Happy memories are made at Happy Kitchen

Happy food memories... that's more like it. By the looks of this French Toast Pudding with Blueberries, you would certainly be leaving Happy Kitchen with a big smile on your face. This delectable dessert was just among the few we tried when we dropped by the stylish cafe located at Amigo Plaza Mall a few months ago.

A jolly Ms Jet Yap Jiz, chef and owner of Happy Kitchen greeted us with a smile that made us feel at home the moment we entered her reigns, I met Ms. Jet around three years ago during the opening of the same restaurant in the same mall but in a different location. When the mall decided to have yet another renovation, Happy Kitchen transferred to the 3rd level of the Amigo Plaza Hotel offering an alfresco setting for its patrons.

After the renovation (I hope this will be the last), a new and "swanky" mall opened and Happy Kitchen is right in the middle of it all. A culinary boutique is what HK is all about where one can eat, shop and even cook. And EAT is what we did ...

It started off with this Cheesy Grilled Pizza sandwich which we devoured and finished off in no time. And we could have ordered another one...

But we we're intrigued by why this Happy Melt sandwich was their specialty and best-seller so it was an automatic order. It turned out to be a bacon and cheese sandwich with soft boiled egg and special "dressing". Now I know why its a best seller!

I wondered why they only had one rice dish - Bacon Slabs; then I remembered that their main restaurant on the third floor. Ms Jet mentioned that an Ilonggo inspired menu is in the works. So this bacon slab is actually a thin pork belly marinated in yogurt and other spices. And even without the sauce its already sumptuous on its own but the sauce/dip was perfect with it. Hmmm both the bacon and the sauce can stand on their own - I can make the sauce into a "sabaw". But its double the goodness with that combo.

Now how about some Mango Banana Chocolate shake? I just slurped and slurped until it was all gone...

But this Wheatgrass Cooler - a concoction of wheatgrass, orange and cucumber plus other I can't remember was really cool! I've been intrigued by wheatgrass before but never had the chance so the convenience of having one at Happy Kitchen was among the highlights of that gastronomic visit.

And here's another look at the delectable french toast pudding with blueberries which I practically finished alone. To start and end my blog post with the same food item means only thing - I really loved it! Need I say more?

Before I forget, Happy Kitchen has a also a supplies shop called Friends of Chefs. Baking and cooking supplies as well as ingredients and literature on gastronomy can be found. And as a culinary studio, it can be rented for parties and other activities, that includes the kitchen itself which one can peek in anytime plus the services of the staff. You can even "open" you own restaurant - your own concept, your own menu and even temporary rename the place on your own, for a minimal fee. Its a perfect venue esp. those in the hospitality industry and academe to have their culminating activities.

Happy Kitchen is where happy people meet and eat!

Happy Kitchen Cafe is located at the Amigo Plaza Mall and is open daily during mall hours 9am to 8pm. Check it out on Facebook at Happy Kitchen Culinary Studio.

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice . I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the usu

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

A native delicacy called Inday-inday

Now you may ask, what is Inday-Inday ? It's another repetitive-feminine named native delicacy that is made from rice like its more popular sister - baye-baye . While the latter is has its own original flavor and make, inday-inday is actually a combination of two well loved native delicacies - muasi ( palitaw ) and bukayo . But the muasi portion is not the the usual palitaw recipe for the it's more firm and gummy (I don't know the English term for kid-ol ). Actually its more like a hardened kutsinta and this makes it more to my liking since I'm not really fond of muasi in the first place. And its not quite easy to find inday-inday in the market today, though I've seen and tried it in Sabor Ilonggo stalls but their's is more like suman latik for the based is ibos -like. Ibos is malagkit rice boiled in gata which is called suman in Tagalog. Despite the uncertainty for its nomenclature (I've read that inday-inday is just plain pal

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