NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGES, INC. BLESSING - - DINNER BUFFET @ 2015

As always, Alan Dela Cruz of Lantaka Hotel and Nuevo Zamboanga Colleges Inc. always amazes us with the presentation of his dinner spread and this is how it looked at the Blessing of the additional facilities of the Nuevo Zamboanga Colleges Inc. last May 30, 2015.

 

 

Aside from the awesome display, we also note the variety and definitely, the food was delicious!!!

Congratulations for the blessing of the new rooms cum conference room at the NZCI and the beautiful new park!

TASTE OF MINDANAO: MANGOSTEEN

My friend, Cathy saw these bunches of this fruit on the table and asked if we were interested in eating it. She said it is one of her favorite fruits!

Do you recognize this purple fruit?

Well, some may immediately recognize it as the mangosteen! But others may not have seen it ever. 

Funny that its name has the Mango- prefix, where in fact, Mango is in no way related to the Mangosteen fruit!

For those not so familiar with this fruit, I would just like to share some things about it...

Here is what I gathered from Wikipedia...

The purple mangosteen(Garcinia mangostana), colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia.

The tree grows from 6 to 25 m (20–82 ft) tall.^[1] The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, and somewhat fibrous, with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanicallyendocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.^[2][3]

The edible endocarp of the mangosteen is botanically defined as an aril with the same shape and size as a tangerine 4–6 centimetres in diameter, but is white. The circle of wedge-shaped arils contains 4–8, rarely 9.

Mangosteen peel contains xanthonoids, such as mangostin, and other phytochemicals having antioxidant properties in vitro.

note the thick exocarp with the aril within
Wikipedia: The aril is the white part of the fruit containing a mild flavor that makes the fruit popular for eating; when analyzed specifically for its nutrient content, the mangosteen aril is absent of important nutrient content 

Wikipedia: On the bottom of the exocarp, raised ridges (remnants of the stigma), arranged like spokes of a wheel, correspond to the number of aril sections.

And this was taken in a fruit stall in Bangkok where we have varied colors of mangosteen and the "leaf-like" toppings look so thick.

And if the Mangosteen fruit is in anyway familiar to you, it is because of the now famous MX3, which by the way, I am not endorsing!

Also BE WARY! of the Mangosteen seeds. I personally know of two people who swallowed the seeds and ended up operated for Intestinal Obstruction!
Also beware of Santol seeds who has its own set of victims for operation!
What do you think of Lanzones seeds...aren't they of the same size?

By the way, why do people swallow the seeds in the first place?

BARKADA BURGER IN BIG BITE, ZAMBOANGA

Have you tried the gigantic burger in Zamboanga City?

Well, we do have a place where we can get it from... BIG BITE, Zamboanga City in the Catribo Complex!

Here is what it looks like!

BARKADA BURGER includes a huge hamburger with lots of FRENCH FRIES and a LITER OF COKE!!!

 

So this is how big the burger is 
compared to the individual cheese square 
(for comparison purpose only). 
The cheese inside also fills up the burger area.

And this is how big the burger is compared to their faces!!! 

Come and try it !
It is fun to eat it as a barkada, thus, its name = BARKADA BURGER ! 

It is EATING TIME!

One burger could be for around 6 people, plus and minus depending on the appetite. 

They also accept deliveries!

P.S.

They also have a heart shaped burger for two people.

TASTE OF ZAMBOANGA: HAI SAN RESTAURANT 2011

Here we are again in Hai San Seafood Market and Restaurant.

We had very special friends over in Zamboanga City for the Fiesta Pilar and of course, one sure stopover is Hai San!

Here are the available fresh choices from the Hai San Market.

Here is what we chose for this dinner!

Jellyfish Appetizer, Chinese Style with Century Eggs.

I like the rubbery texture of the thinly-sliced jellyfish and the century egg as well. 

Hot and Sour Soup.

The Chinese style soup is a very delicious starter of the meal, but because it is so good, I noticed that many of us continued to savor the soup even at the end of the meal.

Fried Prawns with Chili Sauce.

This is the most well presented viand because the bright orange prawns were piled quite high. Everyone wants a picture of the platter in front of them ... partly also to make those who were absent, really envious.

Just by looking at the vermilion prawns, you could see how yummy they are.

Baked Clams.

Baked garlic clams are really tasty and rich!

Mussels with Spicy Tausi Sauce.

The mussels are related to the "Tahong" but slightly different. I think they also call it Scissor shells.

Grilled Squid.

This is very refreshing considering all the rest of the food had rich sauces. I liked the mix of tomatoes and onions stuffed in the squid.

Squid with Spicy Sauce.

One of our friends was so excited that he bit one of the green things, thinking it was a vegetable. 

Wow, it really hit him... he took a bite of the chili itself!

But, the spicy sauce in itself was tasty too and really wasn't that hot!

Steamed Lapu-Lapu with Tausi.

This is always a bestseller and we include it every time we come over. The fish here in Zamboanga is really fresh.

And these are our smiles!!!

We didn't order crabs for tonight because we already ate yummy large crabs for lunch.

Our friends took the chance earlier this afternoon to go the one of the Zamboanga markets to buy fresh Lapu-Lapu and some other fresh seafood which they will pack and bring back to Manila! 

Aside from being really fresh, the seafoods are also very cheap and so what is a luxury in other places, may be considered as a staple for us.

While we were eating, there were guests in another corner of the restaurant in two large tables who were quite boisterous and who drank and smoked and didn't care who were in the restaurant.

Fortunately, the food was too good for us to feel bad about them.

Even then, maybe the manager could find a function room for them so they could shout their hearts out!

Anyway, if we talk about SEAFOOD, I could see everyone was so satisfied and one deterrent for ending the meals was just health reasons!