Shawarma ni Kulas specializes in BBQ, Shawarma and anything the owner/cook can whip up!

The resto is located near QUAN la Salle and on the way to Saint Scholastica’s.  It’s a converted garage that can seat a group of people comfortably.

The converted garage is actually quite roomy and breezy.

We decided to order all the shawarma variations in one go.  The price of the food is quite affordable and friendly on the pocket.

Shawarmania!

Kulas’s main specialty is the sizzling shawarma, a one of a kind dish that the owner invented himself.  It’s very good!  The pita wrapper  is cut into squares and put over the sizzling beef and veggies.  Don’t be ashamed to use as much garlic shawarma sauce as you like!

Sizzling Shawarma!

As for Kulas’s shawarma rice, it is EXCELLENT.  Even better than the leylam shawarma rice you find in the malls.  This, my friends is the best damn shawarma rice in Bacolod.

Shawarma rice

How about their shawarma wraps?  They’re pretty good too!  One wrap fills you right up!

Bong happily shows off one of his monster shawarmas

That's a LOT of beef! 

Give Shawarma ni Kulas a try.  Their Shawarmas are excellent!  If these pictures don’t convince you maybe this ad will!

Negros Island. Painfully beautiful

We took a couple of back roads and we reached a port where we took a banca ride.  The banca ride was a bit rough since there was a rain storm earlier.  It’s a bit scary but look into the distance and you can see Lakawon island, shimmering like an emerald green gem.

We got off the banca drenched with water since a couple of waves washed over the side of the boat and crashed into our faces.

[PROTIP: Wrap electronics and clean clothes before hand in plastic bags]

No one cared at all! We were finally here!

Arriving at Lakawon..

We rented a shack but to our dismay we found it to be infested with ants!  We didn’t bring along any bug spray so they kept getting into our bags to get at the food and the clothes so we simply poured ice water on their nest (which stopped them for a while.)  Oh well time to let the silliness begin.

Aussie girl Isabel plants flowers in our hair..

Time to go stroll on the beach, swim and laze about!

Island beauties!

Smile goes all out relaxation mode!

Hola!

Time to swim in the crystal clear waters!  We caught two starfish and let them go!

Starfishies!

Lakawon also serves really good chicken adobo and squid.  Everything tastes better here!

The grilled squid!

Fried Chicken!

A feast fit for kings!

We were there for 6 hours… But those 6hours seemed like eternity!  Just walking on the beach, napping in the surf… It was a great place to laugh, relax and enjoy a beer.  Time screeches to a halt on the island of Lakawon..

And now for the picture worth a thousand words….

Beached whales and one conger eel!

Chinese dragons swim through Lacson street which for just a moment transformed into a huge celestial river.

Two Giant figures dance through the parade.

The first of the Zodiac animals appears! The dragon!

A huge blue dragon then arrived carrying GMA stars.  (Sorry I don’t know who they are.)

The water dragon float!

The GMA stars riding the dragon

After watching the rest of the Zodiac animals pass by, it was now time to head to Chopstick alley (A designated place for people to eat dine and have fun.) and check out the scene.

The entrance to chopstick alley.  This colorful stall had dragons and lanterns!

Inside the stall there was this huge dragon head.

Chopstick alley was filled with people just having fun.

The Lion dancers pose at Chopstick alley after their exciting lion dance

I was able to run into my friend  Chef JP Anglo at the Mu Shu food booth.  It’s totally fun being with JP because all sorts of fun things happen.

Mu Shu's food stall! Looks awesome!  Top things to try are their angus beef siomai, Lechon manok lumpia, pritchon pancakes and their ... well EVERYTHING is a must-try.

I was about to ask Chef JP what food he was going to prepare but he kept getting dragged away for autographs.. So funny!

"Gaan ko kamo autograph basta bakal lang kamo siomai." Chef Jp jokes to a group of giggling schoolgirls.

Since Chef JP was getting sidetracked by the constant requests for autographs, I asked him if I could take pictures of his food.  ”Go ahead Marts, but I’m afraid the only thing ready right now is the Angus beef siomai.”

Mushu's angus beef siomai! WOW!!

Happy Chinese new year!!  I was able to take a video of the Amity Volunteers on Chinese New Years day at Shopping doing their dragon dance to bless various business establishments!

Rinjin's charming minimalist interior

Rinjin was conceptualized by a family who first wanted to open a Japanese take out place.  After much discussion they decided to convert their garage into a restaurant!

A beautiful steampunk clock at Rinjin

I tried the torikatsu… it was great!  For a soft opening, the food was definitely well prepared!  The chicken was perfectly fried while the catsup-mayo sauce was excellent, with special kick to it..  They also have an extensive menu that ranges from Tuna sashimi to american and filipino breakfast favorites.

Rinjin's Tuna Sashimi

Torikatsu!

Oyakudon being cooked!

