz cocoa paste
• 3 1/2 oz egg yolks

Chocolate sauce

• 1/2 L milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 600 g dark couverture chocolate preferably 65% dark
• 40 g cocoa paste
• 150 g sugar

Coffee and Rum Granite

• 1 quart coffee
• 5 1/4 oz sugar
• 6 3/4 T dark rum (10 cL)

Chantilly Cream

• 1 L heavy cream
• seeds from 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 160 g sugar

Nougatine

• 50 g silvered almonds
• 50 g sugar
• 50 g liquid glucose
• 50 g butter

Making the ice cream

- Heat all the chocolate ice cream ingredients to 183 degrees F in a double broiler

- Chill to 39 F, let sit, process in the ice cream maker, and set aside.

Making the Granite

- Sugar the coffee, add rum, and freeze.

- Once the mixture is frozen, use a fork to break it up into ice flakes

Preparing the Chocolate sauce

- To make the chocolate sauce, combine milk, cream, and sugar

- Remove from heat and add to the dark couverture, broken into small pieces, and cocoa paste,

- put in an ice bath when couverture melts completely

Preparing the Chantilly cream

- Whip cream together with sugar and vanilla seeds.  Do not overbeat: the cream should only be semi-firm.

Making the nougatine

- Melt sugar, butter,and glucose in a pan, and bring to a boil.  Add sliced almonds and mix well.

- Spread the mixture out on a Teflon baking sheet.  Bake in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.

Finish and assembly

- Fill a tall dessert glass, alternating the different elements of the dessert, except the vanilla-flavored chantilly cream, which is to be added last.  Sprinkle with cocoa powder and nougatine pieces just before serving.

This recipe makes 10 portions.

I’m a chocolate person and I wouldn’t say no to a generous serving of this chocolate dessert.  But I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re already too full from your main meal.  This stuff is kinda heavy in the tummy, so to speak (with all the creams and chocolates).  If you want to have this as a dessert, maybe you could share a tall dessert glass with a friend.  Or just eat it as a sweet snack.

Well, after we’ve had our fill of Chef Marc’s delicious creations, we were given a tour of Enderun Colleges by one of the students.  Here are some of the photos I took:

Just a sneak peek at the students’ kitchen lab.  Boy, I want to have a spacious kitchen like this!

During the tour, we came across some of the students practicing for a competition.  I wonder what they’d do with the Stik-O.

Restaurant 101 is such a lovely place that looks like a high-end restaurant that one wouldn’t think this resto is actually run by Enderun’s Culinary arts students, as supervised by their professors.  This is Enderun’s application restaurant.  Even the assistant manager is actually a student!  He conducts himself as if he’s already a professional restaurant manager and even has his own business card.  The restaurant features signature dishes of their chefs, with an Asian twist.  And can you believe they have set meals available for as low as P300?  The menu changes on a daily basis, as well as the set meals, so it would be fun trying out the different meals.

Restaurant 101 at Enderun Colleges is open from Monday to Saturday; from 11:30am to 2pm for lunch, and from 6 to 10pm for dinner.

This is actually the culinary arts building where Restaurant 101 and the Culinary arts classes are located.  As you can see, the atrium is being set up for a wedding reception.

Believe it or not, the Culinary Arts building is often mistaken for a church by the cab drivers.  Well,  I wouldn’t blame them.

Would you believe this is a school?  Well, you have to, though the structure may remind you of buildings in Europe.  I think this is where they have the business or management classes.

Beautiful sky window up above

Yeah, Arpee…I know how you feel.  I want to be a student again too!

That’s me on the right, posing for the camera.  The long-legged beauty in the middle is our gracious tour guide (sorry, I forgot her name…) who’s a student at Enderun.  The one on the left is Marge of Kikay Trekkie.  Arpee is the one behind the camera. LOL.

I’m hoping to take some short courses at Enderun.  Or maybe take up a whole new course like culinary arts.  It’d be nice to be a student once more, and in the creative arts (like culinary) for a change.  Somebody please donate to me a million pesos!  Haha.

For more info on Enderun, please visit http://www.enderuncolleges.com.

