OUR AWESOME PLANET

Chefs' Quarters - Malate version of Duo

I'm happy that Robinsons Manila Midtown is bringing a new life to the restaurant scene in Malate. One interesting concept is Chefs' Quarters which offers fine dining at P200-P400 price range.

What do Le Soufflé Restaurant in Makati, French Corner in Alabang, Duo Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Serendra and Chefs' Quarters in Malate have in common? Answer: the tandem of Larry Cortez and Chef Mauro Arjona. They were pioneers of Le Soufflé, worked with Billy King to setup Voulez Vous now French Corner in Alabang before they decided to setup their own restaurant Duo in Serendra and now, their second restaurant, Chefs’ Quarters in Malate.

We love the concept of great service, good food at a casual dining atmosphere. We recommend the breakfast menu and they are open as early as 7am. There are plenty of parking spaces in Robinson's Manila Midtown and we like to hang out here this holiday season to avoid the crowds.

Chefs' Quarter's Menu
Sharing Appetizers, Salads, Soups | Fish Selection, Pasta & Rice Selection, Desserts | Beef, Lamb & Poultry Selection | Breakfast Menu | Snacks and Pica & Pica |(Photo Menu) Breakfast, Pasta and Rice Selection, Beef, Lamb Poultry | Desserts, Fish Selection, Salads, Sharing Appetizers

Heads or Tails - a new kaya place in Mall of Asia

Heads or Tails is a franchise from Thailand and I heard stories of people lining up in the food court of Siam Paragon (The flagship beautiful mall in Thailand) just to get a taste of their buttered toast and kaya toppings. We love kaya so we decided to try them. They are trying to replicate the concept in Manila by situating Heads or Tails in the food court of Mall of Asia.

(BTW, I forgot to ask why it is called Heads or Tails)

Heads or Tails specializes in Buttered Toast and Toppings. We tried the Strawberry Fruit Jam topping (P40) and the Taro Kaya Topping (P40). We like the Taro Kaya but we find the fruit jam ordinary which I ordered for Aidan.

Paseo de Bahamas - Great Hangout place in Midtown

So after breakfast at Chefs' Quarters and dessert in Sucree, we came back on December 25 evening to hang out with my brother. We were surprised to find an inuman place that serves great food.

We were brainstorming on how to go about our 100days tour of the Philippines in preparation to write my book, Our Awesome Planet: Philippines. I was convincing him to join me and we would start a weekly internet show called Our Awesome Planet Live or Where in the Philippines is Aidan? (any other suggestions?) during that 100 days trip. You should see the awesome wedding videos of my brother Rommel and Iggy who are partners in Cinematic Concepts. I would like the internet show to have the same cinematic treatment but filmed you tube style.

We were dreaming on Christmas Day and hoping in comes true in 2008. We were dreaming of being sponsored by Canon for all our photo and video equipment. We love Canon and we won't settle for anything less :) (sorry for the Nikon fans out there...) We were inspired to give an alternative show to see the beauty of the Philippines in our own eyes and share it with the rest of the world. We plan to do it ourselves with the help of some friends, the support of our families, few sponsors that we would like to work with and a few donations from friends of OAP.

So much for that dream... let's go back to Paseo de Bahamas. We love the service, the great food that we did not expect and the beer tower concept. Check out their menu:

Sharing Hot Tapas, Bread and Pizza, Soup | Sharing Cold Tapas, Soups, Fondue | House Special Creation and Dessert | Juice, Beer, Softdrinks, Water, Coffee |Beverage List | Titania Wine Cellar |Paseo de Bahamas Bahamas Treats

Sucree -- Midtown's Dessert Place

Sucree Torte (P850 Whole/ P125 Slice). Imagine a double layer of chocolate-almond sponge filled with chocolate ganache followed by a silky layer of creme brulee and amaretto flavored chocolate mousse, enrobe in shiny chocolate coating. A torte that truly deserves our name.

Sucree opened their second branch in Robinson's Midtown. After eating in Chefs' Quarters, Sucree is the dessert place to be. The virginity of Sucree was featured in Lori's Manila's 10 Best Desserts, 2007 and was described as:

"Anyway, the aforementioned Virginity is what I’d expect in a cake tagged with that appellation. It’s pristine in color — almost white actually, (virginal!) – a sponge cake perfumed in vanilla caressed by the lightest layer of dulce de leche. Occasional bursts of macadamia praline add textural interest and keep the mouth enticed. Truly, while this cake is purely immaculate in looks, there’s nothing virginal about it in taste."

