Silo Bakery

The Silo Bakery in Canberra has established itself as a ‘must visit’ place for foodies. It is touted to be Canberra’s best bakery and the weekend crowd affirmed it. The bakery has an array of homemade breads and pastries which were selling out quickly.

Silo Bakery

The  rows of tarts on display which all looked tempting too. I settled for the raspberry tart which was good. Not too sweet and had the right balance of tanginess.

Silo Bakery Tarts

We were lucky enough to find an empty table and decided to also have lunch. Silo offers a seasonal menu and the short list looked really good. We settled for the vegetable pate trio of roast capsicum, pesto and pumpkin. Interesting pates with good bread that Silo is famous for.

The Zarzuela was to die for. It is a tomato based seafood soup with mussels and clams and a dollop of cream on top. Perfect light lunch. I would definitely come back here again on my lazy weekends for brunch.

Zarzuela

Rating : Love It
Food   : Zarzuela ( Silo does offer a seasonal menu so chances are this won’t be on the menu anymore )

Silo Bakery
36 Giles Street Kingston ACT 2604
Tel :    (02) 6260 6060

 

Grazing

A visit to Grazing takes you to the town of Gundaroo population 300. I fell in love with Grazing the moment I set eyes on it. It is a rustic restaurant in a 1830s stone building located in rural New South Wales 30 minutes from Canberra. It is a country restaurant which serves the freshest produce, most of the vegetables from the chef’s own herb garden.

Grazing restaurant

The restaurant evokes warmth, character and coziness from the wooden floorboards, tables and the fireplaces.

Grazing interiors

The food is superb. Sophisticated country dining at its best. The catch of the day ($27) was served akin to to a thick bouillabaisse with a subtle creaminess that complemented the freshness of our fish.

Catch of the day

The crispy duck confit ($17) was heavenly. The skin is thin and crisp with the meat extremely tender.

Duck confit

The pear tart with cream ($14) was perfection. I’m not a fruit dessert person but there’s always a dish which makes you into a convert and this was it.

 

Pear tart

Rating : Love It

Food    : Try anything on the menu

Summary : I’m looking forward to my next visit although I’m 700 kilometres away. Grazing is definitely a must visit for anyone who drops by Canberra. There is perfection in simplicity.

GRAZING
The Royal Hotel
Corner Cork and Harp Streets
GUNDAROO NSW 2620
Telephone:                   02 6236 8777           
http://www.grazing.com.au

 

Zapatas

I absolutely love Mexican food. The very first dish I learned to cook was beef filling for my taco. Comfort food for me is tacos, nachos and chili con. Imagine my joy when I learned that there is a mexican restaurant in Pampanga.

Zapatas

 

Zapatas Interiors

The place itself is done in typical Mexican decor with knick knacks all over to give it a very authentic feel.

Quesadillas

Quesadilla Supreme – Beef or Chicken Php 180. Perfect with ice cold beer!!!

Chilli

Chili con carne – Php 95 …. Ahhhh, Piping hot. We wolfed down this yummy bowl of chili in minutes.

Rating : Love It

Food   : Quesadilla

Summary : I love Mexican food and I can have it everyday. Zapata’s was authentic and better than the Mex restaurants found in Manila!

Zapata’s

Fields Avenue, Pampanga

 

C Italian

I’ve read so many great reviews about C’ Italian that I just had to try the place during my Pampanga trip.

The place itself is located along the restaurant row of Fields Avenue.

C' Italian Bread

They served complimentary bread with pesto in olive oil for dipping.

Panizza Kristina

We ordered the Panizza Kristina – Bacon and Ham, caramelized onions and mushrooms Php 570. Panizza is a thin crust pizza-like dish rolled and eaten with arugula. The panizza is a house favorite.  A very thin crust with good quality ingredients for the topping. But I guess I had really high expectations for the panizza since everyone was raving about it. It was good but I actually liked the chicken more.

Tuscan style chicken

The wood fire roasted whole tuscan style chicken infused with lemon white wine and virgin olive oil served on onion, roasted potatoes and garlic roated italian broccoli Php 750 was a very good. The chicken was moist and succulent. It had marinated well and the flavors had infused into the chicken. I would highly recommend this dish.

Tiramisu

The tiramisu wasn’t that great. More of a sponge cake with cream filling and wasn’t authentic at all.

Summary : I would come back. The panizza was good and the chicken superb. I would definitely look forward to trying out more of the dishes from the menu.

Rating : Like It

Food   : Tuscan Style Chicken

C’ Italian

Fields Avenue, Pampanga

http://www.citaliandining.com

 

Bagoong Club

Bagoong Club

Bagoong or shrimp paste is made from tiny fermented shrimps. Flavour is then added by sauteing the shrimp paste with various condiments. Bagoong is very much part of Filipino cooking and well loved by Filipinos.

Traditional Bagoong with Singkamas

Bagong Lipunan – Traditional Bagoong with Singkamas is served instead of the usual complimentary bread.

 

Bulalo sa Monggo

Bulalo sa Mongo Php 250 – The beef broth mixed well with the flavor of the monggo. Really really good soup. Must order this dish.

Crispy Pork Binagoongan

Crispy Pork Binagoongan Php 220 – The pork was very tender and crispy on the outside.

Bagoong Varieties

Bagoong Umaga Php15, Bagoong Club Special ( has crab fat ) Php 15, Bagoong Europa Php 25 – For a restaurant named Bagoong club, the bagoong itself wasn’t anything special. They lacked flavours which comes from sauteing shrimp paste with various spices. The bagoong Europa was an interesting variation though since it mixed shrimp paste with pesto.

Pastillas de Leche Cheesecake

Pastillas de Leche Cheesecake Php 130 by Chef Pixie Sevilla-Santos – It’s like having pastillas in a cake form with a nice biscuit bottom layer.

Rating    : Like It
Food       : Bulalong Monggo

Summary : A very nice concept with a lot of food served using bagoong. The bagoong itself isn’t outstanding but the food is cooked well. Prices are also affordable. A refreshing alternative to the normal Pinoy grill restaurants in the QC area.

Bagoong Club
122 Sct Dr. Lazcano Sacred Heart
Quezon City
Phone : 632 9290544