Great British Take-Out (SM North EDSA)

While waiting for beloved at SM North EDSA a couple of days ago, I happen to pass by this small store at the Sky Garden which piqued my curiosity. When beloved arrived, we went back here because I was pretty hungry as I haven't eaten yet that day. Great British Take-Out boasts that all their items are below 100 Php. Since it has "take out" in its name, has Austin Powers references in their poster, and we were catching up with our friends to go to a movie, I thought this was a perfect place to try out.

Their menu really did consist of stuff under 100, but it was a bit brow-cringing that their top items were 95 Php. The price was still pretty fair, despite that. Their specialty were finger foods with chips (fries). I ordered their Shaggy Fish and Chips, priced at 95 Php. You get to choose what kind of chips and dip to go with it. I got their randomly chose their hand-cut fries and honey mustard sauce.

Yogreat (Dapitan)

While waiting for my thesis adviser the other day, I decided to go to the Dapitan side of UST since I was craving for yogurt. I planned on going to California Berry since it is nearer to my building, but I ended up at Yogreat because of the heat and my budget.

Oki Oki (Trinoma)

Today, beloved and I had lunch at Oki Oki. This Japanese restaurant has been at the main entrance of Trinoma ever since the mall's incarnation as far as I can remember. However, all these years, we never ate there. Why? Perhaps because it eludes an unappealing atmosphere from its shabby interiors and unwelcoming look. The number of customers we find eating there wasn't enough to sway us in as well. Even though it never seem to have a lot of customers, even after all these years, this particular restaurant is still there. Finally, after the said years pass, we finally mustered enough courage to try it out.

We did manage to take a peek at their menu before coming in, and we did see that their prices were comparable, maybe a bit more expensive to other Japanese restaurants we've tried. Their menu is also a bit laughable, with a lot of spelling mistakes and inserted messages I can only guess were pranks played by the menu encoder. They do boast they serve the "largest tempura in town". Seeing that message, I was inclined to try it out. However, I also wanted to try out their other stuff, particularly their sashimi, and their menu basically has every Japanese dish you can think of. Luckily, they do serve bento boxes which comes with tempura among other stuff, with your choice of main teppanyaki dish. So I ordered their Executive Bento C (495 Php). Beloved had a bento box as well, their Executive Bento B (380 Php). As for our drinks, beloved had their Refillable Iced Tea (80 Php) and I had a pot of their Hot Green Tea (50 Php).

Gumbo (SM North EDSA)

Beloved and I ate at Gumbo last night. This is a New Orleans style restaurant in SM North EDSA the Block which specializes in, well, gumbo and the likes. I've eaten here a couple of times, and at both times, I found my food a bit spicier than I would've liked it. But it was okay—I guess that's what's New Orleans cooking is about. In addition to the spiciness, all their food seems to come from the sea, if not sausage. Beloved and her family frequent this place because they love seafood. Anyway, because beloved was craving for crab, we decided to go here.

It was actually my first time dining here, but I've tried their Jambalaya (basically New Orleans paella) a couple of times. Their items are basically good for at least two, maybe up to five if there are plenty of viands. Anyway, we ordered that—their petite-sized Seafood Jambalaya (395 Php) cooked mild. As for the crab, we ordered their Bayou's Stuffed Crab (495 Php), which the waiter warns me was spicy. After nodding it off, we ordered Refillable Iced Tea for our drinks (80 Php each), which came at once and was quite delicious; not too sweet like the usual instant-sugary ones.

They gave us complementary bread as we wait for our order. It was crunchy on the outside and soft and tasty on the inside. The garlic-oil dip they gave didn't do a lot, but the bread in itself was okay.

Pepper Lunch (Greenbelt)

While at Greenbelt a couple of days ago, beloved and I found ourselves having a late lunch at Pepper Lunch. Apparently, this is the restaurant is what borne Sizzling Pepper Steak that we frequent a lot. According to beloved, this restaurant uses superior quality ingredients so I should expect premium prices. Similar to Sizzling Pepper Steak, this is a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant where they put meat on a hot plate and you do the "cooking" on your table. Anyway, because we were in the area and most of the restaurants were closed in the afternoon, we ended up going here.

Unlike Sizzling Pepper Steak, Pepper Lunch uses a fast-food style counter to take orders. While I expected a huge price difference, it wasn't really that much with their non-premium meat. Their Beef Pepper Rice, which is a common item on the two comparable restaurants, are priced equally. We didn't order that, though. Beloved got for herself their Curry Beef Pepper Rice (218 Php). As for me, I took one of the premium items seeing as I probably won't be going here again and wanted to make the best of it. I ordered their Shimofuri Pepper Steak (610 Php), which I don't have any idea what it means but I liked how the beef has a lot of marbling so I got that. I also got their Yakiniku Sauce (30 Php) for the heck of it. For our drinks, beloved got for herself their Orange Juice (40 Php) and I had Hot Green Tea (40 Php), both are given right away from the counter fast-food style.