Meong’s Bulalo and Kambingan

Located along the national highway, in very close proximity to Iligan’s Gaisano Mall, you really can’t possibly miss Meong’s Bulalo and Kambingan.

If you’re not comfortable eating along the highway in a shack, then this eatery is definitely not for you.

From across the street, this is how Meong’s Bulalo and Kambingan looks like on any regular day…

But like that during a Pacquiao fight!

No surprise there. Every time there’s a Pacquiao fight, it seems like it’s Jesus’ second coming already and a pre-tribulation rapture is taking place (at least here in the Philippines that is).

My personal favorite from Meong’s Bulalo and Kambingan menu is “Halang-halang”. When literally translated, “halang-halang” means “spicy-spicy”. It’s nothing fancy really. It’s simply a spicy beef broth with chunky bits of beef.

Now what I like about their ‘“Halang-halang” is that I can add more stuff to it according to my taste.

I personally love my “halang-halang” with lots of crushed chili, some calamansi extract, a pinch of ground black pepper and a fistful of chopped spring onions. This definitely goes best with a lump of rice and a refreshing bottle of ice-cold Coca-cola.

Eaten best on cold rainy days.

Z Restobar

If you are an Iliganon, then this should look awfully familiar to you. Yes?
Okay… I hate to break it to you but Club Thirty is now no more.

What used to be the only fancy club in Iligan, where all the young elites used to go, is now a “restobar” that serves Thai food.

Its interior has been extended to accommodate more people inside and revamped to suit to the Thai theme.

Apart from that, nothing drastic has really changed except for their menu of course. They now serve a plethora of drinks and only a handful of food.

I’d guesstimate that the ratio of drinks to food would be 70-30 respectively.
Maybe they’ll add more food items to their menu in about three months.

I believe it was just the other week when my boyfriend and I just went there for some chow. Down below is what we had for a late night dinner…

In the foreground is Chicken with Cashew Nuts (I’m not sure about the name of the dish; I’ll look it up soon) and Spicy Shrimp Salad in the background.

We just gave Chicken with Cashew Nuts a try, albeit it sounded a bit unusual and strange to us because we are adventurous like that. Glad to say, no regrets. It was good. The flavors are a bit over the top though so it is highly recommended that you should eat it with some rice.

Here’s a closer look at the Spicy Shrimp Salad…

Trivia: Iligan restaurants usually don’t devein shrimps.

So the very first thing I noticed was that the shrimps were deveined! A major plus! The shrimps were tender and had that unique tangy (?) taste which I can’t seem to put my finger on.

By the way, is it wrong of me to think that “spicy equals to hot” and vice versa?

The Spicy Shrimp Salad didn’t have that kick of heat that I was expecting it to have. Yes, it did have that tiny hint of heat but it’s like almost infinitesimal. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t really enjoy eating spicy food, this is perfectly safe for you to eat.

So those are the only ones that we were able to try so far.
I love the fact that their service is astonishingly quick and their staff is absolutely friendly.

Would I go back there for another dinner soon? Yes, I would.

Pancake House

Just last week, my boyfriend and I went to CDO just to watch Real Steel on a big screen. By the way, if you haven’t watched it yet… It’s about time you should because it’s a fun movie to watch!

So anyway, we arrived in CDO just about lunchtime and we immediately had brunch at Pancake House (Located here – Level 1, North Concourse Entrance, LimKetKai Center).

Okay… Normally, I would open a food blog with a photo of how the place looks like. But this post is an exception since I simply forgot to take some interior snapshots of Pancake House due to hunger. So instead, here’s their silverware on a piece of a napkin with their logo.

I was surprised and impressed with how fast their service is for a restaurant.

By the way, these are what we had…

Above is Pancake House’s Peach Waffle with a scoop of whipped cream on top then we drizzled it with some syrup. I honestly have no clue what syrup that was. All I know is that it was definitely not maple.

I like peaches. I like waffles. But my taste buds didn’t agree with the combination. I reckon it would have been better if it had a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting on top rather than just plain whipped cream.

That is Seafood Gambero. Basically, it’s a marinara style pasta with mussel, shrimps, and cream dory.

I’m really torn with this dish. I kinda like it but don’t at the same time. I really wish they had more mussel. Seriously, just one piece of mussel?
And also, I absolutely wasn’t sure about the taste of fresh parsley. Fresh parsley was absolutely foreign to me until I had that pasta; I find its taste somehow distinctively odd…

Lastly, we had Salisbury Steak with some corn kernels, chopped carrots and a cup of rice on the side. We actually ordered some extra bacon strips and my boyfriend decided to put them on top of the steak.

The background story about the extra bacon:
We ordered them out of curiosity because I have this friend who said that it’s the best bacon he has ever tried.

