Tag: food

Jodythinks · Restaurant reviews

Todd English Food Hall: More than just a macaron wheel

Jody AlarvaLeave a comment

Honestly, I was skeptical about the Todd English Food Hall. I have read bad things about the celebrity chef that it’s named for, and the food hall concept seemed for me, a little too easy. It is a huge space, and the acoustics travel a bit, so expect to hear a bit from your neighbor’s table, and hear plates being put down here and there. It’s pretty, with white, black, wood, marble and leather all around, with the splashes of color being the food, the items for sale around open shelves all on the walls, and the decorative Ferris Wheel on the dessert bar that carries different, brightly colored macarons. A buffet type concept, you don’t really eat all you can, but there are stations that are separate through the 900 sqm space where the restaurant is.

Confused yet?

To make it simple, it’s the same as any sit down restaurant, just that the chefs aren’t all in one crowded kitchen in the back of swing doors. They are the kings of their domains, with separations for sushi, the raw bar, the grill, pasta, brick oven, and desserts.

The menu is pretty well curated. It offers everything for all types of eaters, from the traditional meat and potatoes to those watching their weight, or those who love their pasta.

I am a steak girl (thus, please slap me when in new posts, I will say I’ve turned vegan, because that is a load of boo-hockey and shouldn’t be believed. Nothing gets me more excited than a well-cooked steak.) and thus, asked the person who recommended the joint if the Hanger Steak with Bone Marrow (P590) was good. She said it was her favorite thing to order, and bone marrow (!) so I had to have it.

This was what I got:
Hanger steak with truffle fries

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the bone marrow that night, but offered me truffle fries to trade before he left to get my order fired up. Having never had truffle fries before, I agreed, but was still a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the truffle fries were really good. Awesome, in fact. But if you were expecting marrowy goodness, it’s still a bit of a letdown to get an alternate. Kind of like going to a play and finding out that the lead is out for the night. It’s capable and probably some people prefer it, but you were expecting something else.

I also had half the Food Hall burger (P390), as the menu had a whole section for burgers, we figured it would be hard to go wrong.
Food hall burger

And it didn’t. The patty was cooked well and was juicy with just enough bite. The Gorgonzola made it a bit more interesting, and definitely not for the faint of heart. Only caveats for me were, the brioche bun fwas too soft, I should have asked for it to be toasted, and I couldn’t taste the bacon. And if there’s anything that is sad, it’s not tasting your bacon. I was having too much fun with the fries in the beginning to notice though.

And now on to dessert.

We got recommended the OMG cake here:
OMG cake

(I have to confess, I forgot to check the price, I just started digging into the 3 plates we ordered. Yes, three plates. I looked it up and ShootFirstEatLater said it was P420)

It was a chocolate lover’s dream. All kinds of textures, and different temperatures. The piping of the mousse prompted a poop joke here and there but we forgot about all crudeness after we dug in. I couldn’t stop myself from decimating those plates. It was definitely a return item, and my favorite from all the things we ordered.

Verdict: Go try it. There’s bound to be a dish for you to like. Don’t forget the OMG cake!
Price per head: Around P700-900

TODD ENGLISH FOOD HALL
5/F SkyPark, SM Aura Premiere, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Operating hours: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Monday to Sunday
Email: toddenglishfoodhallmnl@gmail.com
Telephone: +632 621 4002

Jodythinks

How was your Halloween?

Jody Alarva3 Comments

Mine was tiring but especially fun. You see this year, the IMS costume contest ballooned into a company wide (well at least this branch of the company) competition, with different departments all participating. I was part of the organizing committee and may I say, that is a fun group of people to work with. And even if it was a lot of work (and red tape gah) it turned out quite well. I loved several costumes (mine was hardly a costume, it was my debut dress and Anna lent me a lei) in particular:

Guitar Chic came as her Alter ego:pink

Karlo came as John Lennon (what can i say im a beatles fan): lennon

And of course there was (Yarrr) Jack Sparrow:sparrow

Breakfast at Tiffany’s done beautifully: holly

Jack (Bripman!) and Ennis (RCB) from Brokeback Mountain were also present:
broke

A Hogwarts student came by: gryffindor

And the Joker slipped in: joker

There were a lot more interesting costumes but I’m too lazy to find decent pictures. 🙂

Went to an afterparty at Music21 where we ate, sang, even danced the night away(well at least they did). And after being hostaged and dragged to Guilly’s (the nearest place to Music 21 we could think of) i dragged my tired tuchus home at 1am.

