Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Hong Kong Roast: Bringing out the Chinese in You

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Filipinos love Chinese food because the taste and food comes very close to Filipino cuisine like fried rice, fried noodles, roast or barbecue chicken or pork and lots of other sweet, salty and garlicky food. It's quite an effort for the residents and office workers of Makati to go all the way to Binondo (Chinatown) just to have their Chinese food. With the growing demand of Chinese food in Makati, Hong Kong Roast Food Express (HKR) opens its doors at Bagtikan St. in Makati to make Chinese food within the Makati people's reach.

One can quickly notice this as they enter HKR.

The owner, Mary Chan, have been travelling frequently back and forth from Hong Kong and China just to make sure the food she serves are of quality. Mary studied Hotel & Restaurant Management at the Dominican College and was also trained by Chef Gene Gonzales, director of Center for Asian Culinary Studies, when she was still a student.
The menu of HKR includes everything that Filipinos love in Chinese cuisine like asado, noodles, yang chow fried rice, etc.

Dine-In Menu of HKR
They also offer special promos and menu to fit the Filipino lifestyle of having afternoon snacks and of searching for something new.

HKR's Promo Menu and Special Offers

Usually, I don't like ordering drinks to lessen my sugar intake but I was interested to try their Milk Tea with Black Pearls just to know the difference of their milk tea from the other milk teas in Metro Manila. The milk tea is not quite sweet which fits my taste and the milk has a strong flavor. For the black pearls, it's quite soft and there's a chewy center. If you like very chewy pearls, these are not the chewy ones. The texture is like the pearls inside mango sago.

Milk Tea with Black Pearls

The first dish that came out is Siomai. It is still quite hot when it came out. The skin of the siomai is not soggy which is good. The meat is firm and not oily which makes it really yummy in every bite.

Siomai


The Yang Chow Fried Rice came out next. The yellow color of the rice gives a hint that it was fried with salted egg. The wonderful smell of the egg mixed with asado makes one want to attack it right away.

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Asado (also known as Chinese-style barbecue pork) is one of the best-selling dishes of HKR. The recipe for this was learned by Mary with her chef in Hong Kong and Shenzhen to make sure that they perfect the recipe. The meat of their asado is quite fat which I think is something that they should improve on. The taste is sweet, salty and smokey which is how asado really tastes. No need to put on soy sauce since it's already quite flavorful.

Asado


The Roast Chicken that came out next smells really good. I'm not sure what they have put inside their chicken but you can smell the herbs that they've used in it. The taste complements the smell and the meat is quite soft and tender which can easily separate with the bone.

Roast Chicken

Beef Hofan (flat noodles) is one of my favorite Chinese dish. Their beef hofan is not salty and a little crisp because of the bean sprouts. It's something one can eat without any dimsum or other viand and feel happy for the whole day.

Beef Hofan

The next dish is actually a very unique and HKR's special dish called Black Chicken Sesame. Black chicken is known to be used by the Chinese to make medicinal soup for those who are weak and for mothers who have just given birth. As a Chinese, it's my first time to see black chicken cooked as a viand and not as soup. The chicken is actually quite good except it has many bones and little meat.

Black Chicken Sesame

Beef Curry Noodles came out with its strong curry aroma filling the restaurant which made people from the other tables look at our side. The noodles were cooked al dente. The curry is not spicy but flavorful which fits those who dislike spicy food.

Beef Curry Noodles

For dessert, we had Coffee Jelly and French Toast.

The coffee jelly has a very strong and quite bittersweet coffee taste. The creamy top gave a smooth feeling and added sweetness to the jelly. It gave me a little bit of caffeine rush that gave me additional energy to do my other activities for the day.

Coffee Jelly

The French Toast is my favorite out of everything that I had. It's french toast with a surprise center that tasted like a fusion of custard and salted egg. When I asked Mary what's inside, she said that it's a secret so it was quite a challenge for me to guess what's inside.

French Toast

HKR is located at 7467-C Bagtikan St. San Antonio Village, Makati. It also delivers to the Makati area. For orders and seat reservations call (+632) 5537846 or (+632) 9847760. Add them on Facebook with email hkroast@yahoo.com and Twitter with hkroast_makati.

Take-out and Delivery Menu with a map to HKR

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Empanada Nation: From Ilocos with Love

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One of my unforgettable trips last year was my trip to Ilocos. It's one of my dream destinations here in the Philippines because of the windmills, old churches with very beautiful architecture and almost untouched nature. It's when the nature and old infrastructure blend into each other that everything looks very peaceful and romantic.

