Fish Out of Water

My very first restaurant to eat in at Greenbelt 5. I loved the interiors, the table settings and even the ambience. You really kind of feel like you're really in an aquarium. I even like those submarine like windows peering over the kitchen which my friend found to be freaky. Make no mistake, the food is definitely Filipino mixed with foreign influences (I can only assume that the menu was inspired by the owner's travels).

Pumpkin Soup with Roasted Kasuy (cashew) and Bacon Php148

This really really really is the best soup I've had in 4 years!!!! Yes, I remember exactly how long ago it was when I had this really good mushroom soup in the now defunct Westin Plaza, but that's another story. The pumpkin-ness of the soup was spot on. It was mashed well (no bits here!!) and was well complimented by the cashews. I didn't notice the bacon in the soup though.

Grilled Sarangani Bay Milkfish Belly  Php 299

This was the dish my friend ordered. I'm personally not a fan of fish belly (any fish, any belly). However, I really did enjoy the Lucban Longaniza Risotto which I found 
to be such an odd pairing with risotto which is supposed to be something so rich and exquisite. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense since we all know and love our sinangags with Lucban Longaniza. More risotto please!!

Labahita ala Bacalao Pasta Php329

I found the pasta to be a little too oily and a little too bland even though there were so many ingredients in this linguine dish. Three bites into my food, I found a stray hair and 
informed my server about it. They promptly changed my order with a fresh one. 
I would have definitely felt better if the manager had come over and apologized to me. My second labahita pasta was much more tastier and well seasoned than the first one. 


Would definitely come back for more! This really is a good place for relaxing lunches with friends.

Chelsea 3

This time we had dinner in Chelsea. Was finally able to get their complimentary bread with some roasted garlic. yum! That alone and I was already full! These are what we had:

Grandma's Crispy Duck Confit and Mushroom Risotto Php 295- I very much enjoyed the roasted peppercorn sauce. Also, it's final, duck just really isn't my kind of protein.

Juicy Whole Garlic Rosemary Lemon Roasted Chicken Php495- What a long and complicated name for such a simple dish! In fact, it was quite forgetable! 
You get one whole chicken, boned, with wild rice pilaf and kalamata olives. 

Sumo Sam

Was intrigued by Marvin Agustin's DSL commercial so we decided to dine here one time. No pictures this time folks! We tried the:

California Maki Salad Php150- Was disappointed by this salad. Nothing more that some mangoes and shrimp tossed in greens.

Beef Enoki Php 245- Enoki mushrooms wrapped tight in fried beef. Was really looking forward to this dish. Was disappinted by how tough the enoki was.

Green Chicken Php 115- I liked Misato's green chicken so much more. 


Will have to come back for those noodle/pasta dishe on the menu, which in my opinion are the most interesting. Too bad we weren't in the mood for it that time.

Mezze

Had a simple yet sinful ravioli in Mezze the other day. The exact name and price of the dish escapes me right now.

This a definite and cheaper alternative to my favorite ravioli dish in CPK (which is close to 600 pesos now!). I loved 
the restaurant's interiors and quirky plates and table settings. 
Must come back to try their cocktails.

Chelsea 2

On a very late lunch, yet very early dinner with two of my bested friends, we decided to eat at Chelsea and these are what we ate:

Caprese Extreme Php 220

Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, sagada oranges and arugula pesto. Nothing spectacular. The oranges were very refreshing though. Serving was small for the price.

Gridled Farmer's Ham and Edam Cheese Sandwich Php250

Has mesclun greens and potato wedges on the side.

Marinated Pesto Organic Vegetables Php230

With a tabouuleh side salad and marinated rosemary feta. This is the best sandwhich I've had in a very very long time. Very easy to eat. You know it's healthy. Great vegetable combinations. I can easily have this everyday.  Most enjoyable dish I've had in Chelsea so far. 

