The Food Edit – Page 61 – The Jellybeans Edit

Sarap ka-pares from Pares Retiro

What can I say?

After I realized I could just have my fam’s faves from Pares Retiro delivered to my home, I just can’t get enough of it.

Truth be told: I haven’t eaten at a Pares Retiro outlet yet. All my encounters with its much-vaunted pares offerings were all through delivery: the first one was at work when my officemate and I ordered from the Pares Retiro branch in Tomas Morato via LalaFood, and the succeeding ones after the pandemic hit when its offerings became available in our neck of the woods via GrabFood’s Long Distance Delivery.

In fact, our orders don’t really stray from our tried and tested favorites:

Classic Pares Meal (Php223). Pairing slow-braised, tender beef pares with garlic fried rice is surely a stroke of genius. The result is a delicious dynamic between sweet and savory that we Pinoys go crazy over.

Pares Tendon Meal (Php217). What will make the classic pares dish made even more irresistible? Well, the addition of melt-in-your-mouth pieces of litid, that’s what! Those chunks of imported US beef tendon just adds flavor and texture to the dish.

It’s a rare occasion when my entire family all wholeheartedly agree on the merits of a particular dish or restaurant, but Pares Retiro’s Classic Pares and Pares Tendon Meals have more than earned that distinction.

Now, if only they will open a branch nearer to our home so I won’t have to pay as much for delivery!

This Pares Retiro branch is located at SM Hypermarket, EDSA Corner Main Avenue, Cubao, Quezon City, open daily from 9am to 6pm. Pares Retiro delivers via GrabFood, LalaFood and via Pares Retiro’s website.

Chinese food feast delivery from Yang Chow

Did you know that Chinese food has three key flavors? These are sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy.

The combination and degree of intensity of these flavors have brought forth one of the most varied of the world’s cuisines. As you hop from one region to the next, you will see variations in the dishes they produce: Sichuan, for example, is famous for its numbingly spicy food while Hong Kong leans towards the sweet-salty dynamic. It just goes to show that one of the world’s richest cultures can produce a very diverse culinary heritage.

Those are some of the flavors that came into play when I decided to give the fam a break for our usual ulam fare and order in a Chinese feast from a nearby branch of Chinese restaurant chain Yang Chow.

Our delightful repast included:

Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php298 for large). Pre-cooked rice is stir-fried in a wok along with chopped char siu, scallions, veggies and scrambled egg. I wouldn’t dare order a Chinese meal without this staple. The kiddos would surely revolt!

Beef Steak Chinese Style (Php398). Tender beef slices stir-fried and doused in a savory sauce. A new fave for my daughter #ExhibitA!

Lemon Chicken (Php278). Another staple Chinese dish with crispy pieces of chicken served in a tangy lemon sauce. A Chinese food meal won’t be complete for my son #ExhibitB without it!

Brocolli Flower with Oyster Sauce (Php218). Crisp and lightly blanched brocolli flowers served with and oyster-flavored sauce and topped with toasted garlic flakes. It’s the healthy part of the meal our meal and counter-balances the rich flavors of our other orders.

I’m glad to know that every time the fam tires of our go-to ulam dishes, we can just have an exotic Chinese feast delivered to us.

This Yang Chow branch is located at Industria Mall, Indusria Street, Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City, open daily from 10am to 6.30pm. To order for delivery, call +63 2 79009907 or +63 915 4470765 or course your order via GrabFood or FoodPanda.

Download the Grab App and get a discount on your first food order when you use my code: GRABJELLYBEANS.

Use this link to download the FoodPanda app and get Php100 off your first order.

Check out my reviews of other Asian restaurants:

Tapa Box delivery from Tapa King

Sometimes, the stars align and everyone in the family agrees that they just had a good meal.

This Sunday, after running morning errands and lunchtime looming just a short hour away, neither Hubby nor I were in the mood to handle the stress of meal prep and cooking.

Well, I thought to myself, this looks like a job for my food delivery apps!

