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

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

Sunrise Buckets

Kim and I were looking for a new place to have late dinner in last Saturday. At first I was leaning towards going to Citizen Pub and Burger Bar in City Golf, but it was a Saturday and I really wasn't in the mood for crowds. Then I remembered there was a Sunrise Buckets inside the The Grove by Rockwell. So, after picking her up from her airbrush class in Ortigas, we went straight there.

Being a chicken wings fan, I've wanted to try Sunrise Buckets for the longest time. But Buffalo Wings N' Things was just more conveniently located, so we always went there for our wings fix (and by always, I mean more like weekly!). It wasn't until recently that I found out that there was a new Sunrise Buckets conveniently located in The Grove!

The place was hip and cool to say the least. I love Americana or any memorabilia that's about the US, so needless to say I loved the place with all the organized clutter lying around.

The wall beside the main counter.

The wall adjacent to the restroom.

This corkboard full of personalized post- its was in our booth :)

While this one was in the restroom.

Despite the "high-end" feel of the place, self service is king here. You have to line up to order. You have to get your own plates, utensils, plastic gloves (para sa maselan ), etc.

Sunrise Buckets has the most number of wings sauce to choose from than any other wings place I've been to. They have 3 groups of sauces, one for the Pinoy taste, one for that classic American wings flavor, and one that has the unique/ crazy flavors. Each sauce group in the menu vary in price per pound. To play it safe on our first visit, we opted to get the standard buffalo wings sauce. We settled for the Mild Real American Buffalo Wings... all 2 and a half pounds of it!

Surprise.. they serve the wings in a bucket!

2 1/2 lbs of Mild Real American Buffalo Wings. 655php.

It tasted good, it had the right blend of being tangy and spicy. The wings were also generously covered in the sauce, which for me really makes or breaks the hot wings experience. Eating wings should be messy! I actually expected it to be hotter (spicier) than it was, but I guess I was used to BWNT for the longest time that I hold their hot wings as benchmark. Maybe next time we'll try the spicier sauces.

I don't usually get rice with my wings, but Kim does. It was really late for dinner and she was really hungry. They had 3 (or was it 4) kinds of rice to choose from, but settled for the plain, steamed rice for 50php since we were both cheapskates.

We also got Boracay Grilled Hotdog.

Boracay Grilled Hotdog. 60php.

It has a sweet and spicy taste at the same time. Despite the simpleness of it, I liked it. If you've been in Boracay, you know that carts selling this (plus chorizo's, and your other usual kanto bbq fare) are at every corner.

And to wash the food down, we had a couple of Sunrise Iced Tea.

Sunrise Iced Tea. 75 php each with 1 refill.

The iced tea has a weird taste to it. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's different than most house blend iced teas I've tasted. Parang may pait sa dulo. And for an extra 20php you could get one refill for it, which isn't bad at all.

Service was a little slow, and they seemed to be undermanned for a Saturday night crowd. I later found out that some of the crew didn't report to work because of the recent flooding in Pasig and all over the metro.

So, will we be coming back here? Probably. BWNT is still the go-to wings place for me, but if you want a nice alternative in the same area, Sunrise Buckets is more than capable enough to cover your wings fix. You'll probably end up having to spend more but the difference in ambiance, and overall location is a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of BWNT's location in Home Depot.

Sunrise Buckets
The Grove by Rockwell, C5, Libis, Pasig City
(across Tiendesitas & SM Hypermart)

Reservations 0917-5949044
https://www.facebook.com/sunrise.buckets
http://www.sunrisebuckets.com/