The Big Chefs Visit

Eating has been one of the greatest hobbies of Filipinos around the world. And when we Pinoys are eating, we're likely to talk about food as well. As for my family, we like to try out varieties of food, we enjoy it too much I decided to start blogging about foodventures or restaurant review again. 

From what I observed, even here in Jeddah, Filipinos love to hang-out in restaurants. Going out with family and friends or just family is a nice way to relax after work related stress or to fight homesickness or probably just want to hang-out.

After trying out the same food from other restaurants, it seems the crave for a new taste has to be satisfied again. After looking around on the net, we decided it was Big Chefs turn this time. I remember back when they were still new, their employees used to be our neighbor. We lived opposite their building but we never really tried until the crave for something new came to us. We want a new environment, a fresh restaurant layout, but most of all we craved for a new taste. 

Read More

A Chopsticks Foodventure

Since we know people will be crowding the place during Iftar, we decided to have another foodventure around 10pm at Chopsticks Restaurant after a short trip at Toys R Us.  Before going to our destination, we took some pictures outside because during Ramadan they put a lot of fancy things and decorations like flashing lights and lanterns on the streets much like our Christmas lanterns and Christmas lights.

Chopsticks restaurant is located in Falasteen Street and just the opposite of Starbucks and Burger King. By the way the place is crawling with other restaurants, come to think of it this should be called Jeddah restaurant district because of its overwhelming number.

Read More

An Unscheduled Fine Dining Experience

Friday - December 7, while meeting a long-time friend who we haven't seen for awhile in Balad, we received a call from another friend from Riyadh (Sir Allan, thank you very much!) and was eventually invited for a dinner at Al Diwan Restaurant in Radisson's Blu Hotel. It was actually an event held by the company we are in business with. The organizers have also prepared a presentation and we were given pointers on how we should take care of our business. The presentation was really educational and inspirational as well.

After the presentation, we were invited to go to the lounge for the buffet dinner we have been waiting for. We have tried eating at a hotel restaurant in Hongkong before but the experience at Al Diwan's was more exciting, not just because it was free but the food was much tastier and probably because of wider varieties and some were quite exotic too.

Read More

Night Out with Mom

28th of October-2011, One fine Friday in Jeddah. After a long stay-in at home, Leah has fully recovered and to celebrate it, we went to family's favorite dine-in restaurant, Applebee's. Here in Jeddah, the nearest branch to us is located along Andalus Street near US Embassy. Wow! I suddenly realized why famous international restaurants were located around Andalus area.

When I told Ize that we'll be going outside and going to Applebee's, he was quite excited and asked if his mom was coming along with us. I assured him that his mom will be coming with us and he was so happy. It's been a long time since we all went out together.

We ordered Leah's favorite - Oriental Chicken Salad, Ize's favorite - Chicken Quesadilla and as for me, I ordered something new like their Double-Glazed Baby Back Ribs and tried their Strawberry Daiquiri if I remember correctly.

Read More

Hungry Saturday

Last Satuday - August 22, I had an urge to eat sambusa so I thought I should buy on a store nearby our house. Sambusa is a Somalian recipe and is very famous street food here in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan season probably in the whole Gulf Region as well. It is triangular in shape and can be bought with different flavors or fillings such as vegetable, chicken or beef. After buying some, me and my son savoured each of them until there's none. What a joy! After eating, I felt so sleepy probably because of too much satisfaction. I know it is not good to sleep after you eat so I took some time before I decided to hit the sack (around 3 minutes lol!). 

Now, when I woke up I can't stop thinking of the kwek-kwek I saw at the store. It is just a boiled egg that is soaked in mixture of flour, salt, pepper, food color (orange) and is cooked deep fried. It is best-served with mixture of vinegar, soy sauce and some spices. It is a very well-known Filipino street food and is very famous among locals. And since I can't get it off my head and my craving for it keeps getting stronger every minute, I decided to cook some. I also thought my wife would love to eat some so I decided to surprise her by cooking some kwek-kwek. I was right.

While working here in Saudi Arabia, I've seen different Asian Food Recipes and I am quite surprised that some of the recipes are quite familiar to me. One of the familiar dish is the kwek-kwek which is also famous in Indonesia, I don't know what's it called in there but I'm glad they have it here. The only difference is that in the Philippines, kwek-kwek have different varieties.

Ize and the famous kwek-kwek!

Let's eat! Have a nice day people.

Read More

Dinner With The Family

Due to the hot weather season here in Saudi Arabia and my wife's previous health condition, we seldom get out anymore and dine-in to our favorite restaurants or try out different restaurants. Me and my wife decided to have another experiment and let our taste buds explore a new food adventure, this time our taste buds suggested seafoods.

Nearest to our place was The Manhattan Fish Market. It's along Andalus Road and just beside Ruby Tuesday's. Before we even went there, my son was already complaining and telling us that he likes to go to Applebee's Restaurant which is only a few blocks away from The Manhattan but the moment we stepped in front of the restaurant he changed his mind immediately. He was fascinated by the small fountains which were setup at the small pond just in front of the restaurant.

The moment we stepped out of the elevator, we were greeted by friendly Filipino waiters and managers (or supervisors) and supervised us immediately to where we desired to stay. There is a smoking area for smokers but of course we went to the non-smoking area. The place is clean and the seats were very comfortable.

Welcome area of The Manhattan.

Read More