MY FOODVENTURES

Food Discovery: Mr. Kabab’s Lava Cake

Mr. Kabab, one of the most popular Middle Eastern restaurants in the metro, is now offering cakes and coffee! We went to their Ortigas branch (Near UA&P) two days ago and learned that aside from Keema, Kabab, and Shawarma, they have a wide variety of sweet cakes available for their dessert-loving customers.

I ordered the lava cake cause it looks so good! And true enough, its really one of the best lava cakes I’ve ever tasted! It reminded of the molten chocolate cake in Zuzuni in Boracay (But of course, the one in Zuzuni is legendary. Its so special that it would take them about 15 minutes to make the cake). The comfort that it’ll make you feel though is almost the same. I still can feel the warmth of the chocolate lingering around my mouth. 🙂

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The mini cake costs Php 100.00. Give it a try today! Happy Sunday, everyone! 🙂

MY FOODVENTURES

Ramen craze!

Japanese ramen, no doubt, is setting off a craze here in Manila. Ramen places are everywhere and even if I’m used to hearing Japanese ever since I was a kid, I still can’t pronounce the names of some of those restaurants.

Before, we used to have our ramen fix at this quaint looking ramen restaurant in Robinson’s Ermita. I believe its called Ajisen (I’m not sure about the spelling. Please correct me I’m in wrong. 🙂 ) I’m not quiet sure about their type of ramen as well but what I really love back then is their soup. I think anything that has an awesome broth and noodles and naruto (fish cake) is a good ramen.

Up until today, I’m not totally interested to spot the best, authentic Japanese ramen. What I’m looking for probably is a fine, comforting ramen with a good tasting and not too salty broth that would make me forget about work. Haha!

Anyways, I’ve been to many ramen places but I guess there are two places that definitely caught my attention. One is Ramen Nagi and the other is Hokkaido Ramen Santouka.  I guess what I love most about these two restaurants is the fact that their best selling ramens are not too rich in terms of flavor. I mean, I’ve tried some that are so malinamnam that instead of trying to finish the entire dish, I would ofter just wash the taste down with a glass of coke.

At Ramen Nagi, crew will give you an “omotenashi sheet” (just a piece of paper with drawing of ingredients) and you’ll be the one to identify the type of ramen you want. You can customize the broth, the vegetables, the level of spiciness, and even the hardness of noodles. I always order the Original King (Butao) because I love the broth so much! Plus, one serving is so huge that it can even be good for two.

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The moment I tasted the soup of Shio Ramen at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, I died! Haha! Its really comforting especially when you’re having a not-so-good day. 🙂 The noodles, the meat, and all the spices whatever are just so good! You can order a small bowl first if you just want to give it a try. The good thing though is that they allowed takeaways. Ramen Nagi don’t. 😀

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For beginners and for those who just want to have a taste of what they called “Authentic Japanese Ramen” try visiting these two restaurants first. We don’t want to have a critical review of all ingredients used  and how “authentic” the noodles are prepared right? We basically just what to know why people are craving for these. 😀

MY FOODVENTURES

Hotel Spotlight: Azalea Residences Baguio

I’m going to write about Baguio again today because I have loads of ideas and photos from the trip that I want to share with you all!! 🙂 Okay, I’m trying to do a weekly blog update. My last post was five weeks ago cause  I’ve been busy with a lot of things at work lately but I promise myself to have at least one post a week so that I can delete photos that have been sitting in my cloud storage and so that I can still practice writing even if I’m sabaw. 🙂

Anyways, the last time me and my family were in Baguio, we had the chance to discover Azalea Residences – a homey and surprisingly beautiful hotel located in Leonard Wood Road across Teacher’s Camp.

IMG_7784Azalea Residences combines the comfort of a luxury hotel (awesome amenities and top-class services) and the convenience of a regular Baguio home (great view, quiet yet beautiful surroundings, complete room set-up). It offers deluxe rooms and one to three bedrooms suites complete with living and dining areas and spacious bathrooms. The place is perfect for families who basically want to still catch-up while having dinner or watching TV even after touring the city.

And since we’re such a huge family we book the three bedrooms suites. 🙂 The room looked more like an apartment than a hotel room. It’s 75-square meter according to the hotel staff and its loaded with everything we need! Aside from the three huge bedrooms, the room has two bathrooms, three television units, and some useful kitchen appliances.

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Our youngest sister dived on the bed immediately and opened the TV. She was exhausted from the trip. :p

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Here’s a blurry photo of the master bedroom. :p IMG_7771

The kitchen is terrific! After the day tours and during our entire stay, we would buy dinner outside and eat it inside the hotel room while watching TV. You can even cook your own meal cause the kitchen also has electronic stove but we choose not too cause we were tired (and lazy) most especially at night all the time. :p

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The hotel has this chic looking restaurant called Tradisyon Pinoy Comfort Food. It offers free buffet breakfast for guests and has a variety of food selection. This is very convenient especially for families who just don’t have the time to have breakfast together. Like for us, we would wake up at different times in the morning. Some at 7 and some at around 11. Some would have coffee and some would immediately look for breakfast.  It really helped that that this restaurant is just an elevator ride away!

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The restaurant, surprisingly, is huge. The main dinning area can accommodate a huge number of guests even during peak hours. They also built an annex to provide additional space. The interiors are neat and chic and the chairs are comfy  as  well.

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 The annex area with a separate buffet table.

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The buffet spread has different selection of Filipino and American breakfast (Sorry I was not able to take photos). The restaurant also has a salad corner
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and a dessert corner.

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Every morning after breakfast, I would walk around the hotel vicinity and take pictures. It was though these early morning walks that I noticed their huge lounge area in the lobby.  Guests can just sit, read magazines, and have coffee while waiting for their reservations/check-outs. They won’t get bored, I guess. 🙂

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Azalea Residences is a family hotel. You have to stay here to experience warmth  of home away from home. Its a little bit expensive but at least, you’ll only be paying for one room. You can just split the bill if you’re with a group of friends but if you’re with your family, you can even have the chance to save some cause in other hotels, you’ll be paying for separate rooms with separate taxes and service charges.

 And you won’t even need to go out or use the intercom while waiting for your fam, all you have to do is knock. How convenient is that? 🙂