Category: Lifestyle

I’m always on the lookout for new restaurants to try out.  Most of the time I don’t go back anymore but if it has the formula of having reasonable price coupled with delicious taste of food then I wouldn’t hesitate to go back.  This was exactly what I felt with Chef’s Table.

Chef’s Table is a restaurant created by Chef Bruce Lim.  Chef Bruce is the man behind the cooking show Tablescapes shown on Asian Food Channel.  I’m the type of person who loves to watch cooking shows.  So having the chance to finally meet the chef and also sample his creations would be something I wouldn’t miss.

I actually thought that we would be spending a lot but was pleasantly surprised that their dishes are priced reasonably.  They are affordable!!  I’ve put in the price of our orders so you would have an idea.

Chef’s Table has this concept of Open Kitchen.  Basically a way to be interactive with guests.  We can see the chefs cooking and preparing our dishes.  They smile our way whenever they catch us watching hahaha!  And if you notice in the picture, all of them are bald!  I guess it brings the camaraderie among the chefs and can also be for hygiene purposes, we don’t have to worry about having hair on our food!

I also find the interior design and architecture interesting.  When Chef Bruce was greeting the guests one by one, I happened to ask him what inspired the look of Chef’s Table.  He told us that they are really trying to do their share of saving the environment thus the recycled materials being used in the restaurant.  Their walls are made of Rattan, they used recycled materials like palay too.  Aside from using environmental-friendly materials, they also use scraps of veggies as fertilizers.  I felt that Chef’s Table is like Chef Bruce’s love work.  The details on how he created the restaurant, the way that he wanted to be in touch with his customers, the friendly atmosphere of the place, environmental-friendly interiors and the Chef himself being there every single day is just admirable.  He said if we don’t see him in Chef’s Table, it’ll most probably be because he’s out of the country.

Now, the most important part of our visit… the food!  We were already impressed with other things.  I was too excited to find out if the food would also be the same.  Here were our orders:

• Chef’s Table Iced Tea (Php 120)

The best iced tea I’ve tried so far!  Multiple ingredients in this drink, it has pineapple, cucumber, honeydew and iced tea.  Wow!  Just delicious!  If you’re still undecided which drink to order in Chef’s Table, you better order their iced tea.

• Sampaguita Iced Tea (Php 110)

I haven’t heard of a sampaguita drink.  As much as I loved Chef’s Table’s iced tea, this was my choice for that day.  I would stick with their iced tea next time though.  It was definitely more delicious but their sampaguita iced tea was nice too.

• Fried Pusit (Php 230)

Fried squid served on a lettuce with green mango salad on the side.   Not spectacular but presentation was really great 🙂

• Reversed Sotanghon Soup (Php 150)

I really love how awesome the dishes were presented not to mention they tasted so delicious too!  This reversed sotanghon soup was so awesome.  I can never get enough of it.  Fried sotanghon noodles and liempo bites then onion soup poured into them.  The best sotanghon soup I ever tasted to date!

• Chill-A-Fino (Php 550)

Most unique dish ever.  Never did I imagine being able to eat such a dish.  It’s basically steamed lapu lapu put on top of an ube mash (yes, ube!).  You won’t taste the ube though, it felt like a mash of purple stuff that’s it.  Very nice to look at.

• Tortang Talong (Php 120)

I can eat this dish all by myself.  Tortang talong with salted eggs plus did you see the onions on the side?  That was actually caramelized onions!  It tasted sooooo good!  When I get back to Chef’s Table, this will definitely be the 1st thing I will order.

• Garlic Rice (Php 55)

I was really surprised when the garlic rice was served in our table.  It didn’t look like garlic rice at all.  As you can see in the picture, it was just plain rice with garlic on top.  The trick there was to mix the garlic with the rice before eating.  Then you would understand why it was done that way.  It was actually very tasty after you mix them.

• Pandan Rice (Php 35)

Same with garlic rice, this was just plain rice with one pandan leaf. hahaha!

• Buko Pie Martini (Php 150)

I’m not sure how many times I mentioned the word ‘unique’ in this blog post for Chef’s Table.  But what the heck, Chef’s Table definitely has the most unique dishes in their menu.  A buco pie in a martini glass?  How genius was that?  I’ve been raving about this to my friends and I’m still raving about that now in this post.  You better order this when you go to Chef’s Table or you’ll definitely regret it.

