red mango

takoyaki, little tokyo, makati

Along the congested streets of Makati's outskirts you'll find a quaint cluster of Japanese restos called Little Tokyo.

The second time I came here was with my college friends after work. We headed to Hana Restaurant with its Takoyaki balls frying outside for our hungry eyes to see.

This is most unlike takoyaki you'll find in department store food courts. For one thing, an actual Japanese is manning the fryer. The octupus chunks are chewy and gooey and all things ooey. The bread

Aside from the Takoyaki (P120 for 6 giant balls), we each ordered rice meals (around 200+). Dan ordered ice scramble.

pho hoa, pasteur st, saigon

This restaurant in Saigon, Vietnam is listed in Patricia Schultz's "1000 Places to See Before You Die." And I basically came to this city with one main goal: to taste the best pho noodles by anyone's standard. So I hunted this sucker down.

The place is as quaint as backpacker's pit stops come.  It has a no-nonsense bare essentials ambience.   Locals abound so you know it has their  seal of approval. With your  hearty bowl of beef, broth and rice noodles, they'll serve you a big pile of basil and bean sprouts to throw in.  Here is one perfect moment to let out one satisfying BURP once you've gulped it all down. Sharap!

We also ordered iced coffee and banana leaf-wrapped rice cakes that we saw from the other table and we got jealous so we ordered it too. Tastes like the Pinoy suman but more gelatinous :)