OUR AWESOME PLANET

TAVOLATA: La Trattoria di Abaca - One of the BEST Italian Restaurants in Cebu! @TavolataCebu @theAbacaGroup

TAVOLATA is an Italian bistro that serves simple Italian dishes from The Abaca Group (known for really yummy Cebu restaurants like Maya Mexican Restaurant and Abaca Restaurant in Mactan.)

Its name means "to gather around a table", and the restaurant is designed to be a great place to hang out with friends or to celebrate special occasions.

It uses the finest ingredients from Italy like Finestra in Solaire, and has that informal feel, stylish ambiance and cult following like Wildflour in Manila.

It is worth flying to Cebu from Manila just to eat here. :)

Check out our Tabolata experience in Cebu...

The BEST of Cebu City Series:

• TAVOLATA: La Trattoria di Abaca - the BEST Italian Restaurant in Cebu?
• MAYA, Cebu: My Birthday in the Best Mexican Restaurant
• ABACA Restaurant in Mactan, Cebu by Jason Hyatt

ARIA CUCINA ITALIANA (Revisited): Our ARIA Favorites and Kids' Menu @AriaCucina

Read first: ARIA Mania in Manila?

We love trying out new restaurants, but there are times when we want to revisit places that we've been to simply because they're yummy. One of our favorite Italian places in Boracay and in Manila is Aria because of the delicious pizza, pasta and salad combinations.

Recently, they added innovative cocktail drinks by Tim Walters and also a Kids' Menu.

Here is our updated Aria experience...

Related Blog Posts:

• ARIA CUCINA ITALIANA (Revisited): Our ARIA Favorites and Kids Menu @AriaCucina
• ARIA Mania in Manila?
• Top5 Bora Resto! [ The Bora Life #3 ]

What's New in BGC Restaurants in 2013?

• EARLY BIRD Breakfast Club: Start of the All-Day Breakfast Era in Manila?
• IHOP Philippines: Manila Goes Crazy Over IHOP? @IHOP_PH
• GYU-KAKU Philippines: World's No.1 Yakiniku Japanese BBQ Brand now in Manila :)
• MAD FOR GARLIC Philippines: Italian Korean Wine Resto (and Garlic Breath)
• ARIA CUCINA ITALIANA (Revisited): Our ARIA Favorites and their Kids Menu @AriaCucina

MAD FOR GARLIC Philippines: Italian-Korean Wine Resto (and Garlic Breath) @MadforGarlicPH

MAD FOR GARLIC is a Korean restaurant specializing in garlicky Italian cuisine, franchised by the Global Resto group. They say this was the original inspiration of a localized resto concept called Krazy Garlik.

For Garlic enthusiasts and Spicy food lovers, this is the place to be -- guaranteed to give you a garlicky breath finish. We enjoyed the Italian fare with a Korean twist because some of the dishes were sweet for the boys, and their super spicy pastas in the menu were great for me.

Here's a rundown of what we ordered and some tips on how to have an awesome experience at MAD FOR GARLIC...

Related Blog Post: Krazy Garlik - A Celebration of Everything Garlicky

What's New in BGC Restaurants in 2013?

• VASK: Traditional Basque Cuisine and Modern Gastronomy @VaskManila
• EARLY BIRD Breakfast Club: Start of the All-Day Breakfast Era in Manila?
• IHOP Philippines: Manila Goes Crazy Over IHOP? @IHOP_PH
• GYU-KAKU Philippines: World's No.1 Yakiniku Japanese BBQ Brand now in Manila :)
• MAD FOR GARLIC Philippines: Italian Korean Wine Resto (and Garlic Breath)
• MESCLUN BISTRO by Chef Katrina Kuhn-Alcantara in Serendra

GRACE PARK: Farm-to-Table Organic Restaurant by Margarita Fores

GRACE PARK is Margarita Fores' much-anticipated farm-to-table Italian restaurant in One Rockwell in Makati. It is named after her paternal grandmother Angie Geronimo Forés' home in Grace Park, Caloocan (the former Elpo rubber shoes compound).

The concept is inspired by similar farm-to-table, slow-cooking restos in the US (like ABC Kitchen, Vinegar Hill House, and Joseph Leonard). A lot of people have raved about the interiors tastefully done by Jorge Yulo (congrats!). It transports you to a rustic yet industrial loft, making you forget that you are in a mall.

