"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
-Harriet Van Horne

If you’re a regular follower of our blog, you may know now that I have exchanged a career in nursing for an unknown future in the culinary industry. I’ll be honest; there were times when I had doubts if I’ve made the right decision of switching careers, but I always find inspiration from people who have experienced the same things that I’ve been through and have become successful. One of them is Chef Myke "Tatung” Sarthou of Tatung’s Garden Cafe, who decided to brush aside writing and production work to put on a chef’s garb and start a restaurant business.

Hidden along the residential community of Sikatuna Village in Quezon City, a home-turned-restaurant stands with a luscious menu offering a modern take on Filipino Cuisine.

It’s a rainy Saturday morning when we were invited for a lunch at Tatung’s Garden Café. The façade gives little clue that there’s actually a restaurant inside.

Chef Tatung truly understands Filipino cuisine. He shared that Filipinos eat with flavors that are close to nature, and that our cooking is greatly influenced by our environment. That is the reason why in creating his dishes, he made sure that his food tastes like what they really are. A chicken dish should taste like it’s made of chicken. It’s as simple as that.

A few weeks ago, my nanay and I went out for our much-needed mother-daughter date. I had four vouchers bought from CashCashPinoy for 52% off on food and drinks from Dillinger’s 1903 Steak Brew restobar in Greenbelt 3. After hours of pampering from rO2 Beauty and Wellness Center, we were starving so we headed straight to the restaurant.

Upon our arrival on the third floor of Greenbelt 3, we immediately saw Dillinger’s 1903. Okay, I asked a guard for the exact location. It was beside Red Box. And as soon as we got there, I couldn’t help but admire the design of the outside of the restaurant.

The wooden doors, the brick wall, the mix of hues of black, gold and gray, and the wide glass windows are reminiscent of something you’d see in a mafia movie. So, let’s go inside…

November 17, 2011 – It was that time again for foodies to come together and discover new offerings from various home-based food suppliers at the Ultimate Taste Test 7.0. This time, the venue was in Mercato Centrale in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The food showcase was scheduled for 3 hours only so we were hoping to be there on time. But, unfortunately, we arrived almost an hour late. Thankfully, we were able to have a taste of all except 3 out of all the purveyors who were there to present their products.

When we got there, a lot of fellow foodies were still coming in and there was a long queue outside the tent area in Mercato Centrale. We were glad to see that there were a lot of tables set up inside and outside the air-conditioned area where people can sit and relax while they enjoy the food.

Since we needed to take photos of the food for our feature here, we had a hard time squeezing in. Of course, we didn’t want to cut the line as that’ll be unfair so we opted to stay in line. It was a long wait and it did test the patience of most people. But, hey, we were excited to taste all the food there ‘cause they were all new to us, except for one dessert purveyor – meaning they weren’t at the Ultimate Taste Test 6 in Rockwell or we haven’t had the chance to taste their products yet. So, we waited for our turn.

We thought UTT 6.0 was better though in the sense that there were more room for people to move around, going from one booth to another. We didn’t get to sit at the tables ‘til the very end when we were rating the food because we wanted to, as much as possible, go through all the 30+ booths.

Now, on to our top picks. We’re not unanimous with our favorites so we’re not going to rank them again, just like in our UTT 6 Top Picks. Here we go!

Note: Pardon the quality of the photos. We had to take quick shots ‘cause there was a long queue of people behind us. We didn’t want to irritate them.

Sweet Favorites

MERRY MOO

(Food for the Gods and Queso de Bola with Fiesta Ham)

Between the two, we LOVED the Queso de Bola with Fiesta Ham. The bits of meat made this so delectable, mixing in with the sweet-salty flavors of the cheesy ice cream. We wanted to have seconds! Definitely, we’re coming back for this!

Merry Moo Ice Creamery
Email: merrymoo@ymail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Merrymoo.icecream
Contact #: 0917-528-9590

Most of us look forward to Friday. It’s the end of a busy week and, at the same time, the start of a well-deserved weekend for all those who hustle and bustle at school or at work. It’s the ultimate day for relaxation and enjoyment. But, guess what, we don’t really need to wait for Friday just to have fun. With T.G.I. Friday’s infectious energy and with their excellent food and customer service, everyone would feel like it’s Friday every single day of the week!

