If there is one Thai Restaurant that makes me reminisce my good old days in Bangkok, it must be…read moreMuang Thai. Decorations in Thailand are unique and the restaurant here in Malakas street in Quezon City just makes you feel you are in Bangkok. I like their pad thai. It is similar to that pad thai in Tesco Lotus. It's rich in flavours and it is really oily! the bean sprouts still have the crunch in it and the nuts are sprinkled on top without making tipid on it! Their tom yum is just the tom yum a Thai friend cooked for me: it tastes like the tom yum mix they usually use. hihi. Chicken pandan has the pandan aroma and taste in it. What sets this Thai restaurant apart from any Thai restaurant in Manila is that they sell goodies from Thailand. So, if you miss you favourite tamarind candy or you want that ointment or get some trinkets from Thailand, its almost sure they have it there. Dine and shop and experience Thai flavour!

I had just returned from a trip to Thailand, and felt like seeing what Manila had to offer. I got a…read moreMetroDeal for this restaurant, so we went. It's in the Block section of SM City North Edsa, but it does have waiter service and tables. Jatujak's menu seems to be more of Filipino Thai fusion than authentic Thai. The MetroDeal had to be used all at once, so we ended up getting a lot of items on the menu. We got the steamed lapu lapu, crispy pata in red curry, crispy noodles, fried snapper, pad thai, pork spring rolls, glass noodle salad, papaya salad, tofu salad, and catfish salad. I can't say that most of these are straight Thai. They were all pretty good, but most of them were much sweeter than I would have liked, especially the pad thai. I would say that the pad thai was bad. The pork spring rolls were definitely just extra large lumpia shanghai. But i did enjoy the Crispy Pata in Red Curry. The crispy pata was cooked well and the red curry had a touch of heat. Jatujak stood no match for anything in Thailand, but I wouldn't be opposed to eating here.

I really find it weird that there are so few Thai restaurants in Manila. Given how much other…read morecuisines are represented, you'd think that Thai food would be more commonplace. It's sad, really, as I love the interplay of flavors associated with it. One of the bastions of hope in serving up decent Thai food in the Metro is Jatujak. They've been in business for a couple of years already and thankfully haven't shut down their doors. Throughout the years, even at different branches, Jatujak has been consistent in delivering the goods. I usually order the red curry beef. It could be a tad spicier but I guess it is tuned more for the local palate. The chicken pandan is also good, although I find them to be a wee bit small. The pad thai noodles are always cooked al dente and they don't scrimp on the toppings, which is always a good sign.

I will never tire of pad thai. Next to a bowl of my mom's sweet-style spaghetti, it is my next…read morego-to comfort food. I like going to Thai restaurants to sample their pad thai in my quest to find the best pad thai in Metro Manila, and Thaicoon in the food court of SM North EDSA is one of such stops in my self-elected quest. The first time I went there, I ordered an extra spicy pad thai because I thought I could handle it. Man, was I very wrong. That pad thai was cruel. It made me run back to their stall to buy their Thai iced milk tea, which was such a relief. I didn't even get to finish the spicy pad thai because it was super hot and spicy, I was sweating inside the airconditioned food court. The noodles were firm and nicely done, though, so it was a bummer to let the food go to waste, so my friend and I ordered another plate and mixed it with the fiery pad thai. The resulting concoction was much more gentle to the palate, and I ended up liking it very much. Not the best pad thai, but definitely one of the cheapest I've ever had. It's good enough for when I'm hard-pressed for vegetarian choices when I am in SM North.

I'm only giving it 3 stars because I haven't tried everything on the menu yet!…read more That being said, Me Love You Long Time is one of the more interesting food spots at the Z. I love the homage to Stanley Kubrick painted on the wall (Full Metal Jacket is one of my favorite films!), and I find myself mentally replaying the scene where The Joker and Rafterman are having afternoon beers while the Vietnamese prostitute saunters over and delivers her now immortalized spiel, to the tune of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." The only food I've tried on the menu is their Pad Thai (which isn't Vietnamese, BTW), which for less than 150 pesos is an excellent plate of vegetarian pad thai. I prefer my pad thai to balance the umami of patis with lots of citrus and maybe a dab of sweetness. Me Love You Long Time's pad thai has a great recipe for it, and trust that I always make a bee line for MLYLT whenever I'm at the Z Compound (if I'm not lining up for Meshwe instead!).

Won't you satay with me, 'cause you're all I need?…read more I admit I got horribly punny while eating at the al fresco dining area of Me Love You Long Time. It was our anniversary night and we decided to go adventuring along Maginhawa and because of budget constraints, we ended up sourcing food from the different establishments in Malingap's Z Compound. One of these was Me Love You Long Time, and despite my lobster nodding conspiratorially at the name and insisting that it's from Full Metal Jacket, nothing clicked. I stopped caring when the food arrived, though. I had pho ("pho you!" I chuckled, as the waitress glared at me disapprovingly) while my Bicolano lobster had the spicier Thai chicken curry and chicken satay. The food was hot in more ways than one, so I balanced it out with their delicious Thai milk tea (if it's a Thai place, should I just call it milk tea?) We capped off the meal with their highly-recommended (by another Yelp scout, no less) langka ice cream. The owners make it themselves, and it was langka-mazing.

Fun fact: Me Love You Long Time is apparently a reference to the war film Full Metal Jacket, where…read morea Vietnamese hooker uses this line to pick up American GIs. Well, the more you know... Whether you're having recurring cravings after your Southeast Asian food trip or in search of one without having to hop on a plane, this pop-up stall tucked in the back corner of StrEat has got to be one of your stops. Ever since I had chicken satay on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, I've fallen head over heels for them and I'm proud to report that the ones here did not disappoint. The chicken was so tender and flavorful from the curry marinade, making me wish they were a little bigger and topped with more peanut sauce. I also had their Thai iced tea, which I'm glad wasn't drowned in milk and still tasted like tea. I'll be back soon for another adventure with their pad thai and spring rolls, because me love MLYLT long time for sure.

I went back to MLYLT2 for the first time in a long time. I was utterly disappointed because of the…read morequality of the food. The chicken satay was flat, dry and bland, and simply just not as flavorful as before. What ruined the meal, though, was the nasi goreng, which I have tried for the first time. My idea of nasi goreng is fried rice soaking with kecap manis. The oilier, the better. Theirs is a soggy attempt at nasi kuning, which is yellow Javanese rice. The turmeric was just so overpowering, it made the dish very bitter and inedible. And to think that the dish is P160. I just wasn't happy with the meal. I broke the P300 mark but it wasnt even good. In fact, it was pretty bad. Makes one wonder what happened to my old favorite...