Quarantine Stories Part 18

I have finally gotten to eat at Mendokoro Ramenba! I've been hearing about Mendokoro from many friends who say it's the best ramen they've tried in the Philippines. However, I know that the queues here are always really long and I don't have patience to fall in line to eat and the few times I had been near a Mendokoro restaurant, it was always packed with a long waiting list. As such, I had never gotten to eat there. That is, until recently. I attended a wake in the evening but I didn't get to eat before going. I left in the late evening and by then I was quite hungry and wasn't sure where to eat until I remembered there was a Mendokoro Ramenba in Salcedo Village, about 10 minutes away. I checked its operating hours and it was open until 11pm. Perfect! Despite me arriving there at around 10pm, it was still almost full! I ordered the Shoyu Ramen and Gyoza. The verdict: it definitely lived up to the hype! It was sooo good, I kept thinking I want to eat here again soon. Hopefully, I get to do that soon.

Shoyu Ramen and Gyoza from Mendokoro Ramenba

As I was sharing my Mendokoro experience to a friend of mine, she told me that maybe I can also try Marudori, which is also owned by the same people who own Mendokoro. The difference is that it used a chicken-based broth. Marudori is located in Rockwell Makati so when I found myself at Powerplant Mall one afternoon, I decided to have a very late lunch here. I ordered the Shoyu Paitan with Aji Tamago. I also ordered some gyoza. Everything was good but I do prefer the pork-based broth of Mendokoro. The gyoza was also pretty interesting in that it was shaped differently, more like xiao long bao.

Shoyu Paitan Ramen from Marudori

Marudori Gyoza looks different from traditional gyoza

I also recently got sick with a bad sore throat. I was worried that I might have contracted Covid again. Thankfully, I had a few antigen test kits at home so I administered one to myself. It was my first time doing this and it was a bit difficult to insert the swab into my nose because I was worried I wouldn't insert it the right way. It also caused me to sneeze right after. Thankfully, my test was negative. Whew!

Negative Antigen Test

I also got to watch a few more Netflix shows. The Queen's Gambit was extremely popular when it was released back in 2020 but it was only recently that I watched it. It's not your common story but I found it really interesting and exciting. In one episode, the lead character Beth was challenged to solve a chess problem that she does so in seconds. Since I played chess as a kid, this piqued my curiosity so I looked for it online and found it (check it out here). Needless to say, I did enjoy The Queen's Gambit and I understand why it became the talk of the town back in 2020.

In Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure, the presenter Joanna Lumley takes the silk road from Venice to Kyrgyzstan, passing through many countries along. A lot of the countries featured in the show are places that don't often get featured in travel shows so I found this really interesting and engaging. One of the most interesting places she visited was Persepolis in Iran. When I saw these ruins, it made me really want to visit Iran. She also visited Cappadocia in Turkey. This place has been in my bucket list for years. I really do love travel shows like this and I appreciate Joanna Lumley because I find her very respectful of the people she interacts with and of local traditions. This is the third and last of her series on Netflix that I got to see - I also saw Japan and the Trans-Siberian Adventure - and I enjoyed all of them.

Finally, I got to watch the animated limited series Maya and the Three. It was recommended to me by Netflix based on other shows I watched and I'm glad it was. The story is interesting and entertaining enough but what I loved most about it was the animation. It was just such a visual feast! After watching a few episodes, I recommended it to my friends because the animation was done so tremendously well, as if it was moving art.

I still have a lot of movies and shows in my Netflix list (as well as my HBO Go list). I do have a planned 1 week vacation soon so maybe I can catch up on more movies and shows then.