UKB 199 is not an Idol Group

The first time I heard of this place, what came to mind was AKB 48 and its sister groups. That's probably because of the "KB" on the name. But what this place really is, is one of the many Korean Barbecue places that are popping up one after the other. And so far, this has got to be the cheapest one.

As the name says, it only costs Php 199 to eat here with unlimited refills of side dishes an meat for grilling. But wait, let me be clear. That 199 price tag is only for pork cuts. For 299, you get beef cuts as well. I guess the 199 is their best seller.

Like most Korean Barbecue spots, you grill your meat yourself. But you don't really grill on a grill. They use portable, outdoor stoves. The ones where you use butane canisters for fuel tanks. Yes, those ones. And they have oil if you wish to use oil which makes you fry instead of grill.

Besides the unlimited meat, you get unlimited side dishes. You have the usual Korean Barbecue side dishes; kimchi, tofu, meat buns (but I think this is Chinese), soup, rice, and the like. There was this one side dish that looks good. I ate it without cooking, because it looked like it was good to eat. Unfortunately, the next day my stomach went haywire. Good lord. Take my advice, cook everything.

For other items like cheese, iced tea, and shrimps, you have to buy those separately. They don't come with the unlimited label.

As for the location itself, dine in al fresco. There are tables in small rooms where you sit on the floor like the East Asians do. It was raining lightly while I was there but, the rain didn't get to where you sit. I'm not sure if it's the same case when the rain is a lot stronger.

So if you're looking for a cheap Korean Barbecue spot in al fresco, this is the place for you. I never checked if they have other branches but you can google them.  The branch that I got the chance to eat at is located along Regalado Avenue, West Fairview, Quezon City.

Get on over and experience grilled or fried, Korean Barbecue.

The Samgyup Story

It's been a long time since I wrote something here. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I haven't been to any unique food place. But today... today was different. Let me tell you about the Samgyup Story.

Samgyup Story is the name of the restaurant that serves... what else... Samgyupsal. Some call it Korean barbecue. I've been to similar restaurants like Samgyupsalamat, and Tipsy Proky. And I've been to Yakiniku places like Tajimaya, and Sambokojin.

As far as I am concerned, they are the same. It's just that samgyupsal has a lot of side dishes; steamed eggs, meatballs, squid balls, rice, noodles, cheese, bean sprouts, small potatoes, miso soup (although I think Koreans don't call it miso soup, but I'm pretty sure it's miso soup), and many others but it won't be complete without Kimchi. When there's Kimchi, then it's Korean Barbecue. If it has just the meat and the grill, and rice, that's Yakiniku.

But what makes Samgyup Story unique is it's service. The servers are quick to refill your empty plates of meat strips without you having to call their attention. Here it's quite the opposite, you have to call their attention just for them to stop the refill lest you want the meat wasted because you're so full and can't eat another bite. For the most part, you cook your own food on the grill at the center of the table. But there are times when you're just too busy cooking and not doing any eating anymore, the servers will actually do the cooking for you while you eat. And in some cases, even the owner will do it for you. They also have traditional Korean outfits that you could wear so you could take a picture in from of their backdrop that seems like a scene from one of those Korean period dramas. And if your pitcher of water seems to be no longer cold (or maybe because it's summer) they will change it for you even if it's still half full.

As you can probably tell, the service here is top notch.

For the grill itself, they don't use burning hot charcoal. They use a flame from a stove which produces little to no smoke. This is good considering the restaurant is not air conditioned, no overhead exhausts over the grills, and uses only electric fans.

Now I'm sure you want to know about the price. Well. For a place that serves unlimited refills on almost everything, it is priced low; Php 299 on their cheapest set.

If you want to check it out, Samgyup Story can be found at 0167 Commonwealth Ave., Novaliches, Quezon City. Or you may google it; "Samgyup Story."

URCP 002 - The Famous Hexagon Potato

The most famous brand in snacks today is Piattos, and its most famous variant, Cheese. But what I have with me right now is the 40-gram Roadhouse Barbecue variant.

