Love at Cheesesteaks, Burgers & Drinks (CBD)

One Sunday evening my friends and I had dinner at Cheesesteaks, Burgers and Drinks (CBD).

Although, this wasn't the first time I came to the restaurant. I always wanted to blog about this place 'coz they're pretty much appetizing, just don't mind the calories you would get from eating on this place. lol. I swear, this isn't for people who are on a diet. lol. 

Joseph and Mark 

Outside CBD

Situated right in the heart of Central Business District is the Ayala Triangle Gardens. In the middle of the busiest business hub in the country you'll be surprised to see a "mini-Central-Park-like" of NYC. lol. 

Oh by the way, CBD is under Tender Bob's, another restaurant known for their awesome steaks. No wonder why CBD's cheesesteaks are really good.

CBD Cheeseburger and Onion Rings

The food is a bit pricey for a burger you need to budget about Php200 - Php400 for a complete meal, but hey, I'm telling you it's worth every penny. lol. Seriously. They taste good and servings are big. Oh no sorry, they're humongous. lol.

CBD Burger and Spaghetti

Blueberry Cheesecake Shake

I personally like their shake. It's so creamy. It's just like melted ice cream.  

Buffalo Chicken Strips

The crispy coating and spicy sauce and it's ranch dressing is so sinful! lol. Best eaten when it's still hot coz it's still crispy, it tends to be rubberish when it gets cold but still delishhhh! lol.

LA Jalapeño Burger and Onion Rings

When eating, I like to experiment. lol. Trying not to be conventional. lol. The first time I ate on this place I had their London Blue Cheeseburger and it was awesome! The creaminess of the blue cheese and that handmade patty is just perfect. 

The second time was for take out and I had Cheesesteak Sandwich that was unbelievable. The meat is perfect, they use 100% US Angus Beef. Imagine the cheddar cheese sauce and sweetness of sautéed onions and bell peppers, ugh! Love it!

But for this dinner, I had LA Jalapeño and Onion Rings. I always pair my sandwich with onion rings. I love onions! White onion that is! The sweetness and the pungent flavor is just what I love about it. 

The LA Jalapeño is perfect for people who wants a kick of hotness. lol. I love jalapeño on my Nachos why not with my burger? lol. It took me sometime to finish it 'coz it's really hot. lol. I was like sweating on every bite. But it was still good. lol. 

It was really nice to spend dinner with friends here. They also have alcohol drinks which I believe is perfect for these finger foods. 

But the really highlight of that night was Val's admirer. lol. We would like to believe that he is interested with Valerie. There was this staff who had been staring at Val all through out our stay in the restaurant. 

• Whenever we ask for a water he would always stare at Val even if it wasn't her who asked for it. 
• He was cleaning those condiments facing our table and he was staring at Val.
• We were seated outside the restaurant for us to do our smoking and the guy would always clean tables outside facing our table staring at Val.

Little did we realize that this guy was actually the guy we saw weeks before we had dinner at CBD. Weeks before this dinner - Val, Carlo and I were at Banapple having desserts when there was this guy kept passing by staring at us. And that was actually the guy that Val said who's really good looking. And we were like teasing her because Carlo and I have a different taste on men. lol. 

So what Joseph and I did was, before we left the restaurant, we wrote Val's number on a piece of table napkin and placed it on another available table. lol. Val didn't know this. Hahahahaha!!! 

And after some days we were asking Val if there was somebody who texted her.. Somebody not in her contacts. She said no one ever texted her. lol. I don't believe her. Just recently she had been going to places where knowing her she would never go there alone. lol. I wonder who she's been seeing.. Your guess is as good as mine! lol. 

Val's Order. lol.

Going back to CBD, did you know they have delivery as well? 

Cheesesteaks, Burgers & Drinks

For delivery call: 621 656 / 482 6225

Dagupan City Deployment

Third week of January, I was advised by my boss that we have a deployment somewhere up north on February. That we will be conducting BlackBerry training for two of our company's reseller in Dagupan City. 

Fast forward on Feb 01 2012.

