Steak, Paella and Cockroaches at Grills & Sizzles

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We met up this friend of ours at the Steak & Paella buffet at Grills & Sizzles.  The buffet is priced at 359 per head which is reasonable enough for a buffet that includes steak, paella, pasta, salad and another viand.  There is also churros, cupcakes and ice cream for dessert.  Before, there was not any ice cream and the buffet was only at 300.  I guess the ice cream made a 59 pesos difference.



I was usually happy about their service on my previous visits but not on this one.  As usual, they were fast on refilling my glass of water but it took them awhile to give my friend her brown sugar.  By the time it arrived, her coffee got cold so she had them reheat it.  

 Another disappointment was there were a ton of cockroaches in the restaurant near closing time.  There were even some little ones at the buffet table itself.  I told the server about it and they told me they are going to spray some insecticide later.


As usual, we had out steak well done but they did not do it on a sizzling plate like before though.  The taste of the food were pretty decent even though my girlfriend is not really a fan of their food.

 Rating: 2.5 /5
 

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Yogane at Il Terrazo defines Korean food

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I joined other food bloggers for the soft opening of Yogane at Il Terrazo a couple of weeks ago.  Our group included Alwin of cityroamer.com, Ayzi of chilipina.com, Janese of lakwatseramom, Cha of travelonashoestring and Vance of matakawako.  All their blogs are good so check them out.  Back to Yogane, I am not really high on spicy food but I love going to soft openings.  The restaurant was designed quite well as their specialty Yogane's Marinated Chicken Galbi Rice was cooked right in front of us.

I panicked and asked for more water after a couple of bites of this dish.  It looked a lot like paella in the end but it is pretty good.  However, it is very spicy but some of the bloggers were not affected that much because of their high tolerance for spices.  

I was so hungry I quickly feasted on the first dish served to us which was the Chap Chae.  If you noticed the photos in the other blogs were missing something, the reason for that is I already ate some of it.  The Beef Bulgogi was good and nothing really special came out of that.


Their menu did not contain much items but that can be forgiven because they are still new.  They must have had a good interior designer work on their place because the place was designed beautifully.

 Overall, I would love to come back here but not anytime soon because of my low tolerance for spices.

 Rating: 3 out of 5

I have to thank Ms. Marry Ann Barbieto for inviting me to this extraordinary event


 

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Dial 101 for a perfect buffet

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I got very excited when I went to Robinson's Magnolia the day after it opened because I saw that Buffet 101 is having its 2nd branch there.  I saw a lot of rave reviews about this restaurant and its counterpart, Vikings.  Unfortunately, the two restaurants are too far so I thought I will never be able to try those restaurants out.  I said to myself I will come back after a week and try Buffet 101 and I did just that.

We were lucky because they were still having their soft opening so we got a 10% off the total price.  We did our usual routine of going around the buffet to see if the choices were any good.  Unfortunately, we did not finish going around as we grabbed some plates halfway through the tour.




My girlfriend is a seafood addict so she got clams, swahe and sushi.  I must admit the swahe acquarium is very impressive since you rarely see an aquarium in a buffet.  You can also choose to have seafood including crab cooked right in front of you.



I was very scared in getting full right away because I wanted to try all their dishes.  I obviously got full before I tried everything as I failed to try delicious dishes such as crispy pata, pata tim and california maki.

 My favorite dishes were present including shrimp tempura, machang, seafood risotto and chicken terriyaki.  There are definitely times when I wish I had two stomachs and this is one of them.  

 The dessert area is impressive because there is the crepe station and waffle station.  This is actually the first time I have experienced a bottomless fruit shake in a buffet so I was so happy.  I had a lot of watermelon shakes so I ignored the other drinks there.

 Rating 4.5/5
 

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Krazy with a capital K

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Every time I pass by Krazy Garlik, I would always be tempted to eat there despite being turned off by the prices.  Since it is a Bistro restaurant, it is expected the prices are high and the food are great.  Whenever I think of Bistro restaurants, I would always place Flapjacks above the rest by a huge margin and Italianni's below the rest by a huge margin as well.  Of course, my reasons for those opinions of mine are for another review.  



Since the server suggested we try the soup, we ordered the Zuppa Frutti di Mari soup.  I did not like this soup at all so we ignored it once the main courses came.  We ordered Chinese Fried Rice, Blackened Beef with Squid and Fried Chicken for the main courses.  I had to stay away from Krazy Garlik Crab and Crispy Pata for obvious reasons especially since the crab was priced at 200 per 100g.



I was very surprised by the Phad Thai since the plate was huge but the actual serving was half the size of the plate.  The chicken was nothing special so the Beef was head and shoulders above the rest of the dishes.  The fried rice was decent as well but this night was more about the service of the crew.  I remember the supervisor came to us to ask how the food were.  That would signify they have good service but that is not really what I am after in a restaurant.  As a lot of people know, I am after the taste and if it is worth its price or not.

 In this case, Krazy Garlik would make garlic lovers and foodies go crazy because their food is not really worth the heavy price tags.  It would be better to skip along and head towards a buffet that is nearby because you will save more money that way.  

 Score: 2 out of 5

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Mercado the Budget Buffet

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I have been to Mercado numerous times in the past so I am aware they give discounts to new Resorts World card members. There is no a la carte here so you would have to settle for the buffet.  

