Hainanese chicken anyone?: The Chicken Rice Shop

The Chicken Rice Shop is one of those restaurants that piqued my interest one Sunday morning. I decided to drag my companions into it for us to get a chance to try something new. Well, it didn't disappoint.

Location: 1st level, Padre Faura wing, Robinsons Place Ermita
Website: The Chicken Rice Shop


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The restaurant actually has its roots in Malaysia and has branches in other countries as well (check out their website). Upon entering the place, you'll feel cozy and the atmosphere, at least every time I go there, is not hectic like in other neighboring fast food joints. May be this is due to the fact that people are naturally hesitant to stray from what they know already like Greenwich and Jollibee.

A view of the inside of their restaurant

A look at their menu.....

....and what's in it, it's very visual :-)

You'll also find that it has a warm atmosphere, may be partly due to the lighting. Now on to the food. For it's price, it's actually quite good. I recommend you start with their Nyon Pai Tee. This dish would remind you of the Taclings you see now in the malls. It's sort of like the chinese siomai but instead of the soft wrapping you'll get a crunchy taco-like wrap. Once you bite into it, you'll be greeted by the fresh taste of vegetables (forgot if it was beansprouts, but you get the geist). Put some of that sauce on top of it and you're good to go. I actually could not get enough of this appetizer and sometimes barter with whoever I'm with to trade this for some of my chicken later on. I would warn you though, that sauce is chili and it's quite hot.

Utterly scrumptious Nyon Pai Tee.
The perfect start to an amazing meal!

The beautiful chicken, this is where they serve you the
silverware and the tissues, nifty! :-)

I would recommend any of their rice dishes from Hainanese chicken rice to the roasted chicken rice. They won't disappoint. And they do mean chicken rice, the rice even tastes like chicken since they seem to be cooking it using chicken broth. Just wonderful!. Of course, I'd recommend it over the usual order of just plain rice, if like me you like extra rice. The soup that comes with the rice meals is also good and I recommend you try all the spices that they serve even with the extra rice. You'll definitely find a mix that you like.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice

The Roasted Chicken Rice

This is the actual chicken rice with all the condiments and free soup

That's it! Be sure to visit the Chicken Rice Shop. See you on the next post!

A day of good eats, good art, and good buys!

For me, SM Megamall has been one of the best malls to walk around in. Even if I was going there since I was a kid, the place never ceases to surprise me.

One of the best restaurants there is a place called Chef's Quarter. It is located at the 3rd level of Megamall's Atrium. Here are their details:

Facebook page: Chef's Quarter
Location:

L3 The Atrium, SM Megamall

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Robinson's Place Ermita

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I've gotten a chance to dine at both locations and I find that their service is consistent and top-notch. The staff is very accommodating, friendly, and attentive. They pay attention to every detail and you'll often see them meticulously inspecting the silverware before they lay it down on your table. Glasses are consistently filled with water, unlike other places I know of that don't even refill your bottomless iced tea consistently.

The view from a couch seat at their SM Megamall branch

The table setting makes you not want to take a meal in it.
It's so neat!!!

The food, like the service is also top notch. Believe me when I tell you that you'll get your money's worth here. Although at first you may be shocked at the prices at first, you'll find out later on that they're well worth it. Our main favorite is their Grilled Salmon Tranche with wasabi glazed saffron rice and grilled romaine hearts (Php 420). Sure it's more expensive than the Conti's baked salmon but it's taste sure makes up for it. The salmon is perfectly cooked and juicy. Once you get over the rich taste of that salmon, you'll notice a sharp flavor from that wasabi glaze which will leave you wanting more. I got so distracted by the taste of the salmon and the glaze that I hardly notice the saffron rice, hmm, may be my taste buds need a little bit more training and restraint!

Grilled Salmon Tranche with wasabi glazed saffron rice
and grilled romaine hearts (Php 420)

The next dish I would highly recommend is their Stir Fried Seafood Paella (Solo: Php 195; Family Php 395). It is one of the best paellas I've ever tasted, well apart from the one that we cook at home! The rice is nicely colored and is really soft just the way we like it. You'll absolutely get lost in the seafood, there's the perfectly cooked juicy fish, the squid, the tender shrimp, mussels, just delicious. All of these are complemented by the nicely cooked vegetables, egg, and perfect seasoning.