So that’s why i slept the whole way home to Bataan, and only got up coz i heard the call of breakfast. I stuffed my face, then to stave off boredom (my sister was asleep, the kids were playing Wii and I didn’t have a controller for myself, my other cousins hadn’t arrived yet) i went to help with the making of the bouquets for the cemetery. One thing i learned, I have no talent for making bouquets. None at all. Even if it was simple sticking stems into floral foam, i managed to make three of the most sorry-looking flower arrangements I’ve seen. Needless to say, when my cousins found out I was helping, they laughed their butts off and proceeded to rank the three ugliest arrangements and deemed it mine. (Sad to say, they were right)

Going home to Bataan only means one thing: FOOD TRIP. And that’s what we did.

So I’m back in Manila now, heavier but happier.

Back to work!

food · Jodythinks

Sunday is Family day

Jody Alarva2 Comments

artscream

So we haven’t seen our cousins from my mother’s side in a really long time. Since we’re all now basically in Manila and we can go to the mall again (long story, just that we were told by the mom’s side of the family to not go to the mall for a while) we decided to meet and eat and catch up.

Where did we go? Robinson’s Place Ermita of course. Why of course? Well, it’s where we’ve always gone when we do see each other here in Manila. Even if it is a hecka long way from home, it’s a food haven that hasn’t changed since my mom worked in Pagcor when I was a kid. And for food, I’ll always travel.

First stop: Bon Vivant. It’s a rice in a box stall that’s been there for as long as i can remember. They have the most unique and just comforting flavors (Like my favorite: Ooh La La, a shrimp pesto, bacon mix) that have made people come back for years. And since it’s the only branch (believe me, people have tried to ask the Chinese owner for franchise rights, they’ve all been denied) it’s an inexpensive treat that I always make sure I get when I go to Ermita.

Then off to Wham. Don’t tell Ate Kaye (she doesn’t know we already ate, since she was late [hey that rhymes!]) but we ate fries, chicken littles (their chicken nuggets that are oh so good) and onion rings with our rice. Photo-opped, laughed at absurd rumors (that we found out later in the day was true) and ate our way through our first sit down meal.

Ajisen was third on our list. After walking in circles for 15 minutes and not knowing what to make Ate Kaye eat, we sat down at Ajisen, this Japanese place at the corner of the 3rd(?) floor at Midtown. Ordered sushi (to be fair we already ate) and ice cream. Gulped down the food then looked for more dessert.

And dessert we did find. Art’s cream gallery at the ground floor of Midtown was a place I’ve already read about online. Fiorgelato providing it’s ice cream (ok, gelato) we had the One for All which consisted of 12 scoops of ice cream in a single huge martini glass. The flavors all melted together, which was sometimes fun(mint and chocolate chip), sometimes strange (lychee and hazelnut). It was gone in 10 minutes.

Don’t think the day’s over. After Tita Tess picked us up, we went to S&R for apparently a sale and saw the longest line ever. We were tired so we just decided to eat dinner there. For people who have been eating every hour and a half, we managed to eat half a dozen burgers, a pizza, more cups of clam chowder than i could count, a salad (with bacon and cheese, i suspect it’s not as healthy as it’s parading to be), churros, and those chicken bread things that were so good.

It’s a wonder our clothes still fit.

Next time we’re going North! 🙂

food

A triumphant return to The Chocolate Kiss Cafe and a round of blissful durian from Tito Monching

Jody AlarvaLeave a comment

So after mass on Sunday, we just had to head to Chocolate Kiss to try out the new menu and to really check if that Sunday was a fluke. Of course we had to go, I love the place too much to write it off. So with excitement and a bit of trepidation we ordered. I had the ribs (again), Joannaman had the new Shrimp Aligue Pasta, Mom had the Margerita, Esther had the salisbury steak.

We were all pretty happy with our orders, the ribs i got were back to the nice flavorful easy to eat ribs I remember, Joannaman liked the new aligue pasta, albeit she felt the effect of the rich aligue afterwards. Esther could eat anything, and even ate everything since we couldn’t finish our orders. Mom raved about her pasta, it was simple and tangy and she loved that. I’m happy to report that THAT Sunday was a fluke and i am back to being a Chockiss regular. I wanna try all the new things on the menu.

