The Purple Pad Thai

Today is extra special, and not just because it is All Soul's Day. This also maks the day when I spawned and started to wreck havoc in humanity in my own little way. Spawns like me are born with a great appetite. To disappoint you, no, it is not brains or unborn children that my hunger yearns for (maybe occasionally); it is just good food.

I have been sharing posts about Purple Pad Thai on my Facebook. Purple Pad Thai's Facebook page is food porn. They post Thai food and delicious desserts that would really make you hungry if you scroll through their albums filled with pictures of Thai cuisine. My curiosity is shared by my friends who read through my posts. Sadly, Purple Pad Thai is located in Angeles City, Pampanga, but for foodies, no location is inaccessible to experience good food.

The menu can be intimidating as half of the entries are Thai dishes. Randy Ramos, manager for Purple Pad Thai, mentioned that they wanted to be as authentic as possible. Most of the Thai ingredients are imported to really give the authentic Thai flavor. Despite staying true to traditional Thai cooking, they made small tweaks to these dishes to make the flavors taste much more closer to home.

It would be silly not to order curry to which Thai food is also known for. Looking at the menu, I see the list of curry as Red, Green, and Panaeng. I am not a fan of spicy dishes. Spicy dishes can burn my lips and my tongue, I would not be able to taste food for days, but I may be exaggerating. Seeing the menu list, I assumed that Green curry would be the mildest of them all; Red would be hot, and the one with the Thai name would cause anyone to breathe fire with each bite. I was so wrong. Panaeng is the mildest curry they have. The waiter told me that it has the sweet taste of peanut butter. Red is regularly spiced, and Green is the pot of burning flames. Being the spice-sissy that I am, I ordered Panaeng Chicken Curry.

Fun Curry Facts: Did you know that drinking water does not help much in removing the spicy taste from your mouth? Take a mouthful of rice instead. The spicy taste adheres to oil in food, and oil resists water. With rice, oil with stick to the rice easily, removing much of the spicy taste from your mouth.

It didn't really took a while for the food to be served. The smell of curry and peanut butter is divine. The presentation is as simple as it gets, but curry does not need fancy introductions. You can find mixed rice included in the menu, but the waiter suggested to take curry with steamed rice. This would better compliment with the rich flavors of curry. Boy, this meal did not fail to disappoint.

Chicken was cut into bite-size pieces and was well-cooked. Yes, you get the sweet taste of peanut butter, bust surprisingly, it was still mildly spicy. The hotness gives the balance in the sweetness that peanut butter flavor gives. You get the spicy taste when you start to chew the chicken pieces, which feels like an explosion of flavor with every bite. It may be hard for anyone to stop themselves from ordering another serving of steamed rice because it is really delicious. I really find it surprising for me to enjoy spicy dishes because, like I said, I am not a fan of spicy dishes. Ordering this dish will never leave you disappointed.

yes, i couldn't resist taking a bite out of it before taking a picture.

I really suggest to go beyond your urge to order a another serving of steamed rice while enjoying your main dish as you really have to make room for dessert. Ordering something sweet is really refreshing to your mouth especially if you ordered a spicy main dish. Me? I ordered frozen Brazo de Manga. I had no choice as the other desserts are out (really shows you how much the people love these desserts). I will be doing a separate post about the dessert because it is going to be a mouthful (figuratively and literally).

The restaurant is spacious and fits about 80 persons. They also cater!

Chef Yel is the genius behind these delicious cuisines. He was featured on my previous entry, Sawasdee, Holiday Inn Clark, as a guest chef for Holiday Inn Clark. The Thai event was such a hit, Holiday Inn invited him recently to, again, manage their kitchen.

For my friends in Manila, plan a road trip, because Purple Pad Thai is really worth it. My regrets during this visit is I didn't order appetizers. I was eyeing on Crunchy Pork Salad. I know the name alone would leave anyone curious. I will make sure to plan another visit as there are other things worth tasting, perhaps the Fish or Shrimp with 5 Sauces. I will also try some of their amazing desserts, like Braso de Durian and the Carrot Cake.

