Durian, the king of all fruits

it's already mid-september and durian season is still at it's peak.

but then again durian is no longer a seasonal fruit.  you can find them practically anytime in fruit stands all over the city.  but all fruit loving people know that durian, like most fruits, is at its best and sweetest [not to mention at its CHEAPEST too] when it is in its original season [am i making sense or what, anyway, you all know where i'm going here].

question: is there a relation as to why we celebrate Kadayawan on the month where the now ubiquitous fruit is at it's peak season.  Durian, anyway is one of the few things our city is known for.  It is one of the symbols which we proudly carry, along with the Philippine Eagle and the Waling-waling.  anybody wanna answer that?

only in davao!

i kinda get why some people find it repulsive, thankfully i am not one of them.  my sister has headaches if she gets a whiff of the fruit, while i try not to wash with soap after eating it so i can smell my fingers every so often.  it's such a pity that a lot of people find this creamy, bittersweet, and heady fruit disgusting.  they even compare it to rotten unmentionables.

i 'pshawed' at the fact that Mario Batali, who is a world renowned chef, hates it.  and Andrew Zimmern, who is supposedly one of the most adventurous foodies ever, failed miserably not once but three times in his meeting with the king of all fruits.  That is why i adore Anthony Bourdain who is the REAL deal for me; he immerses himself in the typical-everyday-life of every city he visits, eats the food that the locals eat, in places where the locals eat them and that to me, is how we should experience places we visit.  Oh, and he loves durian too. Check out this link and pshaw with me now. =P

so i dare you to take that first step, give durian a try.  i promise you that one bite into its creamy flesh will transport you to another level of gastronomic pleasure, go ahead, close your eyes and enjoy it as it melts in your mouth and lingers in your taste buds long after.  in this case, there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

p.s. yes, you love the taste but still hate the smell, the trick is to rub your fingertips on the white, inner side of it's shell, i repeat, the white inner side of it's shell.  we don't want you bleeding now.

get rid of the smell by rubbing your fingertips against that white part of the inner shell, and no, that part can't be eaten.

note: first and last pictures from here.  middle photo is courtesy of my trusty phone camera.  Cello's Doughnuts and Dips is located at Gov. Sales St.  in front of Chimes.

Manila's top secret buffet place [you wish!]

when my mother-in-law, told me we were going to have dinner in a buffet place which charged only P195 per head for adults, i wasn't sure what to think.  you won't find a decent place serving buffet for that low a price even here in davao.  the cheapest here is atleast P270++ per person.  so when dinner time came, i convinced myself not to expect anything and prepare for what might be a night of gastronomic disappointment.

i happily realized that my fears were unfounded as soon as we stepped into the restaurant.

 

The buffet table was filled with unexpectedly good mostly chinese fare.  and the variety was surprising!  from the more common ones like sweet and sour pork, yang chow fried rice, and pancit canton to oyster cakes, a tofu dish, steamed lapu-lapu in soy sauce.  they also had siomai, congee and bird's nest soup and even japanese chopstick-food like sushi and maki rolls complete with wasabi and kikoman.  and mind you the california maki's orange-colored roe was real [sorry, i don't know what they are called].  there was also green mango with bagoong, i thought it out of place, but many seemed to like it there.

and the dessert spread was not bad either, from fresh fruits to filipino desserts like buko pandan to chinese buchi.  i 'met' and tasted for the first time steamed egg  in a cup, i found it strange that it was in the dessert area because it was not sweet at all.  but i liked it anyway.

of course, there is a but.  with a price like that you can't expect the ambiance you get from a pricy restaurant.  you can't expect an abundance of space, nor can you expect to be able to eat in peace with soft music in the background.  we shared the place with a big group which was celebrating somebody's birthday.  of course they sang and accompanied it with a birthday cake and loud cheering and clapping as the celebrant blew the candle.  on the other side of our table was a group of co-workers probably in an impromptu after work dinner escapade, so they also contributed to the noise.  and of course add to that the other sounds you expect to hear in a busy chinese restaurant.

well, obviously it's not really a secret dining destination.  the place was filled to the brim when we arrived.  Luckily, a big group was just starting to leave so we managed to get a big round table fast.  we were 18 in all [yes, the hubby's side of the family is a big one, we weren't even complete that night] so we were kinda scattered into different tables.  we spent only P3kplus that night which really amazed us as we rang up more than double that amount in the past nights.

i would normally advise you to go there early as buffet places usually fill up easily and the quality and freshness of the food usually deteriorates by the hour, not to mention the quantity and variety.  But here it is happily different, they constantly refill all dishes and they serve them freshly prepared until an hour before closing.  so don't worry about the traffic or being late, you're sure to get good food when you arrive.

