roasted chicken – Jellybeans in the City

Timberland Highlands Resort’s Ridge Cafe introduces Arabic Dinner Buffet

Would you like to give in to your flights of fancy and embark on an exciting journey?

A journey among extraordinary flavors, that is. 🙂

Well, head on then to Ridge Cafe at Timberland Highlands Resort up in the mountains of San Mateo, Rizal. Here, you can escape the hustle and bustle of the city to enjoy the fresh mountain air as you dine in style, thanks to its opulent interiors and al fresco area overlooking the metro.

Ridge Cafe - Timberland Highlands Resort — Ridge Cafe from outside

Here, your tastebuds can certainly go on a flavor tour, thanks to its recently unveiled Arabic Dinner Buffet.

Expanding gastronomic possibilities in the Rizal area

Every Saturday, from 6m to 9pm, you can eat your fill of flavorful and nutritious viands that boast of having Arabic, Mediterranean and South Asian origins, as well as free-flowing iced tea, all for just Php980++.

This exciting culinary curation is the brainchild of Timberland Highlands Resort’s new Executive Chef, Ranuka Hettiarachchi, who sought to include healthy Mediterranean dishes in Ridge Cafe’s buffet, as well as providing guests with vegan and vegetarian diets with suitable options.

Ridge Cafe - Timberland Highlands Buffet — A preview to the Arabic Dinner

Also, given that restaurants offering Arabic food are not that common in the Rizal area, local residents now have a new convenient destination if they want to expand their food horizons.

Representing exotic flavors from the Mediterranean and Arabic regions

Ridge Cafe’s Arabic Dinner Buffet presents travel-hungry foodies with the opportunity to enjoy signature dishes of regions such as Greece, the Middle East, Egypt and South Asia, all cohesively curated and mouthwateringly presented in their respective stations.

Carnivores will be (quite understandably!) drawn to the carving station where beautifully roasted beef striploin and leg of lamb take pride of place, accompanied by roasted veggies and a variety of sauces to choose from.

Those seeking healthier fare can always go to the cold section and check out the fresh salads comprised of crisp greens and veggies as well as filling proteins.

Then diners can hop from station to station to sample distinct tastes from various countries in a virtual food trip across the Mediterranean, Gulf and Indian subcontinent with these flavorful offerings:

Dessert lovers can also look forward to sampling the popular desserts from these regions as well as their favorite sweets in the dessert station.

While you can always take this journey by yourself, it’s best to experience it with family and friends!

Ridge Cafe also offers other buffet meals including:

Top of the Morning Buffet: intercontinental breakfast menu and classic Pinoy almusal favorites at Php650 net per person (weekends from 7am to 10am)
Filipino Buffet: favorite Filipino dishes with free-flowing iced tea at Php980+ per person (lunch from 11.30am to .30pm | dinner from 6pm to 9pm)

To reserve a table, email timberlandfbm@timberlandresort.com or message 0999-889-2659 | 0995-840-3206 | 8891-8288 local 1030 and 1032.

Ridge Cafe is located at Timberland Highlands Resort, inside Timberland Heights, Barangay Guitnang Bayan II, San Mateo, Rizal 1850 Philippines.

Book your room via Klook today to enjoy great savings!

To know more about Timberland Highlands Resorts latest updates and offers, follow it on Facebook and Instagram.

Check out my previous posts about Timberland Highlands Resort:

Chimichurri makes a comeback at Kenny Rogers Roasters!

Guess what’s making its way back to Kenny Rogers Roasters’ menu…

Chimichurri!

This flavorful condiment made from finely chopped parsley and cilantro, minced garlic and spices, kmixed together with a healthy dose of citrus for that blend of spicy and citrusy flavors that adds elevates many South American dishes.

Now, Kenny Rogers Roasters is bringing you seven delicious ways to savor this unique flavor with various proteins so you can choose how you want to enjoy your chimichurri, any day of the week.

Plus, to complete your chimichurri experience, Kenny Rogers Roasters is launching two new side dishes available for a limited time only: baconized corn and chips & salsa. These are perfect foils to the savory dishes enhanced with the spice and zest of chimichurri.

Day 1: Chimichurri Roast

Get the week off to a tasty start with Kenny Rogers Roasters signature juicy chicken infused with garlic and lime flavors and served with zesty chimichurri sauce.

Day 2: Chimichurri Half Slab Ribs

Sate your appetite with fall-off-the-bone tender ribs smothered with spicy and garlicky chimichurri sauce.

