Ramen Nagi

We finally got to try Ramen Nagi which is hailed as the best tasting ramen in Manila. Popularly known as Butao in Hong Kong, this award winning establishment finally opened in Manila early this year and now has two branches in SM Aura and SM Mall of Asia. We visited their branch in SM Aura with Kim's friends.

The restaurant's interior is best described as an updated ramen bar with the usual wood furnishing and colorful and quirky displays on the walls and above each table. As with most ramen bars, you can't rearrange the tables and chairs to your preference. So that means you might have to dine and rub elbows (figuratively and literally) with someone you don't know which might be an issue to some. But with ramen this good, you probably won't mind.

They only serve ramen here. There are no rice meals, no gyozas, no dumplings. To order, they give you this sheet of paper called the Omotenashi Sheet where you can specify your ramen to your liking. There are 5 kinds of ramen that they serve: Butao, Black King, Red King, Green King and the Limited King which varies from time to time. During our visit, the Limited King was Ebi King. First, you need to select your ramen. Then, you tick off the following items on how you'd want your ramen to be.


You can see how we ordered ours:

Kim ordered the Limited King, which is the Ebi King. 410php.

Kim selected the pork belly to go with her rich soup base along with green onions. She had her noodles Extra Hard (some people might get the wrong idea of having "hard noodles," but this was just really firm in texture). She also had an extra order of Tamago or boiled egg (50php). Since this was our first time in Ramen Nagi, she just got the level 1 Spicy of the firesauce as suggested. Kim loved this since she loves shrimps, and this had a real, nice shrimpy flavor and aroma. The serving was a little much more than she could handle though.


I ordered the Black King. 410php.

Black King ramen gets it flavor from garlic and squid ink, which explains the black soup. This might not look like the prettiest thing to eat but it was really good. I liked how the subtle garlic flavor provided a nice kick to every spoonful. But since I had my soup base just Normal, it might vary for those who'd want a rich garlic flavor to their Black King. And just like Kim, I also ordered Tamago for my ramen.

We're not really ramen experts, and we haven't eaten a wide range of ramen in different ramen bars to say that this was the best we've had. But both bowls we ordered were really good! Although it's a little pricey, most ramen places are pricey anyway. We were a little surprised that's there no other menu item aside from the ramen, because we usually order gyoza or some chicken karaage to go with our bowls.

We suggest that for those who plan on visiting Ramen Nagi to arrive earlier than normal dining hours (lunch and dinner), as lines can get crazy. And no, they don't take any reservations. Also, make sure to mix your soup before eating to completely mix the firesauce with the soup base. I found this out the hard way as I took a spoonful of firesauce.

Ramen Nagi
5th Floor SM Aura Premier
McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
https://www.facebook.com/RamenNagiManila

IHOP

October 20. Sunday.

When IHOP opened in the country earlier this year, it was all the rage! Everyone was buzzing about it and long lines seemed to be the norm. Kim and I have actually planned on trying it before but with patience not being a strong suit of mine, we have always put it off until just recently. We ran in the recent Rexona Run with friends and since it started really early (3:30AM!), it also finished early. So it meant that we'd grab breakfast afterwards, which was the perfect opportunity to try out IHOP. The hype may have died down but since we haven't been here yet, we were a little excited.

 

 

Our group ordered the following:

JT had the Breakfast Sampler. 395php.

This order was packed! Well, actually almost everything in IHOP is. If you can't decide on what to have for breakfast, this is definitely the way to go (actually, there are other similar orders but this is the no brainer one). This has two eggs, two bacon strips, two pork sausage links, 2 hams and they also come with a couple of your basic buttermilk pancakes. Not for those on a diet, but if you're not counting calories and carbs, this is well worth the price.

Francis and Alex shared the Big Steak Omelette. 325php.

They had some plans after breakfast and didn't want a heavy meal, so they shared on an omelette. This had steak strips on top of the omelette. The omelette itself had hash browns, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese in it. Each omelette comes with buttermilk pancakes or mixed fruit. They chose to have it with pancakes.

Kim had the Bacon Temptation Omelette. 285php.

Bacon strips on top, together with diced tomatoes, cheese sauce, and Jack and cheddar in the omelette. Kim said this was really very filling compared to all omelette she has had before. She chose the mixed fruit to go with it.

I had the Rooty Tooty Fresh N' Fruity. 345php.

This sort of resembles JT's sampler, only it didn't have ham with it and my buttermilk pancakes were topped off with cinnamon apple compote but you can choose strawberry or blueberry to go with it if you like. The cinnamon apple on top of my pancakes were good enough on its own, but I liked it better when I added some maple syrup to it.

