Voucher Happy at Mr. Chow! And a Tous les Jours cake! :)

My friends and I have a bit of a problem hanging out. Since we finished college, it's almost too difficult to set time aside to just hang out. Mia, Ayen and Kuya Jalil were working, Kat was looking for a job and I, though not working, was going back and forth to Batangas helping out with my sister's wedding. A very good example of this is our birthday celebration. Kuya Jalil and I have the same birthday, March 3. We we wanted to celebrate it a bit later but, by later, we didn't mean APRIL! See how difficult it is? :P Since our birthday was early March and it's now late April, we decided to have a joint birthday celebration with Mia as well because her birthday's on the 23rd. I already found a cheap way to celebrate it thanks to cashcashpinoy.com where I bought a voucher for Mr. Chow's set meal. It cost me 600php, originally 1,200php, and it was already good for five people. Let's see. That's 600 divided by three...each celebrant pays 200! Pretty cheap for the fare :)

On the day of our birthday treat, I was running a bit late. We reserved our seats (prior reservation required to avail the deal) for 1pm but we rescheduled at little before one and moved it to 2pm instead. I got to SM North 2-ish and stopped by Tous les Jours first to buy one of their cute cakes. This one's the Rich Chocolat Cake which I got for 398php. And then I wandered around SM Hypermarket trying to find Mr. Chow.

Mr. Chow was a bit hard to find, specially if you're not that familiar with SM North. The landmarks other bloggers posted were that it was near SM Hypermarket, near Sbarro, Ground Floor...Well yes, it was near SM Hypermarket. Near but they didn't say that it was ACROSS the street from SM Hypermarket (Enter near Tous les Jours, go to hypermarket. Then turn left. Walk towards the exit and woolah! You'll see Mr. Chow! Cross  the street and you're there).

When I got there, the four of them were already seated outside the restaurant waiting for me. I was a bit worried about the time since I was still late for our rescheduled reservation. I asked whether we can still avail the deal and thankfully, it was a yes.

The interior of the restaurant was okay. It was not too small, not too big and gives off a cozy feeling. The staff asked us to transfer inside and we immediately fought over who seats on the couch. We ended up with everybody on the couch with no one daring to sit across the table on a non-padded chair. Haha

They served us our drinks first followed by the soup and then the sweet and sour pork. I would have preferred if they served the drinks with the kropek first though. Then our unlimited yang chow rice followed, then the runner beans and finally our chicken. :) (didn't get a picture of the chicken here though)

The iced tea was nothing special but it was a tad too sweet and not that cold. I guess it needed a bit more ice, to subdue the sweetness and cool it. The food in itself was okay, again nothing special, though I really like the added meat on top of our yang chow rice. It was good enough to eat on its own since you already have your "ulam" there. It would be nice if they added a bit of meat in their yang chow refill as well. The sweet and sour pork was tasty. The pork was not that soft but still okay. Their chicken had a hint of sweetness in the sauce and was juicy. Yet as much as I liked their meat, the star of my meal was their runner beans. Well, how should I put it, the beans were delicious. It was savory, a bit salty and sweet with a bit of a spicy kick. I can already eat it as my ulam and that's a big deal since I only eat veggies on the side. I love it. Hehe It kinda reminds me of my mom's cooking. :) It was really yummy. We cleared our food with almost nothing to spare. Our tummies were really happy with the food but we're not done yet! Now comes the dessert!

For dessert, we had our tables cleared, lighted the candles and made a wish before finally devouring the awesome looking cake. It was "Filled with Dark Belgian Chocolate Goodness, Covered in Rich Luscious Ganache". The wafer stick covered in Belgian chocolate was okay (think of chocolate dipped Stik-O). The cookie shaped heart was okay as well though I would have wished they were crunchy instead. I'm not a fan of pancake-like cookies. The cake itself was yummy however, after a few more bites, I find that this cake was too luscious for my taste to the point of being "nakakaumay". It was too rich. As they say, too much of a good thing is bad for you. Needless to say, me and my friends drank a lot of water afterwards.

Overall, we enjoyed our late lunch. We hang out. Talked a lot. Laughed a lot. Updated each other with our lives. And we ate a lot. :)) Who wouldn't love that.

Have you tried Mr. Chow or Tous les Jours? Tell me what you think.

If not, you can visit them here:

Mr. Chow: Ground Floor, SM North EDSA. (See directions above)
Tous les Jours: Ground Floor, SM North EDSA- The Block
Tous les Jours webpage

Photo courtesy of my friend Kat :)

Chowking's Fish Lauriat and Pork Chaofan

Before anything else, let me tell you about myself. I am a student. I came here in Manila to study. I'm renting my own place and have to restrict myself from going over my weekly allowance. I am therefore almost completely dependent on fastfood. It's not healthy, I know, but cooking in my place is a no-no (unless I buy one of those convection cookers). So I gotta do what I gotta do. Keep myself from getting hungry.

