Sembol

I should have written this some time ago, but not having had the time, I am only writing this now. Expect more restaurants this week.

~o~

If you were to ask a lot of people in Urfa City about restaurants, Sembol is the first place they would suggest.  What's so special about Sembol? Their Kebab of course!

 (Yes, I took a pic of the restaurant name)

Appetizer:

Of course, there was the salad, lebeni cold soup and surprisingly, some mini lahmacun.  Lahmacun is somewhat like pizza, however the only toppings are tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers and ground beef and it is quite soft. The salad was composed mainly of onions and thick tomato sauce with some peppers, and it was spicy but was delicious.  I have to admit though, the lahmacun was pretty hot, but it tasted quite good. 

Main Course:

We ordered kebab of course, and it was grilled to perfection.  It was a mixture of beef, liver, a little bit of fat, chicken, tomatoes, eggplants, and a special one wherein there was was cheese and chicken in a single piece.  It was utterly divine when eaten with parsley, onions and bread.  Everything was not oily, with just the right amount of spiciness, making the meal enjoyable.

Drink: Ayran

Ayran is basically yoghurt and water mixed together, but Sembol's Ayran is quite special as it had a foamy top.  It was of just the right thickness and was not sour at all (some tend to be a bit sour), in fact it was quite sweet.  As it also came in a metal bowl, it gave the drink a very Turkish feel to it.

Yes, I have to say it, Sembol is definitely not a restaurant you should pass up on.  Price wise, it is average, but the service and the food is incomparable.

Çulcuoğlu Baklava and Restaurant

Haven’t updated this blog in a while, although I’ve been going around various restaurants here in Turkey (Şanliurfa, Turkey, specifically).  I keep forgetting the restaurant’s name and the names of the food they served, initially so I couldn’t really make any entries before.  Now that I’ve gotten to learn the language better, I can start making entries about them.

Çulcuoğlu Baklava and Restaurant

Located near the city center, this restaurant has an outdoor and indoor eating place.  As it was the spring season, me and my friends selected to eat in the garden, and we were given blankets to warm ourselves with if we felt cold.  Talk about hospitality! 

I sampled some of the Turkish food I haven’t tried before, and here were my selections:

Lebeni Soup

This is a usually a standard part of any restaurant’s offerings.  Some offer it for free, but I’m not sure for this certain place as I didn’t get to look at the bill closely.  It’s made out of yoghurt mixed with some beans, and is served cold.  Having had this a lot of times before, I would say there’s normal, nothing spectacular about it.

Domates Salata (Tomato Salad)

My friend ordered this particular salad, but actually to me it already looks like a tomato soup since the ingredients were very finely chopped and the tomato juice was soaking all of them.  It’s a combination of (I think) parsley, onion stalks, onions, and of course, tomatoes.  It had a fresh taste, but as this is also a very common offering in the area, I can find nothing about it that stands out particularly.

Içlı Kofte

Kofte is a popular dish in Urfa, and this is the first time I have tried this particular type.  It’s similar to an empanada, but the main difference is that while an empanada is soft, this particular dish is quite crispy on the outside.  The filling was made out of ground beef mixed with finely chopped onions and some other spices.  As for the taste?  The filling complements the taste of the breading used.  I thought it would be oily, but it wasn't.  It tasted very good, the meat had a defined flavor due to the spices used.

Tandir

 My main entree.  You can see what it is composed of clearly, except for the fried rice underneath the beef strips.  The fried rice had beans mixed in it.  Verdict: It was very delicious.  The beef was quite soft, no hint of toughness anywhere, and the flavor was very pronounced.  The rice was well cooked, the amount of oil just right, making it not very oily.  The beans in the rice were flavorful as well, and complemented the beef.  It was a good partner with the onion, tomatoes and peppers seen in the picture.

It was not very expensive, the meal I think was a grand total of $15-20.  I have to admit though, the variety of the food is limited, and I'm not sure I want to try anything else on the menu, but I'd definitely go back for the kofte.

The Parklane Hotel Lunch Buffet

After the disappointment at a buffet (see previous entry), I was slightly a bit more cautious when I went to Parklane Hotel to eat at their buffet for lunch.  The experience made me realize why I loved eating at buffets: various food!

I had some salad, soup and some sashimi for my appetizer, coupled with some hors d'oeuvre (shrimp!).  I had a lot of fun with these entrees since they were not only quite fun to look at, but also quite scrumptious! Oooops! No pics for these, it sorta slipped my mind since I was having fun eating.  The soup was quite rich, a lot more than your average cream soup.