CYMA

For my first review after a looong lull, I have the ever so controversial Cyma found in Greenbelt 2. As expected, there was a long waiting line. Lucky for me, there were only 4 of us dining that time, beating out a lot of other groups ahead of us in the waiting list. Here are what we ate:

Saganaki (Flaming Cheese) Php 165

Very controversial. Plainly put, it's just melted cheese served piping hot with waiters shouting ompa!. Fun to try but nothing sooo spectacular about it. Also, too much bread for the amount of cheese served. Or better yet, too little cheese for the amount of bread served.

Cyma Chopped Salad Php 300

This was a good and creative way to have salad. A balance of vegetables and fruits. It had chopped romaine and iceburg lettuce, spinach, arugula, walnuts, pears, sun dried tomatoes, blue cheese and shaved parmesan on a Greek vinaigrette.

Salmon Php230

This wasn't interesting at all. I believe I can make the same quality salmon at home, not worth its price.

Roka Pasta Php 280

Another pasta dish that I think I can easily replicate at home. Main ingredients include arugula, parmesan and fresh tomatoes. Very mediterranean in style indeed.

Final verdict: Wasn't blown away by the food but will definitely come back to try out more dishes in the menu.

i'm back

Have recovered from a rut. Expect more posts soon!

Movie I'm Loving Now: Transformers

I didn't really watch the cartoons before. I am not a fan. I have no idea what the story is line. All I know is that there are robots who, well, transform. I went inside the cinema with a blank slate.

Well, I was in for a treat! I loved the movie! I loved the cast, the story, the way it was made, the fight scenes, the special effects and Josh Duhamel! I loved the way they gave the robots their own personalities. I found Bumble Bee so cute. I was really sad when I thought that he would have died. I loved the kind of cars they evolved into but I found the robot voice overs a bit too over bearing though. Good directing from Michael Bay. Glad he didn't let the fans down. Bumble bee is just too cute!
I wish I could bring him home! :)

Makeup I'm Loving Now:

I haven't posted anything much lately, I've been soo busy! I've just finished organizing my recent pictures and these are the products I've been loving lately:

MAC Happening Gal


MAC Housewine


Benefit's My Treat $16

I bought this on whim and am so happy I did! I want all the colors for myself now! This lipstick is so smooth and slippery on the mouth giving you that lip balm feeling only it's not!

Elianto in Hot Blue and a Blue Sephora liner

Amongst all my eyeshadows, I love Elianto's Hot Blue the most! I really like Sephora's eye liners too.

Moonlight silver and a turquoise liner

These were just drugstore brands I picked up from Wal-Greens. They stayed on pretty well though. I'm happy with the buy.

MAC Tealo and Elianto in Honey

I love this look. Line the under fo my eyes with Tealo. Who knew green and gold would look good together? I didn't.

L'Oreal Grand Canyon Palette (lower right)

The colors in this palette are all shimmery earthy colors which I love! It also has great staying power! They're so pretty!

Szechuan Chinese Restaurant

Szechuan food generally connates spiciness and all that pepper on the food. The food in this restau however was the least bit spicy. It's a great place to go to if you want to get good Chinese food that doesn't come from a box. Even better is that the food servings are meant to be shared!

Sesame Chicken

My favorite from everything we ordered. The sesame batter really made the chicken crisp and gave it an interesting flavor.

Cajun Shrimp and Scallops

This was good too, my only complaint was that there was too little shrimp and scallop compared to the amount of veggies in the serving.

Chicken Lo Mein

Good 'ol lo mein!

Beef with Stir Fried Vegetables

This was the only spicy dish among the 4. I enjoyed the vegetables more than I did the beef.

Octopus Japanese Fusion Restaurant

This is a quaint restau inBirch St, Brea, CA. They have huge servings here and give these bean appetizers which the other people with me liked and I didn't.

I got there "bento box" though they didn't call it that. What it is essentially is that you can mix and match 2 dishes from their list of viands for $8.45.