• Langka Creme Brulee (Php 130)

Typical custard – jackfruit flavored.  Not too sweet, tasted just right.  If you love langka and you love desserts then langka creme brulee is for you.

• Banana Mango Jubiliee (Php 130)

Another yummy dessert from Chef’s Table.  Mango & banana flamed with rum and served with vanilla ice cream.  I prefer their buco pie martini more but banana mango jubilee is a good 2nd choice.

I had one of the best dining experiences in Chef’s Table.  They have excellent food, nice interiors, awesome service and very down-to-earth chefs!  See Chef Bruce Lim all game to take a picture with a stranger like me 😛

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Chef’s Table
Unit 106, The Infinity Tower, 26th Street, The Fort Global City, Taguig, Philippines
(02) 399-1888

It was December 30.  We took the time to celebrate Christina’s birthday (a belated one).  We drove to Tagaytay wanting to enjoy the scenery and also, good food.  Restaurant Verbena at the Discovery Country Suites was our choice.

I’ve been to lots of restaurants in Tagaytay but it was my first time in Restaurant Verbena.  As expected, I was curious.  It was planned well.  Christina called Discovery Country Suites Tagaytay as early as December 24 to get a reservation.  She informed them that we’d be getting their Christmas menu during lunchtime of December 30.  On the day itself, she called again to reconfirm.  We were ecstatic while on our way.

When we arrived, I didn’t expect what I saw.  I always have this impression that high-end hotels would look like the ones we have in Metro Manila.  The ambiance is really ‘country’ type.  Wooden chairs, tables, doors & roof.  I guess I’m not really used to country-themed places.

Our chosen area was the one overlooking Tagaytay.  Perfect for pictures too because of the natural light plus beautiful scenery.  Do you see the beautiful glasses on the tables?  Soooo cute, I was in awe for a few seconds just admiring them hahaha!

As Restaurant Verbana is located at the lobby and I guess they were trying to prevent mosquitoes & flies from coming in, they covered the window view with metal screens.  The picture below shows literally what we can see while dining.  It was also raining that time.

Our visit was mostly pleasant but I was a bit disappointed that our reservation was worthless.  They mentioned they can’t give us the christmas menu even though it was confirmed a week before and on the day itself when my friend called.  When we heard that they won’t be giving us what we expected to get, our faces were obviously disappointed.  The staff upon seeing our reaction made some arrangements and finally gave us what was due.  We got the christmas menu we originally reserved for at Php 1,200+ per person.

While we await eagerly for our 7-course menu, we were served bread w/ 3 different sauces.  Butter was my choice as always 🙂

Here’s the 2010 Christmas menu of Restaurant Verbena (obviously it’s not available anymore but sharing with you our experience anyhow to give you an idea how the food there tasted like):

• Croqueta

Chilean Sea Bass croquette with mango-ginger-lime-salsa.  Presentation was perfect but taste was just satisfactory.  With every bite, you can definitely taste sea bass.  I loved the salsa too because it gave the dish character.

• Spice-Roasted Pumpkin Soup

my favorite among all the courses served.  Definitely, one of the best, if not the best pumpkin soup I tried so far.  True to the name, you can definitely taste pumpkin in every sip.  Served with light curry cream too.

• Baby Lobster Tail

buttered maccheroni pomodoro and basil with lobster tail on top.  When I see the word ‘lobster’ in any dish, my excitement really go up a notch.  I just love eating lobsters and since it’s quite expensive, I rarely eat.  I’m glad this was part of the Christmas menu.  I must admit I didn’t like the pasta but nevertheless, still satisfied with this dish.

• Pineapple Sherbet

Nice touch with the mint leaf.  This was definitely a good break with the food we have eaten so far.  A nice ‘intermission’ to our main course.

• Christmas Duo of Beef

2 types of beef in 1 dish!  It’s always a delight having more choices for food.  The presentation was truly beautiful and I was like a kid thinking which one to eat first.  There were braised short ribs and U.S. Angus Beef.  I must say the Angus Beef was way better, way tastier and way tender.  The ribs didn’t go well with my taste buds, I ended up just taking a bite and left the rest on my plate.

