Welcome aboard...

Fish & Co. Seafood in a Pan started in the Philippines last September 27, 2005. It opened at Greenbelt 3 and on October 26 at Shangri-La Mall Edsa with its two more hit branches in Mall of Asia and Trinoma in less than two years. Last April 5, 2009 Fish & Co. made a grand splash at Alabang Town Center.

"Dig in to the unique menu of fish and seafood that are literally from seven seas. The food is good and fresh, as expected and it's so fresh, the food is served straight up in a pan! Fish & Co. took this cue from the Mediterranean fishermen who caught seafood fresh and cook them immediately in the pan and made it their own. Favorites are Mussels in lemon butter sauce, Fried Calamari, Seafood Platter and the best Fish & Chips in town, and a specialty menu of their own home creation drinks and desserts." – Fish & Co. Website

I love Fish & Co. Moa. I love the Fisherians.. I experience the world of fine dine in because of them. They trained me very well and they opened my eyes in the real world of hospitality industry. It didn’t just involve books and notes but the real thing. How we start from peeling off the skins of carrots and Chayote to grilling and frying then comes to plating the dishes. What a progress it was…

I missed everyone; I missed the servers and most specially the ones that are assigned at the pack of the house. I missed you guys! Every morning we do a pre-shift or a meeting to discuss what are the latest news about the restaurants, how are they doing when it comes to sales and etc. After the meeting we do the Pledge. Fish and Co. has this pledge on how we should treat our customers and how we should be to give excellent service. It might be a surprise but each morning we pledge it reminds us of how we are and how we’re not.

It starts at 9 in the morning; we prepare every thing we need for the whole day. We make sure that we have enough backups for the whole day. I was assigned in the pantry and sometimes in the pasta area. If I’m lucky I sometimes go and hang at the grilling station. People there are amazing. They’re like a family to me.

In all of my blogs, I usually judge the looks of the dining area but never really seeing what at the back or in the kitchen area. Based on experience, Fish and Co. cleans the kitchen every start of the shift and after shifts. They make sure to sanitize before cooking. Clean is Healthy! Once a week they have pest control which makes it more a reliable restaurant.

The servers are dressed in navy blue which matches the theme of the restaurant. They have their own guards. They have a receptionist, outside tables for the smoking area and their own restrooms. Before they have a menu on the wall but this time they have under the sea wall paper, which kind of puts you on a more colorful atmosphere.

The place is still clean as I’ve started my On the Job Training. Everything was very appealing and very attractive. Fish & Co. accepts reservation for bulk orders, they even have their catering services, they accept cash and credit cards. They also have premier shows or sports broadcast for a fair amount.

Fish & Co. Specialties are; 1) Seafood Platter P800++ which has their freshest clams and mussles, cream dory, calamari, shrimp and their delicious seafood rice. 2) Fish & Chips P400++, they have different kinds of fish & chips they have the regular ones and they also have the ones that has stuffing in them then they are fried to perfection. And their flavored fries! 3) Seafood Curry P650.00  is also a best seller, the spicy coconut sauce and the curry and the seafood that goes along with it! You have to try this dish!

this photo was taken last year, here's my godmother trying to reach something and with her is the seafood platter. 

For their wines, they have a few selections but they really don’t have the permanent ones, but mostly you should expect a couple of varieties of white wine since they serve more seafood. They also have cocktails and mocktails that are to die for.

                Personally I tried their Seafood curry and Seafood Platter and it really tasted amazing! The pork chops with basilico toppings. One of a kind! Two thumbs on those dishes.

The place was full, so I and my very loving boyfriend decided to sit outside. The receptionist, Danica was able to give us the menu, what was the soup of the day and she was very friendly. After a while, our server which happens to be a supervisor as well named Mr. Paul Camay, took our orders. He was able to improvised us with recommendations and etc. He was very friendly as well, knowing it was close to 10pm, he was dressed up properly and no stains! Good Job on that!

For our drinks, I had the raspberry fizz . And he had bottomless Coke.

We had an appetizer which is Fried Calamari P435.00 – you have an option, if you want it grilled or fried.. I like the fried calamari; they put some sort of spice which makes the dish more appetizing and encouraging in a way. I like it!

