Metro Gourmet

Next to a beach, a grocery store is my favorite place to go to.. and linger I won't mind. I could go around from aisle to aisle with same interest I pay to every page of a book I read. It's my happy place.

It doesn't matter if my reason for going is to buy just a bottle of canola oil and then end-up with a few more add-ons, cos for me it's a guilt- free trip cos I know it would benefit/ feed my family somehow. It's not like buying myself a pair of shoes or purse or garments? Right moms? defensive me, haha

I also love the idea of taking snack within the grocery. I particularly frequent The Metro in ATC (Alabang) which has a deli shop with a gourmet cafe.

And since I patronize their deli products...

I thought it won't hurt if I would sample them straight from their own kitchen.

So this particular day last week, with my constant grocery buddy (photo), before heading to the cashier, we made a  snack stop at the Metro Gourmet.

We had the deli's clubhouse sandwiches to share. Why not, already most of their deli products are present in a clubhouse sandwich ( ham, bacon, chicken salad, etc.).

The clubhouse sandwich didn't disappoint. Just right. My friend like it too. 

Another one we had was a plate of pesto pasta. We had spiral as choice of pasta. Pesto sauce  was delicious. Just enough creaminess, a hint of garlic spice, and some bites of nuts ( I'd like to guess as pine nuts). 

I had liked it so much then that when I went back at the same grocery the other day with my girls, I bought a take-out of it. In the middle of traffic on the way home, while the pasta dish was still hot, I started to eat and went to share it with my girls. To my big dismay, it didn't taste the same at all. My take out was oily and I didn't like it. My girls agreed with me. I didn't know what went wrong. Could it be the pasta? Cos this time I chose fettuccine for pasta. Whatever, I still didn't like the sauce this time. My girls were also disappointed to the farmer's sandwich they bought from this deli and didn't finish it too.

Oh well. first impression rarely lasts these days. =)

Crisostomo @ ATC

Here's another themed resto at the relatively ( I had to add the word cos I've been referring to it as new for quite sometime now, haha) new wing of Alabang Town Center (ATC). Crisostomo is very Noli Me Tangere/El Filibusterismo. 

Quite detailed, if I may. Check the name of our waiter_ Tiburcio! I checked other servers and all the names I remembered from Noli and Fili.

Browsing the menu, you get_ (samples) from the vegetable section : Noli Me Talong, Pilosopong Pinakbet, Okra Clara. (samples) from the meat section : Tadyang ni Tiago, Mechado ala Bonifacio, Crispin at Basilio. (samples) from the salad section : Ensaladang Erehe, Crazy Sisa Squid... and many many other interesting entree names.



Lots of them but only two made it to our table. We were there to fill up our ranting stomach, it was just a random lunch. Not for degustation event, haha. We didn't order drink from here even. My girls bought their milk teas outside ( I think Gong-Cha?) which the resto kindly allowed.

kkk bbq. whatelse.is.new? You can browse all my pinoy resto posts here and always my younger daughter orders bbq. Call it deprivation. At home we rarely have bbq, if ever, it must be a take out from a certain resto. So when we eat outside. definitely she bbqued!
This one she loved big time. Just like the rest of the bbq's, haha.

kare-kare kura. ok, you may do the same as I mentioned above ( browse my archive, haha), to find out that kare-kare is another default dish we have when we eat filipino outside. Especially, this time around that I intentionally not cooking this favorite at home. Cos we are so "only 3 eating".
We enjoyed this kare-kare, we ordered for more rice. But we always like kare-kare. In this town, you would rarely find bad kare-kare.



When we are hungry like that, we play safe. Like we order dishes that we already know would serve us right, no matter what.

Given more space, the detailing of Crisostomo would surely be more interesting.



Detailed even more_ this is the bill holder. nice or what?

Nathaniel's @ Molito Alabang

 After a grocery date ( yeah, that's the kind of bonding activity stayhomemoms do ;)) ( and please ignore the crown toy I was wearing, haha) with my gfs, I spotted a newly opened outlet of Nathaniel's (from Pampanga), at Molito, Alabang.



Nathaniel's with all the glory and fame of their buco pandan salad has just arrived at the South ! ( this was last month and the store had just opened 3 days ago then) Yeheey!!! Finally I would be able to have the famous buco pandan from Pampanga. Yeah, I hadn't yet then.
And I had to wait to get home to have that buco pandan salad cos there were too many others to try first. I took home a half gallon  for my girls and me ofcourse.



Came from a small hometown myself, I always find it nostalgic to eat in a food outlet which root came all the way from a province too. You know, the familiar snack house dishes like siopao, halohalo, siomai, pancit, etc.



The first thing we ordered were these heavenly bottles of  buco pandan juice. Ahhh.. super thirst quencher. The best I ever had. With hundreds of  buco juice/shakes store carts mushrooming allover the country, this buco pandan juice definitely stands out. It's meaty and tastes like fresh from a coconut shell with perfect mix of pandan. Very filling too as it is in a 500ml bottle. I won't recommend it as a side drink for a meal thu'. It can easily fill you up and will take a huge space of your tummy and leave a little for the main dishes. But if you're dieting, well go gulp down the whole bottle before a meal, haha!