We weren't able to take down what Hannah's order was, but here's a picture of it.

It had a big piece of hash brown, a couple of scrambled eggs and bacon strips. And it came with a cheesecake pancake.

I get it why people go to IHOP, the food is well prepared and served.  I wouldn't say the food tastes special or better than most breakfast joints (well, the pancakes are really fluffier here), but the quality of the food and the service really make the difference. And the menu isn't really priced higher than other places considering the quantity you get, so if you haven't tried IHOP out yet, it's well worth a visit (or the waiting line).

IHOP
W Global Center
30th St. cor. 9th Ave., BGC, Taguig
https://www.facebook.com/IHOPPhilippines

Shawarma Guys

September 21. Saturday.

Kim and I love our shawarma and kebabs, so when an opportunity comes up to try a new shawarma spot we don't pass on it. We were in The Fort Strip with our good friend JT to watch a late show and it just so happened that Shawarma Guys was located there. Since we haven't had dinner yet, we decided to dine there.

We've read good reviews about it online and have always kept a mental note to try it out. But I'll warn you now, this has got to be one of the worst dining experiences we've had. From the food to the service, everything was just bad. First the wait staff was really slow and inattentive. Considering there was only our group and another group dining, then they should really be efficient and attentive but that just wasn't the case. The waiter took his sweet time to get to us to take our orders, but was such in a hurry to clean up that I haven't even finished my food yet and he was already going to take my plate out. Yes, he asked if I was done already, but only AFTER he has lifted my plate off the table. Disgusting behavior. On any other occasion, I would've smacked the living hell out of him but I tried to keep my cool since we still had a long night ahead.

Then the food. It was burnt and overcooked. And for the price of the meals, really just a quarter of a teaspoon of butter? I was just really hungry to complain and the staff really didn't seem to pay attention as they just chattered about themselves.

Kim ordered the Lamb Kebab.

Lamb Kebab. 250php.

The lamb was tough and chewy. It was burnt, and the sweet taste of the sauce and lamb itself really made for an unappetizing meal.

JT and I got the Beef Kebab.

Beef Kebab. 190php.

Compare the picture from their menu and Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=220035614837860&set=a.125795090928580.24173.125513780956711&type=1&relevant_count=1
And take a look at what we had. Just disappointing. The kebabs were very dry and tasteless (except for the burnt taste).

I also ordered a Beef Shawarma.

Beef Shawarma. 150php.

Kanto shawarma stalls serve better shawarma than this! Bigger and meatier at half the price, too.

Considering Shawarma Guys is from the same group behind URBN and Relik, this was really disappointing. Maybe it was just a bad night for everyone in their staff, but after dining I saw three of their kitchen staff just lounging outside and smoking looking relaxed. So maybe they really don't care about the service. To anyone looking for their shawarma and kebab fix, I'll just tell you to consider other joints. You'll be better off spending your money on Mister Kebab, Uncle Moes, or even Tri Mo Shawarma Co.

*We forgot to ask for the waiter to get a photo of us, maybe because we were so hungry then or we were so dismayed.

Shawarma Guys
G/F The Fort Strip
BGC, Taguig City
https://www.facebook.com/ShawarmaGuys

Early Bird Breakfast Club

March 16, 2013. Saturday.

I noticed that since the year started there has been a healthy influx of new restaurants that carry all day breakfast menus every single day of the week! First there was Recovery Food, then the much publicized local opening of IHOP, and now we also have Early Bird Breakfast Club. Aside from sharing the same theme of offering breakfast food at all hours of the day, all 3 restaurants are located in BGC, Taguig. Considering the area is ripe with BPO offices and party places -- serving breakfast food at odd hours makes sense for me. Just think of them as your local 24/7 lugawan/ gotohan, only fancier and definitely more expensive.

I love breakfast food, and it doesn't matter what time of the day it is. It is sort of my comfort food, especially any -silog dishes. Just came home from drinking? Breakfast food. Tired from running and biking? Breakfast food. Lunch break while at work? Breakfast food. But I digress. For this entry we tried out Early Bird Breakfast Club (or EBBC as we'll refer to it for the rest of the entry).

EBBC opened roughly around the same time as IHOP. Being a smaller restaurant, it got lost among all the hoopla surrounding the opening of the bigger SoCal dining fixture. Kim and I initially wanted to try eating at IHOP, but then I found out about the lines during weekends and we decided to wait until the hype about it has died down. Luckily, we read the great reviews about EBBC and decided to give it a try.