Add them on Facebook though this link here. Directions are also available there.

Happy Birthday to me!

Lechon Macao from LA Bakeshoppe

LA Bakeshoppe is really a bakery. Half of the store is selling different kinds of bread and they are known for their specially-made cheese bread. (which i heard is really delicious.)

But apart from this normal facade, a cute little restaurant that can serve up to about five to six tables consumes half of the restaurant. The restaurant is serving Chinese dimsum and other oriental dishes.

The interior design would not hint you that they are serving Chinese as the chairs are made from salvaged wood. The tables are made of old metal recreated into matching tables. The walls are lined with old bottles in different shapes, sizes, and colors on wooden shelving that brightens up the white-washed walls. 

The lights are ingenious. It is made of jars in different sizes fitted with lights. It was really cute and amazing; I was staring at it the whole time. It is a really great choice as a date place.

I ordered Lechon Macao. It is priced at P120 which is really good price. Other dishes range from P85 to $140. You can order dimsum at P40 to P60. Everything seems reasonably priced. There are desserts but they mostly provide you with products they have from the bakery.

It did not take a lot of time for the food to be prepared and this is what i got.

The food is okay; despite that the kangkong/river spinach could have been served in smaller portions, i enjoyed it. It has a little bit of sauce as this was sauteed in oil and soy sauce, and it was a bit oily for my taste. Rice soaked up much of the juice that it eventually worked out. Credits to how tender the meat is. It was really cooked nicely. The food is tasty, but not too exceptional for my taste. To borrow a phrase from Goldilocks, it was "just right."

The ambiance, the service, and the food is borderlining to above average. Still, I would want to come back for some of their other meals. They have special orders for crabs which is pre-ordered about 3 days in advance and costs about $5000 to $8000. I do not really know how much crabs you can eat for that amount, but I heard that the crabs they prepare are known to be really delicious. Though, i am allergic to crabs, I would definitely try it. Besides, suicide by eating P5000 worth of crabs is a really interesting way to die. I kid, i kid.

They also serve different types of tea, coffee, iced coffee, and a lot more. This is a really great substitute for commercialized coffee. Treats? You can get them from the bakery. I heard they serve unlimited bread and coffee for P99. Make sure to order a box of those cheese breads. You can get more information about LA Bakeshoppe through their Facebook link and find recommendations about their cheese bread here.

Deep-Fried Burrito

The idea is simple. Everything tastes better if you deep fry 'em!

Deep fried chicken? Good! Steak can be deep fried into Chicken Fried Steak and it also tastes good! Dip Oreos in pancake batter, then deep fry? Heaven!

You would find a lot of amazing things that taste really good deep fried. But when I created this blog I wasn't really thinking about everything healthy. I will spare you the "eat healthy" sermon as you already know what's good for you. The main rule is "everything in moderation." Anyway, it is not everyday that you would crave for deep-fried burritos.

Yes, it is deep fried burritos.

When people say deep-fried I am already half-disgusted by how oily this eating experience is going to be, and also have excited on how this can turn out. I have a passion for this form of cooking as this process if responsible for delicious dishes like the Ilokano dish, Bagnet. It is deep-fried pork with its skin cooked to perfection to be really crunchy almost similar to porkrinds but the meat part would still be moist and juicy.

Deep Frying is also responsible for corndogs which i love. Yes, sometimes food doesn't have to take much thinking, yet it can really be so delicious.

The dish consists of two burritos, deep fried, topped with lots of cheese, and a side of salsa. Yes, the salsa is a tad bit spicy. One can never go wrong with having too much cheese so the sight of so much cheese already excited me. The bite was really good a you get the crunch that you would not get in regular burritos. And it is surprising that it is not oily.

You can taste tomato sauce from the meat filling which is really good and compliments the taste of cheese. the need for adding a lot of cheese is really not necessary, but it is a plus for those who love cheese like i do. The salsa has to be included in every bite as it really gives the tangy and spicy taste to each bite.

