One Cafe

Had another business meeting at the One Corporate Center in the Ortigas Center in Pasig, and this time, we had a fast lunch at One Cafe, the building's coffee shop/cafeteria at the 6th floor.  I think the owners of the cafe are related to the developers of the building, as the branding is pretty much the same.  I had the roast beef which was tender and quite good tasting--it looks like one can get by with just about P200 for a meal.  The restaurant also has a event & party place--the adjacent function rooms can be used for corporate affairs, parties, business meetings and seminars.

Chicken Roulade I had on my re-visit in September 2012

The Tailors

This list is really a trip down memory lane, and I don't think that any of these tailors or tailoring shops are still around today, in this age of ready-to-wear.  Time was when clothing was a true art form, and the time spent on fitting ensured that the clothes would be comfortable to wear and  elegant to behold.  I remember Banjo, the master cutter, coming to our house to spend time working on Kong Kong's suits, and this was a regular annual event, given the number of suits that Kong Kong needed in the late sixties and early seventies.  Here's the list of tailors that the family has used over the years (one or two others that I can't seem to remember anymore):

1.     Lord & Lady

2.     Simon's

3.     Exclusively His

4.     Banjo Estrada

5.     Curlie's

6.     Wilden (Dennis Dwyer)

7.     Joel Parabas

8.     Lor's

9.     Tony Fabros

Nowadays, I don't even have time for measurements, even more so for fitting sessions.  I just buy (even jackets) off the rack...times have really changed!

Bruce Lee

I was watching the National Geographic channel last night and since they were running a documentary about the life of Bruce Lee, my eyes were glued to the screen till midnight!  You guessed it right, memories of kung fu action pics galore!  For the younger ones, he's the HK-American martial artist that made (almost) 5 movies in the early seventies--The Big Boss, The Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and The Game of Death (which was unfinished at the time of his untimely death in 1973).  I was a fan, no, make that an avid fan, as most of my other friends were too!  I remember patiently waiting in line to buy tickets at Universal Theater along Rizal Avenue to watch his movies--which were all SRO!  We simply couldn't believe the news of his death--he was Mr. Indestructible!  As I look back, his distinctive brand of action, plus his inimitable cocky facial artistry was the stuff all of us dreamed of!  He lives on in our hearts!

Kashi TLC

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much of a healthy eater, as I like lavish spreads that my body sometimes can't take (I do have to check my cholesterol and uric acid levels every now and then).  This morning, however, I had some healthy granola bars that someone gifted Becca over the holidays.  Called TLC (Tasty Little Chewies), these granola bars have lots of nuts and berries, and were surprisingly not sticky and gooey, which is the usual case with nut & cereal bars that use a lot of syrup as binder.  First time I heard of Kashi, the company behind it--apparently this is company prides itself with their line-up of healthy foods.  If you got a sweet tooth, however, this one will probably taste on the bland side.  Cheer up, it's supposed to be healthy!

Sans Rival

Sans Rival may be the name of a delicious dessert made with butter and nuts, but it's also the name of a cozy bakeshop along the seaside in Dumaguete City owned by the Trinidad Teves-Sagarbarria.  Over the Christmas holidays, cousin Eddie found time to fly in Manila and drop off his gifts for us--some fruit cakes from Sans Rival bakeshop.  While others may find the fruit cake to be a worn-out Christmas present, we just happen to be a fruit cake family, and we absolutely love it!  I found the time to open the fruit cake this afternoon, and I wasn't disappointed.  Quite good for commercial fruit cake--plenty of almonds and raisins, a little fruit glace mixed in as well (no cherries on top, however, which could have made for a more colorful presentation).  I like the sweetness, it was just right; the consistency was firm and as I picked up the slices, the cake didn't crumble (which is a very important property of proper fruit cake).  On the negative side, I would have liked the cake to have been brushed with a little more wine/brandy/rhum or whatever it is that bakers brush when they age fruit cake.  That gentle whiff of alcohol (not too excess) is a crucial criteria that we judge quality fruit cake.  Overall, though, this was good stuff!

