Deep fried squid serve with chili vinegar sauce. 320 PHP
White Moon Bar, Manila PHILIPPINES
Meh, these were dry and boring, but the punchy vinegar was so sour that it kind of made up for the lame calamari. I do love sour things! Hehe.
Plaza Nuestra Senora de Guia, Ermita.
Served with rice, lettuce, tomato. 79,000 VND
Sisters Cafe, Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
Mmm, this lemon grass chicken was SO much better than the one at Vietnamese Kitchen! It was like night and day. This chicken was tender and the sauce was SO delicious. The portion was larger and the price was noticeably lower. Score!
The bustling Binh Tay Market, Cholon (Chinatown).
California roll, gyoza, salmon croquette, shrimp tempura, eggplant tempura, sweet potato tempura. Buffet
DADS Kamayan Saisaki, Manila PHILIPPINES
I wasn’t all that hungry after the Filipino plate, but I figured it was a buffet and I should eat my money’s worth (stupid American mentality!). Lol! The items on this plate weren’t as satisfying though. Tempura is not the best item to choose in a buffet because the batter gets either really soggy or rock hard after sitting out for a while. Maybe the Japanese section isn’t as popular in this restaurant because everything tasted a little dry and old to me. 😦
Miso soup.
Exploring the Intramuros.
Cherry tomato, aged balsamic vinegar, basil oil, served with crostoli (fried dough with sugar). Pre fixe menu
Mozzeria, San Francisco CA
Ugh, what a disappointment! I love burrata, but this version had none of the characteristics that make the cheese so lovely. I don’t know if they make this in-house, but it wasn’t very good. This burrata was hard and chewy like a plain mozzarella, not soft and super creamy as it should have been. You could cut through this sad disc and it would hold its form without oozing out onto the plate. This made me really sad! 😦
Primaterra Primitivo, house red wine.
Tall flatsedge (Cyperus eragrostis, Cyperaceae), Bon Tempe Lake.
Banh ngan lop pho mai viet quay. 25,000 VND
Paris Baguette, Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
I love the different shapes that all the pastries come in here! American blueberry pastries mostly come in a boring round shape. We don’t get a cool variety like the ones at Paris Baguette. It’s a shame. 😦
Iced cafe latte. 55,000 VND
Hotel de Ville de Saigon (City Hall).
Shrimp, pork, vermicelli noodles, salad served with sweet chili sauce. 39,000 VND
Sisters Cafe, Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
Meh, these were standard for Saigon. I mean they were better than most you can get back in the states, but they didn’t blow me away after having eaten at so many places already. I was surprised that they got their food from somewhere else though. You order at the restaurant, but they must have their kitchen at a nearby building because the server always came from outside to deliver our food. Hmm, odd.
Nha Tho Cha Tam Church, Cholon (Chinatown).
Kalderatang baka (beef stew), pork pukyutan, kuhol sa gata (snails in coconut cream sauce), lumpia, mixed pancit, steamed rice. Buffet
DADS Kamayan Saisaki, Manila PHILIPPINES
Please don’t ask me what’s in a lot of these. I just know how to eat them, not cook them – lol! Even though this plate is like a heart attack about to happen, it was pretty tasty! I didn’t like the snails though. I liked the flavor of the coconut cream sauce, but the snails themselves had a texture that didn’t agree with me. They were tough, black, and a little slimy. I tried eating one and left the rest on my plate.
Lechon de leche (roasted suckling pig). He looks so cute! 🙂
Sidecar motorcycle taxis and jeepney.
Chickpea fritters stuffed with fried onions, roasted sumac and pine nuts. Each $1.25
Old Jerusalem, San Francisco CA
Wow, who knew stuffing a falafel would taste SO good?! I loved the filling they use – it has so much flavor and it keeps the inside nice and moist. These fried balls are pretty big so one was enough for me to snack on with my shawerma.
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2013
Contemporary Jewish Museum.
Banh ngot thit muoi cuon. Bacon wrapped croissant filled with chopped hard boiled eggs. 26,000 VND
Paris Baguette, Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
Omg, this was warm and delicious! I loved the bacon, and the pastry was the perfect thickness for cutting through and eating. I thought this was fun and new. We need these here in the US! They’re the perfect bite for breakfast.
Iced Vietnamese coffee with milk. 40,000 VND
View of the city from the Saigon Skydeck in the Bitexco Financial Tower.
Teriyaki chicken, sautéed vegetables, kielbasa, scramble eggs, and croissant. Complimentary
Best Western Hotel La Corona, Manila PHILIPPINES
Meh, I didn’t really like the selection this morning. I mean, teriyaki chicken, really? It should have at least been chicken adobo. Oh well, you can’t win them all. 😉
Cream of mushroom soup.
Malacanan Palace.
Xa lach tron dau dam. With cucumber, tomato, onion, cilantro, and mayonnaise. 50,000 VND
Nha Hang Ngon, Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
Ugh, what is up with all that mayo on this salad – I don’t get it! You find loads of mayonnaise in Japanese salads but I didn’t know they put it on Vietnamese salads too. It was SO gross! I’m not a big fan of globs and globs of unincorporated mayonnaise so I didn’t like this salad very much. I tried eating around it, but it kept getting everywhere.
Military tank and helicopter, War Remnants Museum.
Pork and chicken wonton soup topped with fried garlic and green onions. Buffet
DADS Kamayan Saisaki, Manila PHILIPPINES
So this is a Filipino version of wonton soup originally from the Iloilo district. I’ve had this several times before but never knew what it was called. There were only a few actual wontons in there and a lot of broken pieces of wonton wrapper, but what do you expect from a buffet. I really like the flavors of this soup though, and I think it’s more hearty than the Chinese version.
Drag performance in Malate. I was impressed at the quality of their performance and choreography!
Vittle Monster 