Piattos is a fabricated potato snack food. Not because it's fabricated, it doesn't mean that it's not potato. It is still made out of potato, it's just that the potato is turned into dough first, then sheeted, cut into hexagons, fried, and then seasoned. URC does not grow hexagonal shaped potatoes. Although that sounds like a good idea.

Piattos comes in three sizes; 40g, 80g, and on rare occasions in the Philippies, 220g. And it has these variants; Cheese, Roadhouse Barbecue, Sour Cream and Onion, Nacho Pizza, Roast Beef, and soon a new one. I'm not telling what.

As far as this Piattos that I'm currently snacking on right now, it's a has quite a hard crunch to it. Unlike the thin crisp that it should have. The Roadhouse Barbecue flavor is on the spicy side which it should be. If this is freshly made, I'm pretty sure you cough a bit when you eat it. The chips are not evenly coated with the flavoring. There are some chips that are super coated, some that are partially coated. This is obvious because the flavoring is somewhat dark red. This is not so obvious with the cheese flavor since the potato chips and the flavoring are almost of the same shade.

Although Piattos is not my favorite snack, It is still good and is still the more preferred snack brand in the Philippines. Overall, I'm pretty sure the fans of this brand don't mind the uneven coating of the chips.

Palatability rating: 0.60

URCP 001 - The Rainbowed Peanut

After that post on heavy eating, I think I'll try to do something, not so different since I'm sure it has been done before but a little different since I am a bit more familiar with the products.

I'll be doing reviews of URC products. I'll do my best at going through the company's product portfolio, describing each product as it is from the market and by using words that would paint a picture in your pallet. With that being said, let me start with the one product that is so readily available to me since there's one just beside me.

Nips Peanut. Candy Coated Chocolate with Peanut Center (hence the title).

Nips Peanut comes in two SKU's (that's Stock Keeping Unit for those who are unfamiliar); there's the 14-gram packs that comes in ties of 12, and there's the 43-gram individual packs kindda like the usual m&m packs that we're all used to. When you get the ties of 12, be wary when tearing off one pack. It is highly likely that you'd have a hard time doing so. I suggest using a pair of scissors.

The candy coating comes in five colors; red (although this particular batch looks like it's maroon), orange, yellow, blue, and violet. Back in the day, Nips actually have all seven colors of the rainbow so I think "Rainbowed Peanut" would not be appropriate a title.

The candy coating is just there for the eyes and supposedly, the pallet. Unfortunately, the crisp that should be from the candy coating is lost in time. I'm not a fan of peanuts so I really can't tell whether the peanuts in Nips still has the crunch of freshly roasted peanuts. The combination of the peanut and chocolate leaves something in the throat beside it being overly sweet. But a good old glass of water will take care of the job, unless you don't have one.

If you don't like sweet food, then this is not for you. Same is true for those who dislike chocolate and are allergic to peanuts. A 43-gram pack would be good for those time that you need something to munch on because you feel a bit sleepy. But if you want something on the salty or savory side with more crunch. Well, there's good old chichacorn. It's also good when you feel the sudden hunger if you don't have a Snickers bar close by.

Since I can't give a systematic rating for all products because there's just too much variety in URC products, I'll give an overall rating that we shall call ... drum roll... Palatability Index (way to sound technical because this will be very subjective) with a range of 0 to 1.0, with 1.0 being the highest.

Palatability Index: 0.35

Food Trivia: Remember the Nips advertisement that goes "Wanna see what happens with a bag of Nips?" That TV commercial is actually telling the truth back then because Nips has all the seven colors of the rainbow. Today, airing that commercial would be flat out false advertising.

Don't Drink Gatorade Before Going into a Buffet

Let's jumpstart this blog with a buffet after not being… in a foodie mood for over a year. This time I'm reviewing Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot.

Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot is brought to us by the ones who brought us Vikings. I haven't tried Vikings, yet. I heard it was a feast. I'd probably try Vikings next time.

