Le Village Lifestyle Park for your summer chill-out nights

Food parks are a common sight these days. If you say you haven't seen one, it may be because you've been living in a cave. Haha! Just kidding. Food parks are just about anywhere, whether in commercial or residential areas, that they have ceased to be interesting to me. 

But there is one that caught my attention: Le Village Lifestyle Park along E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave. in Quezon City, for its beautiful and eye-catching French night market motif and design. Owned by the fruit juices and shakes company Fruitas Holdings Inc., it's especially lovely at night when the pink lights of the faux cherry blossom trees are on. 

Le Village opened in 2017 and last week, I was glad to finally have the chance to visit with my youngest child. This place is a beauty indeed and I immediately took a shine to it. It's clean, orderly and relaxing, perfect for chilling out. When we were there close to sunset, there was a cool breeze, bringing much-needed respite from the sweltering heat of the summer afternoon. There's about a dozen and two food and drink stalls serving various cuisines ranging from Filipino, Japanese, Mediterranean, Mexican, American and Korean (unli-samgyupsal, anyone?). There's even a store serving wine and cheese, called La Petite Parissiene. 

I learned too that Le Village sometimes holds fun activities such as mural painting and bring-your-dog photo contest. There are even days when a band plays live music. Now I know why Le Village is called a "lifestyle park" instead of simply food park.

This pretty "wishing fountain" is the centerpiece of the lifestyle park. 
It's also home to a turtle and a janitor fish!

Anyway, my boy and I chose to have a Mediterranean meal from Kazam Kebab House. After placing our orders, I went to the restroom and it bawled me over! I know cozy is not a word to describe a C.R. but that is how it is! There's a couch and three comfy chairs inside the very lovely and clean restroom with a black and white motif and really huge, (almost) floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a chandelier. Wow, I could totally settle in that otherwise gross place. And it wasn't just beautiful, it was also clean. Impressive!

Some of the food stalls/menu:

La Petite Parisienne

This is the biggest of all the stalls. For your lechon fix!

Kazam Kebab House

Munifico Pizzeria

Sam's Ice Cream and Shakes

And then it was time to eat when I returned to our tables. Our orders 

from Kazam Kebab House:

Falafel wrap with iced tea, P165.

I love falafel! It's one of my comfort foods and I crave for it every so often. Kazam's version was quite good in the taste department, as there's a balance of flavors and the patties were not salty at all. The wee bit of a problem was that they were a little too soft that they disintegrated and melted too fast in the mouth. I like my chickpea patties firmer and fried for a longer time to the point of crunchy. But the hummus was love and there was a lot! As I expected from myself, I "destroyed" it in a heartbeat and was even tempted to lick the plate clean. Hahaha! I loved everything, yes, including the "soft" falafel. I also ate all of the onion slices dipped 
in the spicy red and white garlic sauce. Yummy!

Shawarma Rice with iced tea, P120.

This was my son's order which he also demolished in no time at all! I wasn't even able to have a taste but the buttered rice looked really good to me.

Shawarma Wrap, P95.

My not-so-little boy also had this but I had a a few bites as well. 
The beef was tender and delicious.

Sundae with crushed graham, P60.

This soft-serve vanilla ice cream from Sam's was really good! It was rich and creamy and also 
incredibly just a bit sweet.

Buko juice, P60.
My healthy and refreshing drink.


Visit Le Village, folks, at the corner of E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue and Cordillera St. in Quezon City.  This place is just what you need for hanging out and food tripping with your gang at the end of a tiresome work day or week. Because it's an open-air venue for a relaxing meal and chit-chat with your friends and family, enjoy the breeze while sipping a cold drink and eating your heart out. 
I just know I'd love to spend many summer nights here.
Le Village is open everyday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. See you there! 

