a big bowl of udon.

rarely, if ever, does the word "venerable" describe a guam restaurant; frankly, there aren't that many dining establishments that have been around for years--let alone decades--and most of them that have survived have definitely had their share of erratic service and quality. one restaurant that probably does deserve the word is joinus japanese restaurant, in the tumon sands plaza. joinus has been around since...the seventies? definitely the eighties? and although there was a brief closure/renovation with new management relatively recently, it has managed to stay in most people's good books. although its focus has always been its teppanyaki tables, they do have many other offerings.

admittedly, i haven't been in joinus for almost a year--i'm not a big fan of their teppanyaki grill area (although the teppanyaki itself is quite tasty); i have always preferred their quieter, better ventilated, usually available dining section. i have, however, found myself back at joinus twice in as many weeks for an anniversary special that is just available until the end of the month: udon suki. (hence, the blog post! twice! in a row! zomg!) it is $25 per person, with a minimum order for 2 people, which is basically a $50 pot noodle. however, it's soooo much more than that. you get a copper basin of dashi (along with a big teapot filled with extra soup stock) on a portable propane stove on your table, along with a platter of chewy udon noodles, and another platter of assorted vegetables and seafood. the ratio of seafood to vegetables is ridic, it's something like 3 types of seafood for every vegetable offered, and generously so: tonight's pick included a very fertile lobster, dozen oysters, a gigantic fish head, tiger prawns, king crab legs, crab claws, scallops, fish cake, fish balls, napa cabbage, tofu, carrots, and mushrooms. oh my. you let the dashi simmer on the a table, and cook your ingredients in the giant vat. it's v. double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble. i am generally against paying to have to cook my own food, but there's something quite entertaining about all this cookery and craft.

this was the set-up for two, and my cousin and i had no real problems tackling this; admittedly, we didn't eat that many noodles and there was still a generous takeaway portion. it was obvious, though, at the table next to us, that slender filipino family of eight found the serving for two more than sufficient. yes, joinus folk are not soup nazis--your group can order the minimum amount, and as long as you order a couple of appetizers or a salad, they are cool with the group share.

you have until 30 june 2012 (this saturday!) to check it out.  

joinus
tumon sands plaza, san vitores road
671.646.4807.

old town at aurora resort.

old town chinese restaurant moved into the space where my childhood favourite, toh-ka-lin, used to be in the old okura hotel (now the aurora resort). the hotel itself is almost completely abandoned, and the semi-hideous, totally ill-conceived renovation makes the place look like “the shining”.

oh but anyway. the dim sum limited, but pretty good. maybe the best on island, although not quite up to par with the best of SGV.

 

old town chinese restaurant at aurora resort

aurora resort (old okura hotel), 

at the northern end of pale san vitores 

647.8200.

lorwill!

"if you see a faded sign at the side of the road...."

and it's in dededo? then it's probably not the love shack. if someone tells you it is, i'd stay well clear. however, if you see a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road, around a shack with smoke coming out of it, it might be a fire (call 9-11 already) or it might be lorwill bbq stand. 

i haven't been there in the past six months because every time i've driven by, there hasn't been any sort of parking available; unless things have radically changed in those months, i'm pretty sure the place has remained mostly the same: nothing to look at on the outside,  popular for filipino-style barbecue sticks, lots of brown food--medium chunks of various meats in various gravies--in the catering trays.

the most popular items on the menu are the barbecue sticks, which come in pork or chicken, and are marinated, filipino style, in a thin, sweet-salty-soy marinade. lorwill is mostly consistent with their sticks--a generous amount of lean but tender meat, well-seasoned, not too sweet, not too salty, not too knorr/maggi season-y/worcester-y, with possibly just a hint of citrus (:cough: lemon-lime soda :cough:). they do a good job--the meat is very well cooked, slightly charred on the outside, but still moist on the inside, with the marinade penetrating the meat, but not overpowering it. they sell them by the stick (the last time i checked, $1.75/chicken, $1.50/pork), or get a plate with two sticks along with either a scoop of white rice, pancit fried noodles, or filipino-style spaghetti. i think there must be some sort of antibacterial/antifungal/antibiotic property in filipino barbecue marinades*, because i tend to buy the cooked sticks in bulk (yeah, that's me cleaning out the supply), and they last forrrrrrever in the fridge, with little deterioration in reheating. well, maybe not forever. but still. 