So off I went, tap-tap-tapping on my phone, looking for food that I can have delivered for the fam’s Sunday lunch. My criteria is that the meal should appeal to the fam’s collective taste in food, not be something we recently ate (for variety), and should cost below Php1,000, delivery fee included (because payday is still a few days away!).

Lo and behold, the solution to my dilemma was at my doorstep less than an hour later.

The fam’s meal consisted of five sets of Tapa King Classic.

Tapa King started as a hole-in-the-wall business in 1987 in Makati CBD. Today, it’s a chain of restaurants with presence, not just in the Philippines but also in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Despite recently undergoing a brand refresh and store makeover, it remains true to its original intent: to serve homestyle Pinoy comfort food – tapa.

Tapa is basically marinated beef, stir-fried in oil and, when served with fried egg and garlic fried rice, forms the iconic tapsilog (tapa–sinangag–itlog).

The Tapa King Classic is the formerly known as Tapa King (yes, there were also a Tapa Queen and a Tapa Prince). It is tapa cooked the traditional way, seasoned with spices that bring out the beef’s natural flavors. With fried egg and garlic fried rice included in the order, it is a deliciously satisfying meal.

You can have it as a solo meal at Php169.

Or you can choose to have all the meals in the 4-in-1 Box (Php678) be all Tapa King Classics. You even get solo bottles of Pepsi to go with your meal.

In our case, I opted for both so the whole fam – myself, hubby, the kiddos and yaya – can all enjoy our own Tapa King Classic. Thanks to a a GrabFood free delivery promo, my total bill came in at just Php847.

Thanks to Tapa King, I escaped lunchtime stress. Now, on to worrying about dinner…

This Tapa King branch is located at G/F L&Y Plaza E. Rodriguez Ave. Brgy. Ugong, Pasig City, open daily from 6am to 8pm for dine-in, takeout and delivery. For inquiries, reservations or orders, call +63 2 82916254 or +63 915 0611117, or course your food delivery via GrabFood or FoodPanda.

Snackin’ on de Original Jamaican Pattie

One of my challenges as a work-from-home mommy during quarantine is keeping the fam energized for all the things we need to do at home. Whether these tasks involve Zoom meetings with work colleagues, attending online classes or simply doing our tasks to maintain the household, giving Hubby and kiddos a tasty snack to tide them over between mealtimes is crucial to the continued harmony of our home during quarantine.

One of my go-to snack treats for the fam is the Jamaican Pattie.

As its name implies, this meat-filled pastry came from Jamaica but had roots from among the various cultures present in the country during its colonial period. From the Cornish immigrants came the baked pastry, while the Indian and African laborers contributed the use of cumin, curry and cayenne pepper. Together, these influences have produced a tasty and filling savory dish.

Here in Manila, the Jamaican Pattie was introduced and popularized by de Original Jamaican Pattie Shop & Juice Bar. In these kiosks, the delicious pastries are baked – not fried – fresh everyday.

For the kiddos and myself, the Cheezy Beef Jamaican patties hit the spot while Hubby’s favorite pattie is the Cheezy Pinatubo. The patties’ flaky crust and generous filling make for an enjoyable family snackin’.

Previously, we could only get these patties when we go to malls but since the quarantine, the chain’s kiosks have begun offering their wares for delivery via its official delivery partner Coco Delivery, or through GrabFood and FoodPanda.

Mediterranean food delivery from Jamie’s Kebabs

To many, the word “Mediterranean” calls to mind sun-kissed rooftops, sparkling waves in an cerulean sea, and vibrant vistas. For foodies like me, it brings forth images of hearty dishes made with fresh produce and flavorful spices.

My love story with Mediterranean food came about because of Hubby. He introduced me to kebabs, shawarmas and hummus back when we were still dating. Twenty-plus years later, we share our love for this cuisine with our kids who look forward to our food adventures involving kebabs.

Thankfully, thirty-three-year-old food entrepreneur Adam Tan seeks to provide the metro’s denizens easy access to great-tasting Mediterranean dishes, even during quarantine.