Last night I was in bliss. Dad came home from Batangas bearing stinky gifts from Davao. Apparently Tito Monching, one of his best friends brought home durian from Davao. I know how people react to durian, it’s either they hate it with a passion or they love it. I happen to be one of the latter. The stinkier the better I say. And since the package stank to high heaven I was excited at the promise of the rich goodness of the fruit I hardly get to eat. One, it’s quite pricey. Two, you can’t exactly find it just anywhere, and three, if you do find it, all the people on the public transportation you’re gonna ride home in will resent the fact that you did. So the only time I get to eat it is at home, when one of the parental units bring home some.

The first bite brought almost a choir of hallelujah to my ears, I missed it so. Its rich, sweet, sinful and oh so smelly flesh is an experience to say the least. The fact that only Mom and I could stand it was sweet sweet victory (More for me yay!) and i savored every bite.

So if you haven’t tried the stinky prickle covered fruit from down under, i suggest you do. You might find you like it. And if you don’t I’ll give you my address. Send me the rest. 🙂

food · Jodythinks

Food trips with the girls…ehem.. boys.

Jody AlarvaLeave a comment

MishmashSo last week was a slow task week at User Experience. Me being the masochist I am, I browsed my favorite local food blog all those days, which is my own special brand of self-torture. And even if it was Dessert Comes First I found myself craving for a slice of steak. Although I could not afford the place that she went to, (Elbert’s, looks blissful but way above my price range) I went searching for a different place to indulge my craving for a slice of red meat.

After a day of research and finding out our salary just came in, we (RC, Kiko, Ren and me) went straight to Alfredo’s in Tomas Morato after work. I was thinking, simple, in my price range, and mom recommended ever since I can remember. True I may not agree with my mom on some food recommendations (turns out I am not a fan of churros), this we agreed on. Got the Mediterranean spiced one, Ren got the same, Kiko got the Chateaubriand and RC went meateater on us and got the 300 gram tenderloin. Loved that each order of the steak came with bread, soup and a salad. I also had to get an iced tea to wash all the meat down, and funnily enough, their iced tea blend tasted like Cyma’s iced tea, which I love. We were all pretty happy with our orders. On the waiter’s suggestion we all had it medium rare so it was still a little pink in the middle, and true enough it was the perfect texture, just done enough so I don’t feel like a lion gnawing on raw meat, but tender so i don’t need to chew for a couple of minutes just to gulp it down.

So after that I realize I am a major meat eater. And I’m craving steak all the time now. More than sweets now really. With the voice inside my head telling me to cut down on the sugar, how can you crave it 24/7 still?

But since Kozui, the green tea place people were telling me to try, was like a brief walk from Alfredo’s and Kiko was saying it was good, we still went for dessert. Ordered the Anmitsu at the recommendation of the waiter, we sat down and enjoyed our Japanese version of halo halo. It was good good good. Not too sweet. And did i say yet that I love green tea ice cream? (Green tea frap too, but that’s besides the point) It was so good I was telling the guys that we should go back the next day.

That was the 14th.

On the 16th, we didn’t feel like going home yet, so Kiko RC and I went to Tomas Morato again. This time we went to Jozu, this Japanese place in front of Guilly’s island. The sushi menu looked good so we (Kiko and me) tried that. RC tried their yakisoba. Kiko and I were happy. RC wasn’t. Haha. So we went to Wheatberry, this bakery cafe he was telling me about for ages to soothe his annoyed highness. RC got the silvannas, Kiko got apple pudding, I got cheesecake. Can i just say I wasn’t surprised that my order was the sweetest of the bunch? But i was really surprised I couldn’t finish it. It took a long time, and a lot of bites from RC before the slice was gone.

Then went over to Ren’s to annoy the heck out of him. He was out of the office for two days coz he got sick coz of something he ate. After that, went back to Kozui. Split an ice cream.

