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.

Beyond Max's Fried Chicken

Everyone comes to Max's Restaurant for the chicken. After all it was built by fried chicken. Except me! With my girls and husband, we don't actually frequent Max's as much as I did with my parents & relatives when I was growing-up. But when we do, expect me to order anything but the famous fried chicken. My eldest girl would always have the quarter platter thu'.

I'm not sure why I'm not so much liking the Max's fried chicken when the whole country does. Maybe I had enough of it when I was a child. But I was sure as I am now that I don't like their banana catsup. They used to serve a house blended catsup. Today they are using Jufran which I still don't like cos it's still the same banana....catsup, haha.



When we find ourselves at Max's, it surely not my idea...



.. but the dad's.

Neither, it's the fried chicken for him. He has found his favorite dish here long time ago and always push us to go with him everytime he's craving for it.



It's the sizzling tofu. That's it and nothing else. He would order a whole dish of it. None of us would share. No one likes it, haha. Then a portion of it would always be left. Upon bill out, he would ask for the left over to take home. At home he would throw the take out bag inside the ref. When I do the weekly cleaning of ref I would find it untouched and wasted. Down the trash.

But I love Max's snacks. So one time it was lunch but I had no appetite for rich Filipino dishes that they serve other than chicken, so I ordered snacks. Youngest daughter felt the same so we snacked during that lunch, haha.



We shared slices of clubhouse sandwich and we ended filled with satisfaction.

And yes they have one of the best "pansit luglug" in town. It's as delicious as it looks in this photo.



I also went to try their "halo-halo" for the first time and thu' it didn't disappoint, it wasn't the best one I had.

Yet quite better than other fastfood chain's halohalo like that of Chowking's. The serving is also big.

I just have to insert this snapped photo of us_ looks so Max's, right? haha. Looks as 65 years old as Max's is.



And end this post with this one. :)

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.

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.