T.G.I. Friday’s Maxim: “In here, it’s always Friday.”

After more than 15 years since setting up their first in 1994, T.G.I. Friday’s opens a new branch in Eastwood City, Libis. This is their 13th and now considered as their new flagship branch since it’s the location where the brand has decided to implement major changes in architectural and interior design.

It is the first free-standing Friday’s branch. All of the other branches, as we all have known, are located in major shopping malls around the Metro.

Facade of T.G.I. Friday’s Eastwood City in Libis

From outside, the facade looks bright and very inviting. They have replaced the old canopies and awnings with movie theater-like sheds, giving the place a more modern feel.

Almost everyone who comes to Friday’s has their own camera, and surely they wouldn’t be able to resist having their pictures taken with these life-size models of Superman; the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley; and the iconic, Marilyn Monroe.

Superman, My cam-whore sis, Mhel, with Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley.

Friday’s is known for having an “artistic clutter” of memorabilia from decades as early as the ‘30s. Now they have decided to move forward in time by including pieces from later decades like the ‘80s, ‘90s, and even from the new millennium.

Last week, Ken and I, along with fellow foodies, were invited to Bizu Patisserie and Bisro’s Bloggers Party over at their Greenbelt branch. Having been there during the Cadbury Chocoholic night, we were both looking forward to having a taste of more dishes from this pastry shop / restaurant.

I took this photo using my new Nikon D3100. Woot! Stay tuned for better photos soon

The dinner was graced with the presence of Aaron and Annie Tanco who started it all. They shared with us how their pastry shop was conceptualized, including how they came up with the name of their restaurant. It was all very interesting, especially the part where Aaron told us that Bizu came about after her mom Annie dreamt of people kissing each other on the cheeks (beso-beso) at a restaurant. They decided to use the French word for “kiss”, which is "bisous”, but added a twist by spelling it the way it’s pronounced.

I just want to mention this – I enjoyed how Aaron and Annie spoke to us about their restaurant. You can really feel they’re truly passionate about their food and the service they offer to their diners. They were all very accommodating, even laughing and sharing stories with us throughout the night. Even Chrissy, the lovely lady in the middle of the photo above, was very cheery.

Ahoy, mates! Fish & Co., the Singapore-bred restaurant that has enticed the Filipino palates with their best-selling seafood fare, had set sail across the Atlantic Ocean and captured the flavors exotic to the islands of the West Indies in their latest menu addition the “Plates of the Caribbean”.

Being a Filipino, I’m accustomed to having rice and meat combinations in most of my meals, so a dinner of merely “fish and chips” may deem unsatisfying to my appetite. Relatively, Fish & Co. recognized the need to introduce more meat dishes in their menu as a strategy to reel in more rice-and-meat-loving Pinoys.

Early this year, they launched the Fish and Ribs as a means of testing the waters to see how their meat dishes will fare in the market. The dish was well-accepted by their guests, thus resulting now to the creation of the Plates of the Caribbean, which promised to incorporate more fish, seafood, chicken, pork, beef, and vegetables into Fish & Co’s menu.

The Plates of the Caribbean presents 5 new surf and turf dishes named after five island destinations in the Caribbean. They are the islands of Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia. And to complement these five sumptuous fare, three new refreshing beverages were also added – the Juice Almighty, the Cool Cucumber Breeze, and the Veggie-Fruit Blast.

From Top Left: Saint Lucia, Montserrat, Dominica, Barbados,Bahamas, Juice Almighty, Cool Cucumber Breeze, and Veggie-Fruit Blast.

For Sharing or for the Lone Pirate?

The Plates of the Caribbean are available in Regular and Just For Me portions. Regular is enough to feed 2-3 hungry pirates, while the Just For Me portion is for those pirates dining alone, or for those who prefer smaller servings of the dishes.