CAPSULE REVIEW (Meaning, short and sweet, folks)

Nasi PALPAK, more like it. This place was advertised to have "Authentic Singaporean Cuisine," with dishes like Bak Kuh Teh (Pork Rib Soup) and Hainanese Chicken (Steamed Chicken and Ginger). The food was meh, and the service was horrible. Experience as follows:

SERVICE: Slow and inefficient. Maui got her food a full 30 minutes (!!!) after we ordered. And this was just DIM SUM, mind you. Inexcusable. Steaming some chicken feet and roasting Chicken Satay should never take that long. Even the Satay sauce came AFTER they served the actual chicken skewers.

TASTE: Disappointing. Their "house special" - the Bak Kuh Teh was bland and uninteresting. Sure, it was tender, but the flavour wasn't there. Yang Chow Fried Rice - FAIL. Unseasoned and not pleasing to the palate. The Chicken Satay was overcooked, dry and tough. Satay sauce (late, btw) was way too chunky.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Avoid it like the plague. Bad service, crap food. For prices like these (average of Php 200.00 per dish), you shouldn't have to wait so long for a meal. The only good thing was their free appetizer, fried Papadum bread. For a more authentic (and tastier) alternative, stick to Banana Leaf Curry House or, as Maui suggested, Little Asia.

Ah, sisig. A literally heart-stopping Filipino dish traditionally made with chopped, leftover pork head (face, ears, brain, cheek, etc), onions and chili peppers. Sisig also has the reputation of being a thoroughly unhealthy dish. It easily fulfills one's weekly calorie requirement in one serving. And let's not even get started with the fat and cholesterol content.

Often seasoned with a healthy dash of soy sauce, calamansi and hot sauce, sisig is perfect with a siding of rice (as a meal) or paired with bottles of cold beer as pulutan. Enjoyed at room temperature or on a piping hot superheated iron plate, sisig has now been re-interpreted to include ingredients like raw egg, mayonnaise, chicharon and even has spawned variants like fish, chicken and squid sisig. Some places even offer vegetarian sisig for non-meat eating healthy types. Personally, I love it on a sizzling iron plate with a dollop of margarine (the way Aysee in Pasig serves it).

Last Saturday, some pinoyfrugalfoody friends and I trooped to Barangay Sisig in the new Dampa at Farmer's Market in Cubao. It was a pleasant surprise to find such a development in the middle of what used to be a sprawling wet market. Farmer's Market is still a wet market, mind you, but they've cleaned it up and sectioned off a part to include sit-down counter restaurants.

Barangay Sisig is one of twelve or so restaurants in the complex serving traditional Filipino fare. As its name suggests, the menu revolves around sisig of every sort. There's classic sizzling pork sisig (Php 98.00), garlic bangus sisig (Php 118.00) and vegetarian sisig (Php 88.00). Other offerings include tuna, chicken and beef sisig, all within the Php 80.00 to Php 120.00 price range. A cup of rice is a manageable Php 10.00, and drinks range from bottled water (Php 15.00) to Pepsi products (Php 25.00 for a large cup).

Barangay Sisig's version of pork sisig isn't the clumpy, crumbly, dry variety you find in places like Dencio's and Gerry's Grill. You get a sizzling plate of well-seasoned, moist and finely-chopped meat (and fat!) topped off with a dollop of mayonnaise. I rather like sisig prepared this way. No hard bits that you can lose a tooth filling to. Pure heaven! I could feel my cholesterol level shoot up after the first spoonful. And when you eat sisig, that's a good thing.

To balance things out, we also tried the excellent garlic bangus sisig. Even portions of bangus meat and belly were mixed in with a vampire-repelling amount of garlic. The vegetarian sisig was a real standout. They seasoned the tofu cubes so well that we really didn't need to put any soy sauce.

For the overly budget-conscious, there's sisig rice (Php 58.00) which is 1/4 sisig and 3/4 garlic rice. Not bad for a quick, carb-laden lunch.

After all that salt, a sweet dessert was in order. We had a delicious sizzling saba ala mode (Php 58.00). Good-sized saba pieces in syrup, topped with pinipig and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sisig being a social food, servings are good for 2-3 people. And all of Barangay Sisig's sisig dishes are available mild or extra spicy, depending on your heat tolerance.

