Dining Experience: Mexicali at SM San Lazaro

I love tacos, nachos, and chili con carne, and these are the perfect comfort food for me, aside from chocolates! (Chocolate would always be my #1 comfort food!)

So when my dearest cousin told me that Mexicali just opened their newest branch in SM San Lazaro, I just have to try it out!

By the way, SM San Lazaro is just about 10 minutes away from my home by car, so I was thrilled to know that at long last, a good taqueria is just a quick drive away!

Last Friday, my cousin and I met up at SM San Lazaro to have dinner at Mexicali!

The Mexicali branch in SM San Lazaro is quite small compared to their other branches, but the place is still comfy. The place is almos never empty too!

The SM San Lazaro branch has a different menu too, and from what I observed this particular branch caters to those who want good Mexican food but tight on a budget, like students.

These are what we ordered:

For starters, we had Chili Fries!

The chili was so good! We both agreed that Mexicali serves one of the best chili con carne with a Filipino flare! Our only gripe was it's a bit expensive at about 189 pesos.

I also wish they do serve chili con carne cups like they do in their bigger branches.

Next, we had Carne Asada Tacos in Soft Corn Tortilla.

One order of either their soft or hard tacos contains 2 junior sized tacos!

Definitely good for sharing, or you could eat it all if you're hungry!

This one, I didn't particularly like, since the meat in this tacos is quite bland and the salsa on top was super spicy! I also tasted the salsa they provide and the one on top of this taco is the same as the one they serve. My cousin and I both though that maybe their salsa isn't tomato based but chili based instead! It's a bit expensive too for 189 pesos compared to 99 pesos for two pieces of junior hard tacos.

In order to try out their enchilada and their hard tacos without ordering the regular size, we opted to order COMBO 6: which contains junior size enchilada of you choice, junior size hard taco of your choice, house salad, and Mexican rice.

This meal is value for your money! Good amount of food for just 129 pesos!

Your tummy will surely be satisfied!

Their enchilada is really good! It's has a good amount of cheese and beef! It's flavorful and creamy too!

I also liked the hard tacos. It's a good basic tacos and it's not bland like the carne asada soft taco.

For dessert, we had Banana, Caramel, Rhum, and Cream.

My cousin and I both loved this! It's a combination of your traditional bananaque and "minatamis na saging."

As you can see in the photo, they didn't skimp on the caramelized Muscovado sugar.

We were surprised too, because it wasn't overly sweet as we expected it to be!

Overall, some of the food here is decent and some were better.

We liked most of the food, plus the food were quite affordable.

Take note that the bigger Mexicali branches serves more choices of food and their food taste a little bit better. On the plus side, this particular branch is much affordable!

We'd definitely be back for the chili con carne, hard tacos, enchilada, and their dessert!

To end this post, here's a picture of my dear cousin!

My cousin says "Hi!" to all of you!

Dining Experience: Tao Yuan Restaurant

Last Saturday, my friends and I visited the Newport Mall at Resorts World Manila.

As I was craving for Hainanese Chicken and Chili Crab even days before, we decided to dine at Tao Yuan Restaurnt.

Good thing we had reservations, since the place was full the whole time we were there.

The place was ok, like your usual Chinese Restaurant.

The servers were welcoming and warm as well.

Tao Yuan Restaurant offers traditional Chinese cuisine, as well as Singaporean Cuisine.

Since we already have eaten in so many Chinese restaurants for so long and our taste buds have been craving for something new, we decided to try out their Singaporean offerings.

These are what we ordered:

Chicken Hainanese

This was the first course served along with the Cereal Prawns.

The chicken was soft, tender, and flavorful.

It's really good, but I can't say it's the best that I've tried.

The taste, I must say is similar as the Hainanese Chicken I've tried in Hong Kong and Singapore. I liked it with the chili sauce they served it with rather than with hoisin sauce.

I suggest ordering the rice that goes with the Chicken Hainanese, because it will enhance the flavor. The rice (not pictured) was flavored just right, unlike the other ones I've tried which were overly flavored with the chicken oil.

Cereal Prawns

This is an interesting take on prawns.

The prawns were huge!

What I loved about this dish was that the breading of the prawns were not too thick. Though some of the prawns were a bit overcooked, but some were cooked perfectly, must be the residual heat? The prawns were seasoned nicely too. Overall this is a nice dish.

Laksa

This was the star of the evening!

It's so delicious! So flavorful! It's spot on authentic Singaporeans Laksa!

The Laksa was exceptionally good, because of how creamy this was and it's not too spicy.

Every time I took a spoonful of this, it's like party on my mouth!

Everybody must try this.

Singaporean Spareribs

This taste like barbequed spareribs with a Singaporean flare.

The meat was tender and the sauce was rich, as what would you expect with Singaporean cuisine. The dish is actually our second favorite dish.

Mango Lapu-Lapu

This dish was so-so.

The fish was perfectly cooked, but I was expecting much more for the hefty price.

This taste just like an ordinary Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu, but with sliced mangoes.

Plus, the parsley was way too overpowering!

It's not bad, but our housecook can make a better Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu.

Chili Crab

Another so-so dish.

Though the crab was cooked nicely, the sauce was bland and lacks the kick we were looking for.

Plus this dish has a ridiculous price.

Not particularly bad, but the price was so steep!

The dish was mediocre for our taste.

This dish was served with Kua Pao, which was good.

Our friendly servers of the night, serving our complimentary dessert.

Almond Jelly

This was a complementary dessert.

It taste like your usual almond jelly, nothing special.

But hey it's free, so no right to complain, right?

Overall, we had a good experience thanks to the accommodating waiters and their awesome Laksa!

I'd definitely be back for more Laksa and Singaporean Spareribs!

Hello Kitty EOTD V1.0

So, I had the chance to play with the  MAC Hello Kitty Palettes (courtesy of Mona) and here's what I came up with..

*UDPP

* Lucky Tom Palette- Stylin' e/s over the lid

* Too Dolly Palette - Romping over the crease

* Rice Paper - highlight over the brow bone

* Milk Pigment - tearduct

* Deep Blue green Pigment - lower lashline

* Too Dolly Palette - Too Dolly e/s blended with Deep Blue pigment in the lower lashline

*Clinique Brush On Liner in True Black - upper lash line

* UDPP 24/7 in Zero - lower waterline

Here's what I had for lunch: Mashed potatoes, corn, chicken fried steak in alfredo sauce...