The minds behind the innovative food court favorite have opened Bistro Ravioli in SM Mall of Asia, a restaurant that offers the same fresh pasta that has made Ravioli a hit. Prices differ slightly from Ravioli; it is a full service restaurant after all and not the food court. The menu comprises of appetizers; the raviolis and other pasta; pizza; drinks, and desserts.

To start off, we ordered the Grilled Focaccia with Spinach dip and Grilled Focaccia with salsa. Both plates of appetizers have slices of buttered and herbed focaccia lightly grilled. The salsa dip is your typical salsa, but the Spinach dip is truly something else. Creamy spinach topped with a creamy layer of melted cheese. Absolutely delicious!

For our next courses we decided to try 1 noodle dish and 2 ravioli dishes. I’ve been jonesing for a creamy tomato sauce dish so we ordered Italian Sausage Ravioli; we also ordered the Salmon Ravioli in Saffron Cream Sauce and Garlic Seafood spaghetti. I love the salmon ravioli’s sauce, and I found that the salmon filling has a nice smokey flavor to it.

The Garlic Seafood spaghetti is a mildly spicy pasta dish that definitely tastes garlicky and seafood-y. But the star among the 3 has to be the Italian Sausage Ravioli. This I highly recommend that you try. The Italian sausage goes so well with the rich and creamy tomato sauce.

Aside from fresh pasta, they also offer thin crust pizzas baked in a bricked oven, giving it a very subtle earthy flavor that only a brick oven can give. We ordered the Italian Sausage and Bacon Pizza. I recommend wiping the ravioli sauce off of your plate with the pizza. It’s an excellent flavor combination!

What meal would be complete without dessert? Bistro Ravioli only has 2 sweet confections in their menu, and we decided to try both. The Panna Cotta has a very smooth and velvety texture; is not too sweet and is the perfect backdrop for the sweet and tangy flavors of the fruit toppings. The Tiramisu is a lightly sweet and creamy dessert that has a faint taste of liquor which would go so well with a nice cup of coffee.

And dining here won’t break the bank as the food is quite affordable. An order of ravioli is Php 190.00 while a pizza is around Php 325.00. The Garlic Seafood Spaghetti comes in 2 sizes: Solo which is Php 165.00; and Family which is Php 320.00. Appetizers are Php 125.00 an order and is good for 2-3 people.

As fresh pastas go, Bistro Ravioli is truly one of a kind. Good food, good ambiance, and good service. That’s the Bistro Ravioli experience.

Bistro Ravioli
2nd Floor, South Wing Main Mall,
SM Mall of Asia, Pasay city

Contact no: (02)8040577

Greenwich is my go to place if I want to have a quick pizza and pasta fix. There’s a branch near where I live so it is quite convenient. Among all the flavors available, the flavor that I usually order is Hawaiian, because I love pineapple on my pizza. So it was such a treat to learn that Greenwich has “leveled-up” their Hawaiian pizzas into the Ultimate Hawaiian Overload! Greenwich gives us an upgraded taste of our favorite Hawaiian pizza by loading it with 2x more Hawaiian toppings – premium ham, glazed pineapple, smoked bacon and 100% Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese.

I’ve also found a new favorite in Greenwich’s menu. They’ve recently introduced the The Greenwich American Lunch Specials- plated meals that are less then Php 200.00. There’s the Thick N’ Tender Chops for P179; and the Greenwich Quarter Slab Ribs for P199. Both are served with java rice, mixed veggies and regular drink.

I’ve only tried the ribs so far, but I’m sure the pork chops are just as good. The ribs are good!

What I love about it is that there’s a lot of meat on the ribs. How many times have I had ribs that are actually just that–ribs with almost no meat on them? A lot. Aside from that, it’s tender and tastes good– a bit sweet and tangy, just the way I like my ribs. And for that price? Well worth it.

I know everyone is staying off, or trying to stay off meat because it’s lent, but after the season is over and you feel like indulging, why not try the Greenwich American Lunch Specials? It’s fast, inexpensive and delicious! And order an Ultimate Hawaiian Overload pizza while you’re at it. You are in Greenwich, after all.

And in keeping with the observance of Lent, Jollibee offers heavenly delights for families and friends to enjoy.

The Jollibee Crispy Bangus is a lightly smoked portion cut bangus fried to perfection with that distinct peppery and vinegar taste which makes it a certified Pinoy favorite. Served with plain rice and a slice of tomato, the 1-piece Crispy Bangus Rice Meal is valued at P62 and P72 for the value meal that comes with a regular soft drink; while the 2-piece meal is available for only P99 solo and P109 for the value meal.

Families and friends can also enjoy the Crispy Bangus Breakfast Meal with garlic rice and egg for just P64 solo and P74 for the value meal.

For a flavorful and satisfying snack, the Jollibee Tuna Pie is perfect for the season. A generous filling of chunky tuna and creamy, peppery sauce in a crispy golden brown crust, the Jollibee Tuna Pie is available for only P30 solo and P40 for the value meal.

