Pepato's, Greenbelt 3

Pepato's has just elevated "comfort food" to a new level.

"Comfort Food" is a term we use to dishes that we like to eat when we're tired, feeling sad or iffy. Our comfort food must be consistently delicious to remind us that there really are good things in life and that there are things that we can rely on.

After sitting for 4 hours in a meeting that involved taxes, balance sheets, and lots of figures in small print, I needed some comfort. So when my officemates asked me where I wanted to eat dinner, I suggested that we eat in the Pepato's the place where I remember having perfectly cooked chilean sea bass.

When we got to Pepato's I asked for my favorite dish - the sea bass that's cooked inside a paper box. I also ordered tomato soup and salad with fried cheese. for appetizers, we had the bone marrow. I asked for the green grape shake.

I was not disappointed. The serving of the bone marrow, as expected was little, but it was packed with flavor. The bread that was served with it was also buttery and tasty. The salad was really good! i didn't even mind eating those bitter leaves (arugula or something.)

The tomato soup was perfectly light. The tomatos were so sweet and the cheese sprinkles on it made the taste more interesting. It was also served at the perfect temperature - hot enough to warm the tummy but it wouldn't scorch your tongue.

As usual, the sea bass was light (yes, it's light, not creamy) even with all the butter!

The green apple shake was also yummy! It was also brain freeze free.

And the best part of the dinner? The "butler type" of service that rey really enjoys. We didn't have to ask for anything - waiters re-filled water goblets when they're near empty, plates and bowls which are no longer used are immediately cleared, they even served more butter in the middle of the main course just in case we wanted to eat more bread. and this was done without any fuss. You wouldn't even notice the waiters! Galing talaga.

After the meal, I've forgotten how tired I was. Life is really good.

 

Mongkok in Glorietta and Dencio's at Capitol Golf

After a week of working, my friend, Kat and decided to meet for dinner and drinks. We initially wanted to meet at 7 but at around 5:30, I found out that my father, whom I call Pa or Fatherlily, is in Makati. 

I'm using Fatherlily's car so I offered to bring him home. I met him in Landmark at around 6. Since he hasn't eaten and we correctly expected a long ride home due to the traffic, I decided to treat him out for dinner. Since Fatherlily doesn't eat anything but Chinese of Filipino food and we were really hungry, we ate in Mongkok.

Since we were hungry, we got dumplings from the cart. The hakaw, or the shrimp dumplings were ordinary, but the sharks' fin dumplings were really good! We also ordered their yang chow fried rice, salt and pepper spareribs, mixed vegetables and shrimp with hot salad. For our drinks, Pa got pineapple juice. I ordered Mongkok lemonade.

The yang chow fried rice was good - it had egg, green peas,  some porkbits and my favorite chinese sausage. It was also a bit wet, which is how I like my rice. They served the fried rice before they served the other dishes, but since it was so tasty, Fatherylily ate a few spoonsfull even if there were no other viands yet.

The mixed vegetables were okay but typical - the greens were crisp and the carrots were cut in cute floral shapes. The dish wasn't too salty. Their use of aji no moto wasn't too obvious. The salt and pepper spareribs were a bit tough but were delicious. It was hot enough to leave a small bite on the tongue. I didn't like their hot salad, though. It was a bit too sour for me.

The Mongkok lemonade is ok. There were some dayap slices floating in it but it is quite obvious from the taste that the lemonade wasn't fresh.

After the meal, we had green tea. It was a disappointment since their tea came in a tea bag.  It's a good thing that service was excellent and they don't have service charge. For a fast food resto, Mongkok was ok.

After bringing Fatherlily home, I met with Kat. We wanted to watch a show but our choices were Diether Ocampo, Beverly Salviejo and the Rage Band - none of whom appealed to us. We just decided to go to Dencio's in Capitol Golf for the ambiance. The resto was around 5 minuts from Rey's house so we invited him to join us. He did.

Dencio's is at the 3rd floor of the old clubhouse of Capitol Golf & Country Club. It has a nice view of Antipolo and Libis. Eating at their balcony has a calming effect on me. (I need some calming after huffing and puffing through  4 half-flights of stairs. They don't have an escalator or an elevator.)

We ordered ensaladang mangga, chicharong bulaklak and crispy pata (hey, we initially ordered panga ng tuna but they don't have it.) The ensaladang mangga was perfectly sour (because of the green mangoes) and salty (i love their bagoong!). The chicharong bulaklak pieces were too huge that they were actually intimidating. They were not as crisp as I wanted.  But the crispy pata was unapologetically crispy, juicy, flavorful and fattening. Of course, we had to order rice.

The service was not as good as it used to but their beers are perfectly cold. That was good enough for us. Unfortunately, they close at 1 am. So, even if we wanted to drink some more we had to say goodbye to our beautiful view and our consistently cold beer. 

