I'm a Freak!

Today, when I looked at my desktop, I freaked out. Why? Because there were four rows of icons of various files that I have not sorted out yet! For those who know me, I am a very messy person, but when it comes to the files on my computer, I make it a point to store them in folders (and if they cannot be sorted, always be ready with a folder named "find files here" to make the desktop look cleaner).

The normal number of rows of files on my desktop? One. At most two, whenever there are new files I need to find ASAP, but never more than that. I don't even have desktop shortcuts on the desktop. Whenever I install a new program or software, I delete the shortcut automatically created. There's the task bar where all the things I need frequently are kept.

So there, I'm a freak. But I guess it's in a good way. :)

Oki Oki Review--Is it Really OK?

Rating: 2/5

Prior to writing this post, I searched for reviews about Oki Oki, a Japanese restaurant with a branch at TriNoma because I wasn't sure about its name. Mostly, I saw positive reviews, but I don't think I share the same thoughts with them.

Why?

Before you read further, you should know that my basis of how great a Japanese restaurant is is their Katsudon. That's friend pork with egg on top of rice. I have tasted a lot of Katsudon dishes from various stores, but the one that I love the most is still the one found locally in Los Banos, Laguna, where I live. As for the Katsudon at Oki Oki, its serving was huge! I was not able to finish it all, and if you know me, I try my best not to have any leftover food on my plate because I have any food going to waste. But their serving was really too much for me.

Katsudon, PhP195

On the other hand, my friend, Karen, loves Gyudon, so she ordered a Gyudon meal set complete with miso soup and iced tea. Just like their Katsudon, and I think all of their other dishes, it was served in an overwhelming quantity. If you are a big eater, this restaurant can fill you up!

 

Gyudon set from top to bottom:  Miso Soup  Iced Tea, , and Gyudon, PhP 195

Since we love Japanese food and wanted to try out other dishes, I decided to order a serving of Yaki Gyoza and Karen chose a skewered dish that I forgot the name already.

Yaki Gyoza. This order was supposed to be fried. 

What did I expect from the gyoza? Meat. What did I get? Ginger. But hey, there are various gyoza varieties, so I can't judge them poorly just because I didn't like their recipe. The five pieces were already too much as a side dish for me.











Karen ordered these skewered shrimps, which I forgot the name already. For her, they tasted overly sweet, but for me it was okay. I'm usually the one that likes sweet dishes, that's why. :)






I just have to say that Oki Oki needs to add more stuff outside their counters and cooking areas. When we visited, there was only one waitress (green shirt) and I'm assuming that the other female helping her out occasionally was the manager because of her different uniform. Just imagine how hard the waitress had to work and shuffle all over the room just to accommodate everyone. I felt really tired for her because the place was packed and she had to alternate in ushering them in, seating them, taking their orders, serving them, and addressing their food concerns.

One or two more waitresses would have made it all better, even if that meant adding service charge to the total bill.

Dessert Alert! Parvati Review

Rating: 5/5! :)

For some time now, Karen has been asking me to go to this desserts and pasta place called The Parvati Store, which she saw on Facebook. But since we don't like commuting very far often, we tend to keep to Glorietta and Greenbelt to hang out. The nearest Parvati branch was at TriNoma. So when we finally had something to do at TriNoma (Karen attended a wedding planning seminar there), we said we would not leave until we have tried this place!

But luck wouldn't allow us to eat at the small branch since it was always loaded with diners. Their food must have been really popular--not even a single chair was empty! As a last resort, we just decided to get two of their famous desserts to go--macarons and truffles! And I have to tell you, you should try these out! 

Choco Truffles, PhP299. You simply need to taste these! 

Box of 12 Assorted Macarons in four flavors (chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, and  queso de bola), PhP350

Excuse me for the poor quality of photos. The lighting in our condo is mostly dim and yellowish, thus, flash or no flash, I can never get the quality right. 

