Supermarkets, ensaymada and Arce Dairy ice cream - Manila, Phiippines

Food courts. And supermarkets. Is it odd that these were my top two touristing highlights in Manila?



Jeepney

Admittedly I'd wanted to ride on a jeepney, but with our hotel within walking distance of Greenhills Shopping Centre in San Juan, there was no need for a jeepney.


Security

I'd been pre-warned about the presence of armed security at shopping centres in Manila. At every public entrance, security personnel stand guard and visually inspect each incoming shopper and their bags. Sometimes metal detectors are used, other times you are briefly patted down. Larger shopping centres have separate queues for males and females, with female security on the female side. Although Westerners tend to only experience a cursory inspection, it's still a somewhat sobering encounter.


Tiangge flea markets

It's easy to get lost inside Greenhills, a sprawling complex that includes air-conditioned shops, a giant supermarket, restaurants and fast food outlets, a movie theatre, chapel and a bustling flea market.

The flea market is a maze of cheap t-shirts, handbags and shoes, the alleyways narrow and crammed with people. Above the tiangge is Cellphone Galore, a mobile phone market chaotic with the chorus of 200 sellers, all spruiking what looked to be the same mobile phones and mobile phone covers. Nearby is the pearl market, endless rows of booths gleaming with pearl necklaces, bracelets and earrings.


Hypermarket at Mall of Asia

I was much more interested in the supermarkets, built on such epic proportions that they are known locally as hypermarkets. I spent hours browsing the aisles at hypermarkets in both Greenhills and the Mall of Asia. This is a magical place where chips take up two-and-a-half aisles, and instant noodles gets its own.


An aisle of instant noodles


Giant tubs of biscuits

I love the idea of buying in bulk, but even I was taken aback by the size of these biscuit tubs. And yet their multi-function storage capabilities were strangely alluring too.


Snack stalls

You know how you're always peckish when you've just finished the grocery shopping? Supermarkets in Manila tend to host a row of food stalls selling drinks and snacks on the other side of the registers.


Ube cake

There's usually a large bakery by the entrance/exit too. Here I discovered the joys of ube purple yam and cheese, often together. The ube cake above was dense but soft, not overly strong with ube flavour, but resplendent with grated cheese.


Special ensaymada 78 pesos / AU$1.85

Ensaymada are hugely popular throughout the Philippines, and are a pastry that originated in Majorca, Spain. The local version is made with a brioche dough, slathered with buttercream and strewn with grated Edam cheese.


Ube cheese supreme 85 pesos / AU$2.00

I loved both the cheese and the ube versions, the latter covered with sweet grated ube paste.


Filipino desserts including sapin sapin steamed rice cake, mahas mais coconut pudding,
kutsinta brown rice cake and buko young coconut pie


Ube sponge cake roll and Brazo de Mercede cream-filled log cake


Arce Dairy ice cream

And is there anything more exciting than a chest freezer filled with ice cream? Crazy ice cream?

I'm talking sweet corn, jackfruit, ube purple yam, ube with coconut, avocado, mangosteen, magnolia, durian, vanilla custard, young coconut and lychee, blueberry cheesecake, atis sugar apple, lemon and calamansi lime, plain cheese, and cheddar cheese.

I may, or may not have stood transfixed for several moments.


Cheese ice cream and avocado ice cream

I settled on the cheese ice cream and avocado ice cream, much of it melted by the time I got back to our hotel room. The cheese ice cream tasted more like a cream cheese ice cream, and the avocado ice cream had an odd green tea flavour.

But the best part? Keeping the little metal tins as souvenirs. Tasty and practical. Win/win.

~~~
FREEBIE FRIDAY WINNERS

Congratulations to Tegan E and Liliana S - you have each won a gold double pass to MasterChef Live worth $140.

Missed out this time? Don't forget to enter the competitions still open:
> Win 1 of 3 boxes of Christmas cupcakes from Sparkle
(entries close Monday 13 December 2010)

~~~

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Manila 2010 - Food courts and pork rinds
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Manila 2010 - Turtle stew, black chicken soup and a wedding

Hello! Kyochon Chatswood

EDIT: Hello! Kyochon is now closed

Fried chicken is my weakness.