As a child, I remember my family eating out and enjoying their spread. They had better tasting noodles before and I think the quality of service was better then too. Last week, I bought their Fish Lauriat and I was rather appalled by their pancit canton. It looked and tasted like it was reheated more then a few times. The fish itself was ok but the "right" sauce was missing. They serve it with tartar sauce, right? I was given a packet of sweet and sour sauce instead. It was rather heartbreaking since it was the fish with the sauce that made me buy the lauriat in the first place (and that's a 130+php price tag). Also, I was expecting steamed siomai with my meal but I got lumpiang shanghai instead. The shanghai was ok but I was expecting the siomai. I even requested chili sauce and additional toyomansi. I didn't want the chili to go to waste so I used it as dipping sauce for my shanghai and fish. Not bad at all. Nothing really changed with their chili sauce and it was a good thing 'coz I really love their chili sauce.

For today, I bought pork chaofan with siomai. Eating the chaofan without the siomai would have been fine with me but since I tried that before in that branch and felt like something was missing, I opted for the add-on this time. I guess today was a good day for that branch. My rice tasted like I can eat it with out the siomai. I think they even had more of the pork bits and kangkong shreds this time too. I like the slightly salty taste. For me, that''s how fried rice should taste like. A bit salty. The kangkong shreds lends the chaofan a bit of a crunch, which I also love. The siomai was okay. Consistent with its taste. Also I loved that the siomai didn't look over steamed (Their wrappers would have been too soft and well, wet). I ate my pork chaofan with siomai with gusto. I love how the chili sauce with a little toyomansi made this meal so much better (Again, I do love their chili sauce).

I think chaofan-wise, they improved a bit. The service in this branch (Laonglaan) still needs further improvement though. I find that they seem to be undermanned. And also, I seriously would love to have better tasting noodles than last time.

I find that though the service is a bit slow, the food, sometimes, not that good , I still go back. Maybe I'm hoping that one day they'd be back to the old Chowking I knew. Good food. Good service.


PS.

The pictures are not mine. Got it from google search. :p

Charlie Chicken's 3rd Anniversary Giveaway Promo!

I just stumbled upon my friend's post on Chicken Charlie. It's their third year anniversary and they're bringing own the price of their coveted wings to only 10php on April 20! Wow! I'd love to drop by and grab them if I have the chance. :) Here's the photo from their facebook page:

And as if the price drop down wasn't enough, they're also giving away a 16G iPad Mini! I'd like to get my hands on that as well. Greedy me! Hehe

You can read about the mechanics of the promo here.

You can also try these helpful links:
*Website: http://chickencharlie.com.ph/
*Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/chickencharliephilippines
*Twitter page: https://twitter.com/ChickenCharlie_

What are you waiting for? Come on! Join the promo. And don't forget to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Chicken Charlie! :)

KFC Chicken Chop

I've always been a fan of chicken cordon bleu so imagie how awesome it was to discover KFC's chicken chop!

It had ham and cheese in it! Sandwiched in chicken fillet! And at 69 pesos, what a steal!

I was rather euphoric about this until I actually tasted it. The minute I bit into it, I was expecting the cheese to ooze out. I was a tad bit disappointed when it didn't. Sad to say, there was nothing special about this meal. The closest I got to satisfying my cordon bleu craving was a just few petty bits of ham and cheese. It was my fault any way. The poster did mention BITS, right?

More or less I felt like I was eating plain chicken fillet with their gravy (though I'm not too sure about the sauce. Actually, it didn't left much of an impression on me. Maybe it was a bit sweet...hmm...Sorry. Again, I don't really remember)

KFC Chicken Chop's still okay for me though. It has the same KFC goodness that I like. Too bad I mistook it for cordon bleu though. :P

Eyelash Extensions Noob

One of my friends got eyelash extensions. It looked so good on her that it makes her look like a doll. I was smitten. I wanted one just like hers. So last Saturday, when she asked me if I wanted to go with her to Let's Face It Salon to have her extensions filled in, I tagged along. Exploring my kikay-ness! :))

The procedure was easy to explain. The technician asked me to close my eyes. She the taped my lower lashes and lids with micropore tape. She taped the lower lashes to avoid getting glue on them. She them proceeded to gluing the extensions on my lashes (one extension to one lash). Painstaking process. The glue hurt my eyes :'( It burned. Good thing whenever I feel pain or discomfort in my eyes, they have this pump to blow air on them. To speed up the drying of the glue, I guess, and to blow away the hurtful fumes. :P After almost two hours, the extensions were done! Yey!