We decided to try the most expensive cake which is the Sucree Torte but we were disappointed. The creme brulee was out of place in a chocolate cake. We should have stick to Lori's recommendation.

San Miguel Bay Walk @ Esplanade, Mall of Asia

Thanks to Henry Sy for creating the Perfect Bay Walk Gimmick Place in the Esplanade @ Mall of Asia. For those who missed the Manila Bay Walk demolished by Mayor Lim, the Esplanade is a better alternative because it has...

• Manila Bay walk ambiance with decent restrooms...
• Seaside Paluto restaurants with Aling Tonya's, Trinity or Julie's iHaw-iHaw...
• Pier One and Padi's Point inuman place with a nice view of the fireworks...
• Clean and secure ambiance with security guards on motorcycles...
• Plenty of parking space and near SM Mall of Asia...

The entire place is branded as San Miguel by the Bay which means only San Miguel products are sold (I don't mind). The only thing is they built it tooo close to the bay. I do hope they will able to maintain the cleanliness of the place and Manila Bay.

Merry Christmas To You!

Merry Christmas to all friends of Our Awesome Planet!

We celebrated Christmas with Aidan and baby Josh at home. When Aidan woke up, he saw a lot of gifts but it did not occur to him that all of the gifts were for him. He still does not understand the concept of Santa Claus giving gifts on Christmas. We don't want to hype up Santa Claus but rather emphasize that it is the birthday of Jesus and we should spend Christmas together as a family.

How did you spend your Christmas?

Our Christmas gift to Momma Rache is this paper clay caricature art from JNBM Art Shop at Mall of Asia. It is very addicting but it is also a bit challenging to complete than I expected. Looks easy huh!

I will share with you a photo once we complete the art work.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ligligan Parul - Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival (4.30pm to 12.30mn)

Related Posts:
Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung - The Best Kapampangan Restaurant in Pampanga
a Memorable Ultimate Kapampangan Show-Off (7.30am-12.30nn)
Lunch with Claude Tayag and Among Ed (12.30pm to 4.30pm)
Ligligan Parul - Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival (4.30pm to 12.30mn)

Every second Saturday of December, San Fernando would hold The Giant Lanterns Festival at the back of SM Pampanga. This was the highlight of the tour and perfect way to end the Ultimate Kapampangan Show-Off. The Department of Tourism does not market this festival and I would bet that most Manileneans have not seen these giant lanterns.

This year there were eight (8) giant lanterns, each measuring 18 feet in diameter, who joined the festival versus 12 of last year. The program started on time because the Diplomatic core was watching the show. Since there were only 8 lanterns, the entire festival was already finished by around 10pm. We still had time to eat a midnight snack before we head back to Manila.

Allow me to finish the story of the Ultimate Kapampangan Show-Off....

Lunch with Claude Tayag and Among Ed (12.30pm to 4.30pm)

Related Posts:
Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung - The Best Kapampangan Restaurant in Pampanga
a Memorable Ultimate Kapampangan Show-Off (7.30am-12.30nn)
Lunch with Claude Tayag and Among Ed (12.30pm to 4.30pm)
Ligligan Parul - Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival (4.30pm to 12.30mn)

Kapampangans are proud of their food. I was privileged to give the introduction to Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung which I regarded as the Best Kapampangan Restaurant in Pampanga. Unlike any other tour, we would like to take our time to enjoy the place. We spent 4 hours slow authentic Kapampangan lunch with Claude & Maryann Tayag.

And just recently, Pampanga is also in the news because of the first governor priest of Pampanga, Among Ed. We invited him to join us because it would be his first time to have lunch @ Bale Dutung and we would like to meet him personally. Also, we offered our help to promote Pampanga as the next tourist destination even better than Tagaytay. Among Ed said that he needs to survive the storm first before he focus on tourism in Pampanga. In the recent 436th anniversary of Pampanga last December 11, not a single one among the Provincial board members, the 21 city/ municipal mayors, and the basketball coach/ vice governor, attended the official celebration. (see ISOLATED, But not ALONE by Manila Boy)