Conti's

Name:
Conti's Bakeshop

Where it can be found:
Connecticut St., Greenhills
Paranaque

Type of dining place:
Restaurant cafe and bakeshop

Type of food served:
Filipino, Italian, American

Upside:
Among the best cakes and baked salmon you'll taste in your life for an unbelievably reasonable price. All of their servings are just right for the average filipino appetite, the service is always good and the food tastes and feels heartwarming.

They also do catering.

Downside:
Because of its underground popularity, its always hard to get a table at lunch and dinner time. The restaurant is always busy with activity, and their shop in greenhills has an open waiting area - no shade from the sun and no aircondtioning. Waiting time is often a headache, but the food will be well worth it.

Budget for 1 person:
Meals go for about 120 to 250. But their soups and appetizers are meals in themselves, averaging only 50 to 80 each.

Must try:
Baked Salmon / Salmon Croquettes, Mango Bravo

Honest recommendation:
The food is great, the cakes are heavenly and the salmon in my honest opinion is to-die-for. The prices are well worth the food and relative ambiance. If you want a fully pleasant experience, I simply recommend to be there early to beat the lunchtime or dinner rush.

Johnny's Fried Chicken

Name:
Johnny's Fried Chicken (The fried of Markina)

Where it can be found:
Q Plaza, Cainta (6452640)
Sta. Elena, Marikina (6820553)
Manggahan, Pasig City (6820843)
Katipunan, Quezon City (4335321)

Type of dining place:
fast food/resto type (unlike typical fast food, Johnny's will cook your food after you've ordered for it)

Type of food served:
Filipino

Upside: You can also make bulk orders for most of the dishes they serve. Food tastes good so you will get your money's worth, especially if you buy in bulk (e.g. isang bilaong pansit). They also deliver (I think.... I've seen motorcycles outside their place so am just making an assumption)

Downside:
The place itself is small so it's not really the type of place where you can bring all your friends and hang out there.
They do not serve that many dishes. Their menu consists of popular Filipino breakfast meals (e.g. tapsilog), different types of pansit (e.g. pansit bihon, pansit luglog) and other fried Filipino foods. For those who are health and figure conscious, take note that this kainan lives up to its slogan (read: almost all of the food in their menu are fried).
Also, there are not that many branches around Manila so if you really want to get a taste of Johnny's you should go to the East side of Manila and scout for their branches.

Budget for 1 person:
For less than P100, you can get rice, viand and a drink.

Must try:
Fried chicken (their specialty), pancit bihon, lumpiang shanghai

Honest recommendation:
Personally, I think that the price is a bit expensive considering the look and feel of the place (unless if you are buying in bulk and you will bring the food home, then it would be okay). If you live near any of the branches, I'd recommend you try the food (theit fried chicken is really good). However, if you live far from the branches listed above or worse, you don't even know where Marikina, Cainta, etc. are, then it's not really worth your time and energy to look for this resto/fastfood since there are other Filipino restos around Metro Manila that serve the same dishes (Max's would be a great alternative).

DISCLAIMER

I love to eat.

That's why I created this blog.

I'll be listing down my reviews on places to eat around Phil., from the classy resto's to the turo-turos. Hopefully, this will serve as a guide for other peeps who stumbles through this page or better yet, this can help resto/turo-turo owners to improve their fare.

I am NOT a professional food critic and no, I don't have a fine, discriminating palate. What I do have is a strong budget sense, love for food, appreciation for art and ambiance, and most importantly a practical eye [what I mean is, I've read a lot of magazines and articles dedicated to food and most of the time the reviews don't help that much because they rate dining areas that are too expensive for common people like moi].

Okay, I have to admit that I rarely go to turo-turo for fear of amoebiasis, food poisoning and diarrhea. But I'll still come up with cheap places to eat.

If you want to add a review, feel free to email me and I'd be happy to include it in this blog.

**other contributors are also not professional food critics so please, spare us :)