Burger Review: Zark's Burgers Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker

Name: Jawbreaker
Location: Zark's Burgers (2464 Archer's Nook, Malate, Manila; In front of DLSU - Manila)
Cost: Php250
Overall Rating: 7/10


This is the famous burger that comes with a "finish it within 5 minutes then it's free" challenge. My sister together with a few friends decided to visit the restaurant - but we didn't take the challenge. :)







Detailed Scoring:

Taste: 3/5

The bun was large enough and has a distinct crispiness. there were also 2 slices of spam, a couple of bacons, 2 pcs. of thinly sliced tomatoes,  a piece of lettuce, and  3 thick patties with cheese. It was quite hard to eat this with bare hands since it was served in a plate so I decided to use their knife. The spam and bacon were cooked just right. Fortunately, the bacon wasn't salty. The patty tastes a bit bland and I had to grab the mustard, ketchup, and even the hot sauce. I didn't know that you could add barbeque sauce. Oh well, as much as possible I wanted to review the burger as it is as. I also think that this burger is designed for the stereotyped guys who doesn't like veggies, I thought the lettuce was just part of the design. In other news, I noticed that their fries were good as compared to the popular fries of some fast food chains. They are thick and a bit soft. I think they don't add salt on it though. I'd rate their fries 4/5 alone.

Standard order with fries and Bottomless ice tea

Value for Money: 3/3

I think this burger is a great value at Php250. It comes with a few fries and bottomless iced tea. This is great for people like me who drinks a lot. We were all really full and even the guys with us couldn't barely walk right after we ate. (I wonder was it because of the iced tea?!) Oh yeah, if one decided to take the challenge, they would enjoy more fries, but not the bottomless iced tea.




Appearance: 1/2

As you could see, it is as if designed for a guy who just want things piled up. I like the appearance though, it's as if it's mocking you that you can't finish it. haha. It's approximately 5 inches in height, 4 inches in width, and weighs 1.5 pounds. (base on their facebook page)

Burger Operation

Who said that a girl couldn't eat this?

My plate

Spaghetti Review: Jollibee's Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

Name: Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
Location: Jollibee
Cost: Php55
Overall Rating: 6/10






As of this writing, this is the latest addition of Jollibee on their menu. There were a lot of ads so I decided to give it a try as well

Detailed Scoring:

Taste: 2/5

There were traces of chicken on it, and  a lot of small mushrooms. The pasta was a bit soft but not really  overcooked. I can't help but notice the pepper almost covering every centimeter of the pasta, but it wasn't really spicy at all. (Or maybe I was expecting it to be a bit spicy). What I really like about this is that there's a lot of sauce. Okay I must confess, I prefer it when there is a bit more sauce on a spaghetti. :)

Value: 2/3

At Php55, It's a bit affordable and It was good enough as a snack, not for lunch though.

Appearance: 2/2

The cheese actually contributed to the look. It reminds me of my brother who loves cheese. HAHA

Spaghetti Review: Shakey's Monster Spaghetti w/ 2 Meatballs

Name: Monster Spaghetti with 2 Meatballs
Location: Shakey's
Cost: Php396
Overall Rating: 8/10






I didn't know the real price of this since I was able to eat this because of a lunch treat by my friend who celebrated his birthday a few days ago. Good thing ClickTheCity was generous enough to post their prices.

Detailed Scoring:

Taste: 4/5

It wasn't too sweet or sour. I could also taste the tomatoes but not too much like their Seafood Marinara. The pasta was firm enough, and the sauce was just right.

Value: 2/3

This was served in a large platter that could make 3 persons (maybe girls) full. The meatball was also tasty too bad there's just 2. LOL. Considering the price, for almost 200 pesos if shared by two, is a good value already. I'm not sure about the service charge or VAT would still affect the price stated.

Appearance: 2/2

My photo was a bit off since we mixed the sauce already and I wasn't able to get a shot of the platter. Shakey's could pride itself of the nice presentation they have of their food.

In other news, I took a photo of their hot pepper sauce. I'm quite a fan of hot sauce or its variety. I just ate 1 slice of pizza at that time so I can't make a review on this. Maybe next time.

