Matsusarap!

One of my mother’s friends recommended this restaurant in Osaka. It’s called “M” or Matsusakagyu Yakiniku. Must-visit daw when in Osaka. So dito pa lang sa Manila, nagpa-reserve na kami, table for five. Thanks to their online reservation. And thanks also to Dante for booking 😀 I believe they only have seven tables.

 
So we made it to our 6pm reservation. Hehe! Di kami naligaw. Yes, thanks again to our tour guide, Dante 😂  Well, at first when we got there, litong lito sila kung sino ba kami?! We said reservation under “Cantada” (my maiden name). Wala daw. Baka daw we’re reserved in another branch. But no, sure si Mother na ito yung branch 😂 Medyo ninerbyos ako kasi OMG, gutom na kami 😂
But anyway, to make the long story short, the reservation was under “Dizon”. LOL.

So according to Kuni, the owner slash chef slash taga-explain ng menu slash new friend ni Dante on Facebook, this was their bestseller, the Matsusaka Beef DX Platter 😀

 

So there it was… A plate full of perfectly sliced raw meat 😍

 

Look at that marbled meat… They say it’s even better than wagyu beef.

 

So Kuni helped us out 😀 he started by spreading this block of what seemed to be like butter but was actually fat 😂 OMG and my dad thought that it was some kind of appetizer 😂 he almost ate it! Hahahahaha! Buti na lang, he asked me first what it was and I’m like “I have no idea!” 😂😂😂

We also ordered some garlic rice to go with our beef platter. Soooo good!

 

It also came with some mushrooms, veggies and corn. Damien loves corn 😀

 

So there it was… Soft, tasty, melts-in-your-mouth beefy goodness. Oh my.  If beef were marshmallows, this would be it. Hahaha! Labo?! 😂 But you’ll know exactly what I mean.

 

We all had a great time here in M.  Definitely a must when in Osaka 😍 Winner siya!

 
Thank you, Kuni, for accommodating us! See you again soon for sure 😉🙏 Hopefully no more confusion with reservation names 😂 LOL!

 

We went to the branch called M Hanare at the 2/F Daruma Building, Namba, Chuo-Ku, Osaka City.  Make sure you go to the right branch.  LOL!

Fried Chicken House

Get ready for all my #missingOsaka posts.  Haha!  I so miss Japan and being with my family!  Cannot wait for the next trip.  Luckily, we all got a 5-year visa!  Hooray!  So we’re already planning our next trip.  Haha!

We enjoyed Osaka so much.  Food trip siya talaga.  I really didn’t shop much but eat… oh yes.  You can enter any restaurant here and for sure masarap yung food!  So yes, we entered this restaurant because we saw pictures of one of our favorites… Karaage!!! Also lots of pics of chickens on their walls.

Everything in their menu was Japanese and no one really spoke in English, so I apologize I don’t know what this restaurant is called nor the exact address.  Haha!  I am so useless sorry.  Haha!

Thankfully all their menus always have photos which is a lifesaver!  So I got my favorite, the katsu chicken with curry of course.  Hehe… It was 824 Yen which is around Php 321.00.  Not bad at all!!!

I am also so glad that Damien loves Japanese food as well.  It’s not hard to feed him here.  Unlike when we were in Hongkong, all he ate was fried rice.  LOL!

Photo muna with my parents 🙂

Hungry na! LOL!

Dante’s order came first.  Karaage!  So good!!! And their dipping sauce was perfect with the chicken 🙂

And here’s my order, chicken katsu curry!  LOVE.

My parents got the chicken with egg over rice dish 🙂  My friend, Isabel, said it’s called Oyako-don.  “Oya” means parent and “ko” means child… So the chicken is the parent? and the egg is the child? LOL.

There was no kiddie meal in this restaurant but Damien got his favorite… Chicken Tonkatsu 🙂

That one last breath before I devour my meal.  Hahaha! Bumebwelo lang 🙂

Yeyyyy!  Eat up, Little Bee! 🙂

Obviously enjoying his meal 🙂  Thank you, Osaka, for keeping my son well fed with your awesome Tonkatsus! 🙂  More Osaka food posts to come! 🙂

Have a great Wednesday, my friends! 🙂

When In Baguio, You Rose Bowl!

