How to Order Food Online and Get 50% off Your Bill

www.talabat.com

I will reveal the secret right away how you will get 50% off your bill when ordering food online. Use Talabat! Talabat is a 24/7 third party, online food ordering website that acts as an intermediary between the customers and the companies online and is available in Kuwait, Bahrain,  UAE, Oman, KSA and Qatar. 

There are wide selections of restaurants and cuisines online. I tried the system when I ordered a home delivery service from Chowking Restaurant. The menu is available online and its just so easy to browse the website and select the food you want. Few more clicks and some details about the location and I got a confirmation order number. And the delivery was quick too! On top of that, they also a responsive Live Chat if you wanted to know the status of the order.  

Unfortunately, the 50% off promo of Talabat for Chowking is valid until September 5, 2016 with a minimum order of 35 aed.

Here is my receipt showing the bill of 100 aed with a discount of 50 aed. Additional 3 Aed is added to the bill for delivery charge. 

Interesting Places I Visited in Batangas and my Food Trip Adventure

this image is taken from GOOGLE

One of the best thing that a Pinoy expat like me is looking forward to a month long vacation in the Philippines every year. For me, I spend most of time in Batangas province so I get a chance to explore the food and interesting places around Batangas.

Batangas is about 2 to 3 hours south of Manila and due to its proximity to the capital, many local and foreign tourists get the chance to explore its beaches, tried its food and see Spanish era churches. For me I may not be able to visit all the places in Batangas. But I would like to share with you, what could be at least a preview of what Batangas has to offer.

• Balot. Commonly sold as street food in the Phillippines, this developing bird duck embryo is eaten from its shell. The best way to eat balot is to crack a small hole and put the vinegar and little salt and drink the liquid.  After that, you can continue opening the shell and eat the whole piece. I am not sure about the nutritional value of egg but should be a good source of protein. Best to eat accompanied by San Mig Light or any liquor.

• Isaw, Betamax and Adidas. If you wish to get a possible dose of Hepa then try to eat barbecue sold in the open side streets. I don't know how the meat was prepared. I just completely trust the vendor. :) I don't really mind eating a few germs at all hehe. And they come with unique names too. Isaw is chicken or pig intestine. Betamax is cube shaped pork blood. Adidas is chicken feet.

• Lomi. Is a soup dish that comes with thick egg noodles and is famous in Batangas. Then a mixture of vegetables and meat like pork, liver or hotdog is added on top. Best eaten while hot. There are also other variations of the recipe. Corcolon Lomi House in San Jose, Batangas is famous for its double toppings lomi. It was on my To Do List, but never got a chance to visit the restaurant.

• Taal Basilica or Minor Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours. Is the biggest church in Asia. Previous churches were either destroyed by Taal Volcano eruption and earthquake in different locations. The present church was built in 1856 on top of a hill opposite Taal Municipal building. 

Church Altar

I assume that anyone buried inside the church occupied a high
status in the society during the earlier time

Few minutes from Taal basilica is the church of Our Lady of Caysasay which stands on the bank of a river and can be accessed by stone steps now known as San Lorenzo steps. There is also a miraculous well near the church called Well of Sta Lucia that many have attested to have healing and therapeutic 

powers 

The town of Taal is also known to be the Balisong (butterfly knife) capital of the Philippines. Although a dying industry as described by a documentary I watched on TV, there are still existing balisong shops along the road. 

Spanish era houses are still well preserved along the road.

