I have something to confess. I haven’t been to Boracay. Supposedly, after Ken’s graduation from Nursing (yes, he’s an RN and an RM too! ), we were going on a vacation there. But, I was sick so they went without me. I’m pretty jealous of the stories I’ve heard from them and from my friends who’ve been to Boracay because of their stories about the beautiful beaches, the people, activities and, of course, the food. One of the restaurants I’ve heard people raving about was Aria Cucina Italiana.

Briefly, Aria Cucina Italiana is an Italian restaurant in Boracay (D’Mall) known for its modern and contemporary take on the flavors of Italy, particularly inspired by the coastal regions of the Mediterranean.They opened in 2003 and became popular for their homemade pastas, salads, woodfire oven-baked pizzas, and excellent wine list.

A couple of days ago, we received news that they’re coming to Manila. They are finally opening a store in Bonifacio High Street Central in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on January 28, 2012. Along with the news was an invite to dine at their restaurant. So, we just can’t wait for Aria Cucina Italiana to open its doors this coming week.

Here are a few teaser photos of the food you can savor at Aria Cucina Italiana:

Fettucine Nere in Crema di Mare

It was the first day of December last year (sounded like a really long time ago eh?), we were headed to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. It was a very familiar place to me since I used to work there at ePLDT Ventus so now, I always look forward to any opportunity that brings me to this same place where I spent two years working. This time though, the whole BGC is populated with more establishments everywhere you look and it’ll take some time before we can try all the restaurants here.

The reason why we were at BGC : we were invited to dine at F Restaurant on the fifth floor of Best Western Premier F1 Hotel, the first hotel in the area and is located (strategically perhaps) in front of St. Luke’s Medical Center. Just by the sound of the name of the hotel where the resto is located, you’d know our expectations were set high.

As soon as we entered, we were welcomed with a very festive scene – beside two tall Christmas trees is this house made of candies, marshmallows, and other goodies. I began to understand Hansel and Gretel.

Manila Diamond Hotel’s award-winning Japanese restaurant Yurakuen is proudly offering a totally unique Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can experience for all us buffet lovers out there. Instead of getting food from buffet spreads and cooking them on your table’s hot pot and griddles, Yurakuen lets you sit back and relax as you watch your personal chefs prepare food at your very own tables.

Available during lunch and dinner, enjoy the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can with unlimited flow of local drinks, local beer, and Japanese Kirin beer, all for the price of Php 1,970++ per person. My sister, Mhel, and I got to experience it ourselves when they invited us to experience a Teppanyaki dinner. It may be a little pricey, but we can seriously say that it’s worth every penny! Not convinced? Let me walk you through it.

First, above are photos of the long lists of food you can order with the Teppanyaki Eat-All-You-Can promo (click to zoom), which include appetizers, soups, noodles, meat dishes, and even desserts!

This post was written by a friend and our contributor, Rhea Grace, a fellow foodie who’ll be joining the roster of food bloggers VERY SOON!

First off, I honestly don’t know much about Singaporean food, though I’ve always been enthralled by the diversity of their dishes. And I have been wanting, for the longest time ever, to try their cuisine. Little did I know that I will be able to have a taste of the dining experience in Singapore that’s friendly on the pocket right here, at Orchard Road that is.

This restaurant is named after the famous Orchard Road in Singapore renowned for its remarkable dining scene, where the food court is done up as a series of hawker carts.

We were invited to a food tasting at Orchard Road in SM Megamall. The restaurant exudes a very relaxed atmosphere and surely you’ll find pleasure strolling along the Orchard Road’s stylishly designed facade.

And if you’re like me who happens to be curious (as always) to see how dishes are prepared then voila! Feed your curiosity as you see how your food is being cooked right before your very eyes. You can see all the tools (no utility knives there for sure) , and everything they do during the preparation of your orders – something a lot of foodies enjoy.

First things first: What do they have to offer? Orchard Road houses a wide array of Singaporean dishes like the Hainanese Chicken, Laksa, Chicken Satay, and Mee Goreng, to name a few. I’m sure you would find a dish to satisfy your craving.

You have two options on how your orders will be taken. You can either opt to have a waiter take your order while you are seated or you can go directly to the counter and place your order with their cheerful staff. I suggest the latter, so you can see photos of their signature specialty dishes. It’s a great help in choosing. Of course, that’s an advice for the fickle-minded and first timers like moi!

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.

We love eat-all-you-can or buffet style restaurants. I mean, who doesn’t?! You get to pick the food you want on your plate and you get to try different dishes all on a fixed price. This is why we are scouring the Metro for all these restaurants so we can try them and post a feature or review here. First up is Yakimix in Trinoma.

We’ve heard of Yakimix from friends and they were 99% raves. I wasn’t really convinced before ‘cause of the price tag. But, I’ll try anything once.

We’ve actually been to Yakimix twice for the past 3 months. For our first visit, we had to wait for over an hour to get a table. That’s why we strongly suggest you call them for reservations or be there really early.

They only have 2 buffet schedules you can choose from. Lunch is served at 11am to 2:30pm everyday, while dinner starts at 5:30pm to 10:30pm Mondays to Fridays and starts 15 minutes earlier on the weekends.

The lunch buffet on weekdays costs Php 499 per head; Php 580 on weekends, which is also the same price for dinner every night of the week. A little expensive, but considering the amount of food choices you get compared with other eat-all-you-can restaurants we’ve tried so far, I say it’s worth it.

For children below feet, they offer a special rate of Php 380. Their bottomless drinks cost Php 65. And in case you have leftovers (a no-no when you’re at eat-all-you-can restaurants), they charge Php 699 per head.

Though we had to wait for a long time on our first time there, I observed that their crew are organized and quick in taking care of customers, cleaning up tables, and are generally accommodating.

By the way, the second time we went there with our parents, we actually had a table reserved a few days before. But, my mom said they can’t find my name so they just had their names listed at the reservations desk. Since they were early, they got a table right away and were already stuffing their mouths full when we arrived 30 minutes after.

This pretty lady, Dimple, was the one at the reservations desk.
She’s very organized and friendly, too, obviously, as she willingly posed for us.

Note: Make sure you get your name listed at the reservations table / booth located right outside the restaurant’s door. We saw a couple of customers lining up thinking there was really a queue without having their names listed first and were disappointed to know they were waiting in vain.

Oh, by the way, you can also come by and reserve a table for a future date. Or you can just call them. Their branches and contact numbers can be found at the bottom of this post.

I love the color scheme inside Yakimix Trinoma. They used brown and black on their furniture and walls. The tables are also very spacious so you can place multiple plates on it. Just look at ours.

On each table at YakiMix is a smokeless grill. As soon as you settle in, a crew member will fire up the grill for you. And, yes, the grill is smokeless, so no worries about smelling like everything you had for lunch or dinner when you leave the restaurant.