paluto – Jellybeans in the City

The Jelly List: Top breakfast finds at Lamp Quarters, Marikina

Foodies in Marikina and nearby places, it’s time to rise and shine, especially with the sumptuous breakfast choices awaiting you at Lamp Quarters!

This food hub nestled in the quiet suburb is a perfect place to enjoy the first meal of the day because:

It houses a diverse collection of restaurants offering various cuisines
It has a spacious outdoor dining area where you can meet up and dine with family and friends in comfort (you can also bring your fur-babies with you)
Its San Diego-inspired decor will make you feel like you’ve stepped into sunny Southern California

So if you’ve been feeling cooped up at home for the past few months, you can definitely step out and enjoy the morning in the great outdoors with these fab breakfast finds from Lamp Quarters’ restaurants.

Dampa sa Cogeo Marikina Branch

Get a taste of the sea’s bounty with Dampa sa Cogeo’s various seafood dishes plus more for a wonderful start to your day.

Breakfast Bilao (Php599, good for 2-3 people). What’s Pinoy breakfast without the silog? Enjoy a hearty meal with this breakfast staple along with daing na bangus, tocino and beef tapa, all classic flavors we just love to wake up to!

Seafood Stir-fry (Php699, good for 2-3 people). For breakfast with a bit of zing, check out this sumptuous seafood dish made with fresh crab, squid, mussels and shrimp stir-fried with veggies in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. You’d definitely be asking for extra rice to go with this!

Dampa sa Cogeo also delivers its seafood bilao and party trays. For more details, call +63 945 8646423 or +63 961 4207400 or follow it on Facebook.

Night & Day Restorante

A fusion of Italian and American flavors await you at Night & Day.

With its Breakfast Buffet (Php299, available on weekends from 8am to 11am), you can feast on a whole slew of tasty, all-you-can-eat breakfast dishes. This July, the breakfast buffet consist of beef salpicao, corned beef, daing na bangus, aglio olio, pancakes and waffles, sanwiches and sliders, eggs, roasted sesame salad and breads, accompanied by iced tea, lemonade or hot chocolate.

Night & Day is open everyday from 8am to 10pm. To reserve your slots for its Breakfast Buffet, call +63 917 1079678.

For updates on its offers and promos, follow it on Facebook and Instagram.

Kebomb

A wise man once said “Why have abs when you can have kebabs?”

Why, indeed, when you can indulge yourself with delicious yet very affordable Mediterranean-inspired food that will also appeal to Pinoy tastebuds!

Widen your morning meal horizons with Kebomb’s breakfast dishes such as beef shawarma tapa, kebab longganisa meal and chicken tocino meal, as well as its best-sellers like beef or chicken kebab rice plates, keema, keemadilla, hummus, Persian burgers in shawarma wrap and my newest favorite: chicken skin nachos!

Kebomb also delivers via Grabfood and FoodPanda. Pickup options are also available. For more details, call +63 956 9781805 or follow it on Facebook or Instagram.

So if you want to catch the sun’s early morning rays as you fill up on tasty breakfast meals with family and friends, drop by Lamp Quarters in Marikina!

Lamp Quarters is located along Gil Fernando Street, Centro de Buenviaje, Bgy Santo Nino, Marikina City. For updates on its special promos and events, follow Lamp Quarters on Facebook and Instagram.

Disclosure: Together with my foodie friends, I attended a food tasting held at this venue. Food items mentioned here were served to elicit honest feedback and were not paid for by the attendees.

1 Peso Flash Sale at Seascape Village

Among the things we love so much about going to coastal provinces is the calming and welcoming presence of the sea: the relaxing sound of the waves and wind, the laid-back atmosphere and, of course, the abundance of fresh and flavorful seafood.

There is a place right here in the metro where we can enjoy all three and we don’t even have to travel outside the city to get there. We Metro Manila denizens can have our own seaside escape at Seascape Village.

This sprawling complex combines top restaurants of varying concepts and origins with stalls of fresh seafood and an amazing view of Manila Bay. Here, foodies can converge with their friends and families to enjoy an exciting blend of cuisine, culture and community. Food can be ordered from the restaurants’ ala carte menus or can be cooked according to the diner’s choice using the fresh seafood from the clean and modern wet market conveniently located within the complex.

And guess what: it won’t stop here. This is just the first of four phases in an impressive bay side development that will soon include lifestyle and wellness, events and entertainment, hotel and commercial complex set to be completed within the next two years.

For the meantime, though, we can already enjoy the delicious offerings of the restaurants located here. In fact, on weekdays from November to January, Seascape Village visitors can enjoy a bountiful meal for only Php1, thanks to its monthly 1 Peso Flash Sale.

Here’s how:

Step One: Accomplish any one of the following to claim the Php1 deal.

