Yomenya Goemon, Italian and Japanese Fusion

Now I have eaten in this restaurant about 5 times already, and I think it is only now that I will be writing about it. Why didn't I share this sooner?

Call me selfish, maybe I didn't want to report about it, because I wanted it all to myself. My favorite cuisines are Italian and Japanese, so the fusion of both only excites me. This is my comfort food at its best.

I keep on forgetting the name of the restaurant, and honestly it is a mouthful. I just remember it as the restaurant where Big Buddha used to be. And you know what, it might be owned by the same company. What do I know? Anyway, on to the food!

One of my favorites is the Mentaiko Shrimp and Japanese Herb. What I love the most about this pasta is the cod roe! This is how I spice up my ready-made Muji pasta sauces, I usually add botarga, left-over caviar, or the vegetarian caviar of Ikea. This is really good pasta! Just add a little salt to bring out the flavor of the sauce.

I also enjoy ordering their pasta dishes which entail breaking the yolk of an egg placed in the center, and then mixing it to bind the pasta and the sauce. One of our pasta orders last night was the Sausage, Bacon, and Salmon. The sauce is soy based with butter. Did I mention you had to break the egg yolk and mix it in? :)

What's an Italian dinner without pizza, right? Ditching the Japanese fusion, we ordered the Longganiza Pizza. Really appetizing. I just wish they added more variants of the local sausage, the mixture of flavors might be pretty exciting, who knows?

Interested in eating in Yomenya Goemon?

Yomenya Goemon
2/F Greenbelt 3, Esperanza StLegazpi Village, Makati(02) 729-0586

Love Advice on Valentine's Day

I got home late last night because I had dinner with Derek, and I was feeling rather overwhelmed with the things he told me, so I ended up coming up with this Facebook status of mine. Really, it was just from the top of my head, not quite thought out.

Much to my surprise, in the morning, I received a hate mail expressing that offense was taken over the top statement, and that I was bitter. Whoa. Really now, I didn't mean anything by it.

I replied, and then went on my way. Before I left the house, I received a message from a good friend of mine from high school requesting permission to share the status on his Facebook timeline. I agreed, by all means, right?

When I checked on my Facebook, there were a good number of likes and about 4 shares already, so I am totally surprised as to why the status is garnering attention.

Anyway, I thought I may as well post the status here in the blog. For today, I will give everyone unsolicited advice and wisdom.

borrowed from http://hungryindc.com/2012/02/07/valentines-day-advice-from-her/

Excerpt from Isaac's Facebook status:

In my 30 years, here are some lessons on love, just in time for Valentine's Day:

1. People get scared when told, "I love you."

These people are cowards, and have no balls. Lose them. And no, the let's be friends crap is, well, bull.

2.  Love is not a contest. A partner is not a prize to be won. 

In the words of She's All That, "Am I a stupid bet?"

3.  Commitment means including your partner in your plans.

4.  Hold on tighter at times when your partner wants to let go. 

That's what a marriage is all about. Forget the crap about setting someone free. When you love someone, fight to keep that person.

5.  Make time. 

If you spend more time with your friends, well, something's wrong. Unless you're doing your friends, well, that's just sick then.

6.  Learn from each other.

Hey, nobody's perfect. Whoever is perfect, is an asshole.

7.  Inform your partner of your whereabouts.

It isn't because there's no trust, but its so that in case the zombies rise from the dead, you know where to get your loved one.

8.  Communicate.

Talk. Text. Email. FaceTime. Post on timelines. Keep the lines open.

9.  Be honest.

Are you sad? Are you scared? Do you need to fart or go to the john? Just say it!

10. Play boardgames together. 

In other words, do fun things together.

Keep  you guys posted for more!

Life Threatening Service from Sun Cellular

I did say that I will write about my experiences in this blog. Here's an experience I would like to share to my readers. I hope that people learn a lesson here.

Back in January 2011, I received a call from the a billing and collection agent of Sun Cellular, apologizing that they were unable to bill 2-3 months worth of Blackberry service to my account. He asked if it was okay to bill me. I agreed, but informed him that since the non-billing was their mistake, they must not bill the 3 months all in one go, instead, charge me in three separate billings. I had requested that this be done because my plan with Sun Cellular was only PhP 350.00 a month - I just needed it because it was used only for calls to my immediate family. I knew that if they were going to charge the PhP 2,997.00, it would eat up into my credit limit and cause my line to get disconnected.

I was, however, unable to get the name of the billing and collection agent of Sun Cellular, because I was in the middle of preparing for a trip to Palawan during that time.

I thought that my instructions were clear enough, and he had agreed to the terms that I had set, so I didn't think much of that particular conversation, and proceeded on normally with my daily routine.

I woke up on February 25, 2011 feeling unwell. I looked for the phone on the nightstand, and tried to call my mom so she could pick me up from my apartment and bring me to the emergency room of Makati Medical Center. I was unable to make a call.

My postpaid plan from Sun was disconnected. I called Sun's customer service hotline, since that's the only number you can call when your line is conveniently redirected, to inquire as to why I couldn't make outgoing calls or texts. Rachel Lanuza received the call.

