The Sango Burger store in Shangri-la has been there for the longest time but I haven't actually tried it yet. Dinner prior to my brother's trip back home to Aklan made for the perfect reason to try it; he and I are burger lovers.
Noy was quite disappointed at the slightly expensive price of the burgers. Not that there's anything new about that. =D Check out the menu:
We ordered the bestsellers - Master Burger with Cheese, Teriyaki Burger, Chicken Teriyaki Burger, and Yakiniku Rice Burger. The teriyakis taste great, the master burger was disappointing, but the rice burger made me think twice about not coming back to Sango at all.
As far as this first visit is concerned, I'm making this conclusion to myself that their burger buns need to pack in more bread; same goes for their patties. The meat is there, the flavor is there, but there's just not enough substance to it. At some point I was even reminded of the greasy burgers sold on the streets. The special sauce that went with the master burger tasted like liver spread on tomato sauce to me. Sad, but there. Too much hype on reviews and word of mouth just killed me. I must emphasize though that I'm making these statements just because I think they are overpriced. Had the price been about 50 pesos less it would have been the other way around.
Nevertheless, their rice burger is commendable. It's meaty, it's juicy, flavorful and filling. I wouldn't mind paying 160 pesos or so for this treat.
I would come back also to try their teriyaki on rice. I bet it would be a lot more satisfying on rice than on their buns.
The honey dew melon shake was too sweet, but would be great for kids.
Sango isn't exactly a bad choice if one would really crave for a different-tasting burger. I hope they'd look into customer feedback also so that they'd improve their products so that people would get more value for their money.
Makati regulars might find this a little less exciting but for us who work elsewhere, the Ayala Triangle Garden's Symphony of Parols is truly an exciting treat. The entrance from the Makati Stock Exchange building bedecked by multicolored parols and lights hanging from the trees which create a mysterious curtain-like welcome to revelers. When the show starts and people come inside to have a better look, the magic begins.
After a certain period that we were awed we were able to capture the latter part on video -
but here's a more complete excerpt:
Wasn't that great? You have to be there to truly appreciate it though. It starts at 6 to 8 pm (at 30-minute intervals) every night until December 23rd.
Oh, and there was an orchestra playing when we were there. I'm not sure if that happens everyday, but that would be awesome because they play so well couples couldn't help but snuggle together and sway to the soft vibrant tunes.
We even saw an elderly couple on a date! The lolo was wrapping his arms around lola the entire time, but when we remembered to take a picture he wasn't anymore. I hate arthritis! But don't they look sweet, nevertheless? =)
The Ayala Triangle Gardens also recently has put up an array of restaurants for everyone to enjoy. Collectively called the Restaurants at Ayala Triangle Gardens, there is something for everyone to enjoy from appetizers to desserts, frozen yogurt and of course, coffee. I am excited to see Kanin Club (modern filipino + asian) which I only came to know about in Paseo de Sta Rosa. There will also be a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cafe soon so I guess I'll be here quite a lot of times while waiting for Noy to check out of duty. Check out the restaurants here and find out what tickles your fancy most!
And so I've been hearing a lot about how Chicken Bon Chon will change the way Filipinos eat chicken, so we decided to give it a try.
The place was packed at 9 pm, so we were forced to eat al fresco. It's not my favorite thing because I really hate cigarette smoke, but Banapple and Bfast were a lot more packed, so al fresco it was.
I had the wings (they only sell wings and drumsticks), Noy got bulgogi while my brother in law Sat got the drumsticks.
I didn't like the bulgogi much but the chicken! Oh my gosh the chicken. It's light, it's flavorful, it's fantastic. No gravy needed. The sauce is completely new as far as my limitly experienced palate is concerned, but it's definitely a winner. It sticks so well to the chicken but not on your hands. I wiped it off once and there's hardly any stickiness or smell left on my fingers. Now I know why a lot of people always request this as pasalubong from their friends coming from Singapore.
However, we were slightly irritated by the slow service and the feeling that we were being served by a service crew that isn't well-trained to handle various reasonable customer requests. But knowing that it's a flagship store and people just couldn't help but try this world-renowned chicken thus the huge crowd, we have got to just shrug it off. Like Sat said, the chicken made up for the 10 minutes it took them to give him a glass of Royal Tru Orange. After all, we didn't have enough of that delicious chicken so we're definitely coming back for more.
