BANANA LEAF CURRY (POWER PLANT MALL)

It is actually rare for my little family to go out during weekdays because not only do the boys have school but we are also trying to watch our budgets. But during the last summer vacation, we just can't help it -- the little lords are so free to stay up late that we take them with us if they wanted to!

That's why one time I asked Master Mati if he could join us for dinner. Usually, they go with their Lolo (RIP) and Lola who treat the little lords to whatever they want, every night (YES! Every night!). For our impromptu date however, I was able to entice my little foodie to some exotic Asian food at BANANA LEAF CURRY. And wow! We had such a great dinner and ate more than we should!!!!

Good thing Andrei was not with us...

Wait. Who's Andrei again???

Tee Hee! Kidding!

BANANA LEAF CURRY in Power Plant Mall!

We arrived pretty late but good thing that there was a group having a dinner party that night. At least we won't be the only ones to close down the restaurant. He he he he he he he! 

WEE NAM KEE AND THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

The little lords were SO excited for a certain movie this year and no, it's not Thor Ragnarok, Power Rangers, or 50 Shades of Blech. It's actually THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE and they were counting the days till its showing.

Why? Because..... (in a gravel voice) it's BATMAN.

So when the movie finally started showing, it was a perfect gimik for our FAMILY VALENTIMES NIGHT. The boys wasted no time too in dragging us to book tickets. We scheduled the movie on a Friday and told the little eager lords that we'll be getting the last full show.

Why last full show??? They whined.

Because we're still going to EAT and THAT is more important. Snacks and drinks in the movie are a-OK. But as our actual dinner in the theater? QUE to the HORROR.

Without missing a beat, the boys agreed to my theory like it was Einstein's law of Relativity. They got me. They really got me. And with that, we hurriedly went around Promenade, Greenhills for a place to eat. That's where we ended up in WEE NAM KEE!

It's been a while since our last meal in WEE NAM KEE but it's one of the restaurants that has always been so "sulit" with me. The price is always affordable and the food delishes -- it's where I first encountered the famous Hainanese Chicken too.

So YAY! We were a happy group that night. We had our ideal FAMILY VALENTIMES DATE with movie, dinner, and...... (in a gravel voice) BATMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

WEE NAM KEE!!!!

It was a Friday that time and WEE NAM KEE was full. Good thing we were able to get seats, PRONTO!

HEY HANDSOME

Restaurants are popping up here and there that it's so easy to get lost in the "What's what" and the "Who's who". But if you've been going online these days searching for the "next big thing" in the Metro, one name always sprouts up:

HEY HANDSOME!

Noooo, I was not calling the Chinese Dimpol over. Eeewwness. But I am just stating the restaurant that you should be trying out.

Like RIGHT NOW.

HEY HANDSOME only opened last August 2016 and the reviews are just scandalous, but in a good way! There just seems to be a lot of noise about this new hub in the Fort that serves a mix of Malaysian, Indonesian, and Chinese dishes. It is always packed and almost all of the foodies I know are just delirious with the food served.

So with that, it is just high time for me to try it out.

And yes, with a handsome Chinese guy in tow!

HEY HANDSOME!!!!

If you think the restaurant owners are just too full of themselves, overly confident, OR thinking about the Chinese Dimpol when they conceptualized this, you are soooo wrong.

This is actually a play on how hawker style restaurants would call potential customers -- sorta like "Hey Joe!" or "Hey Mister!!!". But of course, the way they do it, they put something to make the customers feel good about themselves or "kilig". He he he he he! Hence, the handsome!

If you still don't get it, the concept is like "Teh, teh bili na kayoooo" in markets or the familiar "Dibidi dibidi" if somebody is offering you, pirated movies. He he he he he he he he!

BOON TONG KEE (POWER PLANT MALL)

When we were celebrating Andrei's weeklong 8th birthday, I invited my family to have dinner and treated them to BOON TONG KEE in Power plant mall. We just came from RESORTS WORLD to watch the HI 5 concert and since we got out early, I made the impromptu birthday celebration.

What I love about impromptu family dinners is that it's an instant surefire fun night when you thought you'll be spending the weekend alone. However, since it WAS impromptu, not everyone was able to make it. Don't blame me. It's not like I did it on purpose (tee hee!). So sorry to my sister (who is still stuck at work) and my eldest brother (who does not want to go down from his "mountain"). You were spared from my treat!

Yehesss!!!! :) Oh! I mean. Awwww.... That night was awful.

