Exotic Food from Out of Africa

I haven’t been able to do any updates lately, not because I didn’t have anything to post but because I was swamped… with work and a trip to Davao City for a friend’s wedding. So sorry, guys! You would have known about this cute little place that serves really exotic but nevertheless delicious food a little earlier if I had posted this sooner. Well, here it is at last!

Revisiting Postrio

I haven’t been to this place in a while. And so when Mommy Therese (mao na akong nickname sa iya…hope she doesn’t mind )asked where we could go for coffee and dessert after dinner, all I could think of was Postrio. I used to visit their BTC branch for their yummy pastries almost every day because they have such pretty food. Yes, one of the main things I like about their pastries are their presentation. I don’t even remember how they delicious, or not, they were. All I remember is that whenever I visit their shop and I look around, almost all of their food look so delicious, as if they were calling out to you, enticing you to take a bite. Sounds a bit kinky, but I’m serious. Their pastries do look pretty. Anyway, when we went there, we bought four desserts and all of us shared them. And oh yeah, they were all Mommy Therese’ treat, too. However, since I was already full by the time we got there, I only took nibblets from all four. I can’t really say they were all good. I only liked three out of the four desserts that we got (the two because of the ice cream and the one because of the fruits… shallow, I know! ).  But the four sure did look all pretty. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the names so I would only be putting the ratings. Bon appetit!

At Red Kimono with Mommy Therese

I just met this pretty amazing mommy and her name is Therese. She has her own business and she has a cute little boy who reminds me so much of my nephew… and she has another tyke on the way, too! Not to mention, she just treated some strangers, albeit witty ones (daw… hehehe!) to dinner last week at this newly opened Japanese restaurant at the Ayala Terraces.  Told you she was amazing. She’s actually one of Ley’s MCPB fans and she liked his site so much, she invited him to dinner just so she could meet him in person before she goes back to the U.S.  (Sabit ra ko kay shy daw si Ley… hmmm, a big “daw”) Yes, she lives there, but she’s a 100% Filipina, and a pretty one at that.

A Deliciously Unplanned Dinner At Red Ribbon

Yes, I am still one of the great… procrastinators, that is. Haha! You see, my friends and I had this dinner a week ago, last weekend to be exact. We went to Red Ribbon at SM City and had a little pseudo payday dinner there. I have always been a fan of this shop because I love their pastries. Actually, I am in love with anything that has sugar in it. You could say I have a major sweet tooth… or several sweet teeth? (that doesn’t sound right… *pained look*) Anyway, I have been eating sporadically here for years but I have only written about one of their cakes and so I thought it’s high time I give the place a proper post. Well then, here it is.

MCPB Celebration at The Terraces: Mooon Cafe

Last month, a friend’s internationally popular blog (*wink wink) reached a million in stats. Happy Million Hits, MCPB! Yay! And because we are such good friends, we persuaded him to commemorate the event with a celebratory dinner. Yes, Leylan of My Cebu Photo Blog got the much awaited millionth visit from fans. I’m not kidding, I really mean “fans”. He was so excited about the whole thing that he actually told me about it the day before it happened. Psychic? I’m not so sure about that. Hahaha! Well anyway, when we decided to have dinner, it was that time of month when a working girl (or boy) is on her (or his) last twenty-peso bill or something.  So to avoid “mamokong” a few days before our payday, we all agreed to volunteer Glenn’s plastic again for the celebratory dinner. Merci Beaucoup, Glenda! There we were, in our office, waiting for 6pm and when it did arrive, we still have not decided where to have dinner. We decided to wing it and just convene at the currently popular The Terraces in Ayala. Oh yeah, I forgot my camera (again!) and so I had to go back home and get it, before I was able to set foot in Ayala. On my way to the mall, the group informed me that they were waiting outside the ala Mexican place “Mooon Cafe”, 

A Date at The Old Spaghetti House

Once a year, our (Vet’s and mine) lovely insurance agent, Mademoiselle Ludy, invites us to dinner to just say “Howdy?” I swear, she is one of the most charming, talkative, assertive, and well-poised people that I know … and I know a lot. Yes. Surprisingly, I have a lot of friends despite my seemingly unfriendly demeanor. Hehehe! Did I mention she was charming? Yup, she can charm you into buying several policies at one time (that is, if you could afford it) without you realizing it until after you get the bills. Hahaha! No wonder she’s such a successful agent. And it doesn’t hurt that she can bluntly tell you about your flaws in the nicest way possible that you wouldn’t even dream of being offended. I kid you not! Personally, I think she’s a walking marvel… a dynamo, albeit a cute petite one.   [pictures of food and peeps below]

Well this year, Miss Ludy invited us to dinner at the Old Spaghetti House in SM City Cebu.

Chows in Famous Singapore

Two of my friends recently took a short trip to Singapore. Yes, I might have mentioned that in my previous post. All right, I mentioned that Vet was about to go on a trip to Singapore in my previous post. And yes, I was jealous… just a teensy bit. Anyway, when Ley heard that Vet was going to visit the famous city with the Merlion, he happily mentioned that Satchmo would like to be their tiny and quiet travel mate. Vet laughed and just nodded. She likes that wanderlust-stricken cow. It was also around that time when Satchmo invited himself that I remembered to ask Vet to take pictures of food trips they were going to have in Singapore, so I would have something new to post. My budget has been losing its race with my debts these past few months that I rarely find extra money to eat out. Hence, the lack of posts. So to remedy that particular problem, I have been rummaging my old photo albums of old food pictures that I might not have used… and I’ve also decided to ask friends to take food pictures for me so I can write food reviews for them. Unfortunately, I cannot mentally link my mind to theirs while they’re eating (hmmm… that would be quite a strange power now, wouldn’t it?) so the ratings in those would be theirs and not mine…naturally.