Sans Rival bakeshop has spawned the House of Silvanas, a bakeshop operating out of San Lorenzo Village Makati, and specializing in mini-Sans Rival cookies called Silvanas.  This in turn is owned by the Mary Ann Sagarbarria, the daughter-in-law of the owner of Sans Rival bakeshop.

Azuthai

Another Happy Friday last night--this time in Azuthai restaurant, located at the Milky Way Building along Pasay Road in Makati.  Vicky has been a regular patron of this establishment with her good friends, and she promised to take Monique and I to try the place.   She was right--the food was flavorful and nicely presented (if you are afraid of hot & spicy food, you can request the kitchen to make it mild).  The restaurant interiors were elegant without going overboard.

We started off with crispy prawn appetizers and quickly moved on to coconut chicken soup (serving size was good for 4).   For our viands, we had crispy fish in sweet sour sauce, Morning Glory (sauteed kangkong), crispy minced catfish with green mangoes and Pad Thai noodles.

We were quite full at P750 per head, with some leftovers to spare.  The restaurant is part of Chef Jay Gamboa's group, all offshoots of the Milky Way (my confession--despite being so full, we went up there after our Thai dinner to have halo-halo, guinomis and mais con yelo!)

Another Happy Friday to remember!

Orajel

Panini had a visit to her dentist this morning and it crossed my ming that she probably should shift to regular toothpaste already.  She's been using Orajel training toothpaste for the past few years as the little imp has a tendency to swallow toothpaste! ;)

Well, I guess it'll take a while for her to adjust, and I must say that it's great to have training toothpaste around!

Ghirardelli

Someone sent over a pack of Ghirardelli chocolates to Vicky during the Christmas season and I just had to prompt her to open the pack to satisfy my cravings--after all, Dark & Mint is one of my favorite flavors!  I understand that the brand is one of the oldest American chocolate brands (the second oldest, I think), and is now owned by the Swiss company Lindt & Sprungli, themselves a chocolate powerhouse.  I had first heard of the brand in the late nineties during a trip to San Francisco.  A friend asked me if I wanted to bring some of these back home, to which I ignorantly asked, "What is Ghirardelli?" since I hadn't a clue what it was.  In mock horror, my friend opened his eyes wide, and shot back with "You don't know Ghirardelli?  You are missing out on half the excitement of San Francsico!"  Since then, I've been an avid lover of this fine chocolate!

Cast of Characters

Chugalug!  Time to reminisce.... Remember these characters?

1.     Bratinella
2.     Julep
3.     Kelep
4.     Silverado
5.     Opie
6.     Wimpy
7.     Kato
8.     Kermit
9.     Grover
10.   Elmo
11.   Mulan
12.   Bloom
13.   Dexter
14.   Dumbo

Burger Avenue

Off to more burger hunting--Monique, the Callars and I set the A Venue along Makati Avenue as our next target for   the continuing voyages of our burger hunt.  We got to Burger Avenue at around 7pm and except for a couple of other customers, we had the place all to ourselves.  Burger Avenue opened sometime in 2009 and quickly got some media attention for their Ridiculous Burger (pictured on the left).  The store hosts a competitive challenge for this 3 patty burger--eat it in under 5 minutes, and the burger is for free!  The record holder did it in 1 minute and 28 seconds, a mean feat considering that the patties combined weigh a pound.  Unlike some other burger chains, the burgers were cooked as we ordered them, and we could see them grill the patties right through the glass window of the open kitchen.  Burgers go from P95 (Junior) to around P300 for the Ridiculous Burger.  They have different styles too--burgers with bacon, chili con carne, blue cheese and garlic sauce; other sandwich fillings like fish and chicken are also available for those wanting to eat light.  Overall, the burgers were nicely done; but I think the group can instruct their bread supplier to make the bread a little softer, as I found the bread more like a hard bread than the soft oatmeal-topped bun that I had imagined from looking at the promo pictures.