My friend Caca outside Paoay Church

My fiance Johan going down from Kabigan Falls

Aside from all the scenery, the food was also fantastic! Even though I'm not a fan of fatty and fried food, bagnet and empanada seem to be an exception. I was told by my fiance during our trip in Ilocos last year that one can't bring bagnet to Manila because it will only get too dry and hard so we have to eat bagnet until we satisfy our cravings because it might take long before we'll have it again. For the empanada, we first had it on a stopover on our way to our resort. I have to admit the first empanada which we had did not taste as good as how they say it tasted. However, we did not give up on this dish and had empanada outside the Laoag airport before we left. Amazingly, the empanada we had outside the airport tasted really good! How I wish I can bring some back to Manila but I was afraid it might not be crunchy outside since it will be soaked with oil and water while in the paper bag so I took a picture of it instead for memories.

Last empanadas that we bought outside the Laoag Airport

When I got invited to try out Empanada Nation, I've wondered how can this be? Can Ilocos dishes really be brought here to Metro Manila? There's only one way to find out which is try it out!


Looking for Empanada Nation is quite easy. It is located at 26 Sgt. Esguerra Avenue, Quezon City. It's beside Getaway Spa, Chocolat and N20 bar and resto. There's a big orange and white tarp that shouts its name Empanada Nation.

Getaway Spa, Chocolat and N20 bar and resto

26 Sgt. Esguerra Avenue, Quezon City

Walking into the orange and white restaurant which looks like the colors of empanada, I was already so excited to have some empanadas!

Al fresco dining area

Aircon dining area

Marnie, the PR and Venice, one of the owners, welcomed me to their restaurant. They introduced themselves and told me how the restaurant came about. Venice is actually Ilocana and she loves to cook Ilocano cuisine so her friends have asked her to open up a restaurant. With the help of some friends, Empanada Nation came about. The ingredients are mostly shipped to Manila from Ilocos so one can be assured of the authenticity. The strong odor of the sour vinegar is one of the proof that made me thankful they're authentic!

L-R: Denise Calnea, Omar Itay, Ferdinand Bondoy, Marnie, Venice, Florencio Jusay, Flowell Galindez, Enzo and Jeman Villanueva

The first dish they made me try is Sarabasab which is made out of pork and pork liver. According to Venice, this dish is eaten during breakfast by the Ilocanos. I do not like pork liver but for the sake of knowing why this dish is eaten for breakfast, I've tried a little of it. Sarabasa is actually not so salty that one can eat it as is but it is best paired with fried rice.

Sarabasab

The fried rice that they serve is fried rice with toasted Ilocos longanisa bits which made the rice tastes salty with a hint of vinegar sourness.

Fried rice with Ilocos longanisa bits

There's also Igado which is another breakfast dish that has red bell pepper, pork, pork liver with green peas. The taste of Igado is salty with a little spice that can wake the senses up.

Igado in the kitchen
Igado served

As the main course, we were each given a plate which consists of rice, bagnet, KBL sauce which stands for Kamatis (tomato in Filipino), Bagoong (shrimp paste in Filipino) and Lasona (onions in Ilocano), half salted egg and Ilocos longanisa. I did not wait any longer to get my fork and stab into my bagnet. It was quite crispy and it's not hard to bite! I dipped it into the KBL sauce like the Ilocanos do and ate it with my rice. The Ilocos longanisa is very good and tasted so much like what I've eaten for breakfast when I was in Pagudpud, Ilocos!

L-R: Bagnet, Ilocos longanisa, Salted Egg, KBL Sauce, Rice

Very crispy bagnet

In Ilocos, vegetables are always part of their meal. So came the Pinakbet which is made up of string beans, okra, bitter gourd (ampalaya) and tomato. This is also paired with the KBL sauce to give it a salty kick.

Pinakbet

KBL sauce

Another interesting vegetable dish called Puqui Puqui was introduced to us. In Filipino, the word "puqui" means a female's vagina but in Ilocano, it is a vegetable dish composed of eggplant and tomato cooked in vinegar. According to Venice, there's also an Ilocano dish called Adobong Utong. "Utong" means nipples in Filipino but it's string beans in Ilocano and they also serve it in the restaurant.

Puqui Puqui

Because of the intriguing names, Puqui Puqui and Adobong Utong are some of the bestsellers in Empanada Nation.

Of course, to top the Ilocos dining experience which I'm loving so much, they served empanada last! I was able to take the photos of each step of making my empanada before I finally devoured it!

Mixing the powder with atsuete (orange color made from plant)

More mixing

and mixing.

Putting a cover on the dough

Flattening the dough

Putting young papaya strips

Notice the circular papaya strips?

Shredding the Ilocos longanisa using hands and making the circular shape as well

Putting the egg in the center of the circle

Folding the dough in half

Cutting the top part of the dough with a plate

Tada! Deep fried empanada!

