Ponsyon By Breakthough: Surprisingly Good

Just our luck that a typhoon was hitting Visaya during my family's recent trip to Iloilo and Bacolod. However, a little rain certainly wouldn't stop us from enjoying the food from that region. Our first stop was a late lunch at Ponsyon by Breakthrough, a restaurant known for its seafood dishes.

The original Breakthrough is located at Sto Nino Arevallo in Iloilo City, a good 30 minutes distance from Iloilo. Thankfully, they have a branch at Diversion road in Plazuela De Iloilo just beside SM City. Happily, the restaurant was 5 minutes away from where we were staying.

 

Normally, the place would be full of customers but lucky for us they might have been driven away by the rain because there were plenty of vacant tables.

It's our first time to eat here so we took some of the waiters' recommendations.

Baked Scallops 160

The Baked Scallops were tiny since (I presume) these were sourced locally. There were about 5 in a plate. Although the scallops were nice and tender, I felt they baked these too long since there weren't any sauce left and the edges were burnt. I was a little disappointed.

Lumpia Hubad P125

The Lumpia Hubad (naked spring roll) was a surprise. Of course since it is hubad (naked), the filling wasn't rolled into the usual egg crepe. Instead they put fried pieces of egg wrapper on the side. The surprise is that the filling wasn't cooked at all. It had shredded lettuce, carrots and singakamas with some crushed peanuts. The sauce was your traditional Lumpia sauce (sweet style peanut garlic sauce) but it was very flavorful. It was basically a fresh salad. However, combined together the fresh vegetables, yummy sauce and crunchy fried egg wrapper and somehow everything worked so well! Really good and my mom enjoyed it. Serving was also big and is good enough for 2.

Pasayan Gambas P230

Nixing the expensive prawns and marlin, we opted for the more affordable Sizzling Gambas. This dish came to us in a sizzling plate with 12-14 small shrimps in red sauce, green bell pepper and raw egg on top (my mom mixed the egg before I could take a picture :)  The sauce tasted exactly like the sweet and sour sauce for fish/pork found in most Chinese restaurants. However, like the Lumpia, it was surprisingly good.

Sizzling Kansi P275

Kansi is an Ilonggo dish that is a cross between Bulalo (beef bone marrow soup ) Sinigang (sour soup). This is the first time I tried this dish and I thought I was getting beef chunks in a clear soup with a slight sour taste. What we actually got was a big beef bone split into two so you can access the absolutely delicious bone marrow, chunks of meltingly tender beef and soooooo good sauce with an ever so slightly sour flavor with some vegetables (carrot and corn) on a sizzling plate.

Even when the dish wasn't so hot anymore, It didn't turn greasy at all. Loved it! Dish is easily good for 2-3 person.

Litson Manok na Paa P165

For the Litson Manok na Paa, I can see that they used native chicken because it's really small, has lots of bones and very little flesh. Although the dish had some good flavor, it was dry and a bit chewy. Did not like this at all.

Final Verdict

All in all, we had a very pleasant experience at Ponsyon even though we didn't order much seafood. The dishes that we did order were surprisingly different but in a good way. I won't hesitate to go back here if I'm in Iloilo but I will definitely try more seafood. Dinner for 3 cost us around P1,000 (with rice but without drinks).

Note: Plazuela De Iloilo is a strip of restaurants/cafes located beside SM Iloilo. There is also a Biscocho Haus where you can buy pasalubong.

setting up a frozen theme decor

the driveway entrance to the Plaza

La Marea : Premier Dessert Place in Cebu?

I'm always on the look out for a great dessert place. So while in Cebu, I checked out some sites looking for some decent desserts. La Marea keeps coming up on my search items and the reviews were very positive. Some foodies even indicating that La Marea had the "best desserts I've tasted!".

Interior at La Marea @ Crossroads Banilad

We stopped by La Marea on a Saturday night. Their branch at Crossroads is really small with limited seating. But luckily, a group just left so we were able to get two small tables. The interior was well lit but was so weirdly designed with a giant octopus picture and half a canoe sticking out a wall. All I can think of is what a shame that this place was not designed better.

surreal

But as my friend said, we were here for dessert.

such a varied selection of dessert things

I think this was a Baked Alaska 

It looked like their cakes and pies were pretty reasonable with items ranging from P100-135. After a short discussion, we had the Pecan Pie Tart with Ice Cream (P135) and the recommended Original Warm Brownie Cup (P105).

