The Woky Talky Chef: A boodle without the fight!

It's been raining the entire week. The sun would shine in the morning, but during the afternoon, it would turn dark, followed by a constant drizzle to heavy downpour as night time approaches.

I've been craving for a piping hot soup for dinner. We have explored most of the places nearby here Palanan that our options is either to have Kansi at Patpats or the Noodle soup at Susu kin.

Then I remember passing by this brightly lit small restaurant in front of 24h hotel. Now we have something new to try. We're game as long as they have soup in their menu.

The name of the corner restaurant is The Woky Talky Chef.

We were greeted by a charming man who gladly introduced us to the concept of their meals. They offer boodle fights for groups of 3-5 or more. To cater to induviduals, they have plated versions that comes in Php 75 and Php 125 options inclusive of drinks. They have three sets to choose from, Kapampangan, Cebu, and Bacolod.

Each plated set comes with a variety of viands with a complimentary soup, drink and dessert. We tried the Bacolod set or the Mazcarra as how they packaged it.

It has a stick of grilled chicken, a portion of fish, cucumber and tomato salad, cuts of fried spring rolls, a slice of embotido and adobong kangkong with rice in one plate. Actually it has a more authentic name, i just enumerated it as to how i remembered it.

It was good! It's a balanced meal with just the right portions of vegetables, and meat and a real treat for the price.

It's one of my neigborhood recommended foodie find. Check the map for the actual location.

Baked Tofu Walnut Burger at Corner Tree Cafe

The best seller at Corner Tree Cafe, made from the two ingredients which it was named after.  It can serve two people for 240php.

I'm not vegan, so to me it tasted like an overpriced big chunk of liver spread.  Eating healthy really is not easy!

Rainy Day Food Destinations

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Usually, during these time of the month, coming out of the bed is such a challenge especially on weekends.  The lure of the cuddling under a warm blanket on a cold rainy morning is such a luxury coming from a hot and humid summer. What would normally get us moving is the smell of food.

The same applies with the rainy day destinations.  It's not really the sights that would make us go the distance but the familiar scent and warmth of meals that will bring back memories.  This is my attempt on the best food for rainy days and the best place to have them.

1.     Champorado with Tuyo

This is something you can make at home; they even have instant versions available at the supermarket.  For my Nunal sa Talampakan suggestion, order the Triple Chocolate Champorado and Tuyo at Max’s Restaurant at the Roxas Boulevard branch in Malate.  Take the window seat with the view of the bay, and watch the palm trees sway in the wind and rain rolling on the windowpane.  It’s only available for breakfast, so you can still rush back to your bed to sleep for the rest of the afternoon or continue to drive down south to our lunch destination.

2.     Bulalo

The best place to have this beef with bone marrow clear soup is in Tagaytay.  But on a rainy day, you might not have a clear view of the lake, so might as well take them at the Mahogany Market.  If driving becomes too challenging, spot.ph has compiled a list of the best Bulalo places in Manila.

http://www.spot.ph/featured/46681/top-10-best-bulalo-in-manila

3.     Lomi

Chowking’s version is a real value for money, but you can get a more authentic version at one of the panciteria in Chinatown Binondo.  Batangas is a province that has high regards for this dish.  I remember visiting an eatery as far as Mindoro that serves their version of the Batangas Lomi.  It’s a bit darker from the usual version and is topped with chicharon (pork cracklings).  If you want to try the Batangas Lomi, just drive along the National Highway of the province and choose among the roadside eatery that advertises this dish. 

http://www.wowbatangas.com/features/food-and-dining/batangas-lomis-secret-ingredient/

4.     Mami

Bring your umbrellas and go to Chinatown Binondo for this.  It’s available in many flavors and toppings, which you can actually mix and match.  My favorite restaurant for this is Wai Ying on Benavidez St.  The Hong Kong style noodles are springy and they are generous with the meat and broth.

http://foodiestation.blogspot.com/2012/02/binondo-food-trip-wai-ying-fast-food.html

5.     La Paz Batchoy

Ofcourse this is best taken in the original town of La Paz in Ilo-ilo, but spot.ph has also compile the best restaurants to have them in Manila.

http://www.spot.ph/gallery/1326/top-10-batchoy-in-manila/article/48591#pid=20571

Runners-up are

Hototay in Chinatown

Munggo at your local eatery

Halaan Soup at Igmaan, Dampa in Macapagal

Eating Through Laguna, Rizal, and Manila in One Day

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Who would have thought that an ordinary trip to the doctor would turn out to be a food trip covering 189 kilometers passing through the provinces of Laguna and Rizal?

