Nha Trang, Vietnam

I was in Nha Trang, Vietnam on Nov. 7-8, 2007 for a work-related meeting. Nha Trang is a coastal city so reminiscent of Pattaya but without the chaos and "farang" crowds. There were "farangs" too as Nha Trang is a very relaxing place. No wonder, my Vietnamese friends suggested meeting there. It was windy on the days I was there as a typhoon was about to hit it, but luckily it was diverted elsewhere.

The seafood -- clams, shrimps, mussels, squid, lobster, and fish -- was unbelievably cheap and very fresh. I didn't bring my camera so this post will purely be text.

Mileage accrual in online bookings

I always tend to write positive stuff in this blog unless I had a dismal experience with a restaurant, market or airline that I am forced to rant about it (Conti's at Serendra, for instance). A few months ago I raved about frequent flyer miles programs extolling their rewards and how my son has benefited from free travel. This time, I'd like to share my experience in mileage accrual in an airline's online book and buy facility so that you won't lose money the way I did.

Since I moved back to the university in January 2007, I have been booking and buying my Philippine Airlines air tickets online and managed to earn both mileage and credit card points with no sweat. Lately, PAL jazzed up its website to make online booking easier. While it shows the lowest ticket price options, it makes it difficult for Mabuhay Miles members to choose a lower-priced flight with mileage accrual because that option is not shown. Unless PAL's website is improved, the only recourse to get the best deal at the moment is to book and buy an air ticket through the call center (reservations number: (63-2)855-888).

Last week, I've been had. I booked and bought a roundtrip air ticket to Ho Chi Minh City and picked the lowest priced option. I thought it would have mileage accrual as in the past. Then I booked my domestic flight (Tacloban-Manila-Tacloban) through PAL's reservation number because this is the best way to get the cheapest ticket by speaking to their call center agents. After my domestic bookings were done, I asked the agent to kindly check if the flights for HCMC that I had bought the previous day had mileage accrual. She searched the database and informed me that it did not. Since I am chasing the mileage to up my Mabuhay Miles membership level, I emailed PAL (OnlineBooking@pal.com.ph) and requested an upgrade to the flight class that will earn mileage points.

I learned that I could upgrade to a flight with mileage accrual which was understandably P1,467 more but the catch was I had to pay USD25 for rebooking fee. Can you imagine? USD25 is a small amount but I could donate that to a worthy cause like Marketman's school feeding project in December. I didn't argue and replied to go ahead. But these unnecessary steps and cost could have been avoided if PAL's online booking facility provided these choices. I hope PAL or people working in PAL would read this post and relay this rant to their web developers so that something could be done quick to their online booking facility.

Because I live in the province, I always use PAL to get to Manila. I love PAL for its safety record, free upgrades, award tickets and years of traveling in bliss and I don't want all this to go down the drain.

Grilled eggplant salad - Leyte style

Today I finally found time to go to the Baybay market. As Tuesdays and Saturdays are market days (tabo), there were lots of fresh
produce from the nearby villages -- native chicken, fern (pako), eggplants, banana heart (puso ng saging), green papaya, unripe jackfruit, sweetpotato, cassava, pineapple, pomelo, banana, among many others. The eggplants were newly harvested, shiny, tender, and cheap (P20/kilo) so I decided to cook eggplant salad, our Waray style, so I can take a photo and share the recipe with you. This dish, which goes very well with grilled fish, can quickly become a conversation piece among your dinner or lunch guests. It has never failed and it is highly likely that you will end up giving the recipe to them.

Like the Bicolanos, the Warays take pride in many of their dishes cooked in coconut milk. It takes a Waray to whip up a mean fish kinilaw or "apay" (gabi leaves with coconut milk). If you happen to be in Tacloban City, you can order this dish in Agus Restaurant. My Cebuano friends often ask, "How come there is no vinegar?" Why do you have to cook the coconut milk?" I tell them that vinegar is just not added to this salad and cooking the coconut milk prolongs the shelf life of the dish.