Day 3: Chimichurri Burger Bun

On this day, you can indulge yourself with a perfectly grilled 1/3-pound Angus beef patty, tomatoes, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiched between two wheat buns.

Day 4: Chimichurri Fish

How about opting for something healthy today with this soft and flaky grilled white fish served a chimichurri sauce.

Day 5: Chimichurri Sausage

Treat yourself to a flavor bomb with this juicy and salty Schublig sausage topped with chimichurri sauce.

Day 6: Chimichurri Burger Steak

Savor this 1/3-pound Angus beef burger patty topped with zesty chimichurri sauce.

Day 7: Chimichurri Premium Steak

Cap the week with this special indulgence: a perfectly grilled striploin steak paired with spicy chimichurri sauce!

Excited for to bite into your chimichurri feast? Visit your nearest Kenny Rogers Roasters outlet to dine-in or have it for takeout.

It is also available for delivery at kennyrogersdelivery.com.ph and through Kenny Rogers Roasters delivery hotline +63 2 85559000, as well as in GrabFood, FoodPanda and Pick*A*Roo.

For more details about its offers and promos, follow Kenny Rogers on Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided to facilitate this feature.

Eggs-perience eggs-tasy with Kenny Rogers Roasters’ new Salted Egg Chicken line

Guess what, foodies? Kenny Rogers Roasters has new menu items that will give a truly egg-ceptional eggs-perience: the Salted Egg Roast, the Unfried Fried Chicken and the Unfried Fried Chicken Bun.

Our all-time favorite Kenny Rogers Roasters dishes were given an egg-citing makeover, elevating them with salted egg flavors to bring about eggs-tasy with every bite!

Egg puns aside, this new line incorporates one of our well-loved ingredients: the salted egg!

From the time it was introduced into our shores when our ancient forebears traded with the Chinese, the salted egg has become a staple addition in many of our much-loved native dishes, adding a rich and exotic flavor to our cuisine.

Today, fast-food chain Kenny Rogers Roasters incorporates this ingredient into its healthy chicken variants, such as:

Salted Egg Roast.

Generous chicken pieces marinated in special herbs and spices, roasted to juicy and smokey perfection, then garnished with salted egg powder and salted egg sauce. It is best enjoyed with steamed rice, your favorite Kenny Rogers Roasters side dishes and corn muffin.

Salted Egg Unfried Fried Chicken.

A healthier and more exotic alternative to fried chicken, this consist of chicken pieces cooked through an oven with circulating hot air instead of being deep-fried, cooking the meat in its natural oil. The resulting juicy and crispy chicken pieces are then given an generous coating of salted egg powder and served with salted egg sauce. Partner this tasty viand with steamed rice, your favorite Kenny Rogers Roasters side dishes and corn muffin.

Salted Egg Unfried Fried Chicken Bun.

Perfect for a snack or a light lunch, this sandwich consists of an oven-cooked chicken fillet tossed with salted egg powder and salted egg sauce, then packed with tomato, lettuce and onion in between two wheat buns.

Isn’t it egg-cellent that we can readily enjoy our Kenny Rogers Roasters faves flavored with salted egg just by dropping by the nearest outlet or by calling +63 2 85559000?

It is also available for delivery at kennyrogersdelivery.com.ph, as well as in GrabFood and FoodPanda.

For more details about its offers and promos, follow Kenny Rogers on Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided to facilitate this feature.

Chicken Galantina by Fira’s Kitchen

If you haven’t encountered the dish called Chicken Galantina yet, you’re missing on quite a lot!

This delectable dish is made with a deboned chicken stuffed with ground pork, hard-boiled egg and sausages with some pickle relish and spices which is then baked until cooked.

Its origins go all the way back to France with a dish called galantine which employs basically the same method and similar ingredients. Its name may have been derived from its elaborate preparation and presentation: deboning a chicken, after all, is pretty difficult and time-consuming, and the finished dish is lavishly decorated before serving. This leads to a spread of food on the table that is urbane and sophisticated – therefore gallant.

Given the effort that goes into making this dish, it usually makes an appearance during special occasions or holiday feasts.

I remember my mom trying her hand at making this dish back when I was young and I could attest to the difficulty and care needed in making it. No wonder then, that despite the appeal of the dish among our family members, Mom rarely ventured into making this dish since then.

To my reckoning, it’s been years since the last time I had a taste of Chicken Galantina, while my kiddos have yet to acquaint themselves with it.

