Crustasia - Powerplant mall, Rockwell

Red Crab as been around since the late 90s, bringing in crab dishes cooked in a lot of ways. Later on having branches in different cities in Metro Manila. The Red crab group then decided to open new concept restaurants and the 1st one being this.. Crustasia, which specializes in seafood dishes cooked in different asian styles.  First opening here in the Powerplant mall. LOve how they are concern with hand hygiene.:)

Carrot and Singkamas Sticks

Cody: a healthy free appetizer. Love how they serve it.  Comes with three different dipping sauces.

Elle: the vegetables are fresh and crunchy

Crab Maritess

Cody:  One of my fave Red Crab/Crustasia  creation. I love how they baked the crab yet maintaining its succulent juices in. The mixture of garlic, white wine chili and olive oil adds so much flavor to the meat.  One more great thing, it is  not overcooked.

Elle:  the crab was very soft, creamy and garlicky. It was actually a plus that it was swimming in olive oil. The crab itself was small, good thing they served two pieces of it.

Very very good crab dish.. Perfect with a cup of plain rice... just topped it with the things on the above pic.... heavenly:)

Osonho portuguese fusion - Jupiter St, Makati CIty

Portuguese Cuisine hasn't really taken off here in our country. If you ask us, we love it, try going to Macau.. well the nearest place to taste portuguese cuisine. We love the food there.  IT was a bit of a good news to hear there is a new portuguese restaurant opening. Barely a yeard old, this restaurant is said to be more of fusion. 

On the table

Mozarella Veggie Fritters P220 Bell pepper, cauliflower, eggplant, jalapeno and shitake mushroom coated with creamy mozzarella and fried to a golden brown. 

Elle: Crispy breading that doesn’t fall apart when it was cut open. The cheese was perfectly melted and gets stringy as you pull it away.  The pepper popper was stuffed with cheese

Cody: I was surprised by the quantity of the dish. Though it didn’t have the other above mentioned veggies, like shitake and Jalapeno(which we weren’t informed about and I hate that) It was a novel idea of adding cheese to vegetables. The breading was just a tad bit thick, but it was otherwise fried beautifully

Peri Peri Chicken on Fragrant RiceP310

Elle: Well Cooked chicken with  crispy golden skin which tasted very Mediterranean. The rice has parsley bits and the sauce was a delicious blend of spices.

Cody: Wonderful dish, flavorful chicken meat, crispy skin,  The rice was cooked just the way I like it,”buhaghag”. It was worth every peso.

Espetada De Carne P390.00

Two large skewers of delicous shrimps, scallops, US tenderloin cuts and succulent vegetables seasoned with O'sonho's own herb paste. Served with there freshly baked pita bread

Elle: It was just okay, nothing great and it did not have a distinctly different or new taste. I only liked the big scallops.

Cody:  ON the contrary I find the scallops not fresh. The saving grace for me was the lamb and tenderloin cuts. 

Freshly Brewed Ice Tea with Peppermint

Elle: It was served in a large fish bowl which I found really cute. It smells like a glass of freshly brewed tea bag. Upon tasting the hint of peppermint hits you like peppermint toothpaste. Good thing was the taste didn’t linger

Cody: love the size, love the taste and I agree, the non lingering taste makes it more delightful coz you willl keep on sipping it

Definitely recommending the Peri Peri Chicken, Try it.... Nice resto, hope it will last, only two tables were occupied when we ate here.

New from Yellow Cab - Dear Darla Pizza

Yellow Cab Pizza... at first we thought this place was a franchise from some restaurant in the states.. Lo and Behold, the its all filipino.  Great concept, started out strongly. Our  favorite being the Shrimp and Garlic which was back then loaded with shrimp, but as the years went by, the shrimp was dwindling in quantity... 

They just introduced a new pizza in the market. Like the famous panizza of C italian(which we will feature soon) and the allegedly copycat version of Foccacia

Dear Darla pizza... we added some shrimps to our darla pizza, surprised that it came chopped...

Elle: the crust was very thin and crispy, but it lacked the cheese that I wanted.  It was a bit bland. It could have used a bit more garlic.  The extra shrimp was sliced too small. But overall, it was good.

Cody:  Their version of the pizza roll was passable. Not as great as the C Italian version, but as a fast food version, I think they did their job right. Like Elle, I would have wanted more cheese and the extra shrimp topping I ordered was surprisingly chopped…WTF….. well, I love how the dough was crispy yet soft enough to be rolled. 

Something we both would recommend.  Try it…..

Buffalo Wings and Things - Ortigas

While walking around trying to find a place to eat in Ortigas home Depot, We chanced upon this bright restaurant. Serving.... of course what else but Chicken wings, but not only Chicken Wings.. they have other stuff as well....

All the items are written on the board . THey have an open kitchen where you can see your food being cooked. Servers are dressed in ultra shorts short.