This simple dish gets a B+ for me and it is does not even cost too much. The serving only costs P85. You can find other delicious Mexican Dishes from K's Diner. The place has a cool vibe, too. You can find other reviews through this link.

Sawasdee, Holiday Inn Clark

Sawasdee.

I never really though that I would get good feedback about the way I blog about food. I believe that if great memories were for the brain, delicious dishes are for the stomach.

I always believe that to be a good writer/blogger, i should be able to talk about my experiences that I am able share this experience to readers and let them feel exactly what I felt during that given moment. Food is one of the things that excites us, moves us, and satisfies us. Saying that the food is delicious is never really enough.

Mequeni Cafe

I was really humbled to be asked to do a piece about Holiday Inn's features buffet.

Holiday Inn is regularly serving buffet to customers.

*Platinum cardholders even get a special discount.

The event was handled by PR Expert Thana Balakrishnan. He is a Singaporean native and is not foreign to Thai cuisine. He is known to handle a lot of events for numerous hotels all over the world. The featured chef who prepared the amazing Thai menu for Holiday Inn is Chef Yel Cunanan who is head chef for Purple Pad Thai. (which is one of the restaurant whose food I am dying to try out one of these days.)

Catch Chef Yel regularly at Purple Pad Thai

The though of Thai food gave me that impression that I am about to be serve with spicy food. To be honest, I have a really low tolerance of spicy dishes. It was a relief to see that my spot already has a glass of water available; though I was really thinking that this would not be enough considering the wide array of dishes that we will be served. Also adding to the pressure, this was my first time to be asked to write a piece for an event, especially for an establishment such as Holiday Inn. I was already hot and bothered sans the taste of  this spicy cuisine.

We had a little chat about with Chef Yel. He mentioned that Thai cuisine share a lot of similarities to ours. One of them is our inspiration from many different regions. Every region would have their own unique dish. He also mentioned that the Thai cuisine really understands flavor. You would have a bigger understanding of this when you experience these dishes.

Appetizers

Appetizer started with Som Tam. It is made with shredded green papaya, lime, I tasted a hint of strong garlic and less of the chili, a little sugar for sweetness, but still packed a whole lot of spice. This was craftily served in a shot glasses. and for a little shot glass, it does pack a lot of taste. You can sense the rawness, slightly sour to bitter taste of green papaya, tangy due to lime, then the hint of garlic and chili. In between that taste you would hint a taste of sweetness due to the sugar. The taste does gives you a cleaner palate that would prepare you for your next bite. Other appetizers are available but this as especially recommended by our host, Thana.

I chose to sample a dish which seemed like sweet and sour fish. The dish is called Pla Sam Rot, it was spicy, sweet and sour at the same time.Chef Yel explained that the dish is created to be a little milder. For me, the combination of taste is really great. Pla Sam Rot literally means a fish with three tastes, which it does. The sour and tangy taste that you get from this dish actually comes from tamarind, which was really surprising and really delicious. There were a lot of other dishes served including pork skewers dipped in sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce. The truth is, the taste does not blend together and are really pronounced but there is a harmony to the whole dish which you would not see in other cuisines.

Pork Skewers

At any point that you find that the dish is too spicy, you can clear your tongue from the burning sensation with a little of Som Tam, the green papaya salad that was served as appetizer. It is really convenient that this is served in serving sizes in these small shot glasses. Crafty, the presentation is, really.

Som Tam

I finished the dish without barely touching my drink. I never realized that I would be enjoying the food so much. I was really bracing for the moment when it was time for dessert.

Desserts!

Desserts are my favorite! Desserts that they served is Khao Niao Mamuang which is sticky rice with mango and thick cream of coconut milk. The green one is a fusion dish which is inspired by the Thai dessert, Tako. This is almost has the same consistency as our local Leche Flan. It is mild, custard-y sweetness and has the taste of pandan leaves. The top is garnished with lychee. You would notice the dark bottom end as this was soaked in sugar and has the hint of vanilla. It was really surprising to taste a lot of flavors in just small serving.

