Thursday, April 16, 2009

Town Shootout: Native Restaurants and Food

It's Friday morning in here so here I go again and the rest of the Friday Shootout Gang (Reggie Girl thought of that) bringing you another week of free trips, fancy photos, adventures and a whole lot more from Metro Manila, Philippines. This week's episode is again packed with adventures and oodles of goodies and is chosen by the lovely Loida of Welcome to 2L3B's World....

Now you know you want to see some more and perhaps better adventures and photos than this one here so I say click and visit on one or two of those links on the right side of this blog under 'Friday Town Shootout Participants'. Trust me, you will never be disappointed. Also, we're asking everyone up for this kind of thing to join us every Friday. No strict rules - just point and shoot with respect to the theme and improvise a little! Hope to see YOU next week.

This fast food restaurant is called Karasa in 168 Mall, Divisoria, Metro Manila. They have various Philippine dishes like Lechon Kawali (Roasted pig), Sisig (Ground Pork or Beef with Liver) with Egg, Roasted Chicken and a whole lot more. People line up, say their orders and these girls hand it to them on a sizzling plate. On the other end of the line is the Cashier and people sit down on various seats and tables in the Food Court. Mom ordered Talong (Eggplant) in Karasa. I didn't eat it because it looks scary LOL.

Another famous Philippine Dish, Liempo or Grilled Spareribs. Filipinos usually eat Liempo with Rice, sometimes accompanied with Egg and gravy. Most popular and the best tasting gravy (or maybe it's a sauce?) would be Mang Tomas, also featured above. Grilled Spareribs is one of my favorite Filipino dishes!

Saging na Saba. I don't know its English name but it is sliced bananas in a sweet concoction of sugar and sago. Mom prepared this, by the way.

This is one of the Fast Food restaurants in Landmark Food Court, Makati. If there is ever a National Fast Food Chain here in the Philippines, it would be Jollibee, strongly competing with McDonald's.

While at the Food Court in Landmark, Makati, we ordered from Porky's. Mom ordered the first photo. Picadillo with sliced bananas, egg and rice. Ordered the second photo, Picadillo with Porkchop and Vegetables. Of course we'll come back for more. Are you drooling now? LOL.

In my previous post I mentioned going to Guilly's, Glorietta 5, Makati, for my brother's birthday. It was a simple birthday with extraordinary dishes! First photo is Tofu with vegetables; Second is Nilagang Baka. I don't really know what it is in English but it is Beef thrown in with potatoes, vegetables and sometimes bananas. Third is Garlic Chicken and 4th, Fish Fillet with French Fries. Okay, the last one is not exactly a native dish but I just had to put that in because it was my favorite dish that night LOL.

Okay, I really hope you guys enjoyed, that was a pretty long post, sorry for taking so much of your time LOL.

Much Love,

87 comments:

aurbie said...

As Butler and Bagman would say, "Whoo Hoo!"

Wonderful dishes, and so colorful. I am a fan of tofu and sticky rice, and I think I had than banana dish when I was in Thailand.

Those soups look great. I don't eat meat but I often make a soup with noodles, seaweed, sweet potatoes, tofu, and garlic, seasoned with herbs. I add a little olive oil to the mix, too.

I especially like the colors in the first two photos. All of your photos are so colorful. You did a great job!

Garando said...

Sizzling sisig, lechon kawali, bulalo, etc. we Filipinos are known to be healthy eaters! LOL.
Who cares, it tastes fabulous!! Bring on the Filipino food! :D
Great photos! Read this post just in time for lunch.

sri said...

Hi Friend.. Interesting post.. Keep up the good work.. Do visit my blog and post your comments.. Take care.. Cheers mate!!!

Jay said...

I'm pretty adventurous so I would probably try most of those dishes. Except anything with liver. Liver is just yucky! haha

John said...

Well I'm glad I already had dinner before I saw all the food or I would've been starved! The foods all look delicious. I would probably try any of those dishes, and I'm a picky eater!

