Outback Steakhouse

We were in the mood for steaks so we decided to try the most famous steakhouse in town... OUTBACK! (We actually wanted to try Tony Roma's but we did not have the money :D)

Outback Steakhouse, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Looking at the menu, I was surprised at how long it had been since I last visited. Everything was alien to me. Back then, I would always flip to the page of the menu where there were different cuts and sizes of steaks. It took us some time to order but it's good to know that there are still some things that remain.

Complementary Bread, originally uploaded by belly happy.

I have not eaten the complementary bread for the longest time. It was a welcome mixture of the sweet and buttery flavor that is not usually in the normal bread servings from other restaurants. I can even say that this is my favorite.

Caesar Salad, originally uploaded by belly happy.

My taste buds are not that well trained to distinguish one Caesar salad from the next or previous one. I just remember the crunchiness of the leaves and the taste of the dressing. For this particular selection, the former is worth mentioning. There are notable Caesar salad dressing from other restaurants but this is just a simple mixture. She likes to add parmesan cheese and I like a touch of pepper.

Potato Soup, originally uploaded by belly happy.

One of us was sick that time so we decided to order potato soup. We do not order a lot of soup so we have no idea what great soup tastes like. I remember adding pepper to the soup so I guess it was not without its flaws.

Chicken Quesadilla, originally uploaded by belly happy.

The Chicken Quesadilla was her choice. I had no idea what a quesadilla should be or what it would look like but once I saw it and tasted it, I wanted more. This was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

North Atlantic Salmon, originally uploaded by belly happy.

This was one of those days when her dish tasted better than mine. I normally do not eat fish at home because of the limited fish recipes we know. The fish was great with everything! Eat it with the veggies, with rice, with or without the sauce, it was terrific! Because I was so in love with the dish (hers was served first), I had very high expectations of mine....

Beef Tenderloin Steak Tower, originally uploaded by belly happy.

....But was terribly disappointed. This looks a lot better on photo than in real life. The mashed potatoes and the pork & beans were good. But the steak was hard to chew! It was so dry that the steaks of old are a distant memory. I don't know. Maybe it was just the chef at the time or they really cook it that way. I felt robbed! This definitely was overpriced. I wanted to wash off the disappointment with a dessert that our waiter recommended.

Chocolate Down Under... (something), originally uploaded by belly happy.

The dessert reminded me of Racks's chocolate mud pie. I really don't know which is better. The Mud pie had more serving though... 

Overall, it was not the experience I was expecting after not visiting Outback for a long time. We ate there because I missed the steak. Now that it's different, I don't what to miss anymore. Maybe the bread, maybe the quesadilla, but if those are the things that would draw me to Outback, then, I better think of an alternative. The overall quality was not worth P2k+++.
2.5 stars!

Kai Restaurant

It was one of those days again wherein we didn't know where to go. We had our favorites in mind but it's been quite a while since we tried something new. We walked along the sides of greenbelt 5 and thought about eating at one of the places there. We then passed by Kai Restaurant and I remember reading about this in an article about Manila's Best Restaurants. It was ANOTHER Japanese restaurant. And we went in to find out if it could stand out from the rest.

California Maki, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We usually have a set menu for Japanese Restaurants. We are so used to eating at Teriyaki Boy that whenever we go to other restaurants, we order the same thing. After all, they are serving the same cuisine.
Most of the time, we go to Japanese restaurants whenever she feels like eating California Maki. This was not one of those days but this is part of our "set menu". We have eaten a lot of variants of this dish (even though they look and taste almost the same) but this one is definitely at the top of our list.

Age Dashi Tofu, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We would always order this dish along with the California Maki. Throughout the different Japanese restaurant experiences we've had, the presentation would look the same. Perhaps, a slight change on the accessories surrounding the tofu but that's about it. This time, it was the Tofu that looked different. It was crispy to the bite but it explodes in your mouth. The presentation was simple and yet unlike for other restaurants, the star here is really the tofu. Not the accessories. Not the sauce. The tofu.

Ika Karaage, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Perhaps the least favored among our dishes. She really didn't like it. It was dry and a little bland. The taste relied on the dip on the side which was (to our guess) some mixture of vinegar. I was able to finish it all with her taking very few bites. It was disappointing.

