Pork Ribs in Baguio - Canto Restaurant

We arrived in Baguio at about 1pm. We were still kinda full because of our hefty breakfast at Isdaan Restaurant during our stopover in Tarlac. But since I am super excited to try out the much raved ribs at Canto Restaurant in the Ketchup Food community, we went ahead and drove to Wright Park to eat.

Ketchup food community consists of five restaurants, Rancho Norte which serves Filipino food, Green pepper that boasts italian cuisine, Happy tummy for thai food lovers, Rumah Sate which caters Indo-Malay food and Canto which is famous for their pork ribs and burgers. Parking is a bit of a problem though, we had to park across the street because they didn't have enough parking.

I was not able to take a picture of Happy tummy :(

Ketchup Food Community exterior

 

I still have a hangover from Calle verde's ribs when we went to Cebu last year. They were inexpensive but really good.  So we decided to try Canto. I ordered their bestseller, the lomo pork ribs, while hubby tried their chili burger. To go with it, we tried their almond gulaman drink.

I was surprised when our drinks arrived, they're purple! But they were really good and refreshing. At the bottom of the drink were almond jelly which I get to eat after I finished the drink. For a cheap price of P20.00, I wouldn't mind having another one!

Almond gulaman drink for only P20.00! Its color matches the interior's draperies too! :)

 

The ribs weren't as big as Calla verde's but It was so juicy and flavorful. It was also so tender that the meat fell right off the bone. The salad was also a delight. At first, I thought the the red bits were tomatoes, but they weren't.. they were watermelon! They also added bits of peanut brittle that added tiny hints of sweetness and crunch to the salad. 

Canto's bestseller

The chili burger was also good. It looks  messy in the picture, but once you take a bite,  it will surely satisfy your palate. Hubby thought it would taste even better if it had melted cheese instead of the grated cheddar though. And the fries were blah.   

Juicy chili burger!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant to all those who are planning to go to Baguio. Too bad we weren't able to try all other restos in the ketchup food community, but I plan to try all of them when we go back. :)

Canto restaurant

Ketchup Food Community

Romulo Drive, Barangay Lualhati (Near Wright Park),

2600 Baguio City, Philippines

Liebster award!

Sally Mae of thebudgetfashionseeker nominated me for the Liebster Award, and I didn't know what it was until I read her post. It's actually a chain post that helps bloggers with less than 200 followers gain more readers! It will surely help a lot of beginner bloggers like me to have more followers. Thanks Sally Mae, it's an honor to be one of your nominees!

The Liebster badge

 Below are my tasks (got this from Sally Mae's blog):

• Link back to the blog that nominated you
• Nominate 5-11 new blogs with fewer than 200 followers
• Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
• Share 11 random facts about yourself
• Create 11 questions for your nominees
• Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

I nominated the following blogs:

http://anne080809.blogspot.sg/

http://roselsmomdiary.blogspot.sg/

http://whatseatingvenus.blogspot.sg/

http://jocrisworld.blogspot.sg/

http://salitangpinoytagalog.blogspot.sg/

I follow these blogs and I enjoy reading their blog posts.  I hope to get more followers for them so that more people could enjoy their fun but informative posts!

Sally Mae's questions for me:

1. What made you decide to create your blog?  I want to share my thoughts to everyone.
2. What province that you've already been to do you consider as your favorite? I've always loved the beach and I would say Palawan.

3. Who do you consider as your ultimate super hero? Ironman, because he is Tony Starks! :p

4. Is your career right now something you've imagined when you were young? No. I'm on the health and research industry but I've always wanted to be an artist. Even though I did not get any formal training,  I still draw and sketch every now and then.

5. What are you most passionate about? I'm passionate about creativity and learning new things.

6. Do you personally know any of the bloggers you follow? Yes! I follow the blog of my mother-in-law.
7. Do you prefer doing things alone or with a companion? I didn't have brothers and sisters and I'm used to doing things alone. But ever since I met my husband, I learned to enjoy doing things with him!
8. Have you ever sacrificed something for the sake of a loved one? Hmm.. I don't remember
9. Do you enjoy karaoke nights? Yes! I'm a frustrated singer!
10. What is your favorite movie? I have tons. One of which is My Bestfriend's Wedding.
11. What is the biggest life goal you want to accomplish? To attain and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

My uber random questions for the nominees:

1. What is the name of your blog and why did you choose it?
2. What is your pet peeve?
3. What is your favorite childhood memory?
4. If you were to choose a career other than what you have right now, what would it be?
5. What is your dream vacation?
6. Name the title of your favorite book.
7. What makes you sad?
8. Do you believe in ghosts?
9. Do you like singing in the shower?
10. Name three things in your bucket list.
11. What do you like most about blogging?

