Main Street Corner Cafe and Lucky Nugget Saloon - Disneyland

To celebrate Kim's birthday, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Once the park gates were opened, we were caught in a beeline just to have pictures with Mickey and Minnie. So after an hour of queueing,  we headed straight to the first restaurant we saw,  Main Street Corner Cafe.

The Main Street Corner Cafe is the first restaurant you will see coming into the park. There are a few food stalls and a bakery before it, but it's the only sit down restaurant in Main Street, USA which is the first section of Disneyland Hong Kong. It's presented by Coca- Cola, so while the setting was undoubtedly Victorian, they found ways to put Coca Cola design cues throughout the restaurant.

The menu is an eclectic mix to say the least. It's in Main Street, USA so of course they serve American staples like burgers, fries, and buffalo wings. But the menu also contains noodle soups and congee for the mixed Asian market that goes to Disneyland here.

Theme park food isn't cheap, and even then, this was probably one of the most expensive in the whole park as it is a full service restaurant. But we were really hungry, and the menu looked good so we didn't care if we had to shell out an extra hundred dollars (HKD) for lunch.

We ordered the following to share:

Cheeseburger (168HKD)

Maybe we were just hungry, but this was a really great tasting burger! The patty was moist and juicy, and full of flavor. It had the cheese melted on top with some lettuce and tomatoes with it. The burger came with a side of fries and some greens too.

Main Street Signature Platter (166HKD)

The platter had chicken wings, deep fried potato shrimp, onion rings, fries and served with chili sauce, sour cream and ketchup. The wings were plump and had a little zing to them. The shrimp was wrapped with a sort of shoestring potato and was really juicy inside. The onion rings and fries were just okay.

Coke Float (48HKD)

Since this is a Coca Cola sponsored restaurant, we just had to order a couple of Coke Floats!

We probably won't tell everyone to eat here when going to Disneyland Hong Kong as it's really expensive for park food. But if you want a nice meal without falling in line with a lot of kids running around, and are willing to spend a little more than necessary, then this place is for you. The place had a really nice ambiance that made you feel like you were in the 1800's complete. Plus, the food was great too!

We got hungry again in the afternoon and decided we'd just grab a snack. We were already at the Grizzly Gulch portion of the park and it had the Lucky Nugget Saloon. We got some chicken nuggets and fries, together with a weird fruity drink! (75HKD)

Main Street Corner Cafe and Lucky Nugget Saloon
Hong Kong Disneyland

Red Buffalo Wings & Pizza

September 3, 2013. Tuesday.

By now everyone knows how much we love buffalo wings. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that we were eager to try Red Buffalo in Eastwood. We've spotted it being under construction a few months back and have been checking on when it would open.

It finally opened last month, and we finally had a chance to try it out. We tend to be very loyal to a certain name when it comes to food and it's not any different with buffalo wings. We're big fans of Buffalo Wings N' Things, so we try to temper our expectations when trying out other wings joints.

The interiors are very simple and urban. Almost all the walls are bare, and use of  metal is predominant all throughout. Their menu is very simple, and ordering from the counter is very easy. After ordering, you can choose to seat on the ground floor or upstairs. Each table has its own set of condiments which includes hot sauce, ketchup and parmesan. A box of disposable gloves are also provided for those who wouldn't want to get their hands dirty.

We ordered the following from their menu.

Double Wings 320php. (Original Buffalo - X-Hot and Parmesan Garlic)

A Single order of wings is 5 pieces and costs 165php. But since there's 2 of us, we just got the Double which is 10php cheaper and you can still get 2 different flavors for it. We chose to get X-Hot and Parmesan Garlic. The X-Hot is their extra hot version of the Original Buffalo flavor. It was the right combination of hot and tangy. The Parmesan Garlic on the other hand was really flavorful! It was coated with a rich and buttery sauce, with the slight saltiness of the Parmesan providing a nice contrast to it. It also had just the right amount of garlic to it. One thing we really loved with these was how well cooked the wings are. They are tender and moist inside, while still maintaining that crisp skin outside. I think these has got to be one of the better wings we have tasted lately.

Three Cheese & Garlic. 295php.

I love simple cheese pizzas, that's why we ordered this. I was expecting a cheese party in my mouth from every bite, with the mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan providing different flavors but it came out lacking in flavor. It was a little too plain, or maybe it's because we had a go with the wings first and those overpowered the pizza.

For drinks, Kim got their House Blend Iced Tea and I ordered a Rootbeer Float.

Kim found the Iced Tea a little to sweet for her liking. As for my Rootbeer Float I was pleasantly surprised that they use A&W for it, since I haven't seen those in a while.

They also serve other food aside from wings and pizza. They have some pasta, burgers and ribs. Majority of the items on their menu are actually great beer partners so naturally they serve beers too!

We finally found another great wings place! One that could be an alternative to our favored BWNT. Price is just right, and the wings are great. We just might drag the whole gang to their Greenhills Towncenter branch after an afteroon game at San Juan Arena.

