Quick Bite: Small Talk Cafe

Small Talk Cafe is popular because of their laing pasta but the beef salpicao on the menu was calling out to me.  It was meh at first bite.

Analyn's crispy tilapia was good, it comes with a side dish of bicol express which we really loved.

Our appetizer of shrimp croquettes was also just okay.  I don't remember tasting any shrimp so maybe they served us potato croquettes.

The biggest disappointment is their laing.  I love laing and this is one dish that we expected to love because we're in Bicol but we've all had way better laing than this. :(

Small Talk Cafe

51 Dona Aurora St, 

4500 Legazpi City, Albay Philippines

Legazpi, Albay

Analyn, Mark and I flew to Legazpi one weekend with the intention of visiting their famed hot springs. Their airport has the majestic Mayon Volcano as a backdrop.  Analyn said we were lucky because there were no clouds covering the top of the natural wonder. 

There are several hotel shuttles waiting right by the airport exit and we quickly located ours.  This is great because tourists won't have to worry about transportation.  We would later find out that transportation is not a problem in Legazpi.  There are not a lot of cabs but the malls, restaurants, airport and the terminal are accessible by tricycle.

After settling in, we headed to the terminal which is a 5-minute ride away from the hotel.  We located the shuttle heading to Tiwi and paid P60 per person.  The driver was kind enough to drop us off at the resort which is about an hour out. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting a resort.  I was thinking the hot springs would be in the middle of the forest or the woods that's why I brought my own towel. 

The bad news is we were told that the hot springs have been dried out and all that's left to enjoy in the resort would be their pool. 

Sadly, we headed back and went to Small Talk Cafe which is one of the recommended restaurants by netizens.  We then spent the rest of the day sleeping in as we were all tired coming from our shifts. 

We were informed that most places close by 8PM but we saw that Embarcadero is open till midnight so we headed there when we woke up.  Another sad news, there's nothing to see there except for two restaurants as every place is also already closed.  

We went back to the hotel and was glad to find out that there's a cool restaurant right outside our hotel.

The next day, before heading to the airport, we passed by the mall to try the town's famous cheese halo-halo.  It was also a let-down, the leche flan which was supposed to sweeten the treat was not sweet at all. 

Despite our misadventures, I still had fun.  I marveled at the sight of Mayon and it's sure a different way to spend one's weekend.

Quick Bite: H Cuisine

A quick Google search would tell you that H Cuisine is one of the must try restaurants along the Tomas-Timog area.  

I tried their best seller, Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly and I loved it. It's comfort food.  I would order this again in a heartbeat. (P308 / single serve with rice)

Dyown and Billy tried the Oven Braised Herb Chicken (P198 with rice) and the Fish Trafalgar Pasta (P228).

We also enjoyed their fresh dalandan juice served in a reallly big glass (P98)!

Budget would be around P350-450 per person with drinks.

H Cuisine

64 Scout Rallos St

cor Tomas Morato

Quezon City

Wild Honey

Wild Honey's food is simple and delicious.  It is wildly popular that we had to wait more than an hour when we visited their branch at Mandarin Gallery.  We eventually gave up and transferred to another cafe. 

We're not one to easily give up so one weekend, we headed to Scotts Square where they opened their second branch.  

Their version of Eggs Benedict is really good. 

Em-J ordrered the English breakfast which is one mean breakfast plate with bacon, eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, sausages, toast, mushrooms and potatoes. 

Wilson opted for the Tunisian breakfast, I didn't get to try but it's said to be one of their more popular dishes. 

I don't remember what our drink's called but it was refreshing.

An average meal would be around $35 with drinks, not exactly cheap but it's not bad to indulge once in a while.

Wild Honey

6 Scotts Road 

Level 3 Scotts Square

Singapore

Wee Nam Kee

I had a craving for Salted Egg Prawns and Wee Nam Kee immediately popped into mind.  I've also been wanting to try the much praised Chicken Rice.  I loved the hanging lanterns.

We were off to a good start when we were served the free chicken broth as it was very flavorful.  

The roast chicken, while good, wasn't really exceptional.  I was actually thinking that I would've enjoyed the chicken in Savory more.  On a side note, I find it weird that they call their chicken dishes, chicken rice but the chicken dish doesn't come with rice.  You have to order it separately. 

The ginger sauce which looked like just pounded ginger was good.  The dark soya sauce which I most look forward to when eating chicken rice was a bit too sweet for my liking.

The Wee Nam Kee rice was a disappointment, if I wasn't so hungry, I wouldn't have touched it. It was sticky and wet. 

On to the reason why we headed to Wee Nam Kee, the salted egg prawns.  This dish tasted strongly of Star margarine and there were cracked pink egg shells all over.  I say, skip it.

Our drinks were okay.

So much for all the buzz. 

Wee Nam Kee

G/F Glorietta 1

Palm Drive, Ayala Center

Makati