Stir Fried Seafood Paella (Solo: Php 195; Family: Php 395)

Sadly, the chicken dish that I used to love is now gone. I've also forgotten it's name and can't find a picture of it. It had rice stuffing which just oozes flavor. Nonetheless, the replacement is no less scrumptious. The Roasted Chicken (Half: Php 295; Whole: Php 550) is not to be confused with the one served at Savory Restaurant. Although a certain pinoy flavor has been added to it with the banana or more particularly, the Saba, placed as a siding. I need not say more than it is simply delicious.

Roasted Chicken (Half: Php 295; Whole: Php 550)

The next dish we tried during our latest dining experience there was the New England Pot Roasted Beef (Solo: Php 250; Family: Php 495). It's one of those comforting dishes that you'd like to eat all nestled in a comfy sofa, near a fireplace, at the end of a long and rainy day at work. The beef was soft and melts like butter in the mouth. The thin layer of glistening fat on top doesn't give you that heavy feeling at the end of the meal and doesn't leave you feeling guilty ;-). The sauce is seasoned perfectly. All this is served with a siding of creamy mash potatoes and the usual vegetable sidings.

New England Pot Roasted Beef (Solo: Php 250; Family: Php 495)

The last dish we tried was a tad disappointing. It's the St. Louis Pork Ribs Barbecue (Solo: Php 295; Family: Php 550). It got mixed reviews from everyone at the table. Some loved it, some didn't. But for me, I didn't like it. I felt it was too sour and deviated from the more mellow and comforting food we had earlier, but then again, it may be just to my taste. I also felt that the gravy was a bit too much and too sour!

St. Louis Pork Ribs Barbecue (Solo: Php 295; Family: Php 550)

The other dishes we had before which I failed to take a picture of but nonetheless I highly recommend are the Chef's Quarter Steak, Petite Fillet Mignon, and Fish and Chips. The Chef's Quarter Steak is something I consciously make an effort not to wolf down immediately but savor slowly. The steak is perfectly cooked to your liking (mine's medium rare) and well seasoned. The flavored butter they put on top just makes it taste that much richer and the siding of potato wedges give you something to nibble on as you relax and contemplate another serving of that steak. The Petite Fillet Mignon is also good but I prefer the Chef's Quarter Steak over it. And last but not the least is the Fish and Chips. I feel that this dish is essential if you're really hungry. It goes with any dish I've tried with it. The fish is tender and has that crunchy coating we all love and the potato wedges are well salted.

Well, moving on, we toured around SM Megamall and found this art exhibition where a few people were hanging around. Why not go in if it's free! I immediately saw an opportunity to hone my photography skills and politely asked the lady looking after the booth if I could snap pictures of the art on display, fortunately, she said YES!

The Gallery Nine Annual Sculpture Review
I often see different art exhibited in this space

A beautify sculpture made of shells

Soldiers made out of scrap metal

This was actually moving. Made of tableware.

Some fanciful sculptures about astronauts.
Hope I accurately captured the mood!

A wire sculpture of a man seemingly
floating on the wall

A decorative doorway.
Reminds me of the tree where the Kings
and Queens of Narnia passed thru

A sculpture of an eastern dragon

Bronze sculpture of a woman

Driftwood with bronze goldfish
Reminds me of my aquarium

Some wooded sculptures

A beautifully crafted machine where everything
rotates when you move it

A sculpture of a head

Herbie, is that you!?!

Forgot what game I saw this at, anyone know?

This really caught my eye with its colors

Reminds me of those paper swans we
made when we were kids

Another sculpture which caught my eye
It's made of stripped stranded copper wire

Simply wonderful
The artist must have spent hours on this

Moving on, we chanced upon an exhibition at the Megatrade Hall. We bought some of the products of the provinces, like coffee, peanut flavored bukayo, salted eggs, and the like. I got a chance to meet a friendly soft shelled crab vendor from Zamboanga who I might buy some crab from in the future! There were also products like the usual Batangas blades and the not so usual products made from water hyacinths, sea snake leather wallets (which were quite soft mind you) and the dragon fruit (which was a cacti?!?)

Products made from water hyacinths

Soft shelled crabs

Dragon fruit cacti

Well that's it for today. See you on the next post! :-)

Tiangge galore: the Sidcor Sunday market

It all started one weekday while I was looking for an inexpensive alternative to the Buff headwear. I found a seller in Sulit who gave me the option of having it shipped or meeting her at the Sidcor Sunday market at Eton Centris along Edsa corner Quezon Avenue. Not wanting to miss out on exploring a new place, I opted for the latter. :)

Directions:

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1. Ride the MRT up to the Quezon Avenue station.