Red Buffalo Wings & Pizza
G/F Eastwood Citywalk 1,
Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City
https://www.facebook.com/redbuffalowingspizza
http://www.redbuffalowingspizza.com/

Levante

June 28, 2013. Friday.

Midnight Mercato in BGC is arguably still the most popular and most frequented night food market in the Metro. But there have been a few other night food markets and bazaars to pop up in other areas. The latest one is Levante in Eastwood, which is brought to us by the same people behind Midnight Mercato, the Mercato Centrale Group. This night food market aims to serve the people residing/ working in Eastwood, Cainta, Marikina and other neighboring communities every Friday from 6PM to 3AM.

Levante is located in Eastwood Citywalk 2. It doesn't have as many concessionaires as Midnight Mercato, but I'm sure there's something for everyone here. The dining area also is considerably smaller than other night food markets, so you'd be better off taking your food to go. We've already tried some of the food from some of the same vendors from Midnight Mercato and Cucina Andare, so Kim and I decided to check out the other vendors we haven't ordered from before.

Sinangag Trip

https://www.facebook.com/sinangag.trip

Tapsilog. 90php.

I can't help but order Tapsilog everytime I see it on a menu, even though Kim always reminds me that I'll probably end up disappointed more often than not since I always compare it to Rodic's and Hungry Rover's version. And this case isn't any different. The tapa was tough and underseasoned. It may have been a bad day, and I'll probably give this another chance.. hoping that I won't end up disappointed again.

B. Wings
https://www.facebook.com/B.WINGSRESTO

 

5pcs Wings (Mild Spicy) with Blue Cheese. 130php.

We've seen this in a couple of night markets already, but we have never tried it despite loving Buffalo Wings. Wings is best eaten with your bare hands, and eating with your hands in a food market/ bazaar with sparse wash areas isn't a good idea. But since we are taking our orders to go, to be eaten in Kim's condo, we ordered the mild spicy with blue cheese. The wings were good, kind of a cross between Sunrise Bucket's and BWnT's.

Juana Bowl
https://www.facebook.com/juanabowl

Rib Eye Steak Value Meal. 110php.

This was our favorite out of all the things we ordered this night. 110php for some properly seasoned and cooked US Rib Eye Steak and rice? Now that's value for money. Of course, it isn't premium beef and the cut isn't as thick as most steak restaurants serve. But would you expect that for 100php? We're definitely ordering from Juana Bowl again.

There's still a lot more vendors we want to order from, including a couple of burger joints, so we will probably be back here again in the near future. Levante is definitely a great addition to Eastwood. It provides everyone with some nice alternative food choices even if only for a night.

Levante
Eastwood Citywalk 2
Every Friday 6PM to 3AM
https://www.facebook.com/LevanteEastwood

Flaming Wings

January 4, 2013. Friday.

We love trying out food places that we haven't been to before, but sometimes that sets us up for disappointment. In the 6 months since we have started this blog and in the one year that we have been together, we have set some standards for different food items. Like for example, Rodic's will always be the best tapsilog for us. But we still try different tapsi joints even though we know it will pale in comparison to our standard and leave us open for disappointment.

This is one of those cases again. No matter what anyone says, Buffalo's Wings N' Things will always be the best chicken wings joint for us. But that doesn't mean we don't go out and try other wings places. So for this entry, we were in Flaming Wings White Plains.

I like the predominantly red interiors of Flaming Wings, it felt cozy together with the leather seats and blacktop tables. It was also well lit with pinlights all over the celing. Since it was our first time, we browsed through the menu first. Their menu has a whole lot more other items than just chicken wings. There's pasta, sandwiches, rice meals, and desserts. But since we went here for the wings, we had to get wings! All orders we had were for sharing.

New York Style Chicken Wings, 5pcs.

New York Style Chicken Wings, 5 pieces.

5 wings to share?!?! You must be shaking your head in disbelief. Calm down. I was a little disoriented by how Flaming Wings quantifies their wings. We were originally going to order the 15 pieces since we were sharing it, but the waiter informed us that the 15 pieces was actually 30 pieces since there's the wing itself and the sort-of-shoulder part that connects the wing to the body. Good thing he informed us, or else we would've been served with a whole lot of wings! So 5 wings (which was really 10 pieces) it was. As soon as it was served on our table, I was quite puzzled at how dry it looked. I'm used to having my buffalo wings glazed, if not swimming, in its sauce. This one just looked like any plain old deep fried chicken. The taste was okay, it had that mild zing and a little sourness. It was fried nicely, but you can't serve buffalo wings and skimp on the sauce! Plus, the blue cheese it came with was just weird to the point that we didn't even bother using at after initial taste.

Fish and Chips.

Fish and Chips.

Surprisingly I liked the fish and chips more than the chicken wings in this place. The fish a light coating of batter, which was really crispy. I'm not sure what batter they have (if it had any beer in it) and what oil they used to fry the fish in (if it was drippings or lard, or just regular vegetable oil), but the fish was really good. The chips/ fries were also perfectly fried, and cooked to the inside. It was a little oily, but then again most great fish and chips are! If there's one thing to nitpick here, it's the sauce. Just like with the chicken wings, the sauce served with the fish was really weird. I've never seen a green colored tartar sauce. I'm not even sure that green gunk was tartar sauce. It had the consistency of mayo, but really tasted lemony sweet like it had sugar in it. Ugh.

