The Best Pata Tim in Town. Tang’s Asian Fusion at Glorietta 3

 

B and I recently had a most memorable dinner over at Tang’s Asian Fusion Restaurant.  I’ve heard several good things about the resto and have been wanting to try it out, so when B and  I found ourselves at Glorietta last weekend, hungry after watching the  mutant zombie flick, Resident Evil 3…  we walked over to Tang’s.

The menu was overwhelming..  so many to choose from, and almost all with a picture..  To make our lives easier, we asked the waiter to recommend a pork dish, a seafood dish and a rice dish.. He did, and we went with ‘em. TANG’s PATA TIM,  SINGAPORE CHILI CRAB, and SHANGHAI FRIED RICE. (We also ordered PORK SIOMAI coz we were sooooooo hungry, and wanted something ASAP)

The siomai was the first to arrive, followed by tea..  really hot the way I like it, not bitter and with the subtle flavor of toasted brown rice.. real good tea) The siomai was good too..  But no different from pork siomai you find most everywhere.   

The pata tim, fried rice and chili crabs all arrived together..  Our jaws dropped.  B wanted to dig in, but I said “Hold it.. lemme take pictures first!” , and so I did.

The waiter was right when he said that the specialty of the house was the PATA TIM for it looked and tasted delicious.  

It was fall-off-the-bone tender, but not too tender where the flesh gets too mushy. The flavor was spot on… savory & aromatic but far from being overwhelming. It was in a word, perfect. The best Pata Tim I’ve had in a very long time.

As much as i can, I try to avoid ordering crab when eating out..

a) because my mom makes really really good chili crabs,

and

b) its a mess to eat. 

 

But rules a & b considered, B & I give Tang’s Singapore Chili Crab our 2 messy thumbs up. (and its served with a coupla packets of handy wipes too!)

The fried rice was a picture of perfection wrapped in a crepe like egg blanket..

 

We cut thru it, and the rice was fried perfectly, and tasted just as good (reminded me of fried rice I had in HK once).

The entire dining experience was reminiscent of a true Hong Kong dinner…  and the great part was, everything was reasonably priced.

When we got the check, our waiter told us that in a couple of  weeks, they were introducing like 30 new dishes..  We’ll definitely be returning for that.

On our way out, I saw that they had the Brown Rice tea on display and were selling some for home use., so I got myself a box. 

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Tang’s ASian Fusion Restaurant is at Glorietta 3, (beside Golds Gym) in Makati. (tel: 816-1340) I was told that they deliver too. Now how great is that!

 

Nightmare on SUMO SAM

I have never had a worse dining experience than the one I recently had at Sumo Sam Japanese restaurant in Power Plant Mall.   

A and I decided to order our regular Japanese faves like tempura, sashimi, yakitori and a bowl of ramen. Service was ok.. waitress was polite and attentive considering that A kept sending his tea back..  wasn’t hot enough (again) .. So far , the food was so-so..  but not bad either.. pretty generic..  a cross between TOKYOTOKYO and KITARO.. which is not a good thing since theyre charging SHINJUKO prices. While sipping on the ramen broth,  I almost choked when a chunk of something got lodged in my throat….I spat it out, and saw that it was a piece of plastic! PLASTIC. Not a speck, but a chunk, like a rolled up candy wrapper. Upset as I was, calmly I called for the manager to complain about the plastic. The manager came over apologized but offered no explainations or solutions. WTF?! What was that plastic?! Where did it come from?! Was it too much to ask, that they explain how a chunk of plastic ended up in my soup?! (and throat) What was even more annoying was the fact that one of the resto partners/owners, “Marvin Agustin”  (yes, the actor) was seated at the very next table and did nothing, he was either playing deaf & dumb, or dint care enough to walk over and apologise. And to make matters worse.. the other ”plastic free” food were not even that good..  and way over priced too.  A demanded they scratch the ramen from our bill..  and they did. What they should have done was scratch off the entire bill for we had lost our appetites after the “choking” incident and hardly touched  the rest of our dinner..

Oh brother.

 

SEBASTIAN’S ICE CREAM

SOOOO GOOD. Not just good for locally made ice cream..  but generally good..  like Ben & Jerry’s good.  Really creamy, and “siksik” and solid, not fluffy like other locally made ice cream..  Instead of toppings, the good stuff are already mixed in..  malted balls, peanut butter, chocolate chips, cheesecake, berries, cookie dough…

Its so rich, that it’s difficult to finish more than a scoop.. but theyre so good, you’ll surely wanna try.

They just opened at The Podium..  4th level I think.. 