Khao Niao Mamuang

The Khao Nioa Mamuang is also delicious. The sticky rice is not sweet as I expected it to be, but rather it was a little bit salty. You would get the sweetness as you bite through the mango slice and the coconut milk cream. The surprise in this dessert is really refreshing. The conventional serving is really different. The version created for the Holiday Inn buffet is made to echo sushi which also provides us with an explosion of taste in just a single bite. A serving of these desserts provides you just that. BUT, I really had to have more than one of each.

Buffet

Thai Cuisine is only available until the end of the month, but other international dishes are available. The Mequeni Cafe in Holiday Inn Clark serves buffet to everyone at a budget of P1000/per head. Discounts are given to Privilege cardholders. You can find contact information and directions by checking Mequeni Cafe through their Facebook page. For more details about Holiday Inn, you can visit their website. Sawasdee!

Turon de Aleisa

Oh, yes! It is another Concina de Aleisa post.

But this time it is about dessert.

"Turon" does not turn me on. (yes, I rhyme.) It is one of the things that you would see on the menu that you would not consider to be anything special. I only ordered it because the waitress hinted it was good.

I was totally expecting conventional fried plantain wrapped in lumpia wrapper, topped with a scoop of ice cream and drizzled with chocolate, and sprinkled with chopped nuts. This is done all the time by many restaurants in an effort entice us with a regular plain turon. All these toppings really do not make it any special. I feel that we can all do this at home. Why do we have to pay for an overprice dessert that we can do so much better at home?

Turon de Aleisa was not what I thought it would be.

The magic word that the waitress utter that made me order this dessert was "ube". This is jam made from yam. I was only trying to explain what it is as most of the ingredients of this dessert is produced locally. The rhyme was totally unintentional.

She mentioned, the turon had ube filling. And this made me curious...

If you look at the picture, I am pretty sure you would start drooling inside your mouth. The plating does look good. Triangular turon is really cute. You would see that compared to the regular turon, this use very minimal wrapper. You can see this from the transparency of the lumpia wrapper hinting the color of ube or yam.

I would no longer describe how this was plated as this would be redundant, you can already see this from the picture. And, I cannot stand writing about this without anything as delicious to eat. My mouth is still watering as I am writing this.

I took the small dessert spoon and cut half of one of the turon and took a little bit of vanilla ice cream that is served with it. It think it is important to take a little bit of everything on the first bite. The first bite gives you a crunch from the deep-fried lumpia wrapper. It was crisp because it was really thin and cooked well. If you overcook or undercook lumpia, it has the tendency to be gummy; a bit would be tough. But this was cooked perfectly. I also tasted the vanilla ice cream with blended well with the chocolate syrup. The flavor of chocolate slightly introduces the creamy taste of ube. You would then taste the sweetness of the ube which introduces another sweet fruit. It was candied "langka" or jackfruit. This would then introduce another sweet taste that would come from "macapuno".

Macapuno is a mutant coconut. The meat is sweeter and makes a delicious dessert. It is tasty to eat it as it is. The coconut-y taste of macapuno goes really well with the taste of ube here. I just kept my mouth shut to masticate.

I was not able to talk for minutes after taking a bite. It was a lot to take in. It was crunchy to creamy to sweet. This was a lot of different elements added together but really created a somewhat seamless transition to each flavors as you eat it. You would be able to taste the distinct flavors as you eat it but it would feel like a really great marriage of different tastes

This is (by far/probably/so far) the best dessert i ever tasted. And probably the best turon I ever tasted. This is one dining experience that you are not suppose to read about on blogs; but rather, experience for yourself. If you still haven't planned on going to Cocina de Aleisa, you would end up missing a lot.


You can visit their Facebook account through here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cocina-de-Aleisa/162187057204351


Consider going there on a Friday as they have barbecue nights. This only adds more variety to their already oh-so-delicious entrees. The menu choices are made thoughtfully, I don't think you can make mistakes in choosing any dish.

