More Curry Please..Onwards to Izumi Curry!

November 22, 2014

I've been wanting to try this for the longest time. I'm fond of curries and I'm really curious on how different is the Japanese curry from the other curries. Finally, I had a chance (and the fund) to purchase two vouchers from CashCashPinoy. I bought one US Pork/Chicken Katsu Plate voucher for my date and one US Pork/Chicken Katsu Curry Meal voucher for me.

 

The Restaurant

Izumi Curry and Grill is located at the 5F The Podium. I didn't get the chance to take a photo of the interiors. It's a cozy place and could easily seat 25 guests. The servers were attentive and accommodating. Sidestory: I printed the two vouchers in one paper to save mother earth, only to find out that they should've been printed on separate sheets. I almost panicked--I thought they wouldn't honor my vouchers. End of sidestory.

The Food

Note: My date and I preferred to have pork. The iced tea included with our meal was just your typical lemon iced tea. If you explore their menu, they also offer saké.

US Pork/Chicken Katsu Plate

This includes the Pork Katsu and a side salad, a bowl of rice, and 5 pcs. of gyoza. This is your typical katsu. The gyoza was a little on the salty side. There's no need to dip it in any kind of sauce. 

US Pork/Chicken Katsu Curry Meal

US Pork Katsu Curry - Front

Ta~dah! The one I've been waiting for. I asked some people on what do Japanese curries taste like, and they say that it's usually sweet. So when I had my first bite, it was really unexpectedly spicy! Haha! But it was a savory kind of spicy and I loved it! It's not like the straightforward spiciness that you get when you eat chili sauce with your dimsum, it's a bit hard to explain but there were a lot of flavors in that curry. I liked the way they filled the plate with curry sauce.

US Pork Katsu Curry - Back

Side salad

This meal includes a hefty serving of the salad. With regards to serving size, they didn't disappoint. I'm not really a fan of salads, especially the ones with cucumber(like the one below). But I really loved the dressing and I don't typically waste food so I ate it anyway.

This ends our delicious meal! Thanks for reading!

Fine dining dinner date at House of Wagyu Stonegrill

October 11, 2014

This fine dining dinner was made possible through one of the deals from CashCashPinoy worth 1500php++. The deal includes the following: 350 grams of Wagyu Top Sirloin Grade 9 good for 2 persons + Soup of the Day + French Bread & Butter + Vegetables & Potatoes. How big is a 350-gram of sirloin? Let's say it really is enough for 2.

The Restaurant

Table setting

House of Wagyu StoneGrill is located at the top floor of the Podium and has an inconspicuous location. It is almost blocked in view by the cinema ticket counter. I honestly thought that it was still closed since the restaurant had dim lighting and aside from the employees, there was no one else dining. It was also intimidating because I'm only wearing jeans, a t-shirt and flats without any care for accessories. I really thank the employees for not giving us the deprecating look and provided us with exemplary service.
House of Wagyu StoneGrill also sells their frozen wagyu steaks.

The Food



The soup was served together with the basket of french bread. I'm not a fan of soups and breads since they fill up my tummy even before the main course arrives. But then, I was taught not to waste food and I paid good money for this so I have to eat it.

Soup of the Day - Creamy pumpkin soup
Really creamy and it doesn't taste like pumpkin. Our server also topped it with freshly ground pepper. Coupled with the warm, crusty yet soft, french bread with butter, I have found new respect for these two.

Suisse raclette

Suisse Raclette
In addition to our meal, we decided to order one appetizer from their menu for 350php. This is melted cheese with boiled potato, pickled miniature onions, and pickled miniature cucumbers. It was a really expensive appetizer but hey, this was one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences, and we had the money to pay for it, so we ordered it anyway. According to wikipedia, raclette is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish, so I don't know if they really used the raclette cheese on this one. I sure hope they did. As for the taste, the cheese was not as salty as the other types of cheese. It is somehow similar to mozzarella. The miniature onions and cucumber? Don't underestimate them. They may be small but they pack a lot of that pickled flavor. They were really sour to the point of disfiguring your face. The baby potatoes are just your typical boiled baby potatoes.

Before they served the steak, they would ask you to wear this bib. For me, it was a mini-apron. Meanwhile, our server asked us if we would like to have our steak divided into two so that we would have separate stones. Honestly, I haven't thought of requesting this since it was alright for me to share. I really appreciate our server for suggesting this so that we would thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Steamed Vegetables and Mashed Potato
Typical steamed vegetables. The mashed potato was okay though I thought it lacked milk/cream/butter/salt. I suppose I should have added some of the leftover butter and some salt to add flavor.

Steamed vegetables and Mashed Potato

Half of the 350-gram grade 9 Wagyu sirloin

Star of the night - Grade 9 Wagyu Sirloin on Stone Grill
Very straightforward. No gravy. Lightly seasoned. Very tender.

Turned once by one of the chefs

For less than a thousand, I really enjoyed eating Wagyu steak for the first time! Hoping to have the budget in the near future to visit them again. Cheers!

Xiao Long Bao @ Shi Lin

I've been craving for Xiao Long Bao for the longest time. Only a few Chinese restaurants offer this type of dumpling and these are usually expensive. So when CashCashPinoy(a group buying site) offered 250 php for  500 php worth of Dimsum and Noodle products from Shi Lin, I instantly bought 2 vouchers.

What is Xiao Long Bao? It's a kind of dimsum with soup inside. I don't know how they make these but they definitely are yummy.

Grabbed this Xiao Long Bao photo from my sister

February 23, 2013

Together with SS, I went to Shi Lin at the Podium. They have a limited number of branches and I'm glad that one of them is accessible. *Sorry this post won't have any pictures since I forgot to bring a camera :(

Inside Shi Lin

Shi Lin has that typical Chinese restaurant ambiance. Now I won't get all descriptive about the place, let's get on with the food.

Since my voucher is good for 500php worth of products, we limited our orders to 1 order of their 10-pcs Xiao Long Bao(248php) and an order each of the Noodles with Shrimp and Pork Wantons(188php). Yes, we ordered in excess of the 500 but it was at a minimum. Going back, when the noodle orders came, we were quite shocked. Side note: SS and I are not noodle people...we're more of the rice type

So imagine our reaction to the huge bowls served in front of us. Each bowl is good for 2 people to share. We didn't know that, so we had no choice but to finish it all up (we're not the wasting type too). The taste of the noodle broth was simple you could ask the attendants for chili sauce to add that needed kick. The chili also tasted great with the wantons. I'm guessing that the noodles were freshly made because it was white in color, not the typical yellow noodles served in other restos. Then, our xiao long bao order came. It tasted good w/ or w/out the soy sauce. Finally, my cravings have been satisfied. Overall, it was a good lunch.