Karasa looks like it could be in the food court of any U.S. shopping mall, there is always at least one Asian fast food place.

The Saging na Saba may be what we call Bananas Foster here, maybe. It looks similiar, it has banana liqueur in it and is served warm over vanilla ice cream though. Mmm

Yes, Mang Tomas would be considered a sauce since it comes in a bottle (although you can buy jars of gravy here, but why would you LOL). Biscuits & Gravy are popular here and the gravy is made from a little left over oil (and crumbs like if your fried chicken), not a bunch of oil though and then you add flour, and stir it as it cooks, some people use corn starch too, helps to thicken it and when it bubbles you add some milk or broth. Mmmm (that's just a basic old fashioned recipe, there are other ways to make gravy too). I'm no chef!

I do eat out occasionally, but in this small town? Uh, no! After living here for so many years, I used to eat fast food for lunch everyday, but no more. I usually bring my lunch and save a lot of money that way. If I'm going to eat out, then I prefer a nice restaraunt, but here that is expensive, so only for special occasions.

Your pics are so sharp and colorful! I love seeing the hardworking Filapinas, they must keep the guys hidden in the kitchen.

A very interesting post! I so enjoyed it. I don't think I will be able to do this shootout either, sorry! Hopefully sometime, but you know I'm out in the middle of nowhere!

Thanks for sharing!

Reena said...

hmm yummy!

favorit ko spaghetti ng jollibee. hahaha.

oi, i added my niece's phot sa latest post ko. she looks like a doll.

Loida of the 2L3B's said...

To be honest with you I never liked all the foods I had featured in my Friday Shoot Outs... What I love most are the yummy foods you had featured here. You can't imagine how much I really miss all of them. There might be similar versions here of foods in your photos but the taste would never be the same. You're such lucky to be there while I'm here having my mouth waters..

Thanks a lot for the nice shots and for being a good kid. Stay safe always and have a nice weekend ahead.

Anonymous said...

The textures and colours and varieties of all of these fast foods is amazing. Its all so interesting just to look at.

HalfCrazy said...

@PATTY - I didn't notice they were so colorful until you and a lot of other people said it is! Great to know you are not a meat eater! The Filipinos are more of meat eaters - they sometimes forget vegetables. Anyway, thanks for your nice feedback and glad you liked it!

@GARANDO - LOL, Mom eats everything, including the fat and the liver, etc. So icky! Filipino food really tastes great, pity I didn't get to see Kare-Kare, Adobo, etc.

@JAY - I agree, Liver is just so yucky, I don't understand why people can stand to eat it! It's the liver of an animal! It wouldn't be awesome if an animal feeds on my Liver!

@JOHN - There are a lot of weird Filipino dishes but they usually taste really great, you'll always want some more rice. Thanks for saying that Food Courts do exist in the US! I actually didn't know so I explained about Food Court in my blog LOL. That Gravy recipe you said, I'm sure I haven't tasted anything like that. The gravy I always taste from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's etc., all of them seems the same LOL! THere was a time you eat fast food for lunch everyday? That must have gotten you fat, haha! I know how sickening it is when it becomes too repetitive! The guys in here usually work in the kitchen and clean the tables lol. Glad you really enjoyed this post!

@REENA - Gusto ko lang yung hotdog sa Spaghetti ng Jollibee LOL. I'll check on your niece when I get to your page! :)

HalfCrazy said...

@LOIDA - I haven't been to your page yet but I'll hop on over there today! It's actually quite sad I didn't get to post Chicken Adobo in here and the other ulams. Would have made your mouth water much more LOL. Thanks for the nice words! :)

@NATURAL MOMENTS - The last 4 photos are not fast food but everything I posted is awesome LOL.

Ebie said...

I browsed thru the pictures and I thought this food trip was all in a day's work? Well now that I saw your mom's saba (similar to plantain bananas here)I say otherwise. Nakakagutom naman, oops, its making me hungry. I see that the dishes are numbered. By the looks, is that their regular servings? That's plenty!

