~ Reviews by SamIAm ~
Showing 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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2 of 2 people found this helpful:
- Shrimp and pomelo salad
- Burgoo, Power Plant Mall
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I drag myself to the keyboard every so often to eke out a review of a dish, or a restaurant - only if the news simply MUST be shared.Rating 
Food Service Ambiance Value
The weird interior notwithstanding, the Shrimp and Pomelo Salad was heaven. Sweet-sour-tart, and crunchy and smooth in one bite. I noted a hint of lemon basil with a barely-there tease of fish sauce if I'm not mistaken. The shrimp was cooked just right, the greens were fresh, and the serving was generous. I LOVED it. My sister mentioned that we were lucky we ordered on a day that their pomelo was just right, and not too sour. I personally would take the risk and come back just for the dressing.
A little caveat here, SamIAm is into Thai flavors and the whole exotic sweet-sour pairing in almost all its permutations. If that's not your thing, then you may not like the salad . . . but it's worth a try :)
I also recommend the baked cream dory, a new addition to the menu, which came out perfectly light, soft and fresh. They had a surprisingly HUGE siding of broccoli to go with it, cooked just right and a great match to the fish's cream sauce topping.
As for the decor, I have no idea what the name "Burgoo" has to do with metallic industrial design and black walls. Would I have a date here? No. Have a happy lunch with family or friends over good conversation? Yes.
For those who are into the details, the service was better than adequate, the settings were clean, and the price matches the size of their servings (read: hummanah hummah).
p.s. In my wild ravings over the dish, I forgot to remember its menu listing. The salad isn't listed as "shrimp and pomelo salad", but the description should suffice when you order - Was this review...? Useful | Useless | Bogus
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2 of 2 people found this helpful:
- Green Wasabe
- Omakase, Alabang Town Center
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SamIAm calls the South home and when it comes to eating out, for some reason the pickings are a little slim down here.Rating 
Food Service Ambiance Value
Which is why Omakase in Alabang is one of the hardest places to get seats at on a weekend, for lunch OR dinner. We got lucky last Sunday night, and showed up at 6:30pm and the restaurant was only half-full so we were seated right away.
We ordered our staples: Spider Maki, American Dream, Ebi Tempura, Bento Special and Beef Teppanyaki.
There's just something about the food at Omakase that's endearing. It's unassuming, flavorful ... and consequently far more authentic than some of the other more commercial Japanese dining options. The Spider maki was a happy mixture of well seasoned sushi rice and the surprise of the soft-shelled crab crunch. The American Dream was just as yummy as before but we noted that the batter was a little on the soft side that night. The Japanese mayo and soy sauce dip is a favorite but good to note than in this case, a little goes a long way: it gets cloying in large doses. For a hungry teen, there's enough variety, color and taste in the Bento Box Special, the chicken teriyaki is soft and deep-flavored. I have to say, my favorite miso soup is at Omakase. Least watered down flavor, hands down.
The service was as good as you would expect it to be on a busy weekend night. The waiters and waitresses were weaving in and out around the tables with a permanent look of anxiety on their faces. I tried to ignore their harassed faces and concentrated on ordering my faves.
Overall, one of the coziest places to come for a weekend dinner of happy Japanese food. By 7pm, there were groups of people waiting to be seated outside and the restaurant was packed inside. If you're good, people just keep coming back. - Was this review...? Useful | Useless | Bogus
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1 of 1 people found this helpful:
- SamIAm's Faves: Mozarella Burger
- Café Breton, Westgate
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SamIAm LOVES Cafe Breton's Mozarella Burger.Rating Food Service Ambiance Value
1. Joooooouicy.
2. On a whole wheat bun!
3. Creamy mozarella surprise in the pattie's center 4. Deliciously spiced burger pattie.
Nothing detracts from this burger, not even the inconsistent service or the poor sound-proofing at the Westgate branch.
I am a little confused by this whole lazy waiter "disease". Lethargic, eyes a little blood-shot, our server a few weeks ago was a sliver of a second away from a solid talk-down from my sister and me. He was infuriating!
As for the sound-proofing, something about this branch, but the chatter just seems to echo and bounce off of the walls and floor. Again, the burger's worth it : )
I like to spike the burger with a few strategic drops of Tabasco (insert smacking of the lips here).