I arrived in our head office in Pasig City, where I was advised to go straight from home, at 10AM. I woke up late so I didn't have time to have breakfast at home so I had breakfast at Adobo Republic near our office. It was my first time to eat at that place so I was having difficulty what to order. lol. Most of their food are Adobo, but of course! lol. 

I had Adobo Diablo. Diablo because it's spiceeehh!! lol. I like it. It's so perfect with the salted egg and tomato. And yeah, I ordered an extra rice. lol.

By 3pm we went to Cubao to take a bus to Dagupan City. It was supposed to be a 4hrs travel but due to traffice congestion in Tarlac (road widening) it took us 6hrs. You wont believe how traffic it was. lol. I had a butt cramps when I got off the bus. Seriously! lol. 

We were met by an ex-employee of Microwarehouse. His name is Russell. He brought us to Dagupan Garden and Village Hotel. It was a nice place. It sort of reminds me a neo-classical architecture. It has a lot of columns and domes and everything was painted in white. 

When we got to the reception there are no more standard rooms available, they're almost full and we need to have a separate room of course. lol. But since Russell is known to the place because his family is good friends with the hotel owner, the receptionist made some exception. We were billed Php900 for each room and I thought it's just gonna be a simple room with plain bed and bath but when we got upstairs I was shocked to see the room coz it's more than what I have expected. 

Or probably the price given was just for a standard room but we were given a deluxe. lol. I don't know but I can't complain ofcourse.. Why would I?! lol. 

The room is so spacious

Even the bathroom is so big and it has a bathtub. lol.

I'm a bathtub maniac, so I was really ecstatic when I saw the tub! lol.

I would like to believe that this is a deluxe room. The TV is small but it has cable so it's fine. lol.

They got some couch in the room where you can sit and relax while you can chat with your companion over coffee or tea. lol.

At 11pm we went out to have a late dinner. We went to this bar and restaurant just downtown, the name is Quattro. I dont think it is the same Quattro we used to go with my friends back in Manila, somewhere in Timog, Quezon City.

They got live band that plays anything from OPM to RNB or Alternative. I like their keyboardist, he sounds like Jay Durias of South Border. Where the hell is the South Border band anyway? I missed them.

We had some grilled stuff. It was good. I didnt get to take pictures coz I was too hungry. lol. And we had like 3 rounds of beer to catch up with Russell's life in province. lol.

We got back to the hotel around 2AM but to my room because boss and I still need to discuss some other topics for the training. By 3AM my boss had to go back to his own room to rest. Yeah, it was a very busy day. Our call time that morning was 7am I slept at around 4am. I was missing my <3. lol.

So I got up at 6:30AM, had a quick bath. lol coz I was rushing late already. My boss BBM'd me already that he's up and ready. lol.

We headed to the cafe where we had our complimentary breakfast. I had MalingSiLog and orange juice.

The ambiance of their cafe is like a victorian classic. Lots of chandeliers and splendid fabric match. I like the color they used.. Pink! lol.

So pink! 

So at 8:30AM we headed to QSL Electronics to conduct training. I was nervous at first. lol. Good thing the attendees are jokers so I didn't have difficulty connecting with them. lol.

We started at 9AM and we're done by 12PM. It was just a quick training coz as requested  by the owner they can only give 2-3hours of their time so the supposedly 2 days training have been consolidated. lol.

Sir Xavier, the Account Key Manager for North Luzon, I heard his sales up north are really doing good. Nice! lol.

We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant just across the QSL Electronics. I had Pork Katsudon and some Maki. 

After lunch we headed to a mall to train the front liners of Wow Mobile. The owner of the mall is also the owner of Wow Mobile. lol. The training was from 2pm to 6pm. After that my boss and I where hungry we craved for some dimsum. Russell suggested the dim sum of Gloria Maris. I forgot the name of the dim sums we had but I love the hakao and japanese siomai.