Originally we were just supposed to submit documents to a hospital in Alabang that morning, but since were so close to SLEX, we found ourselves having breakfast at Starbucks at Solenad in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Since today is Pasig day, I was granted a weekend extension, and the rest of the day to be mobile, keeping true to my Nunal sa Talampakan.

Our options were to go to Tagaytay, Batangas or Laguna.  Tagaytay and Batangas have always been the most convenient destination for us in the south, that this time was giving Laguna a try.  I decided to take the Laguna bay loop returning to Manila via the province of Rizal.  This is not our first time.  We tried the route before, starting from Rizal, but left Manila late in the afternoon, that by the time we reached the towns of Laguna, it was already dark and there's nothing much to see since most of the establishments were closed.

We left Nuvali in Sta. Rosa around 11 am, going back to SLEX taking the Calamba exit.  By noon we were in Los Banos and is on the look out for a place to have lunch.  I remember passing by a floating seafood restaurant marked with huge statues on our previous visit to Laguna, and thought that this might be the best place to eat.  Just before reaching U.P. Los Banos, a roadside restaurant caught our attention, Herb Republic.  We've tried seafood restaurants before, and thought that this place would give us something new to taste and experience.

The dining area is a very relaxed outdoor garden, with gazebos housing the dining tables.  Since we were the only guests when we arrived, we sat on the area with lounge chairs and coffee table bordered by a pond, shaded with bamboo trees.  I like the rustic distressed feel of the place, but what really got us excited was the menu.  They grow their own herbs and raise their livestock and poultry organically.  Choosing what to eat became a challenge since it was really hard to decide.  We want to try them all.

We ended up having the small order of an Oven Baked Garlic and Basil Chicken with organic white rice.  I was told that the Salads are their specialty but I am not a big vegetable eater so we settled for the fresh spring rolls.  The beverage selection was interesting.  They've combined fruit and flavor combinations you wouldn't see anywhere else.  Imagine sipping an Espresso Avocado Smoothie.  We're leaving that as a reason to come back and ordered ourselves the Tarragon Iced Tea instead.  

While waiting, we were served with a cup of hot tea.  We also took the opportunity to explore the greenhouse at the back of the restaurant.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the name of the lady of assisted us and fill us out on information about the restaurant.  She told me that it was family owned and that they are not restaurateurs.  They just want to share their passion for eating healthy organic meat and vegetables.  The restaurant is still a work in progress since their objective to grow 100% of their ingredients.

The drinks came first, and nothing beats the refreshing zesty minty taste of their Tarragon iced tea.  The chicken was to tender and juicy that the meat literally falls of the bone.  It was so flavorful that we hardly touch the mustard dipping sauce that came with it.  The fresh spring rolls with the peanut dipping sauce were crunchy with the taste of basil exploding in your mouth with every bite. This meal was so memorable to us that we recommend everyone to try this place every time you visit Los Banos.

Too bad we still have a long way on our road trip that we left the place around 2 pm continuing the route to Pagsanjan.  We passed the towns of Bay and Calauan and stopped at Isdaan, our original lunch destination, just to take pictures.

The rain started to pour heavily as we drive past the towns of Victoria, Pila and Pagsanjan.  We tried to drive slowly as we look on the many embroidery shops at Lumban.  We took the provincial road to Paete to see the wood carving industry and the church that we missed n our first trip.  We continued moving north through Pakil, Pangil, Siniloan and Mabitac until we reached the winding roads of the mountains of Rizal.  Also on our first trip we stopped at a view deck with a vantage point of the Laguna Lake, but since it was nighttime when we reached the area, nothing registers on my Iphone camera.  This time, although the sky cleared, we were not able to make the stop since it was a steep downhill and were coming from the opposite direction.