Maximizing the existing kitchen space of his other food venture, casual dining resto Main Street in Kapitolyo, he decided to open Jamie’s Kebabs last April on a delivery basis. Its menu includes Middle Eastern staples, dishes familiar and appealing to the Pinoy palate. These include:

Hummus (Php189). A savory spread or dip made with mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice and garlic. Jamie’s Kebabs’ version is made even more appetizing by the addition of roasted bell peppers and fried chickpeas. This dish is served with a piece of fresh pita bread. It’s quite good when enjoyed on its own with the pita bread but adds a new dimension of flavor when added to the other dishes as a dip or a condiment.

Beef Kebab Pita Wrap (Php159). Marinated ground beef grilled in skewers and served wrapped in pita bread together with garlic sauce, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers. Each bite brings an explosion of flavor and pleasant textures in my mouth. Like I said earlier, this also becomes phenomenal when a bit of hummus is added to the wrap.

Kebab Sampler (Php329). Beef, lamb and chicken kebab served on top of buttered rice with one grilled tomato, alongside garlic and red hot sauce. It would be enough for two (I shared it with Hubby) but a really hungry (or selfish!) Mediterranean food fanatic can easily polish this off by herself.

Jamie’s Kebabs’ offerings are great, not just of kebab fans but for budding foodies seeking to broaden their culinary horizons to include Mediterranean cuisine.

Jamie’s Kebabs is located at 10 East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig City, open daily from 10am to 8pm for dine-in, pickup and delivery. To order, call +63 2 72392827 or +63 917 8158187. Payments via cash, credit card, BDO bank transfer and GCash are accepted.

You may also course your order via FoodPanda or GrabFood (the resto is included among the establishments available for long distance delivery).

Taguig, Pateros and Makati residents may soon also get a taste of Jamie’s Kebabs’ dishes as a new branch is set to open Barangay Sumilang, Pasig City which could serve those markets via delivery.

Download the Grab App and get a discount on your first food order when you use my code: GRABJELLYBEANS.

Use this link to download the FoodPanda app and get Php100 off your first order.

Disclosure: Food samples were provided to facilitate an honest review.

Check out my posts on other restaurants serving Mediterranean cuisine:

KFC delivery for Sunday lunch

When I was young, my parents used to reward my good grades with a meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. (Oh, those simple joys!)

This ubiquitous fried chicken fast food chain’s history began during the Great Depression in the US with Colonel Harlan David Sanders who started selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. Having perfected his original recipe that made use of eleven herbs and spices, he then franchised his fried chicken recipe to restaurant owners.

Today, KFC is a global presence, with presence in 150 countries.

It offers its “finger-lickin’ good” fried chicken to Pinoys along with a wide fast food menu which includes pastas and rice bowls that appeal to the Filipino market.

As a busy, currently working-from-home mom, KFC is a way for me to escape from cooking duties while still providing the fam with a delicious meal.

This is why my family came to have KFC for our Sunday lunch.

Feeling bone-tired from a hectic work week, I was in no mood to plan and prepare a meal.

Thankfully, I saw Mommy Ojie of PiggingOutOnSundays post a Php100 discount code for FoodPanda. I grabbed the code and ordered a Bucket of 10 (Php720).

I asked my yaya to cook lots of rice because, yeah, it’s an unli-kanin kind of meal.

Biting into finger-lickingly flavorful fried chicken in between spoonfuls of rice is more than fine by me.

I just wish that KFC start offering coleslaw as one of its fixins again. It stopped offering my favorite side dish since the pandemic started and hasn’t yet brought it back to its menu. (Note: I used to make a scene at KFC checkout counters when informed that coleslaw is not available.)

This KFC branch is located at Ground Floor, Robinson’s Place Cainta, Santo Domingo, Cainta, Rizal. To order for delivery, call +63 2 88878888 or course it via FoodPanda.