Here’s another late post during my Baguio birthday weekend 🙂  This was our first meal when we arrived in Baguio and we were HUNGRY.  What better way to celebrate four to five hours on the road with a big hearty meal in Rose Bowl 🙂

It was my first time to eat here as far as I can remember.  Apparently, Rose Bowl has been open since 1945!  Wow!  Classic na pala to… 🙂

And so our meal begins.  I needed my century egg fix.

Damien only eats fried chicken at Chinese restaurants.  The servings are huge!

And my all time favorite in any Chinese restaurant, my sweet and sour pork.  Loved their version of this.

I’m not a vegetable girl… (I know, I should eat veggies!) but Dante loves his vegetables so he ordered a plate full of green stuff.  Chopsuey.  Okay, okay, it was pretty good! Fine, I’ll have some veggies.

And of course a bowl of fried rice!  Oh yeah! 🙂  Definitely a rice girl.

This was such a great welcome meal!  Haha! Big servings and really good comfort food! 🙂

Welcome to Baguio indeed!!!

Find Rose Bowl at 88 Upper, Gen. Luna Rd, Baguio, 2600, Philippines 🙂

Choco-Late de Baguio

 

During my birthday weekend (which was months ago. Haha! I know, I haven’t updated my blog in so long!  I missed going on road trips with Dante and Damien and was looking through photos and came across these.) my little family and I celebrated up in the mountains… In the beautiful Baguio City.  I don’t remember the last time I was here.  But it’s still as lovely and as cool as I remember.  Just a little more traffic this time 🙂

 

As soon as we’ve settled down in Baguio and checked in at our hotel room, we wanted to have a little snack and some hot chocolate 🙂  With a little help from my bestfriend, Miss Waze, we found Choco-late de Batirol, just so close from The Manor Hotel.

Damien found the best table in the house! 🙂

Like a boss.

According to the menu, “Choco-late de Batirol is a hot, thick, bittersweet blend, with a distinctive texture that calms your nerves and enriches your soul.  It’s an ancient choco-late concoction with no preservatives.”  So I ordered a cup of almond hot chocolate and Dante got the traditional blend.  I love anything with almonds 🙂

So while waiting for our orders, Damien and I went around first to “explore”.

Loving the vibe.  I’m not really a nature girl but it’s nice to be outdoors once in a while, basta malamig.  Haha! 🙂

 Waiting waiting… Baka from scratch pa nila ginagawa yung almond hot chocolate ko.  Hehe…

At least someone’s not getting bored 🙂

First was Damien’s hot chocolate with marshmallows.  Looks so yummy!!!

And here’s my almond hot chocolate 🙂  I love anything with almonds… almond milk, almond lotion, almond cakes, basta may almond, LOVE.  And I love Damien’s chubby hand 🙂

Here’s Dante’s traditional blend hot chocolate.  I like my almond one better.  Hihi…

Okay, may muta.

Who doesn’t love marshmallows?

Yummy bibingka 🙂 So worth the wait!

These two 🙂

That’s my boy 🙂

This was one of the best birthday weekends ever 🙂  This post is so late and I’m already close to my next birthday (ok, exagg!) but I still remember how fun this weekend was, just drinking hot chocolate with my two boys, the cool breeze and the smell of horses.  LOL! 🙂  More from our Baguio getaway soon 🙂

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Coffee in Queens Park… Gangnam Style!

I am still so high from our recent trip to Seoul, Korea.  I was with my best friends from high school and we all have never been to Korea 🙂  So it was so great to explore a new country with my oldest friends 🙂 This wasn’t really part of our itinerary but ever since the song “Gangnam Style” became so popular, we’ve always wondered… what exactly is in Gangnam??? 🙂

So we took the train to Gangnam.  Dominique was the assigned “trainer”, our train leader.  LOL!

So after three stops here, change trains, two stops there… (I think…) we were in sunny but damn cold Gangnam! 🙂  I think it was about -15 degrees at that time.  All I remembered was that my ears were in pain.  It kinda felt like the pain I get sometimes in the airplane!

