Saturday, August 29, 2015

SuperMetro Naga: Metro Café’s Macaroni Salad

SuperMetro Naga 
Metro Café’s Macaroni Salad 

We were all craving for  Macaroni Salad
and since it was a long weekend, we decided
to let the kids cook and shop for ingredients.



The SuperMetro Naga opens very early at 8AM,



...and there were only very few 
people around when we came. 



Cookies were on the last of his list, but my son Timothy
was at the cookie bar, first thing when we arrived.


The hypermarket was very well organized,



…and was clean and tidy.


It has everything what we needed,


…including a toy truck, which incidentally
was not on Timothy’s list, but he held into it
like his life depended on precious plastic toy.


With his new truck in his possession, he had
totally lost his interest looking for macaroni salad
ingredients, the main reason why we were here.


Well, that was okay I guess. Although we came to
shop for our homemade macaroni salad ingredients,


…but when we went to 
Metro Café for a snack,



…they offered a creamy Macaroni Salad,


…at buy one, take one.


With this awesome deal, it turned out that there’s
no need to cook a macaroni salad at home, after all.

Read the blink below for related post;

Fiesta sa Sugbo: SuperMetro Naga
Metro Café at SuperMetro Naga: Naga City’s Best Kept Culinary Secret

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Aljosh Café, Rediscovered: ALDP Plaza Mall Naga

Aljosh Café, Rediscovered 
ALDP Plaza Mall Naga 

Aljosh Café was our favorite restaurant in the mid 90’s as
it pioneered buffet dining in Naga City, offering different
cuisines from different countries of the world every week.


When the giant Puregold Supermarket took over
the operation of almost half of the ALDP Plaza Mall,

 
...we thought that Aljosh Café had closed down as their
former space was taken over by DIY, a hardware store.

 

We were pleasantly surprised when we accidentally
re- discovered that Aljosh Café was still open when
we happened to park at the rear portion of the mall.



We never knew that they relocated at the back- most
portion near the IBM and Pag- Ibig satellite offices.



We also did not recognize the new Aljosh Café as
it used to have a contemporary conventional interior,
but this time, it was set in a corridor, over- decorated
with cheap- looking plastic plants and flowers,


…that seemed to have been bought from Angeena
Trading, a Taiwanese bargain store located nearby.


The new Aljosh Café staff seemed to have not been trained like
 they used to, as they immediately served the  Fruit Salad ahead 
of anything else, which was meant for our dessert. Since it  was 
already  on our table and we were hungry, we ended up eating them. 
We did not regret consuming the salad ahead- as it was very delicious.



When they served the Sinigang na Hipon, it took them forever
to provide the individual soup bowls, but it was worth the wait. 


The sinignag was very delicious and had a perfect degree of 
sourness,  not enough to wrinkle our faces. In fact it wasn't sour at all 
as the soup  just had a hint of tangy acidity coming from the tomatoes 
and ginger. It tasted so natural and devoid of any  artificial flavorings.



They then served the Kinunot


…and the Chop Suey, but there was not
much that we can do but to stare at  them
as it took them forever to serve the rice.



Hhen they finally did, the rice was served in lovely 
dinner plates with exquisite designs that we admired.



Everything was worth the wait. The Kinunot was so delicious and
creamy and wasn’t salty unlike most local versions of the dish. It had
a delightful tinge  of “kamias” or ‘iba’ for an aftertaste. We gobbled
up every bits and pieces on kinunot until nothing was left on the plate.


  Same thing happened with the Chop Suey. It tasted so naturally delicious and
also did not have any tinge salt and artificial flavors. Just the sharp and heady 
but pleasing pungent aftertaste of the fresh young corn. Just like the kinunot, we
also gobbled everything on the plate  of the tasty but healthy fresh vegetable dish.


The Siningang na Hipon also suffered the same fate
as we drained the delicious soup dry up to the last drop .



Then suddenly they served the Crispy Pata.
We were so mesmerized by the delicious dishes
and we were caught unaware of the lapse and we
didn’t realize they haven’t served our main dish yet.


The Aljosh Crispy Pata also tasted very good and could
give Bob Marlin’s OMG Crispy Pata a run for its money.
We were already full as the Crispy Pata was served very
late, but still consumed about half- plate as it was addicting.



This restaurant may have the most disorganized service in the world,
but we were still thankful and didn’t have the heart to complain as 
the staff was nice and courteous. They have just served us some of   
the most delicious dishes we had tasted in this part of the world so 
what is there to complain? Still it wouldn't hurt if the service was perfect.


Aljosh Café’s interior reminded me of Papa Cripsy's Restaurant ,
 as both had awful, cheap looking  plastic décors, and could be a big
 turn off on to some diners as it doesn't look pleasant at all.



The restaurant  may look tasteless-  but that's alright. They  
serve some of the best tasting dishes in the city  anyway.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Maxim’s Café: Resorts World Manila

Maxim’s Café 
Resorts World Manila 

One of the perks in staying in any Resorts World Hotel 
may it be at the beautiful Marriot Hotel Manila, 

 

…or at the Remington Hotel Manila, 
a budget but comfortable airport hotel-

 

…is being in close proximity to Newport Mall, 
an upscale mall that offers everything one would
need for shopping, entertainment and leisure.

 

It is also where Maxim’s Hotel is located and its
popular in house restaurant, the Maxim’s Café. 

 

We were all starving after staying for so long
in the airport waiting for our flight back to Naga,
which was initially delayed and finally cancelled,
so of we  went to Maxim’s Café at the nearby 
Newport Mall for a really very, very late lunch. 

 

Maxim’s Café had a very opulent décor,

 

…reminiscent of the grand and lavish colonial era, focusing 
on what is imposingly regal and imperially luxurious.



It is a restaurant where one can feast not only on food but
the relaxing opulence of this grandiosely designed cafe.

 

My wife ordered the all day Power Pinoy Breakfast 
that had Sardines as the main dish and served with two
eggs, garlic rice, atchara, Pandesal and Café Americano.

 

My son ordered the same thing but chose Corned Beef as
the main dish, and asked for orange juice instead of coffee.

 

Both set breakfasts were delicious but it was the Maxim’s Pandesal   
that really caught our attention. It was  soft but firm and it retained the
 local version’s natural grittiness that had a certain grainy creaminess 
in every bite. It was so good that we ordered a boxful to take home. 

 

Chicken Parmigniana Fettuccine with Pesto Cream Sauce 
was what my daughter ordered and it was very superbly delicious.

 

It took time for them to serve my Café Maxim’s Angus Burger, 
but it was worth the long wait. What they served is a humongous
thick juicy burger oozing with the tasty goodness of 100% Angus
Beef topped with two layers of different kind of cheeses and
another layer of crispy lettuce. It tasted so good and sinfully divine.

 

The magnificent Maxim’s Café is not only splendidly beautiful
but also serves excellent world class international cuisine and
 may appear intimidating upscale and threateningly expensive, 


...but in reality it is surprisingly affordable 
even to ordinary Filipino masses like us.


Read the links below for related Resorts World Manila posts:

Marriot Hotel Manila: Budget Luxury Beyond Compare  
 Remington Hotel Manila: Comfortable Transit Hotel