On High Land

M and I found ourselves driving off to Tagaytay one weekend for a meeting of his. We were invited to stay for the night at the posh Tagaytay Highlands. It was our first time and we were excited. We drove off early to escape the coding scheme on a Friday, so we found ourselves lounging at Nuvali in the morning.

 For lunch, we went to The Grill by Antonio's to try their Chicken Inasal. But M found other stuff to devour. Give them time to grill your food. :)

Chicken Inasal  P110

It was okay. I like mine a little more garlicky and sweet-ish. It came with some annato oil and some fresh garlic, vinegar and soy sauce. Not the best I've tried, but was satisfied, nonetheless. :)

Grilled Hito P290
It came with a yummy side dish of  Buro. mustasa or mustard leaves and eggplant. Quite good, actually. 

Sisig P320
Chopped pig's ears on a sizzling plate. With chicken liver. Yum.


In the evening, we were invited to have dinner  The Highland's Steakhouse. 

John Wayne's Prime Rib. 
Nope, it didn't delight that night. 

Salad with Liver the name of which I forgot. 
Sinfully good. Just too little greens I think to be considered a salad.  

The dessert of which we all had a taste of from a friend's plate, were scrumptious!!! Yes, the desserts were lovely. Sorry, no pics were taken.

For breakfast, I had some of the waitress's recommended Longganisa. Nope, it disappointed. Sorry.
.

This pond is part of the Clubhouse at the Highlands. Such a pretty spot. This estate has so many beautiful spots, although I think upkeep hasn't been as often judging from some of the structures we've seen. So much more potential for this place.

Until next time, Tagaytay!

Of Brick Walls and Pasta Trios

My Mom and I like two other things other than food-- and those are hardwood and bricks. This place we went to last night was a lovely, rustic and romantic Italian restaurant called L'Opera Ristorante Italiano at The Fort Strip, with walls warmed up by bricks. I was staring at the brick arches and walls from the loft, and I forgot to take a photo. Imagine that.

But I did not forget the grub. M was in the mood for splurging on a Friday night.

Minestra con Granchi

This was his soup- the Minestra con Granchi or simply Crab Soup in a tomato base. He liked it, and I could see big chunks of crabmeat on top of the soup.

Please forgive me for the mobile phone shots. I ran out of batteries. Sigh.

This photo doesn't do justice to my Minestrone Soup. It was so good. Earthy.

It was enough to fill me up. But the night was young.

Trittico della Casa

And because this was an Italian restaurant, I thought it was necessary to order pasta. We ordered the Trittico della Casa, a special selection of three pastas of our choice. So, the merry pinpointing began, where we ordered one from each category (Vegetable, Meat, Fish and Seafood).

They were good, but I am not going to do that again. It was excessive and not right. We couldn't enjoy each flavor on its own. Not again. But among the three, what stood out was the strong and pungent Penne Funghi Porcini ( under the Vegetable category, leftmost)). The sauce consisted of a thick and creamy Porcini mushroom cream sauce. Good. The other two flavors were the basic Ragu Toscano ( Meat sauce) and the Vongole Bianco (Seafood). They were good too.

Tagliata di Manzo con Fegato D’oca in Salsa Tartufata con Spinaci e Asparagus

But this one stole the show. Steak, medium well. Split into two.

Melts in the mouth. Salty, buttery. Enough said.

I only wish my camera was fully charged.

Their service is also good. Highly attentive waiters. :D

Bon appetit!

Steak it in CdO

I love beef, in every form- as burgers, steak, stew, stroganoff, as bolognese sauce for pasta, roasted... or even bulalo ( yum!). Beef satisfies me like no other meat can.

Once, I read in a magazine, that certain foods work best for a specific blood type. I was greatly interested ( and enthusiastic!) to find out that blood type O people need beef for their systems to work at its best. I don't know if this study or theory still holds true... but I find that I am most satisfied with my meal when there's some beef in it! So there goes my excuse for not going vegetarian :) Hehe.

