Buffet at Chef Laudico Guevarra's

Days before Christmas, your Dad and I went back to Manila (more on that on another post). Since it is time away from you (haha), we decided to also make plans for a quick dinner date at Chef Laudico Guevarra's.

I'm not much of a food critic. Food is food to me and it takes little to impress me. My baseline is your dad's cooking (naks!). I just wanted to share what I ate since we're removing my gallbladder in a few weeks, anyway. Hahaha. This will at least give it one last hurrah.

So anyway, we were too early for a 7:30pm reservation. We came at around 5:30pm and the current batch of guests being served were due to end at 6pm. We were told to wait for our reservation time, otherwise we will have to go at 6pm, too. 

No worries since their garden had plenty of seats to lounge in. We used the time to take pictures of the place.

Your dad doesn't like waiting. Keep that in mind.

So festive!

I usually start on Japanese food. But since this is a Filipino-food buffet, let's start with dessert! Meringue, palitaw and red velvet cupcakes.

Salad, lumpiang sariwa, and 2 other dishes that I forgot already.

Back to sweets! Maja blanca, macaroon, carrot cake and leche flan

Adobo rice, something, something, fish mayonesa (which inspired our Media Noche menu last New Year's Eve), and shrimps

2 kinds of pizza, lechon and lechon kawali

Dessert again! Meringue anf chocolate crinkles

Vanilla and ube ice cream

Salad, lumpiang sariwa and squid

I see you! Your dad was teasing me for all the fatty foods that I got.

Lechon! Sorry, gallbladder.

I think I was up to my neck in food. I was so full! Chef Laudico Guevarra's is so far the most value-for-money buffet restaurant that I've been to. This is actually the first buffet restaurant that costs less than Php500 that I have been to but all the food that I've tried tastes so good. (Rates are: Php399 for Mon-Fri lunch, Php499 for Mon-Thurs dinner and Php599 for Fri dinner to Sun dinner --- subject to VAT)

We will definitely be back at Guevarra's. Dad and I were already thinking of an event that we can celebrate there hahaha

Have you tried it? Bring me back there please! I love you!

You may also want to read about your dad's powers

Hallelujah Waffle Brownies

This is by far the bestest baked-not-baked goodie that we have made. It's a pre-mix, but I never expected it to be this good!!

Here it goes...

Goodbye Maya Pancakes. I found my new pre-mix love.

Goya Brownie Mix Chocolate Supreme (Php 165 only). Just cook it according to package instructions, which means combining 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup oil and 1 egg, and mixing it with the brownie mix and a gooey chocolate syrup that comes with the mix.

We sprayed oil on our handy Imarflex waffle maker and put in about 1/4 cup mixture per section. Allow to cook for about 3 to 3.5 minutes per batch.

When I took it out of the waffle maker, it seemed too soft and I couldn't get a good solid piece since it keeps crumbling.

My camera phone doesn't do it justice

But, oh my God, when it cools down, you have such a delicious waffle brownie! It was crisp on the outside but moist on the inside. And. Oh. So. Chocolatey!

So surprisingly good that I had to rave about it with expletives.

Next time, we will add nuts and marshmallows. Or maybe even vanilla icecream. It's so good!!!

Ate is the best bowl cleaner ever. :)

Try this mix out and let me know what you think. Or if you happen to find a brownie recipe as good as this, let's try that! :)

You may also want to read about how I make lambing to your dad (no, that post is not for adults only!)

Banana oatmeal cake

Banana is a semi-staple food in our household, especially since Ate loves it so much. So when we started with our baked-not-baked goodies, it was the perfect ingredient to experiment on.

We first made banana bread using a rice cooker. (More on that on another post) This time, we are making it on our turbo broiler. :)

We got this recipe from panlasangpinoy.com. I made notations on the changes that I made.

Ingredients are:

• 1 cup mashed banana -- I used 4 medium sized slightly overripe ones.
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence -- I used 1 1/2 tsp
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour -- I used 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup of quick cook oatmeal
• 1 tsp baking soda -- I only have baking powder on hand, and I read here that "you will need 2 or 3 times as much baking powder for the same amount of baking soda to get the same amount of leavening power, and you may end up with something that’s a little bitter tasting, depending on the recipe". But, uhmm.. I just used 1 1/2 tsp baking powder this time.

Basically, just mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and all the wet ingredients in another. Once done, combine the two mixtures and put in a greased baking pan. You need to grease the pan to make sure the bread doesn't stick to it once done.

Remember we are using a turbo broiler for this recipe. We pre-heat the broiler at 350 deg Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Then we put in the baking pan and set the broiler for another 50 mins (still at 350 deg F).

See the center part? That was where your dad kept pinching off pieces to taste.

It was a hit! Everybody loved it, especially Miko! :) It was moist and had just the right amount of sweetness. If I were to improve on this recipe, I'd probably add more bananas or maybe add half a cup of sugar (to which I know your dad will contest), or maybe put in some nuts. Your Dad suggests adding frosting. I'll consider doing this when I need to make gifts for friends :)

Let's experiment some more in the kitchen okay? Read about our kitchen adventures here. I love you!