Four Seasons mainly offers shabu shabu hotpot. You have a hotpot on your table with your choice of not one, but two soup types. You may cook whatever it is you like that is available on their "raw ingredients" area; meats, vegetables, dimsum…

As for my first wave, I went for the Maki and Sushi. I love Japanese food so that is a no-brainer. I even threw in some barbecued chicken and a slice of pizza.

For my second wave, I went for the raw dimsum for the hotpot. By this time, the soup on the hotpot would have been hot enough to cook that dimsum goodness.

For my third wave came desert. They had sweet cakes, marshmallows, chocolate, ice cream, and a lot more. I had some hot tea to melt all that fat that I was starting to feel inside of me.

Would you believe I had a fourth wave? I did but all I did was get back to the Maki and Sushi, and a little bit of spicy beef.

Ok. So overall, it was a good feast. I would have eaten more if I didn't down a bottle of Gatorade before heading inside the restaurant. And they have a packet of wet wipes to wipe your hands with; may it be before or after you eat. It's not even your hands that you have to wipe with those.

Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot, at least this one, is located at Manhattan Parkview Cubao. It's other branches are located at SM Southmall at Las Pinas, and SM Mall of Asia at Pasay.

When eating at a buffet, there are some things you have to remember. It doesn't have to be at buffet restaurant. It could be a party, or in the Philippines, a fiesta.

• The most important thing to not eat at one of these all-you-can-eat places is rice. Sure we're Filipinos but, rice will just fill you up really quick. With the exceptions of Maki and Sushi, of course. 
• Avoid soup, as they would fill you up real quick as well. For this, the hotpot is there just to cook. Don't drink the soup.
• Eat those that you rarely eat or haven't eaten, yet. Don't go for the Adobo, or Sinigang, or Nilaga that you have a high chance of eating at home.
• And don't drink Gatorade before going into a buffet!

As far as I'm concerned, buffet restaurants are just good for special occasions. Eating in one on a regular day will truly hurt your budget. Check out Four Season's website at http://www.fourseasonshotpot.com.ph for their rates, and reservations.

Sizzling Lugaw... Made You Look!

Alex Lugawan and Sizzling is a small restaurant that serves, what else? Lugaw and foods served on a sizzling plate. They've got sisig, boneless bangus, beef tapa, tocino, t-bone steak, and longganisa just to name a few. They also have side dishes like tokwa't baboy, and lumpia.

For my first time here, I got myself boneless bangus without the egg. Yes, you may choose to have egg placed on top of whatever it is you order for an additional Php 5.00. I'd say the whole meal is not that bad. It's actually good but it won't win any awards. But then again, the place is primarily a lugawan and I didn't try their lugaw. From what I heard, people from out-of-Pasig come to Pasig just to eat here. So if you're looking for a quick meal and you're in the neighborhood, this is a good place to get one.

Alex Lugawan and Sizzling is located along M.H. del Pilar St., Pasig City. You'll have to pass Jollibee, Chowking, Pizza Hut, Access College, a 7 Eleven, and probably a couple of other establishments before you get there coming from Pasig Simbahan (Pasig Church).

Make sure that when you eat there, try their lugaw because I wasn't able to.

Pinoy Tempura?

I haven't been to any food place lately so let's just talk about food.

Tempura is a Japanese food. Most of the time it's shrimp or prawn that's battered and deep fried. There's also vegetable tempura.

If the basic formulation for tempura is seafood that's battered then deep fried, then I believe we have our own local version of the tempura here in the Philippines. We call it Calamares.

Calamares is one of the may street foods of the Philippines. Strips of squid are battered and deep fried. Although some aren't cooked to a crisp, we still snack on them.

So what's the difference between Calamares and your run-in-the-mill Tiger Prawn Tempura? The tempura that you buy in Japanese restaurants are crisp except when they're in your ramen. The Calamares doesn't have to be dipped in batter. Sometimes, the Calamares is dipped in beaten egg then breaded to get the same effect as being dipped in batter.

So do you think we have our version of Tempura? You decide.