I got Japanese spring rolls with a house plum sauce and barbecue chicken. The spring rolls were really good and had a new twist from the ones I'm used to. The barbecue chicken was ordinary and forgettable.

Miss Desserts

Deciding between Miss Dessert of Sonja's Cupcakes was a no brainer. We're all so tired of cupcakes and I think that the hype has (finally) died down. When we went inside Miss Desserts, we were so attracted to their display case we wanted to order everything! After calming down, we decided to go with these:

Fantasia Slice Php130

This was heavenly! I haven't had an amazing pastry in a long time and I'm glad I picked this. The crust, which was hard and yet still moist, was a perfect combination of bitter and sweet. The filling was very creamy and chocolate-y good. The nut toppings (walnuts I think) was so generous. There was a burstful of crunch in every bite. yumyumyum

White Macadamia Cheesecake Php120

For its size and its price, it was very much worth it. This is cream cheese at its best and that's not the best part yet! What I like most is that I could actually taste the macadamia nuts both in the cake and the crust of the cheesecake which is very important to me.

Banana Cream Pie Php95

Better than Starbuck's pie I think.

Duo

The place is really perfect for long conversations. My friends and I had a 3 hour lunch there recently and I was pleased that our servers were all very attentive and patient with us, not to mention we were making so much noise! I love the butter they served with their complimentary bread. They also gave us a second round for free. The prices of the food may be pricey but at least it is VAT inclusive already. There was a lot of older customers when we were there, probably trying to have a peaceful and relaxing meal only to be distrubed by us. My only complaint, and I think everybody would agree with this is that their logo looks "unappealing." I feel that the look of the logo is more suited for a more casual form of dining.

Toretellini Carbonara Php395

Stuffed with mushrooms and goose liver duxelle. It was very rich and sinful. I found the serving to be a bit 'bitin' (lacking) so I asked for another bread plate (which I think my friends appreciated. Better to have this with a large group of people sharing everything together than as a personal order.

Roast Lamb Shank Burgundy (Osso Buco) Php555

It was good. Not the best, but good.

T.G.I.Friday's

Had a party here recently and we pigged out. Definitely ordered much more than we can eat.

Friday's Three for All  Php545

Packed with Potato Skins, Fried Mozzarella and Buffalo Wings, it offers a little something for everyone. Served with sour cream and chives, marinara sauce and Bleu cheese dressing.

Southwestern Chicken Caesar Salad Php465

Spicy chargrilled chicken breast heaped atop a Southwestern Caesar salad. Garnished with fresh pico de gallo and fresh tortilla chips.

Chicken and Shrimp Diablo Php325

Shrimp and chicken sauteed in olive oil tossed in a spicy tomato Diablo sauce. Served over linguini with shaved parmesan cheese. 

Jack Daniel's Glazed Ribs Php505

Mouth watering baby back ribs garnished with a grilled pineapple slice.

Fish and Chips Php385

Market fresh fish battered and fried to golden brown. Served with Friday's® Fries and tartar sauce.

Chicken Fingers Php230

Hand battered chicken tenderloins fried and served with Friday's fries, coleslaw and honey mustard sauce.

Oreo Madness Php285 for two pieces

Giant Oreo cookie sandwich with vanilla ice cream topped with caramel and chocolate sauce.

Hula-Hula

I've actually never had Hawaian food before. My  meal here in Hula -Hula was a mix of good and bad food. Read on to find out.

Japanese Hawaian Luao Feast Php695

Spicy Tuna Roll, Kani and Cucumber Salad, Beef Yakiniku, Island Belly Chops, Ebi and Fish Fry, Grilled Black Marlin, Grilled Eggplant and Pineapple Fried Rice.
It really is a feast. I was startled when the servers were taking away my plate and placemat. When asked, they said we were going to eat in the platter. I was confused and I didn't expect the platter to be this huge!

We also got a Bangus Belly Island Grill Php225 and Paella Rolls with Baby Shrimps php145 both of which were forgetable.