The Pecan Pie Tart is small as you can see, There was a lot of pecan pieces on top but not inside the filling. The filling was just okay - not too sweet. Pie crust was also okay and not too hard. Ice cream, of course, makes everything taste better :)

I was really looking forward to the Warm Brownie Cup since everyone seems to be raving about it. So I had high expectations. When it was served, the brownie was warm and there was a nice scoop of ice cream on top. The brownie was soft, not too sweet which I liked but it was too cake-y (if that is even a word). I like my brownie a little bit undercooked and have a slighly more fudge-like quality.

I could not help but compare it to a similar product I bought at a supermarket in the U.S. which was a microwavable brownie cup. Unfortunately, that one was better than the one I ate at La Marea. My other friends liked it enough but they also agreed it wasn't the best dessert they've had.

How crazy that a dessert place has cocktails?!

Final Verdict

La Marea had good enough desserts but not exactly the greatest I've ever tasted. They have a lot of items to choose from and their prices are reasonable. Maybe worth another visit to check out their other desserts.

Location	CrossRoads Banilad, The Walk I.T Park, Paseo Arcenas Banawa, 6000 Cebu City
Hours	Mon - Thu: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm Fri - Sat: 9:00 am - 12:00 am Sun: 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Phone (032) 416 2919

Zubuchon Revisited

The last time I visited Zubuchon (review here), I wasn't exactly wowed by the food. I thought their Lechon (roasted pig) had a bit too much fat and needed more flavor. But my friends wanted to eat at Zubuchon, so here was my second try.

The interior is still very clean and pretty; white walls, big floor to ceiling windows, red chairs. Although the place looks expensive, the food is really reasonable and affordable. 

nice big open space

One side of the restaurant is the prep area where they chop up the Lechon. This part of the kitchen looked really clean and the server wears protective half masks.

nice looking pig :)

skin was pricked all over to make sure the spices they rub goes into the meat

One thing that was different in this visit is that they served some snacks while we waited for our order.

Fried peanuts with chicharon bits

The chicharon was too ground up to make a difference in flavor but the peanuts was not too oily or salty. Best of all is that it's free so good enough for me! - (hey, that rhymed! :D)

sold in packs but I didn't get one

Aside from Lechon and peanuts, they also sell chicharon (fried pork rinds) as well.

I like the background story on how they make their chicharon 

Again, like last time, we ordered their super refreshing Kamias (sour fruit) shake. They really nailed the best combination of sourness and sweetness. I would definitely return here for the shake.

After a couple of minutes, our orders started coming in. First up was the Mungo soup with Lechon. My friend said she could taste a bit of coconut milk in the soup so maybe that's why it was more thick than I remember and more flavorful. There was a good amount of Lechon bits inside the soup but even without it, the dish could stand on its own.

Next one was Sinigang. This dish had all the vegetables and the meat was really tender. However, it could have used a bit more asim (sourness). The broth was also a bit more cloudy than what I am used to seeing. It was a good enough dish.

Ensaladang talong was just okay

Of course we would not go to Zubuchon without ordering Lechon :)

For the 4 of us, we ordered half a kilo of Lechon. I appreciate the fact that they presented the dish nicely with bite size pieces cut uniformly. The meat was really, really tender and there were less fat than before. The skin was still a bit thick and not all parts of it were uniformly crunchy. Although I can taste the spices, it was so subtle that I wished they could have added more salt.

something interesting that maybe I can try next time?

Final Verdict

Better than my last visit. The dishes were more improved and I liked their Lechon better this time around. But I still wish they add more flavor to the Lechon. However, what sets this apart from other Lechon restaurants is that Zubuchon is a place that I would actually like to spend time eating in. They have nice interior, you can order while seating down and the waitstaff were fantastic. There were a lot of customers and it was dinnertime but they never neglected us and most of the time anticipated our needs such as bringing us water, clearing up the table to remove empty plates, adding condiments even without us asking!

For super good service, nice interior and yummy Kamias shake, I won't hesitate to come here again. But again, for pasalubong, I think the Lechon at CNT is still better.

Be prepared to spend P200-P350 each. Note that the most of the dishes is good for 2-3 persons.