A few hours later, we were passing through Pililia, Tanay, Morong and Binangonan all in the Province of Rizal.  As we reached Angono, we decided to explore the Poblacion hoping we could visit the Blanco's Family Gallery.  The gates were closed when we arrived, and not sure if you need to schedule your visit or whether we arrived beyond their operating hours since its already past 5pm. In order to make the most of our stop in Angono, we had a snack on a small cafe just beside the town hall called Don Antonio's.  The food was great and the price very reasonable.  My Adobo Flakes Pasta was only 75 php.

After Angono was Taytay, and a few minutes later we found ourselves in C5 on the area of Pasig.  Since it was dinnertime, we went to continue our inter province/city food exploration to the Teachers Village are in Quezon City upon a recommendation of a friend.  We went to look for Pino Restaurant along Malingap St.  We were told that they serve vegetarian, continuing the healthy theme of the day (except for the quesadilla and adobo flakes pasta in Angono).

At Pino, they have a separate menu for their vegetarian dishes called Pipino.  This was another difficult task for us since we have quite a number of dishes we'd like to try but has a limited stomach space.  They've reinvented classic Filipino favorites like the Bagnet and Kare-kare giving it a modern twist with ingredients and preparations.  We ordered the Chicken Binakol and Ginataang Bopis.  It was a real value for money with large servings and the taste was just memorable.  The first sip of warm broth literally brought back childhood memories.  The Binakol version of the Tinola was made sweeter with the coconut meat and juice and ripe papaya balls.  The Bopis was spicy and savory, made creamier with the coconut milk.  We ended up having additional cups of rice.

To end the day, we decided to drop by a bar in Makati.  At Guzia Cafe in Guijo St. San Antonio, we had a pitcher of Avengers (Tequila Sunrise) and nibbled on crunchy mushrooms while sharing our day long food adventure with friends.

Pangasinan Road Trip: Bolinao and Hundred Islands in 24 hours

Internet deals and coupons are becoming popular nowadays.  Since I have been receiving Groupon  updates on my email and also downloaded the application, I have been lured into buying the Puerto del sol Package good for 4 paying only 2500.

Imagine a day tour, with the use of all the resort amenities including lunch valued at 7,800 for only 2,500.  Also, this would be my opportunity to discover Bolinao and Pangasinan.

We bought the coupon during the height of summer, but because of our busy schedule, it was only in June that we had the time to take on the adventure.  I was hesitant at first to pursue the trip since it was raining hard days before.  I need to be sure since the voucher states that failure to appear on the scheduled dates would mean forfeiture.  I checked the weather forecast for Pangasinan, and fortunately, its going to be sunny.

I made arrangement to go on a Sunday, and made sure that it was coordinated with the reservation numbers on the voucher.  The next day, I received my confirmation voucher.  This is it!

I was so excited that I cant get myself to sleep inspite of knowing that I'll be driving for 5-6 hours.

At 2:30AM, Sunday, we were alreday up and prepared our things.  An hour later, we were on the road to EDSA, to meet one of our companion at the MRT Station in Magallanes.  By 4:00am, we were north bound.  We made a quick stop at the Petron Nlex Station to gas up and loaded ourselves with caffeine and have breakfast.  This is actually the best time to go on a road trip since, gas prices have been rolling back to less than 50php that my full tank would only cost me 1500php.

We headed straight along NLEX and took the SCTEX exit right after Dau.  We then headed to the direction of Tarlac and took the Hacienda Luisita exit.  We turned right along MacArthur Highway and turned left on the signboard pointing to the direction of Alaminos. I was guided by my GPS app on my Iphone.

By 7:00am, we made another stop at Camiling, the last major town of Tarlac before entering Pangasinan.

It took us another two hours to reach the City of Alaminos, the gateway to the Hundred Islands.  In that instant, I changed our itinerary to just stay in Bolinao until lunch so we can still explore the Hundred Islands on the way back.  Upon reaching the town of Bani, we made a wrong turn.  The map on my phone shows a shorter alternate route to Patar Beach.  But as we move forward, the road becomes rougher and the grass more dense.  I don't think my car can handle that torture and decided to turn back and take the bus route to Bolinao.  Apparently, the application only detects the road but not the road condition.

