Little Bear Diner

While walking in kapitolyo and looking for a place to have dinner we spotted Little Bear Diner. A small restaurant just beside Mad Marks. The neon lights saying "Tikka Chance on Me" caught my attention saw we gave it a chance. Hehe..

The place is really with 2 tables on the first floor and I think another 3-4 tables on the second floor. The place was very simple with that neon lights giving a yellowish highlight to the 1st floor. While the second floor was much brighter and highlighted by the cute teddy bears on the polka dots wall. Simple yet lovely.

So for the food I wasn't really sure what to expect. At first hindsight I was expecting something like burger pasta kind of dish. Pabebe kind of dish but to my surprise the place serve legit good Asian cuisine with specialize modern Indian cuisine. So here are the one that we ordered.
😋Spicy Toro (235PHP) - Asahi tuna belly with spicy mayo and poke sauce on a Nori chips. Love the crunch and flavor of this one. Love their take on sashimi giving it a twist and a delicious texture.

😋Ama's Chicken Briyani (385PHP) - wow this one if full on Indian flavor. Love that flavorful mix of spices. This dish is a hit or miss for people who love or hate strong flavorful indian spices. For me its a big Hit!!!

😋TNT Chicken Wings (255PHP) - a sinfully good version of chicken wings. Who doesn't love taba nang talangka (TNT)? MIxed with peanut, cilantro and orange and its good to go. Love it!

Overall this place is flying under the radar. Look so humble and simple but once you've tried their dishes you'll be surprised how good they are. Also kudos to Pammie for the super good service.

A great place to sit down and catch up with friends over some good grub.
The place keeps it casual, from the decor to what they serve up on the plate.
The dishes make use of familiar flavors reinterpreted in an original and unique way that works.
When in doubt of what to order, always go for the specials. Always.

Little Bear Diner's winning dish was their TNT Wings. TNT stands for "taba ng talangka." The chicken wings were deep fried to crispy perfection, and coated in a crab fat caramel sauce with peanuts. The dish is topped off with a wedge of orange, which the waiter instructs you to squeeze just before serving. This was finger-licking good -- these wings make it worth the trip to Kapitolyo 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Josh and I our less busy now, so we're starting to reconnect with some of our closest friend whom we haven't seen for a while. We invited his org buddy, Peter, to join us for lunch today.

This restaurant was initially not part of our restaurant bucket list, but since it suddenly became one of the high ranking restaurants in Booky's Top 100 (They're in Top 13 for March), we decided to try it out.

We ordered 2 starters, 2 melt collective (their collection of grilled cheeses), and 1 main course (rice meal). Read on for the verdict! 🍴

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TNT Wings (Php 265) - ⭐⭐
- Honestly, I had high expectations for this dish, because it's the first menu item that caught my eye when I was reasearching about LBD. It had no taba ng talangka taste, which is unfortunate since it's there in the menu item's name! 😭 I would have preferred it to have a thicker sauce or glaze than what was served. It was supposed to gain a 3⭐ rating, but the chicken was undercooked, too.

Spicy Toro (Php 235) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- This would have easily been my favorite dish, since I am a big fan of Japanese food. While I appreciated the texture and crunch of the nori chips, and loved how different but complementary the taste of each component (ahi tuna belly sashimi, poke sauce, spicy mayo, microgreens and nori chips) was, the quality of the tuna failed to meet my expectations. The color of the tuna was a bit dark and you would know at first glance that it's not as fresh as we hoped it was. I would've gladly given this 5⭐ if the freshness of the star, the tuna, was at par with my standards for tuna sashimi.

Spam Kimchi Fried Rice (Php 295) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- MY FAVORITE DISH FOR TODAY! 💜 Every component (crispy spam, musubi sauce, pineapple jam, pickles and sous vide egg) helped in making this dish a success. The serving is also quite big, so if ever you plan on trying out other food items, you may share this with your companions. It might be a bit nakakaumay if you try to finish this on your own while enjoying other dishes as well. People who are not that used to eating spicy food can also relax, since the spice it's just right and not overpowering. Note: Mix in the egg with the rice! 😉 You'll thank me later HEHE

MELT COLLECTIVE
Classic (Php 185) - ⭐⭐⭐
A mix of mozzarella and American cheddar, it really is a classic take on the grilled cheese sandwich we all love. Josh chose the Sour Cream flavored Cassava Chips to be served with the sandwich. I LOVE the cassava chips! 😍 Josh said that the chesses did not really have a distinct taste, thus the rating. (But the chips -- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me!)

Wakey Bakey (Php 275) - ⭐⭐⭐
This one had the same cheese with the Classic, though it has scrambled eggs and smoked bacon... Which we did not remember tasting with every bite of the sandwich. Quite pricey for a small sandwich, the upside is that it was served on croissant toasts which tasted HEAVENLY! Cheese was also not as gooey as the Classic. The roasted tomato soup that came with it, according to Peter, was too peppery; while Josh thought it lacked acidity. (I'm not a tomato soup fan, though.)

The lapses in the food were compensated by the good service we got from the courteous staff of the restaurant. The ambiance of this restaurant is good. The interior has some cute trinkets, which made the restaurant look cute and homey. Overall, we enjoyed dining here, but it might not be a place we would come back to soon. I hope they can improve more on the quality of their food, so that it will be worth every penny we pay. (This meal costed us around Php 1500, including service charge. Quite pricey, if you ask me.)

Thanks to Joshua and Peter's collective efforts for the photos! (I think they were already hungry but they still let me do my kaartehan so I can post a review HEHEHE)

#NewRestaurantsFor2017

I once bought a book at a thrift shop with the ugliest cover art. I cant remember how much i paid for it. Then i started reading. Well, the writing style and excellent story line made me forget about the atrocious cover art. Why am i saying this? Simple, it sort of relates to the succeeding sentences.

Little Bear diner reminds of the the book. The facade is not as appealing, truth be told. But once you step inside, you will be blown away by the lovely interiors. The place is intimate as it only has a few tables. The second level is straight off a design magazine. The miniature teddys adorning the walls caught my eye. It is cute but not tacky. Some of the wall decor comprises of wooden frames, a fork, a plate with a rooster print. I know it doesn't sound cohesive but it works.

On to the food, shall we?

Spam Kimchi Fried Rice (Php 295). Crispy Spam, masubi sauce, pineapple jam, pickles, kimchi infused rice and sous vide egg. I will never see Spam in the same light. From this day forward, i will only eat Spam if it is Panko-infused. At first glance, it would seem that this dish has a lot of elements in it. Yes, that is true but everything works well together. The pineapple jam for instance creates a flavor contrast with the spam. The pickles is light and refreshing, it sort of cleanses the palate. The kimchi fried rice is divine. A symphony of flavors on every bite. Add a lil texture by breaking the egg and voila! Nirvana!

Til we meet again, Little Bear.

Peace Out!
~Reich