On the other hand, it was the strangest bacon I ever had. It tasted so much like “chicharon” that I forgot I was eating bacon. I would rather buy a pack of honey-cured bacon at a supermarket and cook some for myself at home, to be honest. (But hey, if you don’t mind eating bacon tasting like “chicharon”, I swear it’s going to be totally fine.)

Then I was starting to get really disappointed until I tried the steak.
The meat was tender, cooked really nicely and I definitely enjoyed eating it sans the bacon strips.

For now, I have no final verdict about their food. They have so many items on their menu that I have yet to explore.

To know more about Pancake House and what they serve, click here.

Papa Mai’s Grill

I have been raving about Papa Mai’s Grill for the longest time already. Yet I did not have the opportunity to actually blog about this what-was-once-a-hidden-gem-in-the-city.

I first heard about this eatery ages ago when a friend of mine was blabbing about how delectable their grilled pork belly is. Tales of their grilled pork belly delight was only a word-of-mouth sensation then. Having heard so many good reviews about their specialty, I was not able to resist the temptation any longer…

And you don’t have to guess if I loved it… I simply did and I still very much do!

In fact, whenever I’m feeling for some grilled meat, I head straight to Papa Mai’s Grill.

Tip: Dip those chops of grilled pork belly in a mixture of soy sauce, crushed chilies for some heat, some calamansi extract, and Papa Mai’s special ground ginger-garlic-spices sauce thing. Match made in heaven.

Obviously, grilled pork belly isn’t the only thing in their menu…
You should try their “Halang-halang” (The soup only is free! Who doesn’t want free stuff?) and “Papaitan”.

Originally, they were located in the anus of somewhere and it was really tasking to get there especially since they didn’t post any signage outside of their building.

Trust. I’ve been there a few times and every time I was on the way there…
I still wasn’t sure if I was heading in the right direction or place!

Certainly, the only ones who knew that Papa Mai’s Grill even existed were only the people who already ate there previously or was brought there by a friend. Hence, word-of-mouth.

Thankfully, just recently, they managed to get a space at Pasillo so they are now totally accessible to everyone. I promise to link a map location whenever I remember how to do it again.

Flamoo

Flamoo is the latest burger joint in town and it’s located inside The Strip. Trust me, once you’re there, you won’t miss it. It’s facing the open field and is just right beside Red Planet Grill.

Flamoo gave me a good first impression. I like the fact that everything about it really tells me that I am indeed inside a restaurant that serves burgers.

They have two dining areas, one on the inside and one on the outside, so to give us the liberty where we want to have our Flamoo dining experience.

As much as I would like to sit outside and breathe some fresh air, apparently I can’t. Just because I can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke. So obviously, I am left without a choice.

I honestly like everything about the interior, except for the poor air-conditioning and for the smoke coming out from the kitchen which saturated the whole dining area and irritated my eyes. I do hope the management does something about those issues soon.

Anyhoodles, let’s get to the meat of this story!
(Pun intended.)

Yes.

Take a good look at that. That’s Cheesy Flamoo–one of their scrumptious flame-grilled burgers and it’s my favorite on their list.  In the background are Seafood Tower and Rib-eye Steak.

This is their Bacon Mushroom Melt Burger.

Everything about their burgers, in general, are far superior to what I usually have here in Iligan.

I love how their patties are seasoned well and I can tell that they are already good on their own. All their burgers have a generous amount of toppings and have fries on the side. Though, I do wish they would use the kind of cheese that would melt more nicely. But that’s already me nit-picking.

Here’s another angle of the Rib-eye Steak that comes with a perfectly done sunny-side-up egg sitting prettily on a bed of rice with mixed vegetables on the side.

Trivia: I am not a fan of runny egg yolks.

So my boyfriend took the pleasure of gobbling it all up for me.

The steak was alright. Sad to say that their steaks are really thin and this means that it would be very difficult to have them done in medium-rare. So steaks are only well-done in Flamoo.

Unfortunately, all my Seafood Tower photos look really sad and are not worth posting…
I don’t have anything much to say about it anyway except that it was good. I still prefer the traditional burgers over it though.

Here’s another dish that they serve called Nacho Loco.
The ratio of nachos to toppings is divine. It’s a plate bursting with flavor! I love it.

I also got to try their Buffalo Wings. Again, my pictures of it are sad-looking. Taste-wise, it was okay. But pocket-wise, it was bang for the buck.

And these here are two tall glasses of their Red Iced Tea. I also like their Blue Lemonade and especially their Raspberry Shake (which strangely tasted more like strawberry to me… I must have read it wrong or something).

Bringing this post to a close, if you’re feeling for some burgers, Flamoo is the place to be. Be warned though, their service can be excruciatingly slow and you might have to wait at least 30 minutes to an hour for your order. But I assure you, it is definitely worth the wait.

This is all for my first post and there will certainly be more to come.
Just keep on following!