C' Verde

I think I'm a sucker when it comes to bargain ploys.  I was approached by a marketing lady at the food court of RCBC Plaza, and she was able to sell me Big Chill promo stubs.  For P400, I was told that I'd get some free meals and drinks from their branches, aside from the chance to buy 1 take 1 on their various products.  Last week, on my visit to GT Tower in Makati, I tried to redeem a stub, and much to my delight, I was able to avail of a free meal at C'Verde, one of their sister companies.  I didn't realize that this fastfood outlet was a vegetarian outlet--the Verde meaning vegetables!  The tofu-mushroom-vegetable combination on hot rice wasn't bad at all, and my colleagues got some meals and drinks from my buy 1 take 1 stubs.  While discussing some business matters, we thus had enough merienda to last till a late supper...not bad anymore--I think the sucker got a good deal after all!

Bo's Coffee

Went around the Park Square area today in order to find a suitable laptop for Raymond.  One of the stores surprised us with some gift checks from Bo's coffee, so we hied off to Glorietta 5 to claim our drinks.  I heard somewhere that this coffee chain was locally conceived and bred (Cebu), a bit of a copycat in look and feel (i.e. Coffee Bean, Starbucks, Seattle's Best), but well run, nevertheless.  Service is fast and courteous, the interiors are nice and cozy.  The kids just loved their drinks.  I had a mug of hot chocolate, and I liked the doodles that came with it--

Is that a smiling face?

The kids has various cold coffee blends--caramel, coffee jelly, cookie crunch and Oreos.  Since we had 5 gift checks of P100 each, I only had to add P200 for our drinks--not bad for an afternoon merienda session, which only cost us P40 per head!

Kangaroo Jack

Time for an inexpensive treat!  We went around the Robinson's Ermita Mall yesterday with the Callar boys in order to pick out their Xmas gifts from Vicky--jeans from Guess and Vans!  Found our gas tanks running on empty by 7:30 pm, so we decided to drop by Kangaroo Jack!  We were not disappointed--a whole meat platter, good for 4 people for only P650!  That included several slices of roast beef, a hungarian sausage, a porterhouse steak and a large slab of baby back ribs!

We also shared a half-pound burger, which was not bad, plus a 12" meat pizza, which was topped with the KJ special sauce (mayo-based, a trifle too sweet for my taste).  Fast, hot food, with a matching Ozie ambience.  This is one place you can get full at P300 per head.

Aquaknox

I took a break from work and made it a point to schedule a Happy Friday last week.  This family tradition was started by Vicky's brother in New York, and we'd tried to emulate the idea--having dinner out on Friday nights, for no apparent reason save being together with family.  This time Vicky and Monique were game to try Aquaknox, a Vietnamese restaurant located along Pasay Road (now Arnaiz Avenue), right near the corner of Amorsolo St, next door to our Japanese favorite, Nihon Bashitei.  We were lucky enough to arrive at 6:45pm, and we took the 4th of 5 parking slots.  The restaurant interiors were quite sleek and modern--lots of large painting of carps and Vietnamese countryside sceneries graced the walls, and I immediately felt at ease.  We started off with fresh spring rolls and seafood soup, and quickly got into the groove of Vietnamese cuisine.  The soup was light and refreshing, the taste of the fish, shrimps and squid was evident and made us craving for more.

We first saw the Aquaknox sign along Ortigas Avenue (near Mary the Queen Church), but alas, that branch closed in the middle of 2011 before we could even pay a visit.  The tag line of the restaurant is "More Than Just Pho (rice noodles)" which is a veiled reference to several Vietnamese restaurants that serve mostly Vietnamese noodle soup, with just a few authentic  dishes.  Vicky noticed that a lot of the items on the menu borrowed French cooking techniques--e.g. caramelized onions, bouillabaisse--but had that distinct Asian style too.  The fusion was evident in the vegetable dishes that came in (kangkong and bokchoy with mushrooms), in the tenderloin tips and in the chicken with sticky rice dish (this was a hit with Monique).

