Fireside is the sister company of "Kettle". It had very limited food choices on their menu, probably just the same menu as Kettle, only it was changed a bit to make it more asian (or IDK) and others were named differently. Since I was a bit disappointed with the menu, I went for the basics - Buttermilk Chicken and Pasta (Mac & Cheese).
The Buttermilk Chicken (P549), which was made popular by Kettle, was better with Fireside. I wonder if it was because of its cheaper price, everything else tasted 98% the same. It came with cajun honey, gravy and cornbread donuts. It tasted like normal fried chicken to me but would honestly say that the cajun honey made it a bit more interesting than any other fried chicken meal/dish.
We also tried the Smoked Mac and Cheese (P229). The description on the menu said it was topped with bacon bits, but could hardly see any. Maybe it's underneath the burnt top? :D
Nevertheless, I still liked their Smoked Mac and Cheese. It was oozing with cheesiness and I liked it so much. It was flavourful but was just right, it surprisingly complemented the fried chicken. What I don't like about it is the burnt top. It eliminates the excitement because I'm not fond of eating burnt cheese because it removes the flavour, too!
Though very similar to Kettle, I still liked Fireside more. It was cheaper, can you blame me? :D
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I was excited when I heard that we will have a Bloggers' Anniversary special at Wingman Collective. I have tried Wingman once and was looking forward to going back again. I haven't had the chance because the branch near my place was too exclusive, it's hard for me to easily swing by.
We were greeted by appetizers when we came. We had Onion Rings (P150) and Parmesan Cheese Curly Twists (P175). I liked the Curly Twists better but that was maybe because it had parmesan cheese on it and I like anything with parmesan at any given day, at any given time!
Among the classic favorites, I must say that this Classic Buffalo Wings still stood out. You can choose the level of spiciness depending on your tastebuds but had to go with the safe one so we tried medium.
I also liked the Garlic Parmesan Wings but wasn't able to take a photo of it because I got too busy devouring the flavor! HEHE.
Moroccan Chermoula had an exotic mix of North African spices that made it taste really strong. I wanted to pair it with rice too but wasn't able to order because it was also the start of Quiz Night. Yup, they hold quiz nights! It's not trending in Manila but at least we know one that does! If you have up to 8 players in the team, head to their Acacia Branch every Thursdays to play!
Game master is the non-Filipino owner (forgot the name though, woops). So expect the questions to be mixed with a lot of International questions, probably those you have not even heard or come across before. I am admittedly bad with trivia questions especially those International ones. If I remember correctly, I was only able to answer 3 out of the 30 questions! HAHAHA.
LOL. Those were just the questions I was able to confidently answer. There was also one round where we had to watch a clip from a movie and guess the title. I wasn't able to answer ANY OF IT! I'm not really fond of watching movies so I wouldn't really be able to contribute much. HAHAHA. While the game was going intense, the newest addition to the Wing Menu was delivered to our table.
Man, it looked intense! Hellfire, as it was named, certainly looked hellfire to me! It was made with Carolina Reaper and Wingman's secret spice and served with cold yogurt to soothe your tongue after taking a bite. I am in love with anything spicy but this one's just too hot for me to handle and can only finish 1/3 of the half dozen.
Fun fact: Wingman knows that this is one spicy dish. They know no one would dare eat it alone so they have this HellFire Challenge in the house! If you're up for a challenge, why not???
Things got pretty intense with the combination of Hellfire and Quiz Night so it was about time we moved to the Beer Pong table to somehow calm down. We were group by 2's and was happy to land a spot on the final round. I am no good when it comes to 'double bounce' shots which made our opponent win. Double bounce shots means insta-win because they can easily finish all their glasses. In this game, you just need 3 double bounce shots and you're done! WOAH.
To finish off the night, I ordered Tiger and Brownie Ala Mode and got to try their Black Bean Burrito (P215). It was the perfect mix to make me feel better being a loser that night!
Wingman was actually the perfect venue for us to have a get-together and celebrate our greatness ;)
Single Origin has been one of my 'reserved' go-to places around my turf. It's usually the place for me to unwind... alone or with a bunch of friends. The restaurant is just small having less than 20 tables (inside and outside). They have long tables so they really support the idea of sharing tables with strangers especially if you're just a small group of 2 to 3 people.
Anyway, I visited the place last Friday together with my 2 college friends. We wanted something new and something nice at the same time so I suggested we go to Single Origin. Okay, don't get me wrong... this place is not the perfect place for people running on a budget. Their wide selection of food, non-alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverages would make you love the place instantly but it's also kinda pricey for me. Thank goodness I still have P500 worth of Booky credits!!! So I get P500 off a thousand worth of bill, amazing!!!
It was Friday so the planned 6 PM meet-up turned out to be a failure. Since our booking was at 6PM, there was no way we could be late bec that would mean forfeiture of discount!!! HAHAHA. I was there 5:45PM together with my other friend, so thankfully, the discount was not forfeited.
While waiting for my other friend to arrive, we ordered something to freshen us up. I opted to get the Crimsonberry Iced Tea (P125/glass) and my friend got the Iced Hong Kong Milk Tea (P190/Iced 16OZ). I got the Iced Tea because I just wanted something light and fresh at the same time. Crimsonberry offers that kind of experience with the fruity blend of Elderberries, Cranberries, Hibiscus, Rosehips, etc. It was just perfect! I would think the Hong Kong Milk Tea was also good and as legit tasting as the legit ones (OKAY. Legit, legit. too much).
