Gloria Maris (Gateway)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Gloria Maris. This Chinese seafood-specialty restaurant had a newly-opened (or maybe moved?) branch at the top floor of Gateway near where the cinemas are. Beloved usually associates Gloria Maris with expensive and classy, the former being the reason why we don't consider going here. The first time we went, they were still on soft opening. Although it still looked classy and had an expensive feel, after surveying the menu, we found out it was surprisingly not-as-expensive as Beloved expected. Not fancying anything in particular that night, we decided to try it out.

As with most Chinese restaurants, most of their stuff is good for sharing. We found out that they have a soft opening promo wherein if you order more than 500Php worth, you get a free order of Yang Chow Fried Rice. We made sure to hit the threshold by ordering their Vegetables in Oyster Sauce (198 Php) and Steamed Fish Fillet and Beancurd (268 Php) as our main dishes, Steamed Seafood Roll (99 Php) and Hakao (99 Php) from their dimsum choices, a couple of orders of Seafood Spinach Soup (88 Php), and an order of Butchi (88 Php) for dessert. I asked if their juices were fresh, and received an affirmation. I ordered their Calamansi Juice (55 Php) and Beloved asked for their Watermelon Shake (78 Php).

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.

Vikings (SM North EDSA)

Me, Beloved, and friends celebrated one of our friend's birthday last night at Vikings. Incidentally, it also happened to be one of the first days for the soft opening of the anticipated SM North EDSA branch. We have been wanting very badly to try out the place, and even considered going to the already opened branches at SM Mall of Asia and SM Marikina. What kept us was the promise that the SM North EDSA branch was opening "soon". This was a few months ago, and after half a year, the promise was finally fulfilled.

For those who don't know, Vikings is a buffet. They dub themselves the most affordable premium buffet. Lunch and dinner for weekdays cost 888 Php, but they had a soft opening promo that took 20% off the bill after a 5% service charge. We were anticipating a huge crowd, not just because of the promo, but also because of the number of followers in their page. The crowd was present, but we were there a couple of hours before opening, since they weren't accepting reservations yet, so we were sure that we'll be seated. However, what we didn't anticipate was despite the expected crowd, they were able to accommodate almost everyone. The floor area was about a quarter of the entire floor of the Block and could easily seat more than a hundred people.

The buffet covered about half of the floor area, which makes this one of the biggest buffets I've been to. Not the biggest, mind you, but very respectable compared to those near its price range. Most of their food come from the sea, hence the name, but there were also meat offerings and specialties from Japan, China, et cetera.

Seafood Island (Shopwise, Cubao)

Beloved and I had dinner at Seafood Island, Cubao a couple of nights ago. We've been here before, but we didn't get to try the reason you should go here the first time we went—the eat-like-a-pirate "boodles". That was more than a couple of years ago, and we've been to its Trinoma branch a couple of times with friends to try out the boodle. I didn't get to take pictures both times, since everyone dug in before I had the opportunity to. This time, since it was just me and Beloved, I can finally write a proper review.

I've already said boodle twice, thrice if you count the one on the title. But what is a "boodle"? The best description I could give is a table full of food. These various platters, which is really an understatement to use as a term for this offering, have various stuff in it in addition to a mountain of rice good enough for four—and that's the smaller boodle. They come in two sizes, good for three to four or five to six. Beloved wanted lato or sea grapes, and after finding a couple of these boodles out of a dozen or so that offer this, we chose their Palawan Shores (785 Php), good for 3-4.

Gumbo (SM Mall of Asia)

Beloved and I had lunch at Gumbo. Yes, we've been to this place before, although not the same branch, so I guess this month is turning into a "revisited" edition of Inggo Noms.... Of course, as with our last two revisits, we ordered something different in this Southern USA-specialty place. And, as I've mentioned in my last review from the previous place, I was looking forward to trying out their Seafood Boil.

However, since Beloved was very hungry, and the Seafood Boil takes almost an hour to prepare, we decided to forgo the boiled feast for their grilled Seafood Feast (1225 Php). We were aware that this order would probably serve four, but, again, Beloved was hungry, both of us love seafood, and it was our first meal of the day. There is a bit of difference, aside from the style of cooking, in the contents: the boil has crabs while our order has dory and squid. The Feast also comes with two side dishes of our choice, and we picked their Cajun Rice and Mashed Potatoes. And finally, again, because Beloved was hungry, we also ordered their Mushroom Aoili (275 Php).