BUDDY'S

It is such a YAP sacrilege that I haven't posted anything about the restaurant that TRULY bought us together...(have you heard that before already??)

Drumroll please... BUDDY'S!!!

Yub and I always ate here when we were still going steady. Before, i think we had stomachs like wolves because we could finish a whole plate of sisig, two cups of rice, and a heaping platter of their saucy PANCIT LUCBAN!

Yub introduced me to this restaurant then and we have been regulars ever since....

I think, nauseating as it may be, that with just one bite of their pansit lucban, I was smitten by the Mark Anthony Fernandez lookalike... He's a Filipino actor just in case you do not know him. 

See the resemblance to my better half? He he he he! (Photo grabbed from the internet)

                           

Ha ha ha ha! I guess I got a preview of life with that YAP after getting a taste of BUDDIES... 

Simple, colorful, filipino, and TASTY!!!

BUDDY'S!!!

This famous franchise originated in Quezon Province -- the source of MANY filipino wonders which have probably found its way into your tastebuds one way or the other (e.g. Pancit Lucban, Longganisang Lucban, Pansit Habhab... and so so much more).

We just had a 3 hour travel from Lucena, Quezon Province! Even if we already came from the land where it hailed from, we still dropped by BUDDY'S to get a taste of their version of Pancit Lucban which we missed in Lucena! Why? Because we ate in Palaisdaan, GROUND ZERO, Hacienda Inn, Antigua, and SO much more!

When we were still going out, we used to frequent their small branch in the insides of Makati City. Now, they have 2 branches in the heart of Makati and now we decided to go the new BUDDY'S in Kalayaan street!

It was still Christmas in BUDDY'S and Andrei cannot get enough of hugging Santa Claus. Isn't his look priceless? Andrei's I mean.

By the way, "Santa" is actually one of the wait staff there in BUDDY'S. I wonder how he could hold that pose for the whole day. Tsk tsk tsk! Tee hee!

Filipino comfort food at its finest! (Clockwise from left to right - Macaroni Salad, Cassava Cake, Halo Halo, Pork Barbecue, and Cheese burger...

Cheeseburger?! Ah... Well it includes cucumbers and banana ketchup so it may be more suited for the Filipino taste)

Looking around  BUDDY'S you will see pictures of the special sites in Quezon Province. 

If I suddenly seem to look like Mount Mayon, you are wrong. Mount Mayon is NOT in Quezon Province. He he he!

Want some Halo Halo by the way? Tikim na ("Have some!"). My face is not included in the package though...

When you're hungry, you get delusional and silly. Yup. 

Let us EAT!

BUDDY'S Pizza Supreme (Small 125.00 Medium 225.00 Large 355.00)!!

My husband has a very snooty taste... in reverse! He would only eat pizza and pasta if it had that sweet tomato flavor. The authentic tangy sauce by the Italians is a no no for him (go figure). With BUDDY'S pizza, he was happy that they were able to get the Filipino sauce that he liked. He could chomp on these bad boys all night if given the chance!

Apparently my little Mati will do the same too. The difference between he and his Daddy is that little Mati is now MORE of a foodie! You should have seen him attack the BUDDY'S pizza and then some!!

Sniff sniff... I'm such a proud mom...

Up next on our table is our favorite. You CANNOT possibly have  a meal and not order this in BUDDY'S. 

The scrumptious...

The deeelicious...

the saucy...

BUDDY'S PANCIT LUCBAN (P175.00)! The hot off the pan noodles are served on a banana leaf then topped with crunchy fried pork. 

It definitely does NOT get more perfect than that!

Once you mix it, BUDDY'S Pancit Lucban glistens with the oils and sweet/salty sauce that your taste buds will thank you for. I do not mind slurping on this with my rice. YUP! It is THAT flavorful! Such a meal in one plate!!!!

My husband says he usually eats this on a banana leaf and just SLURPS this! No utensils needed. Just your good old vacuum powered mouths!

If we are used to dousing our noodles with calamansi or lemon, the wise people in Quezon Province would use vinegar on their pancit lucban! Don't be shocked! I actually love doing it as well! The acidity of the vinegar combats the strong flavors of the sauce and the fried pork. I in turn would add some raw chili's on my vinegar for that extra kick and excitement. Wapaaaaaaaaaw! (karate chop!)

You should also try BUDDY'S Sizzling Pork Sisig with Egg (P95.00). If you would like to add more fat and protein in your dinner at BUDDY'S then this is the strong candidate for you. You got everything here! Poultry (egg), Pork (sisig), Carbs (plain rice with the meal) and.... a whole fiesta of flavors!!!