The technician handed me a mirror and told me to open my eyes and when I did---PAIN!!!---huhuhu My eyes were red and in pain so she offered to give me a few drops of eyemo. It felt so much better after that. I got the mascara effect for a 1000php price tag. A bit steep but hey it was my first time getting them so I was a wee bit excited. I was advised to not wet my eyelashes for the next 24 hours and some other reminders (sorry, I forgot). The extensions should last for about 2-3 weeks and then I'd have to get fillers if I want to maintain the look. I was really happy with the results. It was a bit too dramatic for me but it was good. It totally changed my aura (at least, that's how I felt :P)

When I was about to go to sleep that day, I really had a hard time washing my face. I had to wash it in two parts. First part's for the area above my eyes and then the second part for the area below my eyes. Then clean the eye area using a wet cotton ball. Spell effort? And that's not the worst part. The worst part was when the morning came and I had to open my eyes again. It was like someone kicked some dirt in them. Same feeling when I took a shower and water got in them. The redness of my eyes became even more visible. And there was still this burning sensation. Not intolerable but disturbing nonetheless. I attributed the redness to the micropore tape since only the lower part of my eyes were affected. The burning sensation must be due to the glue. I was really scared because eyes were irritated. All negative thoughts came rushing to my brain. What if I go blind?

My paranoia got the better of me and I checked with my doctor aunt. She told me to talk some antihistamine. I talked to my dad, also a doctor, who told me to take another tablet of antihistamine a day after and also to consult with an ophthalmologist. I did just that and the next day he told me that the irritation might be due to the glue and prescribed an antihistamine/ anti-inflammatory eye drops. Wow! So much for my journey to kikay-ness!

Two days after my check up, I decided to have my extensions removed. The mascara-effect was too heavy for my lashes that they tend to droop down. Also the extensions poked the area around my left eye. And some of them already fell off. So a few days after getting them, four days  to be exact, I said bye-bye to my extensions. I rather have them removed than suffer anymore!

Having eyelash extensions seem to be okay for some people. My friend really enjoys hers and keep getting them filled religiously. But sad to say, I guess they're really not for me. I don't enjoy the hassle of maintaining them and also the allergy was a high price to pay for fashion. I'd rather keep my lashes au naturel...at the moment. :)

Nestle Drumstick Indulgence Pistachio and Vanilla ice cream Review

There's nothing better than eating ice cream on a hot summer day so, taking a cue from one of my friends' posts here on FB, I decided to try Nestle Drumstick Indulgence Pistachio and Vanilla ice cream. Pistachio ice cream seems to be the better choice for today since I'm craving for something not too sweet. When I got to Mercury Drug to buy my ice cream, I was a bit surprised with the price. I kinda expected it to be a bit pricier than the usual but it was almost double the price of the Drumstick Duo. A steep 39.xxphp (i forgot the exact price :P) compared to the Duo's 20php price tag. Excitedly, I unwrapped the ice cream to take the first bite. Yummm...Pistachio.

I enjoy the flavor of Pistachio ice cream. It's not too sweet. Drumstick's wasn't anything special but I liked it. It had their signature chocolate nugget tip and bits of Pistachio nuts on top. With the Pistachio part alone, I was sold!

Well...until I tasted the Vanilla part.

Vanilla is like the most basic of the basic ice cream flavors. Normally, it's not too sweet. Being not in the mood to eat very sweet things, you can imagine how surprised I was to have it taste like McD's caramel sundae. It was too sweet for me. I'm not really sure of what was written in the label since I was too excited to eat the ice cream but I was only expecting Pistachio and Vanilla with hits of chocolate. After a few bites of the Vanilla, I discovered the mystery behind the caramely taste of their vanilla. Chunks of caramel. So there, mystery solved.

As a whole, Nestle Drumstick Indulgence Pistachio and Vanilla ice cream's okay. I would have preferred more Pistachio ice cream though. I was a bit disappointed that after the initial Pistachio ice cream on top, the rest of it (the cone part) was Vanilla. But again, it was okay. A bit pricier than the usual, the right Pistachio flavor and a bit too sweet for me on the Vanilla part. That's my Nestle Drumstick Indulgence Pistachio and Vanilla ice cream review.

Try it. Then tell me what you think. :)

Welcome to my Cubbie Shell's Adventures :)

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. This is basically still a personal blog but I'll try to keep my emo side in check this time :)) I'd be reviewing new products, fads, trends, whatever floats my boat. Your comments would be greatly appreciated. So without further ado, join me on my adventures.

Sincerely,

Cubbie Shell