For this Weekend Food Adventure, me, my mom Lita, and my sister Elissa visit the newest mall in Makati, Century City Mall.

I acquired a voucher from Deal Grocer for a discount at Pepper Lunch at that branch. So since we haven't tried Pepper Lunch before and we haven't visited Century City Mall yet, we got to do both at the same time.

On a side note, this is also the same day that I tried Uber for the first time and I was absolutely impressed with the experience. You can read more about my experience with Uber here:
http://carurachan.blogspot.com/2014/10/uber-rider-experience-my-experience.html

Century City Mall was pretty new when we visited it, and most of the stalls don't have shops in them yet. But it was quite fancy.

The city skyline is visible from the top floor of the mall, which also has an events hall.

There was an ongoing event when we dropped by. It was a small bazaar of local crafts.
There were free mini cupcakes too!


After walking around the mall, we went straight to Pepper Lunch at the Ground floor and ordered our lunch. :D

Pepper Lunch serves raw meat on hot plates that retain their heat and allows you to cook the meat right at your table. You have to make sure you cook the meat properly before you start eating. You're better off eating somewhere else if you're gonna eat the food immediately once served. At Pepper Lunch, a little bit of patience is needed. :D

These are all the items we ordered:

Teriyaki Beef Rice P325

Chicken Steak BBQ Beef Rice P320

Salmon Chicken Rice P335

Beef Pepper Rice P198

Choco Lava Cake P145 & Goma Ice Cream P55

Tuna Kani Salad

We got a total of 7 items from the menu for just P800 instead of P1500 thanks to the discount voucher from Deal Grocer!

We were not too hungry when we visited the restaurant so the food was cooked well within the advised time period before we started tasting everything. All the rice meals tasted great. Even better when you add the sauce from the condiments table that I totally forgot to take a picture of. But for me, the best thing from all the items we tried was the cheapest rice meal: The Beef Pepper Rice. It was just simple thinly sliced beef with corn and rice and a LOT of PEPPER. It really appealed to me more than the other dishes. So yeah, I'll be getting that one every time now.

Also something to not order ever is the Tuna Kani salad thingy. It didn't make sense. It was supposed to be a Shaked Salad and we shaked it! But it didn't taste good at all. Just avoid getting a salad here if you can.

Their desserts were pretty good tho. The lava cake was super moist and chocolatey and is a perfect match with the vanilla ice cream with Goma (aka roasted sesame) syrup. You can also order other flavors of the syrup but I really liked the goma flavor.

And that's it. We didn't get to finish everything since there were only three of us but we got to take out the rest. Definitely coming back to Pepper Lunch for the Beef Pepper Rice once I get a hankering for it.

Pepper Lunch
Lower Ground Floor,
Century City Mall,
Kalayaan Avenue,
Poblacion, Makati City
02 8901462

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Carmelita Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan
Visited: May 24, 2014

For this Weekday Adventure, the Food Explorers visit Basil Authentic Thai Cuisine in Katipunan.

This restaurant was recommended by my manager +Claire Gustilo and she goes there every now and then. So I thought when I saw the voucher in +Deal Grocer, I had to try it out. But the thing was, I totally forgot about the voucher to the point that it's already the last day to claim it. XD

So I got to talk Andrei into coming with me and then we rode an Uber car to the restaurant. Considering we don't have a car and there is no regular bus that goes through that area, Uber was the best option for us. If you want to try out Uber, you can use this promo code to get free credits on your first ride: UBERLIBRE200

The place was pretty cool. It has a garden inside and it even has a waterfall indoors and it is very relaxing. It was dimly lit and it's more of a place for a romantic dinner than a friendly hang out. But of course, we we're not on a date. :P

Their menu is encased in glass. Smart.

Me and my leathery jacket. Always with my leather jacket nowadays. ;)

Andrei and his gold watch. :)

Once there, we ordered just a few things from the menu.

Tom Yum Ta Lay - Spicy Seafood Soup P 298

Tom Yum, Bagoong Rice P 295 and  Pad Gra Prow Nua - Wagyu Beef and Basil P 355

We didn't get to try a lot of food since the voucher is only worth 1000.

The Spicy seafood was a bit of a let down. The seafood was very minimal, just a few pieces of shrimp, and mushrooms. It's really just the spicy soup. It tasted best while it's warm, so try to finish as much as you can when you get it.

On the other hand both the Bagoong Rice and the Wagyu Beef with basil were winners. The rice was not overcooked, the bagoong ang mango slices gave a sharp contrast. It was just awesome even on its own. But then, you pair it with the wagyu beef and oh my gawd, it was absolutely mind blowing! The beef was really tender, it melts in your mouth. And it was really flavorful. Love it!

Another thing to note, is that it's far from regular bus routes so you either ride a taxi, or uber or hitch a ride with a friend who has a car to get there. :D

Overall, Basil is the kind of restaurant you go to when you're in the mood for tasty beef and delish bagoong rice. It's just a tad pricey. But if you want to try it out, you better shell out. bwahaha
Definitely going back here. Once I see a voucher for it. :D

Basil Authentic Thai Cuisine
White Plains Corner Katipunan Avenue,
White Plains,
Quezon City
02 9114158

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Joulle Andrei Lee
Visited: February 2, 2015

Photo Credit https://instagram.com/alee.ster/