Chocopasta

Chocopasta

 This is not Nutella. I'm quite sad that once I search for 'Chocopasta' - I couldn't find the one I'm looking for. So here I am presenting the real choco- hazelnut spread that I usually eat alone. I couldn't say that this is better than nutella since the last time we bought that was years ago.

I'm not sure if this is even sold here in our country. My aunt from Hong Kong just give this to us occasionally. If not, she gives us Finneti or Finetti Duo (which is a huge hit as well). This spread was made by the Colruyt Group which is from Belgium. I hope they could come up with a label with U.S English language. The only 'English' word I noticed is the small square on the left with 'everyday' as a label.. -.-

 We usually eat this with biscuits or bread. The kids just love this.

Chocolate covered cookie (with flash)

Chocolate covered cookie (without flash)

Monde Bread Stix

Oh yeah, this is quite good as a dip for Breadstix.. I didn't even recognize that I already ate the whole pack.

Meiji's Yan Yan

Then I remember Yan Yan... I always buy this when I was still in elementary... It's either I eat all the chocolate and leave the bread later..
or I'll eat the bread all at once then slowly eat the chocolate with my fingers..  I miss my childhood...

Burger Review: McDonald's Double Cheeseburger

Name: Double Cheeseburger
Location: McDonald's
Cost: Php75
Overall Rating: 5/10

Those coupons for the New Year (in red ampao) would actually save your time from thinking on what to order.

Detailed Scoring:

Taste: 3/5

I tasted the cheese, the preserved cheese. (I like cheese) The patties were not as juicy (I expected that). The bun was.. really light, and there is nothing distinct about it. (I love bread as well and I could say that this is the bread that won't make me full)

Value: 1/3

I almost gave it a 2 since it costed me just Php75 and it comes with a drink, but then it was as if the burger just passed unto my mouth. I ate it a bit slowly just to savor the flavor. I rated it 1 because I think it would cost me at least 3 of this just to be full. (Considering that I'm just a girl)

Appearance:  1/2

The actual photo quite resembles the real one except that the contrast was higher.

It's a small burger. It might actually be good for a snack (not a meal), and you could be full because of the soda. (I don't like soda that much)

Burger Review: Wendy's Steakhouse Baconator

Burger and Drink

Name: Steakhouse Baconator
Location: Wendy's
Cost: Php302
Overall Rating: 6/10

My sister (yes that is my sister's hand on the picture) and I had been drooling about this burger. We were accustomed to try out every interesting food we could find here in the Metro and one of the most common is the classic comfort food - Burgers.

Detailed Scoring:

Taste: 3/5

The buns were exceptionally better than any burger I tasted before, (though I prefer it to be hot). The patty was  fairly good as well but not as juicy. The bacon though was a bit salty than what I expected. Even my sister remarked that it is indeed salty.


Value for Money: 2/3

Hello Burger!

I consider this at first to be a bit expensive as compared to other burgers, but then we had this at a promo. It was Valentine's week and we availed of the Combo where it was discounted. It costed us Php302 each where a single baconator would cost as much as Php274 if bought alone. This comes with a regular drink and  fries. There was also a promo where we got a Valentine tumbler because we had a single receipt that costs above Php500. I still think that the burger is a bit 'medium-sized' and far from what I expected from a seemingly Php274 valued burger.

 Appearance: 1/2

It was just like any burger with all the ingredients piled. Hmm..

In other news.. I was really surprised about the fries.. I didn't know Wendy's changed their fries and it was indeed really good. It was thick and good. I tasted the potatoes well. :) If I would review this, my score would be 5/5 for the taste alone. :)

Natural- Cut Fries with Sea Salt

Some story at the back..
Sorry I used my 2 megapixel camera..

Oh yeah about the free tumbler, It says,

"Happy Valentine's"

Detailed Scoring for Reviews

Photo from the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Throughout my reviews I may be posting numbers as scores in every category. To be able to assess how I derived the numbers. The higher the score corresponding to each weight, the more favorable it is. The total highest possible score is 10. Please refer to this very simple guide:

Category 1 : TASTE
Weight: 5
Score:
1 - I regret eating this.
2 - Far from what I expected, but tolerable.
3 - Average taste.
4 - Fairly Good, may or may not order this again.
5 - This is really good. I'd love to eat this again.

