Creamy Mango Sauce Recipe

We all love fried food. Fried fish, fried chicken, fried pork chops, fried bacon, fried eggs, fried hotdogs, etc. But eating fried food everyday can be boring. So what many people do to vary the taste is to change the dip or the dressing. Common dips are soy sauce and calamansi mixture, lechon sauce, mayo and tartar sauce.These are all  good but I have another suggestion. You can try creamy mango sauce for anything fried. Here is my simple recipe for creamy mango sauce.

Creamy Mango Sauce

Ingredients

1 ripe mango
1 small can of all purpose cream
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 small calamansi

Procedure

1. Peel the mango and scrape the pulp.
2. Make a smooth puree using a blender. Set aside.
3. Pour the all purpose cream in a bowl.
4. Mix the garlic powder.
5. Squeeze the calamansi.
6. Add the mango puree. Mix well.

This creamy mango sauce is good for just about anything fried but it is best for fried cream dory, fried chicken fillet or fried pork chops.

Vikings - A Feast from the Sea (Luxury Buffet)

I've been hearing about Vikings for a long time already but I never had the chance to go there. Good thing a friend invited me to have dinner at Vikings for her birthday. She was supposed to treat us there on a Saturday but I could not join them so she moved it for Tuesday.

There were a lot of people outside. The waiting list was very long and it was only 5:30 in the afternoon. It was not a problem though because the birthday girl reserved a table for us.

When we entered I felt a sudden rush  of excitement. The place is huge. It can accommodate a lot of people. There are various sections for different kinds of food. Naturally it was the area for Japanese that caught my attention first. Good thing the table reserved for us was near that area.


Anyway, here are some pictures I took.

This tuna is really big. The salmon looks small next to that giant tuna but it's still the biggest I've seen so far. You know the fish is fresh because of the sweet taste.

Tuna and Salmon

Lots and lots of Japanese food. They come in all sorts of flavors and designs.

The next picture is my first plate from the Japanese section.

Other sections

Salad and others =)

Chef's Salad - just one of the many kinds of salad they have

Cold cuts

Another salad

Beef

Cauliflower, broccoli and bacon

Potatos

Suaje (shirmps) - another favorite

Rolls/Bread

Assorted caviar

There are also food food from the grill. You can also select fresh seafood to be grilled.

Grilled meat

Fresh seafood for grilling

For those who love dessert you'll  truly enjoy the desserts section.

Chocolate, strawberry and ube fondue

Cake

and some more cake

sweets

For you Halo-Halo

You  can have crepe made right in front of you.

Other desserts include fresh fruits, bibingka and puto bungbong.

During weekdays buffet dinner is P 888.00 and lunch is P 688.00. Weekends (Friday -  Sunday) buffet  dinner is P 1088.

If you eat there on your birthday, your dinner will be 'on the house'. All you need is to present your ID and have at least one friend with you. (They need at least one paying person.) Aside from the free dinner, the service crew will sing the Happy Birthday song to you. You'll also get a free cake (yes, different from the cakes you can find at the dessert area).

VIKINGS
Building B, SM By the Bay
Seaside Boulevard
SM Mall of Asia Complex
Pasay City

*Additional notes regarding reservation: Reservations can be made via phone call but you need to do it one to two weeks before the date of your visit. To be on the waiting list you need to go there personally. They will not include you on the list if you just call them. I actually tried this once and they really did not give in. I requested very hard but they were firm about it. 

ILOCOS NORTE -Vigan, Laoag, Pagudpud

Last month we went on a cultural trip to Ilocos Norte. It was a very long travel but we sure had so much fun. Naturally I took some pictures of some food you may find interesting in Ilocos. This is not an extensive listing since I couldn't choose where we would go that time - this is a company outing. But just the same I hope you'll be able to pick up something interesting from this post.

Early morning we passed by Jollibee in Hacienda Luisita. We were encouraged to eat breakfast because they said the trip is going to be long. Actually I didn't need convincing because I was so hungry.

Jollibee at Hacienda Luisita

We had lunch at Candon City. We were trying to save time so we were not given chance to look  for local restaurants. We ate at Max's. We ordered the group meal composed of fried chicken, sinigang na hipon, rice and iced tea. Outside Max's I saw a man selling 'kalamay'. I don't know what it's made of - maybe made of coconut or coconut milk or ground rice? It tasted good. It's a flat, round, thin dessert. You can buy four pieces for P 20. Each pack of 4 is wrapped in newspaper.

Kalamay

We stayed at the La Elleana Hotel in Laoag City. That's where we had our dinner. We had barbeque, chopseuy, egg drop soup and grilled chicken.