Barangay Sisig is definitely worth multiple trips. Just make sure to have some high blood pressure medication on hand.
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Barangay Sisig is located in Farmer's Market, Cubao at the new Dampa sa Farmer's section and is easily accessible via MRT (Cubao Station) or by auto. For security-conscious people, you can park at the New Gateway mall basement parking. Farmer's Market is a short walk away.

Galileo Enoteca has only been open for a little more than a week, and it’s already gathered quite a following. The place is hidden away in the annals of Mandaluyong City, not far from the Boni area. It’s perfetto for families and groups of friends, but be forewarned: space is VERY limited. Call well in advance to book a table. Gaetano (the owner) is expanding though, but he says it’ll be good for only 45 more seats.

But enough about the location. The great thing about this food find is its unique spin on traditional Italian fare:

There’s no menu.

Instead, Php 350.00/person gets you Mafioso-sized plates of various dried/cured Italian meats, a wide variety of cheeses, a heaping plate of pasta (there are three sauces to choose from: bolognese, melanzana and salsiccia), crusty fresh-baked bread and a cup of Italian coffee or espresso. And let’s not forget bottomless table wine (!). The choices and combinations of meats and cheeses are rotated every week, so you're assured of getting a different dish on each return trip.

The meat and cheese plates were amazing. Premium Italian quality, in large portions, too. A definite highlight was the prosciutto - pure melt-in-your-mouth goodness! Their fresh mozzarella (not the stringy stuff from the supermarket) was also a standout. Good thing we had enough room for the pasta. The sauces weren't heavy, so they complemented the deli segment perfectly.

Galileo has an in-house deli, so you're free to choose bottles of wine from their racks. We added a bottle of 2004 Chianti Fiasco (Php 600.00, 750ml).

More pictures in my photo section.

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Galileo Enoteca is located on the corner of Calbayog Street. and Malinao Street in Mandaluyong City. From EDSA/Ortigas, turn right to Shaw Boulevard, left to Samat Avenue, then left to Calbayog Street. Call +63(2) 534.4633 for reservations.

I’ve been motoring around the metro looking for some good (and cheap!)
places to eat and have stumbled upon two great Italian joints. Each
establishment has its own little charm (village hole-in-the-wall/ stand-up
pizza counter) and great food at relatively inexpensive prices.

BMK Apizza is hidden away in the Teacher’s Village, Quezon City area. Due
to its proximity to a major thoroughfare, you have to tolerate the sonic
booms of tricycles every few seconds. If you can look past that, you’ll be
treated to great Italian fare that’s easy on the pocket. Stone-baked
thin-crust pizzas are the main draw at BMK. We tried the 12” Aglio
Formaggio (Php 100.00!!!) and 12” Carne (Php 200.00). Toppings-wise, they
certainly don’t scrimp. The Carne pizza had ample bacon, sausage, salami
and pepperoni on each slice, and the Aglio Formagio was oozing with cheese
and garlic. Scrumptious!

We added two orders of pasta to our dinner. You have two choices of sauce,
Bolognese (Php 116.00) and Caponata (Php 90.00), poured over perfectly al
dente spaghetti. I rather enjoyed the pasta dishes since the sauces
weren’t too heavy and overpowering – a perfect complement to the pizza.

It’s a shame they were out of bread (breadsticks and ciabatta). We really
wanted to try their anchovy sauce-based antipasti platter. They serve beer
as well - SML is just Php 28.00! Definitely worth multiple trips.

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If you fancy the shopping/dining experience, head over to Napoletana’s at
the Cost-U-Less shopping warehouse. For Php 95.00, you get a huge slice of
Cheese, Pepperoni or Combination (supreme) pizza. Make sure the slice you
get is fresh, though. My Pepperoni was a tad bit on the soggy side. My
dining companion's was straight out of the oven, so the crust on her
Combination slice was still crispy. All pizza variants have generous
amounts of mozzarella cheese and toppings, so you get much more than what
you pay for.

Try an order of Mushroom Chicken Pesto Stuffed Cheese Rolls (3 for Php
60.00). Tasty stuff!

There are other items on the menu - calzones, pizza wraps and the like.
But the great thing about Napoletana's is that they're open 24 hours!
Perfect for a meal on the go, midnight pizza craving or a post-binge drink
snack.

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You can find BMK Apizza at 154 Maguinhawa Street, Teacher’s Village,
Quezon City.

Napoletano’s is located in the Cost-U-Less warehouse along Libis in Quezon
City, past Nissan Gallery Ortigas.