Papa Piolo's Bangus

The other day, while I was frying milkfish bangus marinated in vinegar and garlic, which for the first time by the way_ I bought prepared from the supermarket, I usually prepare my own, I heard Myka telling Kyla : "Mom is cooking Papa Piolo's bangus !"



Kyla checked me in the kitchen and confirmed what her sis told her. I asked why they called this Piolo's bangus? Only then I gathered that our local movie star Piolo Pascual is endorsing the product and the girls have seen the tv ads many times.



Funny, my youngest thought the ads made me bought the product, hhaha! First of all, I haven't seen the ads. And the the thing that made me bought this was because I wasn't able to to go the wet market to buy our fresh food supplies for the week. So I thought I would try this Century bangus, anyway I love Century canned tuna. I picked the marinated belly, since none of us eat the head of the fish. The part is often left untouched.

The verdict ? Well, not bad. But not that great too. . . puede na rin. We still prefer my homemade version. Otherwise, I'll still buy it the next time I miss to go to a wet market to buy fresh bangus. Although, I think it's a good product to send to relatives abroad who miss our bangus, that is if they couldn't find any in their areas and have no time to make it at home.

Arce Sherbet

Despite the rains, the heat is still on ! Next to fruit yogurts, my girls present crazes are sherbets.






They love our local brand Arce Dairy. Kyla goes for her favorite mango sherbet and Myka likes the macapuno. Their parents enjoy the sugarfree purple yam ube flavor.

Leslee's, Tagaytay

I was surprised to find out that I haven't posted any Leslee's, Tagaytay blog yet.. I thought, I had it already in my old archives. I was looking for it so that I could post a link to my post _ Leslee's , Alabang. Only then I realized I haven't posted yet.

So here is my most recent visit to the place :



Our relatives from Davao had their tour of Luzon this summer10 and decided to stop over in Manila. Ofcourse aside from the city tour, they wanted to pay their relatives on this side of P.I. us a visit.





They hadn't been yet to the nearest destination Tagaytay, so we spent a day touring the highland. We were like a huge group and where else would you expect us to dine but at Leslee's.

our table fronting the cliff

main dining hall

I'm sure, I mentioned in my prev blog Leslee's, Alabang, see here , that the Filipino dishes menu and the interior of the resto are equally interesting.






It's a nice place to bring your foreign visitors. It's very touristy.




There's even a string band to serenade the guests.

a souvenir shop outside

There are also nipa huts at the cliff side, overlooking the Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano, the smallest one in P.I. But ofcourse at night, the volcano is not visible. The lights of the lowland town are quite a sight thu'. Now , this is becoming a destination blog already !



Leslee's is actually known for bulalo and is serving one of the best bowls in town.

Leslee's, Alabang

Aside from it's famous bulalo (sorry, couldn't find English word translation) and other Filipino dishes , Leslee's is notable for its interesting resto buildings. So far I only saw three branches_ Tagaytay, Alabang and Sto. Tomas, Batangas, all of which are intricately interior-ed.

side entrance of the Alabang resto

main dining hall

Leslee's, Alabang is huge. Made of stone, it looks like a medieval castle. The main dining hall is quite big and can hold a lot of guests. There are also tables upstairs and dining huts outside.

wash room

Ladies room is equally interesting. Also, everything is made of stone and wood.

over-exposed kare-kare

tuna kinilaw

We usually drop to Leslee's if bulalo cravings arose. But this day, we didn't feel slurping the soup. The girls actually wanted their eternally favorite kare-kare and the the dad (it was Father's Day!) was salivating for kinilaw. So off we went to Leslee's , Alabang.












Ofcourse, if you knew me by now, I love assortment of foods on the table, so I went for the buffet.



Seemed like the dad was happy with his kinilaw plate.

Kopi Roti

I missed to try the kaya toast when I had my Singapore trip. So during my recent local trip, while waiting for the flight, I saw a Kopi Roti nook and ordered myself a set meal of kaya toast, soft boiled egg and coffee.

kaya cream puff

NAIA terminal 3

kaya toast, soft boiled egg & kopi

So that's the kaya toast, said to be the national breakfast dish of Singapore. If you're familiar with our local coconut jam, that's exactly how the toast tasted. As for the soft boiled egg with black sauce, I really didn't know what to do with it. To spoon straight into my mouth? as dipping agent or to dunk the toast first in it, like the milk to Oreo cookie?

KKK's kare-kare

One of my favorite kare-kare versions, I found in a local restaurant named KKK in MOA. So when bff Neth said the other day while we were roaming around the mall on her bday, that she was salivating on kare-kare, I pushed her in KKK restaurant.

kare-kare ( oxtail stew in peanut sauce)

Neth remembered the place from one of my prev blogs and it was her first time here. She took a spoonful of kare-kare and fell in love with it. She said she would definitely going back here with her five children.

buko pandan for two

grilled bacon

Kakaloka - it's crazy !

Happy birthday Neth !

The Original Buco Pie

A recent weekend_ we passed Los Banos, Laguna and saw a long queue of people infront of a buco (coconut) pie store. No push needed, cuzin' Che and I shouted halt to our car and got off to join the buco piers queue.

can you spot us?

there we are !

This store claimed to be the original maker of buco pie in this side of Luzon and so exactly they named the store with the same shout out _The Original.




First of all, I like all pastries made of coconut. The long queue of patrons was really inviting, take note that in this vicinity, buko pie stores were nestling side by side, and yet this particular store got the biggest crowd of buyers.

Immediately, I took a bite and had my first taste of The Original buco pie. Well, the long waiting was not quite worth it. Nothing so special. It tasted common if at all_a little bland for my sweet tooth. What I liked about it was the coconut meat. Very fresh and meaty.

I still prefer Collete's thu'.