Styles and Bites:Food and Fashion Flair

Styles and Bites
Combining the love for food and fashion, Styles and Bites gathered exhibitors that range from bag resellers to food trucks. Yes, there were 2 mini food trucks at the venue.

Eggette waffle

These so called eggette waffles/bubble waffles are cooked in special pans that can be rotated so that the bubbles are formed completely. The bubbles are crispy on the outside and a bit soft inside. In essence, they are waffles with pockets of crispiness.

The first waffle made was obviously soggy and did not become the least bit crispy. But the attendant was kind enough to explain that something was wrong in the batter and would cook another one from another batter mix.

The next one turned out fine with the crispy bubbles. My order looked really plain compared to the ones displayed since I opted not to put any toppings. They offer toppings and ice cream but I think melted ice cream would just compromise the crispiness.

It's a little more expensive than the regular waffles. Although regular waffles are more filling, it offers a new way to to enjoy waffles with added crispiness.


Empanada de Iloko

Seeing that the "kwek-kwek" orange colored, crispy shelled, empanadas are within my budget, I did not hesitate to try one. The empanada I am familiar with are smaller in size with thicker dough shells which are filled with meat. It's my first time to try an Ilocos empanada and I am not disappointed.

I ordered the "special" variant which is filled with vegetable, one egg and some longganisa. This variant, although called special, is actually one of the simpler items in their selection. They offer empanadas with no veggies hence more meat,  double egg, double meat, and double double (2 eggs and 2 serving of longganisa).

It was crispy on the outside while savory in the inside. The egg balanced the saltiness of the veggies and meat. One serving came with a side of vinegar, just as how one would enjoy an order of lumpiang ubod or tokneneng. This isn't very common in Metro Manila. Now I am craving for more.

Other Stalls

Cotton candy art! The kid in me screams! I chanced upon a pig head shaped cotton candy and an elephant shaped cotton candy. I also saw a t-rex shaped blue one but was not able to take a photo. They also offer cotton candy in gradient shades.

I got to try one piece of this ham from the free samples. It was lean, tender, and tasty.

Pistachio butter tasted really pistachio-ey. But it is on the pricey side.

Here is one of the food trucks I was talking about. But I am not a fan of wings so I just took a photo of their red mini truck.

And here's the other food truck.

This roast beef looked tender but I'm not quite sure on what it would taste like (no free sample).

Tempted to try one of the machangs on the far left side of the picture.

Giant sausages were sold beside the waffle stall.

I have seen this spread stall before...The pesto variant is tasty

 More food. Mediterranean inspired, I guess.

Now something  to quench your thirst.


Non-food Stalls
There were also a lot of bags, shoes, make-up, clothes and toys available on other stalls. Here are some of them.

I went to the bazaar a little past 12noon on the first and last day. That's a little past opening time so there weren't that much people yet. I didn't get to take photos of all the stalls though.

Like us on Facebook!

The Food Club: Birthday Promo and Discount

Celebrated my Mom's birthday at The Food Club buffet last month. We availed their birthday promo, which is the same as other buffet places - just bring one full paying adult and the birthday celebrant gets to eat for free on the exact date of her birthday. Since we were three people, one of us decided to get an online voucher to get a discounted rate. So in all, our party was composed of one full paying adult, one free (birthday promo), and one who used the coupon. Good thing they allow the usage of a coupon and birthday promo on the same transaction.

Writing about buffets is both easy and hard. Easy - because you can write about a lot of food. Hard - because you have a lot of food to write about.

We arrived about an hour past their starting lunch time so many stations needed to be refilled already. It was a weekday lunch so the place was not that packed.

Let me show you what we had...

Salmon Sashimi

The slices were a bit smaller than other buffets so I got this whole plate for sharing. They didn't have tuna sashimi but they had a variety of rolls to choose from but I wasn't able to take a photo of it.


Shabu-shabu

I filled our bowl with little shrimps, fish, slices of pork, mushroom, and broccoli. No noodles for me to maximize the stomach space. There was only one type of broth but you can customize with the garlic, ginger and other seasoning that goes in it. The server at the station was the one who cooked it and it was delivered to our table. We shared this bowl.


Roast Belly

For the carving station, they only had one meat that day which was the roast belly. There was an electric fryer in front where the chef adds slices per customer's request to add doneness to the meat or reheat it. Two sauces were available - mushroom sauce and red wine sauce. We shared this too.


Assorted Plate 1

This is my viand tasting plate. Pardon my messy plating. This mostly had Asian food like tempura, stir fry shrimp, pork adobo, pork asado, some shrimps from a veggie dish, and toasted salted peanuts.



Assorted Plate 2

This is not my plate nor a shared plate but I asked permission to take a photo of if since it shows other food that I didn't get and it looked pretty. This had pasta, corn, green veggies, and some meat. Go, grow, and glow foods well represented on this photo.


Steamed Shrimp

There was a station where you can have shrimp or salmon cooked, so we ordered steamed shrimp. It took some time before this arrived on our table.




Salad

Before dessert, I always try to visit the salad station. My salad had toasted bacon. I also got an egg from the other station nearby. The egg was probably soaked in soy for that saltier taste and brown color


Dessert

Mini cakes

Here are the mini cakes we got. A chocolate mousse, mini strawberry, and mini red velvet. Okay, I just named them according to what they tasted. I didn't get to check the labels.



Ice cream

Chocolate, Mocha, and Coffee flavors were available. The half-scoops formed a brown monotone on my ice cream bowl so I added some toppings. They also had orange flavor, but I figured it might be a candy orange flavor which I might not like.


Crepe

I guess I overdid the toppings on this one. This is a mango filled crepe with half scoop of chocolate ice cream, chocolate drizzle, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, and crushed Oreos.



Their selection had variety since it had Asian and Western food - tempura, shabu shabu, sushi, meats, pasta, dessert, etc. There were still some stations/food that we didn't get to try like the halo-halo, other Pinoy desserts like kakanin, nachos/tacos, dimsum, and other viands.

Compared to a popular buffet chain, this had less choices. I was looking for frozen yogurt, more meat at the carving station like steak or turkey, and more salad customization options. But this has a more affordable rate than that particular popular buffet chain.

The venue had high ceilings and glass windows which gave a good vibe to the place. The tables were arranged a bit too close to each other, though. But the place was not packed when we ate there so it was okay.




Like us on Facebook!

Backlog Post: House of Wagyu Stone Grill

Wanting to explore the world of beef and steak, we bought a voucher from an online deals site that gave us about 50% discount for a meal at House of Wagyu Stone Grill which included a 350 gram, grade 9 Wagyu beef. It also came with soup of the day, mashed potato and vegetables.

French onion soup (soup of the day) is pleasantly served into three bowls. I liked the presentation where an herb infused oil over the soup mimicked latte art. The soup itself was thick and creamy. I am not really a fan of onions in burgers, but I like the taste when they are all caramelized and sweet. You could pair it with the house bread if you like.

Apron time! Before our main dish was served, we were assisted by the serving staff to wear aprons. Yes a full upper body apron. I wondered about the necessity of the apron for a while, but I guess it was part of the experience.

Then comes the slab of raw meat on top of a piping hot stone. The stone grill is sort of a cross between a sizzling plate and a smokeless grill (the types you see in yakimix). It cooks the raw slab of meat on the spot so you get to decide on your doneness.

…After a while we noticed some oil marks of the paper covered table. We realized that the brown apron was to cover our clothes from the occasional juice that sizzled out of the stone grill.

I remember being specifically instructed by the server to slice a few pieces of meat off the slab and cook it a few slices at a time, not chop the whole slab into pieces at once and cook it altogether. This is to keep the natural juices in the meat and enjoy the full flavor.

House of Wagyu smokeless grill is a bit pricey but the meat you get is worth it. The meat, the raw meat grilling in front you, just seeing that juice and smelling that beefy goodness, you’ll know you have something good. When I tasted my first slice, it had all that natural beef flavor . This is the natural version of all those beef flavored bouillon cubes in the market. Even without additional salt and pepper, the meat had enough flavor all by itself. It was also tender and did I already mention juicy?

Before I forget, the mashed potato with vegetables was a good pair to the meat. The mashed potato has a cheese-like flavor but not overpowering. The vegetables were fresh and crisp. I’m glad that it had broccoli and cauliflower and not just the usual corn and carrots.

