Banana Leaf - Greenbelt 3

Alan surprised me by suggesting we eat at a Malaysian restaurant this weekend. It's been 1 month since my last Malaysian meal, so i said, "Let's go!"

The restaurant was in Greenbelt(another Mall) which was a beautifully landscaped shopping paradise. I'd like have spent more time there, but with only 3 hr windows between Tyler's meal, we focused on matters at hand.

The restaurant was a clean looking restaurant with simple designs. I dove into the menu at first chance and started on my complicated meals comprimising plans. You can only eat so much in one sitting. Darn it! Alan, with his predictable selections, was done in 3 seconds, while i was still pulling my hair trying to figure out how i can eat everything i was craving, 10 minutes later.

Anyways, here's what we had and my reviews.

Alan : Chicken Satay

The chicken satay was suprising tasty and tender though i have a strong suspicion that they fried the skewers to cut down on cooking time and maybe finished it on some fire to give it the charred look. The peanut sauce was little too sweet. But over all, passable.

Mine : Penang Char Kway Teow

This dish failed it's look and smell test from the start as it didn't have the charred look and smell that Penag Char Kway Teow must have. However, the taste was actually not too bad except for the slightly sweet taste which i think from the cook adding sugar to the dish.. what the heck??!

Mine : Sambal Kangkong

This typical Malaysian dish was probably the best dish they had that night as the kangkong was tender and the sambal of good flavor. But if you want to be picky, you'd say it lacked belacan. But again, it didn't say belacan in the name, did it??

Mine : Hainanese Chicken Rice

If HCR tasted like what they served, it wouldn't be famous in Malaysia! :) I'm not saying it was horrible, but HCR is a comfort food of certain standards. The chicken has to be tender and juicy and rice fragrant and for me it has to be a chicken leg. I asked for a chicken leg and the waitress said, if you want a specific part, we'll have to charge you extra. So, i ask her what part does it normally have? And she said, "I don't know". I was like "HUH????" Anyways, my chicken came both in leg and breast(yuck!) meat and no, i didn't get charged extra!

Alan : Prawn Toast

Alan never fails to order this dish if it was on any menu(except when i make it!!). But the people at the restaurant must never expect anyone to order it as it took the longest and ended up looking like this. They probably said, "Prawn toast?? That was a joke dish!! Now, how do we make this thing??!" Alan seemed to think it was not bad even though he too was laughing at how it looked. But i didn't think it taste good at all.

Alan : Roti Canai

Roti Canai, even the most pickiest eater would love it. However, this restaurant managed to butcher it. BAD! The Roti Canai was dry and tasteless and what kind of Malaysian restaurant serves roti canai with no curry sauce?? You have to pay extra for curry sauce.. shame on you!

Anyways, so, my take is, as a restaurant, most of the food except Roti Canai, was quite tasty and passable. But as a Malaysian restaurant, it wouldn't be a place I'd immediately think of for delicious Malaysian food.

Apt 1B - Salcedo Village

Apt 1B is actually a restaurant that boasts of comfort foods. Alan and I wanted to beat the lunch crowd but with the 2 kids, we got beaten instead. So, when we got there, we were told that the restaurant is full and was turned away.

What? No waiting list?? Waiting list is a very American thing that i've gotten so used to. In other countries, i guess if the restaurant is full, it's full. People just move on with life.

We were however not so easily deterred and so we asked for a take away/out/togo(i still can't remember which word this country uses, it confuses the wait staff) order.

And i was tingling with excitement as i took the dishes out from the boxes and tried my best to make them look nice on my own plates.

I had ordered some baked samosa which were delightfully flaky parcels filled with cheese, mushroom and spinach. But shouldn't they be called spanakopita or borek?? In my mind, samosas are usually either filled with potatoes or meat with some spices.

Alan ordered his usual french onion soup with were very flavorful and thick topped with a soft cheesy crostini. As he said, better than most places, but not outstanding. There is a lot of BAD french onion soups out there.

