Sunday Family Style : Komrad

Last night's family dinner was at a new place in Eastwood Mall. KOMRAD, serves Hunan and Sichuan dishes so be ready to take in all that spice! My family loves to eat spicy food, but we also had to be careful because the kids were with us. Not everything on the menu is spicy, though, so it was all good.

The place isn't so big and surprisingly, it was packed last night, despite the fact that they were only on their 2nd day of operations. This wall mural is so prominent inside the restaurant. When I took a closer look, I kinda laughed at the idea to put Mao Tse Tung in a chef's uniform.

It was so cute.

Ready to see what we ordered? We don't scrimp on food and we have a tendency to order more than what we can handle. The fact that 80% of our orders were spicy also made it quite a challenge for us to finish everything!

Mapo Tofu (P255)

Spice factor : 3.5 (out of 5)

KOMRAD Fried Rice (P198)

We had 4 of these!

Spice Factor : 0

Steamed Fish Fillets w/ Black Bean Tapenade (P288)

Spice Factor : 4

(especially if you swish the fillet around the oil before biting into it)

Kung Pao Crispy Pig's Ears (P188)

Spice factor : 4

Fujian Noodles (P265)

Spice factor : 0

Kung Pao Shrimp Balls (P325)

Spice factor : 3.5

Chilled Tofu with Pork Floss (P125)

Spice Factor : 4

General Tso's Chicken (sorry, forgot to note the price)

Spice factor : 2

Please note that the spice ratings are solely based on my opinion. This would naturally depend on your tolerance for spicy food. But unlike in other places where the dishes are too spicy, you hardly taste the food itself, we really enjoyed all of our orders. The only comment I have is that it took a while for them to prepare our bill. This was largely due to the absence of a POS (point of sale) system, so they had to manually add everything up. I'm sure they'll be able to iron this kink out in no time. The manager was kind enough to explain the hold up and the waiting time was bearable, so it was really a non-issue for us.

Can you tell how much we loved our visit? Just look at all the empty platters and bowls!

KOMRADE is on the 2nd level of Eastwood Mall, beside CYMA and near the bridgewalk to Citywalk. After Googling a bit more, I discovered that this is another one of Marvin Agustin's restaurants. Kudos!

Sunday Family Style : BluFish (Eastwood Mall)

We find ourselves going back to this place because the food is really good and the service has improved a lot since our very first time.

What we had tonight (and I'm still so full)

Compliments. That's blue cheese dip in oil which my girls really really love.

Moroccan Seabass with Vegetable Couscous

This is a MUST TRY!!!

The fish is huge and the couscous is delicious!

Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter Crab

On bed with garlic noodles

We're big garlic fans so you can just imagine how much this dish was enjoyed

Crispy Tilapia with Tamarind Miso

(or Singaporean Pepper Sauce, if you prefer)

Really good too!

Next door to BluFish is The Flying Pig, which is their sister-restaurant. From there, we ordered the Kung Fu Spiced Spareribs

Pork Spareribs w/ Secret Shanghai Spices and Peppers

It was our first time to try this. The ribs were not at all spicy, but instead just had a tiny bit of kick in them. They could turn the spice up just a little more. Maybe I'll ask them to do that next time. Nevertheless, I think I had 3 servings haha!

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this place an 8.5

We'll be back for sure!

Eastwood Mall's Basement Parking : a nightmare!!!

Our family has been going to Eastwood Mall almost every Sunday since it opened. My Dad lives in the area and so we have gotten so familiar with the place. I've noticed how lousy their basement parking is planned. It's really one big maze! I know that on special occasions (i.e., Mother's/Father's Day, Graduation season, Valentine's Day), it can get really crazy in that place but last night was a totally different story.

After having dinner and watching the John Ford Coley concert, we walked back to the car. It was rather late, around 1030pm, and the kids were tired and sleepy. When we got down to basement level 4 where our car was parked, we noticed that there was a queue of cars en route to the exit. There was nothing strange about that as we had seen it happen before. Things got really bad when we noticed we had been waiting inside the car for almost half an hour and we had hardly moved. There were more cars behind us by this time and we began to worry about the fumes. Luckily, the level we were on wasn't full so we were able to slowly maneuver the van into an empty parking slot. We decided it was best to park again and go back up to the mall to wait it out, rather than stay in the car where we knew we were in danger of suffocating. At this point, other cars around us started to do the same thing. Angrily, Neal approached a roving security guard and asked him what the hold up was all about. The guard told him that their system was down and there was no way for them to collect payment from exiting customers. WHAAAAAT???? So they would rather keep everyone hostage in the basement?!?! We were so irked by the guard's answer, to say the least!

After waiting for about 20 minutes, Neal and I decided to walk back down to check on the situation. The kids desperately wanted to go home. In the lift going down, there were two others with us who were attempting to do the same thing. When the elevator doors opened at basement 3, we were shocked to see that things had gotten worse. There were cars still stuck and the fumes were three times as bad. Up we went again and waited another 15-20 minutes. We then decided to go back a 2nd time to check. Still a no go. Finally on our 3rd attempt, everything was clear but by this time, we were all so tired and angry. I ended up letting out a mouthful at the guard and parking attendant by the exit. I received the lamest excuse on the planet : Ma'am, pasensya na kayo nagkataon lang po. To which I replied : Huwag mo kaming lokohin, nandito kami every weekend at alam namin na noon pa ito nangyayari. Sabihin niyo sa amo niyo huwag puro pera ang isipin. Papatayin niyo ang mga customer ninyo!!!

We were finally able to leave the place very close to midnight, our night semi-ruined by this terrible hassle which could have been handled properly by Eastwood Mall administration. Really...how difficult is it???

Food Review : Buenisimo by Cafe Ysabel

Yup, you read it right. This new restaurant in Eastwood Mall is part of the Cafe Ysabel group. We were late for dinner because we came from Clara's baptism and reception. That's why I only have a few food pics from tonight.As expected --- good food, even better service!

How can you go wrong with a US Angus Steak that big for less than P800?

Food Review : Old Vine Grille

This is the BEST new restaurant we've tried so far at the new Eastwood Mall.

Here's a blow by blow review on our orders:Fish and Chips - served really crispy on the outside but cooked perfectly on the inside. The fish was still soft and juicy (I hate it when it's really dry). The potato wedge were just the right size.Chef's Quarter Steak (to share portion) - Neal loved this! He thought he had ordered too much but he finished off what was on the entire plate. Came with salad, too.Grilled Tiger Prawns - this was my order. Loved it! Came with salad and a generous serving of mashed potatoes.Grilled Salmon - Anissa the salmon freak had this and was so happy too. The fish was (again) cooked to perfection. She loved the Wasabi dressing that was generously spread on top of the big slice of salmon.Baked Dory with Pasta - DM's order. Didn't get to try this but she said it was really good.

Can't complain about the service either. Dad says this place is always packed. I don't wonder at all why. Ave check is P600.

P.S. They also kept replenishing our complimentary basket of dinner rolls (even without being asked). The bread was freshly-baked.