A few days ago, I attended a food crawl at the Tuscany area in McKinley Hill. The McKinley Hill area is home to various corporate offices and BPO/call centers. It also has several residential condominium developments. If you haven’t been there, please make it a point to check it out!
The Tuscany at McKinley Hill
The Tuscany restaurant row has a diverse range of food available. We tried 10 restaurants that night, where each restaurant showcased one of their best dishes.
1. Terry’ Selection – we started with Terry’s Chorizo on Piggy Back (P310). The chorizo is made by Terry’s using the famous Pimenton dela Vera, the finest paprika powder in Spain. The chorizo is then roasted on this cute piggie dish.
After it is cooked, the chorizo is sliced and served. The chorizo is flavorful and mildly spicy, the texture is chewy (in a good way) – the outside is toasty and smoky from the fire. 
Reasons to try this – it’s an experience, a visual treat. The chorizo is also good. Terry’s is known for their premium deli items. If you want to splurge on the good stuff, Terry’s is the place to go. I love their Manchego cheese, I can eat it by itself! The Mahón cheese goes well with the chorizo.
2. Wursty Wursty – we had the Exaclibur Kebab (P900). Wursty Wursty is a German-themed restaurant, the funny thing was that it made me think of Hogwarts 😉 The Excalibur Kebab is several hunks of well-seasoned chicken and beef grilled on a sword. It’s then hung on a hook to serve. I really, really like their beef – it is tender and seasoned with oregano, paprika, cumin, etc… If you love meat, this is a must try! 
A hunk of beef from Wursty Wursty’s Excalibur Kebab. Really, good, well-seasoned, perfectly cooked meat! #food #foodie #foodieph #foodporn #foodstagram #instafood #instayum #yummy #yummyph #spotmyfood #foodspotting #foodforfoodies #foodgasm #cravelistattuscany A photo posted by Barat Ako (@baratako1289) on
I would definitely love to come back for this.
3. L.E.S. Bagels – we had the L.E.S. Addiction (P470) – this is pumpernickel bagel with sliced lox, scallion cream cheese, capers,red onions and fresh tomatoes. This is definitely addictive! The bagel is heavy, chewy and malty – made the way it is supposed to be made – by boiling, then baking. I love salmon, and the rich lox is just sooooooooo succulent (lox is like smoked salmon, but generally better). The addition of scallions to the cream cheese adds a liveliness to the already perfect bagel combo. Look at how much cream cheese and lox they put in the bagel!
If you are craving for authentic New York-style bagels, L.E.S. Bagels might become your favorite!
4. Main Street – we had the Pulled Pork Poutine (P240). I’m glad I was finally able to try poutine. It’s a well-known Canadian dish from Quebec that is made with french fries, cheese curds and topped with something with sauce/gravy. Main Street’s version uses pulled pork, barbecue sauce and spicy mayo. If you are the type who loves dunking their french fries in various sauces, you’re going to enjoy poutine! I think it’s going to be great as a pulutan type dish, with beer. If you haven’t tried poutine, check out Main Street! 
5. Nihonkai Tsukiji – here we had the Okonomiyaki (P280). I loved their okonomiyaki. Unfortunately, I had to leave room to eat the other dishes so didn’t eat as much as I wanted, which I really regret now! Their okonomiyaki has seafood and pork (they can customize it if you are allergic to seafood, for example), and is generous with the katsuobushi (these are the fish flakes topping the okonomiyaki). Most of their ingredients (even the mayo and the tonkatsu sauce) is from Japan.
If you are unfamiliar with what an okonomiyaki is, think of it like takoyaki (samurai) balls in pancake form 
If you love takoyaki balls, you will definitely love this Okonomiyaki (and it’s a bigger serving than takoyaki balls, too!). I will definitely go back for this, hopefully soon!
6. Sophie’s Mom – for a quick dessert, we had this Chocolate Cupcake with Valrhona Cacao Nibs and Maldon Sea Salt (P95). Sophie’s Mom’s decor is so cute and perfect for little girl parties! 
7. B&T Mexican Kitchen – the Beef Barbacoa Burrito (P320) looks so tempting! It is big enough for sharing, and is filled with beef, cheese, rice, beans, corn, veggies, and as a sauce-loving person, I liked that it has a lot of sauce!
8. Black Canyon Coffee – Black Canyon Coffee is a Thai coffee chain, aside from their awesome Thai iced coffee, they also serve Thai food, and we tried their award-winning Tom Yum Soup (P253). Do you know it won the Tom Yum Thailand Championship? This soup is spicy! You can ask them to make it less spicy, but we got the regular spicy Tom Yum, and it is hot but I can still taste the different flavors and spices. It’s good spicy – clears the nose and may even make some people cry 
I love it! Perfect for our rainy weather now. What makes this different from other tom yums is that this soup has some spiral pasta in it. So it can be a meal on its own.
9. Lucky’s – Bacon Chips (P275). They had me at bacon. Strips of bacon are breaded and fried! It’s bacon, but also reminds me of some of my favorite snack chips. Once I started eating one, my hand just automatically kept getting more. Try it dipped in their garlic chili sauce. It’s actually not very fatty. At least, I didn’t feel like it was. It was crisp and dry (by this, I mean it’s not oily or soggy). I would recommend this to snack on (pulutan, nightcap, etc…)!
10. Planet Grapes – Their tagline is “Wine without the drama”. This means they won’t judge you for whatever wine you may choose to pair with a dish. Choose a wine based on your own preference. They sell wine by the sip, by the glass, or by the bottle. This way you can try wines by the sip (it’s less expensive) then just order a glass of the one you liked best. We were served a sip of Napa Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (P1,450 per bottle) that is paired with balut (P40/balut). The wine is very, very good – the flavor is light and refreshing, more complex than I expected. It fact, it was better than expected; it is not sweet itself but gives a sweet aftertaste. I did not try the balut 🙁
Now that you have an idea of what these restaurants offer, get your friends and family to try them out with you!
