The Backpack Adventures

The so-called " fiesta spirit " really does make buffet or eat-all-you-can restaurants popular among Filipinos. Fiesta , for those who are unfamiliar with it, is an age-old tradition in the Philippines and other countries whereas a way of thanking God for the bountiful harvest, townspeople prepare generous meals for everyone to partake. Sadly, today, fiestas are not what they used to be. Urban areas do not or rarely celebrate it while rural areas celebrate it but have already evolved and become highly commercialized. Vikings SM City BF Vikings SM City BF Details For those looking for the so-called  fiesta spirit,  the closest one can get are through buffet restaurants. That is why for our food trip today we are heading to one of the famous buffet restaurants in the country. Join me as we check out  Vikings SM City BF in Paranaque City, Metro Manila . Vikings SM City BF - Paranaque City Even the lighting makes you feel that you're in a forest Located on the 2nd

The Philippines is not only rich in beautiful sights, but it is also rich in delicacies. That's why no matter where you are in the country, there is always a chance to do some food trippin'. Our food trip today takes us to San Juan, Batangas to check out the Batangas Buko Macapuno . Batangas Buko Macapuno For my foreign reader  buko  is the Filipino word for coconut while  macapuno  is the local name for the soft jelly-like coconut flesh that comes from the dwarf mutant coconuts. It is also known as  kopyor  in Indonesia. Time to try this delicacy. Let's open one. Open sesame! Oooooohhh what do we have here?! What's this Daddy? A closer look! If you're in Laiya, you can see these guys selling the buko macapuno. I encountered the Batangas Buko Macapuno during our company outing in Palm Beach Resort in Laiya, San Juan. Local vendors sell it for 100 pesos per 4 packs. Each pack contains 10 bite-sized pieces of the buko macapuno . I got to

Here's another must-eat dish in Malaysia and Singapore that is worth featuring in the food trip corner of my blog... join me as we try out and discover the bak kut teh . Bak kut teh The name bak kut teh came from the Hokkien dialect that literally translates to "meat bone tea". Despite being called a "tea", the dish does not contain any actual tea as an ingredient. It is, however, rich in herbs and spices like cinnamon, cloves,  dang gui , fennel seeds, garlic, and star anise which is boiled with the meaty pork ribs that give it its complex taste. Bak kut teh in Singapore's Chinatown   I hope they added more ingredients to my Bak kut teh Throughout time, additional ingredients were added to the dish like mushrooms, dried tofu, choy sum , and offal. Some Chinese herbs were also included like ju zhi and yu zhu .  The bak kut teh dish is best served with tea. It is believed that the tea helps in dissolving the fat that was consumed from the dish. 

A foreign trip would not be complete without trying out local dishes. That's why I did not miss the chance to taste one of the well-known dishes in Singapore called the laksa . Laksa The  laksa  that I ate in Singapore is a spicy noodle soup that has reddish soup based on curry mixed with coconut milk.  The Singaporeans believed that the origins of their laksa (also called the " katong " locally) came through the interaction between the Peranakans and the Singaporeans.  Although it's a popular dish in Singapore, the laksa has different varieties in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.  The most popular of these are the Asam laksa, Sarawak laksa, and the Curry laksa. I would love to write about each variant of laksa but since I only tasted the laksa in Singapore, I would focus only on that variant. Singaporean Laksa Time to examine the laksa!  Mix it to check out its ingredients Singapore's laksa is a variant of the Curry laksa . This laksa is the mo