One Proud Mama

One proud Mama & Galileo Enotica .. By Aly Abaquin

My mom and i like food and we share the taste of good food so when i was in manila and before i left for Saigon, Vietnam or Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) i dated my good old proud mama to Galileo enoteca ( phone number 534-4633 for reservations).

A wine cellar and italian resto in one. We started the diner with a freshly baked bread and red wine with cheese and cold cuts as appetizers. Galileo Enoteca's interiors are of a vintage wine cellar in brown reddish brick colors and the table and chairs in good old oak very hard and not good for seating long hours but the food is very Italian. You are transported to Italy and beside that Mandaluyong enclave as if the vineyards are right beside you and waiting for our Host to show the finest wine and grapes freshly picked at the vineyards and are stored in oak barrels below the bricks enclave... sort off.....

But the bricks and the venus mural gave me and my mom the feel of the Sopranos dining here... But we enjoyed the company due to the fact the diner we are having is totally free at that. Given by Munch punch for your foodie eater outer me.

Free diner and fine dining at that what a wonderful feeling to be bonding with your Proud Mama.... The food is exquisite and the spaghetti and penne is al dente and the red wine perfect... I shall return good food finds plus the finest cheese selection & great wine represents Galileo Enoteca. Kudos to the friendly staff and very accomodating i wish they have soft chairs for the oldies...

Now back in Saigon HCMC...... I see pizza hut not quite the Italian fare i'm craving for... but in downtown area will i see a Galileo enotica replica will see on my days off i usually stroll my feet towards the gastronomical Vietnam/ HCMC limelight.
and i also do competative watch on the cafes since we are brewing something of the italian kind that is....See if the HCMC has italian fare that will titilate my taste and senses...

Toast to my mom who is by the way 84 years old and still spunky.....;) as i bid her for a new journey of sorts in Saigon....HCMC....;)

Here comes the sun in Saigon/HCMC

Here comes the sun in Saigon / HCMC.

Okey all foodies out there your friendly foodie junkie- me have pics to share of this very colorful city called Ho Chi Minh City which is now a second home for me since i'm working here... so no escape but my sunny disposition will surely make the locals smile.. by the way i am the only one who is larger and at the most BIGGER than all the population whose waist line is from 26 to 32... WOW!!!

Good thing there are taller even larger tourist scattered in the metro and talking to them is quite releaving at times.... Enough said my pics would say all the feelings i have about this historic Saigon now known as Ho Chi Minh City. Loving it here and the looking forward to uplifting the biz of my employer... i know i'll do a great job of growing it here.. sunny Saigon or HCMC.....for that matter.

HCMC's BANH MI a French culinary legacy

HCMC’s BANH MI sandwich a French culinary legacy.
By Aly Abaquin

The Six inch Banquette for only 10,000 Dong roughly .80 cents not even a dollar Vietnamese sandwich is a must try to the adventurous tourist.

This Banh Mi sandwich is eaten everyday during breakfast by the locals. The Banh Mi little food stalls on wheels /shop are scattered in all of Ho Chi Minh City and in the outskirts. The carts are made of wood and is being pushed by the locals specially in crowded places for Breakfast treats… I was also amaze on how the concoction was a spicy surprised.

The Unique sandwich- the Banh Mi is the genius fusion of French and Vietnamese flavors. When the French occupied Vietnam, they not only changed street names, they introduced the baguette. And your friendly foodie who looks at the cheapest eats in HCMC found out that this Banh Mi works wonders and the locals stuffed the baguette with mayonnaise, cucumbers, pickled carrots and jicama, cilantro, chili peppers, soy sauce and an assortment of hams and meats.

Though the French soon left Vietnam, but the Banh Mi stayed. And this culinary treasure sure brings delight and joyous smile to the tourist and locals alike.

I like my Banh Mi and the veggies that comes with it but easy on the spice…
Good for my diet too. The Vietnamese Banh mi is surely a culinary treasure! ;)

Pandesal memoirs/ My PANDETRIC

PANDESAL Memoirs/ my pande tric.. by aly abaquin

What i miss when i wake up in HCMC is my Pandesal being delivered to our new manila Home every 6am by Manong Eldie Distor.. I called it my pandetric- pandesal on tricycle....... he lives in Lot 3 11 th st New manila and goes on the neighborhood to deliver every pandesal he got- that soft bun freshly baked that goes well with Goat cheese and butter, Hmmmmp.... But now I'm in Ho Chi Ming City... i get my Baguette OOOOHHHH Very Frenchy baquette from a local KIM vendor near Hong HA.. my new home. not a bad subsitute... French baquette anyone. An influence by the french when they colonized vietnam.... i think wait wheres my history books.... ????? ;)

Ho Chi Minh City's Pho 2000

Ho Chi Mih City Pho 2000
By Aly abaquin

Okey folks i'm back from the Saigon city. Its been a month almost that your foodie cheap eater has been exploring the Saigon Skylights and here are the finds of the HCMC kind.

Pho 2000 claim to fame is that Bill Clinton and his daughter dined here and they been posted in their mural ever since 2000.

