Restaurant Trends

When Cliff and I came back from the U.S. late 2010 we were pretty surprised to find that the restaurants that we enjoyed dining at years ago have either closed down or about to close down (food doesn't taste the same as before). Frankly there are only just a handful of these classic restos that are still operating and it is really sad. On the other hand, there are a huge influx of newly opened trendy restaurants opening all over Metro Manila area but for someone that worked in a hospitality/ restaurant industry I can only say that these restaurants have a certain expiration date to them. That is what my husband and I were discussing a few nights ago... how these restaurants will last up to a max of 10 years and will eventually close down. Why I came to these conclusions are based on these factors:

1. Trend - restaurants operate in the assumption of what is hip and trendy in town. Notice that in 2011, Bubble Tea became the latest trend, since then we had a whole bunch of these opening almost at the same time, Serenitea, Chatime, Bubble Tea, Happy Lemon, Gong Cha, & TeaTap Cafe just to name a few. Also in order for others to keep up with the business they are now offering bubble tea drinks in their own stores- Seattle's Best now offers something similar to bubble tea. As we all know, these are just a fad like fashion, eventually when peoplle grow tired of these, one will find every store closing down.

2.Taste/ Quality of Food- it is pertinent to know that taste is another factor, maybe the chef has change or the quality of food is no longer the same. For example, I grew up enjoying the beef in a pot by Mario's. Growing up, I noticed that they no longer have that ob their menu but you can still make that request and they will still make it for you, however on my recent dining out experience at Mario's I noticed that the quality has already changed. The sauce is no longer thick but watery, it was bland and there wasn't enough cheese on top, not to mention that the choice of beef was tough. I will still go back to Mario's for the other dishes but I will no longer order the beef in a pot that I grew up with.

3. Price- this is a number one factor why restaurants are closing down. Rent might be too expensive and therefore the ingredients of the food has to be compromised in order to be able to sell with a low unit cost and higher profit. For me, this is a big no no!

Most of the restaurants opening are very trendy, taste wise it is good but price wise it is not. Let us see how my forecast is, whether it will stay in business or will close down!

Too Spicy For The Past Two Years

So many things have happened in the past two years that I have failed to update this blog. I wasn't even sure if I was going to continue writing, but after much persuasion from my now husband Cliff, I guess it doesn't hurt to write again....

Summary of the two years End of 2010 - Half of 2012

Just a summary of our whirlwind adventure, by the end of 2010, due to the recession and Cliff not being able to find a job with an H1B sponsorship, he and I ended up packing everything up from Florida and moving back to the Philippines. Sad to say, I had resigned from my job at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa. So on October 11, 2010 after almost 6 years of living in Miami, we returned home to Manila. By November 2010, we got engaged, Chinese style (I will write a blog about that soon). One year of planning later November 20, 2011 we got married ( I will also write a blog about getting married). Come February 2012, we discovered that I am pregnant, now about to enter my third trimester. So there you have it, a quick recap of our lives.

As I am writing this, my husband and I are working to start a new chapter in our lives as we embrace the fact that we will be parents soon, our hopes and dreams for the baby and also the fear of not being able to raise a good kid. So now, Spices of Life will not just talk about food, travel, and other cultures but will also deal with product reviews as well as parenthood. Hope this works for all.

For now, stay tuned!

Finding Chinatown in South Florida

It took us almost 4 years to find a place that can be authentically considered as "Chinatown." This is not the area located in 163rd street down by North Miami (although that area also has a lot of good turfs) but rather a little bit up north in Fort Lauderdale particularly in the Oakland Shopping Center located at North State Road 7, Lauderdale Lakes. At least for our standard, this area has by far the best and most authentic Chinese/ Cantonese food and cheap too!

So what do this place have that is incomparable to the rest? The Oakland Shopping Center houses a bakery, wholesale dimsum store, oriental market, Cantonese restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, herbs and accupunture store, and a roast meat store.

Cliff and I enjoyed going to this area because we can actually shop for the freshest dimsum and roast meats at the same time getting to enjoy a traditional Cantonese meal that could fit our budget. The dimsum place is called Asian Prepared Foods, and no, it is not a restaurant but a wholesale purveyor of dumplings particularly rice noodles, hargow, steam buns, soy milk and tofu pudding. But watch out when you go because the store is only open to the public on Mondays, Wednesday and on the weekends.