• Gianduja Tart

Hazelnut chocolate cake with gingerbread ice cream.  Not really a fan of chocolates 🙁  I’m sure the cake tasted good, my friend loved it!

• Tagaytay Herbal Infusion

Always a perfect way to end a meal.  Herbal tea, nice and hot.

I loved the experience considering I was with my friend.  We took lots of pictures and everything turned out so well.  Service was awesome too (except reservations).  I also noticed some awards Restaurant Verbena got displayed in the place.  I’m glad I finally tried it.

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Restaurant Verbena
Discovery Country Suites, 300 Calamba Road, San Jose, 4120 Tagaytay City
(046) 413-4567

Cav Wine Shop-Café was a bit intimidating so I was pretty glad when I saw a promo at Deal Grocer.  They offered 40% off on their 3-course European meal.  A rare opportunity that I wouldn’t miss.  I’m glad that finally I’ll be able to try out Cav Wine Shop-Café which was a new find.  I initially thought of it as a wine shop and was delighted that they actually offer food as well.

As we entered the place, it was quite empty 🙁  After a few minutes, a couple entered and I saw that they also purchased the Deal Grocer promo.  I realized that we visited Cav Wine Shop-Café during a holiday.  The place might be full during regular working hours.  Since they called their 3-course meal, business lunch, then I would assume that they are jam-packed during business days.  It would be such a waste if they aren’t because the food was good.  High quality if I may say.

The daily business lunch is priced at Php 780.  It’s basically a 3-course meal.  It changes daily though depending on the Chef’s recommendation.  On the day of our visit, it was sea bass!  More information on what we have eaten below.  Read on 🙂

We were first served bread while we await for our main meal.  I seriously LOVED the bread!!  It was baked perfectly, no joke.  I was ashamed to ask if we can have more hahaha!  So I got away with what was given to us.  Notice the poppy seeds with the bread.

Here comes our 3-course meal.  I cannot wait to try out everything.  I was taking my time as I wanted to enjoy the food.  I wished we coupled it with wine but I’m not such a fan of wines and liquor.  Not really my cup of tea.  I asked my mom and Christina too as they love wine.  They passed as it’s lunch time and they think dinner time would be the best time to enjoy wine.

• Vegetable Confit Salad

Salad as 1st course of our lunch.  Very fresh and healthy way to start a meal.  The ingredients blends perfectly in our taste buds.  Doesn’t feel bitter as we expected fresh vegetabless and leaves to be.  It feels so fresh with all those vegetables, watermelon seeds, roasted corn and even flower petals.  Yum yum!  Such great presentation too!

• Seabass, Saffron & Pea Risotto

I love risotto and I’m on diet so I really appreciate fish when I dine out.  Well, I was super glad that sea bass was the main course!  The fish was cooked just right, seasoned pretty well too.  Coupled with risotto, it was purrrfect!

• Strawberry Mille Feuille

Heavenly!  That’s the word I can describe our last course.  Strawberry sherbet with strawberry cake (?).  There were chocolate bits with the strawberry sherbet which tasted soooo good!  The biscuit was crispy too with fresh strawberries and custard (I think).  It was like 2 different kinds of desserts in one.

The food was great!  I love how unique and brilliantly thought of the recipes were.  They even offer different menu each day.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised each time you dine at Cav Wine Shop-Café.  With just Php 780 for the 3-course meal, we’re getting our money’s worth.  If you’re craving for a high-quality European meal, you might want to consider Cav Wine Shop-Café.

Not to mention, I had the meal with 2 beautiful important women in my life 🙂  Whatta way to spend a special lunch.

I was even goofing around hahaha!  I was making faces for the camera as Christina was trying out her new lens.

Cav Wine Shop-Café’s specialty is wine.  They have extensive collection of wines in the shop from premium wines to normal ones.  What’s cool is they allows us to sample their wines through their Cav’s enomatic wine machine.  We don’t need to purchase one whole bottle of the wine we wanted to try out.

Cav Wine Shop-Café’s Wine experience goes this way:

• get a tasting card from the reception.  a Php 300 security deposit will be requested and refunded upon return of the card.
• select a glass from the counter.
• insert wine card into the machine.
• select your wine.
• choose the size: tasting (25 ml), half-glass (75 ml) or full-glass (125 ml).
• press the button to serve wine in glass.
• purchases will be added to your final bill at your table.

