Mom and Dad's Paluto

There's a fresh way of eating here in the Philippines, and I mean literally. We have here what we call, "Paluto" restaurants. "Paluto" equally translates to: "let someone else do the cooking for you". Now, the fresh part is, those restaurants are only a stone-throw away from the market whereas seafood is guaranteed fresh! I personally love eating here. You could ask the chefs how would you like it cooked and additional ingredients are provided by them by request. Of course, they don't have everything so you have to buy some yourself. Last time, our family ate at Mom and Dad's and after buying still breathing sea critters, here's what the resto came up with:


(Left to right, starting at the top) Calamres, Shrimp Tempura, Fish in Miso Soup and Shellfish. Calamres is also Calamari, I just don't know why it's called such here but what the heck as long as it taste good. I love their Shrimp Tempura, too. The breading is crunchy like that of the Calamares' and the meat is soft. I find it very surprising. Almost all Tempuras and Calamares that I have eaten have a harder meat texture because it's deep-fried, but theirs is different. It looks like the meat was steamed, then deep fried. Fish in Miso Soup was also good. I can't recall what type of fish it was but I think it's tuna. Miso soup is widely known for its health benefits to regular consumers so every sip of the soup was revitalizing. I also loved the shellfish. I think it was first baked, then stir fried with the shell on.

And of course, a feast is not a feast without Sisig. As seen in the photo, I mixed the sisig with raw egg. Sisig is really delicious but this one had too much chili.

And there's the rice. Garlic and plain rice. I should've ask them to put more garlic.
I just love garlic. This one had enough garlic but I wanted more.

These are the hearty soups I tried. The first one is a Chicken and Broccoli soup. It had, well, chicken and broccoli, some minced carrots, a few noodle strands and other small vegetable bits that I couldn't identify. It was by far, the most flavorful soup that I ever had. I liked it so much that I had two servings of this one. The next is Miki Noodles. Miki is actually a large type of noodle. It is thick and delicious as well. And lastly...

This is "Lato". It is sea weed, eaten as it is when harvested. It's like a soft stem with many sacs attached to it filled with gooey stuff. It's not really a "fear factor" food. I actually enjoyed eating this. The slimy whatever that oozes out when bitten is actually like salt water but not really salty. Lato is best eaten with vinegar.

Shawarma Trippin'

One good thing about being Asian is that I have a wide selection of food. Asia probably has the most diverse food due to various cultural influences among other continents. It's really fun to try out a new dish everyday! Like when we went to this restaurant. Sorry, but I don't have the photo of the resto, I also failed to get the name. Talk about being a responsible food blogger. I'll keep that in mind next time. Anyway, this restaurant in Malate, Manila offers Arabian food. I personally love Arabian food mainly because most of the meat recipes are grilled to perfection, elliminating some of the fats and they use olive oil which is good for the body. The na'an or flat bread is to die for! An order gives you a stack and it comes with a lot of dipping sauces, mostly made out of bean paste and olive oil, and in one dip I think I tasted parsley and sour cream.

After a few minutes, the kebab platter came. Mmmm... chicken and beef kebab with roasted tomatoes, onions and lettuce. There were pickled vegetables as well.

It was heaven I tell you. The meat is super tender, it will literally melt in your mouth! The chicken is nicely done, so soft and flavourful. I just can't stop filling my mouth with these kebabs. I also realized how tasty onions and tomatoes are when roasted really good and since I had a few more na'an bread I came up with the idea of making my own shawarma. Ok, for the first try:

Sorry for the flashy part, I am using an old digital camera and navigating the settings was a headache. Anyway, I took some beef kebab and sliced it into small parts, laid it in the middle of the bread, topped with roasted tomatoes and lettuce on the left side and arranged the layered onions on the right side and oh, I forgot to mention that I smothered the bread with some of the dips. After gulping the whole thing down I reached for another bread and made a second one.

And again I apologize for the flash fail. Phew, I need a new camera. In my second serving I place a long beef kebab in the center, this time the na'an bread was smothered with some sour cream dressing. Placed the veggies at the side and in one minute, I finished the whole thing. I was so stuffed that I could barely breathe out my stomach. After a while the eggplant rice came and a bunch of chicken and beef shawarma... ooohhhh... I could die now. I'm in Paradise! I've never enjoyed eggplant and rice this much and the shawarma was so delicious.