Wagyu Strips Teppanyaki, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Good thing we had this. This definitely would be my favorite dish among the rest. Without this, it would have been an utter disappointment. It was our first time to try Wagyu Beef as a full-fledged entree. Once you've tasted Wagyu Beef, you're bound to look for it again. We were first uncertain because of the price but it was really worth it. The beef was so soft that you could almost cut it without using your teeth while the juices are seeping out. What a treat!

Ebi Tempura, originally uploaded by belly happy.

The Ebi Tempura was presented in a different way but the taste was nothing special. If you've tasted Tempura from other restaurants, then you probably won't notice a difference between those and this one.

The pros: Wagyu Teppanyaki, California Maki, Agedashi Tofu
Like the other award-winning restaurants, it cost us about P2000++. Some dishes weren't worth the money for us. For the favorable ones, we wouldn't bother to have paid more. It was certainly a mixed experience. The search for the best Japanese restaurant is still on...

Casa Armas

Want spanish food? Think Casa Armas! After going around, window shopping, bellyhappy and i find ourselves craving for good food and GREAT dessert and Casa Armas has it all. If you plan on taking someone out for a date, this is the place to go. Great ambiance, great service, GREAT dessert :D (i love dessert) haha

Ensalada del Cesar, originally uploaded by belly happy.

For starters, we had the Ceasar Salad. Just your regular old ceasar salad, but we find this one as one of the best since it's not too tangy and the croutons? yum! :D
Bellyhappy: This may be one of the most unique presentations of Caesar Salads that we've encountered. It's uniqueness is only matched by its taste.

Espaguetas Marinera, originally uploaded by belly happy.

For the main course, we had pasta and two other entrees. I think this was the seafood pasta. Bellyhappy really liked this dish and of course, he finished it all!
Bellyhappy: Our perennial concern for seafood dishes would always be the "fishy" taste. And here is where this pasta is successful. The ingredients are combined in a way that brings out the best taste in each of them.

Lomo con Pimiento, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Bellyhappy: Most of the time when we go out, one would always say "I like your food better". This time, it was my turn. (See steak below) I wanted to try something new so I randomly selected a dish whose name sounded interesting. Sadly though, I did not like the presentation. It was like pieces of pork swimming in gravy-like red-pepper sauce. The taste was not as good as I expected and I am one who attaches taste to the price. This one however, did not live up to its value. I guess it's just a matter of preference--this one wasn't for me.

Solomilio Ala Pobre, originally uploaded by belly happy.

I had THE STEAK. Usually, i like gravy with my steak. Lots of sauce in my steak and potatoes makes for a very good meal. But this is one of the rare occasions that i put my choosiness aside and had THE STEAK. It was pretty good... something i might have again. but i still like my gravy ;p
Bellyhappy: This would have been my ideal meal. There was just a little too much garlic on top but it was a feast!

Pijama, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Ooooooh! Dessert! I love dessert! Usually, bellyhappy and i dont order dessert in the same restaurant because we'd be uber full after finishing our entrees. But for Casa Armas, we make space. Not only for one dessert, but two!!!

I LOOOVE PIJAMA. I turned down Max Brenner for this dessert. Bellyhappy and i would usually fight over the last bite. haha It's a simple dessert. It has a bit of custard underneath the ice cream, then peaches. Usually they use vanilla ice cream, but they ran out so i chose cookies and cream instead. It was even better! i tried making something like it at the mandarin buffet..not quite the same. We love pijama!
:D
Bellyhappy: Being the sweet boyfriend that I am, I always give her the last bite :)

Churros con Chocolate, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Last but not least: Churros! The best churros we ever had was at Larry's. Sad to say, Larry's didnt make the churros as good as the first time we had them when we ate there again. Sooo, the hunt for great churros was on! And we're happy to say we liked this one :) It's almost as good as the churros we ate at Larry's (back when they sprinkled cinnamon sugar on the churros and had uber thick chocolate sauce). If we werent so full, we would have finished all of it :)

We give Casa armas 5 stars!!! It's a little pricey... i think we paid around P2000++ for our meal but we think it's worth it. A happy meal is a happy belly! :D

p.s. try the pijama! for P100+ bucks... it's suuuper duper worth it!