#QuarantineCookbook: Basque Burnt Cheesecake Cups

One of the food items that trended during quarantine is the Basque Burnt Cheesecake.

An adaptation of tarta de queso which was popularized by the cafe La Viña located in San Sebastian in the Basque region of northern Spain, it is characterized by its parchment paper wrapping, scorched top that dips into a gooey, almost molten-like, center.

I had my first taste of Burnt Basque Cheesecake last year during lunch with my officemates at Sourdough Cafe and again this year when I had a whole cake delivered to my home from Sweet Samthings for my birthday celebration.

What I love about it is the buttery caramel-like taste of the top layer that gives way to the rich tanginess of the cheesecake filling.

This decadent dessert makes use of easily accessible ingredients: cream cheese (of course!), sugar, eggs, flour and cream.

I’m considering giving some away as gifts to family and friends so I decided to try making this dessert as mini cups.

I also used fresh cage-free eggs for this recipe. This type of eggs are grown in farms that provides environments that allow egg-laying hens to exhibit their natural behaviors unlike those with battery-cage systems which provide no space for the hens to stretch their wings, perch, or forage. Cage-free eggs have been found to be of higher quality and have a healthier nutritional profile than other eggs such as less saturated fat and cholesterol, higher levels of protein, vitamins and omega fatty acids. You can read more about the virtues of cage-free eggs here.

Ingredients:

Two 225g bars of cream cheese
One cup granulated sugar
Three cage-free eggs
Two-and-half tablespoons all purpose flour
One-eight teaspoon of salt
One cup whipping cream
One-fourth teaspoon melted butter

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 250 deg C.

Using a mixer on medium speed, soften the cream cheese for three minutes then add the sugar until well combined.

Add in the eggs one at a time and beat for a minute until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the salt and continue to beat for another minute until the ingredients are well incorporated into the mixture. Set aside.

Place the flour in a separate bowl and whisk in the whipping cream a little at a time, making sure that there are no flour lumps.

Pour the cream mixture into the cheese mixture while mixing at slow speed.

Line the cups of two muffin pans with cupcake liners (or you can use two square pieces of parchment papers placed on top of each other such that the corners alternate with each other). Brush the liners with a bit of melted butter.

Fill the cups two-thirds of the way, then bake for thirteen to fifteen minutes until the tops are slightly scorched (I prefer that over totally burnt) and the centers are still wobbly.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool up to ten minutes to allow the cakes to set.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

I was able to make twenty-four mini cakes and one (thin!) cake in an eight-inch round tin.

These cakes have my kiddos seal of approval, and my mom’s as well, as I sent the tin cake over to her as a present.

So if you’re on the lookout for something new to bring to your Noche Buena table, or to give away as gifts to your nears-and-dears, do give this recipe a try.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other kitchen adventures:

Hot soothing goto from Goto Believe, Kapitolyo

We’ve been inundated with quite a lot of bad hits lately. Faced with the pandemic, still raging across the globe, and the spate of typhoons that battered our country, we sometimes want to curl up somewhere warm and comforting.

That is what goto brings: the comforting warmth that fills the tummy and soothes the soul.

During a particularly rainy day, Hubby decided to have goto for our merienda.

Also called arroz caldo con goto (which roughly translates to “rice soup with tripe”), goto is made with glutinous rice infused with ginger. Afterwards, thin strips of boiled tripe and other proteins are added to the porridge before the dish is garnished with a hard-boiled egg, toasted garlic and diced scallions. It’s great for chilly rainy days or for chasing away a hangover.

In our case, our goto snack is something to slurp on as we binge-watch some K-dramas during a rainy day.

Hubby ordered our snack from a relatively new goto place called Goto Believe which reinvents the classic porridge.

Our meal consisted of:

Goto Heaven (Php108). Hot ginger-infused rice porridge with strips of tripe, beef tendon, innards and meat.

Grilled Chicharong Bulaklak (Php126/2 sticks). Crispy and flavorful ruffled pork fat in skewers.