Unlike the empanadas which I had in Ilocos, this empanada was filled with young papaya strips which according to Venice is the authentic empanada. Unfortunately, what I had in Ilocos was filled with cabbage so it's not so authentic. According to her, it takes a lot of effort and love in cooking to drain the water of the young papaya to be able to make this authentic empanada. Some Ilocanos who would like the easier way, use cabbage instead of the young papaya but true Ilocanos will prefer the young papaya filling.

Empanada with young papaya filling

I really felt loved eating each bite of the empanada because I can now understand the love to serve authentic Ilocano dishes is the main cause why Empanada Nation was built.

Menu of Empanada Nation. One can customize one's empanada.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Stories of Most Women (If Not All)

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Today marks the first day of another great show that has hit Manila entitled, "Love, Loss and What I Wore" written by sisters Nora and Delia Ephron. Catch it in the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Tower, Makati City on its one-weekend-only show!

When I first heard about the show being introduced to me, I already felt that it was going to be worth watching with lines such as "Birkenstock or Heels?" "I have no clothes!" and I also heard that it's being compared to "The Vagina Monologues" without the vagina.

On the press preview yesterday, when I saw the red carpet on the floor going towards the entrance. I thought that it was such a classy introduction to the play. Being a girl, I feel like I must walk on the red carpet so with my Marks & Spencer head to toe outfit and so I did. It was such an amazing experience to walk on the red carpet especially when I really dressed up for the show to celebrate the joys of being a woman!

The red carpet. Photo by Jen Adams of http://sexynomad.i.ph/blogs/sexynomad/

Walking in the theater, I noticed that the backdrop is made out of different cuts of dresses with the title of the show projected on the pile of cardboard dresses. Pretty neat idea! The creative guy who made this is Dennis Lagdameo, recent Gawad Buhay Awardee.

When the actresses in black walked to the stage and took their seats, the lights from the top highlighted each of them that made them look fabulous! Sought-after light designer John Batalla did a good job because the magical lights paired with the black outfits highlighted the faces of the actresses so that the audience can clearly see their facial expressions.

Jay Valencia-Glorioso as Gingy

The whole duration of the show was a mixture of different feelings of laughter, sadness and contentment from the different stories being told which every woman can relate to. What surprises me the most is the loud laughter of the men inside the theater! I can definitely relate to the love for Madonna and dancing like crazy to her songs since Madonna's the modern goddess of all women! The definition of black focused on how confusing the color can be for most women but anyhow, women love black!

The casts. Photo by Jeman B. Villanueva of http://orangemagazinetv.com

Young or old, straight or not, I believe the play is the stories of most women stitched together. Well, I say most and not all because there might be women who disagree or who might not admit to the reality of being a woman. The loud laughter of men during the preview definitly proves how they acknowledge the issues mentioned.

This Philippine run of "Love, Loss and What I Wore" is brought to you by CTE Productions, the same company that brought you "Defending the Caveman" last May. Casts includes theater luminary and current Associate Artistic Director of Repertory Philippines, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, veteran theater actress, writer, and emerging director Cathy Azanza-Dy, TV host, model, performer, and creative visionary Teresa Herrera, thespian and music industry sensation Bituin Escalante, and acclaimed classical vocalist, theater performer, and executive director for Music Artes Philippines, Jay Valencia-Glorioso. The show is directed by the same tandem behind the hit show "Defending The Caveman," Michael Williams and Cathy Azanza-Dy.

The casts and crew. Photo also by Jeman B. Villanueva.

I would like to salute Cathy for being such a good actress aside from her superb directing! Kudos also to Michael who did a fantastic job! I think it's Michael's touch that made this show funny for the men who I think also can relate to the issue. Lastly, I'm so happy to see Bituin Escalante again after 6 years! The last time I saw her was during the shoot of Dr. Doy del Mundo's film "Pepot Artista." I was a PA at that time. During the shoot of "Pepot Artista," I truly feel so fortunate to watch her sing and dance to rehearse by herself while waiting for the rain to stop. It was like I'm watching a concert. It was pure talent right in front of my eyes! Bituin is one of the most talented artists I've seen on or off camera and now, on or off stage so watch out for her different accents as her personality changes on stage!

"Love, Loss, and What I Wore" will run starting today July 14 until 17 at the RCBC Theater in Makati. Shows are at 8pm with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3:30pm. Catch this very limited run before it's gone!

For tickets, visit http://www.ticketworld.com.ph/events/loveloss.asp or call 2150788. Ticket prizes are PhP 1,545.00 for Orchestra Center, PhP 1,236.00 for Orchestra Sides; PhP 1,030.00 for Loge and PhP 515.00 for Balcony.
*My camera ran out of batteries during the show and I was able to capture only 5 photos. Must remember to charge my battery next time. Special thanks to Jen and Jeman for the nice photos!*
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