(Other restaurants mentioned will be up for future review)

Magyar

We've not seen each other for a long time (a couple of weeks) and this was our way of making it up to each other--A whole day date!

For some reason, the restaurant beside Dayrit's in Magallanes closed shop and this was its replacement. A week before, my family and I wanted to eat out for dinner and Paseo de Magallanes was the perfect place. I wanted to go to Dayrit's (A future review) but this restaurant caught my attention. Beside from it replacing Aling Nene's, it had a weird ring to it--Magyar.

Because of the experience and the new cuisine that it introduced, I wanted to take her here the next time we went out and here we are.

Mushroom Goulash, originally uploaded by belly happy.

These were the exact same meals that my family ordered and one thing good about this place is consistency. The Mushroom Goulash apparently was a native dish in Hungary and I wanted her to try it. As with the rest of our entrees, we had nothing to compare this with so we just went with it. After all, this was an entirely new cuisine to us.

Beef Tokany, originally uploaded by belly happy.

This was Beef Tokany. We have absolutely no idea how this was cooked but I really liked it the first time so I ordered it again. She didn't like the white macaroni-like rice substitute but the texture, taste, and chemistry it had with the rest of the things on my plate made it perfect for me.

Chicken Paprika, originally uploaded by belly happy.

For her, I ordered Chicken Paprika. This time we had an idea as to what the main ingredient is besides chicken---Paprika! She was not able to finish it because of all the food we ate at Kulinarya so I ate this one too. Both dishes tasted the same but I did not complain... I really liked it! Or maybe I was just hungry.

Nonetheless, we were delighted to be able to try something new. We always want to try new things as this is how we see life. Maybe next time we'll try some new dishes too! And dessert! :D

Kulinarya

Kulinarya is love :) bellyhappy brought me here when we were in college --- we celebrated one of our monthsaries here i think. it's one of those places that we just HAVE to go back to. the food, the people, the ambiance... THE HOUSE BLEND ICED TEA. it is love :)

Crab and Mango Salad, originally uploaded by belly happy.

one of my favorite salads :) simple and yummy! the bellyhappy wanted to try something new though, but with my "beautiful" eyes and a kiss, i got my way and we ordered the crab and mango salad. the first time we had this, i think we ordered the large size (good for 3-4). and yes, we were able to finish it. (as you may have observed, we eat a LOT :D)

unfortunately, he was not able to take a picture of the original plating because it was not designed to stand long (logical as it should be eaten). Of all the salads we have eaten, this had the most exquisite and photogenic design. Sadly, as it was laid on our table, the opportunity lasted for only 3 seconds--he'll be ready next time! :D

Kulinarya Spring Rolls, originally uploaded by belly happy.

After the salad, we had two appetizers: the spring rolls and buffalo wings. both newbies for us to devour, and devour we did. i think we didnt talk much when we had our appetizers. we were too busy going "mmmm" and thinking who was going to get the last piece.

Asian Buffalo Wings, originally uploaded by belly happy.

by this time, you'd think that we should be full already. naaah. we always have space for the main course (and dessert!) the bellyhappy had lamb chops. i am not a big fan of lamb chops. it's food that ive yet to be 100% confident about. but for some reason, when he orders it, it always tastes great as opposed to when im the one ordering it. needless to say, i wanted to get one of his lambchops and i did! (that's love. haha) --- but i wasnt a fan of the white stuff (risotto, i think). eeew (-_-)

Herb-Crusted Lamb Chops, originally uploaded by belly happy.

for my main course, i decided to try the salmon. i forgot the name of the entree, but it's supposed to be asian something barbecue. not sure. i enjoyed my food --- fish. light. yummy. but i think i would've liked it more if i had the sauce on the side. the sauce was a bit too strong for me (or maybe i just ate too many buffalo wings :D)

Salmon..., originally uploaded by belly happy.

hmm... sadly, we didnt have dessert this time. maybe next time. but surely, we left kulinarya with very big and satisfied bellies :D