Like Seascape Village’s Facebook Page and share the promo post of the month.
Follow it on Instagram and repost the promo post of the month
Share the promo post on Viber, WeChat, WhatsApp or any chat group with a minimum of 200 members

Step Two: Form a group of five and visit any of the participating restaurants on a weekday, from 12 noon to 2pm or 6pm to 8pm. You just need to show proof that Step One has been accomplished.

Participating restaurants include Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant, GoGo Kitchen, Golden China, Golden Fortune Seafood Restaurant, Lola Ina’s Seafood Paluto Restaurant, Mazu Seaside Diner, The Country Crab and Yatai Asian Cuisine.

Want to know what’s in store for you? Well, check out the viands my foodie friends and I feasted on when we visited Seascape Village.

November: Chicken

3 Cups Chicken at Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant.. Also called sanbeiji, this Taiwanese braised poultry dish got its name from the traditional use of 1 cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine. Basil, ginger, garlic and spring onions are added to flavor the dish. Legend has it that a sympathetic prison warden prepared this dish (using these limited number of ingredients) for the Chinese poet and patriot Wen Tianxiang prior to his execution ordered by Kublai Khan.

GoGo Fried Chicken at GoGo Kitchen. Tender and juicy chicken pieces coated with GoGo Kitchen’s housemade breading.

December: Pampano

Pompano in Tausi at Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant. This mildly-flavored fish is fried instead of steamed, giving its skin a slight crispy texture which contrasts well with the black bean sauce.

Fried Pampano in Black Bean Chili at GoGo Kitchen. The mildly flavored pampano fish is enhanced by the tausi chili sauce.

What about the offers for January? I guess you’ll have to watch this space to find out, huh! 😉

Seascape Village is located at Atang dela Rama, CCP Complex (near Sofitel), Pasay City. For inquiries, call +63 2 88697452.

Check out my full reviews of the restaurants I visited here:

A taste of Asia at Asian Taste, Seascape Village

Asia is home to many countries with varied geography, climes and cultures, giving rise to richly diverse cuisines.

At Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant, located at the foodie haven Seascape Village in Pasay City, this diversity is showcased and celebrated.

While the dining area at the ground floor is set up like a typical Chinese restaurant – complete with 10-seater round tables, each with a lazy susan so people can eat family style – the second floor VIP rooms add a stunning view of Manila Bay. Despite Seascape Village being a “paluto” area – where diners can buy their fish and other seafood from the wet market within the complex and have them cooked by the restaurant, Asian Taste added some fine dining elements to their diners’ experience with well-appointed surroundings and accommodating wait staff.

As explained by restaurant manager, Ryan Uy, Asian Taste’s menu spans several Asian cuisines, including Chinese (of course!), Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and more (even Filipino!), giving its diners a literal taste of Asia. To this end, the restaurant employs two chefs from Hong Kong who bring their flair and expertise in cooking up tasty Asian dishes.

Together with fellow foodies from #WeLoveToEatPH and #SaanSaPH, I attended a food crawl organized by Seascape Village, the first stop of which was at this restaurant. Here, we tasted some of its signature dishes which included:

3 Cups Chicken. Also called sanbeiji, this Taiwanese braised poultry dish got its name from the traditional use of 1 cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine. Basil, ginger, garlic and spring onions are added to flavor the dish. Legend has it that a sympathetic prison warden prepared this dish (using these limited number of ingredients) for the Chinese poet and patriot Wen Tianxiang prior to his execution ordered by Kublai Khan.

Pompano in Tausi. This mildly-flavored fish is fried instead of steamed, giving its skin a slight crispy texture which contrasts well with the black bean sauce.

Salt and Pepper Liempo. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly simple preparation of this dish: juicy pork belly seasoned with salt and pepper then stir-fried to a golden brown and topped with chilis and garlic make for a flavorful viand.

Mango Lapu. This Singaporean dish is made of lightly-battered and fried lapu-lapu, topped with strips of green and yellow mango that added sweet and tart elements as well as contrasts in texture to the dish.

Golden Beans. Crisp French beans lightly coated with salted egg yolk batter, another culinary influence from Singapore.

Prawn Tempura. Large juicy tiger prawns covered in golden crispy batter. These have an extra layer of bubble-like batter for added crunch.

Asian Taste is clearly the place to be for a taste of Asia – different facets of a cuisine rich in stories and traditions, expressed in every dish.

Many thanks to Ryan and the staff of Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant for the warm welcome and the wonderful meal and to Jen and Louie of Seascape Village for inviting us.

Asian Taste Seafood Restaurant is located at Seascape Village, Atang dela Rama, CCP Complex, Pasay City (near Sofitel and Manila Film Center), open daily from 11am to 12 midnight. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 8520877 or +63 917 8557926.

Disclosure: Together with fellow foodies, I attended a foodie meetup held at this restaurant. Food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare in exchange for an honest review and were not paid for by the attendees including myself.

Check out my reviews of other seafood restaurants: