Bulalo Point and Turo-turo Grill in Tagaytay

For foodies, Tagaytay is almost synonimous to bulalo and tawilis as those craving for the hot beef and bone marrow dish and the crunchy small fish go this city in Cavite to satisfy their cravings. We're one of them! Months before the sad occurrence of the Taal Volcano eruption, our family spent a night in Tagaytay. We arrived quite late as we came all the way from Lucena City. We decided to have dinner at one of the popular bulalo restaurants there located at Mendez Crossing East: Bulalo Point Turo-turo Grill. It was almost closing time so we just ordered two viands 
so they won't take much time preparing. 
What we had:

Nilagang Bulalo, P480.

Calamares, P230.

Ripe mango shake P80.

There's no contention as to how good the bulalo was. The beef was really tender and the soup was hot, flavorful and extremely satisfying! With a dipping sauce of "toyo", "kalamansi" and "sili", I could have bulalo this good everyday. Haha! 
Meanwhile, the calamares was delicious too, and the kids loved 
it with the mayo-ketchup dip. 

Menu

Inside Bulalo Point

Bulalo Point and Turo-turo Grill at Mendez Crossing East in Tagaytay City


We came famished but went out full and satisfied. 
Hope to be back to Bulalo Point soon for more of the unforgettable nilagang bulalo. 
Try this place, folks, when you're spending a day 
or two in the cool city of Tagaytay. 
Happy eating!

Japanese curry is love at Coco Ichibanya

There are some things about a restaurant that make you decide to actually step inside to eat. If you're not sure about the food, the store's physical appearance could get a hold on you. Me, among the things that meet the eye which draw me to a place are the wall colors, ambient lighting, furniture, and sometimes, faux food on display! I have always loved faux food since I was a little girl and even now at middle age. Hahaha! 
And this is exactly what attracted me to Coco Ichibanya. I was never a fan of curries but hey, they have these colorful, yummy-looking display of "play food" outside so one day, I found myself tagging along my daughter and her boyfriend to eat 
at Coco Ichibanya in Robinsons Place Manila. These kids are huge fans of curry so there was no problem hauling them off to the restaurant. 
And they knew exactly what to order!

Coco Ichibanya, I learned, holds a Guiness World Record for being the largest chain of curry restaurants with a stunning 1,400 stores around the world! The franchise from Japan came to Philippine shores in 2015 and at present,
 has at least nine branches already. 
Anyway, these were our orders for dinner:

Fried chicken salad 

Pork cutlet and vegetable

Pork cutlet and vegetable set (with ice cream and a drink -- milk tea)

Curry udon

Menu 

Interiors

Delicious-looking faux food! 

Coco Ichibanya at the ground level of Robinsons Place Manila 
near the Pedro Gil entrance

I must admit that the pork curry was really good, with its excellent gravy-sauce that was oozing with flavors. The thick sauce  was earthy - mildly sweet and a tad spicy (you can choose the level of spiciness!). The perfectly breaded and fried katsu with generous curry sauce was an absolutely delightful partner to a serving of steamed white rice. It actually caused me to have a change of heart about curry! Yum! 

The udon wasn't much to my liking, though. The curry soup had pretty much the same earthy, tangy flavor but for me, the thick noodles made the dish cloying. I only had a few forkful of the noodles and some sips of the thick soup and that was it.

The fried chicken salad was a different story, though. There was no sad thing to say about it. It was so good! First of all, the serving was big and the greens were bright -- fresh and crunchy. And who doesn't love fried chicken? Certainly not me 'coz it's my most favorite thing to eat in this world. Hahaha! They're bite-sized, with a hint of sweetness and wholly delicious! If you're going low-carb, the Fried Chicken Salad could be a great thing to order 'coz it will satisfy you without much of the starch. Even if only for this, yes, I would go back to Coco Ichibanya. 
But wait, there's more! The ice cream and milk tea were delish as well. The milk was served separately from the iced brewed tea so it's up to you whether you want 
to put in a lot or just a little. Whatever suits your taste! 
All in all, it was a delightful dinner that we had at Coco Ichibanya, a new experience and taste for my palate. Curry isn't so bad, after all. In fact, I feel like I could use 
a serving of katsu curry as I write this post! 
Try Coco Ichibanya, folks. They have branches at Bonifacio Global City, Greenbelt, Greenhills, Pasig, Rockwell, Vertis North, Eastwood and in Cebu, aside from the one at Robinsons Place in Ermita, Manila. 
Happy eating!

MuRamen: Japanese food with a twist!

Before Taal Volcano displayed its fury by spewing steam and ash last month, my family and I were in Tagaytay for our pre-Christmas weekend break. We arrived there at noontime and the kids were hungry! On our way to SMDC's Wind Residences where we stayed for a night, we passed by Primark Town Center, which is adjacent to it. There weren't many restaurants in the building, however, and the only ones I remember were a McDonald's, Cafe Amazon and a Japanese restaurant named MuRamen. Because most of the kids (There were several of them 'coz my nephews were with us as well as my two kids' sweethearts) wanted McDonald's and three of us didn't, we decided to split. I ended up at MuRamen with my eldest daughter and her boyfriend. This restaurant, I found to be cute: it's quite small with a contemporary design. I even found the food concept cute, too: Japanese food with a twist! A bit of research as I write this post showed MuRamen is owned by a young actor named Nash Aguas and he now has around nine branches of his Japanese fusion restaurant. 
Wow! Such a feat by someone so young! 

Anyway, these were our orders that we enjoyed for lunch:

Marrowmen (Ramen bulalo)

Now tell me this isn't a cute idea: putting the Pinoy bulalo and Japanese noodles in one dish. I would say it isn't just a novel idea, it's downright brilliant! Haha! This was my daughter's boyfriend's order and too bad, I only had some of the bone marrow 
and didn't taste the soup. The marrow was so tasty!

Ramen with bacon

My daughter and I both ordered this and yup, this was something new and different, too, a meeting of the west and the orient. I loved the soup, which was hot and flavorful. Loved the bacon, too! Who wouldn't?

Chicken karaage rice bowl

This was mine too. Haha! Didn't I say I was as starving as the kids? I shared  this with my daughter, though. Tee-hee. We loved the chicken - crunchy on the outside, 
juicy and tender on the inside. Delish!

Interiors

Menu posted by the door

MuRamen at Primark Town Center, Nasugbu Highway, Tagaytay City 

I read that MuRamen's main branch is the one in Pasig City. I would want to go there soon so I could have a steaming hot bowl of bulalo ramen all to myself. Haha! 

Another ramen add-on at MuRamen that I would be thrilled to try is the lechon kawali - also an unlikely thing to have with Japanese noodles but nevertheless a bright idea. 
Try MuRamen, folks, if you love Japanese food and want it with a twist for a bit of fun and excitement. Even your wallet would thank you 
for not shelling out a lot of moolah. 
Happy eating!