Everything at Steak

Had chicken strips and fries. It was okay, the chicken was a bit bland and dry, fries were exceptionally tasty. Eh what can I say, everything seems so delicious when you're really hungry 

Everything at Steak
939 Banawe St.,Quezon City
Tel: 414-5634

Pancake House Beef Tapa and Peach Pancake

I"m not a morning person but if there's one breakfast food that will wake me up, it's beef tapa. Just imagining that flavorful beef strips, garlic rice and sunny side up egg makes my mouth water.

Even though it's dinner, I opted for Pancake House' beef tapa and it did not disappoint. Turns out, it's one of their best seller. Beef strips are soft, juicy and flavorful. Instead of plain vinegar, this is served with pickled tomatoes and onions giving it a mild sweet and sour taste with a crunch texture courtesy of the onions. The sunny side up egg is cooked perfectly well, I don't usually eat the egg yolk but when this is served, I can't help it but to mix it all in. The garlic rice is a bit bland, I like my garlic rice with strong garlic flavors but it's okay considering how flavorful the tapa is.

We also got the peach pancake, topped with peach slices, whipped butter and peach syrup on the side. The whipped butter is so good that we ordered another dollop of it. The peach syrup is really good! It's not too sweet and yet the peach aroma stands out. I honestly prefer Pancake House' pancakes over IHOP's. IHOP is really dry and crumbly but Pancake House makes the perfect ultra soft and fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Yum yum!

Wildflour Café + Bakery

Left Quezon City and quickly called up Wildflour to reserve a table for two. Ms. Kathleen told us we're seventh on the wait list and they can't guarantee we'd get a seat once we have arrived. Once we got there we were told we're third on the list but waiting time isn't that bad. 

First impression: There are flies on the bread display! There were a few cronuts left but I saw the flies enjoying themselves on the bread so I didn't bother. 

Too crowded, the noise and chaos is more like a wet market than a nice restaurant where you can sit back, relax and enjoy your dinner. On the bright side this is a very good sign for the business owners. 

On the bright side, the complimentary baguette is really really good, the crust is really crisp, butter with a sprinkle of salt also did the trick. One thing though, since this is served in a wooden board and the servers are so busy attending a lot of people, they tend to press the bread on the board with their finger. If you're not picky with it and your stomach can handle such food handling then it's okay(I think), if your stomach is sensitive then I suggest you skip this one. 

We were ushered in a high table, it was ok until I realized how close I am to the bread stand that I have to carefully squeeze myself into my seat without having to topple the bread stand over. Good thing was when a fresh batch of cronuts were put out, we were near the tray. 

Table was too too tooooooo small, ridiculously small in my opinion. We ordered a burger, tarte flambée, steak and kimchi rice, two newly released cronuts and one chocolate eclair and we had to stuff everything in our belly before our next order comes, just kidding. We had other unnecessary plates removed, combine food in one plate (pastries) and pan (burger and tartes flambée). It was hard to relax knowing how high the tables are and utensils are on the edge of our tables already. 

Tarte flambée is the best part of the dining experience! Bacon, gruyere cheese and caramelized onions. Tarte is thin and crisp. Perfect! Nuff said. 

The burger is really really juicy, heavenly! I was just alarmed on how sharp the knife was! The burger is pinned on the pan with the knife, call me conservative but I had the impression that the one who prepared this was mad lol. Oh and my Chinese parents have taught me not to stick my chopstick on my bowl of rice coz it signifies offering food for the dead. Somehow I was reminded of that when my burger was served with the knife struck on it, not a chopstick but a knife. I just pulled it out before taking a photo.

Steak with kimchi rice was good. When we think of steak, a whole slab of juicy steak comes to mind but we got small slices of steak instead, it was good but not so juicy. Kimchi rice was super delicious! I'm not a fan of hot food but this is great. 

Chocolate eclair is love. Bread quality is not that excellent but the chocolate and filling makes up for it. 

Cronuts tastes like bicho bicho with donut filling and frosting. I had the mixed berry variant. I was just turned off on how oily the cronuts are that I literally swallowed a mouthful of oil. Other than that it's a delicious pastry. Delicious but not so delicious that I'd make an effort to go there and fall in line. 

Oh, a table can order just two cronuts. People who are falling in line just for the cronuts can only order two and if you want to order more, fall in line again and start all over. This is a fair system so everyone who falls in line would get some but it also has a downside, I think this is just a fad, like in my experience I tasted it once but I'm not going to buy again, if they didn't limit the purchase I would have bought more to bring home for my family but since this is almost inaccessible, I was discouraged to buy. I don't think the taste is so special and unique anyway. If I'm the one selling these cronuts I'd try to make more and sell more, make this product more accessible and gain more profit before the craze dies down. 

Wildflour Café + Bakery

G/F Net Lima Bldg, 4th Ave cor 26th, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City

Tel no. 856-7600

BRGR: The Burger Project

Went to the Teacher's Village on a Saturday night to catch some grub when we chanced upon Burger Project. I initially wanted some pizza and pasta from Fruili Trattoria but after seeing how packed Burger Project was, we got curious why everyone never seemed to mind the long lines and lack of table just to get some burger from this place.

We had an order of huuuuuge onion rings to share. It was ok, so so, nothing special. The batter was pretty tasteless unless you count the oily deep fry taste but you have to give credit that they fry this perfectly crisp and golden brown. I wish the onions were a bit sweeter and flavorful. 

The concept is pretty cool considering you'll be making your own burger according to your own taste. I got one patty of ground beef, sesame seed buns, garlic cream cheese, Canadian bacon and lettuce leaves. Paolo ordered two patties of of Angus beef, sesame seed buns, bacon, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and caramelized onions. 

I somehow didn't enjoy my order, I felt that the burger patty was drowned in overused oil that it has an overpowering stale or fishy smell. Buns were soaked in oil. Eeeep! Lettuce are really fresh and crisp, I didn't taste the garlic cream cheese that much due to the overpowering stale oil smell. Canadian bacon was delish! 

Paolo's was much better. He really enjoyed his food, according to him, angus beef patty has chunks of beef. The oozing mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese combination is heavenly! Uuuurgh.

We also ordered blueberry and strawberry milkshakes. By the time I claimed these I heard one attendant saying to another staff  'Si Chelle nanaman?' Lol. 

Blueberry is super duper delicious. No wonder it costs Php150 each, they use pure vanilla ice cream to make these shakes, blueberry has a semi sweet  Strawberry milkshake is a boo boo though, it tastes like cough syrup. Eeep! 

The place is really packed so come here earlier to get some seats. Tip: Sancho Churreria Manila is just beside Burger Project! You may get some seats there provided that you'll order their food, they won't let you sit though if you'll order just a slice of cake and order the rest of your food from Burger Project. That is pretty understandable. 

BRGR: The Burger Project branches:

122 Maginhawa St., Maginhawa, Quezon City

The Grand Towers, 790 Pablo Ocampo Sr. St., Manila City

38 Jupiter St. cor. Planet St., Jupiter, Makati City