THE MANILA FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL 2013: CHEF ROBBY GOCO OF CYMA RESTAURANT TAKES ON THE ORANGE TRUCK WITH ITALIAN PORCHETTA AT THE FOOD TRUCK CHALLENGE

Sinfully filling: Chef Robby's Porchetta is such a MASTERPIECE!

Chef Robby Goco of CYMA Restaurant (Greek Taverna) joins the very first Food Truck Challenge at the upcoming Manila Food and Wine Festival from February 22 to 25 2013 to be held at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, Block 12. Chef Robby along with other celebrity guests will be preparing sumptuous dishes with different twists. Foodies, gourmets and gourmands around the corner of this town will certainly be delighted as these chefs take on the challenge where creativity meets deliciously prepared foods on the Food Truck Challenge.

 For this special event, just for a change, Chef Robby introduces the concept of gourmet street food with his Italian specialty. Chef Robby will present his take on Porchetta--more popularly known as "Italian Pulled Pork" made of savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian Culinary tradition, spiced with garlic, rosemary, fennel and other secret herbs.

Chef Robby puts some twist into this Italian dish by using the Fiesta favorite Lechon, spiced and dressed with caramelized onions or shallots and wild arugula to suit the Filipino palate. To enjoy this Porchetta more, customers can add fried eggs on top of these deliciously filled hefty sandwiches that's sure to be enough for your lunch or dinner. An order of porchetta is enough to be shared by four because it's really huge in servings and size.

Deliciously filling and really tasty Lechon in this Porchetta.

"This version of Porchetta in a way brings together two worlds of culinary tradition--the Italian spiced pulled pork in a sandwich and Filipino's all-time fiesta favorite lechon. We serve Porchetta in a freshly baked bun with potato wedges to make it a complete sandwich meal that is very tasty and filling," said Chef Robby. 'We know how Filipinos love lechon, the Porchetta now comes another way for us to enjoy our lechon, " adds Chef Robby.

The Porchetta with its wild arugula filling.

As a food blogger, I had been one of the first few lucky ones who were able to try eating the Porchetta and I must say that this sandwich is literally bursting with flavors. It had everything you'll ever wanted to have: it could be sweet, sour, salty, bitter and even the umami taste falls off in every bite of this ciabatta sandwich with porchetta and wild arugula filling. Yes, it's like a rollercoaster of flavors on your tongue that pretty excites your tastebuds. No worries though because the wild arugula does seem to balance off the flavors as its cleans your palate. And it goes pretty fun trying to mix and match the porchetta with its different dips and sauces that goes along with each order--there's an aoili dressing, a roasted eggplant and red bell pepper based sauce, verde sauce (made up of parsley and coriander) and liver sauce. So in the end, this porchetta sandwich can either be spicy, subtle, sweet or salty--it all depends on how you mix and match the sauces that goes with it. But the porchetta filling in itself could be so addicting that you'll certainly come back and ask for more!

The Verde sauce that complements the flavor of the Porchetta.

Don't mistake this porchetta dish as somewhat similar to pritchon. The similarity ends with lechon being the filling. The crisp and crunchy lechon bites and the tangy sweet taste complements the sourness of the ciabatta bread. It's like giving customers a surprise--like opening a present on your birthday--the more you bite into the bread, the more it gets better in taste. I am terribly sorry that my photos doesn't seem to do justice for the Porchetta's taste. But to imagine its taste, just think of Cebu's finest lechon only this time it's herbed,  in a crusty ciabatta bread with sweet shallots or caramelized onion and on a bed of green salad (remember the wild arugula leaves). I could not simply explain how good it is. But it is the best tasting sandwich I had ever tasted in my entire life. You may forget everything I ever wrote about sandwiches here, but not Chef Robby's Porchetta. It'll surely be a hit among lechon-loving Filipinos.

The Italian Pulled Pork in all its glory.

 I wish No Reservations' Anthony Bourdain could also try to taste this Porchetta.  I'm sure since he loved Cebu's lechon, he'd definitely loved this dish as well.  The Porchetta, served as the Italian Roast Pork Sandwich, will be Chef Robby's offering at his Orange Truck at the Food Truck Challenge, which will be the kick-off events of The Manila Food and Wine Festival 2013. The Food Truck Challenge will pit some of the best Filipino chefs to test their culinary prowess, skill and food creativity.