Bagman and Butler said...

Whoo hoo! Except Patty has, of course, noticed that Whoo hoo has become habitual with me...overusing it. So I will cut back! The addicts favorite approach. But your post left me absolutely starving and salivating! Yummy looking stuff!

Matt Latham said...

I love oriental food and that food looks wonderful. If only the fast food chain could replace McDonalds in the Uk - now that would be something!

Faisal Admar said...

there you go miss flogger! i'm hungry and now i need some foods! rawwrrr!!!

bertN said...

Ginutom ako sa post mo...lalo na nung makita ko yung nilaga na may bone morrow(?)LOL.

Karen said...

I enjoyed your post. Yes! I like FOOD. I have to admit, the only other countries I have visited are Spain and Portugal. I loved the new foods, but I was pretty happy to find some french fries in Lisbon! Now I'm hungry. Thanks so much for visiting Lily Valley.

Reena said...

hotdog? :) i'm not fond of hotdogs. nagsawa na siguro kasi we used to have it as baon when we were kids!

original favo ko yung spag, but im usually eating their chicken burger na. masarap sya diba? hehe...

Rachel Cotterill said...

I'm loving the Friday shoot-out so far - taking a grand tour of the world's food in blogs :) I just joined this week but will definitely be a regular... add me to your list? :) I put a Mr Linky box on my blog for links to this week's posts, please feel free to drop by & add yourself.

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Outstanding Half Crazy!!! WOW this is fantastic. Everything looks wonderful and your color and descriptionss are perfection sweet girl. Those banana's look fabulous and I think I gained weith just having a look.
I think you're going to be famous one day sweetie :)

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Linda said...

It appears that this post is going to make an awful lot of people hungry - great shots!

syel said...

my weakness!!!!! you made me miss the dishes terribly! i miss the liempo, nilagang baka and sisig!!!! not to mention pa ang jollibee palabok and chicken joy! oh and add mang tomas na din! lol!

btw, bakit green ung name ng jollibee? diba either red/white???!

gigi said...

WOW this is fantastic food and beautiful colored photos!
Thanks.

Missy said...

Waaaa I miss Jollibee's spaghetti and champ burger (w/ cheese)!!! I can cook all the food in Karasa(hahaha)so I'm not missing them here hehehe although I haven't been in 168 mall yet. But when I saw your banana saba I'm craving for it now and probably buy some and make my own here with crushed ice hmmmm yummy! And maybe I'll make halo-halo too hahaha. Thanks for sharing our native food with others.

J9 said...

The Tofu looks the yummiest! I agree that the eggplant looks scary, but is probably very delicious.

coolwaterworks said...

Yum yum.... :) What a food adventure!

Btw, thanks for you sympathy and for leaving a comment in my blog.

God bless.

laagan said...

grabe ang sarap tingnan...bigla ko na miss nag landmark...palagi ako dito dati nung nasa makati pa ako..

bakit green na yung sign ni jollibee? dati either white or red lang yan ah?

Mark said...

It all looks interesting and tasty! thanks for sharing.

buffalodick said...

Your country was probably the first in the world to do "fusion" cooking- very diverse !

Tinsie said...

Your pictures are making me seriously hungry!!

jackc50 said...

everything looks so good...how come you don't weigh alot more? heehee...have a lovely weekend, jack c

Unknown said...

What's in sarca sauce? it looks tangy and delicious...


peace,
mike
livelife365

Monkey Wrench said...

Great texture shots of the food. A very real and concrete picture of restaurant labor-- sweat, work, fast-paced, and tedious.

Again, you blow me away. I hope it doesn't bother you that I've saved a FEW (not all, though they are all good) of your pictures to my flash drive in case I want to use them for a blog header.

If you do, please tell me, I would gladly wire what little cash I have over to you to procure a couple.

you're good, kid!!


Wrench

Gordon said...

Crazy! Crazy! I'm half crazy., all for the love of you...r food! Quality stuff, girl! Gordon

HalfCrazy said...

