Hungry Monkey

We had been ignoring this tiny fast food resto with a catchy funny name at D'Mall ( Boracay ) during our daily meal hunts. Alas! came our last day of this particular beach holiday, already w/o energy and appetite to roam around the beach, we headed to Hungry Monkey and really we were hungry like a monkey too!! It was past lunch  and this would be our first meal of the day ( our last in the island cos we were checking-out that day  ), cos we slept the morning away.




Surprisingly, Hungry Monkey got everything in the menu. I mean, from pasta dishes to maki to burgers to tacos to siomai to pancake to etc.

I tried to get easy with my empty stomach and ordered a small taco for myself. Must be forgettable cos by this time I couldn't remember how was it. Neither I was sure if I had finished it or not. My intense hunger notwithstanding,  haha.

Younger daughter had a hotdog sandwich. Daughter found the meat toppings and bread dry. She's the type who forgets about taste when hungry ( I'm not! ), so she finished the sandwich thu' she complained it was not good. haha.

Older daughter had a plate of carbonara. Looks appetizing, right? But this was left half done. Daughter didn't like it. I tried a fork of it and couldn't help but agree with her. It was bland and the pasta was a bit soggy. Btw, wt#  those veggies doing in the plate??

We left Hungry Monkey still with ranting tummies. We dropped by again at ShareTea and drowned our hunger with loads of milk teas and smoothies.
The sad cute puppy? Nothing, haha. He/she was next door of  Hungry Monkey, with a look like he could relate to us.

Cafe France: Couture Tray

I frequent Cafe France ( formerly named DeliFrance ) not to dine-in but to buy1/take1 pastry products nearing closing store hours.  My girls and I love their breads. Me especially if they are 50% off, haha. While in q to pay, I would see their food display with delicious looking salad, pasta, meat dishes and desserts. I would always make a mental note to try dining in the cafe but would find myself always coming back for the buy1/take1 and always rushing, haha.

Last weekend, we were at MOA as usual with jampacked restos when it was time to eat. Exiting F21, we saw Cafe France looking minimal in terms of nos. of table occupied. Us_ as you know hate heavily crowded dining place, found Cafe France just the place to eat this time. Funny that after 158 years we had to try it first in MOA, when a nearest branch to our home is just 5 minutes drive.

Anyway, I got to try the Pierre Tray Couture. Sounds like a high fashion brand huh? Ok I'll make it easy_ it's actually a set meal. A french gourmet tray of pasta & sandwich combi with soup, dessert, and a drink. Other trays couture named as Adelle, Marguerite, and Philippe.

 Pierre Tray Couture is a seafood set meal with seafood marinara pasta and seafood deluxe clubhouse sandwich as main dishes. I hadn't paid so much attention to the soup served in a shot glass and just had a bit of it using it as a dip for the bread sticks included in the meal.

I loved the seafood marinara so much so I finished it in a bit. I liked its marinara sauce with generous amount of shrimps. I thought the pasta serving was small thu'. But the sandwich I didn't finish. I still have to find suitable crab sandwich for myself and this is not the one.

While my rice meal baby ( older daughter ) had ordered a rice meal of course. She had a plate of Chicken French in Bechamel Sauce ( ala carte ). It was breaded chicken fillet in white sauce with white rice.



She didn't like it and just shared my set meal. She had it taken home for her sister. At home, younger daughter surprisingly had  liked it or was it only because she was so damn hungry already when we arrived home?

So there_ our 1st at Cafe France. I think we're going to come back to try their other tray couture, preferably at the nearest branch. And yes I would continue to be a loyal patron of their buy1take1, haha.

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. =)