As luck would have it, the family of my honorary daughter – my real daughter #ExhibitA’s BFF – sent a whole Chicken Galantina from Fira’s Kitchen to us.

Established in the early 2000s, Fira’s Kitchen specializes in Chicken Galantina, making use of a family recipe that had been passed down through generations.

Honorary Daughter and her mom swear by it, and I have to say that I agree.

From its flavorful browned skin to the succulent chicken meat and delicious stuffing – thankfully not overflowing with raisins! – it is a welcome highlight at our dinner table.

It came with its special gravy which my kiddos consumed quite liberally but I quite prefer my Chicken Galantina portion without it.

The remarkable thing about this dish is that it can be enjoyed hot or cold, so what few leftovers we had conveniently became sandwich fillings for our midnight snack.

Fira’s Kitchen sells its Whole Chicken Galantina with Gravy for Php850. Galantina Rolls (a version of the Chicken Galantina rolled in chicken breast) and Chicken Embutina (the same Chicken Galantina recipe but in embotido-style) are also available for Php150 and Php180, respectively.

To order, call +63 927 5192810 or send a message via Facebook or Instagram.

Check out my blog posts on other small enterprises and startups in the food business:

#TheBistroGroup Trinoma Food Crawl: TGI Friday’s

Don’t you sometimes have those days when you’ve got a monster-sized appetite and only big slabs of meat or platters of pasta will do?

On such days, you should head straight to TGI Friday’s!

TGI Friday’s started as a bar at the corner of 63rd and First in New York City in the 1960s where everyday felt like Friday. Today, it still serves up delicious American dishes right off the grill and beer fresh from the tap for groups of friends to enjoy in 931 restaurants in over sixty countries.

In the Philippines, it is managed by The Bistro Group, a collection of imported and home-grown hospitality brands.

In response to the need of the times, The Bistro Group has instituted safety protocols for safe dining-in at its restaurants. These include: regular health checks for all its personnel, compliance of all outdoor and indoor seating to physical distancing guidelines, hand sanitizers available at the entrance and on every table, as well as contactless menu ordering and payment.

These protocols require diners to submit to temperature checks, provide contact tracing details and using the hand sanitizers and sanitation mats prior to entering the restaurant premises, as well as wearing their personal protective equipment (PPEs) while inside. Would-be diners who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to people who do, have underlying health conditions or have concerns about contracting the disease when dining out are advised to stay home and avail of the restaurant’s contactless delivery options.

While observing these safety measures during our epic #TrinomaFoodCrawl, my foodie friends and I were able to enjoy an hearty all-American feast which consisted of:

Southern Platter (Php2,195). A filling combination of Baby Back Ribs, Cajun Chicken, Grilled Andouille and Grilled Baguette with sides of Coleslaw, Mac & Cheese and rice.

Truffle Bacon & Mushroom (Php495). Pasta tossed with shiitake mushrooms, mozarella, smoked gouda, bacon bits and truffle aoili.

Guess who left the table full and happy: me, that’s who!

Get your fill of TGI Friday’s hearty dishes with its exciting offers:

BFF Bundle: Fish & Chips + Tomato Arugula Pasta + 2 pcs Pacific Grilled Porkchop (Php1,295).
Buy One Get One Everyday: 2 pcs Signature JD Porkchop + Truffle Bacon & Mushroom Pizza (Php950), Three-Meat Platter + Scallops and Scampi (Php1,895), Signature JD Salmon + Tomato Arugula Pasta

You can also get great savings with the BFF Card, The Bistro Group’s loyalty program that gives members exclusive perks across 15 restaurant brands such as:

30% off on Mondays
20% off on Tuesdays
Complimentary coffee or hot tea single-serve with entree purchase
Online seats reservation
Six Php250 e-vouchers with minimum purchase of Php1,000 per voucher

This TGI Friday’s branch is located at Fourth Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City, open daily from 11am to 8pm.

Other branches are located at:

Eastwood Citywalk 1, Libis, Quezon City
Level 2, Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas, Quezon City
B4, Bonifacio High Street, 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Ground Floor, Venice Grand Canal Mall, McKinley Hill, Taguig City
Ground Floor, Hotel Rembrandt, Tomas Morato Avenue Corner Scout Bayoran Street, South Triangle, Quezon City
Second Floor, Glorietta 3, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Level 3, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Greenbelt, Makati City
Ground Floor, Midtown Wing, Robinsons Place Manila, Ermita, Manila
Ground Floor, Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia, Mall of Asia Complex (MOA), Pasay City
Central Garden, Ayala Fairview Terraces, Maligaya Road Corner Quirino Highway, Novaliches, Quezon City
Second Floor, Alabang Town Center, Alabang, Muntinlupa City
Evia Lifestyle Center, Daang Hari Road, Almanza, Las Piñas City
Upper Ground Floor, Main Mall, Ayala Malls Circuit, Carmona, Makati City

TGI Friday’s delivers via GrabFood and FoodPanda.