My opinion is quite torn on cook it yourself food (i.e. smokeless grills, hot pot, etc) because I often do not want to wait for the food to be cooked (already hungry) and I just want to eat. But still, cooking it yourself is what makes the experience different compared to other types of food service.

Nonetheless, I loved eating at House of Wagyu Stone Grill. Their meat really tasted good. Imagine having that flavor without any sauces! I haven’t had any beef with that kind of taste all on its own. This Wagyu beef is a must try. And seeing the meat get cooked in front of you is plus factor for dining experience. You could also get a view of the Manila Bay sunset if you dine in the afternoon.

*This is a backlog post. Actual food expedition was made more than a month prior to publishing of this post.

Branch visited located at: Technically, this is located at Two Ecom Center (beside Mall of Asia) but it is still within the Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City

Backlog Post: Boon Tong Kee

Boon Tong Kee serves Singaporean dishes and we had some of their popular dishes sometime last year at a discounted price courtesy of online discount vouchers.

Signature Boiled Chicken
Also alternatively known as Hainanese Chicken, it is the simplicity, natural flavor of the meat, and the mixture of the condiments that characterizes this dish. This is a good choice for the health conscious.

Crispy Cereal Prawns
This is not the usual breading you get in tempura nor furai. As the name suggests, it is made out of some cereal. Floss also covered the prawns. The breading is flavorful, a bit salty to match the big prawn meat. It was indeed crispy.

Crispy Roast Chicken
Another chicken dish, this time roasted. The skin was browned and the meat is also quite simple in taste.

Braised Yi Mian with Prawns
Noodles and prawns. Not exactly a soup nor pancit but more like saucy noodles topped with halved prawns.

*This is a backlog post. Actual food expedition was made more than a month ago.

Branch visited located at: 2nd flr, Entertainment mall, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City

Nipa Hut

Nipa Hut / Motoyori restaurant in Pasig is a place where you can get Filipino food (and Japanese food). Being at an elevated place, the winds are a tiny bit colder. The entrance and a part of the restaurant resembles a Nipa Hut which also serves as the no smoking area.

Outside, there is also a dining area for those who want more of the breeze and view while eating. The view offers a nearby look at the city (and houses) with a backdrop of the tall buildings along with a sight of some mountains. This place could have an awesome view at night when the buildings and houses are all lit up.

Here we ordered two Filipino food set meals that we got for a discounted price thanks to another online discount voucher.

Banana heart is not something I eat often. But I am glad that this Kilawin Puso ng Saging was good. “Kilawin” implied that it had vinegar. I was expecting something very sour but the dish is also pleasantly sweet. The brownish color hinted it had something along the lines of soy sauce, and the sweetness meant it also had some sort of sugar to balance the taste. There were also tiny bits of pork mixed in it.

Bulalo is a soup known to have a rich beef flavor along with rich beefy oils. It may also have marrow or tendons. This version’s meat was tender and the soup had a beef taste.

This crispy pata has the crispy skin lined with fat and tender pork.

Here we have Chicharon bulaklak. It is a variation of chicharon made from the fat along the pig’s intestine.

For seafood, we had sizzling bangus (milk fish), topped with mixed vegetables. The fish was seasoned and buttered.

Also included in the two set meals are Pork BBQ and Lumpia.


We visited this place earlier and tried a different set meal, also using a discount voucher. Here are the dishes we had.

I liked the kare-kare with their generous amount of the pumpkin and peanut mixture. It is like pumpkin soup but better because of the peanut taste, pork, and vegetables in it.

We also had inihaw na pla-pla with atchara, tomatoes and chopped green mango on the side, and sisig for something grilled and sizzled.

Below are the three set meals we had:
Set 1: Kare Kare, Inihaw na Pla Pla, Crispy Sisig (previous visit)
Set 2: Bulalo Soup, Sizzling Boneless Bangus, 3pcs BBQ, Chicharon Bulaklak
Set 3: Whole Crispy Pata, 15 Pcs. Lumpiang Shanghai, Kilawin Puso ng Saging
My personal favorites are the Kilawin Puso ng Saging, Kare-kare and Bulalo.

Overall, the meat in their food was tender, the ingredients they used tasted fresh and the food was not overpoweringly seasoned. The breezy view is a plus too.

Branch visited located at: Pasig City