Gourmet burgers and more at Pound by Todd English

If there's one foodie place that I discovered this 2018 that got me hooked, it's Pound by Todd English. Think about great grub, good coffee, sleek interiors, 
attentive service and pocket-friendly prices. 
What's not to love?
Pound is a spin-off of the Todd English Food Hall, that classy and trendy foodie place which opened at SM Aura Premiere in 2014 as the first celebrity chef restaurant in the country. I've never been to the food hall but I read in some blog posts that it has nine stations, one being the grill station for meat and seafood. It is here where people order gourmet burgers and presumably, the most popular of the 
stations, thus, giving birth to Pound.
There is now a number of Pound stores: at Bonifacio High Street, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, Eastwood Mall, Alabang Town Center, Ayala Malls Vertis North and Robinsons Place Manila. I have so far visited the last two branches. The one at Robinsons opened last year but I wasn't too eager to try it then, to be honest, as I was intimidated by the physical store's classy appearance that got me thinking the food was expensive. Imagine black-painted walls, black couches, ambient lighting, splendid brass mugs plus candles on white marble tables. The cheapskate 
in me wouldn't want to budge! 
And then, finally, I looked up the menu and found out that on the contrary, the food was very affordable! Well, you can splurge on the P700 burger with foie gras if you want but it's the only pricey item on the menu. And so, I was at Pound-Robinsons for two consecutive Saturdays, one time tagging along my youngest child. On my third visit, I went with my househelp to the Vertis North store. 
What we've tried so far:

Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, P150.
This is one of their best sellers, the server told me, so I asked for it. I was curious, too, as it sounded out of the ordinary. The goat cheese, which is sour and salty, is wrapped in what looked like wanton wrappers and then deep-fried. Nice contrast there both in taste and textures, with the fresh lettuce, onions and tomato slices. However, I wasn't sold out to the raspberry vinaigrette and thought a sweetish dressing like Asian would have been better to tone down the sourness.

Pound for Pound, P195.
This consists of one T. E. Burger Slider and one T. E. Crispy Chicken Slider

Close-up of the T. E. Crispy Chicken Slider
Loved them both, the miniature beef burger and the chicken sandwich. But it was the Crispy Chicken Slider that I loved more for the perfectly battered and fried meat chicken fillet that's crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside plus the
sweet-tangy sauce and crisp slaw on top.

Sizzling Pound Moco (beef), P180.
This one floored me! I, indeed, "pound" love served on a sizzling plate. Big, thick and flavorful Salisbury steak on top of a huge serving of garlicky fried rice, covered with peppery gravy then crowned with a sunny side up egg, what could be more perfect? I went loco over this Moco!

Sizzling Pound Moco (chicken), P180.
This wasn't on the menu but I read about this in some blogs. I asked the server at the Vertis North store and he said they did have a fowl version of the Pound Moco so I went for it. Slices of chicken breast slathered in delicious gravy over fried rice, this was really good! However, 
the beef version is still tops for me!

Pomodoro Set, P179.
The pasta is solo size and the T. E. Burger Slider, you can finish off in two huge bites so if you're famished or have big appetite, this might not be enough for you. This combo is perfect for me, tho :) I love the Pomodoro: al dente pasta bathed in light red sauce made savory by a beautiful medley of flavors from fresh tomatoes, basil and spices. Best of all, it's not sweet!

Onion Cube, P90.
Crunchy deep-fried onion rings that come with a dark sweet-salty dip. 
It's the perfect side to your burger.

T. E. Sundae solo, P100.
What could be a better way to end a lovely meal than some lip-smacking spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream topped with brownie bits and drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrups? Woe to me, I couldn't eat more than three spoonfuls lest my blood sugar shot up.

Brewed coffee, P100.

Strong coffee is always my drink of choice. At Pound, they have a good cup of joe, thankfully. I didn't have to go somewhere else afterwards for my caffeine fix.

Foodee Iced Tea, P90.
My son's drink.

Menu

                                Pound at Ayala Malls Vertis North

     At Robinsons Place Manila

Visit Pound by Todd English, folks if you're feeling like you could use a nice burger to cheer yourself up, or even if you want to eat healthy by just having a salad. This place won't disappoint. You might even be coming back for more like I did. 
Happy eating!

Tempura for my Japanese food fix

We all do have different food cravings at different times, don't we? For me,

it's like Korean this week and Japanese the next, with Mediterranean in between. Good thing there are now two Japanese restaurants near our office in Quezon City, one of them a branch of Tempura, to answer my Japanese food cravings. My friends/co-workers have been there a lot of times. Last week, my husband treated our family to lunch at another Tempura branch - at SM Mall of Asia (MOA) - to celebrate our third child's graduation. Like me and my friends, my hubby and kids enjoyed the food!
What we've tried so far at Tempura:

                            Mixed Sushi and Sashimi Boat, P650.  
    

Sashimi is my No. 1 favorite Japanese food and sushi is No. 2. Was I glad to have both in a boat! My bestie in the office ordered this as her treat for me on my birthday last year. Isn't she the best buddy one could ever have? Everything on 
this cute little boat was fresh and delicious!