Now, this picture was taken by Vet at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Predictably, the pasta is Vet’s while the sandwich with the colorful salad on the side is Dencio’s.

Pasta [Vet's Rating: /10] Dennis said this one’s an 8…or maybe a 7.5…because it’s not sweet daw. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with just the sandwich. Kidding! :p

Sandwich with Greens [Dennis' Rating: 8.5/10] He says he just remembered that he couldn’t taste any turkey from that sandwich…it was supposed to be a turkey sandwich diay? hehe!

Dinner at the New Roma Mia

It is always nice to revisit places you’ve been to, especially if they serve delicious Italian food. Yes, Vet, Ley, and I went and had dinner at the new Roma Mia at The Terraces – Ayala. I had some mighty craving for Italian food after our annual company outing yesterday and since it was my credit card’s “cut off” date, I willingly volunteered my plastic for the bill – a fact that Ley was more than willing to ditto. LOL!

So after quitting the bus, we made a short stop at the office so Vet could empty her memory card for her trip to Singapore the next day ( I’m here, green with envy) and I could use the bathroom.  A few minutes later, we went straight to Ayala Terraces to look for the new Roma Mia, thankfully we found the place quite easily (million thanks to their directories posted all over the place) and immediately found seats. By this time, I had a raging headache, (I suspected it was because of hunger) and Vet was impatiently writing our orders herself to save time. Yes, “Vet the Assertive” strikes again – and I mean that in a good way Vet ha.   When Vet gave our orders to the counter (yes, she brought the paper to the counter herself. When I told you she was assertive, I was not kidding. Hehe!), Ley was looking at the pictures I took at the outing while I was reading a book I have been trying to finish for weeks. It’s actually the last book of the Den of Shadows, but I got kind of bored and so now I have to force myself to finish it. Well, back to the dinner. About ten minutes after Vet gave our order, my potato wedges arrived, and a few more minutes after that, the rest of the food arrived, albeit sporadically, especially with Vet’s penne. She suspected the waiters forgot her order and so we reminded one of the waiters about it. Now, about the food, I guess you could never go wrong with Italian food because we were sporting huge smiles after dinner while rubbing our full stomachs at the same time. Haha.  At least I didn’t order too much this time. I think I have since learned how to control my impulse to order anything that sounds delicious on the menu. Thank Zeus!

Well, here were our pretty and equally delicious food.

My Pomodoro in Spaghetti [Rating:10/10]

Dinner at Hukad in Ayala Terraces

[Delicious Budbud with chocolate goo! Rating: 10/10 ... definitely]

As always, the great procrastinator strikes again! Yes, this is a long overdue post about a dinner I had with friends/co-workers weeks ago at Hukad, the high-end version of Golden Cowrie in Ayala Terraces. Now, where do I start? Oh yeah, we did not have any cash at that time, so we persuaded Glenn to let his plastic work its usual magic again. Haha! Actually, Glenn doesn’t mind us using his plastic because he knows when we get our money. Am I right, Glenn? *huge grin* Anyway, we have been itching to have dinner for days at that time that when Glenn, the financier, finally agreed to come with us – and I was finally able to remember to bring my camera – we immediately hopped on a taxi the minute our shifts ended. We were that excited, and hungry too, actually. So, armed with my camera and hunger pangs, our feet guided us to Hukad. Actually, it’s just a branch of Golden Cowrie, with just better furnishings and prettier scenery, especially for their “al fresco” tables. And as usual with this popular local restaurant, the place was packed when we arrived and when we spied a vacant table in their “al fresco” section, we quickly took it. When we got menus, we tried to ignore the yummy pictures of the “crispy pata” and proceeded to order the dishes without any pork or beef. *sigh I miss eating pork sometimes…just sometimes (“Sometimes ra lagi!”, I tell my neurotic self). Yes, I have sworn off pork, and beef, for now. And since Cel’s diet is the same as mine, we opted to order dishes without pork, but with lots of coconut milk. Haha! However, since Leylan refused to give up on ordering pancit, we gave in and ordered it even though it might have had pork.

Wave off Summer with a Bowl of Chowking Halo-Halo

One of the many delicious food that we Filipinos are pretty proud of is our “Halo-Halo”.  I remember that one of the Taiwanese F4, Ken, even said that it was one of the things he could never forget when he visited our country with his mom as a child. He said it was one of the most delicious concoctions he has ever tasted. Isn’t that cute? And yeah, I do know Taiwan’s F4. Who doesn’t? LOL! Mind you, that was not really verbatim, but you get the idea.  Anyway, I have loved this dessert since I was a snot-nosed child of six with only a single 25-cent coin to my name.  I remember that when our neighbor started selling this, it was a sure sign that it was the start of summer vacation, and the beginning of an informal “halo-halo” fiesta in our sitio. To those who do not know what a “halo-halo” is, this dessert consists of a delicious fusion of shaved ice, evaporated milk, sugar crystals, a small slice of leche flan, jello, or purple yam jam (if there are any available), some red-colored syrup (I suspect it’s cherry flavored), cornflakes, and any sliced fruits you can get your hands on. You cram all of these into a single cup or glass (yes, it can be done), and painstakingly mix all of these with a long-handled spoon. Voila! You have “halo-halo”.