Weekend Eating at Manang's Chicken SM Fairview

My sister and I anticipated the opening of Manang's Chicken at SM Fairview, but it was just last Sunday that we finally got to go out and enjoy our favorite double deep fried chicken with soy garlic sauce.


Chicken and Spaghetti Meal
It was very early to eat dinner, so I just went for the chicken and spaghetti meal. I chose the mild spicy sauce and it was a little spicier than what I remembered, and it surely went well with the slightly sweet sauce of the spaghetti. If there was one thing I was sad about, it would be the amount of serving of the spaghetti - either it was little, or I liked it so much that I ate it quite fast. I had lemonade as my drink :)


Two-Piece Fried Chicken Meal
My sister got home early that morning and went to bed right after and it was already mid-afternoon when she woke up, totally not able to eat breakfast and lunch. I guess she was so hungry that she went for the two-piece chicken, also with the mild spicy sauce.

As soon as the meal was served, my sister thought the rice had a small serving. Recalling a food trip we had at Manang's Chicken late last year, the restaurant introduced a bigger rice serving and she was sad that it went back to the small rice serving. The thing was, the rice serving might be small, but they now offer unlimited rice, so the initial rice serving doesn't matter anymore... as one could have as much rice as they want.

Also, we found out that on two-piece (or more) chicken meals / packages, the customer has the privilege to choose different sauces - one opt to have a mix of the original or mild spicy or the extra spicy sauce.


Large Potato Chips
This is a staple whenever we eat at Manang's Chicken, and was served as soon as we placed our orders, so this became our appetizer, if I can call it that. As usual, we went for the Mayo Garlic and Cheesy Cheese dips because we just love combining these two dips for our potato chips.


Red Velvet Sundae
Another one of my sister's usual order. She just love the contrast between the warm cake and cold sundae and the texture and the feel of the cake in the mouth.


Free Sundae Cone
For a limited time, Manang's Chicken SM Fairview is offering free sundae cone for rice meal orders amounting more than 100 pesos, and because my sister ordered the Red Velvet Sundae, I ate the free sundae cone. Sweet!


Ultimate Crispy Chicken Sandwich
Something sister took home. Like I said, it was early to eat dinner that time, so she decided to take home this sandwich or her to eat for late dinner. She ate this around 9pm and loved it a lot because the sauce soaked up the chicken good, the way she liked her Manang's Chicken to be.

The overall dining experience was great. As with every Manang's Chicken outlet we visited, we were treated with respect and bubbly friendliness, which made us love this restaurant more and more.

Manang's Chicken at SM Fairview is located at the lower ground floor, near Dulcinea and Office Warehouse.

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Food Trip Flashback | Tokyo Tokyo

There was a moment when Tokyo Tokyo at SM Fairview was closed for renovations. My sister and I happened to be at the mall when it re-opened, and because it was near lunch time already, we decided to eat there.

There was a very big change - for one, the counter was directly across the entrance of the restaurant and the dining area became spacious with ample amount of lighting.


Chicken Karaage
As usual, my sister went with her favorite Tokyo Tokyo meal - the Chicken Karaage. The place may have changed, but the food remained the same... it was still as delicious as we once tasted it.


Chicken Oyakudon Donburi
My favorite Tokyo Tokyo meal is the Beef Misono, but because Tokyo Tokyo just released new dishes, I decided to try it out. Japanese food is something I am teaching myself to appreciate and love, and this didn't fail me. Serving was more than enough to fill the tummy, the sauce was just right, and it gave me a new reason to come back at Tokyo Tokyo.

I am liking Tokyo Tokyo more and more. They provide good Japanese food at affordable prices, and whenever cravings for Japanese food arise, we know eating there would satisfy that.

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Recipe | Sinampalukang Manok

It's been a long time since I last posted a recipe here on the blog... so allow me to share one, even if this dish is a basic Filipino dish that anyone can cook.