Is there anything more magical than crunching through a layer of golden batter and sinking your teeth into sweet and juicy chicken?


Complimentary cabbage salad

An impromptu dinner is no excuse to contend with the tried and tested. I could barely type 'yes' fast enough when fried chicken was mentioned in the lazy tic-tac of group emails.

We push open the doors to Hello! Kyochon and are greeted by the sight of a basket of fried chicken, draining over the deep-fryer. The chef barely glances at us, and we make our own way down the corridor and into the dining area out the back.

The decor can only be described as minimalist as best but patrons - mostly Korean - seem more focussed on the food than any sense of romantic ambience.


Korean seafood pancake $15

We pick at miniature plates of complimentary cabbage salad before our pajeon seafood pancake arrives, thin and somewhat crispy, made with egg, flour, water, shallots, garlic and prawns.


Fried chicken and spicy marinated chicken $32

Our group of seven orders three half-serves of fried chicken, covering the variations of plain, soy and spicy fried chicken. The batter is delightfully gnarled and knobbly, perfect for nibbling on.

I take my time to extricate every bit of meat and batter from the plain fried chicken, and whilst I enjoy the sticky chilli sweetness of the spicy marinated chicken, the soy version is my favourite - balanced well between sweet and salty.


Spicy marinated chicken


Bulgogi tofu soup $13

Bulgogi tofu soup is a surprise highlight, a huddle of grilled beef, Chinese cabbage and wobbly tofu in a broth that is fiery with chilli. It's spicily addictive.


Seafood dagkalbi for three $54 ($18 per person)

Most diners here share enormous pans of meat or seafood, cooked on the hotplates built into each table. We order the seafood dagkalbi for three people, a colourful mix of vegetables and seafood smothered with kochujang hot bean paste.



A silent but efficient waiter lends a hand with the cooking, stirring the gochujang across the ingredients as the dish slowly heats up from below. By the time we're done with the chicken, the dish is ready, a bubbling magma that is a scavenger's delight of calamari, prawns, mussels, cabbage, noodles and shallots.


Spicy cheese marinated chicken dish $30

But it's the spicy cheese marinated chicken that grabs my attention.



Chicken, spicy bean paste and a layer of molten cheese. Hello! Kyochon. Hel-lo!



View Larger Map


Hello! Kyochon (CLOSED)
76A Archer Street, Chatswood, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9411 8766

Opening hours:
Open 7 days from 5pm til late


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Luxe Bakery Cafe, Newtown

Ham and cheese crossiant

Man cannot live by bread alone, they say, but maybe they haven't yet been to Luxe.



Bright, airy and ever popular, Luxe Bakery Cafe is not quite when you expect when you step through the doors of this former five bedroom cottage. Co-owners Jonathan Harvey, Simon Cancio and Tony Leibowitz gutted the building to create this buzzy cafe packed with loaves of fresh sourdough baked on-site, filled baguette ready to takeaway, and a display cabinet groaning with cakes and pastries.

Chorizo and caramelised onion muffins

Roast chicken baguettes


Tomato, basil, asiago cheese and grilled eggplant sandwiches


Flat white $3.30

Although Newtown coffee stalwart Campos is literally next door, there's no shortage of caffeine addicts lined up before the barista here. Luxe uses Single Origin beans and the barista works non-stop throughout today's weekday lunch service.


Roast chicken baguette

The roast chicken baguette arrives cut in half, and served with a couple of olives on the side. Each half is the size of a small submarine, the baguette blessed with a chewy crust and a dense but fluffy interior. The chicken is fresh, chunky and generous.


