Memorable Nuat Thai

Nuat Thai is an affordable Thai massage parlor that has mushroomed all over Metro Manila. 

Pearl Drive branch

I visited its Pearl Drive branch where I had a dirt-cheap 125php one hour body massage thanks to an Ensogo deal. 

Receiving Area

List of Services

Space was limited but Nuat Thai did try to create a relaxing and peaceful environment for its clients.

Foot Massage Area

Hallway

The Massage Room

With my very low expectations given the cheap rate, Nuat Thai still failed to deliver a satisfying massage experience. Instead of being rejuvenated, I felt tired and harassed after the session because I was subjected to stretching positions that were acrobatic in nature haha. 

I honestly can't help but laugh whenever I remember the day Nuat Thai turned me into a pretzel. Looking at the bright side though, the trip to Nuat Thai was at least memorable, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Nuat Thai has branches all over the Philippines. For more information, click here.

Snacks at Little India

Singapore Day 4
Little India
6:21 p.m.

We decided to make a pit stop at Ma Raj Restaurant while walking around Little India. It was a very modest eatery but it did look authentic. 

We soon learned that being in Little India doesn't automatically translate into having good Indian food. Heck, Ma Raj completely failed in delivering decent versions of Indian staples, samosa and roti.

Samosa

Dry, cold, and unappetizing. 

Plain Roti

Roti with Cheese

Banana Roti

The roti itself though ordinary was passable. What actually made the roti an utter failure was the watered down curry. It didn't have any flavor and just made the roti soggy and unappetizing to eat.

Hands down, this was our worst meal in Singapore.

Ma Raj Restaurant is located at 6 Verdun Road, Little India, Singapore.

Uninspired Asian Buffet at Crustasia

Last time I checked,  buffets are designed to have the capacity to feed tons of people. Too bad Crustasia missed this memo.

I had the misfortune of eating at Crustasia where one has to wait a considerable amount of time before food at the buffet table is refilled.

Spices

The only section where supply looks bountiful.

Appetizers

Sad looking and uninteresting

Soup

 Warms the stomach.

Siomai

 Not so bad. As the night went on, 4 pieces became 3 pieces per serving though.



Mongolian

I requested this to be cooked  with a lot of spice but I didn't feel any heat.

Kindao Spareribs and Pad See You

To this day, I am still confused what these dishes were all about.

Chicken and Crabs

I wasn't able to try Crustasia's specialty as there are no good parts to be had. Shells, shells, and just more shells for the crabs.

Tilapia and Pad Thai

Pad Thai tasted nothing like pad thai. Fish was good but the real challenge was to catch it at the buffet table first.

Roast Beef

Tough and cold.

Watermelon

Cream with Mango

Banana with Langka

My favorite of the three desserts.

Iced Tea

Comes with the buffet which costs 395++.

While the cost of the buffet is dirt cheap, it's no excuse for the very limited supply of food that we had.

P.S. I learned that Crustasia had its final run of the Asian buffet at Trinoma this weekend. I'm not surprised as the buffet only gives the restaurant a bad name.

Crustasia is located the second level, Alabang Town Center, 772-2968; the sixth level, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, 910-4096, TriNoma, 901-3607; and Rockwell Powerplant Mall, 728-5463.

Getting What I Paid For at Shui Hilot Spa

Curls and I love getting massages. We are also suckers for all things cheap; thus, it’s no surprise that we availed of Shui Hilot Spa’s cashcashpinoy promo!

For only 255php each, we were entitled to a 90 minute Whole Body Hilot Massage with Dagdagay Foot Therapy.

Since a lot of people availed of the promo, it’s required to schedule an appointment with Shui. We were encouraged to be at Shui 15 minutes before our appointment or face the possibility of losing our slot. Good thing Shui is just at the back of Greenbelt 5 so getting there was not a problem.

I was surprised at how tiny the place was when I first entered the premises.

Reception Area

The "Hallway"

No wonder the room was also small.

The Rooms

What Lies Behind

Spartan room with only a thin sheet of curtain for privacy made for one uncomfortable massage session.

It was hardly the relaxing massage I was looking for due to the poor “facilities.” Noise level could also be improved as I could hear all conversations from outside my room.

For those who aren’t too particular with ambiance, I’m happy to report that techniques used by Shui were at least pleasurable. It reminded me of massages I used to have with a trusty neighborhood masahista. It’s important to note though that my massage was a good 15 minutes short. As I was not really feeling it, I no longer complained.

I certainly got what I paid for at Shui.

Shui Hilot Spa is located at G/F Tropical Palms Building, Perea St. Cor. De La Rosa St. Legazpi Village, Makati. Call them at 3932313 or visit their website for more details.

All Time Low at Don Henrico's

Don Henrico’s is my family's favorite restaurant back in the day. It’s been a long time since we've last eaten there so I decided to have food delivered by Don Henrico's during my birthday . I now regret the trip down memory lane as Don Henrico’s proved that there are things from the past that should stay in the past.

I hate to be negative but everything we had was oh-so-bad. Bear me with folks as this will be the last negative entry in a while.

Let’s start the train wreck:



French Onion Soup (75php)

The texture was more of a mushroom soup than an onion soup. I knew this wouldn't turn out delicious but I just had to try it.

Petite Mozzrella Sticks (175php)  

An appetizer that was so heavy because it had too much breading. How can this be petite?



Dip Nachos (180php)

A complimentary item which was at least decent. Crispy nachos which I’m sure Don Henrico’s just sourced from somewhere.

