Food Journal: Jatujak

Hao has already eaten at Jatujak before and she wanted me to try it since I’ve been wanting to try some Thai food. So after office, off we went to its branch in SM Megamall. When we had arrived and settled down, we browsed through the menu until we decided what to eat (and feature on this blog).

Jatujak, according to Wikipedia, actually refers to Chatuchak Weekend Market, which happens to be the biggest market in Thailand. So when you get here with your friends, you can tell them this trivia!

The first to arrive at our table were our Thai Iced Tea, which are contained in long glasses. As soon as I took the first sip, I realized that it’s really your standard-issue milktea. Nothing extra fancy, yet the taste is what you’d expect from a milktea: creamy, cold, milky. Their iced tea has the perfect fusion of the taste of tea and the taste of sweetness. Credits also go to the big servings and to the way I saw how the milk was still trickling down inside the glass, waiting to get stirred.

Pad Thai was served next. This dish is one of Thailand’s national dishes. We ordered the one with shrimps (Hao and I absolutely love shrimps). The stuff is flat rice noodles smothered with eggs, peanut sauce, bean sprouts, and comes with crushed peanuts and lime for sidings. The sour-sweet taste of Pad Thai really got me. If you’re in for more-than-your-usual stir-fried noodles, this one’s a must-try. It serves 2 to 3 persons. I personally suggest you eat it slowly despite the fact that it’s delicious, because it’s pretty heavy on the stomach.

Next to arrive was the Bagoong Rice (Kao Kluk Gapi). At first, I was expecting something like rice fried with the bagoong we Filipinos have lived with. Actually, it isn’t. Bagoong Rice in this case was not as heavily salty as ours, but is salty enough to be tasty. Nicely cooked and indeed complemented the rice. Serves 2 to 3 persons, but with an appetite like mine, I can finish it myself if it’s the only one I’d eat. Bagoong Rice comes with shreds of green mangoes, onions, and cured beef (tapa).

While we were taking turns between the first two dishes, Green Chicken Curry (Kaeng Kiew Waan Gai) was served in a steamy clay pot. I believe that the basil leaves in the mix made this chicken curry “green.” I would want it to be at its spiciest, but Hao can only manage medium spicy so that’s what we ordered. Imagine chicken curry with a pinch of pesto undertone: that’s what this dish is all about. The spicy tasted also delivered and never failed.

I can personally say that the Sticky Rice with Mango (Kao Niew Mamuang), however dessert, was the highlight for Hao. It’s a dessert of glutinous rice (malagkit) topped with creamy coconut milk (ginataan) with cherry sitting on top. accompanied with ripe mangoes. Yes, you can just imagine the perpetual sweetness, creaminess, and smoothness of the stuff. This is a certified must-order food from Jatujak. The ginataan-pampered malagkit tastes perfectly well with the mango. I remember Hao saying “love” one spoonful after another.

Let’s break the bill down here. Php220 for Green Chicken Curry, Php185 for Pad Thai, Php155 for Bagoong Rice, Php78 for Thai Iced Tea (times two for us), and Php85 for Sticky Rice with Mango. Adding a 5% Service Charge, Php841.05 for two persons is absolutely not bad, especially for a great Thai food feast.

We’ll definitely get back here to try their other dishes they have to offer. We can honestly tell you that Jatujak is the place to be for Thai food, without spending much.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Review)

Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord, are the opposing forces in a timeless war. Each of them has summoned ten warriors – all from the Final Fantasy series – to fight for them as the fate of the worlds hangs in the balance. But as the tide of war is slowly blowing in Chaos’ favor, Cosmos sends the heroes out on a quest to collect the crystals which will finally put an end to him and to the war, once and for all. This endless tale, set in a universe where twenty of the legendary warriors from Final Fantasy I to X come together to battle it all out – becomes a realization in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Square Enix describes the game as a “dramatic progressive action,” where characters fight one-on-one in a 3D enviroment. Mixed with RPG elements, this is a hardcore Final Fantasy fan’s dream come true – Squall, Cloud, Tidus and the rest of the Final Fantasy big-names star in a universe where they all interact with each other.

