Recipes by Cafe Metro: A Review

I had planned to celebrate my birthday at the Recipes by Cafe Metro in Greenbelt 3 last January with my family. But due to budget constraints, I didn't push through with it. Don't get me wrong. Food here isn't too expensive, about Php 200 per viand. It's just that upon reading some reviews, I found out that their serving size isn't that much, about 2 pax serving per viand. Considering the number in my family and based from calculations, there's a possibility that I might go over budget.

Anyway, last Tuesday, my boyfriend and I decided to celebrate our monthsary at Recipes. Since its just the two of us, we ordered only 2 viands, their best sellers: General's Chicken and Lechon Kawali with Kangkong. I read in blogs that Gising Gising and Crispy Tilapia are also the favorites. But unfortunately, we can't order a lot since it's only the two of us who will consume it.

General's Chicken

My boyfriend loves chicken. And so the General's Chicken captured his taste buds. The chicken fillet has breading and mixed with small slices of eggplant. The sauce was a bit of sweet and spicy. It seems like a simple dish but it was delicious. Serving size was just enough for 2.

Lechon Kawali with Kangkong

I was surprised with the Lechon Kawali with Kangkong. When it arrived, i thought, where's the sauce? I was looking for at least Mang Tomas sauce partnered with it. But when I spooned to get the meat, it has sauce already underneath with the Kangkong. The sauce was about quarter of the bowl but the meat didn't become soggy. The sauce seems like a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar but when I tasted it, it doesn't taste like it. Maybe a bit of soy sauce but less salty. Nevertheless, it compliments the Lechon Kawali. And with the Kangkong, this is already a complete meal! Serving size is also good for 2.

In my assessment, these 2 viands can be shared by at most 3 people. Well, maybe because both my boyfriend and I are thrifty viand eaters. We ordered another rice (a total of 3 cups of rice) just to consume these viands. Well i guess we just enjoyed the taste of the food. The only downside on these was the cost of rice. It's Php 38 and it's not even a standard size of cup for rice. And their softdrinks in can cost Php 50 each!

The Recipes at Greenbelt 3 is quite small. Although they have an al fresco area but one cannot smoke there. It was kinda humid inside the resturant that's why we prefer to be seated outside. Even though we're located outside., we're not neglected by the waiters and service was fast.

Recipes also offers set meal complete with rice and drinks for only Php 170. This is ideal for quick lunches of working people around the area. Their menu also have some cocktails and beer for those after office booze.

In my opinion, this restaurant is ideal if you are couple or in a small group. For big groups, this may already be expensive since I don't see a set menu from their list offered for large groups. Ordering a number of each viand (average of Php 200) might already be expensive in total.

Overall, I enjoyed eating at Recipes and I would want to go back to taste their other dishes. By the way, apologies for the pictures as I was only using a camera phone :)

My Pocket Wifi: After almost a year

Some time March or April last year, I bought a pocket wifi from sulit.com.ph.  My experience on it was excellent (refer to my previous blog).  After almost a year, I'd like to give an update on my usage with the pocket wifi I bought.

The pocket wifi I bought was ZTE MF30.  I used my existing sun broadband sim to connect to the internet.  Battery is still reliable with this pocket wifi, though this time I only get 3 and a half to 4 hours of browsing time before the battery turns red.  The charging time is still the same, it will take you forever for it to be fully charged.  There were times when the battery indicator just keeps on blinking even when it was charging overnight.  When I unplugged the unit when it is still charging, I still get a red battery indicator after several minutes of using it.  Just like before, it seems that the battery hasn't charged a bit even though it was plugged for more than an hour.  It needs to be fully charged for you to better utilize this pocket wifi.

My pocket wifi had fallen several times but still no cracks or whatsoever on the unit.  Although, right now, the speed of my connection wasn't as good as before.  I'm not sure if it is because of the unit or because of the sun signal.  I wanted to reconfigure the settings but I forgot my username and password of my pocket wifi that's why I haven't done it.  I haven't tried contacting the seller where I bought this pocket wifi either to assist me.  I still want to try smart's signal with this pocket wifi.

Overall, my pocket wifi is still usable even after almost a year.  And upon checking, after a year, cost for pocket wifi has lowered from the 3 networks.  That's technology.  Ever changing.

Tapella by Gaudi at Greenbelt 5: A Valentine Dinner Review

It wasn't really a surprise when my boyfriend brought me to Tapella, a Spanish restaurant, in Greenbelt 5 for our Valentine dinner.  Few days before Valentine's day, we were scouting for nice and affordable restaurants in Greenbelt where we would have our Valentine's dinner.  Tapella was one of the choices.  My boyfriend had other choices too, not only in Greenbelt but also in other malls.  Well, Tapella won and he chose to have our first Valentine's date and dinner there.