Let's move on to the taste. There isn't really anything else to say but that these desserts are to die for! I highly recommend that you get these macarons and truffles home with you. Oh, and it has a long life even away from the refrigerator. Trust me. We had to travel from TriNoma to the Ayala MRT Station, shopped at Forever 21 at SM Makati and spent some time at various shops in Glorietta before we finally decided to come home and eat our desserts. Even then, the desserts were still delectably amazing. I couldn't help but sigh with every bite. 

Because of these treats, now I have a reason to brave the MRT just to visit TriNoma. I will definitely try this again. :)

Restaurant Review: Krazy Garlic

Rating: 3/5 

Last year my friend and I got a privilege card from The Bistro Circle, which entitled us to a 20% discount and is valid at any branch of their seven bistros and restaurants (namely Fridays, Italianni’s, Fish & Co., The Stock Market, Flapjacks, Pig Out and Krazy Garlik). But since then, we were always loyal to Friday's. It was only tonight that we decided to try another restaurant--Krazy Garlik at Greenbelt. 

So how was Krazy Garlik? My verdict would be that it's a so-so restaurant, one that I would try again sometime IF I have no other choice. Why? Let me recall the incidents of tonight.

We were ushered into a booth near the entrance of KG. We were seated and were asked our order by the manager (we didn't know then that he was the manager). Upon ordering, we heard him relay our order to one of the uniformed waitresses which confirmed the order to us. 

We ordered Flat Iron Steaks, with the mashed potato substituted with rice, Tweedle Dum, and Chocolate Milkshake. I have to raise the issue that I specifically ordered for their Tweedle DEE beverage, but the waiter (manager) could not understand it and misheard that I was ordering Tweedle DUM thrice even after my constant repetition of the word. I even pointed at the menu where the word was written for him to understand it correctly, but he never did understand. In the end, since Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee only had one different ingredient, I decided to just let him have his way and ordered Tweedle Dum instead. 

Flat Iron Steak with Mashed Potatoes Substituted with Rice

Flat Iron Steak with Mashed Potatoes Substituted with Rice

And when our steaks came, they were loaded with mashed potatoes after we mentioned twice that it was to be substituted with rice. The server hurried into the kitchen to fix this, but I can't say he hurried in returning it to us. Basically, the time it took for them to cook their steak was as long as it took them to change mashed potatoes into rice. 

Chocolate Milkshake

Tweedle Dum

The food was great. The milkshakes were great, too. Tweedle Dum tasted great and it was in a tall glass. My only complaint is that they should have put a longer straw in it to make sure that it could reach the bottom of the glass. But it's not a big deal. My friend's chocolate milkshake tasted good (according to her), but it didn't look like chocolate milkshake to me. For one, it was colored white. Was it vanilla milkshake? I don't know. They did not specify in their menu that they would use white chocolate in the shake, so it baffled us. I wasn't able to ask her if it tasted like chocolate either. 

The size of the steak was just enough to fill our stomachs. It wasn't like at Friday's where I could barely finish one serving (not to mention the serving of rice in Friday's is way more than the serving in KG, but hey, a PhP300 difference goes a long way in terms of serving size, so I guess it's just the right serving). 

Now on to the bill. When we asked to bill out, it took them an awfully long time to give the bill. Why? It seemed that they could not find our privilege card. They asked us at first if we had one, and we said yes, we gave it to the first man who served us, the manager, before we ordered. The server said there was no problem and she would just adjust our bill to reflect our 20% discount. So we waited. 

And we waited. 

And she came back to us again asking for the name on the card. Usually after taking our card at Friday's, the server would return it immediately without any hassle. At this point I was skeptical. Had they lost our card? Hopefully not. I hoped it was just coincidence that after taking our order, their manager was suddenly nowhere to be seen. 

Thankfully, after more waiting, they were able to locate the card and gave us our change. We were on our way home after that.

The verdict? I would try out Krazy Garlik again, but not that often unless they change their ways. They seem to lack coordination in their actions. For me, they are not that organized yet (I am hoping for some improvement). 

Have you tried eating at KG before? How was it? :)