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Legend of India

There's a new Indian Restaurant in town along Jupiter Street called Legend of India. It is marketed as a Fine Dining Restaurant with a mini-bar inside, flat screen TVs showcasing Bollywood movies, and a mini-Indian dessert sari-sari store. We loved the sauce-y dishes matched with either the naan or basmati rice. I was impressed with the extensive line of Indian desserts that you can buy for take-out.

How authentic is Indian by Nature?

I won't claim to be an Indian expert so I'm asking foodies out there who are an expert on Indian food to share with us if Indian by Nature (IBN) is really hard core Indian food? IBN is the latest Indian place in the second floor of Jupiter Place.

I was not really blown away with the food, and maybe that is a good sign. Some people argue that the Indian restaurants in Manila serve Filipino version of Indian cuisine. (Except probably for Spices in Manila Peninsula). So maybe, we are just not familiar with what "full-on" Indian food really taste like -- specially, for people like me who have not been to India. The Filipino waiters were also not very helpful and knowledgeable about the food served in IBN.

Taj-aytay

Aidan meets the Taj Buddha.

I must admit that the Taj banners along the national highway was quite cheesy in a sense that it turns people off and makes one wonder if their marketing claims are true. It shows photos of the food branded as "Not Your Usual Tagaytay Food", or "Exotic Vegetarian Food". For me, I was hungry for something new in Tagaytay so the moment I saw it, we decided to check out this less than a month old Indian restaurant in Tagaytay.

Leonard and Grace (hope I did get it right), friends of OAP, were right. The Mutton Biryani and Mutton Masala were the best seller of the house. My mom immediately concluded that most of the food would increase her cholesterol level, mother's knows best! While I liked the flavorful dishes, my wife didn't at this stage of her pregnancy. The place was not ready for prime time since the glass for the railings were not yet complete (they should have installed it because this is for safety of the kids! There were many kids at this time already!) and they have yet to complete the 6 rooms beneath the restaurant. You could see that they had to open up to catch on the Holy Week crowd and there are obvious glitches in the kitchen operation. Try visiting this in a month or two maybe they've stabilized their operations and rooms will be ready for occupancy.

Queens: Best Indian/Fusion Food I Tasted in a Long Time!

Queens, originally uploaded by antondiaz.

When Queens opened along Jupiter St. in Makati, there was a lot of buzz about how great the food and a bit on the pricey side. It has a fine dining atmosphere, that is not intimidating, and perfect for that dinner conversation with friends. I'm glad Vivian and Marge treated the entire barkada to a Sunday Dinner treat at Queens! It was a perfect dinner event for that priceless reunion with friends.