In hometown Cdo, the best steak house is Countryside Steakhouse and is located on the second floor of the Rosario Arcade in LKK Center. The place is nicely done in a Western Cowboy theme, and filled with big wood furnitures. This is also the site of many of our special family celebrations. Some say that the beef they serve are not as tender as the ones served before by Del Monte, but on this particular evening with my family, we had a juicy, yummy steakfest! :)

Whenever we order the steak prime cuts, the meat is accompanied with an appetizer tray of bread, soup, side salad of greens and a choice between potatoes or rice. I forgot though if corn is one of the choices.

Here is their signature placemat. It sure pays to know the part you're eating. :) Hehe

Chicken Squash Soup

This is the salad that came with the steak, with a thousand island dressing.

The mashed potatoes is a dense cup of velvety spuds. Yumm.

Sizzling Sirloin with the gravy

Without the gravy, it still looks yummy. And the veggies are fresh!

CdO Love.

My Favorite Steak Restaurant

Set atop Greenbelt 3 and overlooking the Greenbelt compound, we have found our favorite steak restaurant. Not only that, we love its location and its view... plus the Spanish mosaics on the wall.
Gaudi for me, is one of the best restaurants in town. Not only is their steak the yummiest, and their paella the best (well at least until I get to taste Senor Alba's), their service is really great!
Simply put, we just love Gaudi!!

We first had our Gaudi experience around 2 years ago. Since then, we've been just salivating over the thought of their Chuleton Villagodio- hands down my favorite steak dish. On this particular evening, we shared these treasures with Mark's Papa and sister. Let me show you what I'm talking about.

This is their bread- a big basketful of goodness.

Plato de Ibericos (P415.00)
The appetizer, an assortment of tapas and cheese.

Some buttered potatoes

Roasted pimientoes

Aaaaaah...
The Arros con Marisco (P700)!
This blurry picture contains mouthfuls of yummy saffron flavored rice. So much better than other paellas in town (again, until I try Senor Alba's).

Here comes the piece de resistance.. tadaah!
Blurry pictures (I was shaking with excitement, sorry!) of The Chuleton Villagodio.

Chuleton de Villagodio (P2597/1.06)
Perfect cuts of super tender Angus Beef , sprinkled with coarse sea salt, ....

... and grilled on a stone plate set on top of a tiny gas burner.

The blurry pictures doesn't stop me from remembering
how mouthwatering this experience was!

The Chuleton Villagodio is an experience worth having, albeit a very expensive one.
The order is charged per kilogram and there are different cuts of the meat. The servers will kindly show you a plateful of the raw version before they pre-cook it , so you can choose which ones you prefer (then you can have a chance of ordering the smaller, and maybe less expensive cuts, yay!).


And because Mark's sister was with us, it seemed fitting to order dessert with her around!
We wanted to try all their desserts, so we ordered the ....

Detodunpocu- a dessert sampler. What a big load of sweetness!

Oh, hello there my lovely choux!

The Chocolate mousse was also good!

A Little Formal at Aubergine

My Mark and I went out for dinner one week night, this time with his mother, where we chanced upon Aubergine at The Fort.

We were a little intimidated by its classy interiors, but food is food! We just wanted to eat good food, and felt better after thinking that. We were first seated at a table near the kitchen glass windows, where we could see the action. But alas, the chairs were too soft and were too low for the table so it didn't make for a very comfortable eating position. So I bade goodbye to the good kitchen view, where we saw the pristine white chef's uniforms together with ISCAHM students, and the stainless steel counters. Sigh for the view :) But it was indeed better to eat at the second table, which was situated right beside the floor-to- ceiling glass-covered wine chiller, another sight to behold.

I dare say the food we ordered for the evening was good. Expensive, but good. I loved the tableware and service was mainly good. Let us get on to the most important part... the food! We had the following:

Tuna Tartare
This one was compliments from the chef,
since my Mark ordered one of the evening's Chef's specials.
All three of us had a serving of the tuna tartare. The tuna was soft and fresh. It was a lovely start.