Here's the recipe:

8 long eggplants
1 big coconut, grated
1 inch ginger (or 2 tablespoons when finely chopped)
1 round onion, medium size
1 bunch green onions
2 red hot chili
½ tsp white pepper powder
½ tsp salt

In the market, ask the coconut grater to grate only the white part as you want a white coconut milk. This way, the brown surface of the coconut shell won't get mixed into the grated coconut. In your kitchen, grill 8 long eggplants. Peel and arrange on serving dish. Chop off the stem part of eggplant. Add ¼ cup water to grated coconut. Extract coconut milk. Simmer in skillet for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent curdling. Season coconut milk with salt and white pepper powder. Set aside. Chop finely ginger, round onion, green onion and chili. Sprinkle on top of broiled eggplants. Pour boiled coconut cream into the eggplant salad.

Mai Thai - Ho Chi Minh City

Hidden behind the Sunwah Tower in Ho Chi Minh City is an air conditioned, cozy two-storey Thai restaurant fittingly called Mai Thai (19 Ton That Thiep St., HCMC, tel. 08-821-2920). We've been going back to this restaurant which was recommended to us by the owner of our favorite camera sales and repair shop, Madame Thu. The restaurant has a Thai decor and the service crew even don Thai-style apparel. At lunch time on weekdays, Mai Thai offers a set lunch (a main dish, a stir-fried veggie, fruit and rice) at a very reasonable price of VND55,000 (USD 3.45 or PHP 155). The place is always full with a lunch crowd composed of staff from multinational companies holding office nearby.

The food is authentic Thai and Mai Thai has consistently delivered food on the table according to one's recollection and expectation of what Thai food ought to be. The menu lists a total of 81 dishes starting with appetizers, soup and curry, main dish, and dessert. Even their version of phad thai is worth going back for. An order of phad thai costs VND69,000 or USD 4.31 or 198 pesos. In fact, some pad thai that I have eaten in many places in Bangkok and the one I recently had in People's Palace, a Thai restaurant in Greenbelt, Makati would definitely pale in comparison.

For dinner the other night, we had steamed fish with lemon, red curry chicken, stir-fried morning glory with garlic, jasmine rice and Vietnamese tea. As always, the steamed fish was fresh and well done, the red curry chicken just had the right blend of curry and coconut milk, while the stir-fried morning glory was seasoned with fermented yellow beans and julienned red chilis. This dinner cost us only VND 218,000 for two persons (USD13.63 or PHP634) or PHP317 per person. Tonight we dined again in Mai Thai and had fried catfish salad, green curry chicken and steamed shrimps in glass noodles, jasmine rice and Vietnamese tea. This dinner for two cost us only VND 218,000 (USD 13.66). Where in the world can you find a first-class Thai dinner in a restaurant with a cozy ambiance at such a low, low price? Truly amazing!

Nam Giao Restaurant - HCMC

I am again in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) this week and yesterday noon was a particularly rainy day so I wanted some comfort food. From where I stood at the Rex Hotel lobby, I had two options -- to take a cab to Pho Hoa on Pasteur St. or walk to Nam Giao on Le Thanh Ton St. I opted to go to Nam Giao, one of the three places I frequent in HCMC for pho. Nam Giao specializes in Hue food. It is a small, unassuming food shop tucked away in a small courtyard with unbelievably cheap prices. It is within walking distance from Rex Hotel and one would pass by a Pho24 shop before hitting the alley.

Among the house specialties are: banh beo (steamed rice flour cake with ground shrimps), bahn beo tom tuoi (steamed rice flour cake with ground fresh shrimps), bahn bot loc (ground shrimp steamed with rice wrapped in banana leaves), bahn bot loc (shrimp, porkand tropical starch flour wrapped in banana leaves), bun bo Hue (spicy beef noodle), bun cha cua (crab paste noodle soup), bahn canh cua (shrimp, crab meat, sliced pork with special rice noodle soup), and com hen (special clam with rice), among others.

I ordered bun bo Hue (spicy beef noodle) and I squeezed a thin slice of lime and added chili paste and shrimp paste. I also added some mint and blanched bean sprouts to make it a truly healthy meal. It was excellent and the Hue taste sets it apart from other pho concoctions in HCMC. The big bowl of beef noodle soup cost only VND17,000 (USD 1.06 or about 48 pesos) and four pieces of Hue fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce were only VND14,000 (USD0.88 or about 40 pesos). I left Nam Giao truly satisfied and I had to quickly weave through the motorbike traffic to seek refuge in Ben Thanh market before the downpour.