Russell waiting for the dim sums. lol

But wait! theres more.. lol. those dim sums are just appetizers.. Then russell suggested that we try the famous Pigar-Pigar of Dagupan. I was curious with the name so I was excited. On our way to the location I kept asking him what Pigar-Pigar is. lol

Pigar-Pigar

Pigar-pigar - Located on the busy street of Galvan, at daylight one can never imagine that by night time this place could turn to be like a street food capital of Luzon. Dining tables and chairs would just pop out and you'll see stalls with fresh meat being hung in front of it, the meat can be beef or carabao. When you order, you'll be asked how much lard would you like, it will be sauteed together with generous amount of white onions or you can ask the to also add some whatever vegetables they got (Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli). Sometimes one can also add liver. 

The dish is very simple but tasty. Thanks to the onions that complemented very well with meat. I can imagine this as a "pulutan" (finger food) when you and your friends are having a drinking session. lol. 

Puto calasio or the "white gold"

Uhhmmm.. If your in Dagupan do not forget to drop by Calasiao, Pangasinan and have a taste of the famous "white gold" or Puto Calasiao. They called it white gold because of the great income it gave to their municipality. It is a bite-size, soft rice cake made from semi-glutinous rice fermented in earthen jars. Ugh! I just love it! It comes in different flavors (cheese, buko pandan, ube etc) even the plain one is great! Perfect with Dinuguan (blood stew)

What's great is that you can have a free taste. You can taste every flavors they have. I bought a kilo of it as pasalubong to my officemates. lol.

So after that we had to go back to Manila now, we waited for like 45mins before we can ride a bus back home. The travel time going back was just 4hrs. I got home at 3AM. 

It was a nice experience, meeting new people and trying out their food. It was awesome! I'm thankful and glad that my boss entrusted me on this job. Now he said there are more to come. Laoag, Ilocos, etc. And for that, I just can't wait boss!! lol. 

Sweet and Tipsy Experience

My colleagues and I were looking for a place where we could have our dessert since we're pretty much full from our dinner, then we accidentally found this chocolate place in Makati where you can indulge yourself to different variety of chocolates. The place is called Maitre Chocolatier Boutique Cafe, their chocolates here are imported instead of "home-made" like the other one we used to go to also located in Makati. 

Located along Jupiter St. in Makati City just beside Starbucks Coffee - Jupiter

The place is modern homey, you'll see a lot of posh and sleek furniture, you can sit on their couch and play cards while enjoying their chocolate menu.. and yes all their food have chocolates! From appetizers to.. yes.. desserts! lol. 

Beef Morcon

So me and my Mom decided to make Morcon or meat roll for new year. It has been like a tradition for us, Mom and Daughter to make one on welcoming a new year. We even had an argument about adding one ingredient I don't like eating (liver) lol. I was excited because aside from eating, cooking is like bonding time for Me and my Mom. Let me share to you how we did this tender, juicy and mouthwatering entrée.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 kilo beef top sirloin steak, fillet
4 chorizo de bilbao or chorizo macau, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons soya sauce
slices of bacon or pork fat (belly part)
2 hotdogs, halved lengthwise
sweet pickle relish or whole
1 medium sized carrot, halved lengthwise
2 hard boiled eggs or salted eggs, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon peppercorns, crushed
calamansi or lemon juice
cheese, sliced lengthwise
2 bay leaves
salt

Instructions:

1. Marinade the thinly sliced beef in soy sauce and lime juice for 30mins.
2.  Remove beef from marination (set aside the marinade) and lay it on a clean flat surface (e.g cutting board)

Gently roll the beef

3. Arrange the carrots, chorizo, hotdog, cheese and eggs over pork fat and pickles.
4. Roll the beef tightly with all the fillings and secure it with a string. Repeat the procedure for the remaining meat.

Secure the meat with a string to avoid the falling fillings

5. Sear the rolled beef then add the marinade that was set aside.
6. Add the tomato sauce, bay leaves. salt and pepper. You may also add the unused fillings for more flavor.
7. Simmer and let the meat softens.
8. Once done, gently remove the strings and cut the beef an inch thick.
9. Serve and Bon Appetit!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and BON APPETIT !