Around 9:30 am, we reached the town of Bolinao.  I decided to gas up again, since it might take us an entire day to explore the resort, and might not be able to find an open gas station at night.  It's always better to be safe than sorry.  It is still another 12 Kilometers from Bolinao to Puerto del Sol, but the scenic road along Patar, kept us excited!  We arrived at the resort Just before 10am.

We went straight to the front desk and checked in ourselves.  We were given meal stubs and was guided to our Nipa Hut along the Beach.  True enough, it was a bright and sunny weather, so sunny that we left the beach after a few minutes of swimming and kayaking.  The beach was beautiful with with fine white sand and the water calm and clear.  You cannot really swim since the water is too shallow, but basking in the water and enjoying the sun and the ocean of Bolinao made the trip so worthwhile.

We transferred to the pool and settled ourselves on one of the Cabanas around it.  By 11:30, we went to the restaurant to have lunch.

The restaurant provided an amazing view of Patar Beach, not to mention the cool breeze coming in all direction.  It was one memorable lunch.  We were made to choose between their chicken and fish menu.  The chicken was served with buttered mix vegetables, and the Bangus was complemented with Pinakbet.

Puerto del Sol provided backdrops for quite a number of pictures in our album.

We secured our things right after lunch and prepped for our next destination, the Lighthouse on Cape Bolinao.  It took us another 30 minutes to reach the lighthouse, on an inconsistent rough road.  Inconsistent meaning that it has a few paved intervals.  The view from the top was beautiful, which i think is more dramatic during sunset.  But since it was lunch time, we rushed on taking pictures and admiring the scenery before being scorched by the sun.

Right after the Lighthouse, we headed straight to Lucap Port in Alaminos for the Hundred Island adventure.  The Hundred Islands is operated by the Philippine Tourism Authority and was surprisingly organized.  Boat rentals are centralized, and you wouldn't get harassed by peddlers. We arrived at their desk around 2:00 PM, booked a small boat for 1400php that's good for 5-6.  My advice is to bring y.our own snorkeling equipment if you don't want to shell out an additional 250php/head for the complete gear.  An option is to just rent the snorkel for an additional 100php/head.

It's our first time to explore the hundred islands and were surprised on the many things included on the tour.  Our first stop was the Governors Island where we climbed quite a number of steps to reach the view deck to admire  an expansive view of the other Islands.  Next, we went to Marcos Island.  There's a beach where you can swim, but there's also a cave where you can cliff jump and swim your way out to the ocean and back to the beach.  It was relatively safe, and wearing your life jacket is an advantage, especially for the long swim to the shore.  My regret is that we left the camera on the boat to capture this momentous event of overcoming our fear of heights diving into the unknown depths of the cave and swimming into the open sea.

Our boatman then motored us past the other island till we reach the dive spot for the giant clams.  Good thing we rented the snorkel, but did not use the fins since we are guided with the rope that leads to the where they culture these creature down below.  The spot was teeming with fish, and although the visibility was not that clear, we were able to come close to these giants and see them in their natural habitat.

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we headed for our last stop, which is Quezon Island.  It's a place for campers, we you can pitch a tent for the night for a fee.  It also has a store where you can take a break for refreshments.  The sandbar connects two island and another was connected with a wooden bridge.

We had so much fun during he island adventure that we gave our boatman an additional 200php for giving us those experiences.

We left Alaminos just before 7:00PM, right after freshening up and eating at the many food stalls o Lucap Port.

Just when we thought our adventure was over, we stopped at Camiling to try the Goat's meat dishes on the many roadside eatery.  It took us another hour to reach San Fernando, Pampanga where we decided to stay for the night, since my feet are killing after driving for almost 10 hours.

Truly, nothing beats exploring a new destination with friends and be surprised with the activities along the way.  Inspite of the long travel time, Bolinao, and the Hundred islands in Alaminos is among my favorite place to visit in the Philippines.