Zubuchon Branches:

ONE MANGO AVENUE BLDG.
Gen. Maxilom Avenue, Cebu City - (032) 2395697

ESCARIO CENTRAL
Escario Street, Cebu City - 
(032) 2540247

MACTAN MARINA MALL
corner Airport Road and ML Quezon HIghway, Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City - (032) 2661310

PRE-DEPARTURE AREA
Mactan Domestic Airport - 
(032) 5110005

ZUBUCHON IT PARK
The Walk, IT Park, Lahug, Cebu City - (032) 2368256

Maya Restaurant : Go for the Tequila

While waiting for my bag at the conveyor belt of Cebu International Airport, I looked up and there was a picture of this cool looking restaurant with a Mexican theme. Since I have never tried any other Mexican restaurant except for Mexicali, my friends and I decided to have our first meal in Cebu at Maya. 

This was  picture that intrigued me which is Maya's exterior
 (photo from restaurants' website)

After settling at Crown Regency, we took a taxi at Crossroad in Banilad which was about 20 minutes away. The front entrance was really nice and classy looking.

interior ground floor (photo from restaurants' website)

Coming in, I thought I was under dressed in my jeans and blouse but the other customers were similarly dressed. Lots of families dining in. Small bar at the back, Plenty of soft lights and nice comfy seating but there was this weird partition in the middle of the room that had a long table.  I didn't see the second floor because there was an ongoing party.

We started off with their house Margarita. Nice, cold, right amount of alcohol but served in a half glass instead of the traditional Margarita glass.

Margarita P180

For appetizer, we had the Queso Fundido Con Chorizo. The chips were thin and crispy but a little bit oily. The dip was really good. But really, combine cheese, chorizo and jalapeno and what could go wrong? It was generous too. We already finished the chips but there was plenty left over from the dip. Too bad they charge extra for additional chips.

Queso Fundido Con Chorizo P325- oven roasted cheese with chorizo mexicano
and jalapenos

The tacos were served next. My friend said that in Mexico, tacos are served with tortillas and never with the hard shell (although I absolutely love the hard tacos at Pancake House, authentic or not). At Maya's, you have the option to have the corn or flour tortillas. These are served in three and you can either have one kind of filling or different one for each.

Tacos P335/3

We had the corn tortilla and 3 different kind of fillings; Tinga (Chipotle Chicken), Carnitas (Crispy Pork) and Lengua (Braised Beef).

The tortillas were a bit oily. The fillings itself were bland and a bit tasteless. Faint chipotle flavor in the chicken, pork was not crispy at all and lengua was sliced in cubes and did not have melt in your mouth taste. No salsa or any other thing added except some onions and green thing on top (sorry, wasn't able to identity this but I don't think it's guacamole). Very disappointed.

Next course was Fajitas over a sizzling plate (or Plancha). This was one was a bit better. The chicken was tender and was nicely seasoned. There were 3 small tortillas which was fine since you are supposed to just roll them up and eat them separately. The Mexican rice was good too. Serving was good for 2 person.

Fajitas Polo De Ajo P595 - Plancha Roasted Chicken with frijoles, mexican rice,
charred peppers, onions and warm tortillas

The only thing that bothered me was that there were plenty of chili (sili) in the dish. With the dark lighting and everything mixed together, one could easily have overlooked it and bitten into one. Good thing my friend spotted these and warned us.

sili galore

Enchiladas Carnitas P450 - Enchilada topped with sour cream with Mexico Rice and Refried Beans

I like the Enchilada of Mexicali so of course I also wanted to try Maya's version. Nice good serving that is enough for 2. I like the refried beans. The filling in the Enchilada was super tender and really tasty. The sauce was also good with good amount of sweet, tomatoey and salty flavor. But I like Mexicali's version better because they amp up their taste with a little bit more flavor.

Blue agave is the plant that is used to make Tequila

One of the good things about Maya is their extensive Tequila selections and they have what is called a Blue Agave Tasting Tour. It consist of trying 8 different Tequilas in 1/4 shots. Apparently like wine, Tequila, also has different kinds based on age; Blanco (aged less than 2 months), Reposado (aged more than 2 months but less than a year in a barrel) and Anejo (aged more than a year but less than 3 years in a barrel). 

getting ready :)

This part was actually cool. They gave us a list of Tequilas that they have and you have to choose 2 Blancos, 3 Reposado and 3 Anejo. All of us shared and was able to taste 8 different Tequilas and decide which ones we liked. The price was reasonable too. The clear winner was Blanco Patron which was smooth and did not leave much of an aftertaste.

done!

