Bigby's

We first tried Bigby's when we visited Cagayan de Oro ("CDO") down south.  It was such a treat.  While at Bigby's, we felt the "this is CDO" feeling, just as we did when we hung on the zip line, and paddled while on the white water rafts, and ate all-you-can-eat chicken at Sunburst, and all the other CDO-only restaurants.

Now, CDO is right here in Metro Manila - in Megamall!

First impression - it's too small a place.  It was packed!  Otherwise, it felt like the Bigby's of CDO except - Bigby's didn't feel like it belonged to a mall.  Like in CDO, it should be outside, preferably with a building of its own, or when you exit from the place, you're already at the parking lot at the very least.

Second impression - oh no, one less reason to go to CDO!  :(  Good thing we still have good friends in CDO.  ;-D

Third impression - the food was still great!  And maybe the pricing is typical.  It was my Valentine's date with Mara, my girlfriend, and it was P400 per person - but we over-ordered.  We forced ourselves to finish the delicious food, and we still weren't able to finish.  

Oh, but we had dessert.  We were supposed to order something but it wasn't available then so we settled for Coco Maja - which was a surprising treat.  Corn flakes, corn, coconuts, maja blanca, cheese, and tapioka in fresh milk.  Nice... idea.  We can do that at home.

I also really liked their Wild Wild West rice bowl or something.  It is sliced steak with a really loveable smokey and garlic-ey taste.  Of course if I would like to avoid cancer, smokey is not good.

Their carbonara is not great but it has an identify of its own.

Their fries - we should've just bought from McDonald's.

We also got their soup (corn chowder) and deck combo (half serving of their cold-cuts triple decker sandwich).  Nice.

One thing we didn't get to try again this time around at Megamall was their... chocolate midnight dream cake.  Or something like that.  They were aggressively selling heart-shaped versions of it for Valentine's.

One thing we should have tried are their ribs!

One last impression - we noticed no one (else) was ordering desserts.  In fact, it appeared that no one knew they had desserts and the waiters didn't give the dessert menu until someone (like we did) asked for them.  I noticed two couples going to the adjacent Amici after their meals at Bigby's!

We remembered at CDO, that's the very first thing you will notice when you enter their store - you can see their cakes and other desserts on display.  No such display when we visited Bigby's at Megamall last Valentine.  We were thinking, maybe there were just too many people so they had to move it away for the time being.  

I hope Bigby's gets known also for their desserts and they find a better place outside of Megamall.  Otherwise, I do not know now when I will go back to CDO.

Talking Tongues, San Agustin St., Salcedo Village, Makati

Chinese-Indonesian food.  Yummy.  I like their satay better than Malaysian or Singaporean satay.  It's just less peanuty.  And less sweet.  I don't like ultra-sweet barbecue anyway.  If I wanted ultra-sweet pork, I would look for 'tocino' instead.

Anyway - we ate their special seafood rice, noodles with chicken and mushrooms, and beef ball soup.  All highly recommended.  Go support this startup.  They offered 20% discounts on their first week of business (until 14 Feb 2009).  Otherwise, it's around P200 per person here.  Not for your everyday Makati lunch.  The interiors look nice but I don't know if it's fit for a business meeting.

Sinbad's, San Agustin St., Salcedo Village, Makati

Sinbad's - not bad.  For two people, it turned out to be P400 per person.  But you would feel like you've been taken to another place.  Great mediterranean and middle eastern fare - for once in a while. :-)

Cafe Coeli (Timog Ave.) v.s. Brewing Point (Tierra Pura), both in Quezon City

We tried this new start-up place, Cafe Coeli, and well, here's the good and the bad.

1. I like that it's a startup.
2. I like that there's free WiFi.
3. The food they have tastes good but is not great. This maybe a sign of things to come for their franchise. However, as Mara said, people don't come there to eat. But I thought, the food occupies 1/2 of their menu! We didn't yet try their shakes, or coffees, etc. Who seems to be the owner-manager of the place did ask us to taste-test their new concoction, iced coffee jelly. See #6.
4. There is something wrong about the interiors. I noticed that there it uses one color too many. Blue and yellow - sure, that's their color. Black and all other neutrals are fine. But pink? How did that get in there?
5. Related to #4, although they have couches, their chairs, made of steel aren't comfortable to sit in through a meal and dessert. (Maybe that was intentional so that people do not stay in there for so long?) The steel chairs and tables sort of blend with the overall theme of the place though. There is something wrong about the interiors.
6. The iced coffee jelly was a little too sweet, but I think the ice just melted. I guess that's just right for iced coffee. It was just a small serving; the owner-manager said they'll even serve it with whip cream and cherry. We ordered I think tiramisu for dessert. It was nice. But again, it wasn't great.

