Category Burgers

I think it was a month ago when I first read about Anthony Bourdain‘s raves for Jollibee’s Amazing Aloha. The feature was shot in a branch of Jollibee in California for the show, Parts Unknown. Then I realized, I miss the Amazing Aloha! When was the last time I had one? I can’t even remember.

Online petitions were then started for Jollibee to bring back the Amazing Aloha. A Facebook page, with 5K+ likes as of this writing, was even set up to urge Jollibee to bring  the Amazing Aloha back. Lo and behold, those who crave for Jollibee Amazing Aloha have prevailed.

Finally, after 4 long years, Jollibee is bringing back the Amazing Aloha! It will be available in all Jollibee stores nationwide starting tomorrow, May 15, 2013!

A bite-after-bite delight of two juicy burger patties, crispy bacon bits, cheese, and lettuce, doused in honey mustard dressing, topped with a fresh slice pf pineapple, and sandwiched between two soft buns, the Amazing Aloha is a uniquely extraordinary burger experience that is amazing in every bite!

Filipinos nowadays are leaning more into healthy organic food and my family is no exception. We try to buy and eat organic food as much as we can. I admit, it could be a luxury especially when you’re living in the city like we do. But what’s a few additional bucks compared to a sound and healthy body.

Some of the organic produce that are just within our reach are free-range chicken and eggs. There are now a handful of  brands, both commercially-known ones and new players in the industry,  that offer free-range chicken in the country today. One of these is Pamora Farm, a Filipino-European joint venture that operates in Pidigan, Abra.

Owners Tina and Gerard Papillon (both in yellow) with the chef of Brasserie CiÇou.

My wife and I had the pleasure of sharing an intimate lunch with the couple behind Pamora Farm, Gerard and Tina Papillon.  Pamora is actually a combination of Gerard and Tina’s family names – Papillon and Morados. Tina’s mother is from Abra which explains why the farm’s 4-hectare property is located there. The chicken production started in early 2000 after Tina attended a seminar on raising free-range chicken.

Last week, we harvested our first batch of home-grown labanos (radishes). Of course, we were so excited at first that almost every meal we had had fresh labanos salad until each of us didn’t want to even smell a single radish, LOL!

This was the Instagram shot I took before we pulled out the radishes.

Nothing beats fresh and organic veggies!

We obviously had excess radish and the boys didn’t want to eat a single radish anymore. But I didn’t want it to go to waste and I thought, well if they don’t see the radish, they’ll eat the dish. What better way to hide radishes in a dish than to make burgers! Anyway, I already tried mixing in turnips and carrots when I make burger patties or lumpiang shanghai filling so I knew it would work. To make the burgers yummier for ulam, I then thought of mixing the grilled burger patties with mushroom gravy.

And so, my  very own creation, Labanos Burger Steak, was born!

Labanos Burger Steak served with Buttered Rice and a siding of Corn and Carrots

We heard mass at St. Pio Chapel in Libis, Quezon City last Sunday. We made plans to catch a movie in Cubao that afternoon where he intended to have late lunch. However, instead of going straight to Cubao from C-5, we made a left turn to Katipunan Avenue and ate at Mushroomburger Katipunan instead!