Last year, I became a member of Resorts World because I saw that you would get a 70% off the buffet price when you dine at Mercado.  Right now, I don't know what their promotion is but people who are not members yet will certainly head over to this awesome buffet.  Since the buffet is cheap compared to other buffets in the area, you won't see dishes like salmon, shrimp tempura and roast beef.  However, I saw my new favorite dessert Bread Pudding so I got real excited for dessert.  

This Beef with Asparagus is nothing to get excited about.  All the dishes here were good which was surprising for a budget buffet.  Pictured at bottom is Seafood with Cashew nuts and below that is Fish with black bean sauce.  There were a couple of dimsum choices including asado siopao and spareribs.


I took 3 pictures then got cut off by some idiot who told me "not allowed to take pictures".  Do I look like a Korean to you, mofo?  Anyway, I decided to take some food after that since my tummy was growling.  There was a bread toaster that is easy to use so you can reheat the bread before eating.

Since I have eaten at Mercado so many times, I conclude you must take a look at the dishes before deciding to eat there.  There are times when the dishes are fantastic and there are times when you won't be able to put anything on your plate because all the choices suck.

Today, I was luck because almost all the choices in this Filipino restaurant were okay.  The buffet was not big but it was good enough to topple notable Filipino buffet restaurants like Kamayan and Kamay Kainan.
 

Score: 3.5 out of 5

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National Pizza Day is not a holiday?

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Since Brothers Burger has National Burgers Day, California Pizza Kitchen has joined in the fun and recently had its first National Pizza Day yesterday.  I wanted to make a reservation because I expected a lot of people to come.  I decided to take the risk anyway by coming to the Trinoma branch at 8:30.  The mechanics of the promo was basically a buy 1 take 1 regular pizza.  However, you will have to choose the 2nd pizza from pizzas that did not have much toppings including 5 cheese, Chicken BBQ and Hawaiian.  

Me and my girlfriend had a real blast on this day as we decided to go with Shrimp Scampi Pizza with Applewood Smoked Bacon and the free pizza being 5 Cheese pizza.  Since I knew that would not get us full, we also ordered Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp and chicken breast.

The food took long before it was served because of the number of people in the restaurant as the place was literally packed.  It was probably the first time I can recall that CPK actually had a waiting list.  



For some reason, I still ended up paying more than 2k pesos.  However, I think the price is always worth it in this restaurant since the serving is good and the ambiance is relaxing.  I knew we would rarely visit this restaurant so we had to get the most out of it.  Also, I still think their pizzas are too small for the regular size.

 Here's hoping there is another National Pizza day in the future.  I also hope it is a holiday so everyone can enjoy CPK pizzas. 

Rating : 4 out of 5

  

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Wang Fu yourself

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I don't know what Wang Fu means but it certainly does not mean delicious Chinese food.  The food in Wang Fu restaurant located at Il Terrazo were cheap compared to other Chinese restaurants.  When we were ordering and deciding on the choices on the menu, the person seated next to us suddenly interrupted and suggested ordering 3 Cups Chicken because I wanted to order Kung Pao Chicken but I did not like spicy food.  What a nice gesture by a friendly customer.  I found out that guy was not a customer though as I looked at the documents he was looking at.  It looks like he was the owner since he was not in uniform like the rest of the employees at the restaurant.

I looked at their drinks and saw a Milo Godzilla.  It is Milo topped with Vanilla Ice Cream and lots of ice.  I wanted to try this concoction but later my girlfriend revealed to me it was very easy to make.  She ordered milk tea for her drinks and was not really satisfied.  


They had a dimsum cart which is a good sign even though I would not want to look at the contents because I might get tempted to take a lot.  I had to try hakaw because it is my favorite type of dimsum and my girlfriend ordered Japanese siomai.  Both dimsum choices were not bad and they were also inexpensive.

Since the owner of the place suggested 3 Cups Chicken, I ordered that along with Beef with Brocolli.  I saw they had Tomato Rice so we ordered it instead of the usual Yang Chow Rice.  I have never actually seen any restaurant had a Tomato Rice and I always have the habit of ordering something that is new.


Overall, the restaurant is a good budget friendly Chinese restaurant.  The quality of their food is nothing spectacular which is just right for their prices.  

When we asked for the bill, my girlfriend told the server I am a blogger and I would blog about their restaurant.  The served paused for a moment then informed us they also have a facebook fan page.  Obviously, she did not know what a blog is.  When she came back with our change, she also bought the mobile phone of the owner that contained their facebook fan page.  I should have asked her if she knows what a WiFi is!

Score: 3/5
 

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Gracias, Escolta

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Okay, so I am not sure if Escolta is Spanish or whatever.  The important thing is that the buffet of Manila Peninsula hotel delivered on all levels.  All the main course dishes are recipes I have never seen before.  Since I ate another buffet the night before, I tried to take it slow with this buffet.  Boy, did that fail on all levels.  It was hard to resist all the beautiful dishes in front of me.  The appetizer included a whole section of bread, sushi bar and four choices of soup.



Unfortunately, I am someone who rarely eats appetizer at a buffet especially if the main course dishes are so tempting.  The dishes included Braised Beef with Onions and Paprica, Sliced Veal with Mushroom and Leek Potato among others.  There were actually flags on top of the dishes to symbolize the fact that the buffet represents a lot of countries.











It would be a sin to miss desert and there are a ton of cakes and fruits at the desert bar.  My favorite part is obviously the create your own crepe station.  



The buffet goes for a price around 1500 per person but a bunch of charges would boost the price to 2000 pesos.  One of those charges is actually a .7% food tax.  Can you believe that?  This is the first time I have ever heard of a food tax.

 Score: 4/5
 




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