The bakery a couple doors down called Maxim Oriental Bakery has the best chicken pie and beef curry puff. The dough is very light and fluffy and the smell of the store is heavenly! They also sell egg custard tarts, and cakes topped with fresh fruits.

The Gou Lou Cheung Chinese BBQ located at the very end of the shopping plaza has the best roast duck and pork. Entering the small shop would remind you of the small eateries in Hong Kong that are cheap, filling, and divine! The roast duck here is nothing similar to some Chinese restaurants are offering, crispy and dry. This one rather is crispy on the outside, soft and juicy texture on the inside. The shop also sells frozen bags of pork and leek dumplings and siomai (the Filipino style) which is also yummy.

Finally, after visiting Oakland Shopping Center so many times, we finally got to try Silver Pond Chinese Restaurant. When you walk in you will notice that there are two types of menu, the Chinese - American menu containing crab rangoons, pu pu platters, sesame chicken and all those type of foods, and the other is the Traditional Cantonese menu, the one we are more used to eating such as Beef Stew Casserole, Crab and Vermicelli Hot Pot, etc. We ordered all of Cliff's favorite (his request): Winter Melon Soup, Seafood Roll, Jelly Fish, Baked Scallops, and Cantonese Beef. The total bill was about $40.00 way cheaper than what we had expected, we even have some extra to bring home for lunch the next day. The food upon tasting it reminds us of the Chinese restaurants that our family would visit in the Philippines such as Emerald Garden, and Gloria Maris.

We were not able to take whatsoever pictures during our visits because we were running errands that day, but I thought about sharing it to some people who has the same passion as us and have the willingness to try something different. If you are up for an adventure and have some extra gas to spare definitely go visit Oakland Shopping Center, for sure you and your tastebuds will not be disappointed.

Bruschetta Tarts

I found the actual recipe from the Williams Sonoma's Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch and decided to tweek it a little bit. The original recipe had actually called for crumbled goat cheese mixture with chives but I had decided to try it with an Alouette Garlic and Herb spread, the result was really good - not too overpowering that you can actually taste the sweetness of the tomatoes and the basil (fresh from Cliff's aero garden). We served these with a Shrimp, Arugula and Peach salad topped with Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Ingredients

1 1/ 2 cup tomatoes, cubed
8 - 10 leaves of fresh basil, chifffonade
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoon rosemary infused olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of salt
fresh crack tellicherry peppers
1/2 cup Garlic and Herb Alouette
1 sheet puff pastry

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400 F. Cut the puff pastry into nine square pieces and place in a pre-greased or non stick baking sheet.  Bake the pastry for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

2. In a bowl combine the tomatoes,garlic, basil, olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. While the puff pastry is still hot spread a good helping of Alouette on top and add about two tablespoon of the bruschetta. Do the same for the rest, serve warm.

Key West and Key Lime Pie

Two weeks ago, Cliff and I (Hamlet included), finally decided that we should go visit Key West. Imagine, we have been here in Florida since 2005 and have never set foot on what was known as the "Gibraltar of the West." Everytime I get those nice weekends off, we try to make plans to visit but it always falls through, until finally we decided to just forget about the weekends and just go and relax. It was a perfect moment given that we went on a weekday and that we were also able to get a really good hotel deal.

Hamlet enjoying the ride

Driving scenery towards Key West

And so we went on Thursday, left the apartment at around 5:00 AM and did not get there until 9:30 AM. Day 1 schedule was to turn Cliff's dream into a reality - to actually go snorkeling in the ocean. First order of business was to drop Hamlet off to his day care (which was not even a nice place to start with, Hamlet ended up getting sick after 2 horrific days in that place!) and then we had breakfast at Croissants de France. It is a very quaint bakery located in Duval Street. 

 Croissants de France

Cliff decided on a Quiche Lorraine, while I chose the Nutelle Beignet. We also got a Spinach and Ham Croissant because it looks so yummy from the display case. Overall rating is 5 star! Breakfast was delicious, although I am sure the Beignet in Cafe du Monde taste so much better - but this will suffice for the mean time. =)

Nutella Beignet, Spinach and Ham Croissant, and Quiche Lorraine

By noon we headed to the Marina where we boarded the "Fury" Catamaran for snorkeling. The wave currents were to strong but we had a blast. Cliff was able to take some pictures under water with his disposable underwater camera. (Still have not had a chance to develop it.)  There were a lot of fishes swimming and you can actually see it because the water was crystal clear plus we saw some jelly fishes too. 