Rachel Lanuza, a call center agent from Sun, informed me that my line had already gone beyond my credit limit that's why it got disconnected. I asked why it went beyond my credit limit. She informed me of the PhP 2,997.00 charge that was placed on the account. I informed her that the charge should have broken down into three separate transactions, posted into three separate billing cycles. I informed her that the charge was corresponding to 3 months worth of Blackberry service (BIS) that their billing had forgotten to charge onto my bill. I also informed her that I received a call several weeks back from a man claiming to be from billing and collection informing of the charge - I told her that the man had agreed to my terms on how it should be charged to my bill, because it was their oversight that led to the charge not being properly placed in my account.

Ms. Lanuza could not understand what I was explaining to her, and she just reiterated that the line was disconnected because I had went beyond the credit limit. No matter what I told her, she did not find it strange that an almost PhP 3,000.00 charge was placed on my account seemingly from nowhere.

Since I was sick, I had reached my tipping point. I needed to be brought to the hospital, yet I couldn't call my mom to bring me because my line was disconnected. Instead, I had to end up speaking to someone over the phone who couldn't even understand that it was Sun Cellular's error that led us to this point. It was now a matter of life or death for me, so I blew my top off. I lashed at her for her incompetence, or her not being compassionate enough to understand that I was the victim in this particular instance.

The man from billing and collection did not follow what we had agreed on, to spread the charge evenly into three months. A charge I had followed up several times back in 2010, only for them to give me a call 2011. Had he done what was agreed upon, I wouldn't be ill and talking to Rachel Lanuza on the phone when I was supposed to be rushed to the hospital already.

I put the phone down on her, scrambled out of my apartment, to the street, and brought myself to the emergency room.

I got home that evening from the hospital. As soon as I got home, I received a death threat from a prepaid Globe number. I received it on my Sun line.

The Sun line is my means of communication to my family. My parents, and siblings have Sun lines, and only my family is aware and/or uses that number to contact me.

Who could have sent me the message? A Globe prepaid number, nonetheless. I tried contacting the number, it started ringing, and then the call was rejected. I tried calling again, it was turned off already.

The only person, aside from my family, I spoke to that day was Rachel Lanuza. Rachel Lanuza, obviously, must have been unable to handle the complaint I brought up to her attention, took it personally, then decided that my life should have been threatened.

She worked for Sun Cellular at the time, which means she not only had access to my cellphone number. She knew where I lived. She knew what numbers I called on my phone, which means, she could access the numbers of my parents, and siblings. Being that they are postpaid subscribers as well, she knew where they lived as well.

I feared for my security.

I called the contact center and informed them of the concern, giving them the exact words sent to my phone and the cellphone number that was used. I dare not write on this blog what was sent to me for fear that it might shock others. I wasn't assisted right. I emailed the contact center again using the email address on the website of Sun, and this was their response:

Dear Mr. Cruz:

We are grateful that you find time to bring this concern to our attention.

We regret to know the inconvenience you have experienced in communicating with some of our Representatives. The incident that you mentioned have been brought to the attention of our concerned group for proper handling and investigation to prevent same occurrence in the future. Please give us some time to further look into this and we will give you feedback as soon as we already have the resolution for your concern.

In this regard, your patience is greatly appreciated. As our valued customer, it is our priority to provide you the service you deserve.

Sincerely,

Grace Joy Ramirez

Customer Service Specialist

Customer Service Operations

Suncellular

It is now January 29, 2013, and my concern has still not been given proper closure. Nobody has bothered to contact me to check on me. Their customer service seems to hope that I have forgotten all about this incident.

Whoever is reading this should learn that our information is not safe. We may trust our information to cellphone companies, credit card companies, and so on, but this will always be used by the wrong people against us.

Pakibalot Panciteria

I am organizing a Chinese New Year merienda for the residential property I manage in the Fort. Hence,  for the past few days, I have been researching on the best pancit in Metro Manila. If you were to google this, you'd probably end up being directed to the entry of spot.ph, I am copy-pasting the link below for everyone's reference:

http://www.spot.ph/top-list/46267/top-10-empancitem-in-metro-manila

A restaurant selling pancit malabon tops the list, however, my event being a celebration of the year of the water snake, I couldn't really serve something more Filipino than Chinese, right?

So, I go down to top 2 of the list, Pakibalot Panciteria's Pancit Canton. Naturally, I called to interview the establishment, and asked them the serving sizes of their bilaos. Their biggest bilao would cost PhP 1,000.00 and be good for 15-18 people. This means, I will end up having to order around 10 bilaos. I asked the kind lady who answered the call if they would be able to deliver the pancit to BGC, and they said they would gladly do so free of charge.

But, I couldn't just order, right? Before I were to settle and serve this fare to my residents, I needed to be sure that they were, indeed, the best pancit canton in Metro Manila. 

I scheduled going to Maginhawa Street in UP Teachers' Village this Saturday. Was able to find the panciteria and went in to order their short order of the pancit. 

The pancit canton is PhP 120.00, good for 2 to 3 people. If you want it with lechon, you have to add PhP 30.00. Naturally, I ordered the pancit with lechon. 

