| FOODQUESTS

Italianni's (Eastwood Mall)

We met up after work at the Eastwood mall in Libis, and we decided to try out the Italianni's there. We don't usually go to this place (at all) because it's expensive; but then we had a discount card :D. It was a busy place at the dinner hour, service was a little slow. It took a while before they got us the bread appetizer. Two slices of regular white bread (ciabatta?) and something with more herbs in it (also ciabatta?). It had an olive oil-balsamic vinegar dip and helped stave off the hunger for a while.

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HOKKAIDO RAMEN SANTOUKA (Glorietta 4)

The first time we went here, the place was full of people. Seems to be famous, we thought. So we decided to try it another time. And a few weeks later, we did (at our usual late lunch hour). Located on the ground floor outside of Glorietta 2 (facing SM Makati), it may be hard to find for some. But a little wandering around and you will eventually find it. It has this big sign after all.

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Outback Steakhouse (Acropolis)

After we caught wind of a discount promo, we decided to try the Outback Steakhouse near the Libis area. The place is hard to miss; it's that big, elevated house along the southbound side of the road. I have to say, this design really helps, since people with cars get a lot of parking space. At least for a 2pm late lunch anyway. It's become sort of our thing, eating at the odd hours of the day. Usually means less people, which also usually means better service. Plus we like the quiet :).

Here's the appetizer, a six inch(ish) long loaf of bread with some butter. It's not the usual white bread we see, but I can't really say it's rye bread either (not much of a bread expert here). Tasted nice and sweet though, and the butter that came along with it was creamy too.

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KPUB BBQ Meat All You Can (BGC)

I've always thought that the KPub in the BGC was some sort of party place, but it turns out it's a restaurant! Well, a restaurant with a party-ish ambiance anyway. Since we like the Korean take on protein, we gave this place a whirl a few weekends ago. They had a promo on their 1 hour timed buffet (more on the mechanics in a bit) so we tried that. It's a bit on the noisy side when you get to a seat, but you'll notice immediately that it's a pretty spiffy place. From the crew costumes to the tables and decor, the place screams K-Pop.

So the way the 1 hour buffet works is that once your first plate of buffet meats reaches the table, the 1 hour starts. You then have 1 hour to order whatever you want off their menu. Here's the first plate of food we got: the usual appetizer dishes (various pickled items + the ever-present kimchi) and salad greens with some sesame-like dressing. All of these were quite flavorful, and the dressing was quite good. Kind of reminded me of Japanese style salad dressing. We also had some of their Kimchi rice. And yes, it’s spicy. Sweat inducing spicy :)

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Sambokojin (Eastwood)

Ah Sambo Kojin. For us, it's the standard by which we judge all other non-hotel buffets. When we first went there, it was a real treat. You get many good food selections, Japanese and Korean food, at a not-too-expensive price. Plus their Eastwood branch is easily accessible from where we live :). So we decided to document one of our recent trips there, to see how things are at our buffet of choice. Hint: mmmm.

Like what we said before, there's a lot of choices for food, cooked or cookable. From Japanese style katsu to Korean Kimchi, from chilled green salads to hot soup, from the grilled-at-your-table meat dishes that used to walk or used to swim, I think it's safe to say that everyone will find something nice to eat here. Chesca starts off with her usual sushi and sashimi plate, and it's great, as usual. The sushi was a little large though, so it may be hard to eat in one gulp, but we're not complaining.