Ensaymada & salad

A very good friend we’ve not seen for a long time took us on a "discovery tour" around a place we thought was familiar to us, only to realize there was a lot more that we had not explored. We had a rather exhaustive tour of the Greenhills shopping center after lunch at Via Mare in Shangri-La Plaza.

We are sure a lot of diners associate Via Mare with Filipino fare. Well, our friend convinced us to share her two-leaf salad of iceberg lettuce and spinach. The former was really crunchy and the latter made for much welcome texture. The real winner though was the dressing, in which we detected honey and lemon juice–vinaigrette with a plus! Very refreshing. Our grilled lamb was perfectly pink and juicy.

We then motored to Greenhills, to the Theatre Mall and the adjoining Moms Manyaman’s and Party Pastries. Manyaman, in Pampango, means "masarap" or delicious. Our friend, being a suki, could not resist letting us sample the ensaymadas (P20 per). Covered with butter and quick-melt cheese, they are calorific but since we love this particular bread, we risked a bit of added poundage and truly enjoyed a piece. On the other side of the store are prepared flower-shaped crispy puff pastries. At P20 each, they come with chicken a la king filling which you put into the pastry when ready to serve. No need to heat the pastries, only the filling. Without taking them from the plastic bag, the pastries stay crispy for days. For a creamier filling, add a little bit more white sauce. They are good no-hassle party fare.

We moved to the fast food area and recalled having had some of the Filipino specialties of Ponciana, like the bopis at P50 a serving and bangus belly at P135 a plate. Up the steps toward the exit to the Virra Mall side of the arcade is a small store of Sarangani Bangus, which caters cooked food (served on the tables outside) and frozen products to take home. This must not be mistaken for the other bangus producer, Bonoan from Pangasinan. Their seafood line comes from Minadanao and includes boneless daing, flavored as adobo or bistek at P225 a kilo. They have bangus longganiza and frankfurters as well.

Our food trek culminated at Wei Wang, a Chinese grocery store on Wilson Street. Visiting this place needs planning: one should have in mind the particular Chinese dish she plans to cook, otherwise the seasonings, canned items, frozen ingredients, even fresh vegetables and cooked food (barbecue and lumpia), etc. will confuse and tempt the shopper into buying a lot. We found egg noodles (Ma Mon Luk) which we use for our fabada and Tai Hua Seafood Soy Sauce (P85). The lady of the store volunteered the info that this is ideal for steamed fish. We also bought the unique potato and taro balls, great for a light soup.

After a few days, we went South and visited Walter Mart in Santa Rosa, near Enchanted Kingdom. Since the past year, we have been curious about their Consumer Complaints counter. We had the opportunity to find out how efficient and helpful they are. The two ladies behind the counter were courteous, but would not reveal what the most common complaints have been since the service started. It was only after we aired our complaint that they nodded and cautiously agreed they have been getting a lot of the same complaint: items are not individually tagged. The shopper has to decipher what is written on the racks, which is hardly readable, and most of the tags do not correspond to the products on display.

To have to bend to read the prices is difficult for many people, especially those with back problems. When we asked for assistance, we were referrred to a computerized scanner, which unfortunately did not immediately respond to our efforts. We found out that paper tags are better received than when they’re covered with plastic. We’ll have more on this chain next week.

Meantime, have a good Sunday with family. Bonding is a good exercise.