The finished Oyakudon

Cring tries out the Nikudon

Watching the cook make ebi tempura

The finished Ebi tempura!

There were more dishes on the menu that we  planned to sample later when more time permits.

The interesting thing about Rinjin is that there is an atmosphere of fun to the place!  Since kids love japanese food, Rinjin offers free origami papers and an origami placemat for kids and kids at heart!

Rinjin's prototype placemat! Isn't it fun!?

The owner explains how to make origami. "For adults we also have sudoku, but origami is more fun!"

Rinjin also offers deliveries and breakfast!  We’ll bring you more pics soon!  Please feel free to drop by Rinjin!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 53,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

888 chinatown square

888 Chinatown square is a mall filled with stalls selling cheap Chinese goods.  This mall is totally bizarre and is worth bringing visitors to Bacolod to take a look.  One of our foreign friends uttered two unforgettable lines after visiting the mall.

“You Filipinos must like Angry birds a lot.”

and the notable:

“But they’re all selling the same thing!!

The entrance to pirated good heaven (or Angry Bird hell.)

Once inside, you can’t help but gawk at the sea of humanity thronging around… Gosh, crowded as heck!  Are they even buying anything?

Red lanterns float over the main area, lending a festive look..

The first floor is where some of the food restaurants are located.  You get your Apollo restaurant, Mang Inasal, Merci, Dunkin Donuts and a lot of other stuff.

So many people!!

Apollo restaurant!

Merci's 888 branch is clean and inviting

At the back area of the mall and also on the second floor, you can find stalls selling your favourite pirated DEE-BEE-DEE..

What? No sleazy porn dealers? I miss old Harrison's plaza and old Greenhills/Virramall

Knock-off Bags. Descend to the underworld that is piracy!

The ground floor also has a dimly-lit area with greasy-looking food stalls.

After exploring the ground floor and getting annoyed at all the angry bird merchandise, lets head to the second floor where even more angry bird and cellphone shops await!  Shoe stores are numerous on the second floor.

More red lanterns greet you on the second floor

On the second floor you can find some stores selling interesting goods.  There are some stores selling novelty shirts (nowhere near the quality you find in greenhills) and a shop that offers customized shirts, mugs and what-nots.

Scrubbles sells scrubsuits for those in the medical profession

If you dream it, we can make it...customizable shirts, keychains and lanyards.

Okay, so you’re probably hungry by now.. Incidentally, the best places to eat if you’re on a budget is also located on the second floor.

Don’t worry about having too little money because 50-100 pesos can already get you a belly busting meal.  Avoid the hotdog stands.  They use old and rancid cooking oil and instead head to the ones offering meals.  Let’s start with two favourites..

1.) Leylam Shawarma

We go to Leylam for its delicious rice in a box and its all meat shawarma.

We love shawarma rice!

Protip: Ask for extra white shawarma sauce and ask for spicy sauce!

mmmm!

The best part is mixing up the rice and the shawarma sauce.

All mixed up!

2.) Pinoy Pizza (Yehey! Pizza)

This stall is just amazing.  It’s always got a line full of customers queuing to buy a pizza which when we tried it, we found it to be substandard or nothing special in terms of taste.  The cheese is scanty and next to tasteless, the crust is simply a thin layer of hollowed- out bread.  In terms of price, Yehey! Pizza excels. Fifty pesos can buy you a medium sized plate, perfect for a merienda.

People lining up for pizza!

A plate of their 50 peso pizza. Not bad!

3. Potato Corner.

Potato corner has this new product WASABI covered fries which we sort of enjoy.  The fries are sweetish with a mild wasabi kick.  Buy a big bucket and enjoy watching the TV screen of the stall for a bizarre cartoon about a potato who kills himself so everyone can have french fries.

Fries!

Congratulations!  You’ve successfully navigated and dined at 888!

Sharyn's Cansi

The Bacolod Food Hunter who accompanied me this time was Berry blue: Ace attorney and one of the founders of the blog.  He was astounded that I had never had Cansi at Sharyn’s before.  (He had just purchased a new car!!)

"You can't call yourself a food hunter if you've never dined at Sharyn's!!" Berryblue gently chides me.

We walked into Sharyn’s.  Immediately we were greeted by the owner and the waitress who immediately asked if we were tourists.. (Camera was a dead giveaway.)  BB and I stared at each other and laughed.. “No,we weren’t tourists but food writers!”

We walked into Sharyn's like we were walking unto a yacht.

It turns out Sharyn’s was also very used to having reporters/writers/celebrities come and visit!  Framed articles from magazines such as FOOD magazine and YUMMY hung from their walls.

“You must be the lovely and beautiful owner, Sharyn”  I said to the lady behind the counter.  This made her smile and elicited peals of laughter from the waitress.

“No, Sharyn is my DAUGHTER!!” she laughed.

I pose with Sharyn's owner.

