TIKIM: BROILED SWEET CORN

I am a huge fan of broiled sweet corn. When it's ready, they brush it with margarine and shake some salt on it. It's a little heaven on a cob. (Location: Dangwa, Sampaloc, Manila)

TIKIM: AFTERNOON MERIENDA AT CABALEN, SM CLARK PAMPANGA

SM Clark and its very unusual shape. Who says SM malls come in boxes?

Was in Clark, Pampanga lately and after some shopping at Oriental and Parkson, we dropped by newest SM Mall here in Clark and had merienda (snack) at Cabalen. I am not a major fan of this restaurant because I'm on a diet, and second, theirs is not exactly the best Capampangan food there is, but what the heck. The afternoon snack buffet is just Pho 125.00 (USD 1 = PHP 41.50) and consisted of 1 iced tea drink, and several options (including a weird macaroni salad). Here's what I got instead:

Dinuguan (pork blood) with white puto. It's good, although I never really liked dinuguan which employs innards. I love the plates though! They're inscribed with lines from the famous Capampangan song, Atin Cu Pung Singsing (I Have A Ring). This one reads, "I earned (?) it from my Mother, from whom I came".

Pansit palabok (pansit luglug). Puede na. Hardly life changing. I miss the real thing which you can get either from food stalls in public markets in San Fernando or from this one restaurant, the name of which escapes me at the moment. It was my Mom's favorite food place. I'd get back to you on that one.

TIKIM: CHAIKOFI (MALL OF ASIA)

You'd know quirky when you see this place. There's just something so surreal about the concept of CHAIKOFI, one of the first restaurants to open here at SM Mall of Asia. An Filipino original concept with a European twist, CHAIKOFI owes its character from having Filipino and Dutch owners.

Look Ma, flying kettles! The unsual shape of the couches add to the flair.

Nice foodshots on the menu. Very inviting.

A nice touch by every table. Sadly, it's plastic.

Threesome coolsome. Don't know what soup to order? Try this order of Soup Sampler (Php 85). There are 3 demitasse cups of mushroom, pumpkin and tomato soups.

The usual salad. Nothing mind blowing.

This sandwich (Php 95) is filled with kani strips with wasabi mayo with oregano and rosemary.

My chicken was fried with green tea (Php 175) although honestly I don't taste the difference.

Overall, the service was ho-hum (the crew made sure they were nowhere in sight) and the food was nothing extraordinary. Was it the place that made for sensory overload? Or was it the '90s song Bring It Back that made for a groovey time here? Maybe. Too bad the restaurant is now closed, hah! I wouldn't want to venture a guess as to why this happened. Oh well, until our next TIKIM adventure!!!

TIKIM: TEN TITAS (GATEWAY MALL)

I read about Ten Titas from Lori's blog Dessertscomefirst.com and I was intrigued ever since. Wait, before that, SUPRPASYAL sends its warmest congratulations to Lori for winning at the recently concluded 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. You truly deserve it.

Ten Titas has a very warm ambience owing to the fact that it is located near a glass wall of Araneta's Gateway Mall. But when I saw 'warm, that's not exactly what I meant. The use of wood and rattan against empty white and green walls provide a nice contrast and the whole look comes out very clean and streamlined without taking away the homey feeling. After all, this business is a family affair. Ten Titas, of course, means ten Aunts who concocted the resto's offerings. Sounds cool, huh! But methinks that's where the problem starts.

The menu is composed of entrees from the personal kitches of ten aunts so you can imagine how extensive the choices are. It would take a first timer around 20 minutes going through the menu alone. Good thing one doesn't have to wait too long to enjoy the food or else...

Overall, I think it's work visiting again in order to experience the other things we missed out on our first visit.

Cocido. Cocido is to Spain what Coq au Vin is to France. I always say never order something you can do better at home, but I just had to try their version!

The ubiquitous lengua. No restaurant can call itself good if it flunks in this department. This one is rich and creamy, and the meat is just soft and tender! It definitely isn't your usual lengua estofada!

Somebody in the kitchen was very generous with salt so we didn't enjoy this as much. Sayang.

Nice touch. Staff wear bags so they can bring things they use often everywhere they go. Inside the bag are the following: pen, paper for orders taking, and cleaning implements. At least it doesn't look as bad as those in fastfood joints where you can see the basahan (wet rag) hanging out from the crew's behind.

Hmmm... It's good that restos are finally discovering other uses for tanglad, that grass that is very common the Visayas used to stuff chicken and lechon. This time, tanglad is reincarnated as a cool drink albeit a tad too sweet for my taste.

Desserts come last. Ten Tita's version of the classic halo-halo, complete with fried crepe to top it all off.