Chef Robby gamely shows off The Italian Pulled Pork.

The Manila Food and Wine Festival 2013 carries the theme Cooking Revolution and is geared towards positioning Filipinos as the Global Culinary Revolutionists. It is only in the philippines where every other person you meet either cooks great food, peddles amazing dishes or loves great treats with or without occasions to speak of.

The Manila Food and Wine Festival 2013 is spearheaded by the Culinary Education Foundation founded by Annie Pascual-Guerrero.

When you go to The Manila Food and Wine Festival, don't forget to drop by The Orange Truck where you could eat Chef Robby Goco's Porchetta on Ciabatta with gusto. I assure you guys that you'll definitely love it!

Let's all support Chef Robby and his amazing Porchetta! Sinfully satisfying and you'll never go "umay", (read: tired of eating it.) I could vouch for Porchetta's taste--so fork tender and truly filling. It's a foodie's dream come true.

Tickets for Chef Robby 's Porchetta can be purchased online and on-site. Please visit www.mfwf.ph for more info on how to buy tickets. Be at the Manila food and Wine Festival 2013 in orange to avail exciting freebies! Online ticket is sold at P250, on-site ticket is at P350. 


Security Blanket thanks Ms. Lynda Consigo, Outbound PR, Cyma Restaurant and Chef Robby Goco. 

Disclaimer: I am not compensated for this post. Opinions expressed are 100% my own.

A whole lot of lovin’ from Britain’s best loved biscuits

Giving “sweet somethings” may be the usual thing to do during Valentine’s Day. But when you give a gift of sweets to your loved one or special someone on Hearts Day, it doesn't have to be always something decadent and sinful.

Why not offer him or her something that's tasty and tummy-filling without all the transfat and sugar? In short, it should be healthy and good for the heart.

The McVitie’s Digestives, Britain's best-loved biscuits, is a delicious wheat biscuit made using a traditional recipe and is generally considered as the perfect partner for a great cup of British tea.

Made from a blend of wheat flour and wholemeal, McVitie’s Digestives have all the goodness of wheat, and does not contain any artificial flavors or colors and definitely no hydrogenated fat.

This coming Valentine’s Day, give a gift that is good for the heart of your sweetheart or the one you love the most. You can definitely go for the McVitie's Original Digestives or the Wholewheat Digestives, which contain sunflower oil.

If you are someone who enjoys biscuits in its purest sense, you can opt for McVitie’s Original Digestives, which is made using the same recipe blending wheat and wholemeal flour into a fine Digestive since 1892 but with 30 percent less fat! Each biscuit only contains 65 kcal (kilocalories), which means fewer calories than those found in a banana.

Now if you’re into something healthy and would like your loved one to remain healthy as well through a richer fiber intake in the diet, try the McVitie’s Wholewheat Digestives. By being made with 69% wholemeal wheat flour, this biscuit offers a tasty and delicious way to maintain you and your loved one’s Digestive system’s health.

However, for those who cannot resist the temptation of showing how sweet they are by giving something indulgent or decadent on Valentine’s Day, which is usually associated with chocolates, try the McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestives, which is covered in delicious milk chocolate.

Here’s one bit of trivia: did you know that 75 million packets of McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestives are eaten each year, for an amazing 52 biscuits per second?

McVitie’s Dark Chocolate Digestives, on the other hand, is a mouth-watering combination of strong, almost bitter cocoa flavor of dark chocolate with the sweet crumble of the Digestive. For those with an adventurous palate that’s willing to try out everything, then McVitie’s Dark Chocolate Digestives is the treat for you.

Still confused on what to get? Get all four and show your true love how much you love him or her. After all, as they say, the nearest way to a man’s (or even a woman’s) heart is through the stomach.

McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits are available in leading supermarkets nationwide.

For more about the McVitie’s Digestives range of products and other information, go to http://www.mcvities.com or http://www.facebook.com/McVitiesDigestives.