even though times are tough, the selection from the turo-turo line is seems to get bigger every time i go. generally everything i've gotten from there has been well-cooked, with good quality ingredients, and generous portions. turo-turo literally means "point-point", which is pretty much what you do: point at a dish (or two or three), and you'll get a heap of it served with either two scoops of steamed white rice or a mess of pancit fried noodles. i don't know if there's rhyme or reason behind what comes out every day--i'm guessing what's popular is what they cook, hence, as i mentioned before, lots of meaty and brown. however, there's some good stuff in there--adobo with lots of garlic and gravy, oxtail, bistec with lots of tender onions, a chunky, tomatoey beef stew called caldereta. however, i tend to look for anything with seafood, and if you are lucky you can pick from grilled or fried bangus (milkfish) or tilapia, or fat steaks of bangus in a sour sinigang soup, or maybe some of my favourites: a chinese stir-fry inspired dish of veggies, squid and mussels in a spicy sauce, tilapia halves cooked with lots of vinegar, garlic and onions--called paksiw, similar to escabeche in flavour, squid stewed in its own ink, or mongo (green mung beans) cooked down into a stew with dried shrimp, pork, and bitter melon (all pictured above).

even though i think lorwill does a surprisingly good job with their veggies (a chop suey of sorts is usually available, as is the pinoy version using native vegetables called pinakbet) some of my favourite things on the menu are dishes i rarely get because they are just so, so, sooooo freaking good whilst being so freaking bad for you: lechon kawali and sisig. these are people who know their way around a pig. lechon kawali is the pig of the people, something that appeals to almost everyone: tender pork belly with bits of skin and just enough fat to be sinful included with each chunk, deep-fried so there is shards of skin and a crackly crust that gives way to sweet, moist meat buried within, and served with a homemade lechon sauce that is sweet, slightly tangy and rich with liver, but you'd be hard pressed to ID it as such if i didn't just tell you (eh. no biggie. you need the iron.). sisig might be more of a challenge, if you haven't tried it, but dang, people! try it! sisig is a dish that, depending on how you look at these things, incorporates pig parts that you would rather not think about, or, is an ideal representation of the "nose-to-tail" eating philosophy. the lorwill version uses ears and snouts, which are meticulously cleaned and chopped enough to be indiscernibly anything squeamish (you will not be sniffing at a sniffer, or so you think), and then cooked--several times over, actually--laboriously with vinegar or lemon, ginger, garlic, onions and chili peppers until it all amalgamates into a melting, soft and fatty, cartilage-squeaky, pungent, vibrant, son-of-a-gun sexy pork dish. nibble on some ears, why dontcha.
 

i like the food here. i don't particularly hang around once i order, but the fact that it is pretty much just a corrugated tin and wood shack with a couple of funky ordering windows obvs doesn't put me off. you are definitely going to hate the parking as much as i do, and please be careful when parking there because there are some very stupid drivers doing some very stupid things at very stupid times right around there. they are open early enough for breakfast (try the tortang talong) and open quite late at night, so you have plenty of time to mosey on over.

lorwill bbq stand
28 (really??) n. marine corps drive, in front of guam home center, next to dededo retail store (whoo, guam! we don't mess around with the names of our businesses, do we?)
dededo.

