sushi ninja

Just a few weeks back I was finally able to try Sushi Ninja. It's been such a hype amongst friends and southern people in general, so I've been wanting to try the place.

Tsukiji Maki

I was surprised (in a good way) when this arrived because I didn't expect it to be a lot. I almost got this just for myself but it's a good thing Anton and I decided to share because it was more than I expected.

It consisted of 8 consistent rolls, all with the right amount of rice, tuna and cucumber. I love it when I receive food and see that hindi ako tinitipid. It's just sad when the rolls are small and are dominated by rice. Sushi pet peeve!

As a whole it was delicious, albeit a bit more spicy than I expected. I enjoy my wasabi a lot and can take the spice of it, but the spice from the mayo mix was a bit too much for me so I had to take breaks in between each maki just to make the spice in my mouth settle.

Spicy Salmon (Right)

Of course, it's never a Jap meal for me without my Spicy Tuna or Spicy Salmon. I must say that I'd consider this and Kessaku's spicy tuna to be my two favourites in Alabang. The fish comes in big chunks, the dish isn't too dry, the serving size is bigger than others and the flavour is just right.

Gyuuniko Sute-Ki Don

Once the steak dish arrived I was satisfied to see that it came with a good amount of rice and meat. I bit into the meat and found it too tough, probably overcooked a bit so it wasn't pleasant trying to eat the rest of it. The taste was okay but I was too bothered about it being tough so I didn't really feel like eating the rest of it. Anton though enjoyed his choice of dish (I forgot what, but it was meat too) and didn't experience the same thing, so it probably was just the one served to me.

Despite the disappointing main dish, I'd still go back to this place to experience the others they have on their menu. Their maki was delicious anyway, and their spicy salmon, one of my favourites!

the blues and the mean reds

travellingd: a glimpse of shanghai

Just a week ago I got the opportunity to go to Shanghai for 7 days. Majority of the trip was spent doing work, but I was able to sneak in a few side trips to the Bund, TienZiFang, a few malls, and the old French Concession. 

On the day we arrived, we decided to go to a mall and walk around our hotel neighborhood. We stayed in Caobao road, and in that area there were no shopping malls close by so we had to take a 10-15 minute cab ride to get to the closest one. We saw a lot of street food in our area being cooked along the sidewalks outside different stores. We wanted to try because the aroma of the food being grilled was very inviting, but our Chinese friend suggested we don't eat any of it.

This is one of the high end malls called IAPM we went to on our second day. It had all the good brands like Chanel, Balmain, Louis Vuitton, and also had shops like Nike, Mango, Muji, and others. 

I made a KFC run for 2 or 3 nights because I was craving for something non-Chinese (after all the Chinese dishes we had the whole day).



TienZiFang. A shopping area recommended to us by one of our Malaysian friends in Shanghai. If you're a fan of random cool stuff, accessories, kuchi-kuchi, and art, you might enjoy this place. A lot of the shops carry the same things so try to look for the shop that gives you the lowest price. You could bargain with them, though if you don't speak Chinese it's a bit difficult.

There were many eating and drinking places inside (which I heard are really good), but we weren't able to try any. Some restaurants had pretty cool and unique designs so I enjoyed looking around.

I fell in love with this leather store that sold everything leather--bags, wallets, notebooks, and small pouches. The store smelled of genuine leather and all the bags looked well made. If i'm not mistaken the bag prices were around Php 3,000 - Php 6,000 depending on the size.

On our 6th day, we wanted to check out The Bund (which is a must when visiting Shanghai). So we took the Metro from Caobao and got off at People's Square. 

We walked around a bit to check out some shops, then headed to East Nanjing Road. Usually people take the Metro to The Bund from People's Square, but our Chinese friend suggested we walk the whole East Nanjing Road from People's Square because the whole road is filled with shops and malls. 

East Nanjing Road

The view of LuJiaZui from the Bund.

My shopping buddies that day.

By the time we reached The Bund, it felt like a different place. The whole road was lined with beautiful European style structures (which held offices of banks and expensive stores). Despite the number of tourists there that day, it was still nice to walk around and take photos because the area's really big.

The Bund.

The day after we were able to explore the old French Concession, which was also really beautiful because it looked like Europe and had some really good eating places and unique stores in the area. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take photos of the place because we were rushing to do some last minute shopping. But there will be more updates of this trip to come!