 Now for the main meal.  Here's a slight preview of the dishes I ate:

Oho! I see I had a picture of the soup.  I think I had a taste of various dishes, which included pork, beef, chicken and fish.  Honestly speaking, the food was good, but they reminded me of various Filipino dishes, given only different names.  I wonder, does the name of the dish relate to the whetting of the appetite, whether its a common dish or an exotic one?  (Side note: If you noticed I didn't have rice on my place.  That's because I don't eat rice whenever I eat at a buffet.  I try not to eat too much carbs in a buffet setting since I know they're a lot more filling than sampling various other dishes)

I guess this is my favorite part: dessert!

I so loved the desserts especially the creme brulee.  I sampled all of the desserts seen here, and yes, I finished all of them.  They were all so yummy!  I think you could also have crepes made as well as halo halo but I preferred eating these creations.  Mouth watering, aren't they?

I guess the best part about this is the price.  It costs 500 something pesos!  For the quality of the food and the ambiance, the price is very reasonable.  I'd probably take my friends there if I had a chance!

Parklane Hotel
Cebu City

The Buffet at Marco Café

I’ve been to a couple of buffets in some hotels in Manila, and I have to say that despite steep price of these places, I’ve never felt disappointed with any of them.  This made me think that all hotel buffets would satisfy me.  Unfortunately I was proven to be wrong.

I had a lunch buffet with a cousin earlier at the Marco Polo Plaza, and I was really looking forward to it since my sister who had eaten there before raved about it.   She really made me think that the place was worth visiting, and I was excited.  When I entered the place, it was large and very classy.  The staff was very accommodating throughout the meal.  The place was also very neat, not even a single fly dared show its’ head.  The food I sampled was excellent, from the appetizers to the desserts.

So what was the problem?  I have to say it was with the mediocre selection of food.  I’m not sure if they had a theme or something they had to follow for today, and if that was the case, I’m apologizing in advance, but I really thought there was nothing very special in the food they served.  True, the selection of the appetizers from the bread, cheese, salad and sauces were very much varied, but the main course and the dessert fell short, most especially the main course.  Most of the food presented in the main course was something you tended to eat casually.  There was no sense of excitement in the food, nothing that would make you want to try it since it was something that seemed different from what you usually saw.  As for the desserts, there was not really that much of a variety in the cakes and sweets, I guess I just expected more from them.

The food is excellent in taste, no doubt about that.  I was actually quite fascinated with the various types of cheese I got to try.  The thing is, with food I enjoy an adventure, and unfortunately the visit did not quite live up to my standards.    I had hoped for more, and I found the place a bit lacking for my needs.

My verdict: Marco Café would be an excellent place to dine in if you’re looking for an excellent buffet with scrumptious food which are familiar to you. 

The Marco Polo Hotel

Cebu City

Hassan Steak and Kebabs

My apologies, no pictures for this post :( The place was too dark and I didn't have a decent camera with me during that time)
                                                                 *****************

Last Saturday, me and a group of friends went to this small place at Katipunan area.  I had never been there, but they assured me it was a good place to eat at, and that it wasn't too expensive.  I conceded, and I was not disappointed.

The place was quite small, and easy to miss.  It seemed like a small eatery to me.  We got seated, and a waitress went to our table to take our orders.  I went for Beef Shawarma, as well as their own take on pizza in both chicken and beef flavors.

After a while, our meals were served.  Size wise, the servings were a bit small for me.  But I have to say the food was good.  The beef shawarma I ordered was laid out in a plate, with the pita, veggies and the meat separated.  As they had a variety of sauces you could mix and create your own preferred sauce.  I liked mine with a lot of garlic and cheese sauce. 

As for the pizza?  They were about approximately 10 inches in diameter.  They were really good, and very very tasty.  Actually, when I think of it, they tasted like shawarma made into pizza, but no veggies.  It was thin crust, and quite crispy, and very very good.  Just like the meal, you could choose the flavor of sauce you want it to go with. 

Price-wise, I thought the beef shawarma was a bit small, but the pizza was quite cheap for its size and taste.  I would like to go back there again sometime to taste their other offerings, especially since I know that their place offers good food without hurting your pocket.


Hassan Steak and Kebabs
Katipunan

The Greek Experience

I had always wanted to try Mediterranean food, most especially Greek food, since it's always been described in my favorite romance pocket books.  My sister warned me that it might not really suit my taste, but I was quite insistent so off we went to the nearest place where we could get Greek cuisine: Cyma at Trinoma

The Bottomless Lemonade

 Caesar Salad

We just had a salad, and just to be on the safer side, we chose a simple Caesar salad.  It was good enough to share for the two of us, although it was stated that it was a solo serving.  It was good.  What really drew me was the taste of the vegetables, since they were all so crisp and very fresh.  I was thinking whether they were organic or not, but I never got to ask.  As for the sauce?  It was the typical dressing, maybe a bit lighter than what I usually have.  

