Foodie Friday: Countryside Steakhouse

A few weeks ago, my husband had to run an errand somewhere in Cavite, and since it was after work and I was with him at that time (hanging out in his bedroom at his family's house), I tagged along so we can go straight home afterwards. It was also around dinner time therefore we decided to have dinner somewhere near. 

We've been to the same branch of Countryside Steakhouse before (Riverside, Kawit Cavite) and opted to have dinner there again. It's a chill place with a lot of cowboy memorabilia/decorations around. 

I forgot that I had sizzling tuna on our last visit so the thought of trying a different dish did not occur to me. I've been feeling a bit tired of chicken and decided that the best option for me on the seafood/fish category would be the sizzling tuna. It was only after I was halfway through my meal did I remember that I should've gone for a different dish. 

Oh well. The sizzling tuna (a serving that's already good for two persons) was nothing spectacular. It was good, but had a bit of a sour taste to it and chewing the tuna chunks sort of made my teeth feel a bit sensitive (I don't know why). It's kind of sad that they didn't have regular soy sauce so I could have had the option of drizzling a bit on my sizzling tuna. They only had the steak sauce. 

Speaking of steak sauce, my husband opted for steak which I forgot the name of (I'm truly sorry), but perhaps steak lovers out there can identify? (edit 6/5/16: according to my husband, this is the Porterhouse Steak) 

I asked him how it was and he said it was good, but like my sizzling tuna, nothing spectacular. I got a bit of gravy sauce that was swimming around his steak and I really liked it with my tuna (I guess I have a really weird tastebud sometimes). 

Would we go here again for a meal? Yes, if we're around the area, but next time, I'm definitely ordering something else. 

By the way, when we were here, we were seated underneath their aircon and since I was the one seated directly underneath it, I could feel the water leaking from the aircon and it was not a nice experience. It felt like it was drizzling inside the restaurant. 

I did have a Nutella Milk Tea from Prosperitea next door after our meal so I was mollified. 

Foodie Friday: Simply Pastries by Sidney

It was my husband's birthday last May 12 and I've been ordering his birthday cakes from Simply Pastries by Sidney since last year (which was our first year together). Usually people would just buy a cake from a bakeshop like Red Ribbon or Goldilocks, but I wanted his birthday cake to be a bit more special, and the cakes Sidney Bascon makes look and taste exquisite. 

Last year, I ordered the Jack Daniel's cake for my husband's (then boyfriend) birthday and this year, we opted for the Chocolate Treat cake. 

The Jack Daniel's cake last year was sweet and at the same time, you can definitely taste the Jack Daniel's in it. While we enjoyed that particular cake, we couldn't devour the whole thing immediately (you're probably thinking, who devours a whole cake in a day or two?! Trust me when I say both my husband and I can and do) since this is the type of cake you'd want to have after a scrumptious dinner and/or when you're in the mood for something sweet and alcoholic (which doesn't happen often with us). Thankfully, there was someone in their household (still do not know who up to this day) who was glad to consume practically the rest of the (more than) half-eaten cake. It would have been a pity to see it last for a week in the refrigerator. 

Taken from my Instagram account as I forgot to take proper pictures before digging in

With the Chocolate Treat cake, it was all sweets packed with, obviously, various chocolate treats. One of the greatest thing about this is that you have the option to choose which chocolate treats you want your cake to be topped with. We had Snickers, Kitkats, Ferrero, Crunch, and even mini Oreo cookies on my husband's cake and we absolutely loved it! Especially me since I have a massive sweet tooth plus the fact that I have to have my chocolate fix everyday since the 6th month of my pregnancy. Even my brothers-in-law were pretty impressed with the cake and I guess it's safe to say that everybody who had a go at this Chocolate Treat cake enjoyed it. Ugh, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I'm totally going to grab a chocolate bar in the fridge after this post. 

It was also a pleasure ordering cakes from Sidney because she's so pleasant, and the beautiful cakes she makes are worth their prices. I'm actually looking forward to ordering from her again. 

If you're interested in placing an order from Simply Pastries by Sidney, you can view her creations on her Instagram account here and contact her through the following details: 

Foodie Friday: Fat Melts Diner

Last Sunday, my husband and I accompanied my brother to BF Parañaque since he needed to go shopping for his upcoming trip to Boracay. We also decided to have a look at the Pergola mall across ruins and my husband happened to have a look at the Fat Melts Diner menu which was conveniently posted outside their restaurant and asked me if I wanted to review it for my Foodie Friday (I appreciate the fact that he totally supports my Foodie Fridays) and I agreed since I've always been curious about the place. Quick confession: I'm a sucker for retro diners like this. 

Lately, I've been having massive cravings for sweets which is strange since I know pregnancy cravings only happen during the first trimester, right? I also appreciate that my husband understands this and does his best to (sometimes even go out of his way to) provide me with all the food I'm craving for. Case in point: he already knew I was going to order the extra thick chocolate milkshake, and he went for the extra thick vanilla one (both at 135Php) 

Fisherman's Catch

I couldn't decide between the Garlic Shrimp Pasta (185Php) and Fisherman's Catch (195Php) so my brother suggested that he'll order the Garlic Shrimp Pasta and I can have the Fisherman's Catch and we could just have a bite of each other's food. I absolutely loved the Garlic Shrimp Pasta and while the Fisherman's Catch was also really good, I felt that the rice was covered in too much butter and it made me feel a little woozy. If you wanna try this dish out, I suggest accompanying it with soda so you don't get too lightheaded from all the butter. The chocolate milkshake helped too :) 

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Bacon Cheeseburger

My husband had the Bacon Cheeseburger (165Php) which, of course, I didn't try out since I don't eat pork nor beef, but I did eat some of his fries which was obviously (it's fries!) really good. At first, when our orders haven't been served yet (by the way, they kind of took a long time to serve our food, we noticed), I was already planning on sharing a banana split (175Php) with either my husband or my brother and maybe add a basket of fries (Potato Basket at 160Php) for good measure, but it turned out that what we ordered were already enough for us. My husband loved the food so much and said the prices were affordable and totally worth it. I think so too. 