Our order arrived.  A typical order is a bowl of Cansi with a huge chunk of beef bone with marrow and extra soup in mugs.  Cansi gets its sourness from batuan, a small greenish fruit that is intensely sour.  You can eat Cansi in so many ways but the preferred method is to eat the soup in the main bowl, then top it up with the soup in the mugs when it gets low.

Soup!

More views of the bowl of beefy soup oozing with marrow and tendons..

Marrow!!

Beef and tendons!!  Lots of people like cansi for the buttery-soft marrow.  I like Cansi for the sour soup and the beef broth.  Sharyn’s stews its beef for six hours until the beef practically falls off the bone and can easily be separated by a fork.  Usually Philippine beef is tough and gamy, but after the special Sharyn’s treatment, the beef is as soft as the primest Grade A beef.

Generous amount of Meat left on the bone

Drop by Sharyn’s and try a bowl of their beefy cansi today!  It’s awesome!

While Chika-an is not a Bacolod franchise, we still believe Chika-an  deserves a mention in places for fine dining in Bacolod.

The Bacolod Food hunters were out on the prowl again after what seemed to be a non stop week of Christmas parties!  They decided to drop by Robinson’s Central City walk to check out the latest restaurants.

Well, it was a pleasant surprise since Mooon cafe and Chikaan had just celebrated their grand opening!  There were crowds of people mobbing Mooon cafe (mexican food) and The Bacolod Food Hunters didn’t want to be part of the rabble, we decided to go dine at Chika-an.

Chika-an!

Since the handy-dandy Iphone 4s was temporarily out of commission, Martin had to use his Samsung Galaxy Y’s camera. (2mp)..

We ordered two filipino favourites.  Kare Kare and grilled Spareribs.

The Kare Kare was very nice, the proportion of meat to veggies was just right (a generous amount of meat compared to veggies).  The peanut sauce was delicious too, from the taste of the sauce, it seemed to be made from scratch (i.e. ground peanuts) rather than peanut butter.

Kare Kare. It's FUN!!

Yes, the pot looks weird!  That’s because it had a tiny candle at the bottom to keep the Kare Kare warm while you eat!.

The Spareribs also deserved special mention.  The meat was tender, well grilled and perfectly seasoned!  It was so soft and there was only ONE tiny morsel of bone in the serving.. 99% meat and a tiny bit of a bone.  It was delicious!

Spareribs! Or more appropriately... porkchop?

We weren’t able to try Chika-an’s other house specialties but we did try their absolutely delicious and refreshing CUCUMBER lemonade.

The refreshing and cooling taste of cucumber mixed with the tart lemon juice is a win!

We highly recommend that first timers try out this drink.  Skip the alejandro iced tea. Have a pitcher of this delicious drink instead!

Check out chika-an!  You won’t be disappointed!

For only Php 780, you could have a WHOLE hainanese chicken AND Mushu’s famous chicken rice.  Enjoy!!

Mushu is one of our favorite restaurants in Bacolod!  They serve absolutely tasty Chinese food! Check out our article on Mushu HERE!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

31 Korea: People lining up to buy ice cream!

31 Korea is set up quite nicely with two long tables where you can sit and eat your noodles.  The cooks man the center area.  For bigger groups there are several small tables which are quite inconvenient because one has to bend down to eat from one’s bowl.

Grab a bowl!

You can have a variety of toppings with your noodles or ramyun.  The basic bowl is 80 pesos for a bowl of noodles and soup.  You add 20 pesos for ramyun toppings.  31 korea offers a wide array of toppings ranging from rice cakes to fishballs and korean siomai (vegetarian dumplings).  For those who don’t want spicy soup, 31 korea offers 3 flavour choices ranging from mildly spicy to spicy soup.  We recommend the spicy soup to get the full korean ramyun experience!

Ramyun with Fishballs and Korean Siomai.

You can tell how spicy your order is by the intensity  of the orange colouring.

Same order of Fishballs and korean siomai only FULL INTENSITY SPICINESS!

Mike scarfs down a bowl of noodles

For those who are lovers of rice, 31 korea offers excellent rice balls.  They come in a variety of flavours and are quite delicious.  Our personal favourite is the pork rice ball and the tuna mayo rice ball.

BBQ pork and rice! So delicious!

Finally for those who don’t want to eat noodles or rice at all,  31 korea has yang nyeom fried chicken.  It’s battered fried chicken covered with a sweet spicy sauce.

Chikin!

For dessert, Join the fun and brave the crowds as they purchase the korean ice cream. PROTIP:  It’s better to take a seat and let the waitress come to you and you can order in relative ease and luxury.

SO many people! This box was consumed in SECONDS..

Cring shows off a cute watermelon ice cream! "The "seeds" are really chewy!"

Check out 31 korea for a fun dining experience.   The food is cheap, good and a lot of fun!   100 pesos can get you a bowl of soup with a ramyun topping!

Enjoy the new Webcomic!!