Zaifu

By: The Moody Critic

With the sight and smell of the cookery and all the embellishments, this restaurant really shouts Japanese! The restaurant's scheme and decorations will allow everyone to feel that they are like dining in Japan themselves.

I know its almost closing time when we finally decided to dine here but this concept doesn't give the staff any excuse to render a poor or sloppy service. This was evidently manifested by one of the fossil waitresses who served us with utmost apathy. Don't get me wrong. I do not mind old employees as long as they're doing a good job.

New York Cheesecake

While waiting for our food, I went to the dessert area and had a look at their dessert display case. I asked the lady assigned to that station if the cheesecakes were of refrigerated or baked type. To my horror, she seemed oblivious to what I was talking about so instead of activating my beast mode, I simply went back to my seat with a disgusted face.

Beef Curry Rice and Salmon Rolls

Zaifu at least met the standards when it comes to food. It was a plus to discover that they offer a wide variety of dishes in their menu. Moreover, they are quite affordable. Their dishes are acceptable taste-wise but they slightly lack the presentation component needed to increase the appetite.

While enjoying our meal, I noticed that there were cockroaches crawling to and fro on the wall beside me. I believe those were Blattella germanica which sounds like Nutella but completely opposite in countless ways. I literally dined with pests! I again projected a disgusted face of a different context. Remember that roach infestation is a sign of chronic uncleanliness of a place. At that moment, with the service and sanitation issues, I began to question the restaurant's overall caliber.

Ambiance: 8.5
Cleanliness: 4.0
Facilities: 8.0
Food: 7.8
Service: 4.0

Overall rating: 6.4/10
Mood: DISGUSTED

Cuisine: Japanese
Address: G/F Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center, Makati City
Hours:
• Mon-Thurs 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
• Fri 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
• Sat 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
• Sun 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Price range per dish: P150- P300

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Classic Beef Wellington

By: The Moody Critic

At last, a restaurant that really knows how to cook steak!

I asked for a medium well steak and what did I get? A genuine medium well with a meat done throughout and with a slight hint of pink at the center and wrapped in a dura mater of puff pastry. With its glistening brown exterior, the sear was indisputably superb. You might forget your name as you take a bite of such tender and succulent meat. 

What is a steak without its sauce? The sauce, the dish's secret recipe for success plunged me into a state of euphoria. Among the variety of sauces, I believe that this one was born to marry this dish. Its diversity in flavor and spices complemented not only the well-seasoned steak but also the creamy mashed potato underneath.

I have searched far and wide for this extremely rare dish and I discovered that only a handful of restaurants serve this dish. A dish that represents tradition, art, and complexity should only be served by a competent restaurant -- a task LULU Restaurant was able to accomplish. 

Presentation: 8.5
Taste: 9.2
Texture and consistency: 8.4
Complexity: 8.5
Value for money: 7.9

Overall rating: 8.7/10
Mood: Euphoric

Resto: LULU Restaurant
Address: G/F V. Corp. Tower, L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village 1200 Makati City, Philippines
Full food name: Classic Beef Wellington
Price: P980.00
Serving: 1-2 person/s

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Cookie Dough Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

Who needs plating when the plating is the dessert itself?

One look and I know that I wouldn't be disappointed with this dessert. Superficially, it does have this solid and compact appeal. Those little cookie toppings simply couldn't hide the dessert's obvious theme and that appetizing property.

Matching its appearance, every succeeding mouthful could attest that this dessert followed the dogma of making the perfectly baked cheesecake. Compactness, check! Even consistency, check! Appropriate density, check! and the ideal cheesecake texture, check! The only element lacking from this dessert however, was its thickness. To the very least, it should have been made an inch higher for that chunkiness appeal to surface.

Ingenious base! As the name suggests, cookie dough, a becomingly popular component of desserts nowadays was used for its base. An ordinary or perhaps a traditional chef would use it as a ganache but not those at Chelsea Kitchen. Not only did it give that appropriate contrast in color, but it also rescued the moderately bland cheesecake matrix through its sweet and salty creaminess giving me the contrast in taste I was looking for. This is the first time I ever considered the base almost as significant as the matrix. Well done!

Presentation: 8.1
Taste: 8.0
Texture and consistency: 8.4
Complexity: 7.8
Value for money: 7.0

Overall rating: 8.0/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Chelsea Kitchen
Address: G/F SM Megamall, Mega Fashion Hall, EDSA cor. Julia Vargas Ave., Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
Full food name: Cookie Dough Cheesecake
Price: P250.00

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French Toast with Ice Cream

By: The Moody Critic

With dimensions of 5 x 5 x 4 inches almost representing a perfect cube, no one would ever complain about its gargantuan serving size. Given its apparent thickness, one would wonder how were they able to come up with the idea and how were they able cook it evenly from the cortex up to the very interior.

Its golden brown exterior and its crunchiness added significant points to its presentation and consistency respectively.

Although this one-of-a-kind french toast has been labeled "Yummy!" or one of the "best sellers" of the cafe, the taste of the toast itself was of course not surprisingly similar to your everyday french toast.

Furthermore, even with the help of another person, it was a struggle consuming the entire dessert not only because of enormous size but also for its marked oiliness. This time, the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce really came in handy for having neutralized the overwhelmingly oily factor in this dessert. One's liver should be prepared for the coming storm.

Presentation: 8.1
Taste: 7.0
Texture and consistency: 6.5
Complexity: 7.6 
Value for money: 9.0

Overall rating: 7.4/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe Address: Ground Floor, North Wing, SM Mall of Asia, 1300 Pasay City Full food name: French Toast with Ice Cream Price: P105.00

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