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IL PICCINO TRATTORIA Valentine :)

 

Il Piccino Trattoria by Chef Natalia Moran, formerly known as La Casa Alfonso, is a romantic, by-reservation-only restaurant. She opens her ancestral home to family, friends, and foodies to share her love for Italian food. :)

She is known in Mercato Centrale as the Ravioli Queen, selling freshly made ravioli in the market.

We love quaint, home-based restaurants like this where the food is cooked with love, and people are welcomed as personal guests of the chef.

We celebrated the eve of Valentine's in Il Piccino Trattoria with a special set menu prepared especially for this love month. Here's our experience...

To P.F. Chang's or Not to P.F. Chang's in Manila?

Read First: P.F. Chang's in Manila? Shortlink: oap.ph/PFChangsManila

P.F. Chang's, the popular American Chinese Restaurant of Philip Fleming and Philip Chiang, finally opened its first branch in Asia. With 200 restaurants across the US, and branches in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Kuwait and UAE, it also now calls Alabang home.

When you eat Chinese food in the US, your friends would probably take you to either P.F. Chang's or Panda Express. (Check out my P.F. Chang's experience in California.)

Its appearance in Manila caused quite a stir. A lot of people question whether or not an American Chinese restaurant concept will work here. 

We decided to celebrate Aidan's 7th birthday there when P.F. Chang's in Alabang opened its doors to the public recently. Here is a rundown of our P.F. Chang's experience... 

NAV Modern Thai Cuisine Reunion

Review Shortlink: oap.ph/NavThai | QR Code: oap.ph/NavThaiQRCode

Here's another restaurant worth checking out in the Brgy. Kapitolyo Food Street: Nav Modern Thai Cuisine. :) The place is run by the Naval brothers (hence the name) and Chef Francis Lim (my cousin-in-law) who used to work in People's Palace.

Nav serves modern Thai cuisine that is suited to the Filipino taste (read: preference for sweeter dishes). We celebrated my wife's LIM family reunion in Nav, so we got very good recommendations on what to order here...

THE BAYLEAF's 9 Spoons, Sky Deck, and Cioccolata Food Trip

Review Shortlink: http://oap.ph/bayleaf QR Code: http://oap.ph/bayleafQRcode

I've been looking for a rooftop restaurant for quite some time now, and the closest I found in Manila before were the top-floor restaurants in Vivere, Alabang and Diamond Hotel along Roxas Blvd.

It was only recently that I got wind of this rooftop restaurant in Intramuros, with a great view of Manila's City Hall and the Intramuros Golf Course. But just imagining the traffic from Bonifacio Global City to Intramuros almost deterred me from considering it.

Nevertheless, I thought it would be the perfect setting to surprise Rache for our dinner to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary, and so we went...

Chef Tatung Garden Cafe Birthday

Review Shortlink: oap.ph/ChefTatungRevisited QR Code: oap.ph/ChefTatungRevisitedQRCode

Read this First: Chef Tatung's Private Dining

Chef Tatung decided to change his resto concept from a Continental Private Dining restaurant to a Regional Filipino Garden Cafe, with emphasis on his Cebuano and Bicolano heritage. The restaurant still continues to support local farmers' produce and promises a homey garden ambiance.

We decided to celebrate my brother Rommel's birthday here to check out the new menu...

La Girolle's Tasting Menu by Chef Ian Padilla

Review Shortlink: http://oap.ph/LaGirolle | QR Code: http://oap.ph/LaGirolleQRCode

It was Chef Ian Padilla's dream to open his own restaurant. After 11 years of training (which included working in a 3-star Michelin restaurant in France, a restaurant stint in the now-closed Mezzaluna, and opening Fireplace in Malate), Chef Ian finally opened his own La Girolle last October.

La Girolle is named after the Chanterelle mushrooms he used to clean in a French kitchen, day in and day out, as punishment for not doing it right the first time. From being a humble seasonal mushroom, "La Girolle" is also now a French Fine Dining restaurant in BGC.

It was the perfect backdrop for meeting our good friend Luisa, who's visiting from Sydney...

SutrA Christmas Dinner: Our First Taste of BHS Central

Review Shortlink: http://oap.ph/SutrA | QR Code: http://oap.ph/SutrAQRCode

SutrA Restaurant and Bar is the first restaurant (but the second establishment after Jamba Juice) that opened in Bonifacio High Street Central.

BHS Central promises to provide higher-end dining experiences from flagship restaurants of restaurant chains or signature resto concepts from known chefs.

This is the 4th restaurant concept from the Nand and Kevin Prasad tandem, which includes Duo Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Zuni and Asya Filipino Asian Restaurant.

SutrA promises an exotic experience "that excites the 5 senses throughout your dining experience".

We decided to hold the Christmas Dinner of our family in SutrA to get a first-hand experience of the BHS Central promise...

Insanely Mad Mark's!

Review Shortlink: http://oap.ph/madmarks | QR Code Link: Insanely Mad Mark's QR Code

The Brgy. Kapitolyo Food Street is becoming one of our favorite foodie hangouts not only because of old favorites Cafe Juanita and Charlie's but also due to new and interesting food/resto concepts like Mad Mark's.

Mad Mark's is a sandwich-place-and-ice-cream-parlor-in-one inspired by Mom and Pop Ice Cream Parlors in the US. Owned by DLSU-M Entrepreneurship graduate Mark Isidro, it is best known for its Half-Baked Madagascar Chocolate on Chocolate ice cream (a yummy flavor combination!).

We were curious about "THE" Man Sandwich so we made our way to Mad Mark's one night...

Related Blog Post: OAP | The BEST of Artisanal Ice Creams in Manila