The one-on-one 3D battle which is the main concept of the Dissidia: Final Fantasy takes place in one of the open, interactive arenas that are designed after recognizable areas from the series (Ultimecia’s Castle says “Welcome home!”). Each of the battling characters starts with a base amount of Bravery Points (BRV) and Hit Points (HP). The amount of BRV damage you deal to the opponent will add up to your own BRV, which is your HP attack value. Opposing characters freely roam and chase each other while trying to chop each other’s BRV and HP. Your defense plan lays in your skill to dodge, block, gauge distances, and counter attacks. Some attacks lead you to a chase, which looks like a slow-motion mind game where timing is your best friend in either attacking or evading. These battle mechanics are nicely implemented, running smoothly in an arena where you can run and grind on and across the wall or the whole area itself. The characters can also be turned into their respective, exclusive EX Modes after filling their EX Meters full, which can be done by collecting enough EX Force. In EX Mode, aside from having additional skills, your character can execute their special Burst Attack – a nicely-choreographed barrage of unblockable attacks like you’ve taken all the spotlight and glory. It’s a breath-taking experience filled with visual splendor and intense fighting. It’s also nice to see the Final Fantasy characters’ well-known attacks in 3D action. Remember Squall’s Fated Circle, or Sephiroth’s Heaven’s Gate? You’re gonna get some of those here.

Summons, which has been a tradition of the Final Fantasy series, appear as modifiers for BRV. With a roster of familiar creatures and monsters like Ramuh, Ifrit, and Tonberry, you can only equip one and can summon only once. You can either give your BRV a much-needed boost, or slowly decrease your opponent’s BRV, depending on the Summon that you equipped. Summons have a wide variety of effects which will mostly help you in dire situations, as they can save you even in almost-helpless scenarios. Summon Odin and check out what his one-hit slash does in this game.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is unlike other fighting games like Tekken, in the sense that you don’t input complex button combinations to execute attacks – these are done either by pressing the appropriate face button (Circle for BRV attack, Square for HP attack), or combining any of these with a directional button on the analog stick (toward or away from the opponent). You can combo by either pressing the attack button repeatedly, or in some characters’ cases, do a succeeding HP attack after a BRV attack. Each of the characters have a set of air and land attacks. The overall battle system is engaging as it is perfectly complimented by smooth frame rate and crisp visuals. However, there will be times that this system gets dull and tedious as you’re either going to perfectly time your attacking strategy, or just plain spam-attack, mashing on the buttons until you defeat your opponent.

A massive deal of RPG elements that the series is known for plays a big role in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, as the characters level up by earning experience points and can be equipped by weapons, armor, and accessories which boost their basic stats. You’ll start with Sephiroth’s Masamune Blade that’s gonna be One-Winged Angel eventually. As far as customization goes, you assign Abilities – offensive and basic – to match your fighting style. As you level up, more abilities and shop items become available. This system gives your characters more variety and depth as you grow and evolve them – no two Zidane’s are the same, even if they’re both Level 100. There’s a considerable amount of tweaking to do here, especially if you’re molding a specific character of your choice. Dissidia: Final Fantasy offers game modes that will truly keep you engaged, as you’ll have a chance to try most if not all of the characters in the line-up, and not to mention level- and item-grinding.

Take your character of choice for a run with other players through ad-hoc Communications Mode. Still, a lot of rewards and items are at stake here, like Artifacts that you can earn only from online duels. Because the battles’ visuals are intense, lag times are expected, but negligible enough not to ruin the live battles.

While the main strengths of Dissidia: Final Fantasy lie in this RPG-powered 3D fighting with a nifty system, the main story is a bit of a shortcoming. For a series that is well-known for the marvelous story-telling aspect, Dissidia’s story is a cliché of each of the hero’s background story molded into one. No character personally development, paired with a rather lackluster voice acting, brings a notch down to the game. Game script could have been better, too.

Some of the things that call a need for improvement aside from the story are the camera angles. Sure, the battles are valiantly packed with graphical spectacle, but there are some arenas where the camera doesn’t cooperate. If you’re engaged in a chase where the camera naturally zooms to the characters, and you’re somewhere near a wall, there are instances where the camera positions stupidly behind the wall, literally giving you no visibility to what’s happening on the other side. AI is challenging enough, but half-unforgiving most of the time.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot of game in here. Innovative gameplay, stunning visuals that make battles run fluid and smooth, a lot of unlockables including secret characters (yes, there are!) and new modes, and lots of items and stuff to haunt mean a huge replay value especially to the completionists. Another high note is the game’s music, which is packed with an assortment of rearranged and original scores from the past FF games in addition to new ones.

That’s just part of this massive game – Dissidia: Final Fantasy is an well-executed tribute to the series. Though some of the technical aspects needed some improvement, long replay value and lasting appeal is guaranteed. After all, this is not just your usual fighting game. Wait ’til you see that winning opening video!