I once read that Pampanga is the Culinary Capital of the Philippines; I am beginning to understand why.

Sinuglaw from Cocina de Aleisa

It can be such a gamble to try out new restaurants. They rarely bring anything new to the table. Some people are not willing to gamble good money on food that would leave them disappointed.

This place was such a great discovery. Cocina de Aleisa hasn't been in operations for so long.

The place is built where a garage should have been. It is really a house transformed into a restaurant. The place looks amazing. It features al fresco dining which only opens from 5pm onwards. Which is quite logical since it can be so hot out to eat al fresco in the Philippines during the midday. It can fit probably about 150 people at a time.

It was kind of awkward when I got there. You know how awkward  it feels to be the first customer of the day? But that is just me. The waiters and waitresses were courteous. They would even meet you by the entrance to take you to your seat already armed with a menu. A set of menu had a list of Korean food. Bibimbap... Bulgogi... The place is known to have a lot of Korean residents, but we are not going to talk about the neighborhood. We are here for the delicious food.

I was not in the mood for Korean so I browsed through the menu. The place had everything. It had a lot of fusion dishes, Mexican, French, Pinoy... I was more in the mood for Pinoy that time. After all, It's more fun in the Philippines.

Don't get me started. Being stuck in 7,107 islands, we have a very diverse culture. We have different dialects that even Pinoys don't even understand each other. This even affect our taste in food. But we are not here to talk but geography or history.

Back to the menu, they have everything, They have appetizers: Mozarella Sticks, Dynamite Rolls which is cored, long green peppers with bell pepper strips and cheese filling wrapped in "lumpia" wrapper and is fried served with a dip (I was told it was delicious). They also have pasta dishes, Chicken with Pesto, Bolognese and a lot more.

I was attracted to Sinuglaw.

This dish had a lot of influences from different parts of the Philippines but am not going to talk much about that. This had pork, seafood, and vegetables. It would make a well balanced meal.

It had the feel of "Kinilaw", where you put raw meat like fish or prawns in vinegar. And let it sit there. And wait for the acidity of the vinegar cook the meat for you.

It had grilled pork and tiger prawns, which is two of my favorites. You can never go wrong in ordering any of the two. These two ingredients rest on chopped, long, green peppers and sweet red onions, and is seasoned with vinegar. 

*pics taken from Cocina de Aleisa's Facebook account

I love vinegar. The vinegar we have here is made from sugar cane. It has that somewhat sweetish sour taste which is has this more natural and bearable taste compared to the acidic taste of cider. Since, Pinoys love rice. I ordered a serving to pair this with.

What I was served only had three pinkish-orange tiger prawns, they were as big as my fingers. Again, I am allergic to these things. But I! I live dangerously. I guess, having just three of them would be good for me. After all, I am allergic. Looking at it, I could already imagine the taste of prawn. They give this certain distinct taste that is kinda sweet and meaty. This is the reason why I still want to eat them despite being allergic to them. Can't blame me. A slab of pork rested on the tiger prawns. This was grilled or broiled and was cut into bite sizes as shown in the picture.

Since, the pork was on top of everything, I took some of it first. It was meaty and tender. Normally, you would expect pork to be a little tough when you eat it, but this was not like that. My theory is that: this was boiled before it as grilled. It is well done but juicy, like it was medium rare. Because it was boiled before it was broiled, it was not oily.

It had the taste of vinegar. I was expecting it to be sour that would turn my lips into prunes. The whole thing was practically dipped with vinegar. "Seasoned in vinegar" was an understatement. It was not too sour as i was expecting. It was just enough. I think that a little sugar was added to mellow down the sourness of vinegar.

I took a prawn, it had some sprinkles of finely chopped ginger. And boy, it was delicious. The combination was good. The smoky meat flavor, you get from the meat. The seafood, tender sweetness? All thanks to the tiger prawns. Prawns would always be such a treat. The mild, sour taste of vinegar keeps your appetite going and never overpowered the other elements of the dish. The dish was enough to be shared by two but I ate all of it. It was THAT good. I don't even think am giving it justice. It was so good that, again, I was eating like a slob.