Nothing spectacular on the decor nothing cool about the interiors but its just fun and casual dining every locals and tourist alike likes in the city that herds of motorcyclist at least half of its population owns one or even two....

If only you can hear and see them go in and out of the city...... Wow A herd of wilderbeast frenzied motorcycles i never seen before only in Saigon do you have such locals driving into the highways in two wheelers- Harley Davidson should live here.

He'll get the high of seeing this very colorfuul city of Saigon now being called Ho Chi Minh City a booming city and turning capitalist.

So your friendly foodie like me took the road less traveled and leads it readers to Pho 2000... a gastronomical look at Vietnamese cuisine.... The Curry veggies and chickhen is a must plus the porkchops is a must try. Your meals start at $2 to $4 not bad so when in Saigon get to taste Pho 2000 as what Bill Clinton did and daughter. You'll question why? where is Hillary??? .. hmmp doing her campaign i think... Well i wish her luck in her bid to the presidency...

Bill like me is also a cheap eater foodie too, he he he.... Next write-up a fun Goldfish takes it swim in HCMC.... meals less than a $$$$ dollar.. great finds continue in this very colorful saigon country surely KIM would approved of the local delicacies.... till next week... Tam biet..( good bye) for now...
Vietnamese cuisine a great way to taste HCMC... till next write up....

HELLO SAIGON!!!

Dear FOODIE Friends,

"There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone
acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest
potential." -Rusty Berkus

My Faith in God,the tenacity to believe that there is something
great out there for me and of course your friendship had made me stronger
to walk the road called life....

As i embark on my new life in Saigon- Vietnam. I will always be
grateful to all you friends who have love, influenced and help me through
the years.....

All of you-i am forever grateful....

Now that I've tasted manila, Hello Saigon, Bangkok, India, Malaysia and
Cambodia.....

GERRY’s GRILL: … A PINOY FOOD FIESTA STYLE for only P 1,500 for 5.

GERRY’s GRILL: … A PINOY FOOD FIESTA STYLE for only P 1,500 for 5.
by ALY ABAQUIN

It’s an amazing feeling of overflowed happiness that you get when you share your foodie experiences with others. That burst of laughter and celebratory feeling once you are with friends-That will surely marks one’s visit to our country VERY MEMORABLE.

That is what this Resto is all about. Friends getting together in a very homey place.

I’m thumbs up to Gerry’s Grill as a friend from New Jersey had been addicted and
in-fact enamored by it in his span of a week stay here.

Finishing our tour and photo-op in the ABS CBN Big brother house.
He noticed in the corner of Tomas Morato the familiar sign of you know what???- GERRY’s GRILL… Yup-its the same resto in Trinoma but a little bigger.
I told my friends he was hooked with the GRILL THING… so its our time to treat the guy. But wait no time to go to the nearest ATM.. and with 1,500 budget this friends of mine really left me to order what he would like…and since I’m good at cheap eats but great food kidda thing I was head on serious with the role...and...

Since I know him better a-HALF PINOY DIBA.. so enough of the grillery food he always have back home and lets get his heart stopping Pinoy food on the table.

DEVILISHLY plotting that he should taste pinoy food once in a while and GO NATIVE... so to speak…

Why not entertain him the PINOY way of celebrating friendship. And set the place for a surprise… A PINOY FOOD FIESTA STYLE for only P 1,500 for 5.

I ordered for 2 servings of that PUSONG ADOBO (P140each) P 280,CRISPY PATA P390, SISIG P157,BAKED SCALLOPS. P165 - My favorite!!!,300gTUNA BELLY P225 and CALAMARES P 135 with drinks of Bottomless Iced TeaP66, Buko Juice P 55, San Mig light P 39.00 + VAT and the other two took water… hehehe…GRAND TOTAL P 1,511.00 Not bad for FAB 5 and to top it all no service charge..

Its really value for money. Enough said what about the taste….

The Pusong adobo is abodo rice wrapped in banana leaves –feeling your eating your BINALOT days in the province and the Chicken and pork adobo is imbedded inside the steamy brown rice. YUMMMY…farmers food never tasted so good.

The Scallops are my favorite which is baked and on top-overload of cheddar cheese and the taste is sweet and the scallops are freshly brought to Manila from Davao.

The Cripy Pata is THUMBS UP!!! Crispier to the touch and much delightfully crunchier while dipped in vinegar and soy sauce with chopped onions, garlic and sili as floaters. The Tuna belly is succulent and very delicious- grilled comfort food indeed plus the SISIG is heart stopping wonderfully served in hot plate… Grabe sa RAPSA….The Calamares very chewy though but great appetizers while waiting...

As silence filled the air we noticed that no one was saying a thing.. Then laughter beamed as our tummies are literally full. BUSOG na BUSOG!!!

The Jersey guy was asking if they have branches in the states I think so… he just dreams that this resto should be in New Jersey soon….

AGAIN… VALUE MEAL FIESTA STYLE!!! DELUXED!!! You bet your bottom dollar I Did it my way… Gerry’s Grill is no doubt a proud KAPAMILYA AT KAPUSO!!!