To my nominees, please bear with my random questions. Hope you'll have fun answering them! :)

Blog Lovin!

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Isdaan Floating Restaurant, Tarlac

Last weekend, hubby and I went on a road trip to Baguio. Since we both have been there, we decided to have a laid back itinerary. We did not plan anything, and we just took it one day at a time. We travelled by car which is also great because we were free to stop anytime, plus, we did not worry about carrying the lot of pasalubongs we bought.

We made our first stop in Tarlac. We decided to try out this place called Isdaan floating restaurant.  Although the resto serves Filipino food, it has a Balinese feel to it.

Isdaan Floating Restaurant

We were led to a hut directly across the famous "tacsiyapo", which I will discuss later on. I liked the hut, it sat beside a pond which had lots of kois swimming around. All the huts had white draperies which I found very romantic. Since we arrived there at about 9am, the only food available on the menu were the breakfast items. I got the lechon kawali in adobo rice while hubby got liempo in adobo rice.

The huts!

They also instructed us to just hit a switch if we need anything and opposite the switch was a red light (more like a siren). Which makes sense, because there were a lot of huts and they were far apart. There was also a band that went to every hut to serenade the customers.

Talk about customer care!

Our meals were served on a banana leaf with tomatoes and eggs.  The servings were huge and I liked the presentation. However, I was disappointed because my lechon kawali was a bit hard and our sunny side-ups were dry that it seemed like they weren't newly cooked. My hubby said that our dishes tasted the same. Maybe because they're both pork and we both had adobo rice. When I tried his dish, I did not taste the  smoked flavor of grilled pork. I was also looking for that garlic-y flavor of the adobo rice but it wasn't there. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience of eating surrounded by the water and all the fishes and I really loved the ambiance.

They taste the same!

After eating, we went around the place and we found out that there were a lot of sights to see. There were mini parks,  fun statues that you could take pictures with and mini-games for kids and families. 

Goofing around with the Obamas.

We were also able to try the "tacsiyapo". According to the staff, it means "bwiset" in tagalog. What you do is you choose from the items they have ranging from P18.00 for the mugs and plates to P2,000 for a TV. But you won't be bringing your purchase home, rather, you will aim on the  painted  words in the wall, throw the item and yell "tacsiyapo!".  It's a fun activity and something worth a try. 

Tacsiyapo!

Fun games for kids and families

I would definitely go back to this place, probably with my family. Next time though, I will make it a point to arrive at lunchtime so that I could try their seafood and house specialties. If you're en route to Baguio or somewhere North, this is surely a nice place to stop over. 

Speaking of Baguio, I will be posting more about our trip soon. :)

Ciao for now,

Miss speaks

Easy Hoisin Chicken Lettuce wrap

 I got this Hoisin sauce on sale (from P74.50 to P57.50) a few months ago while shopping in Hi-Top and I haven't had the chance to use it until now. The recipe that I will share to you today is not only healthy, but it is so easy to make.

Easy Hoisin chicken lettuce wrap

Yummy and healthy!

Cooking time: 10 mins

What you will need:

1. Half a kilo of chicken fillet, cut into cubes or strips

2. Iceberg or romaine lettuce
3. 1 can of sliced mushrooms

4.  4-5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
5. 1 onion minced
6. 4 cloves of garlic minced
7. 3 tablespoons of grated ginger
8. Chili flakes (optional)
9. Spring onions chopped
10. 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

How to do it:

Wash the lettuce and set aside.

Place chicken fillet on a heated pan and saute. Once the chicken becomes opaque, add in soy sauce. Let it simmer for  a couple of minutes. After that, you can now add the mushrooms, onions, garlic and ginger.  Saute until ingredients are well mixed and the onions become transparent. Pour 4-5 tablespoons of hoisin sauce and stir until chicken is well-coated.  Then you can add the chili flakes. Let it stay for about 3 minutes to allow the flavors to blend in.  Add spring onions just before you remove it from heat.

Serve with the lettuce and enjoy!

Try it now!