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Cav Wine Shop-Café
Ground Flr ‘The Spa Bldg’ Lot 5, Quadrant 8 City Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
(02) 856-1798

My trip to Ayala Triangle Gardens was still fresh in my mind.  And I was so glad that we had lunch with colleagues at one of the restaurants there which I haven’t tried, Kanin Club.  Actually, the original plan was to have lunch at Wee Nam Kee but due to the long queue, we decided otherwise.

I was excited to try out Kanin Club.  I wanted to know what would separate Kanin Club from other Filipino restaurants in the metro.  Why was it called Kanin Club?  Are there anything special with their rice?  I was too enthusiastic to find out.  I wouldn’t have any problem if we ordered too much 😛

I was a bit disappointed when we walked up to the entrance.  We were waiting for someone to assist us so we could have a table.  We were calling the waiter but he told us he can’t help us and we should just wait for the receptionist.  We don’t even know who the receptionist is, we tried entering and was trying to catch the attention of their waiters, hayyy.  Fortunately, the receptionist finally showed up and walked us to our table.  The disappointment didn’t stop there.  It was just so hard to catch the attention of the waiters.  It seemed like they were avoiding being called upon.  That time, it was already past 2pm and the restaurant wasn’t full.  They were courteous though when we finally caught them.  I hope they improve on this.

I let my colleagues do the ordering as 2 of them already tried Kanin Club.  Both said they loved the food.  I was looking forward to tasting them.  So the ff. were our orders:

• Ripe Mango Shake (Php 97)

Their green mango shake was a bit more expensive.  I do not understand why.  I ended up with the ripe mango shake.

• Crispy Liempo (Php 142)

We all love crunchy food especially for appetizer.  We had crispy liempo which is pork belly strips made as a snack.  It came with 3 different sauces for us to dip the liempo into.  The sauces were chili sauce, soy sauce and vinegar.  The best sauce for it definitely was the vinegar in my opinion.  It felt like chicharon but not so devilish 😛

• Tinapa Rice (Php 149)

As soon as I had a spoonful of tinapa rice, I understood why the restaurant is called Kanin Club.  The whole dish tasted like tinapa.  Every spoonful of it.  Flavors were spread evenly, we could really taste the smoked fish all over the dish.  I couldn’t get enough of it.

On my next visit, I will definitely try out the other rice dishes.  If I don’t get the chance to dine in there next time, I would order for take out!  I can practically just eat this rice without any main dish (‘ulam’ in tagalog).

• Crispy Dinuguan (Php 261)

If you aren’t fond of liver, fret not!  As Kanin Club’s crispy dinuguan is made for us non-dinuguan lovers!  Such a unique creation!  I couldn’t believe that they could think of having the pork deep fried first then have the pork blood stew over it.  No liver, so we can indulge on this beautiful dish.

• Lemon Chicken (Php 224)

I always see lemon chicken in Chinese restaurants.  It was interesting to eat Kanin club’s take of the dish.  The chicken was definitely thinner and the sauce was not thick.  Their lemon sauce was sweet.  I enjoyed this dish.

• Turon KC a la Mode (Php 135)

Definitely the most unique turon I have ever eaten in my life.  This was a genius creation!  Think halo halo in a fried roll!  Gee!  I was in total awe looking at the dish and was even more impressed when I was already eating it.

This unique turon creation of Kanin Club has bananas, purple yam jam, sweet coconut strips and mongo beans.  You can order just the turon KC but we went a step further by getting the ala mode which has a scoop of ice cream.  This was such a treat!  A must order!

I loved the food!  To be honest, I didn’t expect the food to be so good!  I noticed one thing though, they took advantage of frying their food to the maximum level.  They know that we Filipinos, love crunchy/crispy food.  Kanin Club took note of that, incorporated it to their dishes and is very successful in executing it.

Just one look at the restaurant and you’d know it’s Filipino.  They probably got inspiration from the old Filipino times.  It works.  It was like modern Filipino food in an old Filipino inspired place.  Suited for all ages and their food definitely satisfies our tastebuds.

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Kanin Club
Restaurants at the Ayala Triangle Gardens
Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City