*i don't really believe this. i think my fridge is just really freezer cold.

some quick but convoluted words about singapura.

i love malaysian food, so i was excited that singapura, a restaurant that features the food of singapore, had opened. singaporean cuisine embraces the ethnic diversity of the country; the food is influenced by the native malay, chinese, indian, indonesian and even western traditions.

singapura is in the royal orchid hotel, in a space that used to hold tony roma's; some white paint, banquettes recovered in red vinyl, and a few well chosen accessories have brightened the room considerably, and created a welcoming atmosphere. it certainly doesn't look like a rib joint anymore.

now here is the explanation for the title of this post: the flavours on the menu were described to me by one of the managers as singaporean recipes as realized by a japanese chef, taught to a filipino (?) chef, and tweaked for local tastes. SO. um. yeah. YMMV when it comes to what you consider authentic. certainly there's a lot of fusion going on, with a mango fried chicken salad and five-spice fried shrimp appetizer, but there are traditional dishes as hainanese chicken, laksa and beef rendang.

my favourite of the traditional is bat kut teh, which translates to "meat bone tea". a typical version has pork ribs simmered in a broth of various herbs and spices including garlic, cinnamon, clove and star anise; singapura's version is subtle compared to some versions i've tried, but the spices are evident in the soup, and there is an ample amount of tender ribs and fat mushroom in a portion.

i haven't tried much on the menu, which is considerable--there are several curries, a few vegetable and grilled items and variety of seafood dishes presented as mix-and-match options: choose from crab, crab claws, prawns, scallops or lobster, and pair it with a chili sauce, or black pepper sauce, garlic butter, or coconut curry. all of them sound enticing. i quite like the crab beehon: rice noodles in an unctious sauce with a crab broth base, wok-fried with crab claws, sweet peppers, bean sprouts, and topped with fried onions. i am not a fan of beehon noodles, nor cooked peppers and bean sprouts, but i sort of love this--it's slightly sweet, savoury, slippery and slightly crunchy, and rich with the flavour of crab.

another current fave is the coffee-glazed ribs: braised pork ribs glazed in a mixture of oyster sauce, chinese rice wine, sweet soy sauce, and coffee, then dusted with a bit of cinnamon. the flavour is deep, slightly bitter, and only a little bit sweet, so it's not like drinking pork-flavoured starbucks. well. maybe unsweetened pork-flavoured starbucks. you can watch chef walter cook them here.

okay, this is probably the least "authentic" dish, but ooh, it's a good one: warm roti prata topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, warm coffee glaze and cinnamon. warm, cool, chewy, creamy, coffeeee-ey, and oh-so-tasty. simple and diiiivine.

you should check out their facebook page, because there are all sorts of discounts and coupons littering the wall. if you "Like" them right now, there is a coupon for $10 off a $30 bill, which is a GREAT bargain. go. get it, use it. you have a few days (until the end of august).

another bargain available is on wednesday nights, something called "tour of singapura" and seems to be an all-you-can-eat for $25 option. i haven't been, i can't quite figure it out, but i think the kitchen brings out a bunch of little dishes, and eat as many of them as you want, then hopefully stop. you can always come back.

singapura
royal orchid hotel
626 pale san vitores, across from PIC, up against the cliff,
tumon.
671.647.2088.

https://www.facebook.com/SingapuraGuam

dinner at incanto, in which i finally meet....

no, seriously, i really *am* blogging at my LA blog. no, really. go check, nen!

anyway, one of my favourite blogs is ono kine grindz, which is based out of honolulu, but its author, reid, is a globetrotting kind of guy. we had made plans throughout the years to meet up in various corners of the globe, but finally managed to meet up for dinner at incanto, during a quickie trip to san francisco that i took with lovely miss yoony from another great food blog, immaeatchu.

incanto is the sort of restaurant that i wish was in every town--smartly casual and inviting, intimate and serious about its food. the menu is a market-dependent, with a rustic italian flare, and changes every day. chef chris cosentino is partial to offal and cuts of meat that most people would discard, but he manages to make the most of some of the most unusual parts.

even though we had to cancel our reservations and suddenly re-make them (hello highway 101! you have a lot to answer for!), the staff was gracious and accommodating, and we were seated in a cosy back room with only six tables (of which four were filled with other parties taking photos of all their food as well. and everyone was eavesdropping but pretending to ignore each other. ha. love this town.).

some of the things we ate:

porchetta di testa, a pig's head salami made by marinating a de-boned head in rosemary in garlic, then braised for an eternity. if you really need to know, there's a video here, but it gets a little graphic.

