Ajisen Ramen (Banawe)

Me, Beloved, and family celebrated my brother's graduation at Ajisen Ramen a few days ago. The particular branch we went to was apparently the original one, at Sto. Domingo street near Banawe. However, this place wasn't located at a conventional commutable place, so Beloved and I never had plans to go here. My uncle and aunt, however, frequents this place and loves it. They brought us along for the said celebration.

Although it has "Ramen" in its name, we quickly found out that it wasn't a ramen-only restaurant. In fact, it only has a page of their pretty sizable menu dedicated to ramen over other Japanese dishes. However, there are plenty of Ramen offerings. I did notice that there was a lack of non-ramen noodle dishes, such as soba and udon. Being a ramen aficionado, I know that pork is what goes best in it. My uncle recommended I get their Chasyu Ramen (275 Php), which is basically their house specialty, the Ajisen Ramen, only with more pork. Beloved got their Hiyashi Ramen (255 Php), which piqued the curiosity of both my uncle and aunt. My aunt and uncle also ordered a feast for the rest of us, consisting of multiple orders of Agedashi Tofu (88 Php), California Maki (195 Php), Chahan (188 Php), Chirashi Sushi (335 Php), Crazy Roll (395 Php), Ebi Tempura (225 Php), and Kani Salad (128 Php), among other stuff that I forgot to picture and take note of.

Clawdaddy (Robinsons Magnolia)

Beloved and I had dinner at Clawdaddy a few nights ago at Robinsons Magnolia. It was my first time going to that mall, and I was quite surprised at the various food places the mall houses. From its name, you can assume that whatever it serves must have claws. Sure enough, it boasts crabs—one of my favorite foods—as their specialty. Since this was among the few places this mall houses that we have yet to tried, it was a very tempting place. What made it a done deal was a promotion wherein if we pay more than 1000 Php, we get a free dish. Sold.

Although I really wanted just crab, Beloved wanted the easier-to-eat shellfish. Luckily, aside from crabs, this place also offers various kinds of shellfish and seafood. They also offer a particular dish that consists both crabs, shellfish, and even shrimps, among other stuff. We went for that: their Seafood Boiling Bag (899 Php). It actually had quite a few variants, but what we chose was basically the most "complete" one. They also offered it for two or four, but since there were only two of us, we choose the smaller portioning. Also, it luckily came with a free pitcher of either iced tea or lemonade. We chose the former. We also got their Fresh Oysters on Half Shell (198 Php) because we both like fresh oysters and we wanted to reach the 1000 Php offering. Our free dish was their Garden Pizza. As we waited for our orders, they gave us a sliced corn on the cob on the house.

Cafe Via Mare (Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had an afterbrunch at Cafe Via Mare a few days ago. Beloved noticed that there's a lack of Filipino restos in our blog. That's really not the reason we went here, though. We were deciding on a place to eat at that we haven't written about yet at Tomas Morato. This happens to be one of the places left. We also found out that their prices were not as steep as we originally imagined. Craving for Filipino food wasn't really the reason, but we rarely do. Since we had a lousy time on our previous adventure, we were hoping this place delivers.

I'm not really fond of the stew dishes of Filipino cuisine, which majority of is. I do, however, like the grilled or deep-fried dishes. We got something from both: Inihaw na Liempo (265 Php) for me and Ensaladang Bagnet (175 Php) for us to share. Beloved ordered their Tortang Alimasag (185 Php). She also asked for their Puto Bumbong (65 Php) with Quezo de Bola topping (23 Php). We also ordered some special drinks: Iced Cafe Mocha (95 Php) for Beloved and Calamansi Juice (65 Php) for me.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Greenhills)

A few nights ago, Beloved and I had dinner at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. Since it's a pretty lengthy name, I'll just reduce it to Crystal Jade. This Singaporean-Chinese restaurant is located at Greenhills, just outside VirraMall. Since it has "Xiao Long Bao" in its name, I assumed it was their specialty, and their posters outside support my claim. I have no idea what "La Mian" was, though. Anyway, since we happened to be in the area and this place is amongst the only ones unique here from elsewhere, we decided to give it a shot.

Apparently, "La Mian" means hand-pulled noodles, so I assumed this was another of their specialties. And since it was majority of what's in the menu, we decided to order them. Beloved had their La Mian - Beef Spicy Soup (257 Php) and I had their La Mian - Shrimp Wanton in Clear Broth (257 Php). We also got their Xiao Long Bao (150 Php), another of their specialties. Since Beloved was starving that night, she also asked for their Pork Dumpling with Chives (135 Php). I also ordered their Fried Pancake with Scallion (107 Php) because it looked interesting and reminded me of a dish I enjoyed at Lugang Cafe. Speaking of which, this place reminded me a lot of that, minus the specialty drinks and desserts.