Sinampalukang Manok is Chicken cooked Sinigang style, but what made this different among the other sinigang dishes is that this uses young tamarind leaves as a souring agent, whereas other sinigang dishes used different kinds of fruits - calamansi, young tamarind fruit, guava, santol, kamias (bilimbi), and batuan.

I was able to cook this dish when I passed by a market and saw a vendor selling young tamarind leaves for 20 pesos per 1/4 kilo. Quite expensive, but then again, we don't have any neighbors who have tamarind trees in their yard, so I just have to go with it. There are so many ways to cook this dish, but this is how I cook mine.


Sinampalukang Manok
{serves 6}

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces
• 1/4 kilo young tamarind leaves
• 1 bundle string beans, cut 1-inch long
• 4 medium pieces taro, quartered 
• 1 small white radish, cut diagonally (1/4 inch wide)
• leaves from 1 bundle kangkong
• 1 big tomato, quartered
• 1 medium sized red onion, sliced
• 2-3 pieces finger chilies
• water
• salt (or patis)

How to Cook

• Place the young tamarind leaves in a cheesecloth and boil it in a pot of water with salt for about 5 to minutes. Take out the cheesecloth and squeeze out the water from the leaves. If you don't have cheesecloth, you can just boil the leaves in water and just use a strainer to take out the leaves.
• Add tomatoes, chilies, and onion into the pot and bring it to a boil.
• Add chicken and taro and continue simmering it until it's half cooked. Add the string beans and simmer further.
• Once the vegetables are cooked to your liking, adjust the seasoning and add the kangkong leaves. Stir lightly and cover the pot for few minutes, allowing the residual heat to cook the leaves. Serve hot.

Sinigang and Sinampalukan are flexible dishes, and it can be altered to go with one's preferences. Optional vegetables to use include eggplants and okra, and one can also add lemongrass or ginger to take out the "lansa" from the chicken (as well as adding flavors, too). Other people also saute the onions, tomatoes, and chicken in oil before adding the tamarind infused water, but here in our house, we don't go with that procedure because the chicken skin already gives the oil to the dish, we don't feel like adding more oil into it. What else? Oh... others also use rice washing water (the water you used in cleaning the rice before cooking it), although I don't really know the logic behind it, I do go for it once in a while. 

If young tamarind leaves is not available (as this is not widely available in markets), people also use the young tamarind fruit, as well as the store bought tamarind cube, powder, or paste. Since the objective of the dish is to have a bowl of hot, sour chicken soup, anyone can use whatever ingredients are available.

As for me, I enjoy my Sinampalukang Manok with hot steamed rice and a saucer of my favorite condiment - patis, calamansi juice, and mashed bird's eye chili. Hot and spicy. Yum.

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Slow Cooker Chicken-Lickin' Good Pork Chops

Actually it is a cross between the Melt in your Mouth Baked Chicken that was going around facebook and this old recipe I knew from a blog I knew long ago.  I used to make this recipe in its original form back when we were wheat eaters.  Now I am replacing her Cream of Chicken soup with the Melt in your Mouth's Greek Yogurt.  I'll flavor it with a chicken bouillon cube and end up with a new and improved hybrid recipe.

The tricky ingredient here is the chicken bouillon.  Some have wheat, herb ox and Knorr does not.  bouillon does have corn in its ingredients and some even have soy so it is not paleo.  You could sub the water and bouillon cube for some home made chicken stock and that would work very nicely

8 lean pork chops - 3/4 to 1 inch thick
1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons oil
8 ounces Greek Yogurt
1/3 c. water and 1 Chicken Bouillon Cube (or 1/3 cup home made stock)

Mix dry ingredients.
Dredge pork chops in mixture.
Heat oil in skillet.
Brown chops in oil in large skillet.
Place browned pork chops in crock pot.
Add can of Yogurt, water and bouillon.
Cover and cook 6-8 hours


Other places on the web
recipe over at Momadvice.com

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Amici Offers New Dishes in Celebration of Their 6th Year Anniversary

Amici is one of the restaurants in my foodie bucket list. For years, my sister and I have hoped of dining there, but we just couldn't find the chance to do so. Last week, I was finally able to fulfill a dining wish - when I was invited to taste the new dishes at their Venice Piazza branch.



