The Heat: What's On My Plate

What I love in this restaurant is that every visit allows me to taste something new.  Since it's nearby, it's so easy to choose this restaurant for extra special luncheons and dinners.

Last night, I couldn't pass up another dinner at the Heat even though I woke up at three in the morning for work and I still haven't had any naps yet (because of the Royal Wedding).  And so after I got ready (while watching the wedding on cable television), I ran off to the hotel where my parents were waiting.

People have been used to me taking pictures before eating them.  It's like saying a little prayer and a lot of appreciation of what's in my plate.  They don't find it uncanny anymore.  Good thing because I'm not in the mood to feel awkward last night.

I went to the noodle soup corner.  I chose my dimsum and a lot of shrimps to place in my soup bowl.

My pick was my favorite thin and firm egg noodles poured with curry and chicken broth.

The one before me chose beef broth.  I was supposed to follow suit but since I have been

eating instant noodles frequently, I tried something which I don't get in an instant cup. 

Next stop was in the little Indian corner.  I got some long-grained rice, lamb tandoori and shrimp tandoori.

I also got a spicy yogurt sauce (raita?) that I poured over my rice. 

I really find this delicious.  If I wasn't about to try everything else, I would have gotten second

servings for this plate.  It reminded me of the buffet in Orchard hotel in Singapore.

Next stop was grilled seafood.

I got some lobster and scallops poured with lemon butter.

I got my favorite Spicy Tuna Salad from their Japanese corner.

As usual, it's the only thing I look for in a Japanese restaurant.

This is Yorkshire pudding which is just another word for savory bread.

It's supposed to be a siding to roast beef but I wasn't in the mood for any last night.

Instead, I went to the cheese corner and got myself a bit of  gruyere, telaggio and brie cheese

which all tasted a bit disgusting if you ask me.  I guess cheddar cheese is the only cheese for me.

The photo above is supposed to focus on the custard.  

I really love custard and so, I got some from the crepe corner and included it in my dessert plate.

For dessert, I got Baklava, three meringue, raspberry creme brulee and pistachio cake slice.

The little slice of pistachio cake was really delicious.  

I swear by it.  There's a lot of crunchy pistachios in the middle mixed well with 

the chocolate layer down below.  It's is super delicious.  Not even so sweet.  

The twins! 

I stopped over again over the grilled seafood corner and got me another 

batch of lobsters. They are smaller than what we usually see.

It's easy to eat them contrary to what you would think when you look at them.

Okay.  This is my first time to eat figs.  The only way I ate them before 

was by eating Fig Newtons. And I was really curious 

how they tasted liken when you eat them in their true form.

And so, I found out that Fig Newtons really did have figs 

because it tastes exactly like them. LOL!

I was trying to digest what I just ate and so while waiting for that to happen, 

I got myself a plate of nibblers.

I got some apricots, pistachios, almonds....

... and a lot of dark and white chocolate chips.

Last stop was the crepe corner.

I chose custard and apple cinnamon for it's filling.

I really thought it was a good choice.  

And I'm so happy with it.

I topped it off with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream

and it was perfect with the warm custard and apple cinnamon filling.

And that's my latest trip to the Heat.

Yakimix is All About Sushi

Our family is a sucker for Japanese food and restaurants.  And so, during one family dinner, we opted to go to Yakimix in Morato QC.

I think Yakimix is the only restaurant I have seen which had a wide variety of sushi in one buffet table.  I think they have more kinds of sushi than the menu of Sumo Sam.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow me to take pictures of their buffet table.  Two people stopped me from taking some shots and offered that they take my picture instead with the buffet on the background.  But I said no thanks.  I didn't want my face on the photos that I'm planning to post in this blog. Teehee!   

But I was able to take some shots because I was that fast.  And because they really don't take note that I'm taking photos while I was on my seat.  Unfortunately, I didn't eat that much sushi because I was taking note of my rice intake.  

I tasted four out of around twenty four types of sushi.  

Talk about passing up the chance.  

I wish I was able to take a picture of the buffet of sushi

because it would have been a very colorful interesting photo if I did.

My plate of raw food.

The above is Japanese Spicy Bacon still to be placed on the grill. 

I think this was the only dish I liked.  

But since it's bacon, I didn't dare eat a lot of it. 

This was my sister's second plate of sushi.  

I was awed by how much sushi she was getting but

I didn't say anything because she easily gets mad when

she is restrained from eating a lot.

Did I tell you it was my mom's birthday?

And this is the best they can do.

Put a lot of whip cream on a slice of cake in their buffet table.

The buffet of raw food.

Appetizers mostly a different version of kimchi dishes.

I think these were the cook dishes.

I think but I'm not so sure.

These pictures have been on my file for so long now.

Another table of cooked Chinese, Korean and Japanese dishes.

This shrimp and corn dish made an impact because it was so simple.

Initially, I thought it was shrimp salad which is one of my favorite

Chinese food but it wasn't.

The sauce resembles corn soup but it was really thick.

And there were slices of tofu.

And that's it.  I think I have an idea of how to prepare this dish. 

One of their fruit tarts.

Their not-so-sweet blueberry cheesecake

I think this one was called Hong Kong Jello heheh! 

Well, not really but something like that.  

All in all, I wasn't really satisfied with the dining experience.  

I'm not thrilled about waiting in line to take a seat

 (although we were able to get a table early during that time).  

And I'm not impressed that the staff had to shout

 something Japanese every time someone new comes in.  

I really thought this restaurant IS over-rated.  

For me it was a very pretentious and pompous

Japanese, Korean and Chinese restaurant.

That's just me.  

But let me emphasize that the food is great.  

Food in whatever form will always be great

and deserves an applause just because it is a blessing from above.  

And I'm not the one to say anything bad about them.

