NAV Modern Thai Cuisine turns 5!

Our favorite Thai restaurant just turned five and is celebrating the week (June 6-12) with huge discounts and freebies. 

Here are some of our favorites.

Fresh spring rolls (Php 195)

You can add chicken and shrimps to the spring rolls and price bumps to Php 250 for 8 pieces. There are two dipping sauces. The brown one is a peanut sauce while the greenish one is a sweet-sour sauce. They are both good. You might want to combine sauces for a different taste.

Crab fat fried rice (Php 250)

The crab fat fried rice is new and is not yet on the menu. The recipes are rotated in the Kapitolyo branch and is written on the chalk board near the stairs. This is good for about 2 persons. You can really taste the crab fat here, so sinful yet so delish!

Penang curry (Php 380)

The Penang curry is NAV's version of beef curry. The meat was tender. It's like kare-kare with a curry twist, really delicious but a little bit salty.

Morning glory (Php 250)

Morning glory is kangkong with tofu and bean sauce. This is hubby's favorite. I tried copying this at home but I used hoisin sauce instead. Nav's version is better than mine, sad to say. Haha! I'll probably try again with bean sauce.

Nav's chicken curry (Php 295)

Fried chicken in house curry. This is the best chicken curry ever! Crunchy and saucy at the same time. By the way, it is great that none of the curry dishes are spicy so that we can share with the boy. If you do like it spicy (like me), there is a bottle of chili flakes provided in each table. Win-win for everybody :)

Pad Thai (Php 295)

And of course, there's the Pad Thai. I say this is one of the best Pad Thai's in Manila. Until recently, it was number 1 but my fans (hubby and ate) say my Pad Thai recipe is better. Haha!

Thai Laksa (Php 350)

The Thai Laksa is my other favorite. It has beef, rice noodles, crispy egg and curry broth. This warms your heart and soul very good for a rainy day.

If you are in Megamall, you can also visit them at the 5th floor SM Mega Food Hall.

NAV Modern Thai Cuisine

Address: 16-C United St, Pasig, 

Metro Manila, Philippines

Phone:+63 2 655 8395

Hours: 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM

https://www.facebook.com/NavModernThai/

Kapitolyo Eats: Ninak

I recently went crazy buying restaurant vouchers on group buying sites (so you'll see related posts in the next few weeks). I thought it would be great to try out these restaurants we've never tried before at a discount. You never know if you'd like the food even with good reviews so at least get at a cheaper price. If it is good, then win-win with the discount :) 

One of the restaurants we tried is Ninak in Kapitolyo, Pasig. I bought a Php 1000 value voucher at Php 600. I think I got this deal at DealGrocer.

Ninak offers Asian fusion cuisine and was one of the restaurants featured a few years ago in KrisTV at a Kapitolyo food crawl. They got good comments. I also checked some reviews and they seemed ok.

Here's what we ate.

Spring rolls

I liked the fried spring rolls but it was a little oily and salty. We originally thought we ordered fresh spring rolls but got this instead. We can't remember if the menu said it was fried.

Pad Thai (Php 320)

I've had better Pad thai before. If I'm in the area anyway, I would still  go for Nav's Pad thai noodles any day.

Red Pork Curry (Php 255)

We tried the red pork curry for a change. It was ok. Again, a little salty for my taste and spicy for the kid. It went well with the rice.

Ninak Rice (Php 150)

This is fried rice with fried shallots. It was ok, nothing fancy. Serves 2-3 persons. 

I prefer food at Nav and since they are very near each other, I'd always choose it over Ninak.

Ninak

Address: Unit 101 Seven East Capitol Building, 

E Capitol Dr, Pasig, Metro Manila, 

Phone:+63 2 655 6902

Summer Cooler: La Lola Churreria Ice cream sandwich

We've been semi-addicted to La Lola Churreria churros for sometime that we can't help buy whenever we pass one or see other people with the pyramid containers at the mall. The only thing that really keeps us are the long queues everywhere (most times we still wait because great things are worth waiting for #hugoat).

There's a newly opened store at Estancia Mall in Kapitolyo so we decided to swing by for dessert. I was so happy the queue was manageable (we were 3rd, in fact). 

They have some new products I didn't really care for so much. There's this bunuelos that looked like doughnuts. What caught my eye was the ice cream sandwich. I love ice cream sandwiches from Klondike, dairy queen to our very own ice cream sandwich sold by the mamang sorbetero. 

Here's the photo of the sandwich on the menu board.

When I got my order, it was served much like an open faced sanwich to my dismay. I really wanted the one on the picture. Oh picture adverts, why do you have to be so false?

Ice cream sanchwich (Php 145)

I tried to press the top churro and sandwich the ice cream as on the picture. Wrong move! The thing just got messier as the churros were hot and just melted the ice cream more quickly. So I caved in and used the sfork the hubby got me. I was in for a surprise on my first bite. It was so so good! Hot and cold at the same time...crispy and soft at the same time. The Davao chocolate ice cream was very nice. I love that La Lola uses local ingredients too. Writing this makes me want to get another one. 