Cheesy Fries

Elle: Fries were really good. They were large wedges cooked just right, very warm and soft.  The cheese was very gooey and the amount of cheese was enough to cover the last piece of fries. 

Cody: Nothing beats thick cut fries as compared to the thin fries we get from fast food chains, lot of cheese, every fry had cheese sauce on it

1/2 pound Buffalo wings.

Cody: the wing sauce was excellent,  wings were freshly cooked, it was juicy anf hot, the only bad side here is that the breading was a tad too thick for my taste.  another surpirse was haf a pound is only 3 wings, cut by the joint giving you 6 pieces.

Elle: Chicken wings were perfectly cooked, golden and crispy and the meat was very tender.  The sauce was a combination of sweet, spicy and tangy.  

We love how they give each table a whole wad of thick tissues to use, cause its always better to eat with your hands... right?:)

Kagura - Little Tokyo, Pasong Tamo, Makati City

Restaurants in Japan are usually  specialty restaurants. Meaning they only do one type of dish and they do it well. There would be a place that specializes in fried items  or in Nabe(hot pot dishes), a ramen house, a udon house and the list goes on and on. Here in our country its usually not the case. Except for this little restaurant inside the Little Tokyo complex in Pasong Tamo Makati.

Okonomiyaki to those who are not familiar with it, it is a Japanese Pancake or a Japanese pizza, it’s a complete meal by itself, consisting of veggies, noodles(which you may have the option of not putting it) assorted meats and seafood, cheese. Everything comes together using a flour mixture that keeps it intact.

Cody: Since I tasted it few years back, this has been one of the things I usually order in a Japanese restaurant to know if the chef is truly knowledgable of Japanese cooking. Of all the okonomiyakis I have tried. This is so far the best.  In this country. Every order is cooked fresh

Elle: Yummy! The pancake was thick and filling.  It was a combination of crunchy and soft -  I liked the balance. Overall it tasted really good. 

Squid teppanyaki

Cody: I like this because it was cooked well, the squid was fresh,  and it was also seasoned just right. A little expensive though

Elle:  Squid wasn’t gummy, cooked right but nothing great or uniquely Japanese about the dish.  It was average.  Won’t order this again. 

Spinach with peanut something

Cody: this was also good, unique, and the taste grows on you.

Elle: Not a fan of peanuts but this one was good.  It was probably the sesame seeds that made it memorable.

Hai Shin Lou - Pasay Road, Makati City

Chinese Restaurants are not really a popular choice in the Makati City Area, most of the very good Chinese restaurants are in the Manila, Malate area. However there stood a chinese restaurant in Makati that has been there for quite some time now. And for Cody this was his first time to eat here. 

Freebie- Wanton Skin crisp

Cody: bottomless!!!! Love it, crunchy and seasoned very well, I asked for sweet and sour sauce 3x but it never came….

Elle: crunchy, not oily. A little bit salty

Peking Duck-Skin wrapped in Chinese pancake

Cody: Its nice that u can order half a duck for a small group of people. Pancake was made just right. The duck was tender and wonderful. The skin was very good

Elle : I like the pancake, it was thin and chewy, the duck skin was not really fatty, but it was still oily; as a whole it was very delicious 

Fish Lip soup

Cody:   it was good. Didn’t need the usual splash of black vinegar.

Elle: Warm and filling, not too salty and not too sour. I like it

Chili Garlic Fried Crab

Cody:  Crabs here can be expensive but prepared very well.

Elle: The crab shell was so thin and crispy that I was tempted to eat it. It was cooked with a lot of chili and garlic. The meat was soft. And tasted a lot like the seasoning.

Fried Tofu w Veggies

Cody: not really a dish I would order. The tofu was not of the silken variety. The veggies were cooked perfectly.

Elle: the tofu was crispy but softened by the sauce. This dish is something vegetarians would like.

EFU noodles

Cody: Veering away form the usual Birthday noodles, this is what we ordered. Sauteed quickly with few ingredients. This dish doesn’t have much flavor but it helped in filling up the tummyJ

Elle: I liked the blandness and simplicity of the noodles. It was not too complicated and did not have to much ingredients

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Cody:  They do their yang chow wonderfully. Not oily. Every grain bursting with flavor from the seasoning and accompanied diced meat and veggies

Elle:  their fried rice is really good. Seasoned well, with visible shrimp pieces and roasted pork asado

Minced duck in Lettuce Cups

Cody: After devouring the skin, this was our choice of cooking style for the rest of the duck. Salty and sweet, served with fresh lettuce leaves that are crisp. It was good. Too bad they only serve a few pieces of the lettuce leaves. Didn’t bother to ask for more

Elle: Perfect combination of the soft duck meat and crispy singkamas cubes and fried noodles. Very tasty 

Peppercorn Spareribs

Cody:  Ribs were friend to crispy perfection. The marinade penetrated the meat to the bone. Delicious eaten with vinegar dip

One of he family's favorite restaurant to eat at to celebrate events or just to satisfy Chinese food craving. Always recommended. Always good