Can't Connect With Adobo Connection

I thought I'd help my phone breathe by deleting pictures. Couldn't believe myself to find thousands of photos+some videos in it. Dominated by food photos ( story of my life:)), obviously they belong here.



Let me start with this one which was in Adobo Connection. I lost track of the date but it was definitely early this year when this local food chain had just newly opened in SM Center in LasPinas. I just tried it once then and never came back since. I was happy thu' about it as addition to very few eating places At SM Center which by the way not really my favorite  grocery but the proximity helps.




Older daughter had adobo flakes plate. I tasted it and it's like tapa (dried/cured meat) that's best when dip in vinegar. It was ok except for the overwhelming taste of cooking oil.

Younger daughter ignored adobo dishes and went for a favorite beef karekare. She liked it. She likes all karekare in the country, haha.

I had mix adobo sa gata ( pork & chicken in coconut milk). I don't remember that I had liked it. I thought it was lacking in flavor and simply forgettable. Sad cos it's my favorite adobo variant.

This chain also offers  "rice all you can", which is the hype in most pinoy fast food chains. But we are not big rice eater. We could hardly finish a cupful.
I thought I could enjoy adobo outside my kitchen, but I didn't.

Mesa @ Food Street

Here's another restaurant at the Food Street of Southmall_ Mesa. I'm glad dining outlets are now coming here in the South. Unlike before that we had to drive to MOA, Makati, and as far as The Fort or worst to QC, just to dine. No need to frequent BF Homes too, thu' nearer than the mentioned dining places, still Southmall and Alabang Town Center are a lot accessible to where I reside. I'm loving the new wings of these two malls.

It was after the week that I was always running for errands ( per my husband demands, haha) everyday and I was so consumed, I  didn't have the chance to cook decent meals at home for my girls. So they missed home cooked food and wanted to eat Filipino.

We entered Mesa past lunch time and it was still full packed with people still finishing their meals. Luckily there was a single table available for us.

Drinks : buco shake, mango shake & sago gulaman. Everything was refreshingly good as we expected.

Younger daughter had these pork bbq's all to herself.

And more than a cup of garlic rice. I think two cups?

Oh well, need I elaborate more on how she loved the bbq here?

Me and older daughter shared the best pork binagoongan ( shrimp pasted pork, if I may translate. I wonder how you call it in English, haha ) I ever had. It was tasty, tender and the balance of spices were just right.


 We actually rarely eat pork at home. Beef would be once when lucky a week. Fish, chicken and veggies are staple. Pasta frequent more on our table rather than rice, which is I think the culprit of the stubborn fats around my belly and some at my back. Too much carbs! Not even counting the sweets, pastries and lots and lots of sinful doughnuts on a daily basis. So it's given that when we eat out, we have what we deprive ourselves at home _ pork.meat!!!

We also had laing two ways. Both versions were good that for the first time my carnivore younger daughter started to eat laing ( taro leaves in coconut cream) and enjoyed it with her bbq.

The first version was taro leaves in coconut cream topped with adobo ( Filipino style pork stew) flakes. Creamy delicious. Yum!

I was not sure about the difference between the two. Only the other one was creamier than this one, but also good.

Older daughter loved everything, she had extra rice that much! haha. joke. Those were our rice cups all together.



Younger daughter with her plate she had swiftly emptied in a flash, haaha.

But the fact that we ordered for extra cups of rice and that we all had our plates emptied clean, meant we really loved the foods here. Rare!

In less than an hour we were bellyfull and ready to go. The place was now uncrowded and opposite of the scene when we got in.



We only had three dishes from the menu, definitely, we'll comeback for more. I would recommend this restaurant for our "balikbayan" friends/relatives who are missing our homegrown dishes with some twist.

Filipino Buffet

Everytime bestfriend (based overseas) has her random visits here in P.I., our default dining hubs would be those buffet restos serving filipino dishes. In between shoppings at Glorrieta / Greenbelt (Makati), Dad's Kamayan & Saisaki would always be the most accessible for quick lunch fix.



She would fill-in her cravings for Filipino home grown dishes. .

my first serving

2nd serving

. . and I would indulge on dishes I'm not making at home like sushi (remember Dad's has crossover buffet- Saisaki ), roasted beef, the etc's that aren't homecooked dishes.

