Sunday, April 27, 2014

Enjoying the little things, My Little Buttercup in SM Sucat revisited

I wrote about My Little Buttercup a few months back and oddly enough found myself back in the still spanking new SM BF Homes yesterday.  SM BF Homes oddly enough reminds me of SM Aura, it is spacious, new and shares the more upscale SM characteristics of not force jam packing people into trudging paths through each store, rather you feel like you "wander about" SM Bf Homes and so I wandered back into My Little Buttercup.




Much has changed since my last visit, the restaurant itself looks the same but the menu had grown immensely, after all I believe I was one of the very first people here and so the menu has naturally evolved as the owners hone their craft.



 My dad and mom both ordered the Angus burger, veggies on the side with two sauces and a bucket of seasoned fries.  Both of them finished everything down to the last fry.



 My sister ordered the ribs, their best seller.  The My Little Butercup ribs com with corn and carrots and a bucket of seasoned fries too.

 The truly excellent hot chocolate with an extra large marshmallow

Cookie dough ala mode for dessert!

 My tapa

You may ask why is the tapa last?  Surely as breakfast food if a logical person was to put my pics in order it would surely come first.  The answer is because I always save the best for last.  I freaking love Filipino Beef Tapa, there is something about garlic rice, eggs and seasoned beef that excites me.  Heck I never have it for breakfast, I have it for lunch and dinner all the time.  I really only know how to order two things, hamburgers and tapa.  I can't say I can speak about flavor with authority, I just know what I like and what I don't like.

Like all dishes in My Little Buttercup the tapa is made with premium ingredients.  The tapa is made just right, it comes tender and moist, unlike the burnt blackish brown bits you get from the cheaper places that you can count with one hand.  The portion is quite generous, it is bigger than it looks in my picture and comes with two scrambled eggs.  Something I almost never get right is the rice to viand ratio, I usually take a bite of meat to two spoonfulls of rice and this time I found that towards the end I had more meat than rice which is a great problem to have as there was less rice to dilute the delightful and delicate flavor of the meat, just the right amount of sourness and spice and salt.  The eggs too were excellent, just a bit wet, I used it together with the atchara to add a little bit of zest or zing! to each bite.  

I felt very heavy after.  I am not a heavy rice eater but with food like this who can help themselves?  My Little Buttercup is a place I would visit yet again.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Burgers and Brewskies at the Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City

I heard rave reviews about Burgers and Brewskies at the Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City since Christmas 2013.  Everybody seemed to like it.  I only sampled it yesterday because I am somewhat jaded at the recent proliferation of burger joints sprouting all around the Metro.  What makes this one different?  Why would it be any better?  Well, I can say it is one of the best.

A burger is a burger, quality ground meat, good cooking, seasoning, great bread and some garnishes or toppings with the usual condiments.  So how do you innovate around that?  By putting all the bells and whistles!

First of all, lets start with the pop culture names, instead of a Mexican burger with spicy tortilla chips they called it the "Hector Salamanca".  If you don't know who that is I highly recommend you watch Breaking Bad when you have the time.

Extremely sadly there were no fries of any form to be had when I went.  Quite the disappointment to have a hamburger without its best friend, french fries.  I ordered a beer and my companion ordered what was oddly a Tequila Rose like cocktail with bacon sugar around the rim called "Bacon Berry Pancakes" now see, that isn't something you see everyday.


Katipunan Pale Ale

Bacon Berry Pancakes

The Walk of Shame Burger

Wings

Cuban Missile

Hector Salamanca

Ice Tea (spiked)
I was surprised that I couldn't get a San Mig Light at Burgers and Brewskies, they had Katipunan Pale Ale - craft local beer.  The cocktails are very fancy and creative, read the descriptions, I recommend the Bacon Berry.

As for the Cuban Missile or seasoned corn on the cob (we had it shredded) well, nothing great to me, its corn with cheese, herbs and lime.  The chicken wings were ok, the thing is nothing could fix the lack of fries in this meal.  That said, the Hector Salamanca Mexican Burger was good, it is spicy and crunchy since it is topped with peppery tortilla strips.  The real star of my meal is the "Walk of Shame" I guess called that way because it has egg which is breakfast food which you eat at breakfast after people's walk of shame I guess, I wouldn't know.

The Walk of Shame alone is worth going to Burgers and Brewskies for, its that good.  It has egg, bacon, potato bits and a "lemonaise" sauce, it is now one of my new favorite burgers.

All the above cost me a little bit below P2,000 (we ordered excessively, we should have stayed at one burger and one appetizer, Walk of Shame was P340 alone) but it was a good date, casual, nice place, lots to see and talk about as the interior is interesting and well the naming of each , dish is clever.  I do see why this place gets the raves, Burgers and Brewskies deserves it.  I had a very enjoyable time with good value for money, other burger joints charge past P500 a burger now so the Walk of Shame at P340 is again great value for money.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will be back.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Nagi at the Aura

Its been awhile since my last post, life has taken an odd turn and I never really ate out.  But there was one restaurant I just had to try, Nagi at the Aura.  Nagi is a Ramen bar which from what I understand is a franchise of an international chain that is not called Nagi.

Why did I really want to eat here?  Because one of my friends does nothing but rave about it, he goes out of his way to eat in Nagi at least once a week and always orders the same thing, the Nagi "Black king" ramen or ramen with Squid ink.

SM Aura is kind of nuts and the food places are all the way on the fourth and fifth floor.  I may sound rather petty but getting there is a trip all in itself.  Escalator after escalator, it feels like you are climbing the pinnacle of a mountain to find some long lost treasure.

The Nagi Black King

Perennial Ramen Pair dish - Gyoza
Ordering at Nagi means you get a slip of paper with customization options for your Ramen, you customize as to:
  • Oiliness
  • Type of noodle, -soft, hard, medium
  • Spice factor
  • Egg
  • Extra meat
I should have taken a picture but you get the idea of the options available to you but this is pretty much it.  As I am no Ramen afficionado I didn't burden myself with details and selected the "chef recommendation" tick box.

So!  What did I think of Ramen Nagi's Black King?  Its very good, for P410 you get a lot of ramen.  Under the advice of my friend I got one order and extra noodles to share the meal because the broth is rich enough.  The thing is, you are only allowed one extra bowl and in my opinion the meat is not enough.  If you want to share a bowl of ramen, get extra meat.  If you have heavier appetites get extra noodles.  For light eaters like myself one bowl split to two with extra meat will do.

Very good Ramen indeed, I can see why its rated at the top of the new Ramen joints.