2. Once there, look out the Eton Centris side (Edsa northbound side) and you should see the Green and white tents of the Sidcor Sunday market. Get down from the northbound side of the station and head left.

A view of Eton Centris from MRT Quezon Avenue Station

3. Turn left again and follow the walk way to the turning circle (rotonda).

A look at the walkway heading towards the rotonda

4. Continue pass the turning circle (rotonda) towards the Sidcor Sunday market (green and white striped tents)

A look at the iconic green and white tents of the
Sidcor Sunday Market

The Sidcor Sunday market is only open during Sundays, as you may have guessed, between 6am to 2pm to be exact. I would advise not to take your cars unless necessary or if you are many or plan to buy a lot of stuff. I am not familiar with the area but when I arrived there at 6am the place was already packed with cars, whether due to buyers or employees of nearby establish,ents/BPOs I've no idea. There are parking spaces in the area but I'm unsure if they'd allow you to park in those owned by private buildings. To get more background you can visit their facebook or multiply pages.

Having arrived there early, I decided to check out the stalls first before going to meet the headwear seller. It was raining moderately so there were a lot of large puddles. I recommend wearing your comfortable clothes and maybe slippers for wet weather these would really help if you want to do a full scoop of the place. That said, at 6am, the sellers were still setting up.

The first stalls I visited sold RTW clothes and fashion accessories mostly for the ladies. There were shirts, pants, shorts, blouses, skirts, bags, wallets and the like. Having gone to 168 and divisoria malls, I found the prices a bit steep but justifiable if you don't want the inconvenience of going to the busy streets of Manila. Although the selection was quite limited.

Stalls selling RTW, children's wear, bags, fashion accessories, etc.

I also found some stalls selling odd products, by odd I mean power tools and other trinkets like those that I saw at 168 like the pocket chair and kangaroo keeper bag organizer. There were also stalls selling "walis tambo" and the "walis tingting".

Still, there were stalls selling pets. From the pet dogs (i.e. shih tzus, chihuahua, etc) that I saw the sellers grooming to attract prospective buyers to cockatiels too numerous for the cages they are in to aquarium fish swimming around in fiberglass ponds, you can find them here as well as the accessories that come with them. Despite this, I still wouldn't advise anyone to buy these here unless you know what you are looking for. For one, the selections are limited, if yoou want to purchase a dog, you can't choose one with the best temperament from a litter of 5 let's say. Or may be there is a better colored cockatiel out there but since there's only one store selling them, you settle for an average one. I also don't think it's fair for the animals to be sold there where their shelter is just temporary as exemplified by the crowded cages and lack of wind/rain protection. As such I would suggest that you just make a purchase at permanent pet stores like those found in Cartimar so that you will be better assured of the choices available and of course, remember to think it through first and be a responsible pet owner!

Some cockatiels for sale

Aquarium/pond fish for sale

Dogs for sale (IMO, it's not humane to keep them
in such cramped cages for 8 hours especially in hot weather)

There were also a wide selection of plants available there. Some odd plants also exist like the famed miracle fruit which can make your taste buds behave funny. The selection was good for odd plants which you can't find in Cartmar.

Food on the left and plants on the right

The best thing i found about this market though was the food selection. Everything from fruits to vegetables to cooked viands cam be found here.  While not rivaling bancheto in scale and variety, it is still very good, I dare say, better than most. The vegetables were fresh and some I found can only be bought there. Fruits were also aplenty, I bought really sweet seedles satsuma oranges for just 35 pesos per kilo. Cooked food was also pretty good, from beef stroganoff to kakanin to lechon can easily be found here. You can even enjoy them under the protection of tents, chairs and tables are also provided. There is also a wet market sellig fish, meat, amd seafoods. What struck me were the stuff like tapang usa (deer) which I regrettably didn't buy due to the high price, php 150 for 1/4 kg and partly because I did not know the sellers well enough to be sure that it was really deer and not some other meat like horse/carabao. I was delighted to come by some goat meat though which I found to be quite elusove in the past. It was sold for php 320/kg. some stalls were also selling the usual food supplememts like ampalaya capsules and even Mangosteem coffee which my mom likes.

Get your fresh veggies here!

Fruits for dessert?

Cooked food for sale. Drinks anyone?

Goat/Kambing meat for sale!

Well 2 hours later, I managed to meet my contact and buy the cheaper version of the buff headwear. Unfortunately, I found them to be too low of quality so just bought 2 for testing.In the end, I ended up buying the original ones which I think are worth it especially in my fishing trips. (but that's for another time). See ya!