I had the Prawn Fettuccine P595.00 – one of my favorites. It’s with a home-made sauce- chopped chili in creamy garlic sauce with mushroom. The ones that I had in the past, the pasta is al dente and it was fine but the one that I just had was a bit over cooked and the sauce started to curdle a little. But it really didn’t matter since the taste was really good and the mushroom had a certain kick to the dish, prawns were very delicious.

My boyfriend chose Breaded Chicken Piggyback  P435.00 – It has the piggyback because it has toppings. The Chicken breast Fillet is topped with shrimp, marinara sauce and mozzarella au gratin. This is actually a new dish. I’d be honest, we really didn’t like the dish that much, there’s too much going on. And the pasta was very chewy and it was kind of dry for my taste. “Makunat” The chicken was cooked perfectly, the sauce was tasty and the mozzarella, who wouldn’t want some cheese. We didn’t finish the dish, we just took to go and left the spaghetti.

     I had to sty a bit longer, so we ordered a couple of alcoholic beverages. My boyfriend was simple, so he just ordered a few bottles of beer San Miguel Super Dry – P90.00 each. As I mention, there were a lot to choose from so I asked Bernard, if he would be kind enough to help me pick one drink that is great. And he was really nice and he had a serious eyes but he was cool. He recommended the Passionade P175.00. It’s a mixed of Passion Fruit and Vodka. I will say it is a very good drink! It was very refreshing and it really didn’t taste vodka at all.  You can order probably 3 more and you won’t be drunk. It came out with a regular glass.  

                And for my family from the back of the house thank you for giving me a free dessert! A Hot Fudge Chocolate Cake P190.00 – it’s a very moist chocolate fudge, served with vanilla ice cream and glazed more chocolate syrup. This is also one of the many dishes that I prepared with them. I missed it. *sigh* Thank You guys!

I’ve waited for such a long time to blog about Fish and Co Moa branch. Thanks to my boyfriend who went with me. I love you so much! I enjoyed every minute of it. And to the manager Ms. Maricel Gannaban, thank you so much for remembering me.

I remembered crying when me and my schoolmates who joined the team as well was about to end our OJT, I was crying really hard and felt I was about to lose something in my life so dear. I missed the people in Fish and Co. I missed every thing.

I love you guys! You’ll always have a special place in my life. Thank You.

Eat HAPPY Everyone!!

Kwaizz miya miya!!

Yours Truly,

Zielle a.k.a Fat Girl

Fish & Co. Seafood in a Pan

Grd Floor, South Wing, Entertainment Center, SM Mall of Asia Pasay

556-0683

 http://www.fish-co.com.ph

GIMIKAINAN SESSIONS 4: Abella's Residence in Binangonan Rizal

          My family loves grilled dishes.

We started grilling when were very little. My dad would build an improvised griller in Libya and we’d all take a stick and grill any meat that my mom prepared. And it went on until my dad got a really nice job and we bought our very own big grilling equipment. When we went here in the Philippines it’s not really advisable especially when you live in a condo to have a charcoal grilled meat. Not unless you have your own house and a yard to do the grilling. So my mom and dad bought a house in Binangonan, Rizal, and it’s a beautiful house.

The griller that we have right now is actually just a cheap one. We had to buy a cheap one because we were hosting a party one day that we really didn’t have any time to buy the really expensive one the one that works on gas. But we were lucky to buy this one because it’s been ok for the past 6 months. I, together with my best friend Jessica bought this for P3000.00++ in SM MOA and I just want to share a brief story about it. When I saw this griller, I figured it could be disassembled and if we buy it, it wouldn’t be hard to carry it and load it in a trunk. Unfortunately, we thought wrong, it can’t be disassembled and you have to carry the whole thing. You know how MOA is. It’s big and the taxi bay is way too far from the department store. We walked a long way and trying hard to take care of the griller since it’s cheap and it might break easily. I was sweating really bad, kept on complaining why I bought such a thing. But eventually we took a cab, wrap the whole thing with an improvised rope. An etc. it was really bad. Yeah that’s the story of our mighty griller. Hahaha!

So what do we have?

my sister jheii and my dearest brother posing for the camera and enjoying his doritos chips and C2.. no alcohol...