@EBIE - Haha no, it's all in a course of a week since we are given a week to prepare for assignments every Friday. And yes, that is their regular servings but it's a bit costly!

@B&B - Of course, only in the Philippines! The photos already taste good, much more when you really get to eat 'em!

@MATT LATHAM - I'm sure there's a UK fast food chain to rival McDonald's? Because their food makes me sick after 2-3 days of eating it!

@FAISAL - Don't we have the same dishes since you're from Malaysia and all?

@BERTN - Bone Marrow ata, haha! Sarap ng Bulalo nila.

HalfCrazy said...

@KAREN - Yes, that's one of the primary points of this post, to make you hungry LOL! Try visiting the Eastern Side of the world for more exotic food!

@REENA - Yung Hotdog lang dun sa Spaghetti nila gusto ko, LOL. Kasi yung Spaghetti nila color orange eh. Di ko pa natitikman yung Chicken Burger pero titikman ko yan dahil sinabi mo, hahaha!

@RACHEL COTTERILL - Yeah yeah, I visited your blog last night and dropped my link there, I'm going over in a few minutes to fulfill my promise to ya LOL!

@REGGIE GIRL - As usual, thanks for the kind words! They're nothing compared to Ms. Loida, which is a more descriptive and plentiful LOL! I don't know what I'm gonna be famous for but do remember me when I'm famous, hahaha!

@LINDA - That's one of the main points, thanks!

HalfCrazy said...

@SYEL - LOL wala bang Pinoy na nagtitinda dyan ng mga nasa post ko? LOL. Kahit andito ako, namimiss ko na rin yung Liempo, ilang araw na akong di kumakain nun, hahaha! Masarap pa Beth's Palabok kung na try mo na. Di ko rin alam kung bakit green yung name, mukang binago nila itsura kasi halos lahat ng fast food dun parang new yung facade, siguro requirement ng Landmark na dapat mag mukang sosyal!

@GIGI - Thank you back!

@MISSY - Haha sorry, wala bang Jollibee sa Japan? Kung wala dapat magtayo na rin sila LOL! Grabe traffic palagi pag pumupuntang Divisoria/Quiapo. Manila kung Manila eh LOL. Ayun, gusto ko rin tuloy ng Halo-halo! Nakakatakot bumili sa labas basta-basta, yung iba kasi di Mineral ginagamit. Alam mo naman tubig gripo dito, kung ano ano lang lumalabas!

@J9 - The tofu is probably the most colorful out of all these dishes! Yeah, my Mom said it tastes great but no one can bring me to eat something if it looks gruesome!

@COOLWATERWORKS - Food adventure, indeed. All in a course of a week! Thanks for commenting back! :)

HalfCrazy said...

@LAAGAN - Haha, bago na ngayon yung Food Court sa Landmark, sobrang masasarap na mga pagkain, quality pa ayos! Requirement ata nilang mag mukang sosyal kaya iniba yung kulay. EWan ko, LOL.

@MARK - Of course it is.

@BUFFALODICK - LOL yeah, we're pretty diverse in here! There's American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean food and other country's food in here LOL.

@TINSIE - I'm sorry but you gotta drool and eat LOL.

@JACKC50 - I ask myself that too, Jack! Maybe because my Mom doesn't cook much of those food. Usually just fried stuff lol.

HalfCrazy said...

@MIKE - Haha, it's so not tangy! I don't know how to describe the taste but it's kinda better than gravy!

@WRENCH - You're the 2nd person to comment about the labor, most of them commented about food and how they look delicious LOL. Oh, I don't mind you using some of my photos in here, no problem, you can get 'em for free LOL. I don't charge if it's for a good cause, hahaha!

@GORDON - Thanks Sir Gordon! :)

Kris said...

wow! you ate all of those!? hahaha!

the food looks yummy!