Staying true to the Filipino culture, Jollibee’s Crispy Bangus and Tuna Pie are the perfect meals this Lenten Season that will truly satisfy your cravings for delicious and affordable treats.

Buro is made of fermented rice with fish or shrimps, and originated from Pampanga. It is sauteed in oil with garlic, onions and tomatoes and served as a condiment to grilled and fried fish, fresh mustasa (mustard greens) and fried or steamed eggplant and okra.

While we know how to make our own, it is of course easier to just buy buro that’s already prepared. My mom discovered this bottled buro in Landmark’s grocery. It comes in two sizes: one 227 gram jar and a bigger one, whose size I forgot. The small bottle retails from Php 45.00 to 55.oo, while the bigger jar goes for about Php 75.00. You can find it in the same aisle or shelves as bottled bagoong (shrimp paste) and aligue (crab fat).

They come in two varieties: dalag (mudfish) and shrimp. The blue label is the fish variety, and the yellow/red one is the shrimp variety. These are ready to cook.

Before, one can only get them from Pampanga, or Kapampangan restaurants, but now, it is available at wet markets as well as groceries. Thanks to innovations in technology and some enterprising individuals, buro is now easily within everyone’s reach.

I think it was 2 years ago when I first saw Travis Kraft’s video tutorial on Youtube on how to cook Adobong Manok. While I may have laughed at his attempts at speaking a heavily American-accented Tagalog, it has inspired me to write post about Filipino dishes that I love. For my first recipe post here, I am posting the recipe for my version of Tinolang Manok.

Tinolang Manok is one dish which is best eaten hot, on a cold and rainy day., and served with a dipping sauce of calamansi juice, patis (fish sauce) and sili.

Feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your preference.

Tinolang Manok

Ingredients:

1 kilo chicken, cut into pieces (best cuts to use are thighs, wings and back)
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp patis ( fish sauce)
2 medium sayote , peeled and cut into wedges or 1 small unripe papaya, seeded and cut into wedges.
1-2 tbsp or ginger, gut into strips
1 medium red onion, minced
oil for sauteeing
chicken stock or water + 1 chicken cube
2 bunches of dahon ng sili ( chili pepper leave) or
malunggay leaves, washed and removed from stalks
whole black peppercorns

Wash chicken thoroughly and pat dry with a paper towel. In a medium sized pot, heat oil and saute’ ginger and onions. Saute’ until onions are slightly translucent and ginger becomes aromatic. Add in chicken. Cook until the meat has turned white and no traces of pink are visible and juice and fat is rendered. Season with patis and allow to simmer until liquid is slightly reduced. Pour enough broth to cover the chicken. If you are using water, now is the time to add in the chicken cube and peppercorns. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add in the sayote. Check and wait for the sayote to become slightly tender before putting in the sili leaves. Season with salt. Simmer until sayote is cooked and the sili leaves have totally wilted.

The new Selecta Gold Series flavor Vanilla Almond is a very rich and creamy blend of vanilla ice cream, caramel fudge and almonds.

Vanilla is one of my least favorite flavors, because often times it’s too sweet and very “milky” for my taste, but I definitely liked this one.The vanilla ice cream doesn’t taste very “milky” as other brands do, and is very smooth and velvety. And the base itself isn’t very sweet either– the sweetness you get from the caramel fudge swirling and weaving it’s golden goodness around and through the ice cream. The roasted almonds lend a smokey flavor, complimenting the sweetness of the caramel fudge and richness of the vanilla ice cream– rounding up the wonderful flavors of this very rich frozen delight.

Vanilla Almond joins Selecta’s Gold Series line up along with Berry Strawberry, Chocolate Truffles, and Hazelnut Brownie. Available in pints and tubs in groceries and supermarkets.

With Christmas day just a few hours away, I’m sure everyone is busy preparing all sorts of delicious dishes for tonight’s celebration. Cooking hams, baking desserts, roasting turkeys, making pasta. I’m sure careful planning has gone into making everyone’s Christmas menu.

If you haven’t made up your mind yet, which I’m sure you have, here’s a thought: why not make an all Filipino menu for your noche buena Christmas dinner, or media noche? Last year, my family and I had what you might say a semi-Filipino menu for our noche buena: We had pancit, arroz caldo, hamon, barbecues, cheese, fruitcake and a fruit salad. It was a very refreshing break from what we normally prepare.

Wouldn’t it be nice to try something very Filipino? You could serve pancit, lechong manok, morcon, lumpiang sariwa, buko salad, puto bumbong and bibingka. And let’s not forget the Christmas ham.

It’s just a thought. What we need to keep in mind though is that whatever we prepare for tonight we prepare with love, and that we will be sharing it with our loved ones.

Enjoy the holidays! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Nothing says Christmas like a delicious Christmas ham on the table at noche buena. While the ham-hamon as it is locally called- originated in the west, Filipinos have whole-heartedly embraced it; adjusting and cooking it to suit the Filipino palate–making it a part of Filipino Christmas tradition.

Here is a very simple ham recipe that is truly Filipino in taste. Below are two simple methods for cooking the ham: baking and pan-frying.