Seriously though I may have to schedule another BOON TONG KEE treat for my family because my parents loved the food and gave me a strong reminder to properly invite the rest of the family next time. I promised to do so of course. I would love to treat my siblings again to the awesomeness of BOON TONG KEE!

Now it's not my fault if nobody heard me whisper "That will be next year...."

Oh I'm kidding! Tee hee!

:P

BOON TONG KEE!

BOON TONG KEE in Power Plant Mall is always full so you may want to call ahead and make reservations. 

BOON TONG KEE (PART DEUX)

It was a lucky Tuesday night for me and the Chinese Adonis because not only was I able to get out of work early ("FREEDOM!!! FREEDOM!!!!) but we received an invite to taste the new dishes from BOON TONG KEE in Quezon City! Ever since our first meal in the famous Singaporean franchise with the KTG (SEE HERE), my husband and I would frequently pig out on our favorite Hainanese Chicken and Ribs in their Powerplant Mall branch.

We already love everything the way it is... but now we get news that there would be MORE of us to love?  

A lucky Tuesday night for us indeedy!

BOON TONG KEE!!!

photo from Boon Tong Kee FB account :)

Beside the new dishes in BOON TONG KEE, the restaurant was also celebrating the visit of the man who started it all from his simple stall from 1979! Mr. THIAN BOON HUA!!! It has already been 35  years since he introduced hungry diners to his very moist but deliciously seasoned steamed chicken and now his genius is filling up our tummies with more delicious Singaporean food!

I was not able to get a picture with Mr. Hua but I was able to meet him and shake his hand. The guy was truly humble but you could see that his passion for giving us the perfect Hainanese Chicken still burns as it did 35 years ago. 

BOON TONG KEE in Tomas Morato, Quezon City was as cozy as I remembered it to be. It is actually more spacious and chic than the Powerplant Mall branch. If my mental institution in Mandaluyong (tee hee) was nearer here, the Yub and I would indulge in our Singaporean favorites in this BOON TONG KEE branch!

WEE NAM KEE

Sometime last year (try to guess when based on the length of my broomstick hair) my 2 gorgeous friends met up with little ol' me for a night of gabbin' and grubbin. My kumareng Gail and I, both very "practical" (read: stingy/"kuripot") wanted to eat somewhere where the food was good but prices cheap.

So I suggested in my alluring bedroom voice "Why not WEE NAM KEE?"

She agreed wholeheartedly (not because of my "alluring bedroom voice" which actually sounded more like Minnie Mouse's squeak) but she has read and heard about the delicious legend of WEE NAM KEE and was raring to try it. So there we went on a beautiful Friday night and we're so happy to have an awesome time helping ourselves to scrumptious Singaporean food with non-stop laughter on the side.

DUH and it's not because of my voice!

WEE NAM KEE!

BOON TONG KEE

My husband Eric (aka the Chinese stalker, aka Yub, aka "Mark Anthony Fernandez", aka "Kenneth Duremdes") and I are very much the North and South of attitudes and habits that we truly are the living testament of how "Opposite's Attract".

One of the most evident proof of how he is two steps forward while I am two steps back is the pace of our grubbin'. While my Yub almost inhales his food thru his white nostrils, I take hours almost YEARS to finish a plate.

My husband says when he loves the food so much, he eats everything in a New York minute because it is so good, he wouldn't waste another second of the grub on his plate.

For me, besides arranging the food neatly on my spoon, I like to take my time and savor everything that's going on in my mouth. Of course, since I rarely eat by myself (imaginary friends included) I chat and exchange stories with my dinner companion/s. Now that takes about an hour for appetizers?

I'm just kidding! Around 59 minutes, give or take. Tee hee!!!

Anyway, when we received an invite at the launch of BOON TONG KEE'S new branch at Tomas Morato, Quezon City, that piece of dissimilarity between me and my Yub became more evident. To think that we are faced with a tableful of platters of food which was even more delicious than the aroma it exhausted.

To say that the food in BOON TONG KEE was delicious is an understatement. My husband and I truly enjoyed our meal so much that midway he was already pushing his plate to surrender, while I was telling the dessert waitress that I was not yet finished with my food.

However, it felt like only minutes to us because of the great company and delicious food!

Hopefully, the kind people of BOON TONG KEE did not mind because we had such a good time that we closed the place down. Ha ha ha!

Oh well my husband looks like Mark Anthony Fernandez anyway...

(Yup enter irrelevant argument there... tee hee!)

BOON TONG KEE!!

 

BOON TONG KEE recently opened in Tomas Morato, Quezon City. The famed Singaporean franchise also has branches in SM Mall of Asia, Powerplant Mall, and Katipunan Quezon City!