If you find yourself somewhere near Ben Thanh market in HCMC, try Nam Giao for a taste of Hue food. Nam Giao Restaurant is on 136/15 Le Thanh Ton District 1, telephone: 08-8250261.

Market Cafe - Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila

To celebrate two happy events -- my son's return from his three-week UK vacation and his passing the June 2007 nursing boards -- we had buffet dinner the other night at the Market Cafe at the 3rd floor of the Hyatt Hotel and Casino (address: 1588 Pedro Gil corner M.H. del Pillar Street, Malate, Manila, telephone: +632 245-1234). The Market Cafe has a wide selection of cuisines and food stations including Chinese, Japanese, Western, antipasti, salads, seafood and tempting desserts. There are four kitchens, three food stations and a bar . The show kitchens cook dishes as requested and deliver these to your table. Just at the other side of the Dessert Station is a bar which mixes smoothies, shakes and iced-teas.

The Western Kitchen show­cases European and American cuisine. Here you will find thin-crust pizzas, pastas, fish, mashed potatoes, ratatouille and beans. The centerpieces are the grill, oven and smokehouse where prime rib, short ribs, chicken and fish are grilled, smoked or baked to succulent perfection. On the side are different sauces like spicy mustard, horseradish and classic barbecue sauce. I picked some slices of salmon and mahi-mahi and handed these to the grill chef to cook. I told them I will return to collect the grilled fish but they insisted that it will be brought to our table and gave me a number to track our table more easily.

On offer at the Salad Station are seasonal greens and an array of freshly made dressings. The Antipasto Station offers cold cuts, walnuts, cheeses. The Crustacean Station has fresh prawns and oysters flown in from Kalibo, as the label indicated. The oysters are so fresh that these are shucked in front of you. Many diners made a beeline to this station and the staff who shucked the oysters offered me fresh ones and poured a wine vinegar dip for me. She said the prawns and oysters were ready to eat and all one needed was to have a stomach for the fresh oysters. I wasn't quite prepared for it so I brought mine to the Western Kitchen to have them baked. The oysters were baked with cheese on top although I hadn't asked for the cheese. I would have preferred my oysters steamed so I could just dip them in wine vinegar or even sukang Iloko with chili, reminiscent of Josephine's restaurant in Cavite a few decades ago. But that may not be a cooking option in buffet dinners at 5-star hotels.

In the Chinese Kitchen were four sections: noodles and dimsum, Chinese wok and Hong Kong barbecue. Steamed rice and yangchow fried rice can also be found in this area. I took some sauteed mixed vegetables of broccoli and carrots and half a steamed fish Hong Kong style. Likewise, the Japanese Kitchen is divided into four sections: sushi, yakimono, tempura and teppan. Unagi sushi, bacon enoki maki and salmon sashimi are also available. At the back of the Japanese Kitchen are other Asian specialities such as the Malaysian chicken satay, Indian roti prata and chicken curry. I took slices of the roti prata and a small serving of the chicken curry.The Bakery and Dessert Kitchen offers Western pastries such as apple strudel, preserved plum pockets, Vienna waffles, tiramisu, chocolate mouse cake, chocolate trifle as well as sapin-sapin, halo-halo, and other Filipino delicacies. I had chocolate trifle with layers of brownies, chocolate pudding and whipped topping chilled to perfection. My son had sugar-free tiramisu. In between dishes, I decided to have a fresh orange although the staff manning the dessert kitchen nicely offered me a dalandan sorbet. Taking the cue, my son took a scoop of the sorbet and asked me to taste it. It tasted like a dalandan popsicle, so very dalandan, but I preferred the fresh orange.

The food was good but the place was unusually quiet which prompted me to ask one of the chefs on what days of the week is the Market Cafe crowded. He confirmed that there weren't too many diners that night compared to other nights when two whole racks of prime rib would be wiped out. I remarked that perhaps because it was a 3-day holiday and people went out of town. Anyway, that dinner for two with taxes, service charge and all set me back by P2,687.36 or about P1,344 per person.