Pineapple Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

Christmas ham of your choice (cooked/ready to eat)
Pineapple juice
Pineapple marmalade
sugar, to taste
Canned pineapple slices, drained (optional, for garnishing)
Cherries(optional, for garnishing)

Method 1:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. In a saucepan, combine pineapple marmalade and pineapple juice and simmer until it has thickened and slightly reduced. Adjust sweetness by adding sugar. This will be your glaze.

Place ham in an oven proof baking dish or roasting pan. Pour glaze on top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes per pound. Allow the glaze to darken and slightly caramelize.

Allow to slightly cool before slicing. Serve warm.

Method 2:

Slice ham into thin slices. In a shallow frying pan, combine marmalade and juice and allow to simmer. put in ham slices and cook until pineapple mixture has been reduced and ham has caramelized. Serve warm.

TIP: You may substitute orange marmalade and orange juice for the pineapple juice and marmalade. A very simple thing I do with ham is just slice it and then pan fry it with a little brown sugar.

As a kid, it is easy to think that Christmas is about presents, aguinaldo and noche buena. But as people get older, these perceptions are trimmed down to one important thing: having the entire family together for one day. People adjust their schedules, making sure that they have freed Christmas Day of any other commitments. And it doesn’t matter much if there are gifts or not, because the mere presence of loved ones is enough to make the holiday celebration complete. After all, it’s the true spirit of having a merry Christmas—above anything else—and it’s a good thing that Jollibee provides a venue for this kind of togetherness.

This season, Jollibee, the country’s most loved food chain, brings everyone together in joyful merrymaking. The all-time Filipino favorite lets friends and loved ones celebrate Christmas everyday by serving a feast like no other. Sharing stories, memories and affordable langhap-sarap meals under one roof, families and friends need not wait until December 25. Everyone can have an early Christmas because with Jollibee, any day can be Christmas day.

Whether it’s the entire clan or the whole barkada that will be celebrating Christmas together, Jollibee carries the crispylicious and juicyliscious Chickenjoy, the meatiest and tastiest Jollibee Spaghetti, the langhap-sarap Yum Burger and all the other Jollibee favorites to cater to everyone’s cravings. It’s the place that is closest to home; after all, it’s where every Filipino practically grew up. So celebrating this season at Jollibee is just like enjoying meals at one’s own dinner table.

With the kids enjoying play time and the kids-at-heart having a good time with each other’s company, Jollibee truly makes every visit seem like a holiday celebration. Every table can serve a jolly get-together because of its first-rate yet easy-on-the-pocket menu, creating a warm and family-friendly atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.

The spirit of togetherness, combined with a reasonably-priced dining experience at Jollibee might be all it takes to make anyone extra happy this Christmas. It is in life’s simple things that people often see the beauty of bonding with loved ones. What better time than now to spend a simple yet fulfilling Yuletide season at Jollibee? In the end, Jollibee will always the best place to bee happy!

Likewise, no Christmas feast is complete without the tasty quezo de bola, the cheesy treat that has become a holiday staple for many Filipinos. Whether you’re gathering for a giant feast with the family or having a Yuletide get-together with friends, it’s always great to bond over all of these cheesy and delicious food that lets you taste the joys of the Season.

To make the Yuletide experience extra cheesy, count on the Philippines’ biggest pizza and pasta chain, Greenwich. Treat your taste buds to its premium pizza and pasta offerings that combine all of the cheesy and mouth-watering holiday flavors that you and your barkada love.

Share the cheesy goodness of the new Triple Ham and Cheese Overload. The latest addition to the popular Greenwich Overloaded pizza line is really piling on the cheese. Enjoy this sumptuous creation that overflows with different cheeses like quezo de bola, parmesan and cheddar cheese, all on Greenwich’s special pizza crust. For maximum flavor, it is also decked with juicy chunks of Chinese ham, pastrami ham and cooked ham. Offering appetizing goodness in each bite, Greenwich’s Triple Ham and Cheese Overload is the ultimate cheesy delight set to bring out the unique sensory experience of the holiday season.

For pasta lovers, Greenwich amps up the staple spaghetti with the Meatball Spaghetti Supreme. Relish the taste of overflowing parmesan cheese over thick marinara sauce served over premium-grade pasta. Complete with bites of tasty Christmas meatballs, this beefed up version of the traditional favorite is bound to heighten the Yuletide celebration. Other pasta offerings from Greenwich are also available in pans to share the holiday flavors with friends.

Apart from its new offerings, Greenwich’s other pizza and pasta products will also add cheesy delight to your Christmas get-togethers. The other Greenwich Overloaded pizzas—Extreme Cheese & Sausage Overload, Cheesy Blockbuster Overload, Special Overload and Meat & Cheese Overload—will surely satisfy cravings, while the Lasagna Supreme and Beefy Baked Macaroni will make lips smack in anticipation.

Now, everyone can celebrate the season with delicious Holiday treats from Greenwich. Serve and share these Greenwich goodies to your loved ones and enjoy your cheesiest, most delicious Christmas ever.

Pasta favorites are also available in pans.