It was a beautiful day but just too cold to walk outside too long.  So we, the islanders, headed towards our destination, hands in our pockets, our scarves covering our entire heads and our legs walking as fast as we can to keep us warm.  Haha!

We didn’t enter the Galleria but it reminded me so much of Harrod’s in London.

I absolutely love trees without leaves.

Queens Park was just about three blocks away from the train station where we came from and I never felt this happy to enter a heated room.  Haha!  The sunlight was not enough to keep us warm.

Queens Park is a bakery and cafe.

So many goodies you can take home.

All the cakes looked so delicious.

Finally we were at our table for five.

The cafe was quite big and spacious.

Lots of natural light coming in 🙂

My friends and I were actually craving for some breakfast food after all the kimchi and bibimbap 🙂 Hehe  So we shared an order of Eggs Benedict.  Soooo yummy!!! The caramelized onions were delish.

Claudette ordered some ice cream. Look at that beauty!  It never really melted.  Haha!  It was that cold.  LOL!

And Isabel ordered some cheesecake with fresh fruits.  So refreshing to look at and eat 🙂

Mike had a slice of this awesome cake!  It had some chocolate, banana and mocha cake in one slice! OMG.  Sorry, I ate most of it! Haha!

And finally, of course, my cup of love 🙂  Gangnam love 🙂

This was probably our most expensive meal throughout our trip!  Haha!  Just to give you an idea… The coffee was about 10,000 won which is around P400, the Eggs Benedict was 20,000 won, about P800.  LOL!!!  But it was worth it 🙂  At least now I can say, I had brunch Gangnam style! 🙂

We missed our other friends, Angela, Ria and Kris! 🙂  You’ll see more of them in my other posts about Korea, a whole lot more to come!

Kung Hei Fat Choi, everyone!!! Here’s to more adventures 🙂

 

 

 

 

Those Fine Buns

It was one of those days when Dante and I were excited to try out something new.  But not so new anymore now.  Haha!  This post is way delayed.  Haha! But to those who haven’t eaten there yet, it’s a great place to have merienda and prices are pretty reasonable.

So we got in our car on a normal day and went through the usual Edsa traffic to eat in Tim Ho Wan in SM Megamall.  This was when the Glorietta branch was still closed.  We arrived at around 1:30pm and the line wasn’t so long.  But there was still a bit of waiting time of around 15 minutes.  Not bad 🙂 Good thing I wasn’t that hungry yet or else I wouldn’t have waited.  Haha!

Their menu is a little check list on a clipboard and all we had to do was check our orders.

I just kept checking and checking… Haha!  Everything in the menu looks so good!!!

So here are the chosen ones in the list 🙂

We ordered the pork ribs with steamed rice.

Wasabi Salad Prawn Dumpling.  This was interesting 🙂

Spring Rolls with egg white.

Pan Fried Radish Cake.  My favorite 🙂

Pork Dumpling with shrimp.

Vermicelli roll with shrimp.  Loved this!!!

Everything we ate so far was good!

But of course, the star of Tim Ho Wan, their pork buns! 🙂  I really enjoyed every bite.  From the soft and crumbly bread to the sweet asado pork filling!

I would definitely come back for these fine buns! 🙂

 

What Every Bookstore Needs: A Bakery

Page One in City Super, Harbour City, has been newly renovated into a beautiful bookstore and concept store!  I just wanted to spend the whole afternoon here!  Aside from books and magazines, they also have super pretty notebooks, organizers, tote bags, pens… all the things I need in my life 🙂

And then this place… Rose Bakery, Page One’s Cafe.  I LOVE IT HERE 🙂  All bookstores must come with a cafe! Hehe!

Couldn’t choose which cake to eat…

Decided to get coconut and lime cake 🙂  So yummy!  I love coconut and lime together 🙂

I love the simple presentation of my brewed coffee 🙂

A cup of coffee… the best thing in the world.

While spacing out in the Rose Bakery, I was admiring my new rings from Urban Outfitters.  Hehehe…  And of course, my engagement and wedding rings on my ring finger 🙂  Haha!

(Please excuse my wrinkly fingers… Hehe!)