boccalone iberico di bellota lardo, nakita pear & mint: boccalone is the salumeria run by incanto's chef chris cosentino, and this is his version of cured acorn-fed spanish backfat. yes, lard. delicate, flavour-flavy fat. the sweet asian pear and sharp, herby mint was a wonderful complement.

foie gras, trotters & citron marmellata: yeah, i'm not gonna lie. this was as rich--even richer, actually--than the backfat, as there was nothing that really cut through the sumptuousness of liver, and slowly braised pig's feet. i'm suddenly reminded of that soap opera "the bold and the beautiful". because it was.

pulpo inzimino, cavolo nero & aioli: baby squid cooked in its ink, with black kale and aioli. although more delicate than the pig's trotters, this one also had bold, pronounced flavours with the sweet, tender flesh of the squid playing nicely with the mild bitterness of the vegetable and the unctuous aioli.

beef heart, sweetbreads, spinach & potato: i don't think i've ever had beef heart intentionally, nor sweetbreads, but this was a wonderful introduction. honestly, though, i don't remember their flavour apart from the rich jus, but the beef heart was tender yet with a slight chewiness, and the sweetbreads--that's thymus or pancreas to you--were slightly springy and fork tender.

for dessert we had goat cheese stuffed figs, honey & almonds and a darned tasty sticky toffee pudding & spice ice cream.

i wish i had something profound to say about it, but i don't. it is, however, what i consider to be the epitome of a great restaurant. and the food, the company, the surroundings, our crazy neighbour tables and conversation made for a great night out. mahalo, reid and yoony! hope we can do this again.

incanto
1550 church street
san francisco ca 94131
415.641.4500 ‎

delmonico kitchen+bar/dkb

jalapeño corn soup

i'm a little burnt out on reviewing restaurants right now. i've been sitting on this post for thre months now, and ahhh, nothin'. have you been here? tell me what you think of it. in the meantime, here are some pretty photos of some of my favourite dishes at delmonico/dkb.

mac-n-cheese with crabmeat

boneless fried chicken w|creamy mash

kb ultimate steak burger

apple tartlette and chocolate triple crème

the breakfast menu appeals to me greatly, but i've yet to try it. here's the slightly quirky menu.

28 feb 2011: okay, let's try this one more time.....

blink and you might miss it, especially if you're hurtling down santos hill as you are wont to do. tucked into the ground floor corner of the bayview hotel--newbies, look for the mural--is delmonico kitchen+bar (dkb). with its walls clad in warm wood and bright colours, modern decor and casual air, it doesn't look nor feel like a hotel restaurant, but instead like a cool little neighbourhood café. the menu is quirky--a mix of italian, asian and american casual cuisine--but expertly prepared by a kitchen headed up by chefs eddie chien and raul cordero, of the late colors restaurant red. red never quite found its footing, but by keeping the menu relatively simple and consistent, hopefully dkb will stick around for awhile.

i've tried to keep dkb in my regular rotation of local restaurants, and for the most part, the food has been consistent and competently prepared. i tend to stick to the same entrees--the boneless fried chicken and steak burger with a flying saucer-like disc of griddled cheese are particular favourites--but i can't fault the lightly crispy battered basa fillet sandwich in a fluffy white bun, nor its more elegant sister, the seared spicy crème dory on a bed of rice with a garlic ginger butter sauce. both are tender and flaky, and the delicately-flavoured fish is somehow never overpowered by its more assertive accompaniments. they've got a temaki bento box of make-your-own sushi with white rice, sheets of nori, sashimi and tempura prawns that can be a substantial entree for one, or a fun appetizer for the table. the desserts are few and familiar, but exceptionally well-made. the crème brûlée is one of the better versions on the island, and if they've got the matcha green tea-flavoured one, it's one of the best desserts i've tried here in awhile.

the breakfast menu looks interesting; i think one of the things guam lacks is a casual brunch place for the weekends, and dkb's menu looks extensive and interesting enough that it may fit the bill. now if i could only get up in time to find out....