I was invited to attend an event for bloggers held at Enderun Colleges just last week.  The event was called Discover Cuisine and I, along with other food bloggers, was given the opportunity to see a cooking demo by ADF+Enderun executive chef, Chef Marc Chalopin (who has been in the country for three years and claimed to love the Philippines.  He also claim love for our sisig).  He demonstrated cooking Shrimp Tartar Burgers and Chocolat Liegeois.  I wasn’t able to take a video at how amazingly efficient he was at the kitchen (as we have witnessed at the college’s culinary amphitheater) but I’ll just share with you some photos and, of course, the recipe.

Shrimp Tartar Burgers

Ingredients:

• 400 g medium shrimps
• 1 white onion
• 2 leaves tarragon
• 5 g paprika
• 30 g mayonnaise
• salt
• espelette spice
• 1 Lernon

Garnish

• 2 baby romaine
• 12 mini-buns
• 24 sundried tomato petals

Tartar Sauce

• 125 g Mayonnaise
• 10 g Pomery mustard
• 1 grated lemon peel
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 1/2 bunch Chervil
• 1/2 bunch Parsley
• 1 pc red onion
• 30 g capers in vinegar
• Sundried Tomatoes
• 1 kg tomatoes
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 3 cloves garlic
• 10 sugar (winter)
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Preparations/Method

Preparation of the stuffing

• Shell the shrimp, remove the gut, and dice
• peel the white onion and chop finely
• Pluck and chop the tarragon
• remove the lemon peel and chop finely
• In a mixing bowl, combine all the stuffing ingredients in order to obtain a smooth paste
• Divide into twelve (12) and moul into a round between two sheets of wax paper using a cookie cutter
• Refrigerate

Preparation of the garnish

• Pluck the rougette (baby romaines) and cut the hearts into 4 thin slices
• Drain the sundried tomatoes
• Lightly toast the buns (already cut in half)
• Preparation of the Tartar sauce
• Grate the lemon rind.  Squeeze and recover its juice.
• Pluck and crush the parsley
• Pluck and crush the chervil
• Peel and chop the red onion
• Drain and crush the capers
• Combine all the ingredients in a mayonnaise
• Finish with the lemon juice and mustard
• Set aside

Finish and Presentation

• Saute the stuffing squares in olive oil over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes depending on the thickness
• Spread the tartar sauce on the buns
• Place 1 slice of mini romaine and 1 sundried tomato petal.  Place the fried stuffing square over top
• Add a tablespoon of sauce and the second slice of mini romaine and 1 tomato petal
• Close the burger with the other half of the bun.  Place toothpick at the center to hold the burger together
• Put in the oven for 1 minute

Necessary steps to prepare the recipe

Sundried tomatoes

• Peel, seed and cut the tomatoes into four petals
• place them in a salad bowl. Add 40 ml of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Sweeten, if necessary
• Mix delicately
• Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  Spread the petals making sure there is enough space between them.
• Crush the garlic cloves with the palm of the hand without crushing them completely
• Sprinkle them over the tomatoes
• Equally sprinkle on some thyme
• Tip over the mixing bowl to pour out the remaining juice
• Bake at 90 C for 4 hours
• Oil them lightly, if necessary
• Place the dry ones on top of the moist ones below
• Remove the tomatoes as they crystallize.  Let cools.
• Arrange them in a plastic box or in a jar.
• cover them with olive oil.
• Refrigerate.

Don’t be intimidated by the lengthy list of ingredients.  Chef Marc assured us that we can use alternative ingredients to make these at home.

I’m not really a burger person.  But after I took a single bite of the shrimp burger, the next bites were already inevitable.  It was so damn good!  And healthier too!  One need not to put so much tartar sauce, though.  Just moisten the bun and the burger would be enough, in my opinion.  I’d still eat this with french fries, like a regular burger.  But it’s so damn good!  If Chef were making a lot of these and would be sold commercially, I’d buy this in boxes!

In my next posts, I’ll be sharing another recipe and more photos of Enderun Colleges.  Just seeing Chef Marc and the kitchen labs inspired me to take culinary classes, maybe in the future.

I want this in my kitchen (Chef Marc, included, haha)!

But if you can’t wait for the next posts, you can head over to Enderun Colleges site or just visit or call:

1100 Campus Avenue
McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio
Taguig City 1634 Philippines

Telephone (632) 856 5000
Facsimile (632) 856 4656
admissions@enderuncolleges.com