There was yummy bread (although I wasn't able to take a picture of it),
which was accompanied by a duo of fresh butter and a pesto cream sauce.
The latter was really creamy.

Mark likes oysters a lot, and cheese a lot...
so he ordered these Baked Oysters (P480).
I liked them. They were good!
I actually prefer my oysters grilled with lots of garlic...
but the cheese they placed here were not too much,
and complemented the spinach leaves inside it.
My mouth is watering now, just by remembering it!

Grilled Fillet of Chilean Sea Bass (P980)
This was my order. I wanted something different from the usual steak, and ordered this nice, and creamy fish dish. MunchPunch provides a menu for Aubergine, and the menu describes the sauce accompanying this as tomato fondue and boullabaise broth. The mashed potatoes were also incorporated in the broth... so what may seem as a light dish.. was actually quite heavy!

Chef's Special
This is one of the three Chef's specials for the evening, which the waitress offered
to us on a blackboard menu. Hehe. I couldn't quite remember the dish's exact description but I remember it having some Wagyu steak, Prawns and Foie gras. The foie gras, my husband enjoyed very much. It was creamy and well cooked, but not dry. It didn't have any bitter liver taste and was actually quite sweet. He's a fan now of their Foie gras, which I read somewhere is actually one of Aubergine's specialties! Yum!

My mother-in-law ordered this yummy Angus Beef Rib Eye.
It was good and well.... I love beef!
So I wish I ordered this too.
But I luckily got a bite of it! Thanks Ma!:)

They also served us a complimentary dessert from their Patisserie.. a trio of macarons in lemon, cherry and chocolate flavors. I think they need to improve on their macarons though. I've tasted Bizu's and I really love their macarons.

So there.. we were in la la land for an hour or so, eating lovely food in a lovely setting. The interiors were very classy, and the location is not that easy to access, as it is located at the 2nd floor of the 32nd&5th building at the Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. Most of the people there were foreign businessmen, so I suggest you dress properly in going there to avoid the discomfort I felt when I was there! Hehe.

Thanks Ma! Hehe.

Myron's Place

Lovely, lovely place. When Mark and I were looking for a new place to eat at Greenbelt to celebrate payday, I remembered reading Dessert Comes First's blog on Myron's Place. It was a great review. Thus, we headed off to Greenbelt 5 to try it.

Myron's Place is located at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5, and has a great view of the garden. Customers have the option of dining al fresco, although the interiors of the restaurant entices you to eat inside. Modern and elegant, it's plush leather seats are very comfortable. There are big red globe lamps scattered around the orange and brown theme.

We went there for lunch, and we were hungry indeed after church service.

For starters, we ordered the Risotto Balls with Chorizo (P250). A highly recommended dish by Dessert Comes First. True enough, it was very, very, good. The risotto was so soft and highly flavored by the chorizo and parmesan cheese. A must try!

Risotto Balls

The salad came in next- A Mesclun Salad with Sea Scallops in Raspberry Vinaigrette Sauce. Nice name, but it did not complement the highly flavorful Risotto Balls. It was a bad idea to serve it next to the Risotto.

A Mesclun Salad with Sea Scallops
in Raspberry Vinaigrette Sauce

The Scallops. Only 3 pieces of it.

A while after finishing the salad, came in the main dish. We ordered the beef steak at 450 grams which they called Franco's Cut (P1575). We split the steak between the two of us.

Franco's Cut

It was done medium well, but looked more medium rare on the inside. It was very tender too and cooked very well. My only "beef" on the beef was that the fat was not evenly distributed. There were parts where it was all fat. Other than that, it was yummy! Perfect with the mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes it came with. There's a 250 gram cut which was priced less but we had to split it in two, and we were just too hungry!

Mashed Potatoes

My Coca-cola!

The view from inside

Of all the things we missed, was the dessert! I forgot about the dessert here. Next time, next time . . .