Now this is the kind of hangout I missed. And also the reason why I need to go back to the gym.

food

A Greek feast at Cyma

Jody Alarva3 Comments

cymaSunday morning. I had like 2 hours of sleep under my belt. I had to go to mass. With two words, Joannaman perked me up instantly. “Cyma tayo“. I dragged my tired body and even if I wanted to crawl under a rock and wake up the next day, went to mass earlier than I planned (I was planning to just go by myself later in the day) coz of the promise of the lunch after it. See I loved Cyma the first time we went. Clearly evidenced by my blog post found here. And nothing can soothe my tired soul like a good meal. Ordered basically the same things, and since we had mom along, ordered a couple more. Tonnos salad is feta cheese, olive oil, tomatoes, and a whole lotta other stuff with seared tuna. Got the solo coz we knew from experience that the solo was enough for two people. Also ordered the tzatziki, which is cucumber dip, with pita bread. This was my favorite. Joannaman’s too. We both said we wanted to come back to Cyma and just eat that. Ordered the flaming sausages just so we could order an OPA! thing on the menu. (When it’s marked with an OPA! on the menu it means the dish is flaming and all the servers shout OPA! when they serve it) And since mom couldn’t get the chicken gyro she originally wanted, she ordered the Roka pasta instead.

Everything was gooooooood. The clean flavor of the tzatziki was the perfect contrast to the greek sausages we ordered which I can only describe as hearty. The pasta with arugula and pine nuts and olive oil, way oily but good oily. The salad, bliss. And in true form, we tasted each dish but couldn’t finish a single one. We ended up taking home a little bit of everything. All in all a hazy meal but a good one, which I washed down with their iced tea, which is one of my favorite blends of iced teas out there.

All in all a perfect ending to a whirlwind weekend.

food · Jodythinks

Has anyone been to the Chocolate Kiss lately?

Jody Alarva9 Comments

chockissThe Chocolate Kiss Cafe in UP Diliman is one of my favorite haunts. This is clearly evidenced by my former blogposts here and here. It’s quiet. It’s like a hop skip and a jump away from our house. It has simple, unassuming food that’s not too expensive. It has my favorite blueberry cheesecake.

But my last visit two Sundays ago with the family had me sorely disappointed at the quality of the food there now. I haven’t gone in a while (like a couple months) and the triumphant return I envisioned was a bitter defeat. I don’t know if they changed the chef, or they’re just using lesser quality ingredients, but gawd. Everything was different from what we knew. Ordered the usual Hungarian sausage and penne pasta, baby back ribs, and chix in a basket. All our usual favorite orders. The sausage in the pasta was different, the ribs were lesser quality and smaller, only the chix in a basket was almost the same quality. And that’s only coz we almost never order it.

Thank God the cake was the same. But we left feeling gypped. What happened to Chockiss?

Thanks

So what’s new?

Jody Alarva6 Comments

hello!
I’m turning over a new leaf.

I have a new job. From a yearlong stint as an Internet Marketing Specialist I find myself facing a whole different terrain. I am now a User Experience Specialist (in training). This is definitely something that’s making me way excited but also ants in my pants nervous at the same time. I still work in the same office, but in a different team, a different workstation.

New lifestyle too. Or at least trying to. In tune with my doctor’s orders, I’m going to start working out. I was told to get back to my usual weight just so she can rule out a few things. I definitely won’t be dieting or anything like that, but I’m gonna move more.

This way I can justify all the food trips I’m gonna go on the near future. I already have a script going on, “I’m not trying to lose weight, I’m doing this for my health. ” Or “Do i look like I can go on a diet?” Or “If you were my friend you’d go get ice cream with me.” (Wait that’s a different script entirely)

Basically it’s still the same old me with a few different upgrades.

I have Ms. Pink SEO to thank for this domain. Even if I did abandon her when I changed jobs, (Haha I kid I kid) she took me under her wing and hosted this blog. I am extremely grateful and hope to live up to the hype.

After 5 years of blogging you’d think I’d know what to do by now, but this is the domain that’s mine all mine and I’m going nuts (happy nuts but still) with all the options. Bear with me on all the changes that gonna come in later when I figure all this out.

Why jodyalarva.com? I figure my food blog became more of a smattering of topics under the sun, I don’t think i can keep up a food blog for long. So this is gonna be a blog about anything and everything I come in contact with. It’ll be your choice of whether I really think or not. Coz in my case, it’s usually the latter. Especially when it comes to certain four letter words… Life. Love. Food. It’s do first, bang your head into the wall for doing that in the heat of the moment later.

So welcome!