The first thing you'd notice as you enter the restaurant is that it is adorned in very lively colors. On one side of the wall you have mirrors and a light figure of a half egg shell, while the other wall had a predominantly blue mural on it. Add to that the lights and high ceiling, making the place bright and well- lit just as you would want it to be when having your breakfast. The have the standard height chairs and tables, but we chose to sit on the lower chairs which had a round table between it.

We ordered the following:

Viva Longganisa. 345php.

I ordered the Viva Longganisa. First, I loved how this was plated. The fried rice was in a cup/ glass, and the vinegar was in an egg cup. Really a nice way to spice up what should otherwise be just a traditional  longsilog. The longganisa itself was really meaty and had a sweet flavor to it. You can choose which way you want your egg to be cooked, I had mine scrambled. I just wished they'd ask me before they sprinkled some kind of chili powder over it.

Sunny Salpicao. 315php.

One of Kim's favorite food is Salpicao and when she saw that EBBC had it in their menu, she just had to order it. She was so excited about it that she forgot to read one important detail about it.. it was chicken! So imagine our confusion about it when we tasted it. It certainly wasn't beef, and we only found out after ordering it. It was served on a hot plate, with the fried rice in the middle. It certainly made for a great looking plate, but it was sort of hard to eat it from there since everything was so compact inside the small hot plate. As for the taste, it was certainly different from a Beef Salpicao, but it wasn't bad at all. Granted that the texture of the chicken was different from the normally medium rare beef in this dish, good thing then that the taste of the garlic and the oiliness of it really satisfied Kim's craving.

Breakfast Sausage Tart. 285php.

The menu had a section called Breakfast and Eggs and I wanted to order everything from there! I loved eggs with my breakfast, err with almost every meal I mean. We settled to share the Breakfast Sausage Tart. Or at least that's what we ordered, but what was served was the Bacon and Cheddar Frittata. The tart was supposed to have sausage, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese and of course egg! While the frittata was egg and potato baked with bacon, cheddar and spinach, and that's what came to our table. I only noticed the confusion after the meal, so I forgot to ask the server what was really served (maybe next time). Whatever it was, I'm glad it was good! It was served on a hot pan, and came with a tomato and pepper salsa. If I had to choose which of our entrées was the best, this was it. The egg was light and fluffy, the potatoes was soft and filling. And the  melted cheddar was just heavenly. The bacon was a little lean for our liking though.

Nutella Cheesecake. 350php.

This is what we ordered for dessert and Kim absolutely loved it! I already knew how this was going to be served, so I told Kim that she's in for a surprise. And was she surprised, in a good way. The cheesecake was served inside a square jar! And if that's not different, this one was topped with Nutella! Surprisingly this was the most expensive thing we ordered. 350php might seem a bit much for dessert, but I'll gladly pay for this again. The biscuit base provided a nice contrast in texture to the smooth cream cheese and creamy Nutella topping. It is then topped off with chocolate shavings. It might seem too sweet when you look at it, but it's not. It's just has the right amount of sweetness and saltiness from the cream cheese. Really a nice way to end our meal. And oh you need to cough up another extra hundred pesos just to take the jar home with you.

EB Signature Iced Tea. 125php.

Ginger Peach Lemonade. 125php.

We ordered these for drinks. A little on the expensive side considering they weren't bottomless, but we wanted to try some of their signature drinks since it was our first time here. They were different from most Iced Tea' and Lemonade's we have tasted. Kim's Iced Tea had a nice minty flavor in addition to the subtle sweetness it had. My lemonade was certainly fragrant. You can smell a nice hint of the ginger as soon as it was brought to our table. I liked that it wasn't overly sweet or citrus-y.

We loved everything about EBBC! The ambiance, the courteous staff and of course the food. Breakfast for dinner? You can never go wrong with that! The restaurant's menu might not exactly be cheap, but you get real good value for your money. The food might be common and traditional, but EBBC has made it different enough to keep it interesting and fresh. So if you're nursing a hungry belly after a night of all- out drinking and partying and you just happen to be in BGC, a meal at EBBC might be the right cure.

Early Bird Breakfast Club
Unit C, Ground Floor, Fort Pointe 2 Bldg., The Fort Complex, 28th Street, Bonifacio Global City, 1634 Taguig
(02) 4708847
(0917) 859 4950
https://www.facebook.com/earlybirdbreakfastclub?fref=ts
http://www.earlybirdbreakfastclub.com/