Amici started as a humble canteen put up by Fr. Gianluigi Colombo, a Salesian Italian priest in charge of overseeing the operations of the Don Bosco Makati Printing Press. During lunch break, he noticed that employees had to leave the premises, so he put up a canteen serving Italian coffee and gelato, as well as wood-fired baked pizza and homemade pasta. In 2001, Amici di Don Bosco (meaning, "Friends of Don Bosco") was established as a business that also serves the dining needs of the students studying in Don Bosco. Word of mouth about the great tasting, authentic, and affordable Italian food spread, and soon people flock to the Hole-in-the-Wall store in Makati just to taste what Amici di Don Bosco has to offer.

In 2007, Danny Moran planned to open a business and thought about opening a gelato place. A meeting with the priests made him learn about Amici di Don Bosco, and a few meetings after, he took over the business, with the promise of partnering the food business with the Tuloy Foundation.

Today, Amici has eight establishments, one located at the Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill - Bonifacio Global City.



I love the homey ambiance of the restaurant! Decorations look posh, but I personally love the mis-matched chairs. To give the impression that the restaurant is an extension of our own home, the owners included framed pictures - which are their own personal pictures.

Amici is celebrating their sixth anniversary this week by offering ten new dishes - two of which I shared yesterday (please check my other post).


Mediterranean Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad
At first, I was apprehensive in trying this one. With ingredients having different flavors - bitter arugula leaves, tangy sweet grapes, sweet candied walnuts, and the blue cheese - I didn't know how the flavors would blend, but it did taste good! I loved how the flavors fight each other, and the red wine vinaigrette binding the ingredients together just made it such a unique salad.


Asian Chicken Salad
I did like the other salad, but if I have to make a choice between the two salad servings, I would choose this, maybe because I love that slightly tangy flavor in my salad. It was lip-smacking good, and the fried wonton strips provide more crunchy texture.


Prosciutto & Artichoke Cream Cheese Pizza Roll
Unlike the panniza, this one is already rolled and cut too pieces when served. The artichoke cream cuts the strong flavor of the prosciutto, while the reduced balsamic vinegar drizzled at the top provided an interesting kick in the flavors.


Prosciutto Portobello Pizza Roll
I wasn't able to taste this (wasn't served at our table), so I cannot make a comment about it, but this pizza roll contains prosciutto, portobello mushrooms, cream cheese, and arugula... served with roasted garlic dip.


Garlic Chorizo Spaghetti
I love oil based spaghetti, and the aglio olio has got to be my favorite! I was so happy when this was served, but I found it a little salty for my taste.


Penne Rosa & Bacon
A combination of pomodoro and bechamel sauces were enough to make this a winner for me. Adding bacon and mushroom to the mix, it was one of the nicest pasta dishes I have tasted.


Pork Marsala
Such a tasty dish - I loved that the pork was cut thinly and rolled with ham and cheese, making it easy to eat. The reduce marsala wine was a little overpowering, but I liked it.


Chicken Parmigiana
The chicken in the image looked dry, but in reality it was tender and juicy. The contrast between the crunchy breading and the juicy chicken meat combined with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce made this dish my overall favorite among the dishes I tasted.



Amici offers desserts, but to complete the Italian fare, we were served gelato! We were given three flavors to choose from - Sans Rival, Ferrero, and Pistachio, and we decided to get one of each so we could taste and compare. What I loved about their gelato was that it tasted the same as what the flavor was. Sure it was cold and had the ice cream feel in the mouth, but if you are to eat a Ferrero Rocher chocolate and have a taste of the Ferrero gelato after... you wouldn't taste the difference in the flavor.

Amici is all about celebrating good food and good friendships, as well as good family ties. If you fancy to eat some Italian cuisine, please do visit one of their eight branches - Don Bosco, Tomas Morato, SM Megamall, Greenhills, Alabang Town Center, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Venice Piazza, and UP Ayala Technohub.

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