Of course we also got the plain churros with the chocolate dip. We normally get the large dip for 6 pieces of churros because we really want to cover every inch of the churros that we bite in to with hot delicious chocolate.

6 pcs churros + large chocolate dip (Php 110 + Php 100)

The container is handy when you are walking around the mall as it has that small caddy for the chocolate dip too. If you are eating at the shop, be careful when you place the container in the small hole on the table. Better remove the dip first lest it spill over sayang naman. It almost happened to us and it actually happened to the table next to us. 

Take care and enjoy!

La Lola Churreria
LG Estancia Mall, Kapitolyo
Pasig

Kapitolyo eats: No Reservations

There's a bustling new hub in Kapitolyo, Pasig near Ace Hotel and within the complex of Nav. We've never really tried anything else in that area aside from our favorite Thai place. Mr. S and I were surprised at how many new restaurants are in that area which includes Diner on the 16th and Crunchy crab among others.

What finally took us behind Nav is a discounted voucher through Dealgrocer. I bought the voucher that gave us a 50% off the tab. I cannot say no the great deal! Here's what we ate.

Grilled corn (Php 175)

The umami taste to this one was overflowing. It was tastier than the corn from Bad Bird. This has the usual kewpie mayo, bonito flakes and nori.

Lechon Macau Pork Buns (Php 190)

This is a nice variation to your usual pork bun. There's a crunch rendered by the lechon macau and a sweet-sour tangy taste from the pickled vegetables. Everything is sandwiched by a soft and fluffy mantau bread.

Baby pork ribs (Php 349)

For our mains, Mr. S chose the baby pork ribs with Thai glaze and bean sprout salad. This meal came with rice. At first, we were pleasantly surprised because it looked like a huge serving for the price. Later, we were disappointed that the bones made up for much of that volume. The meat was tender but lacking in taste.

Seoul Style Wings and Waffle (Php 329)

I chose the chicken wings for myself. This is actually the first time I've tried chicken with waffles. In other restaurants waffles normally came with buttermilk chicken. I wanted to try this chicken with a unique twist. As with the ribs, I was a bit disappointed as the chicken was not glazed well. They were gracious enough to give me a little more when I asked for it. The glaze was honey with a little bit of chili. The savory waffle was just alright. Nothing to jump up and down for.

Matcha Tofu Cheesecake

Yes, tofu and cheesecake. Who thought that was even a possible combo? This actually works. But I like matcha and black sesame. This could be an acquired taste. Mr. S did not like to consistency plus he has never really been a fan of matcha anyway. Though it was smooth it wasn't as smooth as a regular cheesecake. I brought home some of it and the kid exclaimed, "Green cake!" He didn't want any of it though as most kids, he is wary of anything green in food :)

The bar

They are running promos several times a week. On Thursdays, they have unlimited wine for Php 399. They also have a promo on beer buckets.

No Reservations has stayed true to it's theme of Asian fusion. They have a potentially great menu that could be worked on a little bit more. However, Mr. and Mrs. S agree that the appetizers would be a reason to come back.

No Reservations

Kapitolyo

2/F 16 United St

Kapitolyo, Pasig

(0917) 605-536

Kapitolyo Eats: Gostoso Piri Piri Chicken

Last Sunday, I tried out this Portuguese-style roast chicken at the Legazpi Sunday Market for brunch. Around dinner time, I was still looking for that flavor (I'll blog about that lip-smacking good chicken next week if I remember to take pictures).

We heard about the new Piri-piri place down at Kapitolyo, Pasig so we drove down there for a quick take out.

Counter

The whole chicken was humongous. We were surprised when we opened our take out box. Though huge, it was still moist and tasty. But I will be honest, the Frango chicken I tried in Makati earlier had much more flavor compared to this.

Piri Piri Chicken, whole (Php 525)

Sorry for the blurry picture. The grilled pork was really done well. It was tender and juicy, way better than the chicken. The fat on top was a bit charred, it was oh so good and sinful. We were bummed it was smaller than we would have wanted (we opened the box of chicken first so expectations were set). We'd go back for this.

Porco Gostoso (Php 325)

The beef empanadas were ok. The bell peppers added a nice twist to the usual empanada fare. I've had better though.

Bolsas (Php 150)

The Piri-flavored fries were soggy (I guess because it's take out? I did open the box as soon as we got into the car and it was in that state already) and salty. The sour cream was a nice but weird partner for it. I would have preferred ketchup or the mild piri sauce.

Piri Fries (Php 90)

The stars of the night were the mild and spicy Piri sauce. Mr. S mixed it in his rice and really enjoyed it. It was nice that the restaurant did not scrimp on the take out sauce. We got two small containers of the mild sauce and one of the spicy. That should last Mr. S for a week.

Piri sauce

We didn't take out any of the other sides. We'll come back for a proper meal next time. Oh and I found out they deliver through 212121.

Gostoso Piri Piri Portugese Restaurant
East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City
(02) 477 7330

Mon - Thu: 11:00 am - 10:00 am

Fri - Sat: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm

Sun: 11:00 am - 10:00 am