I did not care for the Sangria that came with it which you're supposed to drink in between each tasting to cleanse the palette.

gulp :(

Final Verdict

The look and feel of the restaurant was very classy. It's a nice place to take someone if you want to impress. Unfortunately, the food was a hit and miss. It was expensive even if there were 4 of us sharing the bill. My take is that come for the extensive Tequila collection but lower your expectation about the food.

MAYA
Crossroads, Banilad
Cebu City

Tel (032) 2389552
http://theabacagroup.com

Hours: Sunday - Thursday 5pm-11pm
Friday -Saturday 5pm - 2am

Purple Oven: Cakes, Cakes and Something Else

I once stalked a girl in Makati carrying a Purple Oven cake box. I was excited because I have heard so much about this bakery from a friend of mine (who swear their cakes are good) and thought that there's a branch nearby. Imagine my disappointment when the girl told me that she got it from Pasig City. I live in the South so I thought, oh well ....

Fast forward 2 years later and my friend asked me to go with her to the Purple Oven branch at Sacred Heart Ave in Makati. Finally, I have the chance to see (and taste) what the fuss is all about.

Store Front

The Makati branch of the Purple Oven is a small unassuming store located along quiet Sacred Heart Ave inside the YMCA building in front of the Sacred Heart Church.

Cute Logo

We went there Saturday mid-afternoon and luckily there weren't too many people. It's a small store but all of their cakes and breads are well displayed. Most of the time people just come in, buy and leave but there's also 3 tables you can use if you want to have a cup of coffee and taste some of their baked goods. Which is what we did.

Quiet Saturday afternoon

3 small tables 

Schedule of the baking just in case you want it hot

all kind of baked goods

We decided to try the Tuna Bun and Soft Cinammon Roll. I wanted to try some cake slices but they only sell the whole cake.

Soft Cinnamon Roll P65

Tuna Bun P75

First, I was disappointed that they didn't take the time to heat up the Tuna Bun. No knife as well, not even plastic ones. The Cinnamon Roll was soft, nicely done but the cinnamon was a little skimpy and the icing on top was a little too sweet. The Tuna Bun was a disappointment. When you cut into it (wish I took a picture) you had this big gaping space and a little bit of tuna filling. Both were not worth it based on how much it cost.

Cakes, Cakes and Something Else

We hoped that the cakes were a bit better.

Unfortunately, you cannot buy per piece

one of their bestsellers

bread galore

intriguing descriptions

no description for the banana loaf?

After checking everything out, my friend and I decided to buy 2 cakes to share. Initially we asked the staff if it was possible for them to cut it in half and then switch one side but they said they couldn't. Even with our assurance that we wouldn't blame them if it gets destroyed during the process :) So my friend and I decided to just do it ourselves at her apartment. 

two boxes

I chose the Stardust cake which is a light cream, light cake with meringue crust covered in buttered cream encrusted with chopped pistachio.

mmmmm ....

no mercy!

My friend who is a chocoholic really wanted to try the Grandma Cake which is chocolate cake covered in chocolate frosting with caramel filling in between layers.

chocolate, chocolate but how to cut it in half with all that hard chocolate on top?

turns out you just need to do it very carefully

2 in 1 

The Stardust cake was a big hit with my family. The cake was indeed light and very very soft (2 days in the fridge and it was still moist), the icing was just right and not too sweet. I wished the meringue on the bottom would have been thicker or even between the layers. But overall, very good.

The Grandma cake was very moist, not to dense, icing was good - not too sweet with a good amount of chocolate - but the best part is the caramel which was thick and gooooooooood.

Final Verdict

After the initial disappointment with their bun and rolls, the cakes were surprisingly good. Not wow good but a solid very good. Most of the cakes had interesting flavors and I am intrigued enough to go back for more. The cakes were a bit expensive (P630-P850) and they don't accept credit cards so be prepared to bring cash.

If you are looking for an alternative to the usual gooey, sweet cakes from Red Ribbon or Goldilocks then Purple Oven is for you.

P.S. I've heard it whispered that Purple Oven is the supplier for my favorite favorite banoffe pies from that popular coffee chain. So next time, I think I'll try that one and compare.

The Purple Oven

63 Saint Peter St., Oranbo Pasig

YMCA Bldg. 7 Sacred Heart St., San Antonio Village Makati City

Contact numbers: 6314221 / 9101363 / 9101364

Open 8am-9pm