I cant remember where I ate when I went there.. It was really tiring to shop in divisoria.. lagi ka ba pumupunta dun? kabisado mo? kasi balak ko bumalik dyan para mamili ng Grosgrain Ribbons e.. pinabibili ng ate ko at ipapadala ko sa states.. hassle tlga, di ko lam kung san ako mamimili.. ang sabi nya sakin sa divisoria nga, e ang layo naman mula dito samin.. haii..

-Kris

witsandnuts said...

I've been to 168 Mall twice yata. I didn't dare to visit when I was vacationing last December, baka kase super dami ng tao because of the season. Nakakatakam naman yung saging/saba. And wow, green yung Jollibee signage!

Unknown said...

It's nice to see how different the food can get in different countries.
And yet there are some foods that look so familiar to me. (no, I have never tried philippine food...at least not that I remember)

Food court in mall are universal aren't they? I believe that every mall in the world has one, unless we're talking about a small gallery of stores, than I wouldn't be surprised to not find one. Still there are some galleries here that have a smaller food court so I tend to think that it can be found anywhere.

And I noticed that banana is present in 3 dishes. I bet bananas are quite common there right? Since it's a tropical country it couldn't be different I guess.
Here in Brazil bananas are pretty cheap too and you can find everywhere but it's not something so common to find on dishes. Here you'll find them more as desserts (banana with caramel or raw banana) and I think many people here can't get the idea of eating banana as a salty dish. Maybe it's because in their minds banana is a sweet fruit and it doesn't blend with salt, I don't know. I seem unable to see banana as a sweet fruit :P

Well, but looking at those pics I think I wouldn't starve to death in Philippines. There's nothing that you showed that I wouldn't give a try.

Raft3r said...

how can you tell if one is pinoy?
by the number of orders he places in a restaurant
hehe

masarap yata kumain
at mas lalong masarap maging pinoy

happy weekend, halfcrazy!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi, What great photos you took of the food. I love spare ribs too. This is an excellent post and I see EVERYONE loved it!!! Your mom's bananas look very good.

GigiSxm said...

i enjoyed your post. I'm new to the shoot-outs. I'd like to try the soup and the bananas

Frequent Traveler said...

Good Saturday afternoon to you, Half-Crazy. How is your weekend going ?

I just wanted to come by and say hello, and thank you for leaving so mnay nice comments on my blog posts - about the London trip. I appreciate it.

I'm tired and very sick with this cold, but when I get back home I will come by your blog regularly when you update and try to leave meaningful comments for you !

KRIS JASPER said...

OMG! Ginutom ako bigla! waaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barry said...

Excellent photos. You ae so luck to have such a rich variety of foods available!

You've made me ravenously hungry!

Faisal Admar said...

same dishes? not at all... even tho we are Asians :P

btw, is it hard to get halal food there?

Lilly said...

That was really interesting and some of those looked really yum. Thanks for sharing them.

Oman said...

what a post. ginutom talaga ko sa mga nakita ko. kakaiba yung Jollibee kulay Green.

great job on the shoot hunt. :)

TriNi said...

YUM!

now i'm hungry.. great. lol.

Awesome post.. I love your shots! Prettyy good job!

GMG said...

Hi there! Fortunately I had a nice dinner... ;))
Have a great week!
Blogtrotter

Dennis Villegas said...

I want all those foods!!!

Bulalo, Jolibee, Nilagang Baka, Mang Tomas, Liempo, Talong, matamis na saging, piniritong saging, pati lahat nung nakaplastic na tag 89 at 99.

Hehehehe. Sarap tingnan lalo na ngayong medyo nagugutom nako.

I want to participate in your shoot-out someday. Very fun to do.

Nice photos and stories as always!

khengsiong said...

Not so much different from what we have here...

Unknown said...

Thinking about it...today that started your classes right?
Well, it is still April 20th here but I bet that on your time zone it's already 21th.

Anonymous said...

Those bananas look AWESOME.

I really like your blog layout.

I just found your blog through Friday Shoot Outs from Florida, and I thought to myself, "Self, I feel half crazy right now...so this blog must be a good place to go!"