I thought the cuisine would be predominantly hot and spicy (like Thai or Malaysian food) but as it turns out--only certain dishes were spicy.  The piece de resistance?  Chef Danny Vu's naked crabs, of course!  Why naked?  Because the meat is already taken from the crab shell and one can eat without having to peel it off!  Crabs go from P1,400 for the medium sized ones to P2,600 for the jumbo sizes--add P100 to have the crabs de-shelled or, rather "naked!"

The crab comes with oiled pasta and ice tea, so this is a good reason to make this dish pang-pyesta!  All in all, if one were to eat here without the crabs, I'd say a budget of P500 per head is pretty good.  With the crabs, I'd say you'd have to prepare another P500 per head, for a total of P1,000 per person.  Hmmm..... this piques my curiosity... now maybe we could take a trip to Hanoi soon?

James Bond

Over the Christmas break, Kongkong was having such a wonderful time watching reruns of James Bond movies on cable TV, and that had good memories going!  I remember waiting patiently in long movie house lines to watch those spy movies! Take "The Spy Who Loved Me" for instance, which we watched in Coronet Theater in Cubao--I must have spent a good 30 minutes in line to get tickets, and we even had to jostle for good seats!  Jolibee had one of their first branches there, and I remember opening their big giant burger (wrapped in aluminum foil) right when the opening credits started to roll--the effect was mouth-watering, with a James Bond movie for the sight and sound, and the burger for taste and smell, hahahaha!

Everyone knows that Ian Fleming based the character on his own experience in the British intelligence forces during World War II.  Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have all played the character, each with their own unique style.  In the order of production, EON films has presented 22 official films:

1.    Dr. No

2.    From Russia With Love

3.    Goldfinger

4.    Thunderball

5.    You Only Live Twice

6.    On Her Majesty's Secret Service

7.    Diamonds Are Forever

8.    Live and Let Die

9.    The Man with the Golden Gun

10.   The Spy Who Loved Me

11.   Moonraker

12.   For Your Eyes Only

13.   Octopussy

14.   A View To A Kill

15.   The Living Daylights

16.   License To Kill

17.   Goldeneye

18.   Tomorrow Never Dies

19.   The World Is Not Enough

20.   Die Another Day

21.   Casino Royale

22.   Quantum of Solace

Two noted non-official movies are the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale (starring David Niven), and Never Say Never Again, a remake of Thunderball,  starring an older Sean Connery.  Bond 23, starring Daniel Craig, will be titled "Skyfall" and is slated to hit the theaters this November 2012.

The beautiful scenery, stunningly desirable women, hi-tech gadgets, witty repartees, action sequences, and memorable stunts make the series the highest grossing (adjusted for today's money) and longest-lasting franchise (50 years) the world has known.

I enjoy this as much as the next guy!  Cheers, my good man!

Republic of Cavite

Had to visit the Cavite Provincial offices in Trece Martirez to work on some land transactions.  We left Manila before the 9am morning rush, and took the new route to Kawit using the Cavitex highway.  It was a short strip, maybe under ten kilometers, but the P65 toll was worth it as we bypassed the heavy traffic in the town centers of Bacoor and Imus.  While our business was done even before lunchtime, we decided to stay a bit longer and have lunch in the area.  After roaming around for some 10 minutes looking for interesting eating places, we found the Republic of Cavite, which is a multi-cuisine restaurant located just a stone's throw away from the Provincial Hall.

Classic look with the spired tower...

Feels just like home...

The restaurant menu includes BBQ and grill items, Pinoy dimsum, steaks & salad, but the staple cuisine is still Filipino food.  Imagine our lunch--gambas for appetizers, adobong pusit, fried chicken, rellenong bangus, and sweetened camote for dessert!  Dishes were tasty, prepared in the traditional Filipino way.  We spent some P450 per head, and we were quite full as we made our way back to our vehicle.

Brothers Burger

It looked good when I took this picture, but when I started to eat...

