Joey M.D.

This week’s TBR hosted by JA is very timely for me.

I’m currently having my Master’s in UP Open University and we have a subject wherein we’re supposed to go to PGH for 5 days. This was the reason why the roundup for TBR10 was delayed.

Anyway, my groupmates agree that the highlight of our summer class was not the subject itself, but the lunch breaks! I was blessed with groupmates who love foodtripping as much as I do, so in those 5 days, we checked out 5 different restos in Robinson’s Place Manila beside UP Manila. It was fun! I’m so glad my groupmates were game. I haven’t had the time to do food tripping in quite a while, so school was actually a good excuse to do so!

Monday: Filipino — Bacolod Chicken Inasal

I ordered the chicken wings and they’re as good as I remembered. My husband loved this place so I always associate it with the time that we were still dating. It’s much tastier than the usual chicken barbecue.

Tuesday: Pasta (Italian inspired) — The Old Spaghetti Place

There’s one branch near our house but I never got the chance to try this. It was a surprise — food was surprisingly good and prices were surprisingly reasonable. Ordered the Aligue Crabmeat Penne (something like that, basta the noodles were Penne and the sauce was made of aligue and crabmeat). Loved it! Will be back to sample their other offerings.

Wednesday: Japanese — Tempura

Another resto that I always see but never got to try yet. Since I love miso soup, tempura and Japanese noodles, I ordered a dish that contained all of them. Their tempura was good, and supposedly healthy. Their servings were huge! My groupmates and I thought that we should have just ordered maybe 2 or 3 dishes and shared it among ourselves (we are composed of 4 girls). Next time, though, I’d order the tempura separately, not together in a soup dish.

Thursday: Thai/Malaysian — Banana Leaf Cafe

I’ve always loved curry, Thai food and Banana Leaf Curry House is a favorite. Banana Leaf Cafe, which is obviously a spin off, did not disappoint. We ordered and shared the following: Pad Thai, Roti Canai with curry sauce, Chicken Satay and Seafood Curry. Sarap!

Friday: American (New Orleans) — Gumbo

The past few days, we’ve been given discount coupons to this place, so on the last day of our classes, we decided to try this out. I still have memories of my one and only trip to New Orleans 10 years ago (for a convention) and I remembered loving the food, which is very different from most cuisines around the US. We ordered and enjoyed the Seafood Gumbo and Bourbon Baby Back Ribs with Mashed Potatoes on the side. Since we had the coupon, we were also given the Fish and Chips for free! Even if it were a freebie, the serving was still large!

Ahhh! I hope I’ll have food trip-loving groupmates next semester! I really enjoyed the different kinds of food we got to try!