a little bit about travel, a little bit about food, a lot of everything in between; as seen, tasted and experienced by different points of view..
Aside from bigby’s, burger joint is one of the few places where one could get fresh fried onion rings here in cebu. The place is Located within The Gallery in Mabolo and stands as burger machine’s successor in selling affordable gourmet burgers for the masses. …
Manang Fe’s is located beside University of Southern Philippines in the middle of IT park and within walking distance to JY square. What surprises me about this restaurant is that they had the courage to go against the forerunner of grilled food here in Cebu by taking over Route Stop’s spot. Granted, competing against AA’s bbq is an uphill battle, I give them credit for doing so.
At first I thought of this place as something like the typical food stops beside UP (Royal Cafe and Brown Gate to name a few) but I was proven wrong when we finally visited this place after watching The Hobbit at Ayala Cinemas. The place was small, somewhat dingy from the lack of windows, and a wee bit cramped for space. Even though that was the case, we were fortunate to come here at a good time when there were still a few patrons. In fact, we were the first to enter the diner in hope of sating our appetites.
Their menu is expansive, mostly composed of grilled meat and fried seafood and a few more vegetable dishes like chopsuey and pakbet. Among the restaurants here in Cebu, I believe this is one of the few that serves bagabay and bihod, or fish fat and fish roe respectively.
The ambiance was pleasant enough, with chalkboards hanging from the walls with fancy design drawn on them paired with some random quote about sharing meals with friends and family and the type shadows they added to the letters in their menu. We ordered several dishes here, minus the roe because they ran out of it when we visited. For appetisers, we had kinilaw, fried fish bagabay, and chicharong bulaklak. After that, for the main course, we had garlic chicken and pork sisig.
Once we had our fill, we sampled their famous desserts, two cups of creamy brazo and a serving of leche flan.
In short, the experience was worthwhile, and we’d like to come back one day to sample their fried bihod sometime in the future.
Orange Karenderia
Salinas drive, La Guardia
Verdict:
A: 3/5
The food is a bit pricey for the amount they served to us. The notable mentions here would be the soy garlic chicken, the chicharong bulaklak, and the fish bagabay. The sisig seems to be lackluster and too chunky to be called sisig. It does look like chopped up fat with sweet sauce with an optional fried egg, minus the usual liver in it. The fish kinilaw tasted like it was overcooked from the vinegar that was in the bowl. Their desserts are top notch, though, and I can easily say that these are part of the best sellers.
What bothers me is the lack of space in the restaurant, which, in my case isn’t normally a problem. But when you place a garbage can almost level your wash basin, you’d take a trip to the washroom and puke your way too. Of course, if you haven’t already from the stinky smell of the bathroom.
One of the newer restaurants in Ayala is Planet Grapes, located at the 4th floor of the establishment just beyond the automatic sliding doors beyond Burger King. Or if you’re entering through the new section, at the top of the waiting escalators. Planet Grapes, in …
If you’re looking for a place to unwind, socialize with fellow sports enthusiasts, and meet new people, there’s only one spot in Ayala where you should frequent. Located at the fourth floor of Ayala Center Cebu, The Social sits right across Seafood Island at The Terraces’s new wing. This establishment has several flat screen televisions installed that are tuned to the latest sports events be it football, rugby, ice hockey, or basketball.
The place is spacious, with several tables for their guests and couches on the side. The establishment also has an outdoor bar and additional tables outside. What i fancied about this restaurant is that they have unique lighting fixtures that is different from the ones you see in department stores. The music in the background isn’t bad either, most of the ones you hear are up to date and sets the mood of the place.
Most of the food served here are expensive, being a drinking hub with foreigners as their intended audience. For our brunch, we had a plate of hanger steak and a serve of crispy pata. Apparently, they have this secret menu not included in the tagboard they hand out.
The only thing that prevents me from giving this restaurant a good score is the price and the availability of food.
You don’t see any American outdoors-inspired restaurant in this city yet, and the best thing you’d find for a good grill is AA’s Grill, which is a far cry from this restaurant’s . That said, something about Tex Rex makes it different from your regular run-of-the-mill grill houses. It’s not about the sauce (well, part of it is, but I’ll get back to that later) but the way it is grilled.
Instead of the usual way grilled meat tastes, Tex Rex’s meat are infused with this a deep, smoky flavor that emboldens each bite. They have a wide plethora of dishes that you can choose from that keeps you coming back for more.
We came here upon browsing new eats on the internet and found this neat gem in one of the expat forums we lurk around in. The family has just finished their obligations for the day and we decided to hunt for this place in Mandaue to sate our piqued interest for this “new” restaurant.
The place was moderately sized, with several sets of wooden surfaces laden with condiments in the middle of each table. The ambiance of the place feels a bit western, with horse saddles and animal hides hanging on the wall. There is a huge mirror on the far east of the place, just before the divider that leads to the maintenance closet and the washroom, with a huge imprint of TEX REX in bold white. It is a decent, not counting the on-going construction on the street.
They serve a number of dishes here at Tex Rex. The entrees they serve include ribs, roast chicken, pork shoulder, beef brisket all cooked with their secret process until tender. If you’re not feeling hungry enough a large serving of their food, they have set meals with enough amounts for one person. Or, if you’re really looking to just having a small meal instead, they have burgers and sandwiches for all.
Tex Rex
888 A.S. Fortuna St., Bercede Cmpd., Banilad, Mandaue City
Verdict:
A: 4.5/5
This is probably one of the best places to go to if you’re tired of the local grilled flavor of fresh food. We had pulled pork, grilled chicken, pork shoulder and beef brisket to go with mashed potato and veggies.
Their beef brisket is definitely the way to go and is the best of the food they serve. Quite full in flavor and soft, you’d definitely want to eat some more. I think the reason why people dislike the food here is that they ate it too long and had it to cool down before digging in? Or maybe they just got a bad batch? It would be better to switch a few of their sauces around or completely separate the sauces for their customer’s discretion, as the food tastes good on its own.