(I heard there’s another location in Alabang)

 

Thai at SILK’s CATFISH SALAD

One of our favorite restos in Serendra at the Fort..  Thai at Silk does not disappoint. B & I almost always order the same things..  Tom Ka Gai ( the chicken soup with gata & infused with galangal), Green Curry Chicken…Fried Tilapia,  Fish Cakes… And everytime we go..   the taste , freshness & food quality have been consistently good,  on this last trip, we also ordered the Crispy Catfish Salad….

which was yummy..  and fresh..  but it wasnt much of a salad.. we were expecting more, i dont know.. greens.   What they served was a bowl of shredded boneless & crisp catfish, with another little bowl of cucumbers and mango cubes in a sweet sauce..  Hardly a salad, but yummy just the same..  We ended up eating  it like an ulam with rice. Not sure if we’ll order it again..  I think we’ll just stick to our tried and tested faves.

 

OMAKASE – creative sushis!

So B and I checked out Omakase on libis a coupla weeks ago..  A tita had suggested the place but we never got around to going coz the parking in this place is a B*TCH.. So one friday night 2 weeks ago, we braved it and lucky, got TV parking (right in front)..  The place was packed – always a good sign.

DECISIONS…  there was quite an extensive sushi selection on the menu – almost all creative and new..  they still had old classics of course like tekkamaki, california maki..  but in a place like this,  its kinda boring to order those..  So we went for the JURRASIC ROLL (salmon skin with avocado, roe, and a few other surprises)and good ol’ SALMON SAHIMI. (B loves salmon sashimi so everytime we go Japanese..  we gotta have it)..  We also ordered a bowl of chahan,  a coupla yakitori and a 5 pc. tempura..

While waitin for our food orders, I people watched and everyone seemed to be busy chowwing down.. My tea arrived, and it was luke warm , (I hate that) so I sent it back..   It arrived a minute later, just as warm..  B gave me a “Let it go” look.. so i did, and started sipping my tea.

Our JURASSIC arrived.

  Ive never seen a busier, more confused looking roll… The first bite was an explotion of flavors and textures – all familiar since Japanese cooking uses pretty much the same ingredients -but interesting and different..  good in the best way. It was delicious! B prefers his sushis and sashimis simple..  sometimes opting not to use the wasabi-soy dip even, but he gave a thumbs up.

The SALMON SAHIMI was excellent. texture, temperature, freshness, how it was sliced..  all hit the mark.

The Yakitori arrived. I had to send it back coz it was too “mestiza” in my opinion and needed to go back to the grill. When it returned, the color was right, but it was a little on the bland side…  not bad, just so-so.

and so was the TEMPURA..   it couldve been Kitaro.. It couldve been Kamirori..  Not something u’d dream about, but you’ll eat it with no complaints.

The CHAHAN was pretty generic, it was not bad..  not excellent either..

I think the real stars of OMAKASE are the sushis and sahimis…(because its not the cold tea)  But they shine bright enuff to keep people coming back,  We sure will..

Another  SUSHI ROLL, that looked interesting is the SPIDER ROLL..  ( with soft shell crab)..  but that’s for our next visit!

 

ALBA’S at Eastwood…. gone are the days

So B and I were at Eastwood City last friday..  we saw “CHUCK & LARRY”, (the preview gave the whole movie away..  generally corny but it had a few good laughs.. but thats for a different blog) ..So the movie ended around 10:30pm and we were starving..  We walked around eastwood for a few minutes and finally decided on Alba’s since we were both in the mood for some good ol’ Spanish Croquettas.

  Its never a good sign when you enter a restaurant and the wait staff and cooks are all in the main dining area chitchatting.. some in plain dress even.

That should’ve been our cue.

So it looked like they were closing soon but we were hella hungry so we ordered fast..  the simplest things on the menu..   Spanish Croquettas, a Mariscos Pasta (seafood pasta) – split into 2 bowls!, some sauteed mushroom tapas, and a fried chicken dish.. Simple enuff right?

We were seated in the main dining area. In the NO SMOKING section..  But when we asked, the manager was cool enuff and gave us an ash tray…  

The food arrived. The croquettes left much to be desired.  Its almost like they were not croquettes as we know Spanish croquettes to be..  but some strange mutation.  They looked like croquettes..  but when we bit into em, instead of the burst of creamy chorizo goodness, we got dryness.  Like deep fried bread stuffing balls. – Actually, thats exactly what they were.  They dint taste bad..  just strangely different, but not good when youre craving croquettes.

The pasta , chicken and sauteed mushrooms were all just.. ok..   like something you can whip up at home when youre “tamad” to be creative … 

So the CROQUETTES were really the biggest disappointment. 

On a positive note..  the service was really good..  waiters were polite, attentive and constantly refilling our water glasses, the dinner rolls were warm, and butter was always replenished… and lets not forget, the ASHTRAY.

My memories of Alba’s growing up involved mouth watering, flavorful food that always left you wanting more.. hmmm.

Needless to say, B & I wont be coming back.