Category 2 :  VALUE for money
Weight: 3
Score:
0 - I feel robbed.
1 - I think the price should be a little lower than this.
2 - Just the right price.
3 - Great value.

Category 3: APPEARANCE
Weight: 2
Score:
0 - Is this really edible?
1 - Tolerable. Just as expected.
2 - Really good presentation.


Every score is solely based on my opinion and certain circumstances may affect such scores. I'll try to be objective as possible to every food I review. If you have another opinion then you are most welcome to share it. I do not intend to spoil anybody base on the scores I give, but as the saying goes..


Just try it yourself. ;)

Supertaster

When you are a picky eater, you could justify that you are a 'supertaster' .. even if you're not. Personally, I am not sure if I'm a supertaster. If I base on the random count of papillae, there are a lot. But I personally like it if the food has a distinct bitter taste (e.g. coffee, tea, dark chocolates, or vegetables). I just couldn't stand the taste of fatty foods.

As a child, I was told that I shouldn't complain if the only food on the dining table are just plain vegetables even if they taste as bland as any other food. I could comment about the taste but I should still eat it because it's healthy. I'm still happy I had that discipline, I am always as healthy as I can be, and my skin receives a lot of praise. (LOL) When I will have my culinary lessons, I'd make sure that I could learn how to cook vegetables that isn't bland, and I'd make a cook book entitled, "Vegetable recipes for non-vegetable eaters" . (Evil laugh)

In case you want to know if you are a super taster, You could take the test (link provided on the photo).  I initially had a result as supertaster, but after taking the test after quite some time I had the result of a normal taster (HAHA)

You Are What You Eat

At last, I finally managed to create this blog! Thanks to my friend who encouraged me to fight my procrastination. I actually don't expect any readers as of this moment. I just love to document things as if somebody would read it. And yeah, one of the things I love to do is 'Eating' . Maybe because I came from a country were people are passionate about eating and cooking.

My passion in food, drinks and nutrition started when I was still a young student who loves anime. I am really fascinated by those cartoons about cooking. (I'll save this for the future article) I also love reading various articles about food and nutrition. I'm not really a conscious type but then as the saying goes, 'you are what you eat' denotes that what we take would always reflect on our body, built, and face! (Yes also in our face)

As of this writing, I still don't know how to cook. (Except the basic rice, noodles, fried food etc.) I'm planning to take a crash course in culinary in the very near future, and I also started to ask my mom to teach me how to cook some local delicacies. I just can't seem to remember them. *sighs* I often experiment on a dish (aka Pa-Cham) and it would turn out to be good. I believe that everybody could prepare a decent dish as long as the cook would taste it. 

I decided to have a blog so that I could document the things that is on my mind regarding food. I often try new dishes and new restaurants and make a random review about it. (I promise not to be rude in making comments)   

It took me so long before I start this blog is because of the following reasons (and my counter attack):

1. My Grammar in English is BAD! 

Then I realized I can't be perfect in this 2nd language and somebody could always point out what is wrong with my sentence.. and there is always the 'Edit' button.

2. I don't have a decent Camera!

I am still using my 2 megapixel camera phone, but then who cares? Food should be tasted and I wanted a blog so that I could remember the memories I had with the food. (HAHA) Then my mom bought a 12.2 megapixel camera a few days ago. (woops)

3. I don't know how to edit pictures! I don't know how to use Photoshop!

Then I could always ask somebody who is really good at editing (e.g. my friends who graduated in a Multimedia Arts course) I'll just leave those things to them. (LOL)

4. I don't have time!

I have to admit that Procrastination is really my downfall. Well, when will I start doing things in the first place? Of course I have the time, I could spend at least 2 hours in facebook, why not start the blog I've been dreaming to do.


So much for my 1st post, I actually found a pouch for my small umbrella bought in an apparel store... I smiled when I saw it yesterday.. :)

You Are What You Eat