It was a hit and miss for this visit to Flaming Wings. The food, the wings in particular, wasn't really bad. It was more of it wasn't up to par to what we expect. Anyway, the place was nice and the staff was really courteous especially with explaining the menu. So despite my qualms about this place, we really didn't feel ripped off afterwards. A good meal is still a good meal.

Flaming Wings
Bellitudo Lifestyle Center, Katipunan Ext.,
White Plains, Quezon City
(02) 738 1263
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flaming-Wings/265052803521204

Buffalo's Wings N' Things and Chubby's Rib Shack

December 30, 2012. Sunday.

Special Note: For this blog entry, KiMiguel are joined by Migs' friends Brent, Joseph and Hannah as they went to Nuvali for its annual (sky) lantern parade.

We probably ate in Buffalo's Wing N' Things, or BWNT, more than any other restaurant in 2012. So it really was a surprise for me to notice that we haven't had a post about it yet! There was a period in 2012 that we literally ate there every week, or maybe it was every other week, but we were there a lot! We frequent the BWNT branch in Ortigas Home Depot, but for this post we were in the Nuvali branch.

The BWNT in Nuvali is also a Chubby's Rib Shack. They share the same space, and some menu items since they are owned by the same people. The place is a little nicer than the Home Depot branch with colorful pvc pipes and even fake red bricks adorning the walls while the latter is so minimalist in its design. But ambiance and appearance aside, the food is always good in BWNT no matter which branch you dine in.

The following are our orders. Please don't be surprised at the quantity. This is just how we always eat in BWNT. Haha.

We got Nacho N' Salsa, and a Basket of Fries for everyone to share.

Nachos N' Salsa

Basket of Fries

The nachos and salsa weren't really that special and are comparable to those you find pre- packed in supermarkets. As for the fries, they were really good. Deep friend to have that perfect crunchy outer layer but soft inside. Add the right amount of salt and then dip in catsup! I don't really like french fries in general, but I always like BWNT's.

Brent ordered half pound of Ultimate Wingsanity, half pound of K-Pop wings and Pulled Pork with rice. Yes, that's all just for him.

Half pound Ultimate Wingsanity

Half pound K-Pop

Brent wanted to complete all three certificates of BWNT's newest and hottest additions to its menu. He has manage to finish off the Gangnam Style and Total Wingsanity before. All that was left, was the Ultimate Wingsanity which by its name suggest that it is the hottest and spiciest of all the wings. Just a quick note, before you can get any of those three kinds of wings, you are supposed to sign a waiver. I know it's probably just a gimmick, but still you've got to feel strongly enough about eating something that hot that you'll actually sign a waiver for it! Going back, Brent managed to finish the Ultimate Wingsanity rather very quickly. He said that it really didn't feel that hot compared to the other two, or maybe his taste buds are just wrecked from eating too much spicy food. The K-Pop wings he said were comparable to the Armageddon (which I've tried a couple of times before, and trust me it's no joke how hot it is) wings but it had a slight sweetness to it. I really didn't catch his comment about the pulled pork and rice, but I'm assuming it's good since after a pound of wings he still managed to finish it.


Joseph and Hannah each got the Riblets basket each with rice, and they shared half a pound of New York's Finest wings.

Riblets Basket

The riblets as the name suggests are small ribs. Actually it is a half rack of ribs just pulled apart, bone to bone. You have the choice of which sauce to have your ribs cooked in, and I think both of them had it in Home Style Barbecue or something like that. It also came with a side of a slaw and a thick piece of bread.

Kim and I shared a Triple Sampler (1 and a half pounds!) of New York's Finest wings with rice, and I got a Big Daddy (pulled pork sandwich) for myself.

Triple Sampler New York's Finest

Big Daddy

I usually get the Firehouse Classic wings but since Kim and I are sharing, we opted for the milder New York's Finest. I know people will argue that there are better wings out there, but for me BWNT is just the best. Fairly affordable, and great tasting wings? BWNT is your bet! The wings are deep fried into perfection before they are tossed and coated in their sauce. And BWNT doesn't skimp on the sauce, not like other wings joints that we have tried. As for the Big Daddy, it tasted really good but was really heavy! A big handful of tender and well seasoned pulled pork together with slaw and topped with melted cheddar on two big pieces of bread? That's a meal just by itself!

If you're looking for a place for the barkada to grab some good food, you can't go wrong with BWNT! In any of its branches, it has never failed me in delivering good service and great food at very affordable prices. And you have got to get any of their wings when you go here. It can be any kind. Trust me. You won't be disappointed.

Buffalo's Wing N' Things
Chubby's Rib Shack
Solenad 2, Nuvali,
Sta. Rosa, Laguna
https://www.facebook.com/get.buffaloed