Buy 1 Take 1 Loot and Japan Home Center Haul

Okay, I love Robinson's Otis now. It has the biggest Japan Home Center branch I've been to so far, and it still has some of the items that I have been looking for. Check out the insulated bento bags! There's the smaller one with the flower print - very Japanese, and the bigger checkered one with a pocket. They are both well-made (there was another plain model that had bad quality stitching). They are still in stock so if you are looking for them, check out the Otis branch. I also got a sandwich box, a Winnie the Pooh container, and.. tada! Did you see the black bento? I had despaired of ever finding one. It's a real Japanese-type 2-tier bento with the top cover. I also got 2 glass containers just in case I cannot avoid having to nuke my lunch. I am trying to avoid microwaving food as much as possible. It is very unhealthy according to various forwarded emails and websites, and microwaving using plastic containers (even microwave-safe ones) are worse. As for me, I also prefer my food cooked and heated the old-fashioned way, and as for the "nuking is bad" claims, I would rather be safe than sorry.

Dad also found a lot of things on Buy-1-Take-1 or some other promo at the supermarket. Those Japanese crackers are good! I am quite pleased at the Lurpak butter haul! P145 for 2 bars? It's cheaper than Anchor! Love love love love good butter on good bread (NOT the tasty-type commercial breads)! Good bread = yeasty, flavorful, slightly chewy. Crusty outside, chewy inside and hole-y! I just don't like the commercial 'tasty' loaf being sold nowadays. They are too refined and make too many crumbs when you slice them. Me like big yeast holes in me bread. Sometimes I actually seek out the "cheaper" breads since they are closer to the real bread I like.

New Hatchin Japanese Grocery & Hana

So, after my Ortigas Japanese shopping spree, The Cat and I went to New Hatchin Japanese Grocery in Makati. Wow, I can't believe how often I've passed by that street and never noticed they were there. When we got there, they had already ran out of takoyaki and the takoyaki stand had already packed up. But never mind, I was looking forward to Hana's takoyaki. They better be available, dammit!

Entering Hatchin was like being warped to some corner of Japan. Everything was Japanese, everything was in Japanese. I was looking for some sakura denbu but could only remember the "sakura" part. Well, you can imagine it wasn't exactly easy to look for sakura denbu by just describing it as "sakura-something that you use to turn rice pink". The Cat was laughing at me for my epic fails the whole evening! Anyway, since The Cat (a.k.a. neko-chan) knows kindergarten level Japanese, I kept asking him to figure out what something was - what's this? what's that? Don't know? Bad kitty!

I bought some naruto, and a box of the plastic grass thing you see in sushi servings. Also bought The Cat a green tea mochi. Kitty like. He was also pestering me to get the unagi (his favorite), but methinks I should buy that later since I still had a LOT of stuff in the freezer/ref. Also, I don't know how to cook it. Yet.

We then went to Little Tokyo, and the first restaurant we see is, tada! Hana! Well, of course takoyaki would definitely be ordered! The takoyaki was delicious! It has real octopus bits inside and has a more complex flavor than the takoyaki we normally get at the malls. One bite and you know that this one's authentic! At P100 for 6 pcs, it's affordably priced. Will definitely be going back for it.

The restaurant is a small one, and would probably seat around 20. But with that being said, you can really feel the authentic Japanese vibe! You can also see the cook preparing your food, and some Japanese customers, regulars, we presume, talk to the cook. It really is a nice place to hang out if you were Japanese. Quite homey.

Here are pictures of the food we ordered at Hana. The food was good. Not wowerrific good, but delicious and well-prepared. We ordered the Cream Fish Mullier and the Sukiyaki Beef platter. We asked for the house tea which was also nice. It was barley tea. The taste might take getting used to for some, but it has a clean and flavorful taste.

New Hatchin is located in Sacred Heart St., right between Kamagong St. and Metropolitan Ave. in Makati. Little Tokyo is along Pasong Tamo (now known as Chino Roces Ave.) near Makati Cinema Square.

New Bombay + Daiso & Japan Home Centre Haul

I was reading Kaoko's blog last night (www.kitchencow.com) and was inspired to do two things today: 1. go shopping for bento stuff, and 2. eat at Hana.

So off I went today, grabbed The Cat (a.k.a the boyfriend, who likes to think he's a cat) along for a day of fun, food, and shopping.

The plan was to go to 4 places - Daiso at St. Francis Square, Japan Home Centre at Robinson's Galleria, New Hatchin Japanese Grocery in Makati, and at least have an authentic takoyaki at Hana.

But we were hungry so we first had lunch at New Bombay Restaurant at the 4th floor of the Podium, near the cinema. I forgot to take pictures! We ordered our usual vegetable samosa, mattar paneer and naan. I also ordered a chicken dish. Ack! I forgot the name of the dish. Suffice to say that it was the last on the list of chicken dishes that started with Chicken Tikka Masala.

The verdict:
Yes, we are regulars at New Bombay restaurants so here's our take on this new branch's food -

• Vegetable Samosas - the branch at the Columns (corner of Ayala and Buendia Avenues) has better vegetable samosas
• Mattar Paneer - the branch at Glorietta (near A Venetto) has the best mattar paneer, imho (ask for mild spiciness).
• Chicken dish whose name I forgot - better than the mattar paneer :)

After lunch, we hied off to Daiso in St. Francis Square. At first I wasn't sure if we found the right store because the big sign said "DYI", but that was the right store after all. I ended up buying a lot of stuff, The Cat was nagging me about spending so much on unplanned expenses. Hehe :) But I couldn't help it! Pictures of my haul:

In the pictures are some small plastic containers (I'm thinking for fruit, sauce, pudding, jello..). I also got an egg slicer. I didn't even know they had the 6-wedge slicers now. I also bought the Winnie the Pooh bento that Kaoko had on her blog, some cookie cutters I might use as fried egg molds, foil cups, and a heart-shaped onigiri mold . These items mostly cost P88 each, with some at P66.

After Daiso, we went to Galleria to browse through the Japan Home Centre branch there. Almost everything was at P88 again. They basically have the same things on sale. I only bought a few items not in the Daiso branch I went to - a regular triangular onigiri mold and a flower puncher (for punching flower-shaped nori?).

I hope these recent purchases help and inspire me to make cute, colorful bento!