XO 46 Heritage Bistro: Pinoy Food and Hospitality

Looking around the newest retail area in MOA Complex, we spotted a Filipino restaurant with great interiors and an awesome "uniform" for their servers.

It's not actually a uniform but a full Filipiniana complete with a headdress. And mind you, they speak eloquently in Tagalog, capturing the natural rhythm of the language. We felt an air of hospitality while asking one of their personnel about the menu.

After ordering, we were given some mini puto and conrnick to munch on. The puto came with two types of butter - the regular, and the one with aligue.

For the soup, we had Suam na Mais. This is a light soup with corn kernels and crab meat. The soup serving a big but I wish there were more corn and crab meat.

The Garlic Sotanghon was indeed garlicky. The noodles itself had flavor. It could use a bit more toppings though.

I liked how the lumpia was crunchy and flavorful. It is even enhanced when you dip it in the vinegar mixture.

Complementary Choc-Nut was given as a mini dessert to close the meal.

Price is a quite expensive for the serving size but service is commendable.

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Pho Hoa: Noodles and Rolls

For our Friday lunch out, we ordered spring rolls, salad, and noodles with a Vietnamese twist. I'm not really familiar with Vietnamese food so I followed the recommendations of my colleagues. This is also a good place for vegetarians since they have a separate menu for their vegetarian offerings.


Serving size of the noodles and entrees are good for sharing so we shared meals by pair. Pair 1: Chicken noodle soup and fried spring rolls. Pair 2: Brisket Flank Pho and fresh spring rolls. Pair 3: Chicken noodle soup and Chicken salad.

I liked the spring rolls, both the fresh and fried. Vermicelli is not usually an ingredient for spring rolls in our local cuisine so this is a defining trait for the rolls. The peanut-y sweet and savory sauce of the fresh rolls is a favorite. For the fried version, a sweet and sour vinegar based dip is provided.

Thin rice noodles defined the noodle soup. The broth and toppings are simple. Beansprouts and a squeeze of lemon are served on the side as additions to the soup. You can add chili and hoisin sauce to flavor the broth. Indeed the serving size was good for sharing and we all left with full stomachs.

I was not able to taste the salad but the serving size was big as well and there was a good amount of chicken.

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Botejyu: Premium Moonlight Okonomiyaki

New restaurant alert! Botejyu at SM MOA offers okonomiyaki, okosoba, ramen, takoyaki, and donburi. For today, my friend and I had one of must-try dishes - the Premium Moonlight Okonomiyaki.

Food is prepared freshly in an open kitchen. We waited for around fifteen minutes for our order. House tea wasn't available though.

Premium Moonlight Okonomiyaki (Php 360)

Our main dish was served on a sizzling plate to keep it warm whereas other restaurants have a teppan installed per table. But the taste is notable! It was really packed with pork, squid, plump shrimp, and I guess there was some kind of ginger in there. The two of us had a filling lunch with this! And the egg on top is a runny egg. Watch us slice the okonomiyaki and release the runny yolk at a video in our Instagram account: @thegastronomersdiary.

Another thing I liked about it was it wasn't too salty nor savory. You can adjust the taste by adding more bonito flakes, nori, and special soy sauce which was readily available on the table. I particularly like the semi-spicy sauce. It's not the chili type of spice, rather it has a hint of wasabi, the type that of spice that you feel through your nose.



Matcha Ice Cream (Php 80)

As for dessert, we had a rich creamy scoop of matcha ice cream. It doesn't have a strong green tea flavor, but it wasn't too sweet either. What we loved about it was its creaminess. P.S., the nori flakes on the side isn't exactly meant to be sprinkles, but well, you can try.

Going to try the okosoba and ramen next time!

For another okonomiyaki place in the MOA area, check out this restaurant


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Sensei Sushi

Sensei Sushi is one of the sushi / maki places I would love to go back to. A couple of months ago, my cousin and I decided to eat at this restaurant located at BF Homes Paranaque.

We ordered three items from the menu which was enough to fill up two people.

Tuna and Crispy Scallop Dyanamite

The play on textures of rice, tuna, and fried scallop is addicting. The contrast of colors of the green plate and dominantly orange sushi is pleasing to the eye.


Crispy Philly

With a little bit of western influence, this crispy maki combines salmon and cream cheese into fried sushi rolls.


Ebi Tempura

The size of the tempura was indeed prawn-size, not just shrimp-size. Both the breading and seafood was generous.




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World Street Food Congress 2016: Jamboree

The Jamboree is where all the food will be, and there is no entrance fee!

This year's World Street Food Congress is held at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Philippines. Today, April 20, is the first day of the 5-day event which features not only food, but also talks from food experts.

We headed over to the Jamboree where all the food stalls were gathered. Most of the food originated from Asia but there were also a few from America. Of course, the Philippines was well represented by a whole row of stalls!

In general, they had a system where per stall someone is assigned to get your order and give you an "order slip" for it. Then another person is assigned to collect your payment. Lastly, someone hands over your order. Some stalls also offer takeout in plastic cases.

A few minutes after opening time, there were already lines which only got longer and longer. We were able to try 5 stalls.

Bali BBQ Ribs: Warung Sunset, Indonesia

For me, this has the best value for money. At Php300, you get 5 pieces of meaty ribs. It has a hint of sweetness and spiciness different from the usual Western BBQ.


Martabak Makobar: Martabak Makobar, Indonesia

Dessert is also represented in this jamboree. This "dessert pizza" has a bibingka-pancake-like dough that was chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges. One order had 4 slices which equates to 4 different toppings. Mine had Cadbury, Kitkat, Matcha Kitkat, and Strawberry Pocky. This was then drizzled with condensed milk for a finishing touch.


Banh Xeo: BánhCăn 38, Vietnam

The mini clay pots and pans caught my attention. There were 2 "cooking stationns", one for the Ban Can and another for the Ban Xeo (crispy seafood pancake). You can choose between spicy sauce or peanut sauce for this one.


Triple Sauce Seafood Tempura: Keng Eng Kee, Singapore

This is recommended by many online sites. In one order, you can get squid rings, crispy shrimp, and crispy softshell crab plus three dips which were chili crab, black pepper and salted egg yolk sauces. The crunch combined with the three sauces identify this street food item.


Hoy Tord: NCC Catering, Thailand

The lines already got long around this time. I'm guessing office workers around the area were making a visit. This seafood omelet has a good amount of oysters in it with matching spicy sauce.

The stage is set and for tonight, Up Dharma Down is scheduled to perform.

This event is until Sunday so you still have 4 more days! Just some notes: the place can get quite cramped and hot, the lines can get very long, and the price is a little high for some items. But you will be able to try street food from different countries without having to travel far and get the hawker center vibe while you are at it. Also, maybe more seats / areas to eat would help :)


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