My Thai Kitchen

Yes! It was time again for another belly happy date! All week, she was craving for Filipino cuisine. She's got it planned: Kare-kare. After all, she can "eat it for an entire day" and maybe more. We knew the perfect place to get our Filipino cuisine fix. You'd think that since the cuisine is native Filipino, there would be a lot of restaurants to choose from but NO. The fact is, since the cuisine IS Filipino, we'd have pretty high expectations as we'll already have the ideal taste.

Anyways, we were headed to Mesa Grill (future review) at Greenbelt 5. Apparently, everybody else also thought that the place is one the best in Manila and decided to ruin the experience for us.

Since our bellies are in need of immediate attention, we left the long waiting line and decided to explore the nearby area and search for a place we haven't tried before.

Alas! We came across the old Temple Bar to discover that it was replaced by MY THAI KITCHEN. The ambiance looked pleasant enough and surely there was no line because it was a shame that nobody was eating there during this busy lunch hour.

Since our bellies were talking nasty to us... We ordered Tom Yum Goong, Thai Fish Cakes, Crispy Tofu with Vegetables and Chili, Pineapple Fried Rice, Stir Fried Squid with Pepper (Something), and Moo (Pork) Red Curry.

Tom Yum Goong, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We really do not have a lot of experience in Thai Food. We've only tried two other places namely: Dusit Thani in Glorietta (good times!), and Jatujak (yummy!!!) at SM Mall of Asia (drool). We always seemed to order the same stuff over and over as there isn't actually a wide array of selections (or maybe we're just not THAT familiar with the cuisine). We always started with this soup, Tom Yung Goong (different restaurants spell it differently... I wonder why). The taste was amazing. It had the right mix of chili and sour taste that I, bellyhappy, proclaimed it to be the best soup that I've tasted (among the other restaurants).

Thai Fish Cakes, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We don't usually go for appetizers in Thai Restaurants as we go straight to the main course and frankly, even though she and I eat meals good for 3-4 people, we won't be able to finish everything.

But this day was an exception. Call it hunger, call it frustration from not being able to go to the restaurant that we wanted, call it lunch...

The fish cakes were a welcomed addition to our table. All our six dishes were served instantaneously and again, we felt eyes glancing at us from those working there.

"What an odd couple..." ( but a cute couple nonetheless :D )

Crispy Tofu with Vegetables and Chili, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We always make it a point to (at least TRY to) eat healthy even though we eat a lot. This was our vehicle for satisfying our covenant to do so. I expected the usual vegetable dish that was more of a side dish than a main course but this really surprised me. I ended up getting more of this dish than the others in the table. I guess I can say that I ate healthier now (?)

Pineapple Fried Rice, originally uploaded by belly happy.

We are actually cutting down on our rice consumption. She always says "those will just be added carbs". I don't really count carbs but lately I rationalized that I'd rather taste more entrees than fill my belly with more of the same thing.

This time though, after seeing the picture in the menu and my belly commanding me to feast... I couldn't resist. Surely as always, my belly was right. The rice was full of taste and blended perfectly with the rest of the courses.

Stir Fried Squid with Pepper (Something), originally uploaded by belly happy.

For some reason, whenever we see this in the menu and couldn't think of anything more to order, we get this. This is my favorite seafood after all. Having all of our experience in this food in our history, we were pretty adept to how it should taste. Consistently with My Thai Kitchen's other dishes, this one did pretty good in our books as well. The Squid had a very nice texture which went perfectly with its sauce.

Moo (Pork) Red Curry, originally uploaded by belly happy.

Lastly, we wanted to try this dish solely for its name--MOO. We like cows. This particular moo however, meant pork which was contrary to its name. Nevertheless, I think we can both agree on this, that it was the best curry that we've tasted. (ooooh yes :D)

Fate really has a way of humoring us. It turned out that the long line in that other restaurant was a catalyst for bringing this wonderful taste to our bellies. I was able to practice taking more pictures with my camera and ended up capturing my favorite photo of her. As we left the restaurant, we forgot that we wanted Filipino cuisine. She still wanted Kare-kare though... Maybe next time :)