We loved the simple interiors of BOON TONG KEE in the Tomas Morato branch. It had a lot of space and everything was just smart, casual, but had a touch of Asian beauty in every corner.

Specially this corner! It had a mini open kitchen with counter! 

I think I would like to settle on this side the next time we eat there!

Before we started the "last wish" meal in BOON TONG KEE, owners Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Joy Rodriguez gave us a gracious welcome and told us about the food to come.

Look at me listening intently and being all inquisitive. Food does that to me. If I was still in High School and this lady was a teacher, I would be like "NGOOOOOORK" in an instant.

BELIEVE me. I still have nightmares that I am still in High School or College.

Anywho....

First on the table was a small plate of pickled vegetables to get our tummies ready.

We then had BOON TONG KEE's Crispy Beancurd (P185.00). I am not really a fan of tofu since it would sometimes smell stinky or rubbery to the bite but this one I liked! It was like the Krispy Kreme of tofu because once you bite into the fried crust, a very soft pillowy custard with the flavor of your neighborhood "taho" will greet HELLO!!

Dip it into the green tea mayo for an extra level of flavor. Oh yes. Mayo just makes everything better. 

Up next was BOON TONG KEE's Prawn Toast (P275.00)! 

I have tried other prawn toasts but BOON TONG KEE's version is the best for me. The prawns were just bunched up and compacted into that wee crunchy toast that one bite is extra seafood, every time!!! Don't forget the green tea mayo! It did add a certain zing to that already flavorful appetizer!!!

We were then served BOON TONG KEE's Poached Chinese Spinach with Assorted Eggs (P295.00). 

This BOON TONG KEE soup was mild but when you slurp a spoonful of the broth with the cooked spinach and choice of egg (duck egg, century egg, ordinary egg), you will certainly be helping yourself to another one. 

I loved that they served this extra piping hot that the scent of the cooked spinach with garlic just played with our hungry appetites! YUM!!!!

Hello little friends... I'll be eating you NOW.

Nothing personal. You just looked too darn good!

My husband was feeling the sniffles so he ordered the BOON TONG KEE calamansi juice. I wouldn't know how this tasted like because HE DID NOT offer me a single sip! 

If you feel like coughing tomorrow Yub, it means I am thinking about you.

Thinking about wringing your neck! HA! 

Kidding! I love you! Mwahhhh!!!!

Up next was BOON TONG KEE'S Braised Pork Belly with Bun (P325.00)!!!

Oh this was so good. Tell me that you do not feel like drooling with all that glistening beauty over there? You take one saucy slab of that pork fat and put it inside the newly steamed pork buns!

Hello pork buns!

Put the BOON TONG KEE meat inside like a sandwich!!!

... and eat it with mucho gusto!

I bet you will look MUCH better than me too!!!!

I know I said this already but I'll say it again.

Oh this was SO good. Imagine a very soft and meaty pork asado siopao.

THAT is what you'll get plus MORE.

When no one was looking, I double dipped!

Tee hee! Sorry!

We were then given a plateful of BOON TONG KEE's Fried Sambal KangKong with Cuttlefish (P295.00)!

This BOON TONG KEE dish was very rich  with the sambal sauce adding the right amount of kick!!! This just screams to be paired off with some rice.

And so we did. 

Veni, vidi, vici!

It came, we saw, WE ATE SOME RICE!

(Kidding on the last part.... tee hee)

Of course, the night would not be complete if  we did not have  BOON TONG KEE's mucho specialty, their Signature Boiled Chicken (quarter P245.00/ half P455 / whole P845.00).

This great piece of poultry was so juicy and fork tender. If I was not with anyone else here, I would have sucked the bones of this chicken dry.

Sorry Chicken Little, the world will be ending for you TONIGHT.

EVIL LAUGH! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!

The wonderful BOON TONG KEE chicken is customarily eaten with the 3 necessity of sauces (chili sauce, sweet soy sauce, and ginger oil), however, I found their Hainanese chicken already flavorful on its own. Still, you could elevate your enjoyment level up a notch by eating it with these 3 heaven sent dips!!!

Of course what is Hainanese Chicken without BOON TONG KEE's special rice to go with it?

I don't know if Johnny Midnight designed this cupful of hainanese rice but this triangle of grains sure tasted grrrreeat!!!

Now up next will be a typhoon of food! Similar to how Maring invaded the Philippines!!! They were all so DELICIOUS and MANY, that we are going to just faint from gluttony.