Tin Can of Cookies

During our trip to Pampanga two weeks ago, I was able to buy myself a small tin can of cookies.  I think what prompted me to buy it was the tin can itself. It was so cute because it was smaller than the regular tin cans.  And it was also a bit fancy-looking.  I also thought that I haven't tried these kinds of cookies for a long time already.

I love the butter cookies in this can.  It's so perfect for a bitter, not-to-sweet cup of coffee.

The cookies are thick and creamy.

The chocolate-flavored ones were not oozing with chocolate flavor

as one would expect.  You wouldn't even notice the bits of 

chocolates when it's in your mouth already.
The chocolate chip cookies even tasted buttery.

I love the container.  I even love the cookies.

FIC Durian Ice Cream

My father bought FIC Durian Ice Cream during the weekend.  

When he opened the half-gallon of ice cream, the sweet smell (not stench) of Durian fruit filled the ground floor of our small home in Tagaytay.  The smell resembles the taste of Durian milky candies/pastilles.  

And so I had to get up from my chair and grabbed me a cup of it.  The taste was too sweet, unfortunately.  I'm not really a fan of the fruit.  (I am not really a fruit person of any kind.)  I was just really curious how it tasted.  I thought it was bad for my parents who are cutting off on their sugar.  But since my father enjoyed it that much, I didn't dare tell him while he was finishing his cup. I told him after he finished his two scoops that he shouldn't get another serving.  

Still, something as interesting as this flavor is worth a try.  

I couldn't finish my cup.

Tawilis

My whole family loves this fish except for me until recently.  When I see them on the table, I pass up a meal.  But during the weekend, I was able to change my mind about them.  I now happen to love Tawilis too like the rest of my family and household.

I hate fish bones especially the ones that are small and are too thin to see.  During breakfast over the weekend, they served crunchy tawilis in our Tagaytay home.  I am a sucker for anything crunchy.  And when I saw how crunchy the fish(es) looked, I couldn't help but give myself numerous servings of fried rice.

The fish was so crunchy. All I left on my plate was the fish heads which when I tried to eat them, I almost finished them all.  The small fish heads are also so good.

Fried crunchy tawilis are as good as golden crispy bacon on the breakfast table.

SM Hypermarket's Japanese Food

One day after work, I passed by SM Hypermarket to wait on my mom as she gets her daily visit for self-care done. And because I got hungry from all that waiting and doing nothing, I bought myself a late lunch or early dinner from their food court (Taste of Asia).

I was really hungry and so everything looks so yummy.  I ordered myself Pork Katsudon and Rainbow Sushi from two different stalls.  I didn't eat them at the food court. But instead, I ate them while I sat down in Let's Face It to get a paraffin wax for my feet.  Good thing, they allowed food inside.  (By the way, it was first time to have semi-hot paraffin wax on my feet... it was really good too.)

Here's the Rainbow sushi from the Shimbashi stand.  

It is tuna and salmon wrap along with sweet mango strips.

Since it wasn't easy to make it, it took longer 

than when you order a regular sushi.

The taste is more than good enough.

It is super filling too.

When I buy sushi, I usually check their storage.

Shimbashi's counter shows their raw cold fish meat.  

And it looked really sanitary.

They even let you see how they prepare the food.

It makes the customer at ease that what they are eating 

are as clean as possible.  

Here's the Katsudon I ordered from Taste of Asia.

Their dish is nothing out of the ordinary

and just the way I like it.

I think that when you're used to the taste of a particular food,

you wouldn't want it another way.

Sumo Sam at Shangri-la

When I was still working at my previous work last year, I was able to eat at Sumo Sam several times because work was walking distance away from Shangri-la.  Most of the time, I bring my own lunch from home but there are times when you have to get out of the office and dine somewhere else.  This happens when you want to other people other than your co-workers.

I frequent House of Minis or Kimono Ken in the food court.  But sometimes, when there were crazy urges to splurge, we go up to the 6th floor.

Recently, because of our love of Japanese food, we dined in Sumo Sam again hence,  the recollection of the above (which made this post a little longer teehee!).

Their California Maki is made extra special by placing 

crab strips and Japanese mayo on top.

Japanese food is all about art.  Yes, even their ramen noodle soup.

And I think Sumo Sam makes sure that the Japanese food

they serve lives up to the culture from which

their food originated.

This was my first time to order Spider Rolls.  

I couldn't figure out if the black seeds on the outside

are still sesame seeds or flax seeds.  

Sorry guys, I wasn't able to ask.

And of course, I couldn't visit a Japanese restaurant

without ordering my favorite

Spicy Crunchy Tuna Salad.  

Sumo Sam's has a lot of leafy greens

than the tuna.  For me, I'd rather have a lot of tuna

rather than the raw greens.

And we ordered chicken teriyaki as an afterthought. 

Adobong Hubad

Awhile ago, hubby prepared lunch for the both of us.  I requested for a vegetable dish but then I changed my mind.  I wanted his version of pork adobo.  He doesn't use soy sauce.  Instead, he uses iodized salt.  And I super enjoy it.  The best thing about the dish is that the fat separates from the meat.  There was no added oil.

Subs For Dinner

My sister loves Subway.  She has been eating them for so many years now.  On the other hand, I have never bought a Subway sandwich before.  I think I bought as far as their cookie and soda only.

Last night, since we were still full from a heavy late lunch, everyone opted for a lighter meal. Nobody could think of anything.  I for one, could only think of a cup of instant noodles as a light meal.  My sister went with my mom to look for something to eat since they're not accepting my suggestion.

They bought leafy greens, tomatoes and cucumber, slices of cheese, French bread, salami, pepperoni and bacon.  And so, we ended up eating subs for dinner courtesy of my sister.

Since it was her idea, she was the one who was serving the subs for us.