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references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Martin_of_Tours

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• Tapang Taal. Don't forget to buy the well known Tapang Taal at the public market which is just a short walk from Taal Basilica. It is a thin slice of pork marinated probably with a mixture of toyo and spices. I searched the internet and found a recipe that claimed to be the original recipe of tapang taal. Maybe worth a try, though. Tapang Taal is sold between P 250-260 per kilo depending on your bargain skills. 

this image is taken from GOOGLE

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source: http://www.kabatang.com/authentic-tapang-taal-recipe-ga-ang-hanap-subukan-na-areh-ayos-din/

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HOW TO MAKE TAPANG TAAL RECIPE (ORIGINAL RECIPE)

Tapang Taal ingredients

1 kilong pork kasim, pideh ring lomo (ipa-tapa slice mo na)

1 tasang toyo

2 kutsarang bawang

2 kutsaritang pamintang durog

2 kutsarang kalamansi juice

4 kutsarang puting asukal

1 kutsarang Worcestershire sauce (kahit anung brand, basta Lea Perrins hehe)

1/2 tasang mantika pampirito…

Paghalu-haluin ang ingredients, lamasin, i-mix ng maigi at imarinade ng 3 oras o higit pa. Pideh nang piritusin pagkatapos.

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• Kapeng Barako. Is a well know variety of coffee in Batangas because of strong taste and smell. The coffee is prepared by boiling the coffee and add brown sugar according to taste. Let the coffee stand still for few minutes and you can enjoy the dark and strong Kapeng Barako. Other people poured the coffee to the rice as an alternative to the soup. 

• The Shrine of Padre Pio in Sto Tomas, Batangas. Located in San Pedro, Sto Tomas Batangas is  the Shrine of Padre Pio, dedicated to the capuchin priest well known for exhibiting stigmata. He was beatified in 1999 and canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. More about this post in my next blog entry.

The Shrine of Padre Pio in Sto Tomas, Batangas

Buro

image source: wikimedia.org

Buro or fermented rice is a native delicacy from Pampanga. I swear I am not a picky eater! I eat anything served on the table. But when one of my friends invited me to eat lunch with buro as the main dish, I would have wanted to decline because I really don't like the strong smell of it.

At dahil ayokong kumain ng lugaw na panis, period, parang awa mo na pls!

I was concerned about my appetite but I also don't want to decline the invitation. When everything was ready the big bowl of famous Buro from Pampanga was served in the center of the dining table accompanied with a separate serving plate of steamed okra, talong and fried Fish.

Everyone one on the table were eating enthusiastically except me. I picked one piece of okra, I dipped in the bowl of Buro and swallowed the whole piece! I was surprised. I was wrong about the Buro after all. In its raw form, it smells like hell (sorry for the word), but when cooked it enhances the flavor of the food. After that meal, I just began to love eating Buro.
   

In Dubai, Pampagueno Restaurant in Madina Mall in Karama includes Buro in their menu. When I dined at the restaurant, I told the waiter with CONFIDENCE, "One serving of Pinaputok na Bangus with Buro and Vegetables pls."


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If you will try to prepare Buro you may follow the following recipe from DOST:

Utensils:

• Spatula
• Sterilized bottles
• 2 pcs square polyethylene plastic
• Mixing bowls
• Plastic strainer
• Plate

Ingredients:

• 250g or 1/4 kilo suahe shrimp with heads removed
• 43.5g salt
• 1.2kg or 6 cups of cooked rice
  1. Rice must be of the C4 variety.
  2. When cooked, the rice must be slightly wet.
  3. Use 4 cups of water to make the rice slightly watery.
  4. Set aside cooked rice to cool.

Procedure

1. Mix salt and shrimp in mixing bowl. Mash thoroughly until the shrimp absorbs the salt. Let stand for 2 hours.
2. After 2 hours, put cooked rice in a mixing bowl. Add salt/shrimp mixture then mash to mix ingredients thoroughly.
3. Add the remaining salt to the mixture and mix. Set aside.
4. Transfer the mixture into sterilized bottles. Leave a centimeter head space from the mouth.
5. Cover bottles with polyethylene plastic. Cap tightly. Set aside for 10 days to ferment.
6. On the 10th day, the balao-balao is ready to be served. To cook, saute with garlic and onion.

The balao-balao will last for 2 months when kept in a freezer.

source: www.trc.dost.gov.ph