Their sisig though is not the usual dish which you are used to in restaurants such as Trellis, Gerrys, or Gilligans... It is more saucy than crunchy! But I love  their version too because I just mix it with my steaming hot rice for an instant filipino styled "bibimbap"! He he he he!

Every small bit of meat is enough to give that hunger to reach out for some more. SO perfect with hot rice! YUM!

You could add chili sauce here too! I certainly did!

(Hysterically) My plate... my wonderful plate!!!!

My little Andrei loves his Daddy!

Check out how Andrei put everything in his mouth...

Does Andrei remind you here of ZOOLANDER? 

"Zoolander :  I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking!"

After taking pictures and feeding Andrei, it is time for me to eat... FINALLY!

Let me start off with some BUDDY'S pizza as well!

Open wide....

Check out my plate... Carbo loading at its finest. Rice and Pancit..... NIIIIIICE!

My husband is starting to sweat at this time from eating all that food!

BUDDY'S Pizza... gone in a jiffy...

On my way to finishing my BUDDY'S plate of gloriousness!

Sisig : Mati... eat me... 

Oops... Sorry Mati! But as  loving Mom, I got that last spoonful of BUDDY'S sisig since I wanted something to put hot sauce on....

And in no time... we were done!

Burp! 

Since it is cheap, our wallets are happy...

Since everything tasted delicious, our tummies are ecstatic...

Since we ate at restaurant specializing in their food, the Quezon Province peeps are honored... 

...and since we ate at his multi-ultimo favorite, my husband will DEFINITELY sleep with an overjoyed smile on his face....

(Mark Anthony Fernandez photo grabbed from the net - GMA network)

... something similar to THIS. 

2 Thumbs up while sleeping too! Ha ha ha ha!

BUDDYS

2948 Pililla Street 

Corner Kalayaan Avenue 

1200 Makati Metro Manila .

MASUKI

When we have balikbayans over, I do not take them to classy restaurants which I'm sure they could have in their country. What I always do is take them to restos that would give them a trip down to memory lane. So when Tita Carol (my Dad's eldest sister) came by, I was really planning on taking her to MA MON LUK in Binondo, but since it was sooo far away, we just went to the next best thing... MASUKI -- the cleaner and healthier version of MA MON LUK! The kids really loved MASUKI because I told them it was PO'S noodle house from KUNG FU PANDA. He he he!!! ALL MY SCHEMING worked at the end of the night... hot bowls of noodles, meaty siopao, plus reminiscing about the good ol days! He he he! Everybody had a grand time!!! :)

Some points to remember...

You may proceed reading if:

a) You do not have an aversion to the smell of wet socks...

b) You're willing to paralyze your sense of smell because of letter a) since you're such a FOODIE!!!

Ready?

Here we go... MASUKI!!!

The meynuh! 

Food in MASUKI is simple, satisfying, and VERY affordable!!!! If you're a noodle addict like me, you could have this every single day!

Their soup also smells like wet socks... har de har! But it's kinda worth it... until you go on a date then that'll be a disaster. 

Thor :  "Your smell... I DON'T LIKE IT... gimme ANOTHER girl!!!" 

Har de har har!

I kept little Mati and Andrei busy by bringing some crayons and their coloring books. If not for this, they would be ransacking the whole restaurant like what Godzilla does in the metro.

Oh and they yell the same way Godzilla does.

Kidding! He he he he! But whatever noise they make, it is always music to my ears. 

He he he he!

So with this, it is all piece and quiet. We don't want to disturb the other diners as well!

It's a full house tonight!

My Ate Jit and Tita Carol! Doesn't my auntie look like Tita Duran? For some of you who are not familiar with TITA DURAN, she's the Sampaguita actress who is also the mother of Francis M and the wife of Pancho Magalona.

SHUT UP I'm not THAT old! I just love watching classic movies! Ha ha ha ha!

First to touchdown our table is MASUKI'S WANTON PLATE (P130.00). Each wanton was steamed perfectly and very meaty to the bite!! I would love to have another round of this if I only I had extra room in my tummy. 

Too bad when we ate there, they do not have the usual chili garlic oil in dimsum houses. The oil would have been perfect with the wantons. BUT STILL, we enjoyed this wanton dish even with just MASUKI's chili sauce.

YUM!

Is it just me or our expressions in this picture kinda creepy?