Tempura Bento, P295.
One time, my bestie and I did some twinning, and we both ordered the tempura bento. Included in the set are miso soup, kani salad, shrimp and vegetable tempura, 
rice and two pieces California maki.

Miso soup; Kani salad

Executive Lunch, P399.
Another friend who was celebrating her birthday treated us one time and all three of us in our group ordered the Executive Lunch. The main entree here has several choices including ebi tempura, tori, and tonkatsu. The set comes with miso soup, kani salad, two pieces California maki, yakisoba and rice. It's a lot! All three of us weren't 
able to eat everything and had some for take out.

Seafood Ramen, P275.
One afternoon, I was at Tempura for merienda with another group of friends and we decided to order two kinds of ramen which the three of us shared. This seafood bowl looks very tempting, I know, but I wish someone told the chef to go easy on the shaker becoz the broth was too salty! This could have been the perfect, healthy merienda with all those veggies 
and seafood but too much salt ruined it.

Tonkatsu Ramen, P310.
This one did justice to our afternoon trip to Tempura because it was really good! The soup was hot, comforting and flavorful. It's less healthy than the seafood ramen because of the pork but all the right flavors that delighted our taste buds banished every tinge of guilt. 

California Maki, P145.
Whether for lunch or merienda, maki is one of my comfort foods. At Tempura, they make good maki. The rice is of the right texture - not dry nor too sticky. And freshly made. Yum, yum!

Gyoza, P129.

I'm not a fan of gyoza but my bestie ordered this together with the sushi boat so dig in, I did. Surprisingly, I liked this one as it tasted great! Gyoza is Japanese-style dumpling but it's originally from China where it is called jiaozi. It has meat (pork, usually) and veggies like cabbage, scallions and ginger. Though subtle in flavor, Tempura's version is delicious -- juicy 

on the inside, chewy on the outside. I loved it!

Matcha Cheesecake

I don't always order dessert because I cut back on sugar. But one time, my friend ordered this cheesecake. There were three of us who shared a slice and it bawled us over! It was sooo good though really sweet! Nothing of any bitter green tea taste, if that is your fear, but very rich, creamy and saccharine. My friends and I agreed it would have been best to have with coffee but sadly, caffeine isn't on the menu at Tempura. I can't remember exactly how much this cheesecake 

was but it's around P140/slice. Not bad if you want the 

perfect thing to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Meanwhile, there are special all-you-can-eat offers for lunch and afternoon snacks at Tempura. For lunch, it is priced at P499 per head. This was what our family had last week. One may choose one main entree or Signature Dish such as ebi tempura (five pieces), gyudon and ramen, then have unlimited sushi, yakisoba, rice (both plain and fried), yakitori, and others. Add P30 and you may also have bottomless drinks such as juices and fruit shakes.

Photo from Tempura's FB page.

What we had for the All-you-can-Eat Lunch:

Signature Dishes:

Ebi Tempura

Ramen

Gyudon

Our "unlimited"

Kani Salad

Yakitori

Crispy Crab Flakes

Sushi

More sushi

This pork with mushrooms and onions dish was really good! It was sweet and very tasty. 
Too bad I forgot what this was called.

From 2-5 p.m., there's the Snack All You Can priced at only P249. You may have one Signature Dish from the five choices then have "unlimited" rice, iced tea and side dishes such as kani salad, yakisoba and maki. I had this one time and it really filled me to the brim! Talk about bang for the buck and this was it! I chose to have ebi tempura (two pieces) and rice and was also given a hefty serving of yakisoba, a plateful of sushi that included eight pieces of California maki, kani salad, miso soup and a glass of iced tea. A whole lot of food indeed! I only ate about one-third of everything, and the server was kind enough to let me share the leftovers with my friends even if that's supposed to be not allowed under their promo rules.

My Snack All You Can meal:

Menu

Menu

Inside Tempura-Visayas Ave.

Tempura on Visayas Ave., Diliman, Quezon City


Tempura is definitely one of my go-to places when it comes to sushi, tempura and other Japanese food. Their offers are mostly good and affordable, the restaurant is clean, service is fast and the servers, friendly and attentive. There are many other branches in the metro so find one near you. Aside from those in Visayas Ave. and MOA, there are also stores on UN Ave. in Manila, Alabang Town Center, Trinoma and Banawe. There are even branches in SM Pampanga, 
SM Cabanauan and SM Cebu.Find one near you, folks!

Happy eating!