Since i have a weakness for pasta, i went for Spaghetti Vongole which was delish and had a generous serving of Manila clams. It was perfectly seasoned though i think i prefer my tomatoes in little pieces.

I would like to give them a little extra credit just because i'm not sure how many restaurant can produce food that will survive a take away journey that well. Makes me want to go beat the crowd again!

Tsumura - Salcedo Village

My friend Hish should never go to this restaurant as she will never be able to decide what she wants to eat as the menu is 40 pages long(no kidding!). And each page has like 20 items or more on it. It's got more stuff than people in Japan eats!

After browsing the menu for 15 mins, Alan ordered his usual white-man dishes which consisted of gyoza(*roll eyes*), koroke(come on, it's potato croquets!) and tempura shrimp. I on the other hand went for a spicy scallop hand roll and a Chirashi.

The service was very fast and i was impressed by the size of the servings and even gave thumbs up to the white-man dishes. Gyoza skin was thin and well flavored and the potato croquets didn't taste like they came out of a box. And the tempura shrimp batter was light and fluffy.

My spicy scallop hand roll was merely OK and maybe just a tat soggy as the seaweed got a little chewy.  But i was definitely bowled over by my Chirashi. The nicely seasoned rice was covered by all kinds of fish and even had uni(sea urchin) in it!! What a treat!! It was such a big portion that i was so sad when i had to leave some behind.

On another trip, i ordered a shrimp tempura roll and a grilled tile fish. Shrimp tempura roll had a clean crunchy taste to it and my tile fish although good, left me wanting for more as it was only the size of my palm and no rice!!

So, Tsumura is definitely somewhere i would go back(coz i already did) but not a daily occurence as it's not too easy on the wallet.

Bento Box - Salcedo Village

Horrible horrible horrible.

I went in there for a quick order of their safest bet which is beef bowl. How can you screw up beef bowl? All you have to do is take some meat(beef obviously), put teriyaki sauce, fry it real quick.

But they did because i think they are trying to skimp on the beef which made my dish look like a big bowl of rice sprinkle with some dried black *ahem* .. sounds like curd.

Anyways, won't be going back which was too bad because i did like the atmosphere in there.

La Boheme - Makati

It's Holy Week and apparently it's BIG in the Philippines. So big that everything shuts. Restaurants, shops, malls etc. And what do I get? A big craving for some good food(OK, i admit, i crave for good food everyday) and my leftovers didn't sound so appetizing.

But my all-knowing husband was kind enough to tell me that La Boheme around the corner was actually open and even offered to take me there. So, here's the low down of it.

Nice atmosphere. Classy, quiet and serene. Looks expensive too. But a quick glance at the menu reflected otherwise. Prices were very reasonable.

We were seated promptly but i'm not sure if it's because we had 2 kids or just we were dressed in shorts, i have to say though the waiters were very professional, we didn't exactly got outstanding service. We had to flag them to get their attention most of the time. Other patrons seem to get good attention, though.

But anyways.. their food..

Seafood Cioppino - nicely plated

I ordered Seafood Cioppino which was quite thick and tomatoey and quite delicious. Though unlike other Cioppinos that i've had, it had a pleasing and almost homely taste. But if you were looking for big pieces of seafood, you will have to look quite hard!

For entree, Alan ordered the fish and chips. Fish and chips both were crispy and had the right crunch. It however was fried in palm oil or something(i have to find out) which make it smell like palm oil(??) which i didn't particularly like. But it is not the first time i've had food taste like that here in Php. So it might be a local thing.

Fish and Chips

I on the other hand went for the Salmon Dill Spaghetti which was creamy and rich. Bite size salmon pieces sprinkled among the spaghetti spares the dish from getting too heavy. It was a creamy, hit the spot delight.

My creamy delight

For dessert, I ordered their Crepe with Mango Flambe which was more for entertaining value for Tyler who got plenty excited by the fire created by the flambe. The dish itself though had a blazing start was a let down as the flambe was too sweet and drowned my teeny bit of crepe to a point of inedibility.

All in all, i think La Boheme was a good place and i would definitely come back to try more of its menu.