Mustachioventures

Monday, July 9, 2012

50-50 on District 50

A Groupon voucher for District 50 has been sitting in my mailbox for months and it was time to redeem it (before it expires!). Friends' calendars blocked, reservation made. Day came and when the waitress checked the voucher, she said it has been used. What?! How could that happen? After an hour of talking to the supervisor, thanks to my friend and her negotiating skills, we were allowed to order (albeit not sure yet if they will honor the voucher or not).

This restaurant's theme is the 50s. A jukebox-looking maitre d' stand welcomes you at the entrance. The restaurant's interiors are in red and white, of course, and you step onto black and white checkered flooring. I wish they had a real jukebox though that played songs from the 50s (not that I know many songs from that era, just thought it would be nice).

Though Herbie didn't come about 'til the late 60s, he makes a permanent appearance in this diner, as numero cincuenta (50). If it's just you and a date, you can dine in this little bug.

District 50 offers soups, salads, burgers, pasta, pork/beef/chicken/fish dishes that come with rice, and desserts.

Their broccoli soup is creamy and flavorful. An order is good for 4-5 persons.

Their version of puttanesca is called Chanesca. From the small bites I swiped from my friend's plate, I think this one is sardine-y, salty, spicy. How puttanesca should taste like, I guess.

Pork Paprikash according to their menu is "sauteed strips of pork tenderloin marinated in paprika, finished with creamy yogurt." It is indeed paprika laden. Expect this to be spicy. If you do not like paprika and/or spicy food, skip this.

The Beef Stroganoff was cooked medium rare and my friend couldn't bring herself to finish this. I have had better stroganoff myself.

My Chicken Parmesan made me think of pizza: tomato-ey, a bit sweet, a bit sour. The chicken meat's tender. Of the dishes we ordered, I like this and the broccoli soup.

Their food is served in large dishes, it makes the serving look small. (Plus taken from the wrong angle, I made it look even smaller.) Do not let this fool you. The serving size is actually good enough to fill one hungry tummy.

For dessert we chose Jen's Smore Brownie to share. A brownie topped with six crisp marshmallows and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. The best thing about this dessert? The crisp mallows. The rest was just so-so.

I am a water drinker and it kinda ticks me off when you ask if they have service water and they say their service water is from the tap and then you spot a water dispenser quietly sitting in a corner. The dispenser is probably connected to the tap then. Hahaha.

Hello there water dispenser!

In the end, the owner was able to verify that the voucher indeed hadn't been used. There was a mistake in their list (which is a printed list of voucher numbers and ticked off when redeemed). Why did it take so long to verify? Oh just one of the inconveniences of not having an internet connection.

District 50

J Centre Mall, AS Fortuna, Mandaue City, Cebu

(032) 520 6562

10AM - 9PM Daily

How feeding four hungry mouths to lunch bore a hole thru Mustachio's pocket:

Broccoli soup Php 125

Chanesca Php 180

Pork Paprikash Php 160

Beef Stroganoff Php 230

Chicken Parmesan Php 180

Jen's Smore Brownies Php 100

Bottled water Php 35

How much did it really cost Mustachio?

Php 400 for Php 1000 worth of food. Thanks to Groupon. Plus Php 10 for the excess (total bill was Php 1010).

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Curryous for Curry

While avoiding traffic on the main road a month or so ago, we passed by this little curry house at Almendras Street in Mabolo and mentally added it to our list of places to check out.

When hunger came knocking last Friday, Indian food pops in my head (probably because I had just recently wrote about Zayka). I shuffle thru my mental list and pick out Indian Curry House.

From outside it looks small... because it is small! The place can only accommodate 20 people plus four outside. They have five tables of 4 indoors and two tables of 2 outside. I do not recommend sitting outside since it's by the road plus there's a construction site next door (unless you want to pepper your food with dust and breathe in some fresh exhaust gas).

Tables of four

Not an expert at Indian cuisine (or any food for that matter), we ask the waitress what their bestsellers are. She rattles off some alien words and my brain only registers samosa. Since we don't need appetizers (our appetites don't need stimulating), we look over the menu again and settle on three dishes.

Menu. Click on photos to enlarge.

We try one of their vegetarian dishes, the mutter paneer. No, this will not make you mutter to yourself, or maybe it will because of its portion size: it's one small bowl of cottage cheese and peas in curry. And yes, spicy.

We've got vegetables, now we need some meat. We skip the pork and the lamb and are left with chicken. They have about ten chicken dishes and because we like yogurt, we choose the chicken tikka which is chicken marinated in yogurt. This dish is spicy, too.

What's a meal without rice? Not this meal! The vegetable biryani is rice with...drum roll please...vegetables! Yup, spicy.

Because I loved the strawberry lassi at Zayka, I decide to try their lassi too, but they only have three: mango, sweet, and khari. I choose the mango and my date, wanting to try something new, orders khari lassi (yogurt with salt and roasted cumin). The waitress warns us that drinking khari lassi is like drinking the sea. We say, "It's okay, we are adventurous people" (haha). She goes, "Are you sure?" And I know in her mind she's saying you've been warned.

Mango lassi and Khari lassi

I could not taste the yogurt in the mango lassi. It's just like mango shake in my opinion. As for the khari lassi, my date finds it okay (it's more yogurty than my mango lassi) but I find it rather revolting. It's a taste I couldn't quite well describe.

All the above dishes are delicious and a bit spicy - a plus since I like spicy food (they can adjust the level of spicyness at your request) but the portions are a big disappointment: it is as tiny as the place. And what about the drinks? Well, I've been warned about khari lassi and I took that warning to heart.

There are still some things to improve. The hospitality is warm, but service is slow. The food is great, but the serving is disheartening. I love vegetarian meals and how I wish there could be more restaurants that serve them here in Cebu. But with Indian Curry House, I did not come out singing "Aal izz well."

Indian Curry House

No. 57 Almendras, Mabolo, Cebu City

0927 383 9546

email: thefamousindiancurryhouse@gmail.com

Mon - Sat 6PM - 11PM

Other branch:

Soon to open at APM Mall (across SM City Cebu)

(032) 268 9145

How a little piece of India tore a large piece off of Mustachio's pocket:

Mutter Paneer Php 130

Chicken Tikka Php 150

Vegetable Biryani Php 145

Mango Lassi Php 50

Khari Lassi Php 50

Sunday, July 1, 2012

At the Corner Bakery

Tucked away in a quiet residential area in Mabolo is Corner Bakery Company.

Does the word bakery bring to mind bread? Cookies? Brownies?

How about cakes and cupcakes? Wait! Where are the cakes and cupcakes?

Turn that frown upside down. Though the chiller is out of commission, they have cakes and cupcakes ready for (the buying and) the eating.

Oh what to pick? What to pick? What to pick?

They showed me just four kinds of cupcakes: red velvet, blueberry, Belgian choco, and I forgot the other one. I'm glad they did not bring out the whole shebang or else I'd have gone cross eyed trying to decide which to have with the little money I had in my pocket.

After a 20-second drool check, Belgian choco cupcake and a slice of Creme de Rose takes my pick.

The Belgian choco cupcake is just melt in your mouth goodness.
Creme de Rose? Hmmm...I can't say it tastes like a rose since I haven't tried eating a rose, but if a rose does taste like this cake then I'd go eat all the roses I can get my hands on.