 Flaming Cheese

This was our appetizer, and before it was served the cheese was indeed put on fire as all the waiters cried "Oppa!".  It was great!  The cheese I think was a mix of parmesan, mozarella and probably cheddar which was cooked in olive oil.  It complemented the grilled garlic bread just fine. 

 

Baked Macaroni in Greek Style

Lastly, we had baked macaroni.  I know it's not a Greek dish, but I just wanted a taste of how Greek prepared their food essentially and due to my sister's misgivings about what she tasted before we settled for this.  How should I describe it?  It was good, but the beef tasted a bit off to me.  I guess it was due to the herbs which were part of the dish.  Also, I had a hard time finishing my part.  We took a "to share" size of serving and we got more than we bargained for.  I got a bit tired of the taste as I tried to finish it.  It was a bit overpowering for me.

 Chili Oil

Overall Summary:

I quite enjoyed my appetizer as well as my salad, but I have to admit the main dish disappointed me a bit.  It was a good thing the chili oil was there as the spice went well with the flavor, but I still was unable to finish my meal.  If I had had the macaroni in a smaller serving I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did.

That aside, I can not really say that this is a good review.  As I said, I did not really eat authentic Greek cuisine, just food which was prepared in Greek style, I am in no position to say whether the food is good or bad.  So here is just my take on what I ordered, and sadly I think the taste may not suit me.  But I still have hope, maybe on my next visit it will be better.

(All of the food had their Greek name counterparts, but for simpler understanding I just wrote the usual names)

Isaw! (Barbequed Innards)

Yum! I know other people may think it's carcinogenic, dirty and a whole lot of other things, but for me good food is good food and I like these!  The 4 pieces below are chicken intestines while the 3 above are pork intestines.  They are cooked by a neighbor of ours so I'm quite certain of their cleanliness (I've never suffered from diarrhea after eating this!)

Underneath the barbeque is the sauce in which I dip the barbeque in, which is composed of vinegar, onions and some chili peppers.  It's a bit hot, but it's also good and it matches the barbequed innards well.  Perfect match with alcohol, don't you think? :)

Fancy Cakes and Crepes

I didn't actually expect to eat here since I just stopped by to pick up my Battalia Royale ticket.  However, when I went inside, the display of cakes were so tempting that I knew I had to get something from there.  Since my companions and I were still planning on going somewhere after this, we just got 2 crepes.  Here's what we got:

Banananutella
As in the name, this crepe was composed of bananas and nutella.  It was sweet and good!  I totally loved the crepe and the ice cream.  Well, I am a sucker for sweet things, but I really prefer crepes on plate rather than eating it like an ice cream cone.  However, if I was to be really fair and impartial, I would say that it's really quite a typical crepe.  I still love it though :)

Sun-zette
My friend who ordered it described it as having a mature taste.  Why?  It's probably because this crepe has rum in it.  It's a crepe with oranges and flamed rum (flambe in French).  When I initially tasted it, I found it not so sweet, and the flavor of rum was still quite powerful.  However, when mixed with the orange sauce thoroughly, it tasted a lot finer, and the orange acidity was neutralized.  How should I describe it?  It's unique.  I'm not saying it's not delicious but as I always say, it's probably an acquired taste.  As I said earlier, I found it not so good at the start but in the end, I swapped plates with my friend since I liked the taste already.  If you're looking for an adventure, I would recommend this to you rather than the first crepe.

What I found sweet in this place is that they personalize your crepes.  See the names?  I think this kind of thing would go over very well to people celebrating something, lovers especially.  They told us instead of names you could ask to place messages instead.

As for the price, the crepes range from 100ish to almost 200, depending on the flavor.  It's a good buy when you consider the taste :)

Must go back for those cakes!!!!


Fancy Cakes and Crepes
Matalino St, Quezon City

Burget Project at Maginhawa

Ever wanted to create your own burger?  I just did it this afternoon! Me, my sister and a good friend of ours went down to Maginhawa street at Diliman to try out the Burger project.  Here was my creation:

Okay, my choices were Angus beef, onions, mozzarella cheese, sesame seed bun, mushrooms, bacon, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and their special sauce.  I also ordered some fries for sides.  The verdict?  It was a gastronomic success.  I regret ordering the fries since I wasn't able to eat it anymore because I was already so full!  I had a hard time eating the burger because of the size, but I was able to manage somehow.  As for the taste?  It was quite good, but I didn't really like their sauce that much.  I guess it didn't fit too well with the ingredients I chose. 