Tomato, basil, asiago cheese and grilled eggplant sandwich $9.50

Asiago cheese is like an old matriarch that binds this Italian-inspired sandwich together, the sharp and crumbly cheese working majestically with yielding slices of grilled eggplant, fresh basil and brilliant red tomato slices. The tomato is noticeably sweet, and the soy linseed bread makes its presence known, too, in both flavour and texture.


Sweet potato and chickpea salad $12
with coriander, tahini, yoghurt, rocket, shallot and pomegranate molasses

Two floor-to-ceiling blackboards list the breakfast and lunch options. Sweet potato and chickpea salad is a nourishing combination of roasted sweet potato, baby spinach leaves and tender chickpeas drizzled with creamy yoghurt and a trail of zingy pomegranate molasses.


Flourless orange cake

We can't leave without a few desserts. The flourless orange cake is a compact package that is moist and concentrated with citrus.


Custard tart $4.50

The custard tart has the reassuring appearance and taste of genuine custard, dusted generously with nutmeg and baked in a crisp pastry shell.

I pick up a loaf of soy and linseed sourdough to take home - it makes an amazing sandwich and toasts well for breakfast. Perhaps man cannot live on bread alone, but I reckon this woman could!


Belgium dark chocolate and oat chewy biscuits


Carrot cake


Almond tart


Custard tart




View Larger Map


Luxe Bakery Cafe
195 Missenden Road, Newtown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8084 1775

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 7am-4.30pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am-4.30pm


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Food courts in the Philippines

Forget about sightseeing - the only thing I want photograph when I travel is food.

A trip to Manila for a wedding offered limited free time and we ended up spending much of it shopping. Even then, I found myself continually gravitating toward the sights and smells of the food court.


Kusina ni Gracia

Food courts. What's not to love?

We ended up shopping at the SM Mall of Asia, the fourth largest shopping mall in the world with 750 shops and 220 eateries, and Green Hills Shopping Centre which was near our hotel.

It's no surprise that I had more fun wandering the stalls and checking out the food on offer than visiting the stores.

Food is cheap and cheerful in the Philippines - most hot meals cost AU$2-$5.


Inihaw - offering pre-cooked foods and grilled seafood


Deep fried crab


Dishes at Inihaw


Sisig with chicaron balat (display sample) 79 pesos / AU$1.90

I couldn't resist the promise of sisig (sizzling chopped pigs head) and chicaron for lunch.


Sisig with chicaron balat 79 pesos / AU$1.90

Alas my resultant chicaron was a lot drier than the sample dish on display. For two dollars though, it was a cheap, if fatty, meal.


Potato Corner

I kept meaning to get some chips from Potato Corner -- french fries tossed with spices, drizzled with melted cheese or served with chocolate sauce in their new dessert flavour -- but somehow I ran out of time.


Coconut drinks




Turk's Shawarma - found everywhere and super cheap
with shawarma available for less than AU$1


Deep pan pizzas at Sbarro


Dairy Queen


Chocolate-dipped waffle cones from Dairy Queen


Hecky's Lechon


Lechon cebu roasted pig in the display case

It's a roasted pig in the display case with crackling for sale by portion size!


R Lapid's Chicharon

Did you smile at the mention of crackling? If so, then the Philippines is the place for you!

Standalone carts selling nothing but pork rinds are commonplace here, and locals carry around little bags of chicharon or scratchings everywhere, and munch on them like peanuts.


Snackage for everyone

The Filipino people don't just appreciate pork rinds. They love chicharon bituka made from pig or chicken intestines and chicharon manok deep fried chicken skin too.


Chichabog


Chibit (chicharon bituka) chicken intestines


Chibab (chicharon bituka) pork intestines and
chilak (chicharon bulaklak) pork omentum

Chicharon bulaklak is pork omentum, the fatty sac that protects the small intestines. Bulaklak means flower, referring to the appearance of the omentum when it is deep-fried.



Manila - home of a crackling good time!


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