The Cookery Gourmet Catering

Rey and I were in a wake for his uncle yesterday evening. The food was catered by The Cookery. They served penne pasta in tomato sauce, which was okay. The bread was a bit too tough and the pastry tasted different. Not bad, but different.

But the stars of their show were the tenderloin tips and the canonigo.

The tenderloin tips were easy to chew and the sauce was enough to prevent the meat from getting dry without being too drippy. The taste was a perfect blend of soy sauce, garlic and other spices. The taste of the garlic was subtle but strong enough to be felt. I was planning not to eat meat for a week or two but the dish was too tempting to resist.

The canonigo was the bigger star.  Like most canonigos, it melts the moment it touches your tongue (and immediately finds its way to your love handles). But unlike other canonigos, this one doesn't immediately melt in its entirety, it leaves a soft layer that's light but creamy. Since this layer melts more slowly than the rest of the canonigo, you get to enjoy the subtly sweet taste of this wonderfully sinful dessert for a little bit longer.

When they ran out of canonigo, they served an equally sinful-looking chocolate cake. Of course I wanted to taste it, but thought against it - after all, we were with Rey's relatives and I didn't want them to think that I was just there for the food. I really wasn't.


 

gloriamaris in greenbelt 2

I had a really nice dinner at gloriamaris earlier this evening.
 
They still have their 3 treasure's promo so their crab is still at P350 per kilo. They were suggesting the crab in szechuan sauce but i asked for the salt and pepper crab thinking that it's less messy to eat. i still made lot of mess, though. The crab was perfectly cooked (no overcooked nor raw parts) and they put lots of toasted garlic on it (really yummy!). It was also a bit spicy but you can add more spice by dipping it in the sauce that had some mean-looking chilis in it. I chose to dip it in black vinegar.
 
I also got to taste the steamed lapu-lapu fillet in soy sauce. It was good but not spectacular. I like the fresh lapu-lapu better if it weren't for the hassle of having to de-bone it.
 
We also had mango sago for dessert - it was really good! The mango was sweet and creamy and the sago were soft. They also added finely shaved ice that felt like velvet on the palate. The combination of the taste and the texture was really awesome. I wanted to eat another bowl! (Sadly, I can't. While I'm not on a diet, I try not to be a glutton.)
 
The bill? It was a little over P1,000. The crab was small so it was only around P270. The fish fillet was P400! That was a surprise since the whole lapu-lapu was only P420.
 
At around P500 per person, the meal was a bit expensive but it was worth the price. I can't wait to go back and order my favorite - PEKING DUCK!!!
 
 

Alex III

My officemates and I had to work over dinner. The partner wanted to meet somewhere near UP.  We decided to meet in Trellis. However, when we got to Trellis, it was closed so we decided to visit Alex III which was only a few meters down the road.
 
Alex III offers a wide selection of dishes, we ordered tuna and salmon sashimi, sinigang na salmon sa miso and spare ribs. We didn't order too much food because their menu states that the sinigang was good for 2 to 3 persons. We didn't wait long before they serve the tuna and the salmon sashimi. they looked and tasted fresh but their serving size was too much of a david for eaters like us who have goliath-sized appetites. Within a few minutes, they served the sinigang. It was okay but it could be better. (My standards for sinigang are high because thanks to nanay, the sinigang at home is really good. It's perfectly sour.) And the serving size was barely enough for 2 people. Sigh. The spareribs came much later but it was worth the wait. It's not too sweet and it's really soft! I didn't get to taste the java rice that came with it, though.
 
After our main meal, we decided to have dessert. One officemate got a scoop of strawberry ice cream which was undeniably Nestle. I got the pandan tapioca with coconut milk. It wasn't bad. it wasn't good either. It was a bit too sweet for me and the whole thing just didn't blend - it was like eating the pandan tapioca and the coconut milk separately.
 
Oops. I almost forgot. They do serve japanese green tea (yup! the one that's supposedly good for the health.) What's good about it is that they serve it in a huge pot and they use loose green tea leaves.
 
As for the price, our bill was around P1,000. For 3 people, the price is reasonable.
 
But will Alex III  earn me a point if i bring Rey there? Possible. The taste of their food made up for their miniscule serving size and the waiters were very attentive. It is not a bad substitute for Trellis.
 
 

The Game

I met Rey when I was an incoming college junior at the Ateneo. Right after we were introduced, we all went to the college caf to buy some food.
 
 11 years and 16 pounds later, food is still on top of our priorities. So, a few years ago, Rey and I decided to play a game to keep track of who recommends the most good restaurants.
 
The rules are simple - a point is given everytime the food in a restaurant where we're dining for the first time is something that we would want to eat again.
 
It's unfortunate that from the time we started the game until today, we did not list the restaurants where we earned points. But from this day forward, I'll try to document our visits to new eating places.