Price-wise, depending on what you order you could actually reach up to 500 for a burger.  Cheapest would be a hundred or so I think.  Still, I think it's worth the visit, if only for the fact that you can try out a lot of things. I nearly forgot, you can even name your creation!  I didn't name mine,  but I guess I would call it trial #1.

I need to go back their for their other burgers, and by that I mean their own creations.  Some seemed appetizing to me, and I sure would like to taste them :) 

Here's my sister and my friend's creations, as well as the pic of the fries.

Well, I hope that whetted your appetite enough to encourage you to give the place a visit.  :)

For their Facebook page, here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/brgr.burgerproject

It's Pocky!

Another of my favorite snacks!  As I said in an earlier post, I usually just buy this in anime conventions I attend, but as I said, I still love it :) 

As seen in this pic, there are four flavors included in this box: Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana and Milk.  I enjoy all of these flavors equally, although by preference I like the strawberry best.  They're sweet, and I don't get tired of eating them.  I can continuously eat a whole box!

 In any case, if you ever get to try them, I know you won't regret it :)

Thornton's Chocolate: Milk, White and Dark Continental

Now who's mouth wouldn't water wouldn't water with this?

I've always been a chocolate lover, and I have to say it was quite a fun experience trying out the different flavors of Thornton's chocolate.  This was a box of continental flavors, containing dark, white and milk chocolate.  If you are not a risk taker and you would prefer to only try out things you're sure you would enjoy, see that small notebook at the corner?  That contains descriptions of the chocolates included, so you can safely be sure that you're eating what you want (I guess this is important especially for people who have allergies, since you have to avoid food that can trigger it). 

So how does it taste? That's something you should find out for yourself. :)

Enjoying Hong Kong Food in Manila

You need not to go far to experience the tastes of Hong Kong, you just have to visit the nearest David's Tea House within your area to explore Chinese food in Hong Kong fashion.

For my initial visit, I and my friend sank our teeth on a yummy treat of hot steaming bowl of noodles and a basket of assorted dumplings. The verdict: a sure way to fi ll hungry stomachs with all of China's unique flavors.

Beef Brisket Noodles for PhP180.00

We each had a bowl of noodles, mine was Beef Brisket Noodles while hers was Beef Wanton Noodles. I must say, that true to its name, my bowl contains big chunks of beef and bok choy (Chinese cabbage). Even the soup is beefy in taste. My friend's bowl has wantons with real bits of shrimp in it.

Assorted Dumpling Basket PhP 2++

Aside from the steaming hot noodles, we also ordered a basket of assorted dumplings. The dumpling treat consists of 2 pcs of each variety: sharksfin, wanton, beef balls, four-season scallop dumpling, kuchay dumpling (consists of kuchay leaves, sotanghon, ground beef and shrimp) and lumpia (which my friend touts as "Hallelumpia" because it was crispy fried but with a melt-in-your-mouth meat filling that was perfectly complimented with a spicy vinegar dip)

Cuapao with Condensed Milk Dip PhP 70.00

What took me by surprise was when my cuapao (this is just your siopao bread) order came. Unlike in other Chinese restaurants that serves cuapao alongside Pata Tim or Peking Duck, David's cuapao was served with condensed milk.

Overall, the experience was not only fun and filling but I could say that it offers great value for your money.

Later!

My IL Mercanti Chronicles

I suppose you have already read Pariah's version of our Il Mercanti adventures, well let me share mine. Yes, I was also one of those who went all excited with the highly-publicized Banchetto Lantern Event and got all disappointed that it was canceled.

Since it was a jam-packed Banchetto Friday, we decided to choose the next best option, explore the tastes that Il Mercanti has to offer. It was my first time to visit Il Mercanti but I am already a veteran when it comes to midnight food bazaars.

Il Mercanti is located right at the Metrowalk Parking space in Meralco Ave., Ortigas. It is an open area housed with various tent offering an assortment of food and drinks.

Compared with Mercato Centrale (BGC Taguig) and Banchetto (Megatent, Eastwood and Boni-Pioneer), Il Mercanti's concessionaires are somewhat in the line of Mercato Centrale and a bit pricier than Banchetto. However, some of the food stall partners are already familiar like MedChef and Monster Burger, who also host stalls in the other food night market I mentioned above.

For my first Il Mercanti adventure, I tried to sink my teeth in the following goodies:

The Monster Burger: For 150.00, I was able to enjoy a half pound of burger. Nothing really special, except that the burger patty is thick and the whole burger is filling. Not to juicy but not dried out.