We checked out the 'night life' in Laoag. There's actually no night  life -- save for a few bars and videoke places. I and two other friends went to a restaurant called Ravanden's Grill, Kusina Kapampangan. Funny we ate in a Kapampangan restaurant in Ilocos. We asked for bagnet but they did not have it on their menu. What they have is lechon kawali (bummer!). We also had their crispy chicken which in a way made up for the lechon kawali let down.

Our breakfast was also at La Elleana. We had tapsilog (yeah I know we can have this in Manila but I can't do anything because it is a 'package tour'). Good thing they served the tapsilog with sukang iloco which was very very  good.

When you're in Ilocos you have to check out GARLIC. It's one of the things that moms and dads, lolos and lolas ask for pasalubong.There's also bagoong and iodized salt.

With all these garlic, Ilocos is sure to be aswang free.

Then of course there's sukang iloco sold in soda bottles.

Be sure to label these soda bottles "Sukang Iloco" so kids won't drink suka like softdrinks.

We had buffet lunch at a resort in Pagudpud. The food was great especially the vegetable dish.

Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte - first time to hear about this place. We passed by the are at around 4 in the  afternoon. We stopped to buy what the tour guide said is a popular pasalubong - biscocho. I always associate biscocho with Iloilo. Pasuquin's version is different. Pasuquin bakery has soft and hard versions of biscocho. It looks like your ordinary pandesal but it tastes as if it has anise. While waiting for my order to be wrapped I saw an old lady buying dozens of cheese bread so I got curious. I asked her why she is  buying a lot. She said the cheese bread tastes great. Naturally I tried it. Yum! Yum! Yum! It was really good. Cheesy (duh its cheese bread), firm, filling.

Biscocho  - hard variety

Biscocho - soft variety

Cheese bread

When we passed by Vigan on our way back to Manila we made sure that we would be able to eat bagnet. We went to a restaurant called Tummy Talk. Interesting name. They serve bagnet with bagoong with lots and lots of onions and tomatoes which I love very much.

Bagnet at Tummy Talk (with bagoong with tomatoes and onions)

Bagnet is also sold at pasalubong center. A kilo of bagnet is about P 380.00.

After dinner I tried to look for Ilocos Empanada. Since it was already late all the stalls selling Ilocos Emapanda around the plaze were closed. I really felt bad. the first time I went to Vigan I also missed this. But I was kinda lucky that night because when I reached the bus our tour operator had Ilocos Empanada for us.

Larry and Mau Diner - Torta and Salsa

The 'meeting' I attended several weeks ago was too boring. I decided to excuse myself before it actually ended. What I did was go to SM Mall of Asia to eat. I was looking for a place where I could eat something light. I was hoping there would be a place where there wouldn't be a lot of people also. After walking and walking I ended up at Tower A Two E-com Center along Palm Coast Drive. There I saw Larry and Mau Diner. Larry and Mau Diner is a big restaurant. Luckily for me it was not crowded that night. I ordered Adobo Torta (omelet). Each order comes with a cup of rice and salsa. It wasn't really light but it's not heavy as well so...

Adobo Torta

Their torta is yummy. Consistency of the omelet is good. It is not too soft nor is hard. The adobo tastes like homemade adobo. I would prefer it to be a little saltier but it was fine just the same. The salsa is the one that I know I will want to come back for. I love its taste. If they'll make it spicier then I will love it even more.

While eating I could hear live music playing at the parking lot/concert ground. The waiter told me there is an ongoing rehearsal for the Coca Cola Concert ng Bayan which will happen the following day. He said they let people watch for free. So after eating I went to the concert ground and saw Gary Valenciano rehearsing. Wow! The man is really full of pure energy. He was performing as if it is the actual concert. He's really good. I was able to go very close to the stage but unfortunately I didn't have a good camera with me to take good pictures. Sigh!

 Anyway, last week I went back to Larry and Mau Diner. I ordered Spicy Pork and Eggplant Torta. It was definitely better than the adobo I had before. The eggplant was not bitter. Well I thought it will be actually. It was similar to the tortang talong some people make at home.