 My dad and my sisters - Rosalie , Liit and Jheii

Made some Tacos - Mom's Request..- basically I just grilled/toasted the taco shells, then filling; ground pork, ranch dressing, onion and ice berg lettuce, bell pepper grilled, tomatoes grilled and cheese. Actually we just used the ones that were available in the house. But you can use ground beef, the for the dressing you can mix cream cheese with dried herbs then sour cream. I grilled the bell peppers because I like the smokey flavor and so as with the tomatoes. 

 So on the grill - we have Hotdogs, Chicken and pork. Usually we do our own version of marinating sauce but since we have those leftovers from last week that we bought at supermarkets. We just finish them off. Maybe next time I can share some ingredients on how we do our marinating sauce.

 The skewered bbq costs P30.00++ each stick in the meat section in your nearest supermarkets. It's actually pork. They also have chicken so you can try that. 

 Tender Juicy hot dogs. We usually buy the Jumbo sized ones. Its bigger and it takes forever to finish. HAHA!

 We actually wanted the inasal flavored ones. but since we saw that there were a lot of garlic cloves in it, we just chose the bbq flavor ones which costs P55.00 each leg part. Its actually affordable since it's really huge. 

 My dad doing his thing with those deliciousness... hahaha! 

 YUP! I'm the FAT GIRL! hahahaha! this is me! hahaha! YUMMY!!! 

 and these my lovely readers and viewers are the good companions... San Miguel Light and Tanduay Ice.  

and my personal favorite Kahlua on the rocks with cherry... - yep...!!! 

hahaha yes.. they were drunk.. hahahaha!

Anyways.. don't try this at home specially if you are not guided by parents or someone older than you are. This doesn't happen everyday.. well.. probably with them.. hahaha! ssshhhh... But this is our family... We have fun, we eat, we are a family... I hope you guys enjoy reading this blog.. You can always have your own gimikainan sessions at home.. especially with your love ones.. Thank you! and let me know if you guys have any Gimikainan Sessions like this at home... 

Eat HAPPY Everyone!!

Kwaizz miya miya!!

Yours Truly,

Zielle a.k.a Fat Girl

Finally at Chili's Bar and Grill

I can't count how many times I wanted to eat at Chili's Bar and Grill.

It took me 2 months before I finally decided to check it out.

I and my special someone planned to have dinner in Makati.  So we did.

It was late but fortunately for Chili's on weekdays they are open till 12am. And on the weekends it opens until 2am.

I’ve always kept an eye on Chili’s Bar and Grill. I’ve been craving for it. And I’ve been forcing my boyfriend to join me. So he finally did. Thanks Love!

We love spicy food. Anything hot and spicy we both like it.

When we arrived there, we thought we had to wait to get seats since there were a lot of people were dining in. But fortunately for us, there were available seats.

I read that Chili’s started with Hamburgers. “Created as a hamburger restaurant/chili house with a uniquely Southwestern flair, Chili's served homemade- quality food, draft beer and frozen drinks in a casual atmosphere.“

I wasn’t really feeling the servers at first, specifically the ones that were assigned at the entrance. They looked tired. They looked sleepy. They were not really pleasing. Probably it was already 9pm and they were so tired that they really needed to show their guests how tired they were. And to think they were two of them that time.

So they gave us seats and took off. The girl wasn’t able to introduce to us who will be our server or what’s on the menu or anything like that. She was just too tired. Oh well she was tired. That’s it.

The place was very colorful. It was captivating. Mexican style architecture. Tables and chairs were clean as well. I loved their ceramic designed tables. Table setting is done once the customers are seated. Then server gives the menu.

Anyways, everything changed when Laine, the sweetest and kindest looking lady, who was very pleasing to look at, she was always smiling, she was very friendly, and she was very happy to serve us. Even though it was 9pm she was still active and didn’t look tired. Her clothes were clean and she looked fresh.

I told her it was our first time so she should help us what to get. She was able to provide us recommended dishes. She also explained which dish is one of their best sellers and what is a ‘must try’.

There’s a lot to choose from. From steaks to seafood you name it. They have it all at Chili’s.

Some of Chili’s Bar and Grill Specialties:

Appetizers:

Bottomless Tostada Chips310.00 - Warm and crispy tostada chips with their flavorful house-made salsa. This dish is one of many that everyone orders.