I am so not sure though about the taste. I can't tell whether it is, indeed, the best, or whether Kowloon House's pancit, or even that of Wong Sau/D'Hong/Ding Hao in Evangelista, Makati, is better. I will get opinions, and update the blog whether I will end up ordering Pakibalot's pancit for my event or not.

UPDATE as of 6:00PM

So far, the decision is still split. One other person likes it, the other person says she's tasted better. I will need more opinions. 

Namnam, Old and New in Greenbelt 2

I always get a bit sad when old restaurants close. When we chanced upon Namnam in Greenbelt 2, I was sad because I thought Masas had already closed. I've been eating in Masas since my Renaissance days back in 2007. Of course, I realized that Namnam is still being run by Masas, and that they actually improved on the menu of that good ole favorite place of mine for Filipino comfort food.

They served crisped corn as an appetizer. It's refillable, a concept that was made famous here in the Philippines by Super Bowl, serving refillable prawn crisps.

Kenneth ordered green mango with bagoong, which I believe is how green mango should be eaten - fresh, and not converted to ice cream version with sweet bagoong as a topping (still cringing from Sebastian's Green Mango with Bagoong ice cream).

I love the other appetizer we ordered, Pinsec Frito with Aligue Dip. It was  more than divine, it was sinful already!

The vegetable dish we ordered, Pinakbet, needed a little bagoong to make it taste more pinakbet and less like, well, vegetables.

We ordered a medium-sized Tinapa Rice. It was good, reminded me of salted fish fried rice served in Chinese restaurants. 

The Peking Fried Chicken was such a hit for us as well. It was evenly fried, crisp on the outside, yet tender and juicy inside.

 

I also loved the Sizzling Corned Beef. It reminds me of the corned beef hash that I used to order near the 18th hole in Camp John Hay before, minus the sizzling plate of course. 

We ordered the Gata Leche Flan, which gave a unique twist to the Filipino favorite. I couldn't describe the flavor the gata gave to the dessert, but it tasted like it was infused with macapuno.

Lastly, we ordered the Mango Turon with Cheese. I think the cheese was kesong puti. It was such a surprise as well.

Feel free to visit Namnam in Greenbelt 2. Will post details of the restaurant as soon as they have their landlines up and running. Will definitely go back for more of their Filipino food.

Katsu Cafe with Aleron

After the wedding, Aleron decided to eat at Katsu Cafe for late lunch/early dinner. Rumor has it, Katsu Cafe's Katsudon is close to Yabu's. This piqued my interest, hence I ordered the Katsudon Set, which was only PhP 195.00, easily a third of how much this would normally cost in Yabu. 

Like in most katsudon-specializing restaurants, you had to grind for your own katsudon sauce. They also had those small sauce containers with the little grooves to make grinding easier.

The Katsudon Set came with Miso Soup:

And unlimited Japanese rice. Very delicious Japanese rice! It costs PhP 60.00 normally if you purchase the unlimited rice ala carte. Unfortunately for some of the choir members, like Arkel Mendoza, he ordered a donburi which didn't come with unlimited rice. Naturally, we begged the butihing ate to allow us to give a bowl of their yummy rice to him, since not all who ordered the sets were able to get 2nd bowls of rice.

Kenneth Lee and I decided to split an order of Ebi Furai, ala carte.

And Ryan Garcia was so generous in treating everyone to a round of Asahi, which is the perfect pair to their Katsu! Thank you Ryan!

Katsu is an affordable alternative to Yabu. I guess the price of the katsudon doesn't necessarily mean that it's good, Katsu Cafe's offering is proof that even for a fraction of the cost, the taste, and quality of the meat shouldn't suffer. Plus, tucked away in this side of the metro, you don't have to brave the horrendous human traffic of Megamall or a mall, just to be able to get a good katsudon meal. If ever you do get to chance upon this restaurant in the Katipunan area, feel free to stop by and order their katsudon because it is very filling indeed.

Katsu Cafe
329 Katipunan Ave. cor. B. Gonzales, 
Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Santuario de San Jose and Wedding Songs

I attended a wedding yesterday with Aleron in Santuario de San Jose. saw a very unique idea for flower arrangements during the wedding.

I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. Deal breaker for me I guess is whenever I look at the arrangement, the song "Paper Roses" comes to mind.

I love stained glass windows in churches. So here I go taking pictures of the stained glass windows in Santuario de San Jose. 

Aleron was the choir singing for the wedding. Of course I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to hear their wedding repertoire, hence, with my lumbar support and walking stick and all, I braved sitting on the hard pew to hear them sing love songs. Of course my favorite would be Ikaw Lamang while the bride was walking down the aisle. That song always manages to send shivers down my spine, in this case, even if the lower part has a slipped disc.

As with all weddings, there are some quirky songs that must be sung, because they are requested by the bride and groom. In this case, I ended up wondering whether they were John Lloyd Cruz fans, because they requested A Very Special Love, and Now That I Have You (I dare not tell you who John Lloyd was paired up with in those two movies lest I be accused of being jolog as well.).

So after the wedding, Aleron decided to eat out, which will be the subject of my next post. Keep you all posted where we ate!