Spicy Pork and Eggplant

The salsa

Tingnan ang Mas Malaking Mapa
Larry and Mau Diner
G/F Tower A Two E-com Center
Palm Coast Drive
SM Mall of Asia
Pasay City

Food Deals - Food Vouchers

Deal or no deal! No! I'm not talking about the game show on tv previously hosted by Kris Aquino and now handled by Luis Manzano. I'm referring to the different deal sites that are now very popular. There are a lot of people now who turn to buying vouchers instead of directly going to shops or restaurants for their various needs. They rely on the many good deals they find in these sites. Deals for food are among the favorite of voucher buyers. There are so many deals to choose from. Barrio Fiesta for example sometimes sells vouchers which you can use to eat their popular dishes like Kare-Kare and Crispy Pata at very low prices. Midas Hotel also offer discounted rates for their buffet meals (look at metrodeal.com). Mongkok Dimsum and Noodles offer vouchers at Ensogo. Deal Dozen has offers from Trio, Pasto, Katsu and Craft. Deal Grocer has an offer from Banana Leaf. Deal Spot which usually offers vouchers for healthy and beauty services also offers food deals at low prices. One of their recent offerings is from Singapore Chicken Rice. Crazy Deals has no food vouchers now but their most recent one was Chocolate Cream Puffs from Delicieux. I'm not sure if Deal Amigos carry food deals but you can also check them out. Are these vouchers for real? As far as I know they are. I was able to try a healthy and beauty service before. I've also tried a foot spa voucher. And of course, I've also enjoyed a food voucher -- from Barrio Fiesta. Do check these sites out because they'll help you enjoy good food at good prices.

Bagoong Club Resto

I recently lost my phone which I use to take pictures of my eating adventures. Sadly I have not saved all the pictures I took. Whatever I have saved I will share with you this week. The notes about them however are also on that phone so I would describe them based solely on what I can remember.

Do you like bagoong? I do.

Last February my good friend and I saw this restaurant called Bagoong Club while cruising along  Scout Dr. Lazcano in Quezon City. I asked her if she's been to that place and she said yes. She said she likes the food there. Unfortunately we couldn't try the place out that night because we were going someplace else. Then last March we passed by that area again and I told her I want to eat there that night. We didn't have any specific place to go to so she readily agreed.

While looking at their interesting menu (I'll talk about this later) the waiter served singkamas with bagoong. There were actually two kinds of bagoong. If my memory serves me right, one was their Bagoong Club Special and the other one is Bagoong Buhay. They have various flavors for their bagoong -- which is expected because their place is called Bagoong Club afterall.The Bagoong Club Special is spicy. The menu says it's not for the weak of heart. Bagoong Buhay, the menu says, has coconut milk.

Singkamas with Bagoong Club Special and Bagoong Buhay

While feasting on the bagoong (yes, I ate more bagoong than singkamas) we decided to order Kare Kare and Inihaw na hito.

Kare Kare

Inihaw na Hito

The Kare Kare has thick sauce. They used 'real' ingredients and not 'instant' mixes. I love the rich ground peanut flavor. There also used lots of vegetables. The eggplant and the pechay were cooked just right. I can't say anything about the string beans because I didn't eat any. I do not eat beans. The meat is also tender. Unlike kare-kare in other restaurants, the meat doesn't feel rubbery or 'bubblegum-my' when eaten. However, they didn't put in a lot of mean. There were probably just 4 small slices. The vegetables and the sauce could probably be shared by three people but for me the meat is only just for two. It was served with regular bagoong which also tasted good. By the way I also ordered a serving of Bagoong Pag-ibig. It's their sweetened bagoong.   

The Inihaw na Hito is just your usual grilled hito but it was served with fish bagoong. I didn't expect that they would serve the hito with bagoong so I was pleasantly surprised. I also like fish bagoong.

Overall, even if we only ordered two dishes, I was fully satisfied. I mean I felt literally full.

The service was also good. The waiter who assisted us was friendly. Both orders were served fast. They even gave us an extra serving of the singkamas.

The place was clean. It looks like a big, old house converted to a restaurant so it actually has that home-y feel. It gives a feeling that you're eating 'moms signature dishes'.

I said above that I'll talk about their 'interesting' menu. They gave cool names for their dishes that's why I said the menu's interesting. To give you an example, they called their beef dishes BAKA SAKALI (baka is the Tagalog term for cow or beef). They called their salads ENSALADAKADABRA. If you want to know the other names just look at the pictures below.

As a last note, you can sing Sitsiritsit while waiting for your order to be served. The lyrics of the song is prnted on the place-mat.

Bagoong Club Resto
122 Scout Dr. Lazcano, Sacred Heart, Quezon City
(one of the streets perpendicular to Tomas Morato)
Tel: 929-0544

Tingnan ang Mas Malaking Mapa

Magnum Ice Cream by Selecta

Aside from the  McDonald's Eat All You Can promo, another widely talked about food product we have recently is the Magnum Ice Cream by Selecta. I have not tried it but have heard so much  about it. Somebody even said it's the social climber's ice cream because people from all walks of life are raving about it. They say even the not so 'rich' ones are trying to  have a bite of it so as to say they have also tried what popular celebrities have tried or are endorsing in facebook and twitter.

I'll give a feedback about Magnum Ice Cream as soon as I have tasted. Perhaps tonight? Hmmmmm......we'll see.