Crazy Tonkatsu Meals

Pork chops have become the new coffee, in terms of price points, I mean. I remember being very surprised at 150-peso coffee cups as I am at 500-peso pork chop meals now. It's scary to think this becoming the norm. Anyway, I digress.

I've always loved tonkatsu. When I was younger, I normally end up ordering a tonkatsu or a katsudon whenever we go to a Japanese restaurant. This is the reason why I finally gave Ginza Bairin a try even if it was crazy expensive. My friend also raves about this place and would often suggest this place for lunch.

Priced at an average of S$17 (600 pesos) per meal at a fastfood setting, while good, the meals didn't blow me away.







Tonkatsu by Ma Maison has also been getting a lot of positive reviews so I decided to eat out for my birthday there. Its the one time that I feel its okay to splurge.



I gave them a call to have a table for us reserved but I was told quite curtly that they don't accept reservations. There are two sitting areas at the Mandarin Gallery branch and one was closed off while the main area was full. There was only a one couple in line and then us but we waited for more than half an hour.





The restaurant finally decided to open the 2nd sitting area and I have to say this, we were very polite the whole time, never giving anyone from the restaurant a hard time. But what the guy from the restaurant did was a big turn off. Upon opening the 2nd sitting area, he told us that he'd sit us there only if we'd eat fast. He was really out of line, also, there was no event happening that day as all the diners after us were asked to sit there as well. I wanted to create a scene right there but seeing that we're already pressed for time since we already have tickets to a movie which was about to start in less than hour, I decided to let his comment pass.



The hire tonkatsu was thick and good. The finely sliced unlimited cabbage was fresh and the sauce was perfect for it. Priced at S$30 (1000 pesos), it comes with soup, radish, your choice of rice and tea but with the kind of service they have, it's not worth it.







In Manila, thanks to Chuvaness' blog, I heard about Yabu when it opened. Rhommel shares my liking for Tonkatsu so he requested that we have lunch there when I last visited.

I made the mistake of ordering the rosu katsu, it's not the restaurant's fault, but I find that particular part to be a bit funky tasting. (Call me wa-class but I don't like it.) I did like what Rhommel and Oliver ordered and when it comes to service, I give the restaurant a big two thumbs up. Their staff were friendly  and seem genuinely happy to see their diners there.





Average meal would be about 300 - 600 pesos.

Milk Tea Love

Bubble tea shops have been around for a long time but they're weren't as accessible as now, I remember having to troop all the way to Megamall or The Block just to satisfy my craving.

It's only quite recently that the craze caught on. The only downside is having to queue for a really long time. I remember Rhommel and I getting frustrated at how bad the queue is being handled at Happy Lemon Trinoma with us having to wait for almost 45 minutes just to get our drinks. 

My first real bubble milk tea experience here in Singapore was with Monica, she introduced me to Koi Cafe and I loved it. 

I then noticed the long queues at Happy Lemon Ion that I decided to give it a try. I found the Green Tea with Rock Salt and Cheese to be a bit weird but found myself craving for it a day after.







I've tried a few other bubble tea places and I more or less liked them except for Share Tea. I don't know why but I just didn't like it.



Back in Manila, Chatime is pretty popular and I loved their place in Pioneer. The bubble tea shops back home are better because they upped it a bit by having sitting areas.





Moonleaf is fairly new in the business but it is one of my favorites. I loved their Wintermelon drink plus their interiors are nice looking. The pic below is their Sgt. Esguerra branch.





With so many choices, my ultimate favorite remains to be Bubble Tea in Megamall. I always felt that they've struggled to find a crowd then but they're still there. They've become a full service restaurant now, I don't mind as long as I still get my milk tea fix with the small bubbles as before. 

Batam Trip (2 of 2)

After our whole day tour, we all crashed and took a quick nap. I really wanted to just sleep the rest of the day off but another part of me is saying that we have to maximize our short time there. I woke them all up and we headed to the nearest mall, Megamall. It was a 5 minute ride and cost us only SGD 4 to rent the hotel shuttle.

There really wasn't much to see, the mall was just full of unknown stores so we decided to just have dinner.



My and Em-J's dinner of salted fish rice, two orders of chicken and two pearl drinks cost us only SGD 10. How very affordable.









We all had fun, I don't know what we were talking about but I just love the photo below.



We then headed back to the hotel as the mall was closing and checked out the hotel facilities.



We had a dimsum breakfast the next morning at the hotel restaurant and then headed to the gym and the pool.





We checked out and then headed back to the mall to have lunch at Marrybrown while waiting to depart. Good thing that the ferry terminal is directly connected to Megamall.





True that there really wasn't much to see at Batam but we all had a great time. Let me tweak the famous quote a bit, It's not the destination that's important, it's the company you're with.

First Stop: Megamall

Late Wednesday night, I headed to the airport to meet up with Clarice. We were both flying back to Manila. I've booked my ticket last year since we planned to buy one show of Legally Blonde. That plan didn't push through but I didn't want to waste my ticket.

Clarice was very hungry and since we were at the Budget Terminal for Cebu Pacific, there really weren't a lot of choices so McDonald's it is. Here she is looking like a supervisor:

I also saw huge Ritter chocolates. I wasn't able to take a picture to emphasize how big they are because I was told that taking of pictures was not allowed in the store. It's not obvious but they're big. I wanted to get one but they're more expensive here than in Manila.

The flight was a bumpy one and we wanted to sleep throughout the flight but the passenger in front of us has some kind of a throat problem and made loud irritating mouth noises the entire time. I took a picture of the seat in front of me, parang bus lang.

We arrived early morning and went our separate ways. I met up with my brother and slept till lunch time. I then headed to Megamall to get a haircut. I then called up Oliver to see if he's already had lunch since he's working nearby. He quickly headed to the mall with Analyn and Badette.

They then went back to the office to finish their shift while I went back to get my luggage since we're heading to Resorts World later in the afternoon. I went back to the mall but wasn't able to get anything thinking that I would have enough time in the succeeding days to buy whatever it is that I needed. I was wrong. I wasn't able to go back to Megamall after that day.  

My trip would not be complete without a Razon's halo-halo so Oliver insisted that we eat. This is barely a couple of hours after our heavy lunch.

Clarice followed soon after and they ordered heaps of sisig. I was so full but it just feels wrong to say no so I had no choice but to give in. :p