MR. UBE NOODLE HOUSE: EXPERIENCE AUTHENTIC CHINESE DISHES

Manila Chinatown welcomes its guests

When it comes to delicious Chinese dishes, Ongpin Street in Chinatown packs a delectable punch.  After all, Binondo still had that best-kept foodie secrets and undeniable charm. Honestly speaking, each time I crave for authentic Chinese cuisine, I used to travel all the way from my place in Quezon City to Chinatown just to satisfy my cravings at Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House. 

 Back in 2006 when I first discovered about this hole-in-the-wall establishment with my late Godfather Nomer who accompanied me on my own Binondo Food Walk adventure, I stumbled upon Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House because of my love for the color purple. Weird as it is, but I love all things in purple (that’s why it happened to be the name of my main blog called Purple Plum Fairy—which you guys can check out on http://www.purpleplumfairy.blogspot.com). So when I saw the bright purple signage on Mr. Ube’s Rice and Noodle House, I decided to get inside their automatic glass door.
 

The house Specialty: Mr. Ube's Go Kong Soup or Soup #5

The author's fave: Mr. Ube Lechon Macau

 I instantly fell in love with Mr. Ube’s Rice and Noodle House’s Lechon Macau rice meal—which I enjoy pairing up with kiampung rice (I swear, they have one of the best Kiampung!). Treat yourself with Kiampung – sticky brown rice laced with minced pork, spring onions and generous sweet shallots that seemed to melt in your mind.

Beef Wanton Noodle soup is perfect for a comforting meal

 Pretty soon, I was also able to convert my family and they too had instantly become Mr. Ube fans. In fact, my then five-year-old nephew Kyle even preferred to celebrate his Kindergarten graduation at Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House in that part of Chinatown in 2006. We didn’t mind traveling all the way to Binondo just so we could get our taste of their Chinese fare.

So affordable menu offerings for customers.

 For an avid Mr. Ube fan (I’m thankful when they’ve finally opened a branch in E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, near St. Luke’s Medical Center—one jeepney ride away from me!), receiving an invite for a bloggers date with Mr. Ube was really something. It’s been almost ten years since I came across that now familiar restaurant and it’s such a great privilege on my part to get to know the man behind Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House.  By the way, Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House is from the same company behind Chuankee, Café Mezzanine, Eng Bee Tin, Hopia King etc.

Sweet and sour pork with Jasmine rice

Crunchy and flavorful yet tender Fried Chicken

Sweet and tasty Wintermelon Juice.

Mr. Ube and Eng Bee Tin's Main guy, owner Mr. Gerry Chua

 “Our vision is to serve filling and good food at reasonable prices,” says Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House owner, Mr. Gerry Chua.  “Anyone can come here.”

His secret ingredient for success, “Customers only look for four things when it comes to food and eating out: Masarap, malinis, marami at mura,” shares Mr. Chua. (delicious, clean, generous servings and cheap).

Soya drink from Mr. Ube

The colorful yet purple yam interiors are very relaxing.

 Serving up a symphony of flavors and spices from Asia, Mr. Ube has an extensive noodles’ menu sure to please the Asian fusion fan: Singaporean Laksa, Thai Tom Yum to Japanese Shoyu.  Mr. Ube’s dishes are authentic yet fresh so patrons can enjoy a variety of unique dishes.

Other dishes gathering raves aside from our personal favorite, Lechon Macau are Wok-fried radish cakes, steamed pork, shrimp or fish dumplings and noodle dishes made fresh daily, diners are sure to enjoy mouth – watering meals here.

Another house specialty is the Go Kong Noodle, with five kinds of herbs and five different components such as pork’s intestines, tito, chicken, spear ribs, and pork tendons.  Better known as Soup #5, it’s believed to be an aphrodisiac by most Filipino-Chinese but it really had a tasty broth with melt-in-your-mouth meats.

Mr. Ube recently introduced their own version of garlic-fried chicken – guests can feast endlessly on the succulent meat and crispy skin.  Fried crispy noodles with assorted seafood and vegetables also made it to my list of the must-try.

Diners can take home delicious tikoy, hopia, mochi-hopia and other scrumptious snacks and authentic home cooking ingredients from Mr. Ube Noodle House.  Different flavors of hopia, ampao, tikoy, fresh noodles and other Chinese delicacies are all available.