Turns out, I was right! :)

JESSAN said...

Great,now I'm hungry. Ha,ha!

Anonymous said...

[url=http://firgonbares.net/][img]http://firgonbares.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]kaspersky anti-virus/security software, [url=http://firgonbares.net/]buy crm software[/url]
[url=http://firgonbares.net/][/url] acdsee eps convert buy cheap software online
price chart software [url=http://firgonbares.net/]best place to buy photoshop[/url] soft cheap software
[url=http://firgonbares.net/]to sell software to[/url] recommended educational software
[url=http://firgonbares.net/]shop plus software[/url] cheapest adobe software
discount oem software [url=http://firgonbares.net/]order manager software[/b]

Anonymous said...

I logged on today and it just wasn't there. It's not hidden. I've tried putting explorer into the task manager and it popped up for a couple seconds then disappeared again. When I rebooted it, It was there for a couple seconds and again, poofed. I scanned my computer for virus's and nothing came up with that. Can someone tell me what to do? I've seen many of these kinds of questions with no answers that worked for me. [url=http://gordoarsnaui.com]santoramaa[/url]

Anonymous said...

I would like to exchange links with your site hapkureyzi.blogspot.com
Is this possible?

Anonymous said...

viagra online without prescription buy viagra dhaka - buy viagra from us

Anonymous said...

buy soma online soma order status - soma vanishing edge bras

Anonymous said...

order soma buy aura soma london - buy soma magazine

Anonymous said...

buy soma online soma cube - cheap holidays to soma bay

Anonymous said...

buy cialis online cialis kaufen - cheap generic cialis us

Anonymous said...

legal buy tramadol online tramadol online overnight cod - buy tramadol visa

Anonymous said...

cialis cost long does daily cialis take work - buy cialis with mastercard

Anonymous said...

generic xanax xanax g3720 - xanax 2 mg how long

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol tramadol shipped with no prescription - tramadol 50mg tablets controlled substance

Anonymous said...

xanax order no prescription xanax 4 hours after drinking - order xanax from canada

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol buy tramadol buy cod - buy tramadol online in usa

Anonymous said...

buy cialis in usa cialis daily use insurance coverage - what does generic cialis look like

Anonymous said...

buy cialis online generic cialis 60 mg - reviews viagra cialis levitra

Anonymous said...

buy cialis cheap online generic cialis us - cialis price philippines

Anonymous said...

buy cialis generic buy cialis walmart - cialis 5mg review

Anonymous said...

http://landvoicelearning.com/#23561 tramadol dosage for fibromyalgia - ultram brand of tramadol hydrochloride

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online with mastercard buy tramadol faq - tramadol no prescription free shipping

Anonymous said...

http://landvoicelearning.com/#51602 legal buy tramadol online us - tramadol hcl nih

Anonymous said...

learn how to buy tramdadol order tramadol online 100mg - tramadol hcl 50mg for dogs

Anonymous said...

http://landvoicelearning.com/#51438 tramadol dosage neuropathy - ninth street pharmacy online tramadol

Anonymous said...

learn how to buy tramdadol order tramadol online legally - buy tramadol no prescription cod

Anonymous said...

klonopin medication buy clonazepam india - klonopin yellow 34

Anonymous said...

carisoprodol without prescription what is soma carisoprodol used for - carisoprodol 350 mg images

Anonymous said...

buy carisoprodol cheap carisoprodol 350 mg cost - carisoprodol images

Anonymous said...

http://southcarolinaaccidentattorney.com/#77410 carisoprodol hair drug test - carisoprodol uses side effects

Unknown said...

www1022

canada goose outlet
longchamp outlet
hermes belt
oakley sunglasses
nike shoes outlet
clarks shoes
coach outlet
skechers shoes
ed hardy uk
ugg boots

yanmaneee said...

supreme hoodie
goyard handbags
balenciaga
golden goose outlet
yeezy supply
golden goose
golden goose
golden goose outlet
supreme clothing
yeezy