Happy that Urban Outfitters is finally in Hongkong! 🙂

Even Damien loved it here 🙂

Anyway, if you’re in Hongkong, visit the new Page One and have a slice of cake for me, please! 🙂

Two Words: Dim Sum

Who does not love Dim Sum?! 🙂  When in Hongkong, I need to have my dimsum fix and we found one of our favorite places through our Hongkie friend, Charlie!  Thanks, Charlie! 🙂

Thanks for taking us here to Metropol Restaurant 🙂

Uyyyy, may wifi! 🙂  Checking emails na si Sir…

Meanwhile, I’m a bit overwhelmed with all the food…  I SEE PORK BUNS.

They also have an open kitchen at the center of the restaurant.

Some veggies?  Hmmm… maybe later.

My parents’ favorite, congee 🙂  You can choose any two of these toppings.

Dim Sum for everyone!!!

Barbecued pork, of course… my favorite 🙂

Congee for my mom and dad.

Asado siopao!

Dante’s favorite sticky rice… Machang 🙂

Another one of my favorites and a must, taro puffs.

Crispy spring rolls 🙂

Dumplings! Chinese version of my favorite Japanese gyoza 🙂

Out of all the dimsum and food on the table, Damien chooses to eat his favorite dish… PLAIN RICE.  LOL! 🙂

This was what Damien had for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This OR French Fries.

My dad enjoying his meal.  Hahaha! 🙂

Still checking email…

Good thing we were early because the place was packed when we were about to leave.

Damien with Wata and Toto 🙂

We had no more room for dessert but they looked delicious.

This was the view from the restaurant. Can you see the tents of the protesters?

Love this place! I will always eat here when in Hongkong 🙂

Metropol is located at the  4/F United Centre, 95 Queensway, Admiralty  🙂

A Bite of the BLT

When in Hongkong, we always make it a point to eat at our favorite burger place called Triple O’s.  But during this trip, we wanted to give other burgers a chance.  Hehe!  We would often pass this burger place called BLT but the lines were always super long.  Luckily, we were already hungry at around 6pm and the place was not busy yet.  We just wanted a light dinner.  Yes, burgers are considered light for this “matakaw” family 🙂

BLT Burger is also located in New York and Las Vegas.  We have already tried BLT in Vegas a few years ago but I don’t remember how it tasted anymore 🙂

Meet my lovely parents 🙂 I love travelling with these two, matibay pa rin sa lakaran! 🙂 They eat like birds though.  Haha!

My makulit boys! 🙂 Whenever I say smile, guys, they always do this.

Waiting for our burgers…

Orders have arrived! 🙂 So we all ordered the combo #2 which is the BLT Burger with fries, coleslaw and soda.  Dante and I got our own burgers and my parents split one 🙂  This meal costs HK$162 each.  Pretty pricey for a burger, that’s approximately Php972 per meal.  But it does look like they prepared it with love.  LOL!  It looks so perfect 🙂

What’s in the BLT?  7oz. grilled certified black Angus beef with double smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato with BLT burger sauce.

Damien’s favorite… French Fries 🙂

Take a look inside my burger 🙂  Perfect layers of beef, bacon, pickles, onions and tomatoes 🙂

Happy tummies, happy family! 🙂

It was definitely a good burger, medyo mahal lang but I enjoyed every expensive bite! Haha! 🙂

BLT Burger is located at Level 3, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hongkong 🙂

 

 

Food Republic in Silvercord

Food Republic is my favorite food court in Hongkong 🙂  They’re located at the Silvercord Mall where H&M is and also Rococo, my favorite HK brand 🙂  This is where we always have our first meal when we arrive in Hongkong.  Hehe… And I always go to the Glorious BBQ King to get my asado and roast duck fix! Aaaaahhh… so good.

The meal I get comes with soup.

Here it is… a plate of my favorite glorious bbq king meal!!! 🙂  OMG… I dip these in plum and oyster sauce.

Of course some veggies to make me feel less guilty about what I’m about to eat.

Another favorite dish of mine is from this Taiwanese stall.  Eggplant with minced beef.  Spicy! 🙂

And these pork dumplings, a MUST.

I can eat here everyday! 🙂 Why oh why, Hongkong, why do you always make me gain weight?! 🙂

Silvercord is located at Canton Road, Hongkong 🙂