I find that Brewing Point is a better place in most aspects; it's just more out of the way for most people. (In certain situations, that might be more advantageous.) Nonetheless, we'll come back to taste their shakes at Cafe Coeli. Hopefully those shakes will change my impression of this place. I still like that they have free Wifi!  Brewing Point also has Free Wifi.

Kenny Roger's Roasted: The Sequel

I can't believe I just ate at Kenny Roger's again. I never learned. But I had no choice really. I wanted a place where they have healthy vegetables and/or fruits (Jollibee, McDo, and Shakey's, etc. around Katipunan don't usually have such - their salads are not salads in my vocabulary). It was past 8pm already and I was so hungry na. I went there because parking was a problem at other places where they might have vegetables. I got a Super Solo chicken meal which had 1/4 chicken, a "cup" of rice, one side dish (I got fresh fruit salad),

Anyhow, here are three "complaints" which I would not expect at an American establishment:
1. My brother ordered soup, but the cashier did not punch it in and did not give us any until after we asked them why they didn't give us what we supposedly ordered for. (They didn't serve our meal right away, so we expected it will arrive. Was it our fault we didn't check the receipt?)

2. The chicken was burnt! And it was probably just microwaved. The chicken meat was... Well, just imagine that: burnt outside (skin), and microwaved an X number of times. Can you imagine how "makunat" the meat was? Thank God for my young teeth, I was still able to chew them.

3. The fruit salad turned out to be a pineapple salad, with one small peach cube. Fruit salad? Just because there are two fruits in there - 6 small slices of pineapple and 1 small peach cube - you call that a fruit salad already? So it's 8pm. Maybe the pineapples and oranges and cherries have run out. Who cares? Then don't tell me you have fruit salad! Then I shouldn't have gotten fruit salad! This doesn't happen in other countries.

Alas, demand (for fast food) is higher than the supply. Kenny Roger's gets away with all these things. Just as Jollibee gets away (most of the time) with bland Coke and just one small piece of very thin paper napkin (tissue). Are paper napkins so expensive you have to deny us how many we really need? These are the leaders (in the food industry) here in the Philippines, and the other smaller players, I can only see them following in their footsteps. But then, it's the consumer's fault also. We accept and tolerate these practices. We continue to patronize these places. So they continue to do these things.

Ah, this is one of those things that you just let be or else, you'd be like punishing yourself if you just keep on thinking about it. Well, Kenny Roger, unfortunately this type of quality is being associated with your name. I hope you (or your kin) do something about it.

People's Palace, Greenbelt, Makati, Philippines

When I first heard the name, the first thing that came to mind was “Chinese Food!”

But it’s not Chinese food. It’s Thai food actually, but like most West-Southeast Asian food (i.e. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam), there are some Indian, Malay, and Chinese influences in there.

And it’s great food. And shakes. I did not pay though when I went here, so I don’t know if it’s good value for money. From what I recall though, it’s not bad, if you can afford it.

So, looking for some place new? Go try this place.

But have you been a gastro-bug like myself? I have been around and have tried many different places; while this is good food, and perhaps it’s a cut above the rest, it’s not that exceptionally great. Not that the rest is bad. It’s just that the taste isn’t all so new to me. Catfish salad. Chicken pandan. Different Curry dishes. Green mango salad.

But what I liked here was their shakes. Did I already mention they have shakes? I mean, you might think it’s just a matter of mixing some fruits and stuff, and voila, you have a shake concoction. But that was the highlight of the night for me.

Oh, and I liked the dessert I got too. Mango with ice cream or something. But, that’s something you can have at home. Maybe I liked it because I got it (and the whole meal) for free.

So, yup, nothing’s changed. Food, better but not great. Shakes, they get a “wow! I haven’t tried that but I’m glad I did” rating. Dessert – well it might have been great because it was a good choice to match the main course I ate.

Kenny Rogers' Roasted

Hmmm, I am here to say "I never learned" again. The last three times I ate at Kenny Rogers 'here in the Philippines, I saw some disappointing things.