Another favorite is the Cabalen's. It's actually very similar to Dad's in the sense that both are serving Filipino and Japanese buffet dishes. Both are also very accessible with branches inside popular malls in the country.






This Cabalen's outlet in Glorrieta, Makati is particularly chic with awesome interior.



Cabalen @ Festival Mall
Try to compare this branch to their other branch in another mall and you would see another feel of ambiance. It just goes to say that ambiance and location  make a lot of difference.

Filipino dishes on parade. .

. . complete with our famous lechon (suckling pig)

Bestfriend concluded that between the two filipino buffet restos, Dad's is better. It has a wider array of buffet spread and foods are warmer and fresher. Ofcourse, Dad's buffet plate is more expensive too than Cabalen's.

Unnamed Bulalo House

We came from a beach in Nasugbu, Batangas and on the way home we passed by Tagaytay almost lunch time. I missed the name of this particular food establishment and couldn't remember to have seen any signage infront of it. If you are frequenting Batangas-Tagaytay route to Manila (vise-versa), I'm sure you've seen this nipa hut restaurant on the ridge, always full with people slurping hot bulalo. Tagaytay is one of the most frequented weekend destinations we visit and almost been around in every establishment there, except this one. So when someone in the car mentioned bulalo, I took it as a sign to eat there.

There were table cottages positioned to enjoy full view of Taal Volcano with corresponding consumable amount. Depends on the location, like in one cottage-  minimum food order amount would be  P1.5k, the other one with better view was like P3k and up.



We didn't take any of the special cottages. We had seen Taal Volcano 14,984 times already, haha. Anyway, we only wanted to try their version of bulalo here, always_ in search of the better one. So we took one of the tables in the main/common dining hall with no minimum consumable amount. You just pay whatever amount you consume.



Well, their bulalo was good but nothing spectacular to mention it above others.  I actually thought_ over this I would still prefer Leslee's , only few minutes drive from this place.
 For my foreign friends - bulalo is a favorite Filipino hot soup made of beef shank/ bone marrow. Tagaytay is one of the best places to eat this hot dish cos of the cool weather and known to serve a better quality of beef cos of its proximity to the province of Batangas where the cows are best raised.

On  the other plate, I actually loved their sisig and would only be the only reason to come back here.



In the end, we did have filled stomachs to continue rocking the roads on the way home.

Isdaan, Tarlac

Apart from being one of the most scenic floating restaurants I've seen in the country, with all those huge monkeys mixed with giant Buddhas ( see here ) standing all over the place, Isdaan in Tarlac serves very tasty originally concocted Filipino dishes.

Although everything in the menu was all Filipino and dishes that were well known to us, still it got a lot to choose from and my husband who got no patience when hungry, had no time to read and discuss. The waiter who sent us to our cabana styled-table had disappeared and no staff was around to give us suggestion. The place was mad huge ! You have to walk a mile ( ok that's quite an exaggeration, but it sure was far from our table ) to get to the reception if you need a server. We actually looked for a button to push or something that might buzz to get a server, but there was none.

I saw our neighbor being serenaded by a string band. I knew were were next.

So right I was. They sang, nice yes, but we were too hungry to appreciate. We tipped them and ask for a server. Sorry guys, we came from Baguio and had yet to go on the road for the next 4 hours? back to Manila.



The girls eat no more than kare-kare. If you brought them to a Filipino resto , they are easy_ beef karekare ( beef stew in peanut sauce), always. While waiting for the food, the girls enjoyed feeding the kois in the pond.

There was al fresco cooking going on in the bamboo bridges. No, the man on a red bull cap is not the cook, it's the dad. The one beside him is the cook,haha.



Kare-kare arrived and the girls was happy.



But the tiny pot of rice was funny. The waiter said, it was good for four, enough for us. Hello, our hunger was severe! What dya think? haha, we had to order for another pot.

The liempo came wrapped in fresh banana leaves.

and when we unwrapped it_ the aroma was captivating. . I took a bite and it was so tasty and soft and simply delicious. I bet marinated well and unlike other liempo ( yes husband never missed to order a plate of this dish ) from other resto, I did like this one.



We only had those two dishes and rice and we were quite satisfied.