But we don't care... WE WILL BOON TONG KEE some more!

BOON TONG KEE's Cereal Prawns (large P655.00)

Nothing coated or oatmeal like in here. What you get are prawns with special twirls of "stringed" cereals!!! 

BOON TONG KEE's Imperial Pork Ribs (P245.00)!

These sweet tender ribs were just AWESOME. One of my favorites of the night as well!!!

 

BOON TONG KEE's Baked Prawn with Cheese (P395.00) was truly satisfying and non cloying at all. 

This oozing piece of heaven is perfect with the...

... spicy salty flavors of the BOON TONG KEE Sambal Fried Rice (P225.00)!!!

OR... you could have it with the fried buns!! It tastes divine EITHER way!

BOON TONG KEE's Crispy Roast Chicken (quarter P235.00/ half P425.00/ whole P755.00) was lipsmackingly YUM as well!

I loved how the salty but crispy skin crunches upon every bite! Another perfect match with the BOON TONG KEE Sambal fried rice!!!

BOON TONG KEE birthday noodles (P295.00) are how noodles should be....

..... very saucy with long flavorful noodles! US LIKEY!!!

Hello brown noodles!!! I'll see you when I turn 29!!! Tee hee!!!

BOON TONG KEE'S Coffee Pork Ribs (P295.00)! This very savory boneless ribs are perfect for those who like their meats sweet with a certain caramelized taste going on. I could just imagine licking my fingers with these stick babies!!!

My very handsome Yub eating at Flash's pace and was already on his 3rd serving of food!!!!

As for me, I was still admiring my BOON TONG KEE first plate...

... then I added my sambal fried rice...

... then I did a mini-selfie....

... then stuffed everything again.... Ha ha ha!

Sorry I don't know the fine art of changing plates! 

Our very full table at BOON TONG KEE! Isn't that like a last meal for us in Prison?

Prison Break! Oh Wentworth Miller... Why????? 

Were you so traumatized that I chose MY chinese stalker over you????

We had such a wonderful time eating and gabbing with these fine set of ladies and gentlemen!!! We were so full beyond words and panting from all that BOON TONG KEE sweat! Whew!

Don't worry, we know what you're thinking and we did not include OURSELVES in that ladies and gentlemen bit.

Ha ha ha!

Dessert was this addicting cupful of  BOON TONG KEE Sagu Gula Melaka with Vanilla Cream (P145.00).

This was SO good I had 2 servings of this!!!

... for you fruity lovers out there, BOON TONG KEE'S Mango taho is for you! :)

Yipee! We were finally able to meet with Sumi Go of  THE PURPLE DOLL!! She was so nice too!!!

photo grabbed from Mr. Spanky Enriquez

BOON TONG KEE class picture!!!

Clockwise from l-r, ERICJAZ FOODIES!!! Michelle Melo (I AM DEKAPHOBE), Vladimir Bunuan of ABS CBN, Sumi Go, Eugene Constantino (THE HEFTY FOODIE), dear Spanky Enriquez, Rina Zamora (RINA'S RAINBOW), Marie Eileen Dreyfus (THE TUMMY TRAVELER), Chuckie Dreyfus (ALL CHUCKED UP), Stonibert Lim (THE FOOD ALPHABET AND MORE), Gerry San Miguel (DUDE FOR FOOD), Richie (my idol) Zamora (THE PICKIEST EATER), Richard Co (TALES FROM THE TUMMY) and his wife Irene...

Plus the wonderful hosts of BOON TONG KEE!

l-r second row Miguel Aranas - Marketing Manager, Jhun Jhon de Vera - Head Chef, Mr. Michael and Ms. Joy Rodriguez - owners, Mayda Tabangin - Manager.

Thank you so much to our wonderful BOON TONG KEE hosts for the night! Your food was so delicious and awesome!!! 

Again, thank you to Mr. Aranas, and Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez! This was a true night to remember!!!

Of course special thanks always goes to dear Spanky Enriquez (JUICE.PH) for having ERICJAZ FOODIES!

Caption this! But the best ones I could come up with is...

Jaz : "I told you! I did not hide JINRI PARK! She was just THERE!"

or...

Jaz : "OH NO! That toothpick has a special magic of making my nostrils bigger!!!"

or....

Spanky waving his tiny wand: "Expecto Petronum!"

(I'm the Patronus! HA!)

Ha ha ha! This is just the BOON TONG KEE high talking.

LET'S EAT!

BOON TONG KEE

310 Tomas Morato Avenue

South Triangle Quezon City

(02) 3325692