I was pretty much disappointed last Thursday night.  I finished a long arduous meeting in Makati at around 9:30 pm, and my grumbly tummy just clamored for a big juicy hamburger.  Walking along Ayala Avenue, I headed for the Brothers Burger outlet and I ordered a Big Brothers burger (a bit shy of P200).  I've tried this chain several times before and I know that cook juicy burgers, and they make true beefy patties.  This night, however, it was around 10:00 pm, and the store was probably ready to close--the staff must have taken short-cuts.  My burger came in cold.  Well, not refrigerator cold, but unheated.  Probably cooked much earlier; I don't think they keep patties in food warmers so that the juices don't run off.  Taste was still good, but the ooomph was no longer there.  I told the store clerk about it, he mumbled an apology.  Well, we're graceful about things, so I just ate the burger and left.  Such is life, di ba?

Closing time, so the staff must have wanted to get home already...

Piadina

Last week, I had much time to kill around the Salcedo Village area; luckily I spotted the Piadina at the ground floor of the Solaris One Tower, right at the back of Ayala Avenue.  Ordered a piadina (which is folded white bread) with italian sausages and gorgonzola cheese, it was good, but I would have wanted the serving size to have been a little larger...(as usual).  The place offers a variety of Italian food items on the menu--pizza, pastas, and piadinas, both solo and in combi-variants with salads, drinks and desserts.  I spent a tad under P200, but I can imagine that for a full course meal, one would have to fork out something like P500 per head.  I understand that the group operates a Piadina branch in Tokyo, and the owners also have an upscale Italian restaurant near that Piadina branch (I forget the name though).  Fast service, tasty food, reasonably priced.

Lorenzo's Way

The LJC group of restaurants can be credited for uplifting the concepts for Filipino restaurants, having started off with the quaint Cafe Adriatico in the early 80s.  The family dining experience we've had before at Lorenzo's Way in Greenbelt 4 was quite impressive and Vicky's college friends agreed to meet there for a long-planned birthday celebration.  We had a feast--squid paella (en su tinta), paella Madrilena, callos, crispy tilapia with buro, chicken aioli, crispy pata, sinangag with dilis and kare-kare!  Dinner was capped with desserts of banana turon (Vicky's favorite).  It was a week day but the place was quite full, it was good that we had reservations.  Overall, spending comes to something like P700 per head.  I like the ambience, the food servers are very attentive, and the good is pretty good.  Two thumbs up!

BTIC

Better Than Ice Cream! was one of the  first local proponents of frozen yoghurt.  Introduced in 1987 by banker-turned entrepreneur, Nestor Bonoan, the product has espoused the healthy alternative way to enjoy the different flavors associated with ice cream without the guilt usually associated with the creaminess of full milk.  I dropped by the Greenbelt 1 mall and saw that the store had a 50% promotional discount and immediately got 2 scoops for the price of 1 (P95)!  The hazelnut and the chocolate flavors that I got were certainly a match, and I would have wanted to have more had it not been for the dinner affair at Lorenzo's Way that was coming up that night!

Quattro

Eddie was again in town and we had a blast last night as we tried to recreate the memories of our younger days by having a round of drinks at Quattro along Timog Avenue (near the corner of Scout Ybardolaza).  Of course Eddie could only take a couple of San Miguel Lights, while I could only handle a bottle of Cerveza Negra before switching to Cali Shandy and Cali Ice (yes, to our chagrin, our appetite for lager and stout has truly waned...) Anyway, the bar chow was pretty reasonable for an average price range of P75 to P150--we started off with peanuts, then ordered some sizzling pusit (sauce was a bit sweet which Eddie liked; I had wanted a more garlicky approach), we then had nilasing na hipon (shrimps soaked in gin then crispy fried).  Before leaving, we topped off the night with crispy Quattro wraps (minced pork in molo wrappers) which tasted much like Lumpia Shanghai!  They have different bands playing nightly, mostly FRC fare (somehow the girl band playing reminded me of Monique's high school band).  Our bill for a 2-hour stay came to P350 per head, which would be expensive for students, but affordable for your average office gimmick.

