Trip Ko Lang

Who said pigs can’t fly?! They do and we have one in Eastwood City…The Flying Pig is located at G/F Eastwood Mall Veranda.  As soon as we entered, we were greeted by friendly waiters and of course Mr. Flying Pig’s portraits displayed on their walls… cool! The restaurant had a casual ambience and a good place to hangout especially during off-peak dining hours.

The Flying Pig in Eastwood Mall

Here’s a shot of The Flying Pig’s menu, with a comics strip finish and having Mr. Flying Pig as the main character in different costumes…

The Flying Pig Menu

Most of their dishes were pork cooked in various ways and with interesting names… like Kung Fu Spiced Spare Ribs, Three Little Pigs Cabbage Rolls, The Pork Treasure Pot, Patatim Pata Tom, The HogFather Spaghetti, The Road Hog Burger, Flying Pig Adobo Press and a lot more… I think they are known for their delicious ribs but we decided to have their Bangin’ Bagnet and The Flying Meatloaf.

Bangin' Bagnet @265php

Since I tasted Bagnet in Ilocos, I have loved Bagnets, and look forward in having it whenever there’s a restaurant that offers this dish; I have also tried and blogged some restaurants… and I can add The Flying Pig’s Bagnet to my list of delicious Bagnets in Manila… Their Bangin’ Bagnet was great, less fat, right crunchy level, a bit salty but good thing they have it with 2 sauces – liver sauce and vinegar… and with their adobo rice this meal was superb!

the Flying Meatloaf @295php

We also tried their Flying Meatloaf… it was served flying on your plate… hahaha, just kidding!   This dish had 2 giant slices of Meatloaf…it was really BIG! The meatloaf was easy to eat and really flavorsome that made it so hard to finish…   I think you really need another dish to go with it so you won’t get tired of eating! Haha!

Both dishes had ample servings and really good for sharing. It won’t be a pricey dinner for 2 after all…

House Blend Iced Tea - Apple Lemon @80php

As for the drinks, we tried their Apple Lemon House Blend Iced Tea; it looked a sexy drink and tasted good for only 80php…

Overall, here’s a quick ratings of our “The Flying Pig” foodie experience: (1 – being lowest and 5 – being highest)

Food Taste – 4
Food Presentation –4
Price – 3
Service – 4
Ambience – 4

Fly your way now to Eastwood and meet Mr. Flying Pig and have your own sumptuous foodie experience… See yah!

Pino Resto Bar Menu

It was a Friday night, pay day, traffic in the metro and the highlight of that evening was the onset of typhoon Santi… but these obstructions did not stopped us on our aim for that evening and that is to reach Maginhawa street to dine in Pino Resto Bar…

Thanks to their multiply site with all those enticing food photos which greatly motivated us to get to the place and try it ourselves…So it was really a must for us to visit Pino Resto Bar and this was the only evening for it!

As we arrived in the resto, we were lucky to get a spot because the place was just small with a homey ambience like you were just in your own home. Pino Resto offers Filipino cuisine with a twist; in all their dishes, they have something distinct that made any simple dish intriguing and worth trying. The service crew were all friendly and you can feel that they were really happy to serve you.

Crispy Tenderloin Tapsilog (210php)

We ordered one of Pino’s favorites, the Crispy Tenderloin Tapsilog, juicy beef tenderloin in small pieces coated; fried with crispy breading and covered with gravy sauce.  As for the egg, 3 quail eggs fried in one and topped over the garlic rice.

Bagnet Tofu Stack-O with rice (215php)

Also we tried Bagnet Tofu Stack-O, one of their new dishes. The first time I tasted Bagnet was in Ilocos and that was last February 2009, I really missed it and so this Bagnet dish was one of my best choice.  Tofu is also my favorite, so I can say that this dish was really made for me. Even the rice was special; it has its own yummy flavour with slices of mushrooms mixed.

Dilis rice (90php)

We both had ordered our own meals but can’t resist to try their Dilis rice…we were interested to see how it would look like and so we also ordered for one. Dilis used was the typical big, flavoured dilis which is usually eaten as snack. Rice was also mixed with dilis and topped with fried egg. Yum, yum, yummy…

PINO Iced Tea (35php)

As for their drinks, they have their own iced tea called Pino iced tea at 35php per glass or 80php per pitcher. Definitely very cheap, refreshing and has distinct taste.

Buko Pandan Leche Flan (70php)

Pino’s best seller dessert is the Chunky Choco Tempura, though we really wanted to try it but can no longer have one because we were already full and just opted to have a light dessert like the Buko Pandan Leche Flan. With every taste, another taste follows and so on until you finish it all as you can’t figure out what makes it sweet, tasty and good to eat.

Our Pino Resto Bar experience was really remarkable; everyday Filipino food made to something surprising and superb in presentation and taste. The location is a bit far but worth a visit. Food prices are reasonable and really worth it.

We would surely go back for their Kare-kare Bagnet, Sisig Carbonara, Chunky Choco Tempura, Pino Flavoured beer and Pino Giant Margarita. Till our next visit!

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Special thanks to Shotnroll.com for the yummy shots used in this blog. Thanks!

calle crisologo, kalesa, vigan, pasalubong

Always save the best for last and so we had Vigan as our last place to visit. We were again amazed by the old, historic surroundings of this city. We loved walking on the brick road, seeing the old buildings, kalesas, antiques, wooden arts and all Vigan’s famous products. It was our last day and so we bought our pasalubongs here, had their yummy chichacorns, scrumptious longganisa, crispy bagnet, one-of-a-kind basi, sweet tinubong (malagkit in bamboo), and Vigan fans and cute shirts.

calle crisologo, bantayan church and bell tower, p.burgos park, centro

Calle Crisologo is the best place for me. Really loved it! Good place to take lots and lots of pictures. We also visited Bantayan church and bell tower, another famous church in southern Ilocos. We visited only few places in Vigan because we didn’t have enough time as we need to catch our plane going back to Manila at 7pm and I think we spent too much time in Calle Crisologo buying for our pasalubongs. But the next time I visit Ilocos, I’ll prioritize Vigan and allot more time in the itinerary.

poque-poque, pinakbet pizza, ilocandia pizza, inabraw, ilocandia pasta, crispy dinuguan, bagnet, herencia cafe, paoay

For our Saturday dinner in Paoay, we decided to dine in Herencia Cafe, a fine-dining resto  just near the famous Paoay church. The place was cozy and it has an old Filipino house ambiance. Food is the best! They offer Ilocos’ famous cuisine like the poqui-poqui (Ilocos’ tortang talong), bagnet (Ilocos’ lechon kawali) and crispy dinuguan. Also, only  in Herencia Cafe, you can eat pinakbet as pizza. Yes, I know, you can’t imagine eating a pinakbet pizza… but when you get to taste it, ooohhhhhh, yummy, you will surely love it. Overall, food prices were reasonable, we loved the place, loved the food and it was another enjoyable and satisfying meal in Ilocos.