I eat it like samgyeopsal. I wrap it in lettuce and eat them with my bare hands. My hubby likes it with rice. Either way it’s still good!  I think it's a great way to get kids eat veggies.

Try it now and tell me what you think! :)

Ciao for now,

Miss speaks

I dig sisig!

I arrive home from work usually at 7pm and easy to prepare meals are so important to me. Although I prepare cooked meals on weekends that we store in the fridge and re-heat once in a while, sometimes, I get tired of the usual ulam that I cook. Especially now that I'm just starting to learn how to cook and there's not a lot of recipes that I know yet. Today, I will show you how I cook one of our favorites, the monterey sisig.

De lata no more!

What you need to prepare:

onions chopped
crushed chicharon (optional)
1 egg
Estimated cooking time: 20 minutes

How to cook:

Pour in the thawed sisig on a heated pan with no oil. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. While simmering, you will notice that the sisig will release some oil. What I do is I remove the excess oil from the sisig. 

I remove the excess oil while simmering

Mix in the chopped onions and let the onion cook. After a few minutes, add the egg.

You can also add in chopped siling haba (the green one) to add a bit of color and spice. Unfortunately I didn't have one in the house.

Package insert says to add 1 medium sized chopped onion, but I put in 2 medium sized onions.

  Top the dish with crushed chicharon to have a crunchy texture, and it is ready to eat.

Yummy sisig! This can serve up to 3-4 persons.

Try it now!

Amazing (?) Aloha

When I was a kid, I always had 'pasalubong' from my dad everytime he goes home from work. Yes, I'm a -what you would call- a daddy's girl. He always spoils me with pasalubongs. Anyway, there were two things that I would always request for: 1) jolly hotdog or 2) amazing aloha. Either one of these should be coupled with a peach mango pie. Which I remember at that time, is half as big as its current size.

Unfortunately, amazing aloha did not stay long on the menu unlike the jolly hotdog and the peach mango pie. It was removed from the market at that time, returned after a few years (with Sam Milby as the endorser), and again, it was gone.

And now, it is making a huuuge comeback, literally! It's now made even bigger with two patties! Now this, I gotta try.

It's back! The all new amazing aloha, priced at Php99.00 solo and Php135.00 value meal. Burger bought at Jollibee Centris

 As advertised, the burger has two beef patties sandwiched between Jollibee's signature soft buns.

Looking inside though,  I was disappointed when I saw that the pineapple was rather pale. In addition, the honey mustard sauce was scanty. What used to be bacon strips were now replaced with bacon "bits".

Where's the bacon, honey?

The factors mentioned above made a big impact to the aloha's taste. The ingredients did not blend in well together, probably because there ain't too much dressing. I did not even feel the presence of the bacon. Unlike before, when the smoked flavor of the bacon was still lingering even after I finished the burger. The pale pineapple did not have much flavor to it.

The pineapple gave the burger an interesting texture, but it did not add much to the flavor.

In conclusion, I would have preferred the old and original recipe, made with a more flavorful pineapple and bacon strips. After all, these are what makes it "amazing aloha" right?


Ciao for now,

Miss speaks

Misspeaks: About food

Welcome to Misspeaks! Join me as I check out different food finds in the metro: whether it be a dish from your favorite fast food, a serving from a fancy restaurant or a new product from the supermarket, these will all be subjected to rigorous taste tests. As I mentioned in my blog description, I am a picky eater. I usually stick to "tried and tested" restaurants and this venture is a new thing for me. But since I love food, I am willing to try everything (well, I guess except for that one thing I really hate - see below) to share this passion to everyone.  

This blog will also feature some of the places I have traveled to and the delectable local cuisines that they offer. 

Here's a little bit of info about me:

 

Occasionally, I will have a special someone do food reviews with me:

He didn't want his picture taken so I made a cartoon-ified Mr. speaks from an app called imadeface. Try it and create a cartoon version of yourself. :) You can download this on the appstore.

 

Mr. speaks and I have been together for a long time but there are some things - especially on food - that we don’t agree much on. For example, I like yogurt and sushi but he doesn't. He's fond of sweets, cookies and chocolates, but I just can't bear too much of those. It's an interesting match indeed! Given our different preferences, we hope to bring you a different flavor to your usual food reviews! :)

Watch out for my first food review! This will be about a fast food favorite that is making a huge comeback!

Ciao for now,

Miss speaks