We did not get back to the Marina until 4:00 PM after which we went to pick up Hamlet and checked in to our hotel - Sheraton Suites Key West. Thanks to moi, we were able to stay in a nice suite with courtyard view.  So after freshening up we drove down to Duval Street were we get to experience Key West at its best. We were supposed to have dinner in Hogs Breath but had decided on a different type of adventure: Food Tripping. A trip to Key West is not complete without trying the best conch fritter in Key West which can be found in the Conch Shack in Duval Street.

Cliff and Hamlet outside the Conch Shack

The conch fritter is served with a Key Lime Aioli - phenomenal!

Conch Fritter served with Key Lime Aioli

One bite of the fritters and it hits you right on the spot. It was very flavorful, crispy on the outside and sweet and savory in the inside. One can actually taste the sweetness of fresh conch not the gooey batter that others have been serving. Truly the best conch fritter we ever tasted.

The Best Conch Fritters in Key West

We also tried the other seafoods such as fried calamari, tuna tataki, crab cakes as well as sausage with onions and peppers in a bun, from different restaurants and everything was exceptional.

Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum

Day 2 began with a visit to the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. The house is where Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his best works such as Farewell to Arms, To Have and Not to Have, Hills Like White Elephant and more. The museum also houses six toed cats considered to be lucky according to some fishermen.

We also visited the Key West Lighthouse Museum which was actually beside Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. The lighthouse was 86 feet with 88 iron steps and was ran by several women the most famous one being Barbara Marbrity. The lighthouse was built to aid the ships navigating the reefs in the lower keys and also during the hurricane seasons.

The last stop is the ever famous Southernmost Point here in the United States. From that point, we are officially 90 miles from Cuba and 97 miles from the next Walmart.

Southernmost Point

By around 2:00 PM we decided to have lunch at A&B Lobster House where we had a bowl of Conch Chowder, Fish Nuggets, Shrimp and Chips, and Baked Key Lime Oyster. Yummy!!!

Cliff with the Conch Chowder

Baked Key Lime Oyster with Corn Salsa

Our trip does not end without buying the best Key Lime Pie at Kermits. The pie is a bit tart because of the key lime and the sweet because of the condensed milk. I normally dont eat key lime pie but this one was to die for. It was really good! By around 5:00 PM, we drove back home.

Kermits Key Lime Pie

The trip was fun and relaxing, but we both said that we wanted to go back again someday even for just a slice of key lime pie.

Longganisa Bahn Mi

Two Nights Ago, I was craving for some Bahn Mi (Vietnamese Sub), but not wanting to do the long drive to the Bahn Mi store, I had decided to try experimenting it with my own version using longganisa meat. The result was wonderful.

Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients:

1 whole French Baguette cut into two

4 pieces longganisa meat (cooked)

1/2 cup atchara or pickled vegetables (preferably carrots and radish)

4 tablespoon chicken liver pate

4 tablespoon margarine

1 bunch of cilantro

ground pepper

Maggi seasoning sauce

green pepper (optional)

Procedure:

1. Cut baguette in half, spread margarine on both sides. Spread chicken liver pate and heat in an oven toaster for about 2 minutes. Do the same for the 2nd baguette.

2. Take out one of the baguette, add 2 pieces of the longganisa meat 1/4 cup of the pickled vegetables.

3. Add half bunch of the cilantro and season bread with group pepper and a few dashes of the seasong sauce. Serve immediately.

How to make Taho or Tofu Pudding without the hassle

We have been searching high and low for taho down in Miami for a very long time now and it was only until recently that I have discovered that I can actually make taho from my home without the hassle of the by product chemicals that you add to solidify the soy bean liquid plus letting it set for a couple of hours. Here's my recipe of taho or tofu pudding


Ingredients:
1 package silky tofu
1/2 cup tapioca pearls
1 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar

Procedure:

1. Cook tapioca pearls according to package directions, drain and set aside.
2. Boil the package of silky tofu in water and strain, set aside.
3. Combine 1 cup of water and brown sugar to make the syrup and boil on medium heat.
4. Serve hot or let it cool to serve cold.