These are not the healthiest of food combinations but that’s why they’re comfort food, right?

If you want to have your own bowl of comforting goto delivered right to your doorstep to chase away the rainy day blues, order online or via GrabFood or FoodPanda.

Pinoy-style fried chicken delivery from Max’s Chicken

In this blog, I’ve covered various ways to enjoy fried chicken: from Korean- and Japanese-style then all the way across the globe to Southern US-style.

But particular attention should also be given to the fried chicken that’s near and dear to many a Pinoy’s heart: the fried chicken from Max’s Restaurant.

This restaurant had its beginnings in post-WWII Quezon City, when Stanford-educated teacher Maximo Gimenez befriended the American troops stationed nearby and would invite them to his home for a drink or two. This led to Maximo opening a cafe catering to the GIs.

The fried chicken recipe which would become the restaurant’s claim to fame across generations was created by Maximo’s niece, Ruby, who managed the kitchen.

Today, Max’s Restaurant is The House That Fried Chicken Built. It is where people go to for a taste of simply delicious juicy and flavorful fried chicken, as well as other Filipino dishes.

And luckily for me, it delivers!

One Saturday when I was in no mood to cook, I decided to cook for the fam’s lunch, I decided to just order our ulam from Max’s Restaurant via FoodPanda.

So, having asked my yaya to cook lots and lots of rice, the fam and I lunched on:

Regular Chicken (Php575). A whole chicken cooked the Max’s way. At first look, the chicken looks quite small, but don’t worry; it packs a lot of flavor. As in, sarap to the bones, as they say. Of course, this dish would not be complete without its perfect complement: Max’s house banana ketchup!

Vegetable Kare-Kare (Php425). Max’s vegetarian take on the classic Pinoy dish. Lightly blanched veggies immersed in a rich peanut sauce and served with Max’s house bagoong. Since the sauce is quite flavorful, this dish is a great way to induce the kiddos to eat veggies.

While it was a simple meal, it was quite delicious, one I’m looking forward to having again soon!

To have your Max’s Pinoy-style fried chicken and more delivered to your home, call +63 2 88879000, order online or via Food Panda.

Outback Steakhouse, MOA Complex

Are you a steak lover? I know I am!

A big hunk of beefy steak, grilled to tender and juicy perfection, can do wonders for my mood.

A place to be for good steaks is Outback Steakhouse.

Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-inspired steakhouse with a global presence. True to its inspiration from Down Under, it has a casual and easy-going vibe which translate to boisterous fun while enjoying great-tasting and hearty fare with family and friends.

Prior to the lockdowns brought on by the pandemic, I was able to have a lunch date with Hubby at the Outback Steakhouse branch in the Mall of Asia Complex.

First, we were served a loaf of freshly baked brown bread and butter to nibble on while waiting for our orders.

Then, we gave in to out steak cravings with:

Appetizer Platter (Php649). An appetizing combo of Kookaburra Wings, Crispy Fried Calamari and Crispy Volcano Shrimp. The variety of flavors and textures will whet your appetite for more!

New York Strip (Php1,499). A 284g cut of New York strip steak flavored with Outback’s special blend of seasonings then grilled to medium doneness. To go with this, we ordered freshly made sides Coleslaw (Php99) and Aussie Fries (Php129).

Outback Steakhouse halted its operations during the enhanced community quarantine but re-opened in May for takeout and delivery, and, by June, started accepting dine-in guests to sate the steak cravings of the metro’s denizens.

So if you feel like having a hearty hunk of perfectly grilled beef for your meal, do drop by a branch.

This Outback Steakhouse branch is located at Blue Bay Walk, Macapagal Avenue Corner EDSA, Mall of Asia Complex (MOA), Pasay City, open daily from 11am to 8pm for dine-in, takeout and delivery. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 88931026.

Other branches in the metro are located at:

Eastwood Citywalk 1, Libis, Quezon City
Ground Floor, Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Ground Floor, ATC Corporate Center, Alabang, Muntinlupa City