The Old Spaghetti House (SM North EDSA)

The other day, me and my friends decided to spend our college week celebration at SM North. After exploring the 3 buildings of the mall, we decided to eat at The Old Spaghetti House which is one of my family's favorite restaurants. That and my friends weren't in the mood for Japanese. The Old Spaghetti House obviously specializes in pasta, plus they have a wide variety to choose from. They have pastas in specialty sauce, white sauce, red sauce, plus other unique pasta dishes. You can also substitute the paste with fettuccine (flat noodles), penne (cylinder-shaped), or angel hair (also known as Capellini, which means very thin hair) for an additional (10.00php) or the whole wheat spaghetti pasta for (25.00php).

I ordered my usual, which is the Japanese Wasabi Alfredo Fettuccine for (195.00php) and their new Matcha Green Tea for (95.00php). Ivy ordered the Thai Bagoong Pasta for (155.00php) while Dustin got the Pepper-crusted fish with spaghetti in Sun-dried tomato pesto for (195.00php). They both got iced tea (45.00php; non-refillable one) for drinks. We also ordered the Carbonara Wrap (110.00php) out of curiousity.

Mr. Chow (SM North EDSA)

Beloved and I ate at Mr. Chow last night. This Chinese Chowking clone can be found at a somewhat hidden corner where Sbarro and Red Ribbon is located, at the first floor of the City Center of SM North EDSA just across the Hypermarket. This place used to be where Mann Hann was, if I'm not mistaken, and I find it a bit funny that it's replaced by another Chinese resto.

Admittedly, this is no Mann Hann or Hap Chan or whatever usual Chinese tea house, where orders come in more than a hundred pesos good for two to three.  This is more like Chowking, where every order is portioned individually. A good thing that comes from this is all their menu items come in sub-100 Php prices. These items are your usual Chinese fast food stuff, basically everything that Chowking has, from dimsums, to noodles in soup, stir-fry, and even crispy varieties, to viand-topped rice. The last one is somewhat special in that they come with eat-all-you-can Yang Chao Fried Rice at 98 Php, and that tag includes a viand of your choice.

Even though I wasn't a rice lover, I was pretty hungry considering I haven't eaten yet that day. Also, 98 Php seems like a fair deal even if the rice-all-you-can wasn't to be taken advantage of. So both of us ordered one of each. Mine was their Pork Asado Rice Toppings and Beloved's had their Beef Brisket Rice Toppings at 98 Php each. Because of the price tag, I wasn't expecting a whole lot.

Army Navy (SM North EDSA)

Yesterday, Beloved and I had lunch at Army Navy. We always pass this by at SM North EDSA's Sky Garden, and I always get teased by the sight of the three-patty three-quarter pound burger they humorously call the "Bully Boy Burger". Sadly, every time we pass by, we're either too full or are just really passing by. I did get mixed reviews here, but they all agree that the B.B.B. is big as advertised. Finally, we got the chance the other day for some reason.

Anyway, Army Navy specializes, aside from the said three-patty three-quarter pound burger, in burritos and sandwiches. Apparently, their portions are able to fill up a military personnel, hence the name. Their menu are also mostly eaten by hand, making it more appropriate. Also, the names of their menu items are mostly patriotically American and are mostly alliterations or puns, making them fun plays on words.

So, we got the said Bully Boy Burger for 235 Php. After deciding between a "starving sailor", which is what they call their sandwiches, or the burrito, we settled for the latter. We got the Steak Breakfast Burrito for 180 Php. In addition to that, we also asked for an order of their Freedom Fries for 60 Php, a large Vanilla Milkshake for 99 Php, and a large Libertea, which is what they call their iced tea, for 55 Php.

Kanin Club (UP-Ayala Technohub)

On the same day we ate the notorious Lechon Pizza from Pizza Hut, me and my friends continued on and had dinner at Kanin Club with a larger company. I've heard plenty of positive feedback from this place, but was never inclined to try it because of the first word. I'm not a rice lover, period. Because of the name, I expected rice to be the specialty. However, a friend insists that the Crispy Dinuguan here is a must try. And because it was a pretty large company, I decided to tag along.

I find out that it's a Filipino restaurant. As such, I expected that this is a great place for large parties. There were ten of us when we went in. Their menu is filled with typical Pinoy favorites, usually with some sort of twist, and plenty of variations of rice from plain to brown to chorizo to insert-Filipino-style-of-cooking-rice-here. I eyed a couple of dishes that I wanted to try out. So I ordered their Crispy Liempo (142 Php), which was listed as an appetizer. I also asked for their Adobong Kangkong (97 Php) because the idea of eating a Double Down for breakfast, Lechon Pizza for lunch, and another pork dish for dinner sounds like it would kill me in my sleep. Finally me and a friend shared an order of Sinigang Rice (224 Php), apparently good for 2-3.

Pizza Hut - Lechon Pizza (SM North EDSA)

Me and my friends ate at SM North EDSA's Pizza Hut Bistro for lunch the other day. I know I said I wouldn't blog about popular restaurants such as this one as there's basically a Pizza Hut on every other main street of Metro Manila. However, this instance is special. We went there for their Christmas season promotion: the Lechon Pizza.

For my non-Filipino readers, lechon is basically pig roasted over open fire. It's mostly famous for the deliciously crispy and dangerously greasy skin that everyone fights over during festivities. The Lechon Pizza boasts a lot of the said delicacy over a bed of cheese. For many, this idea is greeted with a face of disgust. For me, this is greeted with a huge smile on my face as it sounded like something I must try the first time I heard of it. I had a very hard time convincing someone to try it out with me, because the idea of eating an entire 10-or-14-inch pizza topped with the unhealthy and Muslim-repellent topping sounds suicidal. Finally, last Saturday, I managed to convince a couple of my friends to try it out.

Anyway, they offer a 799 Php promo which includes a 10-incher of the Lechon Pizza, a salad, a pasta, and two glasses of wine. Because we thought 10-inches is a bit too small to share over three people, we ordered the 14-inch Lechon Pizza instead for 499 Php.

Fiorgelato (Timog)

When we had breakfast at Marina, Beloved and I noticed that a nearby place also serves breakfast-all-you-can at a competitive but a bit more expensive price. A couple of months later, we get to try it out. Beloved and I had breakfast at Fiorgelato. It sounds like a gelato place, and it is. But apparently, this one is found below a hotel (I think) that they were assigned to provide breakfast for their patrons (I believe). So, don't expect any ice cream in this one.

Anyway, while Fiorgelato's All-You-Can breakfast is at a pricier 150 Php, I wanted to find out if it's worthy as a substitute from the usual McDonald's/Jollibee/Burger King/insert popular fast food place as breakfast here, as Marina was. Of course, with the "All-You-Can" placed with it, I was expecting for it to do so.

I was a bit disappointed to find out that the selection was much, much less than Marina's. But they do provide free drinks—orange juice, milk, or coffee, and it's not just per glass. Still, the food choices, which is what matters, is not that many. We dive in hoping that the food's good, at least.