Check out my posts about other restos of The Bistro Group:

Brotzeit’s Wonder Platter

German cuisine is not so represented among the metro’s restaurants, which is a shame.

German cuisine presents rich flavors and hearty servings that would appeal to the largely carnivorous Filipino palate.

Meat figures prominently in German food, with pork making up most of the meat dishes from wursts to roasts.

Take Brotzeit’s Wunderplatte/Wonder Platter (Php3,700) for example. I was able to sample this filling curation of signature German dishes and new items when I visited Brotzeit before thee quarantine.

With its tasty collection of meats in large servings, this platter is the perfect meal for people to come together to enjoy.

This jam-packed platter, which is good for up to six people, included:

Oven-Roasted Chicken.

Berner Sausages. Savory pork links stuffed with emmenthal cheese and wrapped in bacon.

Honey Bavarian Ribs. Fall-of-the-bone tender pork ribs coated with a unique garlic, beer and barbecue-infused sauce.

Signature Crispy Oven-Roasted Pork Knuckle. Hind shank of grain-fed pork roasted in the oven to achieve a crispy skin and tender, flavorful meat.

If all those can not make any carnivore’s mouth water, I don’t know what can!

As with most German food, the Wunderplatte was best enjoyed with another German staple: a glass of good German beer.

Brotzeit has already re-opened with protocols in place for safe and fun dining.

This Brotzeit branch is located at Ground Level, High Street Park, Shangri-La at the Fort, 30th Street Corner 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 88159338.

Another branch is located at 112 G/F Shangri La Plaza Mall, Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 86311489.

You can also have your German food feast delivered right to your home through Brotzeit’s website. The good news is that until January 22, you can enjoy 20% off your online delivery order by using the promo code BZ20OFF.

A Subway Snack Attack

Busy working at home but in need of some nourishment to plow through your tasks?

Not to worry because you can easily have a tasty and filling sub from Subway delivered right to your doorstep!

The sub, or the submarine, is a sandwich made with a length of bread split lengthwise and filled meats, cheeses, vegetables and condiments. It is so-named because of its distinctive shape, but has also been called hoagie, hero or grinder.

Subway, the world’s largest single-brand restaurant chain, specializes in submarine sandwiches, some of which, my kiddos and I were able to sample when Hubby ordered a few subs for our mid-afternoon snack. These include:

6-inch BLT (Php276). People say that great things come in threes. In the case of this sandwich, those three things are crispy bacon, crisp lettuce and juicy tomato slices served with mayo on freshly baked honey oat bread.

6-inch Roasted Chicken Breast (Php149). A six-inch sub with a tender, juicy roasted boneless chicken breast patty, with lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions and mayo is served on freshly baked honey oat bread.

Truth be told, Hubby ordered a 12-inch Spicy Italian (Php264), a footlong sub with spicy salami and pepperoni with crispy veggies on a freshly baked footlong bread, but I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it anymore. Guess why, hehehe!

Well, I do plan on getting a fews subs again soon, especially since it has an ongoing Two for Php200 promo.

Posted by Subway Philippines on Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Feel like a sub today?

This Subway branch is located at Ground Floor, Zeta Tower, Bridgetowne Business Center, Libis, Quezon City, and is open from 9am to 4pm for takeout and delivery via GrabFood and FoodPanda.

A chicken-y twist to sisig from Manokoloco

Find yourself in a bind as what to have for the gang’s lunch while in quarantine?

Don’t stress yourself out! Go for something tasty that you won’t have to tire yourself out cooking.

How about that Pinoy staple ulam called sisig? That’s sure to have the vote of everyone in the gang!

Try it with a twist by ordering some Chicken Sisig from Manokoloco!

Instead of the usual pork cheeks, get crunchy bits of roasted chicken and chicken liver all mixed up with chilis and a bit of mayo. It’s lighter on the tummy and (hopefully, just a wee bit) healthier, too!

Get enough for the whole gang by ordering the Nalocosisig (Php250), quite plenty for a barkada of three to four. Just make sure to have lots and lots of kanin ready!

Eating all by your lonesome? Here is where it gets interesting.

You can reheat it for dinner, make a pasta sauce out of it or add it as a topping to the tortilla chips you munch on while binge-watching your fave Netflix series.

The possibilities are endless!

Thanks to Harvard of AlwaysHungry.PH for sharing from his ulam stash!

Manokoloko is located at 19 11th Jamboree Street, Barangay Sacred Heart, Quezon City. For inquiries or to order for curbside pickup or delivery, call +63 916 5563487.

Momshie, grab a takeout from Baliwag

One of the challenges we moms face during this period of enhanced community quarantine is planning the family’s menu.

Stocking up on food items, hunting for that missing but all-important ingredient, adding twists on old recipes so that the little ones won’t get tired of eating the same viands week after week, tracking which refrigerated item is nearing its expiration date… All these can be quite overwhelming, huh?

So momshie, just this once, give yourself a break: order takeout from your nearby Baliwag Lechon Manok ATBP stand. (And chances are, wherever you are in the metro, there’s a Baliwag outlet near you.)

You won’t have to break the bank to give yourself a rest from the kitchen woes.

Get a Whole Lechon Manok for just Php290 and let the kiddos enjoy the tender and juicy chicken pieces roasted just right for the Pinoy palate.

Get a whole Inihaw na Liempo for just Php224 and savor the crunchy skin and flavorful pork belly meat.

All you have to do is cook up lots of steamed rice and have a liter of juice ready and you’re good to go!

You can always go back to menu planning and cooking tomorrow, right?

Can’t go out because of the enhanced community quarantine? Have your order delivered to you instead by GrabFood or LalaFood.

This Baliwag Lechon Manok ATBP outlet is located along Countryside Avenue, Countryside Village, Barangay Santa Lucia, Pasig City.

Other branches may be found at:

Pasig: De Castro Avenue, Manggahan, Santolan
Quezon City: Eastwood Citywalk 2, Robinsons Galleria, Project 2, Project 4, Project 6, Project 8, Ali Mall, Gateway Mall, Farmers Plaza, Sikatuna Village, Diliman, Tomas Morato, Paligsahan, West Triangle, Fisher Mall, Trinoma Mall, SM City North EDSA, Del Monte, Citiplaza Commercial Center, Walter Mart North EDSA, Bago Bantay, La Loma, Tandang Sora, Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, Sangandaan, SM City Fairview, Zabarte Road, Maligaya Park
Mandaluyong: SM Megamall, Shangri-La Plaza, Plainview, Addition Hills, New Zaniga
San Juan: Greater San Juan
Marikina: SM City Marikina, Barangka
Makati: Guadalupe, The Landmark, Olympia, Cash & Carry Mall, Ayala Malls Circuit
Taguig: Market! Market!, Greater Taguig
Manila: SM City Santa Mesa, Santa Ana, Pandacan, Paco, Sampaloc, Santa Cruz, Lucky Chinatown, 999 Mall, 168 Shopping Mall, Tutuban Center Mall, Tondo, Dragon 8 Mall, New Divisoria Mall,
Pasay: Buendia, Victory Pasay Mall, W Mall Bay City
Paranaque: Sun Valley, Don Bosco, Moonwalk, Marcelo Green, BF Homes
Malabon: Longos, Fisher Mall, San Agustin, Concepcion
Navotas: North Bay, M. Naval Street
Valenzuela: Puregold Paso de Blas
Caloocan: Deparo Road, Zapote Road
Muntinlupa: Festival Mall

Winner chicken dinner, thanks to Chooks-to-Go

If you run out of grocery items and are at a loss on what to have for dinner during the enhanced community quarantine, well, help is just a few clicks (or phone taps) away.

Why not order a lechon manok from Chooks-to-Go and have it delivered to you?

Lechon manok is sure to appeal to everyone in the family: it is a favorite, fuss-free yet flavorful viand that goes so well with that other Pinoy staple, steamed rice.

I would go for a Sweet Roast Oven Rosted Chicken. A whole rotisserie chicken marinated in a mixture of local incgredients and expertly roasted in an oven that still brings about the classic lechon manok flavor we all know and love.

Ordering it won’t break the bank, either. At only Php259 for a whole chicken, and with lots and lots of steamed rice, you can already feed the entire fam a tasty meal.

This Chooks-to-Go branch is located at De Castro Avenue corner Ilang-Ilaang Street, Santa Lucia, Pasig City.

It delivers through its hotline +63 2 86871010 or via FoodPanda.