However, as I am a creature of habit, I prefer the buffet dinner at Circles in Makati Shangrila. Besides its proximity to my son's place, an irresistible attraction is the 50% off the prices of selected baked goods after 6 p.m. at Sinfully Circles. The Circles ensaymada which has bacon bits or macapuno and ube normally costs P50 but after 6 pm, it drops in price to P25. While still retaining its 5-star freshness and taste, this is a best-buy indeed.

The best espasol - where to buy , how to cook

Many popular food blogs have raved that the best espasol can be bought in Los Baños. Well, not quite. Although taste is a matter of individual preference, believe me, the best espasol are those made in Alaminos, Nagcarlan or Pagsanjan in Laguna. This is what long-time residents in Los Baños will tell you and I should know because I spent the years 2004 to 2006 in Los Baños.

The best espasol that I have ever tasted is the one made by Luchie in Nagcarlan (phone: 049-563-2408, cell phone: 0919 4407076). It is truly special and made with toasted glutinous rice flour, pinipig, coconut milk, refined sugar and macapuno strips. It can be ordered by phone and you can arrange to meet her brother or nephew or whoever she can send somewhere for pick-up. I ordered 150 pieces last year and the year before that because it was what my sisters in the U.S. craved for, along with muron, binagol, sagmani, bibingka, and puto bumbong, but that's another story. Each piece costs around ten pesos which is a bit more expensive than those sold in buko pie and pasalubong shops along the national highway from Los Baños to Pansol but Luchie's espasol is always well worth it.

However, if you live overseas or even in the Philippines but far away from Laguna, you can still have good espasol by cooking it yourself. I started experimenting with the espasol recipe in my kitchen in Kauai, Hawaii many, many years ago. I must have had a gradual learning curve because it took me 20 long years of intermittent kitchen testing before I was able to perfect my recipe. I used to keep this recipe a secret from my friends and co-workers but since I have not parlayed espasol-making into big business, I decided that it's about time to share it with others. Marketman's food blog (www.marketmanila.com) has been an inspiration.

One of the key ingredients to a finely textured espasol is finely ground toasted glutinous or sticky rice flour or mochiko. If you live in Hawaii, you can easily buy a pack of glutinous rice flour or mochiko in the supermarket. I recently tried making espasol using sticky rice flour that I bought in Vietnam but it was a disaster. The sticky rice flour was very sticky and the flour was just too fine. It was difficult to dissolve the flour in coconut milk that I had to sieve it. Still, the resulting consistency was like a mix of tikoy and pitsi-pitsi. So I wouldn't recommend using the Vietnamese sticky rice flour in espasol.

The best option remains making your own flour by toasting glutinous rice in a wok until it turns golden brown. Then take the toasted malagkit to a food miller and have it ground into fine flour. It takes about three passes through the mill before a fine texture is achieved. In wet markets, this milling service is usually provided by stalls selling and grating coconuts. They have a small mill on the side for grinding soaked rice grains to make into galapong for puto and bilo-bilo.

To make espasol, toast 6 cups mochiko (glutinous rice flour) until light brown. From the 6 cups toasted mochiko, set aside 1/2 cup for dusting later. Bring 5 cups coconut milk (extracted from 2 extra large coconuts) to boil. Add finely chopped calamansi peel from 4 pieces calamansi, 2 3/4 cups white sugar and stir continuously for 15 minutes. Stir in 5 1/2 cups toasted mochiko and 3-4 cups scraped and chopped buko, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix thoroughly. Cook over low fire, stirring constantly for 1 to 1.5 hours until mixture is thick. When done, let cool for a while. Dust a platter with the reserved toasted mochiko. Spread mixture on tray and flatten to about 1 inch thick with a rolling pin. Cut into small diamond-shaped bars or roll 2 1/2 inch cylindrical pieces and dust with toasted mochiko (see picture).

Instead of cakes, I usually give away espasol or ube jam for presents at Christmas or New Year. I pack it nicely by putting it in a medium-sized aluminum foil lasagna pans with a transparent lid or I cover it with plastic or Saran wrap or in transparent plastic containers that I buy in bulk in Divisoria. Try this recipe and you will be glad you did.