Bubba Gump...Heaven

Rating: 5/5

Ever watched the movie Forrest Gump? Okay, I'm going to admit that I haven't. I must be one of the veeeery few who haven't watched it. Anyways, there's this restaurant that is inspired by this film (or book--is it a book?) It's called Bubba Gump at Greenbelt 3.

We still had a lot of time to kill before the screening time of This Means War began, so we decided to try this out. The restaurant was very unique. When you entire they will welcome you and assist you to a stop line where you will be ushered by another waiter.

When we were finally seated, we ordered Onion Rings, Mama's Southern Fried Chicken, Grilled Dory with Jambalaya, and Alabama Mud Pie.

Before I tell you more about their delish foods, I would like to relay the awesome mini-quiz they gave us. Thanks to Karen, who answered all five questions about the movie, we got ourselves some free strawberry yoghurt! Yay!

Now on to the food...

Onion Rings

Of course, first came the Onion Rings. And this is the best I've tasted so far! There are other onion rings out there, but the problem I usually encounter with them is that they are either soggy or not properly coated. This one's just perfect.

Grilled Dory with Jambalaya 

This one's for Karen, but because I love the Jambalaya, I ate almost ate half of that two. As for the dory, I let her eat that on her own. In lieu of eating most of her Jambalaya, I shared my boneless chicken with her. See below why.

Mama's Southern Fried Chicken, Regular

See how big that chicken is??? That's like almost half of a chicken, I think. Since it's boneless, all of that is pure meat! There was a small portion of this, but since it was my first time ordering this, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't want to end up with a very small portion to I ordered the regular portion and voila! I shared half with Karen and even took some home. That's how big this is! :DD

Alabama Mud Pie

We both love sweets, so we decided to share this huge slice of heaven. It was also huge that even with the two of us, it was still hard to finish. Since we couldn't take it home with us, I ate more than my share just to finish it off. And I have to say, I don't regret it. It was just so good! The layers of ice cream and chocolate were just too good to resist.

And...our dessert number 2! This was the prize for their quiz. I love this too! I didn't know its name but it tasted like yoghurt ice cream. I would love to try this again when I come back to Bubba Gump.

This restaurant is just so good, I'm craving for it now as I write this! <3

CYMA

Rating: 3/5

Forgive me for the hiatus...but I come bearing reviews! I haven't entirely been slacking off, if you know what I mean.

A few weeks back, my friend had posted a review about this Greek restaurant at Greenbelt 2. Not being a fan of Greek food, I was hesitant to try this myself, but since she highly commended it, I decided to try.

Before I reached Cyma, there were other restaurants that caught my attention too. I might try them out next time. As for this restaurant, we ordered Chicken Gyro, Pastitsio (Baked Macaroni), and Moussaka.

So what can I say about the food? It tasted...very Greek-like. In the sense that you can taste all the herbs and the extra virgin olive oil.

And just when I'm about to post the images of the delectable dishes we had, I realized that when we went to Cyma, I did not have my camera with me! So much for being prepared, eh? So here are just the photos from various bloggers. Credits are theirs, of course.

Moussaka, the national dish of Greece. PhP 250. Photo credits go to the owner. 

 Karen ordered this and I took a bite, mostly because the top layer (cheese) was just soooo delicious. I can't say the same for the other layers though because I don't eat eggplants. :) But I guess she was satisfied with it.

Pastitsio, PhP 230. Photo credits go to the owner.

Notice how the stacks of macaroni are neatly piled there? That's the first time I saw such an arrangement! However, it's one arrangement I wouldn't recommend though because the taste of the dish is concentrated on the top and bottom layers, one layer being cheesy and the other being sour because of tomatoes. It left the middle layer a little too bland for my taste. Plus the tomato bed was too much, if you ask me. I love love love the cheese though.

Chicken Gyro, PhP 160. Photo credits go to the owner. 

This Gyro has a story. We were so full with the dishes we ate that we had this one packed instead. From Greenbelt 2 to Greenbelt 5, we had walked without realizing that we left this behind! We hurried back to get this and when we arrived there, the restaurant was already filled with a lot of customers! Being the shy person that I am, we waited outside as the waiter handed us our Gyro. So there, we ate it at home instead.

There are a lot of other dishes that I would love to try from Cyma, and I can recommend this to Greek food lovers out there. I wanted to try their flaming mangoes, but I got scared of the way they shout while serving it. I hate it when people look at me. :)

So there you have it. Have you eaten at Cyma yet?

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. :)