We availed Tapella's Valentine set dinner with soup, salad, main course, dessert and wine.  There are two types of Valentine dinner; one is with pork spareribs and the other one with grilled shrimp. We chose the latter.

My boyfriend reserved a seat at the Al Fresco area. We then requested to be seated further, at the gardens.  The waiters were accommodating to give in to our request.  Table setting was very simple with just large paper that covers the table which serves as our "table cloth"  and adorned with a piece of rose as centerpiece. 

We arrived past 8pm, earlier than our scheduled 8:30pm reservation.  There were a lot of people eating at that restaurant at that time.  But I'm not sure if most availed their Valentine dinner package.  With these number of people, the service was slow.  Our first meal course was served at almost 9pm already. 

Purrusalda

First stop, the soup.  Purrusalda is a Basque tomato and leak soup according to the menu.  I liked the potato soup alhough it's just really plain potato taste, a bit creamy and buttery. Well, i love potatoes that's why I enjoyed it.

Tartar de Tomate

The tomato salad was full of diced tomatoes and a very few lettuce. It also have one slice of white cheese and one piece shrimp as garnishing on top. I didn't taste any dressing, maybe the juice from the tomato serves as its dressing.  The menu says it has walnuts but I don't think I have tasted one.  The serving size is quite little when it is suppose to be good for two. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this salad. Again, for the love of tomatoes.

After the soups and salads, we waited again for about 15 minutes for our main course to arrive.  It wasn't really irritating since my boyfriend and I both enjoyed their soup and salad.  Besides, the restaurant manager or maybe the owner was very apologetic and hands on to the customers.  He explained that there were a lot of orders due to a lot of customers dining in.  As a sign of his apology, he gave us another round of sparkling white wine.

Paella Manchego

One of the main dish was of course their paella. It is served in a small wok topped with grated cheese.  Their paella lacks ingredients the way I know a paella should have.  It only has 2 pieces of shrimps, about 3 chunks of chicken and bits of asparagus.  I wasn't even able to taste the chicken.  My boyfriend just told me it had one.  Well, I'm just not sure if this is just a variety of their paella.  But the rice was cooked nicely, though not so flavorful, I love how it blended well with the cheese.  Even though the serving of paella is quite small, it was enough for 2 and it got us full.  And again, since I love paella, I enjoyed this dish.  Halfway to our paella, the grilled shrimp arrived.

Longostinos a la Plancha

Interesting name for this grilled shrimp.  The menu says it comes with alioli dip but was served to us without it.  There were only 5 pieces of medium sized shrimp with crunchy vegetable sidings.  I love how the vegetables were cooked as it is buttery and crispy.  The grilled shrimp taste good too.  It no longer needs any condiments the way most Filipinos will do when eating shrimps.  So it's ok if the dip was not served but I wonder how it tasted. 

We're not yet done with our shrimp when our desserts arrive.  That was the only fastest serving we had that evening.

Tartar de Lava

I was hoping for a colder dessert like ice cream or fruits since I really got my stomach full from what we ate.  But they served a chocolate cake.  I thought it was just an ordinary cake.  Well, it does but I love the chocolate fudge spread around the cake.  It was still a little hot and of course it was sweet.  For those with sweet tooth, you will love this cake.  The sweetness of the cake really tones down our full belly.  The heart-shaped icing melts easily and with just right amount of sweetness.  It does not overpower the chocolate fudge.  The cake itself was just ordinary as if you were eating cake from Red Ribbon.  But still I enjoyed the cake.

For this Valentine dinner package, it costs Php 1,950 good for 2.  But my boyfriend paid around Php 2,200 inclusive of service charge.  I can say, it is quite expensive but not bad at all.  Our food may just be simple and tastes nothing spectacular but we still enjoyed it.  The restaurant is under the casual dining category but we experienced a somewhat fine dining ambiance minus the service as it was slow.  Well, we understand that since it was not an ordinary day.  Another plus points for me is that how the manager or owner treats it customers.  His visibility and courteousness is an attraction and will make you feel that you are a special customer.  I wonder if he frequents the restaurant or just for this day, Valentine's day.   

I would love to come back and try the other dishes in their menu.  Based on the menu, the prices are not that expensive.  Just reasonable, I guess, considering they're located in Greenbelt 5.  I'm just not sure though if they have other branches. 

Their Valentine dinner package is extended up to this day only.  So you still have your last chance to enjoy it.  You may visit their website for more details.