We started the night by ordering SO Wings. It was good and was not the typical wings that you know. The flavour was rich and was a bit tangy. I loved that it was also a bit spicy because of the special sauce but it came very well with the bleu cheese. This dish is good for 2-3 pax.
We had Breakfast Pizza for our main. It was made up of bacon, mushroom, quail eggs and arugula. By the time the pizza came, I was almost full. So I only had a slice for myself. If I wasn't feeling bloated, I would probably eat some more!!! It was good and I prefer you use your hands when eating it. Roll the pizza, put lots of hot sauce and eat it. Forget about the mess! :)
We also ordered the Truffle Fries thinking we would all love it... well, I did not and it was mainly because I hardly tasted the truffle on my fry. I was so excite, ecstatic even, about the thought of truffle only to get disappointed. We also had Pumpkin Soup but I wasn't able to take a photo of it.
Best part of making Booky reservations is the privilege of getting free desserts out of the survey they send out during your 30mins in the restaurant. We were full and could barely eat some more but the thought of FREE DESSERT was just too beautiful to take a pass on.
Fun Fact... I do not know what this dessert was called but it was exceptionally good. It felt like chocolate mousse but not quite. Anyway, it was good. In fact, it was good to just be a free dessert. I liked it so much I had to control myself before I finish the whole thing on my own.
Overall, the experience was very very good. We ended up paying P300 each for everything we ate and it was not bad at all. Sobrang sulit ng dinner na 'to. P300, wow. The ambience was also great and the staffs were friendly and attentive :) People nowadays are so into fad diets. The evolution of all sorts of healthy/organic restaurants came in the picture when millenials started seeking for something new, something unusual for the tastebuds. Adaäm & Yves Organic Bistro is one of the newest addition into the world of organics and healthy eating. I've discovered the place via Booky Prime and later on read reviews about it on Looloo. The word organic does not ring a bell on me, to be honest. So I did not get instantly drawn to try the place when I first heard of it. I did not even try to see what kinds of food they serve but well, seeing photos and a snippet of the menu (dishes with very interesting names) made me reconsider trying this place out. The very common ones on people's reviews were the Cabo Quesadilla, Tuna Turner (i love the name!!), Cornelius Vanderbeef, Pink Floyd and Noli Me Tangere. They were all photo-worthy bec of the very commendable plating of the chef!!! The very good plating will bring you to confusion and will test your sense of judgment of the food. Amongst the popular dishes, KD and I only chose 2. We can only go that far bec we're not heavy-eaters. We went to try Cornelius Vanderbeef (P510) and Cabo Quesadilla (P340). The Cornelius Vanderbeef was made with homemade Kitayama wagyu beef, 2 free-range eggs and your choice of either sweet potato mash or hash, in our case we got the sweet potato hash. The play with flavors and texture were just okay!!! The corned beef was too soft and I liked it so much but it wasn't something out of the ordinary good-tasting corned beefs. It was very tasty and would probably go well with a cup of garlic rice rather than a serving of kamote. But don't get me wrong, the dish is still okay and worth trying. If you are not a fan of Kamote then you'd probably not order this. But I tell you, the Kamote on that plate has a special role. The beef was a bit salty but when you eat it with the sweet potato hash, the flavor suddenly changes. The saltiness of the beef and the sweetness of the sweet potato hash compliments each other, it creates the perfect balance of the flavours. Cabo Quesadilla, on the other hand, was something I'd rate as "pwede na". It's not super commendable since there's a lot of things I want them to improve on the dish but I'd still say the dish is worth trying because it's a modified version of the usual quesadilla. Key Points: 1. It was open-faced 2. Tortilla was crunchy and not the usual soft tortilla on most quesadillas 3. It doesn't contain lots of cheese. FUN FACT: I'm a die-hard quesadilla fan. I love it because of the cheese and without the cheese, I get sad and disappointed. 4. The sour cream was too strong. I was thinking maybe there was really enough amt of cheese but since the sour cream was too strong, I didn't taste the cheese at all. 5. It had a generous amount of chicken serving - hindi lugi on that part At the end of the meal, I got myself craving for something sweet. Good thing we booked this place via Booky and the survey that entitles you to a free dessert came just right on time. The server gave us 2 options, that is, Cara Delevigne or Barack Banana (P195/ea). And since I'm a carrotcake lover, we settled to avail of their Cara Delevigne. At this point, my tastebuds were kinda excited and couldn't wait until the dessert was served. Our table got filled with a funky smell when the dessert came. The cheese served with it had a really strong smell and taste; it didn't make the carrot cake experience a memorable one. *cries* The cake also had a weird texture. It made us feel as if we were eating something raw or undercooked 😷
I don't know if my impression is wrong but I also do not know if organic stuff should always taste weird and be expensive at the same time. I just think that Adaäm & Yves was kind of trying too hard to be different that they forgot about the most important factor for a restaurant to stand-out - the taste of the food. I get that they were trying to serve a different kind of organic meal to their clients but I just think it is way too much that the combination of flavors isn't right anymore. But well, I've only tried 3 dishes. I'd still want to give it another chance by trying the Tuna Turner and Noli Me Tangere. If I ever go back, I want it to be during their busiest hours. I've read a fee reviews where they mentioned that the service is really bad in this place. I'd want to say I feel otherwise because our server was a little too efficient, we didn't even have to ask for a water refill. He just knows when to do it. But this judgment might be a little biased too because we were the only ones there when we went so they were managing us quite well. I think I already know why they were having such a hard time managing customers on busy hours but I'd like to observe and justify my assumption first 😜 |
Reann | 27 MNL
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