Big mouth burgers:

Big Mouth Burger Bites P360.00 - Four savory mini beef burgers with bacon, American cheese, sauteed onions and ranch dressing

Bacon Burger P350.00 - Topped with bacon, aged cheddar cheese, mayo, shredded lettuce, tomato and pickle

Old Timer P295.00 - Mouth-watering burger with mustard, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion

Add-on choices: Chili 85.00, Cheese 40.00

Desserts:

High and Mighty Pie P390.00 - Healthy candy pieces in rich vanilla ice cream, piled high on a crushed Oreo cookie crust and drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce

Molten Chocolate Cake P390.00 - Warm chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling, topped with vanilla ice cream under a crunchy chocolate shell.

Beverages

They have a wide selection on different kinds of drinks. wether it'd be non-alcoholic or alcoholic beverages. It's up to you!

I would recommend the Presidente Margarita P300.00 - Hand-shaken Margarita made with Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila, Grand Marnier and Brandy.

Top Shelf and Frozen Top Shelf Flavored Ritas are also one of their best sellers.

There were so many to choose from, good thing Lain was there to help us choose. She explained every dish that we ask her.

So for my drinks I ordered the Presidente Margarita. Which was absolutely amazing, I couldn’t get enough of it. It came with a tiny shaker. Then on the margarita glass they used sea salt to trace the ends of the glass. It was refreshing and obviously good! And my boyfriend got himself a bottomless Sprite which was served in a beer mug which was kind of cute.

For Starters we tried the Triple Play  P475.00 - It has their three favorite starters which are Chicken Crispers, Buffalo Wings and Southwestern Egg rolls with 3 different sauces(Honey-mustard, blue cheese and ranch) for dipping. It was worth it. I loved the chicken crispers. The Buffalo wings were very soft and tender and the egg rolls were warm and very delicious. I can’t say anything bad. A must try!

  

I got the Cajun Chicken Pasta P485.00 – This is a pasta dish with sliced Cajun-seasoned chicken breast on penne pasta with creamy Alfredo sauce, diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese and garlic toast. The spring onions were overpowering the dish. But I can taste the Cajun flavor. More sauce would probably make it perfect. The pasta was cooked al dente. I wasn’t sure with the garlic toast. It wasn’t toasted enough but its ok. I liked it that way. Chicken was grilled perfectly as well.

And as for my boyfriend. He got the Grilled Baby Back Ribs P570.00 – A Full rack of ribs which is triple-basted with the most remarkable BBQ sauce made by Chili’s, served with sweet corn on the cob and home style fries. But my boyfriend wanted rice so he replaced the fries.

Chili’s Bar and Grill offers Kid-friendly dishes as well. They accept credit cards. They also recommend calling for reservations. I’m not sure about their corkage fees though, since it is already a bar there’s no need to bring any alcoholic beverages, they probably have everything you want.

We both enjoyed our dinner. Had a few drinks. After my two servings of Presidente Margarita I ordered a on-the-rocks Khalua with cherry. And he ordered 3 bottles of San Miguel Super Dry. Which was very dry! I enjoyed the food and I was happy. It wasn’t upsetting.

The manager though didn’t check up on us but the bar was jam-packed so I guess it was alright. After a while Laine ended her shift and introduce a new server who’s name is Ken. He was always smiling and he was giving us a few jokes, which I totally appreciate. See here’s the thing a lot of servers lose the attitude of being alive and active. They lose their ability to smile to guests especially at night. They become lazy, tired-looking and eventually sleepy. Thumbs up to Laine and Ken for being so friendly! You should receive a tap on the shoulder from your managers.

Anyways, we didn’t had room for dessert which is unfortunate because I heard their Molten Chocolate Cake is to die for. Oh well probably next time. I enjoyed the food and the drinks. Our servers who were so patient and kind. Thank You very much.

I will be back, hopefully with my family. We’ll try to think of it as the next Family Fave Resto. We’ll see…

After all they say that “After all this time you'll still find that Chili's is truly like Like No Place Else.”

Eat HAPPY Everyone!!

Kwaizz miya miya!!

Yours Truly,

Zielle a.k.a Fat Girl

Chili’s Bar and Grill

Branches: Greenbelt, Greenhills and Tomas Morato

Tel. Nos.:   (02) 729-3022

Website :  http://www.chilisphilippines.com






p.s. 
I will be posting my next stop so that you guys can join me or hang out. Maybe we can agree on something.. hahaha! we'll see..