We also had their rice meal like the beef caldereta (* as expected, homecooked goodness) for me, forgot what my one gf got# haha, lumpiang sariwa (*nothing special),

lasagna (* creamy+meaty goodness, generous serving too, to come back for)



siopao asado

putopao

Those two pao-s  are pretty much taste alike with the same asado filling. I bought packages of them for take home. My girls love the siopao and didn't stay long in our fridge.

Then finally it was time for buco pandan salad at home. The thick but young and soft coconut meat cut in squares - perfect. The gelatin is pandan-ed tasty with a hint of gooey-ness adds an interesting partnership with the coconut. It's creamy and I'd say it's not just the usual all purpose cream we use at home but I'm quite sure a great deal of icecream is the secret ingredient. The sweetness is controlled which make it easier to finish in one sitting. Yah, we did it in one sitting. Half gallon = 3 of us!!! Done.

After three days from that first visit, my girls had to drag me for a repeat visit. I suspect my face hadn't left the waiter's memory yet cos he looked at me like he knew me, haha

We kindah had the same dishes ( and the same mistake of having bottles of buco pandan juice on the side that made us not finish our plates) except for the following :

porkchop steak. my o.daughter's. I tasted it and quite salty for me.

pancit palabok. daughters loved it, better than Razon's they said.

I took home some Nathaniel's goodies too.

Stackers Burger Cafe

Lately I just let  my always- hungry-whenever-in-a-mall younger daughter leads where to eat. Oblivious of  where we were at, it was too late to back out when I realized that she brought us in a burger joint! Again!

Younger daughter was triumphant! She loves burger. Just like her dad. Older daughter doesn't. Me neither.

We were at Stackers Burger Cafe at the new wing of ATC. Meat here is supposedly 100% Aussie beef.



Younger daughter ofcourse had a cheeseburger. I was happy to see some greens peeping out of her sandwich. This daughter doesn't eat veggies but somehow could tolerate some greens when in a burger. I took a small bite, just so I would have a taste of the claimed 100% Australian beef. Hmm, I like McDo better, haha. Trust me not about burgers, I rarely have them.

O.daughter was glad to see some chicken in the menu and twice glad that the chicken is baked. She's starting to think healthy about her diet. She's 18. My influence ofcourse:)))

If y.daughter loves burger, o.daughter is a fried chicken addict. The loophole in her trying-to-be-a-healthy diet. She said nothing so spectacular about the chicken here except that it's baked. Must be healthier than the fried ones.

Fries/chips. Another weakness of o.daughter that destabilize her will for a healthy diet. She always have them with chicken. I grabbed some pieces and well they were good alright. Must be the chives toppings.

I asked the waiter for the best seller salad. He suggested this burger bowl. Oops, I was willingly cheated  to have a quarter pound patty on a bed of greens. I had Bbq Burger Salad.

Immediately the wanton chip toppings disappointed me. I hate them on salad. The dressing was also too much for me. The burger was quite big for my small burger appetite. In short, I didn't like the salad. And the quarter pounder with it. I only had eaten the greens and left the rest. Wasted. This is what happen when I'm not keen on choosing where to eat.



Anyway, I checked my girls and they seemed to enjoy their plates.



Especially their milk shakes.

Mochi Craze

I'm not sure when these cute cold yummy balls started to roll in Ph shores, but I noticed my own girls had this "mochi craze" begun when they first saw the cute Japanese kiosk at SM and bought their first mochis. That was not too long ago, about only 2-3 months ago_ at the height of the heavy daily rain pours. Both (the heavy rain and my girls mochi fever) still ongoing til' this day. They never get to miss to buy each a mochi or two while malling no matter how cold the weather get.

Mochi ice cream is basically a rice cake filled with it seems one scoop of ice cream. It's one convenient way to eat ice cream sans the drippings out of the conventional scoop on a cone. Plus it's a Japanese origin, nothing is less.

Neither I'm sure if it's the same dish as the tempura ice cream I saw my brother indulging at Sakae Sushi one time. Somehow, related I guess. But the tempura ice cream is being served hot from the pan. The mochi is cold inside and out. Only both are covered with batter.

Mochi is a great on the go ice cream. It's round, small, solid ball that one could easily bite into while strolling.  A sit down is not necessary but if you want to enjoy a company while biting on this creamy cold dessert, go ahead, the pleasure is yours. By now I see a number of mochi ice cream parlors around the city.






Besides, these mochi kiosks and parlors are too cute to ignore. We couldn't resist the pinkness of Mochiko (at ATC, Alabang). Girls couldn't say no to pink. Can you?



These "lucky cats", don't know the proper name, on the walls are pure cuteness.

The pink full bodied, quilted seat is just so inviting to sit on to enjoy your mochi.



We actually like Mochiko quite better than the other brand at SM. it's bigger also. Although it's more expensive like P10 to P20 more than the other one. So far we only got to taste those two brands of mochi here at Ph.