The first time, I ate at the Kenny Rogers' at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Paranaque near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. That branch seems to not have that much customers, and because maybe of their poor sales, comes the poor quality of food. I mean, I don't think that's where they can find their target market. I wonder then, how cheap maybe their rent is there. I ordered one of their "latest" products, what they call "gourmet" sandwiches. I think it was a chicken sandwich. For ~P80, it was nothing that I couldn't prepare myself at home for P20 or less. It wasn't worth it. Nothing fantastic. I would pay P20 for it somewhere else. P80 was too much. This was in early 2007.

Second time, I ate at the Kenny Rogers' at the SM Mall of Asia, just last month (January 2008). I was trying to save on money, so I got the
What has happened to you, Kenny Rogers?

And I noticed this just at that Kenny Rogers' at the SM-MOA, but they have abandoned the one-line fall-in-line-in-front-of-the-food procedure and have used instead a multiple line (one per cash register) format. It takes up a lot of space! And what happens, as the case for such formats in other restaurants, is that those people coming in late sometimes get ahead of those people who have already been in line for minutes! What the hell???

And, yep, I never learned. I ate again at another Kenny Rogers in January 2008, this time at Glorietta in Makati. I made that choice, partly because well I like the ORIGINAL Kenny Rogers roasted chicken and the ORIGINAL Kenny Rogers format - you know, you pick your side dishes with the "Solo A" meal that comes with 1/4 Chicken and a muffin. Plus I ate there because I had SodexHo Gift Certificates that Kenny Rogers' accepts. Our total meal was P280, so with my P200 GC, I practically paid only P80. For what happened at that store, I thought it P80 wasn't bad. IT WAS JUST RIGHT. Now hear this.

First, it's that "new" Kenny Rogers' meal ordering format again. I think at least one person who came in after us got ahead of us. Oh well. Then there are these on-line order takers. You know, you really order at the cashier but because of the long lines (emphasis on LONG lineS), somebody takes your order even before you reach the cashier and then gives you a piece of paper which contains your paper. Fault Number One: the order taker didn't properly get what we ordered. So the cashier had to redo his thing, probably to the chagrin of his manager. Fault Number Two: the cashier didn't take our order properly after the first fault was addressed. When our ordered arrived, my friend got the "new" "Fiesta" type of chicken, which we didn't go to Kenny Rogers' for. Fault Three: The cashier didn't give us the right change! Fortunately, they still gave us the change, except that the cashier himself just delivered it to our table. It was a frustrating evening. And then my order was gone in a flash. That was something I accepted, because I eat like an American, and well, I typically order two times the regular quantity of food orders here in the Philippines.

What's going on Kenny Rogers?

I told my friend, you see as a sign of desperation when a restaurant starts serving stuff they are not known for. Kenny Rogers with SAUSAGES? And BURGER STEAK? Come on!!! I go to Kenny Rogers for the wonderful roasted chicken and the side dishes! I go to Jollibee for Chickenjoy, what Kenny Rogers calls their "Fiesta" chicken. I go to McDonald's and/or Jollibee also for their "burger steaks." Why is Kenny Rogers offering such things?

They're losing. They haven't lost yet, but it's coming to that. And while it is generally a good business decision to "diversify," to give the customers what they want, great companies focus on their core businesses. For Kenny Rogers, I don't see SAUSAGES and BURGER STEAKS and "GOURMET" SANDWICHES which are nothing but STUFFED PANDESAL as part of their core business. And while it is obviously a good business strategy to grow, I think their supply (of outlets/branches) has far outgrown the demand. That is what I think is going wrong.

What's going on with Kenny Rogers?

I want the old Kenny Rogers back!!!

Kudos to Wendy's SM Centerpoint - but I take it back, thanks to that stupid cashier. And what's up with the additional Quezon City tax on food?

I haven't posted it before, but I went to Wendy's at SM Centerpoint, had I think P125 in my wallet, ordered the P125 meal, and then it turned out that the bill was more than P125, thanks to the additional tax that Quezon City imposes on these establishments (and that these establishments do not add to their listed price). So my order was there already, as well as my payment, although lacking by a few pesos. I think I told them to cancel my order na lang because it turned out I didn't have enough money pala.

The manager, a nice (young) lady, then decided to just let me go with the few bucks. Thank you, Ms. (or is it Mrs.) Manager, I'm sorry I didn't get your name.

That was a long time ago (a few months).