delmonico kitchen+bar/dkb
bayview hotel, ground floor
tumon (santos hill).
646.2300.

breakfast at noon.

which of course, is nothing more than brunch, but i'm going for a continuity thing here. indulge me, people!

kinda like what we did here: challah french toast, slathered with nutella and drizzled with raspberry preserves, topped with caramelized bananas, crispy bacon, and powdered sugar. served with maple syrup, whipped cream and whipped butter. AS IF. surprisingly not as sweet as you'd think, plenty savoury without the bacon, which in fact was just another example of how bacon does NOT make everything better.

and then we tried to be a little healthy with the salmon mousse plate: marinated salmon, salmon mousse, poppy seed onion bagel crisps, caper berries, sweet fig marmalade and fresh dill.

guess which one got demolished.

gratuitous shot of good-looking waitstaff. why not.

mr. jones
greenbelt 5, garden level
legaspi st, legaspi village
makati, philippines
501.3682/83

breakfast at midnight.

it seemed like a good idea at the time. the pancakes themselves were heaven--lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes that were light and fluffy, tender, and only a little bit sweet, studded with fat, fragrant blueberries, dusted with powdered sugar and topped with candied lemon zest. phew! AND there was whipped cream, whipped butter, and a maple-y syrup on the side. not that they needed any of that.

but i did need a wheelbarrow to be rolled outta there afterwards.

brought to me by this guy, at mr. jones. (more on this place later)


mr. jones
greenbelt 5, garden level
legaspi st, legaspi village
makati, philippines
501.3682/83

breakfast at bizu.

you know i heart bizu, but we were both getting a little old, tired, and frayed around the edges. so i stepped away for awhile, and we got our acts together. or at least, bizu greenbelt did, moved into a new house, with a new attitude. gone are the garish, wonka-ish walls, dusty and fusty florals, replaced with a new coat of white paint, light and glass, for a more refined, calm and mature space.

it's a good mix of old and new, european and native, modern and classic. much like the menu. clever boots, those bizu folk.

even the servers no-longer-so-fresh funky bunch uniforms have changed to a sort of casual continental concierge look.

you can still find the lovely rainbow of macarons

and the french-inspired confections with local flair. or local confections with french-inspired flair. whaaa

even though they are known for their free-range egg specialties--their wild mushroom omelet is a particular favourite of mine--and you gotta try the pancakes with fresh mangoes and chantilly cream!, i opted for something lighter and healthier after all the too-typical culinary indulgences in all that manila has to offer.

bizu is one of the few places that regularly offers freshly mown grass clippings fresh wheatgrass shots.

and they transform cut up fruit and fermented milk products to new heights. instead of boring old yogurt they take boring old kefir and freeze it into little balls of tasty lacto-bacterial and fermented goodness.

which is what i have for breakfast there most days. don't ask me how i can pass up their savoury crepes, boneless bangus and garlic rice, or eggs florentine. really. because i will make you drink wheatgrass shots with me, i really will.

bizu patisserie and bistro,

greenbelt 2

makati.

757.BIZU (2498)

men and their meats! lunch at churrasco.

whoo, carne! although i had not been a previous fan of brazilian barbecue-style restaurants, i gotta say, the owners of churrasco brazilian bbq and salad bar in tumon are totally canny for bringing the rodízio-style all-you-can-eat meat festival to guam. and even more genius for keeping the prices relatively reasonable, and hopefully keeping the quality high.

churrasco opened last month in the former mac and marti's space in pacific bay hotel. it is a light-filled dining room with a glass-enclosed wine room at the entrance, a sleek bar behind it, outdoor seating in the hotel's courtyard, and a glass-enclosed grilling area at the back.

the restaurant does not take reservations, but the dining room is large, and despite the enormous salad bar off to one side, they manage to create walkable aisles so you don't go bumping into everyone on your way to and fro.

