food, food, food - v 4.0

my trip to san francisco last week was fun. i got to dine with some friends and we tried out new restaurants. the first one was this nondescript, hole-in-the-wall thai place called 'pad thai express' along market street. at first i was quite hesitant, but when i tasted the food, it was glorious.

here's what we tried.

roast duck red curry. something new, something different. delicious.

j's fried tilapia on a bed of steamed vegetables, and sprinkled with
some garlicky sauce. a new attack at eating fried tilapia.

for dessert, we had ripe mango and sticky rice. it was yum-yum. the mango could have been better if it were from the philippines (sobrang bias na ito!) because pinoy mangoes are still the best.

and then we went to 'steps of rome' a coffee/dessert place in san francisco's little italy. if they had a little italy.

i ordered the white chocolate profiteroles to satisfy my sweet tooth.
i love, love, love white chocolate, so needless to say, i loved this one too.

then for lunch the next day, j and company brought me to this new filipino restaurant in san bruno. it's called 'patio filipino' and they serve filipino-spanish cuisine. something new uli. actually, this reminded me more of people i know who claim that they are filipino-spanish. basta lang maging hyphenate. filipino-this, filipino-that. whatever!

the food was different. something new din. fresh attack on old pinoy dishes. like this one:

crispy binagoongan. the way my mom does her binagoongan. dry. (meaning, no sauce, no floating oil). they put it on top of a grilled eggplant. and finally, they topped the dish with diced tomatoes. tops on my list!

before and after shots of sizzling bangus sisig. no further explanations needed.

seafood kare-kare. kare-kare with a twist. no beef, no tails, no tripe. instead, there were clams, tahong, squid and scallops. it was okay, not quite a big fan.

sinigang na corned beef. not quite how i imagined it. i thought and wished that this was their version of sentro's (a great resto in greenbelt, where i treated my family to a hearty dinner the night before my flight back last march) specialty. their versionw as kinda salty (maybe because of the beef being corned). not a big fan too.

j insisted on the classic lechon kawali. while it was good, i think i've had better lechon kawali in cheaper turo-turo type restos before.