What's up with the Quezon City tax? Technically I'm fine with that. The extended value added tax (EVAT) after all helped strengthened the Philippine Peso. But how come these establishments (not just Wendy's, but most of the fastfood establishments including #1 Jollibee, and #2? McDonald's) do not yet include the QC tax with their listed price. For uniformity among their branches I guess. It would be weird that Value Meal #3 is PhP125 in Makati and everywhere else in the Philippines, and PhP128 or whatever in Quezon City locations. But, what's wrong with that? It's the price you have to pay for doing business in Quezon City.

Anyway, just last Tuesday, I had a snack at the same Wendy's store. Different manager now, or at least on that time and day. I paid more than enough which meant I had change. The cashier asked, "Sir, okay lang po ba na kulang ako ng 20 cents?" My mom would have reacted "Centavos, hija! Cents, mahal yon." Anyway, I reacted by saying "No." It turned out, my change should have been 21 centavos. If they just gave me 25 centavos, their change would have been over by 4 centavos only. Imagine, they were asking me to give up 21 centavos, and they can't give up 4 centavos. Wendy's earns thousands more a month than I do, and they can't afford to give me 5 times what they're demanding me to give them. Well, it's not Wendy's maybe. It's that stupid cashier. And she's not the only one. Almost everyone is like that. I pity them for they do not know what they are doing is STEALING. Well, on the good side, at least she asked me. But she asked me to give up 20 centavos but I was actually giving up 21 centavos.

Do you get my point? It is so pathetic. It's happening all over the Philippines. Is this post detrimental to Philippine Tourism? No, I don't think so. What that cashier did and that many other cashiers do, that's detrimental. We can argue all day, everyone in the Philippines always seem to justify their mistakes, even "educated" and "rich" people. A typical excuse is "everyone else does it." What you are does not define who you are, it's what you do.

Jollibee Philcoa - their fault, my fault, their fault, their payback - we're quits! no thumbs up for them

I hate Jollibee. Because they have (some) good food that my Filipino taste really crave for at least once a month maybe, like many Filipinos. And because of that, they as well as many other similar business establishments could get away with not providing customer service. I've hated ordering Coke at Jollibee, some branches just do not mix it right (too much soda water I think, or something). It just tastes bad! Then I also hate the fact that they just give you one, and just one piece of very fine (very thin!) paper napkin (or more commonly known as "tissue" in the Philippines).

So here I was at Jollibee Philcoa. No choice, because they have better parking than McDonald's. I was meeting someone. I was early. I ordered their fries with the beef and melted cheese. They didn't give me any fork. I thought I wouldn't need it (my first time to try the thing), so I didn't ask for one. So I was using my fingers to eat the thing. Suddenly, it's hard to eat the thing without making a big mess. Now I realized I needed a fork. So what will I do, should I bring my fries to the counter and have my seat possibly taken by other customers? I thought, well my fries aren't even halfway consumed yet, so if I leave it here, I could keep an eye on it anyway, there'll be no problem.

So I left the fries, ran to the counter, asked for a fork, I saw someone trying to take my seat so I ran back to my table, ran back to the counter and got my fork, ran back to my table, and voila! No more fries! "Did you see my fries?," I asked my neighbor. They pointed to a Jollibee maintenance guy. And then it was like I ate one whole chili pepper.

A manager saw something wrong and asked me if there was something wrong? I said, "Yes, that guy took my fries, I was not yet done." The maintenance guy returns and said "Ah, hindi pa ba kayo tapos?" Sa loob loob ko, "Pokenangenamoh!" Aangal ba ako kung ubos na yan? Good thing, the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "Ang dami pa niyan, panong hindi pa ako tapos." Manager lady then said, we'll just get you a new one. I said "Ok, thanks!" but I closely watched the maintenance guy because he might just give me the very same thing that he already took... Which could have been dirty already!

Anyway, manager lady comes back with the newly fried fries with cheese and beef - maybe just about the same amount that I left. The lady also was giving me fork. I said, "No thank you, I got one already." In my head, I added, "if your staff gave me one in the first place, this mess wouldn't have happened."

So, Jollibee, I still don't like you. Your employees, because you're sad, pathetic little Filipinos who hate to be told what you're doing wrong, I still don't like you. But I guess I should give some sort of commendation to that manager lady. Well done. Ordinary Filipinos would have thought "naku, baka ibawas sa suweldo ko ito." Mga patetiko talaga kayo. Maka-sarili! Mag-hirap kayo! TIN!