Gelatissimo

Had a wonderful late lunch at Serendra with Vicky, her mom and her sister.  After we finished our sumptuous Filipino meal at Sentro we decided to get some gelato at Gelatissimo, a widely-known Australian brand that carries a wide range of almost fat-free dairy and sorbet flavours.  We first tasted this brand around a year and a half ago at the Greenbelt 5, and I understand that the brand now has 6 stores in the Philippines (3 in Manila and 3 in Cebu).  Absolutely delightful; they have such wonderful flavors like kiwi, berries, lemon cheesecake, hazelnut and mango.  Spending per head is around P100 minimum, up to P250 depending on the number of scoops!  I certainly can finished several, mind you....

Thai Cha Yen

Thai Cha Yen Cafe is one of the latest tea brands to hit the local market.  I've seen a lot of Taiwanese and Singaporean tea concepts but this is the first time that I tried the Thai style of iced tea.  Their name literally means "Thai Iced Tea" and the tea seems to have some distinct herbal fragrance.  I had a choco-peppermint combination and aside from the minty taste, there was some other delightful herbal taste that unfortunately, I couldn't identify.  The ice teas are priced just below P100, and are mixed right in front of you.  They usually add some sago (cassava pearls) or gulaman bits and they can also adjust the sweetness level as you wish.  The tea shop is operated by two sisters, and they just opened their second branch as the new year started.  Good luck and good times!

Gloriamaris

I was invited to have an impromptu Christmas lunch with some Treasury ladies at the Gloriamaris seafood restaurant at the Podium in the Ortigas Center.  I was amazed that the food came in fast--in 5 minutes from the moment we sent in our orders--despite the large lunchtime crowd. We had pork & sharkfin siomai, ha kaw (shrimp dumpling), noodles, fried rice, stir-fried broccoli in garlic, squid, minced pork in tofu and fried beef strips, all for some P400 per head. This branch obviously had a good cook and we were satisfied with the way the food was prepared.  I understand that the Podium branch is a franchise outlet, the original restaurant being located at the CCP Complex in the bay area.  Years ago, I heard that one complaint that the restaurant chain faced was that the same food dish prepared by different branches would be inconsistent in taste--slight variations were to be expected, but in this case, the disparity in taste was so great across branches.  I understand that the chain then started some menu standardization procedures, and erring franchisees were closed.  Lately, the chain's popularity has gone up again, and given the long lines that I saw at the Podium branch, I think they will be a strong player for more years to come.

Export Bank Canteen

I had some business to attend to at the Export Bank building in Makati, just as 2011 came to a close.  This bank arose from the ashes of the defunct Urban Bank; I understand that some new investors came in to recapitalize the bank, thus the name change to Export Industry Bank.  Their building, located at the corner of Buendia Avenue and Pasong Tamo, has a spacious basement canteen that serves delicious beef calderetta and hot rice for less than P100.  Of course the beef wasn't that tender, but the way it was made certainly showed that the cook knew exactly what to do.

Hawaiian Host

Becca's sister-in-law just got in from Los Angeles and dropped off some Hawaiian Host chocolates for us to enjoy!  These chocolates contain macadamia nuts, and are considered an original creation from Hawaii.  The chocolate is smooth and milky, with just the right amount of sugar.  In contrast, the macadamia nuts are crunchy, providing a very interesting mix of flavors.  I usually take roasted macadamia as a salty snack, and having the nut inside a chocolate bar is a different treat.  The chocolate candy is bite-size and the come in random shapes, and I usually try to select the most appealing shape for me.  I'd love to spend a couple of weeks in Hawaii, and I'd probably stuff myself with these "Aloha Gems" when I do so!

Kamuning Bakery

We got a wonderful New Year's gift from one of Vicky's uncles--egg pie from the famous Kamuning Bakery, which has been open since pre-war days.  I tell you, the consistency of the egg filling is practically leche flan!  Sweetness is just right, and one slice is not enough for me!  I understand that her uncle has patronized this bakery since the fifties; I don't know how much the egg pies cost these days, but I'm sure it's got a big bang for your buck! Simple, filling, great tasting!  The bakery also has other delights (e.g. cheesecake), but the egg pie is what it's been known for.