Well, what can I say that I haven’t already said before. We started the year with pie and we are now ending the year with pie – I couldn’t think of any better way to spend cold wintery days/evenings!

Caro, you’ve outdone yourself .. again. Delish! Such melt-in-your-mouth delight.

People ask me what exactly is Filipino food and I always have a hard time describing it. Its best described I think as a fusion of Asian, South American and Western cooking. Seriously. One of my favourite memories from when I was a kid was chowing down on gorgeous sizzling Filipino barbecue off the street vendors. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it – I’ve never tasted anything like it anywhere else. So, when I saw that a restaurant called Ihaw Ihaw, literally translated as Barbecue Grill, was opening right next to my work place I got just a bit excited.

Well, I knew I shouldn’t have had such high expectations. All the Filipino dishes that I would have expected were on the menu including Adobo, Kare Kare, Bihon, Palabok, Sinigang were on there plus the items from the grill (you could have Pork, Chicken, Beef, Bangus and Tilipia) but we were there to try to the grill which, although not bad tasting, it just wasn’t what I was remembering and hoping for. It actually reminded me a little of grilled dishes from a Vietnamese restaurant. Our starters of Shanghai Lumpia (mini pork spring rolls) and Lumpia (vege spring rolls) were pretty on par though.

I wanted to try some dessert which included Ube and Cassava and the kitchen was nice enough to give me a sample of both.

Rather randomly there was a non-Filipino, I suspect he was Eastern European or something, guy who kept coming in and out of the restaurant whichseemed a bit odd. I think he might have been the owner. Interestingly too, when I’d been in earlier in the day to check they were open I ran into one of the guys who’d been serving me for the last year or more at the Filipino stall that is at the market on Thursdays – he must have changed allegiances! Which reminds me – I should visit that other Filipino restaurant too!

I really really wanted to like the restaurant but I just don’t think its going to get the turnover it needs to keep it running. Everyone is very friendly inside but I think the restaurant hasn’t done much to catch the interest of the locals, let alone anyone away from its location. Time will tell whether it survives …

Update: Now called the Loving Hut! So touchy feely!

I was first introduced to the delights of “faux” meat by my family in New York. It was absolutely fascinating that I could be eating what looked, tasted and felt like meat when in fact it was some sort of vegetable or tofu. I was excited to see if Peking Palace could deliver the same sort of experience.

You can tell that the restaurant owners totally embrace the philosophy of encouraging everyone to have a meat free diet – from pamphlets, the décor, the videos on the television with the anti-killing animals etc. The waitresses are very friendly though it was hard to judge how the service level would have changed had it been much busier but they seemed responsive enough.

Prices weren’t too unreasonable so I think we got a bit carried away when we were ordering our food. We started with Mixed Hors D’oeuvres which included Veggie Spare Ribs, Spring rolls, Crispy Seaweed, Sesame Seeds On Toasts, and Samosa. Okay so the spring rolls and seaweed are normally veggie anyway but we were surprised by the spare ribs. Very meat like. The Sesame Seeds On Toasts were also a pretty good imitation of prawn toast though it was probably slightly mushier than normal.

Next up was another starter – Crispy Aromatic Veggie Duck with Pancakes. Hilarious. This dish was the least like a meat dish of what we ate tonight but it still tasted pretty good. I did like the sentiment behind it and it did try – crispy outer, .tender inner.

Then we were on our mains which included Veggie King Prawn Fried Rice (how cute are the prawns), Crispy Shredded Veggie Beef (very delicious), Yin Pan Veggie Meat Balls (a specialty but the disappointing dish of the night – balls were tough and the sauce very similar to our final dish), Fragrant Braised Aubergine (another specialty.)

As if we weren’t full enough we also had dessert!

This is a fab restaurant for vegans, vegetarians and meat-lovers, great value for money, and definitely something worth trying at least once.

Rache is pretty good at getting all her friends together for whenever she is in town for a visit – or it could be a sign that we miss her terribly whilst she has been living in Edinburgh! – and this weekend’s visit was no different. Though a few of us were nursing a bit of hangover from the previous night’s festivities, we all made it to a very boisterous and long lunch at Fire and Stone. Its kind of funny – though we individually each have strong connections with Rache and in fact have met each other on numerous occasions before hardly any of us catch up with each other when she is not around!

To celebrate Christmas Fire and Stone had a special Turkey Pizza on their menu. It was a Roasted Turkey, roast potatoes, chestnut and onion sage stuffing, pork and apricot sausage meat, brie, cranberry sauce and grav – who couldn’t resist it. Mmmm …

After Fire and Stone we rolled over to Bar Ciao Caffe, as is now tradition, for some of their funky ice cream concoctions. We lost a few people to various other commitments but still had a rather large group for the venue to handle – we ended up squeezing on to a table fit only for about 6 people max. heh heh. Nice and cosy.

Surprisingly Cam and Matt ordered what was probably the girliest items on the menu … though admittedly the strongest for alcohol 🙂

Nic and I opted for the kiddy ice creams – hers was supposed to be a clown (I think) and mine was supposed to resemble a bee.

Good times.

Tis the season!

Today was my first Christmas party celebration for the season. Our work do was lunch at one of local pubs, the Dove. I haven’t been to the Dove in years but its location by the river ensures it is popular year round. I was fascinated to see that they even allowed pets inside. So cute!

The Dove is very intimate and cosy inside. A few other departments were having their Christmas lunch today too but we were by far the biggest group. I was very surprised that the Dove did really well with our food – no big mistakes were made and they even showed some flexibility with some of the dishes to suit people’s diets. There was some ordering in advance but that couldn’t prevent last minute changes which included people arriving late!

I was very impressed with all the food that we had. Tasted really good and was extremely filling. We had a great lunch and then headed over to the Ruby Grand for the rest of the night.

Not many photos as I’m still too new to work to reveal my true paparazzi side. Heh heh.

Rehana generously had James, D and I over for a meal at her house tonight.

There is nothing better than a proper home-cooked curry made from scratch. It was obvious from all the activity going on in the kitchen and the pots on the stove that Rehana had put in a lot of effort and preparation in making our dinner tonight.

Doesn’t it all just look awesome!

Mmm … It’s a shame Indian curries are so filling – I could have gone on eating it all night.