Don Henrico’s Buffalo Wings (7 pieces for 720php)

Classic dish that I LOVED when I was a kid. Sadly, Don Henrico’s scrimped on the tangy sauce this time. It was also very dry and Nina noted that the oil used for frying the wings tasted old. Yuck.

Classic Carbonara (420php for sharing)

Not classic at all as the carbona had peas and carrots. Pelgene Parkus was not feeling this. One would think that a pasta place would at least make a decent version of a simple dish.

Oven Baked Ribs (360php for Double)

I immediately knew that the ribs were going to be bad the moment I laid my eyes on it. It was hard as rock and the sauce was very sweet. The flavors of the sauce were nowhere near what’s expected of a ribs sauce. To make matters worse, the sidings of sweet corn and carrots were dried out and gross looking.

Basic Cheese Pizza (420php for 14 inches)  

My siblings know their cheese pizza and this left them unimpressed.

Don Henrico’s Supreme Pizza (540php for 14 inches)  

 The best compliment this pizza got was that it was ok.

When asked to comment on the meal, Barney said: ‘Wala akong nakain na masarap!”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Don Henricos’s has branches all over the metro. I f you dare, visit http://www.donhenricos.net/ for more details.

Negative 145 for Fahrenheit

I’ve heard not so good reviews about 145 Fahrenheit but randomly gave it a shot. Knowing what I know, I already had low expectations going in.

Too bad my low expectations were still not met.

Complimentary Bread

Every entree at 145 Fahrenheit comes with either soup or salad and coffee, tea, or dessert.

I chose to have soup.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Dinner was off to a decent start with this flavorful soup. I wish the consistency of the soup was denser though.

USDA Black Angus Beef Porterhouse (1490php)

Unbelievably bad! Requested for the steak to be cooked medium well but this came out way overcooked. Very hard to chew on with natural steak juices non-existent. It had zero flavors save for the mushroom sauce it was paired with. This was also the thinnest cut of porterhouse steak I’ve eaten unless I count orders I’ve had from the Steak MD or Slice N’ Dice variety. Black Angus, I have my doubts.

Mashed Potatos

The siding of mashed potatoes was of the commercial kind. Blah.

Good thing we ordered seafood!


Tri Peppercorn Crusted Prawn with Garlic Confi (495php)  

Not really king in size but it at least had good flavors and was cooked right. The garnish was a wonderful accompaniment to the prawns with its crispy garlic bits. Redemption for 145 Fahrenheit or so I thought.

Unfortunately, I was halfway done with my prawn when I saw a strand of hair mixed with the garnish. Yes it was another HAIRY experience. Too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture as everything happened so fast. When I complained about the hairy situation, I received no apologies from the waiter but he did offer to have the contaminated prawn replaced.

It took some time before the replacement arrived and when it did, I noticed that the prawn was even smaller than the original prawn served. It also wasn’t crusted and tasted plain. Is this the proper way to treat an already displeased customer? The incident made the uninspiring meal all the more disappointing.

We also had dessert as this was part of ordering an entree.


Choco Mouse Cake

So bad nobody finished it.

I also had a complimentary mango torte cake since it happened to be my birthday.

This was better than the Chocolate Mouse Cake but not much.

Coincidentally, 145 Fahrenheit is celebrating their second year anniversary this November. I'm amazed that they have managed stay in business as restaurants this lousy usually don’t last long. Miracles do happen.

145 Farenheit is located at Upper Ground Floor Il Terazzo Mall Tomas Morato Quezon City. For more information visit their facebook page:

Too Much Spice: Lays Kettle Cooked Jalapeno

Heard from the radio how good and addicting Lays Kettle Cooked Jalapeno is.

Thinking that it would be as addictive as Cheetos Jalapeno, I immediately bought a pack.

Coming from someone who loves all things spicy, believe me when I say that this is just too spicy. This is barf in a bag as it was hard to even eat two consecutive chips. 

Yes, it was that hot!

It’s rare for me to give up on junk food but I did on this one.

Next!

It's All Relative at Kashmir

Murtle swears by Kashmir telling me that it’s one of her favorite restaurants. Thinking that I’m missing out on a good thing, I finally tried Kashmir with friends Teej and Vics.

Kashmir tries to stay true to its roots with its Indian and Persian inspired decor. It’s noticeable that the restaurant has seen better days though. Aside from the furnishing, I noticed that a good number of the diners in Kashmir were Indians. This tells me that food here is authentic.

Food that night:

Roti Chanai (90php)

Their version of this bread staple was good especially when dipped in curry sauce. I still prefer Arya’s version though as this was not as soft.

Naan (90php)

A glorified shawarma pita bread is all this was to me.

Palak Paneer (300php)

The cottage cheese was good when eaten on its own but horrible when combined with the spinach. Should Palak Paneer taste burned??? Looked like shit and tasted like shit. :(

Barra Kabab (490php)

Forget about the flavors as the meat pieces here were hard as rock. Meat could inflict serious pain when thrown at someone. I should have complained but didn’t want to bother.

Mutton Sayel (490php)

This doesn’t picture well but it’s actually the only good dish that night. The sauce was uniquely tasty and the lamb was very tender. What every dish in Kashmir should be.

In one word, here’s how we each described our experience in Kashmir:

TEEJ: Ordinary
VICS: Weird
ME: Sucky. But on second thought, my word should have been NASTY!

My friends and I had mixed reactions but were consistent in not giving Kashmir glowing reviews unlike Murtle. I now somehow question Murtle’s choice in restaurants but I guess everything is just a matter of taste. I’ll not be back at Kashmir anytime soon though.

Kashmir Restaurant is located at 816 Arnaiz Avenue Pasay Road Makati City. For more information, visit http://www.kashmirmanila.com/.