Jatujak Thai Food and Thai Iced Tea at SM Mall of Asia

Hubby was working all day at home yesterday and was a bit stressed and tired. To unwind, we went to SM Mall of Asia (MOA for short) to catch the fireworks, have dinner and do a little bit of shopping.

The traffic was unusually horrendous and we were unble to catch the fireworks which happens every Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Anyway, I've been craving for Thai food since my cousin Butchie posted a shout out in his Facebook that he's having some. I had the "inggit" (jealous) factor. So, we had our fill of Thai food at Jatujak Thai Food at the 2nd level of MOA (near the cinemas). The place is always full since their food is nice and almost authentic (Bangkok streetfood is still the best of course) and Jatujak is reasonaly priced as well. Their best sellers are the Chicken Pandan and the Bagoong Rice. (I know this because almost all the tables have them)

I didn't realize hubby was so hungry, he started ordering so many things from the menu!



For starters we had the Pomelo and Prawn Salad (Yam Som O). This is nice and refreshing with just the right blend of sweetness, saltiness and tartness. Jatujak's version has toasted coconuts on top.



Hubby also ordered the Fresh Vegetarian Roll (Pho Pia Sod). Assorted vegetables wrapped in rice paper, chpped peanuts and a sweet chili dipping sauce. Hubby seemed to like this because I only got to eat one :-)



Hubby ordered Beef Noodle Soup with thin rice noodles. He liked this as well but said to me "You can do this at home". Yup, I agree. But it was nice nonetheless. Each bowl would probably feed two people. Hubby managed to finish most of this by himself (No, I didn't get any).



Of course, I had the Shrimp Pad Thai. This was nice, but not as nice as the ones I had in Bangkok :-) But it will do in the meantime. I had plently left over. Each serving is good for 2 to 3 persons.



After all that, hubby was still hungry and ordered the Crispy Pork with Cilantro Relish (Moo Grab). Little did we know that it will be nothing but chicharon! Holy cholesterol! Hubby, was trying to sneak in fatty food again! We didn't finish this and had just asked this for take out to give to our housekeeper.



For dessert, hubby and I shared Sticky Rice with Mango. Hubby was surprised this was served hot. I like this very much since I am a lover of "kakanin" (rice based desserts). Unfortunately, as one ages, (ahem) we have to watch our carbohydrate and sugar intake. But I think I had my fill during my younger years, which seemed to stay at a mid-section up to this day, ha ha ha :-)





Fortunately, we had an hour left before the mall closed, to walk off the calories :-)

SM Mall of Asia is a nice mall because it overlooks the Manila Bay and when the night is balmy, like last night, fresh sea air comes through the mall and provides a refreshing breeze. It's nice to watch the sunset too while dining in one of the restaurants overlooking the bay.

SM Mall of Asia is very very crowded on weekends (specially Saturdays because of the fireworks), so take that into consideraton if you want to go there.

For less parking hassles, drop off your car and keys to the valet located at the back (where Krispy Kreme is) and just Pay P80, it will save you a lot of time.

Happy malling!

Pad Thai at Oody's Greenbelt

When I was walking home from work one night, I had a terrible craving for Pad Thai. Pad Thai is stir fried flat rice noodles with bean sprouts, chicken or shrimp (I prefer shrimps), some scrambled eggs, tamarind juice and diced tofu among other things. Pad Thai is usually topped with crushed peanuts and cilantro leaves. A slice of lime is served on the side.

I remember when hubby and I were in Bangkok, I would eat this everyday (yes, everyday) because I just love it so much it hurts, he he he, how very melodramatic of me. Anyway, when there I have an emergency craving, I usually give in.

Fortunately, Oddy's in Greenbelt, Makati was right on my way home. Well, maybe I took a short detour.

I finally ordered my Pad Thai. Now, Oody's isn't the best noodle restaurant there is. However, it would do in a pinch and they serve pretty decent meals. The servings are quite generous too and the prices are reasonable. Ad their name suggests, they serve all kinds of noodles.



I was dining alone, eating a huge plate of Pad Thai and people were looking at me funny. Everybody was with someone. Hmmmm.... they must be wondering why a lovely woman is sitting alone eating a huge plate of Pad Thai. LOL.

I felt like Charlotte in Sex and the City.

Oody's Noodles with my BFF

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I went out with my best friend to watch Twilight. We had an hour to kill, no pun intended :-) before the movie starts and one of the fastest places to have a decent dinner, I thought, was Oody's.

I'm not much of a noodle fan so noodle restaurants usually are low on my list and therefore don't explore them too much. Anyway, this is the first time for me to try Oody's although I've seen it a million times. So I thought, why not try it. It's fast, quick and reasonably priced.

Okay, the place is simple, quiet and comfortable enough. The interior has touches of purple and silver Christmas decorations. BFF and I start to peruse the menu and pretty much deduced that they specialize in noodles...he he he.

Anyway, we had Thai dishes. I ordered Paad Thai since the last time I had it was in Bangkok, a few months ago and I kinda miss it.



My best friend ordered some Chicken Flat Noodle called Pad Siew.



We also shared sauteed Thai Kangkong in a sweet salty sauce.



Now, to be fair, I wasn't expecting authentic Thai taste but, is it too much to ask to make the dishes not too bland? All dishes lack that certain "freshness" that you would find in a Thai dish, cilantro perhaps?

I was just so ever grateful that we only spent a little P500 for the entire thing.

Anyway, Edward Cullen more than made up for the dinner mishap :-)