Wearing: dress from Murashopph Clothing, sandals from Cheska, thrifted (I think) bag

Foodie Friday: Sol Victoria's

From time to time, I would ask my fiancé to take me out to dinner or lunch because I still want to go out on dates with him even if we're already about to get married, and it's something I think all couples should do to maintain the romance in their relationship. We would research places we haven't yet been to and try them out. Plus, it's good for my Foodie Friday posts. That's like hitting 3 birds with one stone, right?! Anyway, he was busy this past few days with work and so we decided to go somewhere nearby. We were supposed to try Wild Wild Wings, but it looked like they were in the midst of renovating the place so we decided on Sol Victoria's (located in Better Living Parañaque) instead.

Apologies for the quality of this photo and for that finger on the top part (I was not comfortable taking photos in public) 

I regret to mention that I failed to take more photos of the place to explain better how it looked inside since there were a lot of people dining there and I was not comfortable taking photos like some wannabe food blogger (which I am, I think). But yeah, inside to the left (upon entering), there's a more open area for those who wants to chill, have some drinks with their buddies and smoke while on the right side is a closed space with aircon and glass walls and sliding doors to accommodate families who wants to dine with their kids and be away from the cigarette smoke... that or they want to get away from the unbelievable heat we are currently experiencing in this country. 

I ordered Victoria's wings (200Php) and ripe mango shake (100Php) while my fiancé had creamy beef (250Php). We also ordered Java rice (150Php) to accompany our choices of food. 

The Victoria's wings came with mustard and mango dip and it was so so good! Even the wings eaten sans the dip was very delicious; they were crunchy and juicy. I honestly enjoyed every bite. My fiancé made me try out the creamy beef's sauce and at first I didn't want to since I don't eat beef and/or pork, but he convinced me that there weren't any on the sauce he was offering to me. It sort of tasted like carbonara sauce or cream of mushroom and I liked it, BUT I still did not eat more than what was offered to me. 

The java rice. Oh I don't really know what to say. I'm used to java rice being plain (meaning without added bits and pieces of whatever) and orange-y and so I did not expect it to have bits of- I suspect- meat. It was a task having to separate most of the meat from the rice since they were so minuscule. I had a hell of a time with the rice, but it was still quite delicious and I didn't let the itty-bitty pieces of meat stop me from enjoying my food. 

Ripe mango shake is ripe mango shake. It was very yummy (did not taste like water) and perfect for the summer heat. 

I would definitely recommend Sol Victoria's as a go-to place to have an affordable laid back and delicious dinner/lunch. 

Foodie Friday: Nadai Fujisoba

I haven't really made any New Year's resolution for this year since I rarely get to stick to it throughout the year, but if I had to make one if only for this blog I guess it would be to post regularly. So to help with that, I thought of doing regular posts and since I love food and am usually out trying "new" (new to me, at least) restaurants, I figured why not do "Foodie Friday" posts? I've actually put up some Foodie Friday posts before I decided to go on a long hiatus and so as not to let them go to waste, never to be read again, I will be re-posting them before putting up posts about the very recent restaurants I've been to. 

First up, we have a restaurant (we tried out last year) that has instantly become a favorite of mine: 

I like noodles and I especially enjoy eating ramen on days I don't feel like cooking or as a "midnight snack" for when I'm at my boyfriend's place, but eating too much of the same thing can get a little boring therefore I try to mix things up a bit by trying out udon and whatever type of noodles are out there. One day, as I was browsing through the net, looking for restaurants or food joints I haven't been to, I came across an article on a newly opened restaurant located at Bonifacio Global City called Nadai Fujisoba. My head just about exploded from the variety of soba/udon available and at reasonable prices (800php to 1,00php budget for 2 people would suffice) too that I knew my boyfriend and I had to try it out. 

We finally got the chance to eat at Nadai Fujisoba last weekend and people were lining up to get a seat. I didn't mind waiting for 15 minutes to get seated because I was pretty sure the food was going to be worth it. I was NOT disappointed. 

Potato Croquette

Ebi Ten Soba

I've tasted cold soba before when I was younger because my mom used to love eating them, but I have long since forgotten the taste and I usually stick to ramen or udon noodles. Let me just say that soba is now my favorite type of noodles. Plus, it's healthier than ramen and udon. If you look at the photos above, you will notice that the middle photo does not have a name to it. That's because I was so caught up in my ebi ten soba that I completely forgot about my boyfriend's dish (or bowl if you would). Also, I don't eat pork or beef. So there's my reason: I forgot the name of my boyfriend's soba. If you know, help me out here, please? 

Hot soba is just perfect with ebi tempura. Or maybe I'm just biased since shrimp is one of my favorite food? But honestly, it was so delicious I couldn't stop stuffing my face and neither did I care how pig-like I probably looked. It's also a good thing we didn't order a lot because one bowl of the ebi ten soba was enough to keep me full and satisfied. 

By the way, the potato croquette was so good that it kind of made me cry inside when I realized it had bits of pork in it and had to give it all to my boyfriend who happily accepted, of course. 

 I wanted to include an OOTD photo here, but my boyfriend/food buddy/forced photographer still needs some work on his "photography skills" soooo I hope this very close representation of what I wore that night would suffice: