Oooohhh Brick-Oven Made Desserts!

This is the continuation of my post about Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen and I just wanted to share that aside from appetizers, entrees, pizza and pasta they also have delightful desserts!

Brick Oven Chocolate Cake ala mode

Apple Crumble Pizza

Mango Ice Box

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen

209 Aguirre Ave., B.F. Homes,
Paranaque City, Philippines

Open:
Tuesdays thru Fridays
11:30 am to 2:00 pm
6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Saturdays and Sundays
11:30 am to 10:30 pm

For Reservations and Inquiries call: (632) 820-7210 or 0917-8971117/0917-9260555

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen

More often than not the yummiest food nooks are the best kept secrets. I finally uncovered one in the South when a couple of high school classmates decided to have a last-minute mini-reunion for our student council president who arrived from the US.

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen is located at Aguirre Avenue in BF Homes, Paranaque. It's a bit farther in from the commercial area in BF but very easy to find (2 stoplights + Monterey and you're there!). Sweetie was quite dazed from the trip coz he came all the way from Marikina, but he said the trek was worth it.

As described by the resto's name, most (if not all) the food are cooked through the brick oven. It takes awhile for the food to be served because everything is prepared fresh, but the wait is worth it. Here's what we had:

Brick Oven Calzone

Rigatoni in 3-cheese Sauce

Brick Oven Tilapia Fillet

Brick Oven Pizza

Puchon (Pugon Lechon)

Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen

209 Aguirre Ave., B.F. Homes,
Paranaque City, Philippines

Open:
Tuesdays thru Fridays
11:30 am to 2:00 pm
6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Saturdays and Sundays
11:30 am to 10:30 pm

For Reservations and Inquiries call: (632) 820-7210 or 0917-8971117/0917-9260555

Up next: Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen desserts!

The Manila Ocean Park

Last April I hunkered down to the Manila Ocean Park with Sweetie, Miguel and my friends from Davao, Andrew, Ria, Blogie, Winston and Migs. It was a good thing we went early since we missed the throngs of people who go everyday.

So what can one see at the Oceanarium? Fish! Loads and loads of different fish species. A lot of those displayed came from the Philippine seas and what joy it was to see all of them in different shapes, sizes and colors. I don't think I'll ever find myself diving to view them in their natural habitat, so this would do.

I realized though that taking photos of fish is very difficult! They move around quite a lot and most of the fish in the photos I took ended up blurred. I have new-found respect to photographers who do aquatic photography.

There was so much to see at the Oceanarium and I thought I'd just make this video blog about it. Hope you enjoy watching!

Binalot

Binalot means "wrapped".

I've been eating "Binalot" food for a couple of years already. I think they started off with just delivery service. My former colleagues and I usually ordered our lunch from Binalot. We loved it since the food was wrapped in a banana leaf, so that meant we didn't have to wash any dishes after eating.

It's been sometime since I ate at Binalot and we wanted to try out the stalls at the at Market Market. They have improved their menu a lot and have variations of the usual tocilog, longsilog and tapsilog. I love the fact that the rice is adobo rice and comes with fried egg, itlog na pula and one whole tomato. Yum!!!

Experience it!

The Binalot Adobo-Longsilog

The Binalot Adobo Tapsilog

Romantic Antipolo

I've heard so much about "Antipolo" and that it's a great place for lovers. Through the years friends would share stories about the fabulous view and how calm and peaceful the place is. Antipolo is about 30 kilometers from where I live and I found out that you have to go through 4 highways (South Super Highway, C5, Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway) to get there. So despite all the praises I've heard about Antipolo I never got the chance to go and visit.

Little did I know that I was going to have a big surprise.

I had no idea what Sweetie had planned for us that day. He just said, "Wear jeans, socks, rubbershoes and an extra shirt. Also bring hollow blocks, agimat etc. etc." I thought that we were going to attend a GK build. Whenever I bugged him where we were going he just answered back by giving another "to-bring" list. So I just gave up.

After fetching me after a meeting we headed east. I'm a South girl so I had no idea where it was we were going to go. He first brought me to the mall to go bowling. And boy both our games were awful, but it was great fun!

After merienda we headed out. It was raining a bit and I had no idea where we were headed. It looked a lot like we were leaving Metro Manila and the road was heading up. I couldn't find any signs to give me an idea where we were going and I was quite busy as well looking at the structures outside the window.

And then he said, "We're here."

We parked at Padi's Point. It was then that it dawned on me that we were in Antipolo! At the place where many of my other friends have gone before. THE place to go to with your S.O.

I was so simply kilig. Teehee.

The view from the deck was breath-taking. Being far away from all the buzz in the city. Being offline. Being at a serene place was just what I needed.

Here's the view.


I would looooove to go back.

Bicol: Moderna Bakery's Fried Siopao

I spend a lot of summers in Bicol since it's our hometown. Too bad though I haven't had the chance to go home the past 2 years! There's so much to see, experience and eat in Bicol and may I start with Moderna Bakery's fried siopao:


Fried siopao? Yup, you read it right. I was quite weirded out the first time I heard about it but since it's produced by our family's bakery (the oldest in Bicol and much older than the famous Goldilocks) I did not have any qualms about sampling it.

Mom brought home a couple of pieces from Moderna Bakery and I knew I just had to blog about it. So sorry I ended up biting into it before taking a photograph, but you'd see that it's got meaty filling and you don't actually need to lay on any sauce on it. The filling also has some egg which makes it more tasty.

There are two branches of Moderna Bakery in Bicol. One is located near the Naga City Public Market which is now run by my cousin. Should you have the chance to eat at the resto better order the pancit. My Dad used to spend a lot of time at the bakery in his youth and that's where he learned how to cook. The other branch is at the Apolo ancestral home at Bagumbayan (it's quite near Ateneo de Naga) and that's where they cook all the bread in stone oven that was built over 60 years ago. They also sell a lot of yummy pastries and cakes.

Moderna Bakery
Main Branch: Bagumbayan, Naga City
Restaurant: near the Naga City Public Market
Camarines Sur, Bicol
Philippines