There were a lot of other entrees from the menu that would entice you to comeback for seconds, but I would leave that for another visit and another post. Their iced tea is good, too. I ordered unlimited, or for Pinoys, "bottomless". Just a little bit too sweet, but delicious. It does not taste like iced tea you get from a sachet. You just have to always keep it with enough ice.

I actually ordered dessert. I cannot even begin to talk about it. It is so good that it has to be another post. But I should tell you, I will be back! I'd probably order a pasta dish, the Dynamite Rolls, and probably the same dessert. Regardless of the cuisine you love, you would definitely find a delicious meal for you here.

If in case you want to know more about the place:

You can find Cocina de Aleisa on Facebook through this link.

Here's the address: Sampaguita Ave., Timog Park Homes, 2009 Angeles City, Philippines

P.S. Don't try this out. I want to be able to keep this place's delicious dish to myself.

My Size Folded Pizza

I dunno if it's the same for other countries but Yellow Cab use to sell their pizza per slice for those who simply cannot devour a whole box of pizza in one sitting. This is no longer available here. It sucks!

Pinoys may not have that much big of an appetite to be able to devour a box full of pizza (though my youngest brother can). I can only eat up to 3-4 slices at most. I would have probably downed a lot of Coke, because I love Coke. Its part of my diet. For Pinoys and other people who have that much big of an appetite who still want to enjoy a slice of pizza, the My Size Folded Pizza maybe the next best thing.

The thought of a pizza sandwich appeals to me. I try that sometimes, putting two slices of pizza together and eat it like a slob. My Size Folded Pizza sounds promising. It comes in three flavors: pepperoni, grilled lime chicken, and shrimp. Despite being allergic to shrimp, shrimp was ordered. I live dangerously. But one good fact about shrimps is that the thing that makes you allergic is the vein which you would find at the spine area. This is responsible for the toxins that causes allergic reactions and it also makes the shrimp turn orange-y pink. Yellow Cab serves deveined shrimps. This is the reason it can be quite pale but it is a lot safer to eat for those who are allergic like me.

 *photo from Yellow Cab

It has the generic Yellow Cab pizza smell of baked cheese and crust. As you would notice from the picture, it is half shrimp pizza and half cheese pizza served with leaves of lettuce, arugula, slices of tomatoes and ranch dressing, I think. It definitely looks promising.

I try to do my best to fold it the best way possible. I lined the lettuce leaves over the shrimp pizza half, then the arugula, then the tomatoes, then the dressing. I carefully made indentations as to were i am going to fold the pizza, which is clearly where the shrimp pizza part and the cheese pizza part meets. Yes, People from other tables was starting to look at me on how ritualistic I prepared this. It made them think I am a lot weirder when I took a picture of it like it was a work of art.

Here's the picture:

I was really eager to take that first bite. I finally took my first bite after I mentally prepared myself of what I am about to partake. The crust was tough. And you know how it is when you flour the pan before laying down the crust? The first bite was too crusty and tasted like flour. I planned my next bite to make sure i get a little bit of everything. The taste of the shrimp was bland. You can taste the arugula which is good. The dressing is too weak. It would have helped it there were more but the dressing is really too bland to give much taste. The tomato is okay. I tried my best to take more bites from it but it really didn't satisfy me. It was just okay.

What would have worked? A softer crust. You would be able to taste all of these flavors with a softer crust. More cheese. You can never go wrong in adding more cheese. Better dressing, please! It was a good thing that an order of pepperoni pizza was made. I took a slice and ate it top-side down to get more flavor. It was oily but it had more flavor. I suggest you try to eat your pizza that way, it is really way better. And yes, this made some of the people look. So, do it discreetly.

I will try the My Size, Grilled Lime Chicken on Tuesday. I will make a post about it if it tastes better. Pig OUT!