Tramway Tea House 
76 Sct.Alcaraz Street Cor. Banawe Street, Quezon City
[02]411-1565 / 410-3717
Opens from 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

another crabby experience

i can't really say when i started seeing crab buffet restaurants sprouting all over the city.  to date i think i can count 5 recently opened ones.  i don't know why but i think the more high end Let's Crab Eat restaurant pushed for the opening of these more affordable options.

i got my first taste of the 'crab buffet concept' at Sari Makan Crab Buffet Restaurant.  A friend boasted of eating there twice and wanted to go back for more.  So when another friend made a quick round-up of us long time pals, Sari Makan was the first choice to feast in.  Due to the name [Crab Buffet] one friend actually thought that they only served crabs or sea food, which she is allergic to.  We contemplated on buying food for her to bring to the place [lol!].  I on the other hand was apprehensive of the crab thing, being an eat-with-your-hands kind of food, and i also dreaded the laborious task of picking the flesh from the many partitions.  Not worth the effort, most of the time, i thought.

but we were assured that there were other things to eat so we went to the place at 6 p.m.  which turned out to be the best time to arrive in a buffet restaurant.  the food is in all it's fresh, steaming-hot glory, untouched by previous diners, and the best seats in the house [meaning: nearest to the buffet table =P]

the other reason we chose the place was the unbeatable price of P270 per person which was the cheapest in it's league [or so we heard, somebody prove us wrong please].  i prepped myself by washing my hands well, instead of the usual alcogel, as it was going to be a serious meal up ahead.

the place had a straightforward, no frills ambience [hence we did not have to pay for it, he he] and can seat up to around 30 comfortably.  More importantly, i noted that the place was well-lit and really clean.  true enough there was kaldereta [i think] but it was a goat dish for sure and there was also kare-kare [oxtail stew].  Both were delicious, my friends swore, and tender too.  i can't vouch for the taste though as i do not eat goat nor beef.

i stuck to the sole crab and prawn dish which was really yummy i had to exclaim, 'sauce pa lang, ulam na!'  and the requisite fried chicken leg and of course my beloved rice.

the prawns were scrumptious.  as for the crabs, some parts were over-cooked and paste-like in texture.  but the claw-meat, which was intact and perfect, plus the finger-licking, lip-smacking sauce more than made up for that and the fact that there was hardly any aligue [crab roe].  they also had a decent dessert spread which i unfortunately, had no room for anymore.

i polished off, i think, 3 whole crabs [they were small okay] and a few more claws =P.  plus, there's something about sharing a meal with friends who are more like sisters, it just made it all more enjoyable and appetizing.

so if you ask me, yes it was worth all the effort of picking at the flesh.  they had more than the usual shell cracker, there was also a crab pick which suspiciously looked like a manicure-pedicure tool [just joking].

seriously though, i'd definitely go and get my hands crab-dirty all over again with my girls, anytime. =D

p.s.  sorry there are no actual crab pics as it was in-between refill time when i got up to take pictures. =P

Sari Makan Crab Buffet Restaurant
Bonifacio St. [beside Alsons]
Davao City

in search of a favorite noodle dish

i used to work for Malaysia Airlines and yes i had a couple of opportunities to go to Kuala Lumpur [KL] on work assignment.  It was there where i discovered what i consider to be one of the best noodle dishes in the world. Char Kway Teow.  In KL, this fantastic fare is sold in hawker stalls.  i would go out and look for a stall during mealtimes.  the preparation alone is an interesting and entertaining experience, and it makes you hungrier as you wait for your order to be ready.

a friend used to bring me or send me a serving of Char Kway Teow via the flight crew whenever the craving striked.  it was one of the best things about being an employee of MH.

fast forward to more than 10 years later, meaning 2009, i discovered another noodle dish, this time vietnamese, Nam Thit Heo.  it reminded me a lot of my beloved Char Kway Teow that i searched it on the net to try replicating it.  MH has not been in davao for the longest time now and the friend is no longer a friend. =P

i was so craving it that i asked a friend who just came back from singapore if she ever came across this dish over there, and she simply said, but they serve it in Banana Leaf Asian Cafe. HWAT???

i go to Sales St.  atleast once a week and not once did i even think of checking out this Asian fusion restaurant.  How was i to know that they served Char Kway Teow?

The next day, i invited the parents to have an asian fusion lunch with me.


The verdict:  their version looked different from what i remember.  it had too much brown sauce and the noodles were a lot fatter than the ones they served in KL's hawker stalls.  and sadly, it did not taste the same. Our other choices tasted a lot better.

oh well, i guess, i'll never find it here in davao.  anyone, wanna prove me wrong on this one?

*hawker stall picture from here

chinese comfort food

chinese fastfood outlets are a dime a dozen here in davao city.  From dimsum stands to noodle houses to restaurant-style set-ups, you are sure to find one in every street. but only one stands out the most because there is not one time that their branches are not busy and bustling with hungry customers.  Mandarin Tea Garden

whenever i am out on solo flight at meal times, i look for the nearest Mandarin Tea Garden outlet.  i can enumerate a string of their reliably delicious offerings but i almost always end up asking for the same thing: Ravioli Noodle Soup and Fresh Fruit Salad.  the combination doesn't sound so great but i tell you, the first one makes up for the fact that i'm eating out alone and the latter is a very healthy dessert choice, just try not to devour all that yummy cream.

so, the next time you catch yourself out on the street and hungry, head to the nearest Mandarin Tea Garden.  Try out my favorites and experience the satisfaction only comfort food can bring.  Slurp!