Delivery Snippets: Flowerboy x Dandan Asian Eatery x Holy Smokes BBQ

FLOWERBOY

I’m a fan of Flowerboy’s Pad Thai (which you can get for free using your Lowbrow Coins!), but it took a while for me to try its other dishes as a lot of them were meant for sharing rather than solo dining. Thus, for one family lunch, I decided to order a full Flowerboy spread for us to enjoy.

I started with the Spicy Papaya Salad (P170), which was absolutely marvelous! Boasting of a well-balanced medley of flavors, the Spicy Papaya Salad serves as the perfect palate cleanser and appetizer. I honestly hope that Flowerboy would serve a spoonful of this salad in every solo meal they prepare! The salad was a perfect companion to the unapologetic Di Pho Beef Noodle Soup (P390), which ‘dirties up’ the typically clean-tasting pho beef broth with the rich and indulgent umami flavors typically found in ramen. It was a delicious bowl of soup; however, I feel like it’s more of a quirky dish that’s fun to try once than a dish that you'd come back for more.

I’ve also been eyeing the Jumbo Blue Crab Omelette (P1099) for a while now. I even inquired with the Lowbrow team if it was meant for solo dining or for sharing (they answered that if you’re only having that for the meal, it’s good enough for one hungry person!). Flowerboy attests that ordering this dish would give you value for money because they use SEVEN whole crabs to fill up the omelette, but the price tag was simply a bit too steep for me to take on.

FORTUNATELY, you can also avail it for FREE using your Lowbrow Coins*, and thankfully, I had enough to redeem it for free! We paired this with the Crab Fried Rice (P490), and it was a match made in heaven! Each bite is guaranteed to be a meaty one as both the omelette and fried rice boast of sizeable pieces of crab meat! This highly textured deep-fried dish is further elevated when paired with lime and the green chili sauce it comes with! It was such a delicious combination that I wouldn’t mind paying for the Jumbo Blue Crab Omelette with actual money the next time around!

*You may earn Lowbrow Coins from transactions made via the https://eatlowbrow.com/ shop.

Flowerboy

Date of Delivery: August 8, 2021 via https://eatlowbrow.com/

DANDAN ASIAN EATERY

Dandan Asian Eatery’s main offering is its Duck Rice, but it was a photo of its Burnt Ends that made me want to try it. My first experience of Burnt Ends would be from the short-lived Mighty Quinn, which opened a branch in SM Megamall’s Fashion Hall. The taste of its incredibly charred (but not burnt) melt-in-your-mouth wonder still makes me salivate to this day; which is why when I saw that Dandan Asian Eatery added Burnt Ends to its menu, I quickly arranged to have it for a family lunch.

DUCK RICE (Platter – P1590) and BEEF BURNT ENDS (Sharing Size – P690)

Dandan Asian Eatery is only available on weekends, with its menu posted on a weekly basis. I love how flexible it is when it comes to serving sizes as most of their dishes can be availed in solo portions, sharing sizes, and platters). Since the Duck Rice was its primary offering, I opted to order an entire platter of it. Visually, it was a masterpiece as rows of uniformly cut thin slices of tender duck breast lay atop its glistening duck fat Hainanese rice. It’s fragrant and tasty, and the sauce it comes with does wonders; but somehow, I was more drawn towards its Beef Burnt Ends which boasted of tender beef brisket in a lip-smacking hoisin barbecue sauce. I wasn’t sure if the egg in the middle was meant to be runny (for ease in mixing) as it was pretty much cooked when it reached us though! Nonetheless, the beef burnt ends were lightly sweet, and wonderfully smoky; thus paired well with the fragrant Hainanese rice it was also served with.

Dandan Asian Eatery

Date of Delivery: August 15, 2021 via its IG page (@dandanasianeatery)

Holy Smokes BBQ

In line with my craving for barbecued meats, it was no wonder that Holy Smokes BBQ also caught my attention. Apart from serving premium cuts of barbecued meats, they also serve an array of deep-fried empanadas boasting of interesting flavors for its fillings such as chorizo goat cheese and beef brisket!

EBI EMPANADA (HALF DOZEN - P650)

The Ebi Empanada’s filling channels a typical Hot Prawn Salad meal thanks to the shrimp pieces tossed in a sweet Japanese mayo and cream cheese mixture. It’s paired with a mango wasabi sauce which was a bit too sweet for me. For wasabi fanatics, the wasabi flavor may be a bit too faint to be noticed; but the sauce is still a must-try! Since it came all the way from Makati, the empanadas got a bit greasy; but it’s nothing that a simple pop into air fryer can’t fix!

SMOKED USDA ANGUS BEEF BELLY (500 grams – P1100)

Of course, the star of the meal would be its Smoked USDA Angus Beef Belly. I loved how the meat was vacuum-sealed so when we opened the pack, the meat was still warm and incredibly juicy. It came with both sweet and spicy BBQ sauces which taste phenomenally better when mixed together! My favorite part of the dish was the rub used on the meat as it was incredibly delicious!

SMOKED BEEF KIMCHI RICE BOWL (P420)

I enjoyed our family meal so much that I tried out the Smoked Beef Kimchi Rice Bowl, which was previously exclusively available on Grabfood. The serving portion was definitely enough for two people; making this a value-for-money meal! The kimchi rice itself was muted on flavor, but contained enough kimchi pieces to guarantee a delightful crunch every now and then. This was probably done on purpose to focus the spotlight on the incredibly delicious smoky beef chunks that came with it! Tender, tasty and addicting; the beef cubes are further accompanied by nori strips and a poached egg to complete the dish! Holy Smokes has since upgraded this dish to a bento box which comes with side dishes for P650.

Holy Smokes BBQ

Dates of Delivery: July 4, 2021 via https://holysmokesbbq.ph/ and August 18, 2021 via Grabfood