the basic set up: you get your salads from the nicely varied salad bar at your leisure. at lunchtime, there is a hot food station with various starches--rice, red rice, and mashed potato, along with black beans and steamed or sauteed vegetables. at dinnertime, this is replaced with a cheese and bread board, along with smoked salmon and typical accoutrements, with the starches, beans, and veggies served at your table. at your table, you'll find a little plastic chip that says "yes" on one side, "no" on the other. flip to "yes", it means the roaming gaucho-esque servers with swords of grilled meats will stop at your table, then carve and/or serve whatever they have on offer; "no" technically means you're not ready for more, but the genial servers will sometimes stop anyway (just in case you don't really mean it). brazilian barbecue is usually just salt rubbed cuts of beef or pork, grilled on an open fire--the flavour comes from the cut of meat and can be enhanced with various sauces.

at lunch we were offered mostly beef cuts--i don't remember them all but do recall picanha, or rump cover steak (part of the top sirloin cut), brisket, and tenderloin. the picanha has a strong, marked flavour--think less beef, more cow. the salt coating was quite noticeable and none of the cuts were particularly tender; however, when we returned for dinner a few weeks' later, the salt coating was more moderate and the meat noticeably tender. i appreciated the fact that most of the cuts were medium rare to rare once carved; however, if you prefer well-done meat, they will bring well-done carvings from the kitchen. we were also offered pork ribs (meaty, tender but still resilient), two types of pork sausage--one smoked, one cured--and two types of pork loin--one that may have been basted in barbecue sauce, and the other encrusted in parmesan cheese. the sausages were lovely, rustic and juicy, but both pork loins were tough and stringy each time we dined there. the surprise hits for us were the chicken offerings--marinated bone-in chicken thighs with crispy skin, and bacon-wrapped boneless pieces. both were moist, tender, and actually tasted of chicken. unfortunately, churrasco does not have any regular seafood offerings (although i heard there were lobster tails on mother's day), but we had a surprisingly tasty grilled pineapple at dinner.

churrasco has five sauces: a thin vinegar based barbecue sauce, two kinds of finadene (regular and a reduction), red wine vinegar, and a chimichurri-type sauce. the chimichurri here is different from the one i am normally accustomed, which is a green sauce made with garlic, parsley, vinegar and olive oil. this one is red, possibly from finely minced red bell peppers, along with garlic, vinegar and olive oil. none of the sauces are particularly spicy, but they do pack quite a bit of flavour nonetheless. the serving containers are cute as all get out, but the ultra-stylish spoons are a little unwieldy; it's easier just to take them out and pour it directly from the palm-sized flask. i personally did not find a need for the sauces, but i appreciated that they enhanced the flavour of the meat instead of masking it.

the starches available were somewhat disappointing; although the red rice was good, the white rice was surprisingly overcooked and mushy. i like the mash potato, which seems to be nothing more than potato, mashed--i didn't detect much seasoning. the fried yucca offered at dinner weren't particularly crispy and i suspect weren't actually yucca, but sweet potato (these were too orange and mushy). the nicest carb on offer are the small pao de queijo, or gougères. think cheese-topped cream puffs without a filling.

i do want to note that one of the things i dislike about most brazilian barbecue places is the saltiness of the food--not just the grilled meats but also all the sides. luckily at churrasco, they have a light hand with the seasoning of all the side dishes, and the barbecues are the least salty of any i've tried.

we capped our lunch with a small pudim de leite condensado, or brazilian-style flan. it was firm and very, very rich--muy condensado, lol--so much so that the whipped cream, caramel, and white chocolate chips actually cut through the milky fattiness. eep.

i like this place. the prices are reasonable--$19.99 for lunch, $33.75 for dinner--and the quality of food and service are high. it's a good place for a celebration, or to take out-of-town guests, but probably not so good for vegetarians or pescatarians. (however, the salad bar is fresh and abundant, and there is a bar tapas menu that has a couple seafood offerings.) i've only dined there twice, but there was marked improvement between visits. i will definitely return to see how they continue to fare.


churrasco brazilian bbq and salad bar
in pacific bay hotel,
that white bldg with the flower shop and chinese restaurant.
1000 san vitores road, tumon.
671.649.2727.