Caption this! Here are the nominees...

1) "Our futile attempt to act sweet".

2) "Ericjaz Foodies with tinga at the side of our mouths"

3) "HHUTTBDMSK - Holding Hands Under The Table But Di Magpahalata Sa Kasama"

4) "I'm constipated and I know it"

ANYWHOO...

Getting ready to dig in to the food...

... Andrei however focused on just having some sauce. 

Matipid na date to.

... and finally our steaming hot ginormous bowl of  SPECIAL ORIGINAL MAMI (P95.00)

I tell you, there may be other cleaner and much pleasant (to the nose) chinese noodles out there but it is ONLY going to be MASUKI or MA MON LUK for me.

Not only do they have the chewiest and tastest noodles out there but a trip to MASUKI is like a time machine for me. I would remember my Dad going home on rainy nights bringing us hot packs of Ma Mon Luk (now MASUKI) noodles.

For some odd reason, his number of take outs are NEVER enough and us 4 siblings would fight over the noodles and siopao like cavemen.

Good thing I have a big forehead. I could just bonk my Kuya's and Ate. BUT I was not able to since my Mom does not tolerate the younger kids fighting with the older ones. 

Even for food Mommy??? Yeeesh!

LET'S EAT!

BUT before you dig in, do NOT forget to spoon over several dollops of their heavenly siopao sauce on your soup... YUP you saw that right. 

MASUKI's legendary siopao sauce is like me... It makes EVERYTHING better...

Oops... did you just bash the monitor in your violent reaction?

Seriously, you cannot experience a true MASUKI meal without putting siopao sauce on their noodles, their soup, heck I even mixed this with their chili sauce to dip my wanton in. It's THAT good and you will be sorry if you do not follow this golden rule. 

That's why when I order MASUKI noodles for take out I request for BAGFULS of this siopao sauce. The waiters would often give me questioning looks as if I have my own siopao joint. 

Aaaah! NOODLES!

Yub is going to slurp away!

I did tell you that Mati is turning into a real foodie right? My little guy also has this HU-UUGE appetite. He insisted on having this big bowl all to himself. Jeez I get full just by looking at it.

Me thinks that it also has something to do with Mati's favorite movie Kung Fu Panda. When I watch that movie with him, I imagine they are eating MASUKI noodles as well! Tee hee!

Ahem... Ms. Photographer! It would have helped if you told us that you were going to take a picture na. 

Unless you love looking at my dry hair...

Sluuuurp!!!!!

Even if we have an angel (aka yaya) with us, Andrei would only eat if I was the one who will feed him. So even if Yub and I want to sit together for some HHUTTBDMSK (refer above for the meaning), we cannot do it because Andrei would sit in the middle.

It's okay. Don't you think he's the CUTEST little patootie there is????

Oops paparazzi!

You would know based on this picture who loves having pictures taken... ha ha ha ha!

Mati slurping away!

Mati oblivious to his crazy Mommy!

Of course, I will save the best for last... MASUKI's SIOPAO! It would be dreadful to have all that siopao sauce without the siopao right?

What I usually do is this... sip some soup.... fork in some noodles in your mouth ... take a huuuge chunk of that siopao.... choke... then have something cold like Coke Zero or water.

Believe me, you will be in Cloud 9... Nirvana... Heaven... afterwards... 

FIGURATIVELY though.

Check out Mati stealing a glance at me while I steal some noodles from his bowl!

This is what you may call the MOM REFLEX. 

Why is it that when we feed our kids, we would automatically open our mouth's wide while they are about to take in a spoonful of the food? Why? Why? Why?

That's what happened here....

... and THIS is what got my angel (aka yaya) fired.

KIDDING! HA HA HA HA!

Empty bowls and empty tables... tee hee!

Some may complain that MASUKI serves a cleaner version of the classic Ma Mon Luk (yes... true foodies would understand how the original smellier one is the better), or that preparation of the food is unsanitary. 

But one thing will remain for me...

MASUKI serves great bowls of noodles and no huffing or puffing from other peeps will change our minds about it. 

And I'm sure... thousands of Filipino true foodies agree with me since it will be here forever and ever and ever.......

LET'S EAT!

MASUKI MAMI RESTAURANT

931 Benavidez Street, Binondo, Manila

Tel. No. 244-07-45, 243-2674

MASUKI MAMI HOUSE

368 Sekai Center Unit 203 Ortigas Ave. cor. Madison Street,

Greenhills, San Juan

Tel # 744-27-21 or 744-27-20