Mr. Ube doesn’t use MSG (monosodium glutamate) and portion of the products purchased goes directly to its owner, Gerry Chua’s outreach programs such as TXTFIRE program, which will surely benefit others.

I’d have to say that after more than a decade, Mr. Ube’s favorite meals was able to maintain their taste and has remained affordable, making loyal customers like me extremely happy.

 Mr. Ube Rice and Noodle House are located in three branches (but sorry I don’t have the address of their Pasig branch):

Binondo Branch

707 imperial Sky Garden, Ongpin, Binondo, Manila

Tel. Nos: 241-9999 or 288-8888 loc. 131

E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue Quezon City Branch

284 E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon City

Across St. Luke’s Medical Center

Tel. Nos: 722-4505

Security Blanket thanks Ms. Ana Bautista, Mr. Gerry Chua and Ms. Jenny Tan.

Disclaimer: I am not compensated for this post. Opinions expressed are 100% my own. 

Max’s Corner Bakery’s Ensaimadas make Max’s Merienda Mixes More Special

 

Max’s Restaurant and its bakeshop brand Max’s Corner bakery have whipped up the most  and delectable for all Filipinos for their merienda treats.

Among the many treats that Max’s Corner Bakery offers are the cake rolls, cheese rolls, and the quintessential Filipino merienda pastry, Ensaimada. A household merienda staple, Ensaimada has become a Filipino favorite. The soft and fluffy ensaimada has found a niche in the merienda habits of Filipinos throughout the years. Merienda lovers young and old have enjoyed the sweet and light pastry for many years now. The simple yet very delectable sugary treat evokes a certain sense of nostalgia and comfort with every bite. And with Max’s Corner Bakery’s new take on this wonderful treat, everyone will sure ask for more.

 

Taking a cue from the Filipinos’ love for ensaimadas, Max’s Merienda Mixes 2 will feature the latest Ensaimada flavors from Max’s Corner Bakery, most notably the newest appetizing flavor, Yema. Diners will now have a chance to sample these flavors paired with the merienda staples offered at all Max’s Restaurant Branches. “We at Max’s were all so thrilled and happy with the success that the Merienda Mixes enjoyed last year. It was such a validating experience for us and especially for Max’s Corner Bakery, that our baked goods are just as good, or even better than those that Filipinos have been used to having.” Rey Marc San Juan, Max's International Marketing, Ad and Promo Manager shared. “This year, we are proud to introduce a new line of scrumptious Ensaimada flavors that our diners will surely love. Our diners can count on freshly baked goods from Max’s Corner Bakery to be made with love. Always” San Juan added.

There will surely be something for everybody in Max’s Merienda Mixes. And what better way to start your merienda than with a delectable ensaimada? Diners can start their mixing and matching by choosing one Ensaimada variant from Max’s Corner Bakery. These sumptuous variants include Cheese, Ube, Mongo, or the new variant that will surely tickle the fancy of merienda lovers, Yema. Diners can then choose to pair the Ensaimada offering with any Max’s classic merienda favorites: Pancit Luglug, Pancit Canton or the triple chocolate Champorado. Diners can finish off their mix with their choice of drink: a single serving of steaming Brewed Coffee, a glass of cold and sweet Sago’t Gulaman or any refreshing Pepsi Product. Everyone will surely love these merienda treats made more special and appetizing by Max’s Corner Bakery’s luscious ensaimadas. Absolutely everyone can enjoy these treats for just P95!

“We at Max’s understand that merienda is really part of the Filipinos’ eating habits. We know that we enjoy and savor our merienda time that’s why we are really proud of our Merienda Mixes. We offer our customers value for their money with our merienda offerings and we can assure them that this will continue to be one of our commitments to our customers.” San Juan further added.

Merienda enthusiasts can start enjoying this special offering starting January 15, from 2-6 pm in any of your favorite Max’s Restaurants all over the Philippines. So head on now to any Max’s Restaurant to enjoy their newest merienda offerings with your family, friends, and just about anybody who wants to enjoy great merienda for a reasonable price. With so many wonderful choices, you’re sure to find the perfect mix for you!