And then. ... you put it all away with a banana-nutella ala-mode crepe chaser.
- Was this review...? Useful | Useless | Bogus
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2 of 2 people found this helpful:
- SamIAm Claps for Food Presentation
- Kulinarya Kitchen, Power Plant Mall
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Had the opportunity to eat at this restaurant twice, once at lunch and another for dinner.Rating Food Service Ambiance Value
For dinner, I had the mango-crab salad, Callos, and a glass of red wine. I have to say, I give happy claps for the extra attention the kitchen pays to the food presentation. I love the idea of artistry in food - and in a mall at that.
The salad was alright, the greens were fresh, the dressing creamy but the mangoes were a little tart. The callos were on the salty side and not being a heavy rice eater, it was hard to down the serving. Salt aside, it was warm and filling and a good mix of several ingredients i.e. no cutting corners.
For lunch (no, not on the same day) with friends we ordered the same salad, Gambas pasta, pork inihaw, and grilled salmon.
The gambas pasta was a pleasant discovery. Not even the the slightly undercooked noodles took away from the realization that the flavor is a lot like the sun-dried tomato and shrimp pasta I used to love at Tequila Joe's. One of the best and most generously flavored pastas I've tried in a commercial resto (referring to TJ's pasta here), chock-full of garlic and basil and sun-dried tomatoes and EVOO, Kulinarya's pasta took me back to early TJ's, way before its food quality took a down-turn.
Back to Kulinarya. The pork inihaw was tough. So tough it had to be sent back to the kitchen. The replacement was not much better (or so my friends say - SamIAm NEVER eats food that are replacements for a dish sent back to the kitchen, just a personal principle/fear?).
The service at dinnertime was attentive, and quick. Lunchtime was a different story. They are obviously on a more skeletal staff on weekdays so it took a lot of body language to get the waiters to notice us.
SamIAm's take? I'd eat them in the rain, in the dark and on a train. .. I'd come back for the gambas pasta : ) - Was this review...? Useful | Useless | Bogus
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3 of 3 people found this helpful:
- SamIAm Goes Texan
- Texas Roadhouse Grill, The Fort
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Just happened to have friends over from the States and quick as a wink, one of them fell victim to a sensitive stomach, days after their arrival. Based in the Fort area, I discovered that they had been "subsisting" on fast food outlets at Market Market. Poor souls had no idea that right across the road, a whole different set of food and shopping options waited.Rating Food Service Ambiance Value
So, my sick friend's lunch request: American Food [people find comfort where they will, even if it's based on ... well, nothing]. At Serendra and High Street, they nixed Friday's and the like. We settled on Texas Roadhouse Grill.
As with most American food franchises, the service crew was well trained in the whole meet-and-greet-I'm-your-server shpiel. I cringed when the greeter messed up one of her lines and actually started over (memorized much?)!
The ambience is a little Montana log-cabin, woodsy and dark. But quaint. We sat in one of the booths close to the entrance, but SamIAm also goes by the name TallI'mNot, so we had to move because the seats were too low. There are more booths at the back, better chair heights too.
We ordered Texas grilled prawns that are served ala Thermidore. The mixture was creamy, cheesy and not bad. The buttered vegetables were fresh, just the right crunch. The rice was a funky Mexican spice fried, a little dried out or undercooked. Better off ordering fries on the side.
My friend had a burger. He says it was okay. I'll take his word for it.
Another ordered Beef Medallions. She ordered it medium well. It came back with just the right color, but it was rubber-bone chewy. She looked like she was going to pull a jaw muscle.
Overall, the experience only reinforced what I've always believed about casual fast-dining experiences. These are NOT the places to go to for a good piece of steak!! No.no.no.no. I should have dissuaded my friend from ordering it but when you have your mind set on steak . . .
The staff was smart enough to offer to replace the steak when they noticed that it had hardly been touched. The manager apologized and said his staff should have informed us that beef medallions are always served Medium and not medium-well, to keep them soft. Perhaps, but I've learned the hard way that the best steaks are to be found elsewhere.
The apologies were sincere enough, although someone mumbled that in the States we would have gotten the dish for free.
That's my take. SamIAm's rating: Hard Ham : ) - Was this review...? Useful | Useless | Bogus