The food is a mix of healthy and sinful comfort food, but the taste is a bit bitin. It adopts the "cleaner" Western taste versus the bolder, malinamnam flavors that some Pinoy foodies prefer.

Here is our Grace Park experience...

Related Blog Posts: Lusso's Foie Gras Burger and Cibo Bimbi, Rockwell

FINESTRA: The Finest Taste of Italy in Manila! @SolaireResort

FINESTRA is the authentic Italian restaurant of Solaire Resort. One of four signature restaurants there, it boasts beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows that look out into the Manila Bay and the Solaire pool. Finestra is well-named, given that it means 'windows' in Italian.

We just came from a recent food trip of the Veneto region in Italy, so I was happy to discover that the quality of cheeses, antipasto spread, handmade pasta and wood fire oven-cooked pizza is the same quality you would get in Italy. We were pleased to hear that most of the ingredients are directly imported from Italy and that the Executive Chef is Italian.

So far, this is the closest you can get to the romantic flavors of Italy in Manila.

SOLAIRE RESORT: The Game is About to Change Series

• SOLAIRE RESORT: Finally, The Game is Indeed About to Change in Manila!
• FINESTRA: The Finest Taste of Italy in Manila! @SolaireResort

CANTINA SICILIANITA - A Taste of Sicily in Manila?

Cantina Sicilianita is a quaint Italian cafe inspired by Mark Buhain's travels to Sicily in Italy. All we know about Sicily is that it is the place of the Mafia and only the adventurous tourists choose to explore the island.

Mark, a 3^rd-generation family member of the Rex Bookstore empire, was so impressed with Sicily specially its food that he decided to bring Sicily flavors to Manila and share it with foodies.

It's a promising Cafe, and check it out when you are in the Shaw Blvd. area.

VILLA DEL CONTE's Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut Chips & Dark Chocolate with Coffee Cream Filling

(Read first: Ultimate Taste Test X @ Rockwell: Foodie's Cheat Sheet)

UTT X: Rockwell Winner #3: 
VILLA DEL CONTE

^4.15

  152 foodies rated 5- Awesome! I would recommend it!
  105 foodies rated 4- I love it!
    54 foodies rated 3- We had a good time.
    24 foodies rated 2- It is OK.
      0 foodies rated 1- Thanks, but it could be better.

Villa Del Conte is a Filipino Brand of artisan chocolate made from a rural town in Padova, Italy. Check out the complete story of VILLA DEL CONTE Chocolates.

Our favorite flavors are:

• Praline Balls in Dark Chocolate with Coffee Cream Filling (Black Wrapper), 
• Praline Balls in Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut Cream Filling  (Silver Wrapper),
• Salted Toffee,
• Tartufone (Chocolate with Hazelnuts), and
• Chocolate-coated Castañas

No doubt, this is the best chocolate in Manila this holiday season. :)

Congratulations, Villa Del Conte, for winning the #3 spot in the Ultimate Taste Test series!

Poco Deli, the Blossoming of the Little Neighborhood Deli

Poco Deli, the little neighborhood deli in Brgy. Kapitolyo, originally started as a distributor of fine Philippine-made deli products, which included Mickey's Sausages and Dave's Natural Frozen Yogurt. It also served pizza, pasta and wine, catering to its immediate neighbors as customers.

The concept didn't really appeal to us at the start, and early blog posts about it were not encouraging enough (Jane's Take a Poke at Poco Deli, Franny's Deli Discovery : Poco Deli).

So when Sonny de Leon, a P&G friend who is now one of the Marketing bosses in P&G Philippines, wanted to meet up, we agreed to meet in his wife's Poco Deli store. Last time we met, I surprised him with a Kubli Springs dinner by Jay of Kinabuhayan Cafe.

This time, I was the one who was pleasantly surprised. Poco Deli is now an artisan shop where they make their own sausages, smoke their own bacon, create fresh pizza dough, and serve well-selected wines and their signature BlackOut Chocolate Cake.

Kapitolyo Food Street Series:

• Cafe Juanita - Eclectically Romantic
• The New Look of Cafe Juanita in Pasig
• Charlie's by Rob Goco, Hidden behind a Car Wash Station
• Insanely Mad Mark's!
• NAV Modern Thai Cuisine Reunion
• Poco Deli, the Little Neighborhood Deli of Kapitolyo