Ihaw-Ihaw: Yes, am a huge fan of grilled food, especially innards and pork ears. Ranging from 20-25 PhP a stick, this grilled favors is complimented with a spicy vinegar. Guess its better paired with a bottle of cold beer or ice cold soda. :)

Bangus Sisig: I forgot the name of the stall but their main offerings include sisigs of various meat/fish variety. This one, I must say, is a perfect beer partner. It has the right amount of mayo, well season bangus flakes and appetizing hotness contributed by chili fingers (it has lots of them). Overall, the double serving is sulit for its cost of PhP160.

Finally, to satisfy my sweet tooth craving, the sight of a home made egg pie made my mouth water. Mr. Arjay of Rogelio's pastries was generous enough to let us have a taste (for free) some of his baked goodies, enticing us to purchase some of his sweet treats. For PhP25, I sank my teeth in his home made egg pie that shouts "egg." It was creamy but with the right amount of sweetness. The egg pie was indeed a crowd favorite. The 8-slices pie was literally gone in a matter of minutes. Another hit was his tart like version of apple pies, which costs PhP 65.00 for a box of six. And since we bought a lot from him, he gave us a freebie, another tart which he calls Banana Apple and Cream Mini (Pariah mentioned this in her post).

Sir Arjay and his Pastries
(a friend said his looks is the kind whom you'd expect to sell steaks and not pastries. LoLs!)

Rogelio's line of pastries and goodies


The simple yet heavenly Egg Pie (a blockbuster)

Banana Apple and Cream Mini

Rogelio's pastry stall can be found in Eton Centris in Quezon Ave., every Sunday from 4a.m. till 1:00 p.m. and at Il Mercanti every Friday nights.

One thing I noticed in Il Mercanti is that though they have a spacious dinning area, they do not have bust boys who clears the tables unlike in Banchetto or Mercato, thus customers have to deal with eating in front of other people's "trash."

So far, the food and the night was indeed an experience.

Later!

A Veneto Avenue

Now here's an Italian pasta place I totally enjoy.  It's not very expensive, and you're sure to get your bill's worth.  Here's A Veneto! :)  During my latest visit there, here is what we ordered:

This is their starter platter.  It had a good selection consisting of fries, crab sticks, mozzarella balls and spicy chicken wings, as seen in the pic.  I think the dips were sour cream and marinara sauce.  All of the items went well with the marinara sauce except for the chicken wings, which seemed to mix better with the sour cream.  The four of us had a hard time finishing this before our main orders arrived, but we still managed to lick this particular plate clean :)

Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce and Hungarian Sausage
This is one of our most usual orders.  The marinara sauce was very tasty, and the 3 Hungarian sausages included in the pasta was more than enough for all of us.  Just a note: there is just a bite of spice in the sausages, but it was just enough to complement the flavorful sauce.   

Carbonara
This is the first time I ordered this since we wanted to have a white sauce pasta as well.  The verdict?  Better then I thought.  The sauce was very creamy, with bacon and ham and mushroom as other ingredients.  I guess I am a bit biased since I have always enjoyed cream based food, but seriously, you have to try this out.

Since this is just a few of their offerings, I know I'd be coming back to test some more.  You should try it out yourself :)

AME Monogatari Food Trip

Yay! I went to the AME Monogatari with pals and we decided to go on a food tasting as usual :3  Here were our choices:

California Maki
The filling was a bit creamier than most of the Californian Makis I usually have, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary :) It was a good start to a food trip though, I have no regrets :)

Octoboy Takoyaki
This is one of the better takoyaki's that I've had.  It was not overflowing with veggies, and there was really some octupus inside.  The outermost layer was very crispy while the inside was very soft.  The thing is that it was so hot! I couldn't eat one piece in one biting :) Also, I wish they had place a bit more sauce.  It's also a bit expensive though, 3pcs for 50php.

Mitarashi Dango
Now this was a treat that I liked, even if my friends didn't think of it much.  It was mochi balls with sweet syrup.  I guess I just like the sweetness (not too sweet) and the soft and gooey feeling that I felt in my mouth.  A certified hit (with me xD)!

Tuna Onigiri
Okay, as usual, I don't know if this is how Onigiri is supposed to taste like, but as it is a Tuna Onigiri, it had tuna bits in the middle.  The tuna wasn't a lot, so basically it was more of rice and seaweed paper concoction.  Verdict?  I don't know, since I really don't know how it's supposed to taste :)

Of course, I never leave a convention without Pocky :)  I didn't take any pic of it since I hope to make a solo review of it.  It's one of my favorite snacks, that's why :)